March 8-11, 2023 From St Marys boatyard to St Austustine

 3-8 We headed back to the marina in the morning, unloaded the car, said our goodbyes to Pete while we had a ladder to get on and off the boat.  Then they took away the ladder and loaded our dinghy onto the davits and splashed the boat at high tide at 10:30am.  

these 2 pictures are examples of why we have to haul our or splash our boat at high tide

this is a view of the haul out bay.  They lower our boat into the water at high tide

We're pulling away from the boatyard

We moved the boat about an hour away to Cumberland Island and anchored.  We needed to regroup before going any further.  It felt great to be at anchor again.
A nuclear submarine had just entered the inlet before us going to the Naval base in St Marys.  There were 2 large combat ships and 3 helicopters protecting it.  Interesting to see.  
There was a boat on the ICW north of the the base heading south.  We heard the Coast Guard radio him and asked him to turn around and go north at least 1nm and wait for their ok to head south again.  He radioed back and said there was a strong north wind which would be hard to motor against.  Could he pass first.  Obviously, they said no.  What was he thinking?   
3-9 We “pickle” the water maker while we aren’t using it to keep gunk from growing in the membranes.  Today we wanted to run it to clean the lines and make sure everything was working properly.  Well, it wasn’t.  The boost pump brings water to the large pump that forces water through the membranes.  The large pump had been leaking oil, probably since it was pickled 4 months ago. Dave cleaned things up and replaced the o-ring.  It was still dripping, but slower.  We had enough oil to run it and make water, since we were low.  But now we needed to order a new o-ring and oil.  We also needed a new sight glass to see how much oil in in the pump.  Dave used a bolt to plug the hole some time ago, but couldn’t check the oil.  He was waiting until he needed something else from the company, like today.  Dave ordered the parts and had them sent to friends in St Augustine, Florida.  

Nice evening entertainment

 
3-10 We took another day to put away tools and arrange our “garage”, the aft cabin.  Things needed to be stowed and secure for moving the boat, especially off shore where we will heel.  
3-11 Saturday  We had a windy morning, so waited until about 11:30 to leave anchorage and head south.  I did some cleaning while underway, now that things are stowed.  Anchored at Pine Island, north of St Augustine, about 7:00pm.  We didn’t have any water under the engine and only a couple drops of oil.  We were good with that.