Day 16

Calm day. Get up at 5.00am and we are under way by
6.00

Head for the channel out to the Gulf and let a
sailboat through before us.. she is the 'stand on'
vessel you see? We intend to go a whole day to
Pensacola. I figure roughly 12 hours max.

Waves 2-4 ft, sun comes up. I call Candy to come see..
we see Dolphins again although one fish I thought
might have been a Tarpon.. who can say? I've never
seen a Tarpon..

Panama City is to our starboard and we slowly motor
along the coast and the city gradually disapperars
behind us.

We are in 90' of water and the day is beautiful..
until motor starts slowing and speeding again off
Miramar Beach.

Fuck. Thus begins the most exhausting day I can
remember.

I open the fuel pump filter and see some algae in it
but nothing too bad. I swap the racor Filter as well
as the filter on the motor. Motor starts up and we
motor for 3 hours before it quits completely.

The starboard tank (which was the only one feeding the
motor from Ft Myers till Port St Joe) is still full,
but the Port tank (the one recently unplugged) is near
empty. I check that the fuel is coming out of the stbd
pipe and it flows freely. I change the filters again
(we are now out of replacements), pump the primer and
try again. No joy. Nothing is going to start this
engine. I am totally pissed off and very tired. I ache
everywhere. We try raising the jib and mainsail - who
knows - it might haul us along because the wind is in
the right direction even if it is a very light one.
Find the mainsail running rigging is fouled up near
the spreaders so abandon that exercise. The jib is out
but insufficient wind to move us or even get steerage
way.

We have a sump drainer(new) which will suck out the
oil in the sump without having to get underneath the
engine. Candy says we ought to try and use it and swap
the fuel from Stbd to Port tank. The oilcan hold 2.5
gals and I pump 4 cans full over to the other side
after removing the fuel gauges on each. No difference.
No start. The motor will try and start but won't
catch. I make sure that all the connections are tight
and that there is no air anywhere. The primer is
pumped at least 50 times to bleed all the air out.
Still no joy. I reckon the injectors must be blocked.
One thing I am sure of is that the initial fuel pump
and the Racor are original equipment and that they are
not capable of supplying sufficient fuel to the engine
over 3000 revs. Any revs at this point would be
welcme!

My soft hands hurt from hauling ropes and using
wrenches. My back hurts from climbing into tiny
spaces. My calves and thighs hurt from running up and
down hatches so often I reckon I could get about this
boat blindfolded. I can change all the filters on this
boat - at sea- in 10 mins flat. Maybe there is a
competition somewhere I could enter? I'm sure I could
win.

There is nothing for it but to call SeaTow. It takes
him 2 hours to get here and 2 to get into Destin. No
slips are open at this tie of night (We get there
about 8.30pm) so he shoves us into a fuel dock after
trying to get us somewhere nicer but we have no
draught under us there. The dockside is 3' hiugher
than we are but I don't care. I try to connect the
shore power but no joy. Had to carry della out the
boat and she enjoyed her first pee in 2 days! Today is
my birthday so we painfully climb over building
construction work to get out of the harbourside into
'Lucky Snapper', the seafood place next door. We are
both filthy and sweaty. I have my knitted cap pulled
down over my ears, and sporting 'eau de diesel' scent,
we enter this classy establishment. There was a guy
leaning against a railing outside watching us scramble
up the embankment and he asked if we were the ones
towed in. I told him yes, and that today was my
birthday.

We sat down and I got a bottle of beer (well, Bud,
anyway). The menu had a New York strip at $25, so I
had a burger. The waiter asked us if it was us that
got towed in. I said yes. He said the beers were on
him, and that we could have a free entree. He
presented us with 11 jumbo prawns! Delicious. The
burger was great too. Candy had ribs, so that Dell
could join in afterwards. He also brought us a kitchen
doggy bag for Dell. The total bill was $28.00!

And so to bed.

Exhausted.

Nighty night.