Finally We Are On Seas the Day
Finally We Are On Seas the Day
Thursday, August 21, 2008
After a three day drive, on the final leg through Tropical Storm Fay (which was more like Rainshower Fay), we finally reached Ft. Lauderdale yesterday. The good old Tahoe, with 157,000 miles on it, held up well. Having the use of the computer in the car was a lifesaver. We booked motels along the way, found a doggie day care in Ft. Lauderdale for Daisy and made reservations for her, found a place to empty the contents of the UHaul after we arrived, and of course the all important, located four Starbucks within walking distance of Las Olas Marina.
Arriving at the motel, we were greeted with five sheriff cars in front of the office. I think we experienced our first drug bust, although the clerks just said there were some “unruly guests.” Since the sherrif’s cars were there for hours, I doubt that was the reason. There was no yellow tape, so we felt safe enough in our room last night.
Yesterday evening we met Brent, our broker, and came over to Seas the Day, which is at the CatCo docks. We looked around a bit and met Scott, the electronic guru who will take us over to Las Olas today and explain all the systems to us.
Daisy had her first experience on the boat last night, but couldn’t get down to the cockpit from the deck, so she just sat on the dock and waited for us. There were ropes tying down the mast, since Tropical Storm Fay came through the state on Monday and Tuesday, which blocked off the steps she needs to take.
This morning, we dropped Daisy off at Camp Canine (she was very excited) and met Scott and Eric from CatCo at Las Olas. We have a slip and hopefully will be sleeping there tonight.
We were supposed to sail (or motor) over to Las Olas around noon but it’s past that now and Scott is working on a problem with the water filter basket on the genset. We have a small window for high tide, and if we don’t get going soon, we are spending another night at a motel.
We also have another problem. The charging system isn’t working properly so they have ordered new chargers from France. If we don’t get them in the next day, we will not be able to take her out for the class on Saturday. That will be a huge problem. CatCo has had our 420 for a month in Ft. Lauderdale and it should be ready to go. It isn’t. Also, the name and hailing port are not on yet, so we can’t leave the country, or even legally sail her out of Ft. Lauderdale.
Everything we did so far came off like clockwork, but the things our of our control are now holding us up.
Still, we are very excited to be on Seas the Day, finally, and it’s as great as we remember it. Hopefully, my next entry will be from Las Olas Marina, in an air conditioned salon, as we’ll have shore power there.
Here’s where we’ll be sleeping tonight.