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 | Don’t Drink the Water!
Wednesday September 21
Team Prime Time slept until 0800. Willie…manager of Florida Petroleum…was patently waiting for us to take on some diesel fuel. I filled both tanks, and then went into Willie’s small office. He and his helper were cooking breakfast in an electric fry pan and also had a pot of coffee perking. As I settled my fuel bill, Willie noticed me drooling and staring at the coffee. He generously offered me a cup that I shared with Mark. It was raining…raining real hard…
We heard from Ribbit today. They were STILL in North Carolina! Unfortunately, Wayne informed us that he had his port-side drive shaft separate from the transmission. Fortunately, the shaft and wheel didn’t fall completely off the boat and sink. He had called Boat-US for a tow back to a marina. They finally found a mechanic who “fixed” the problem. At least it was fixed for a few more miles. The same shaft separated again. More tows…more mechanics…more $$$!
Other than the “Skoal Incident”, it was an uneventful cruise from Fernandina Beach. We did have some minor excitement. It’s always a VERY good thing to exactly know your boat’s draft…both below and above the water. There are water level marker boards at every draw bridge letting you know in feet the clearance from the water to the bottom of the bridge. If you can clear this, you don’t need to wait for an opening. Sounds simple enough…right? I thought that Prime Time’s “air draft” was 20’. Mark asked me how sure I was that it was 20’…not just kind of pretty sure…but absolutely sure. We decided to check. I grabbed a boat hook…fully extended it…and stood on the deck in front of the flybridge. Mark climbed up on the radar arch and had me raise the boat hook until it extended above the radar dome and anchor light. As Jason slowly nosed Prime Time up to the Bridge of Lions (22' clearance), I extended the boat hook to the appropriate level, Mark checked the clearance from the radar arch. We cleared by 2'!
After laughing over the “Shower Incident” over a couple of martinis, we had a great dinner at the A1A Ale House. It was pouring down rain when we left the restaurant. Team Prime Time sprinted back…dried off…and got a good night’s sleep.
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Imagine something nasty…real nasty…make you sicker-than-a-dog nasty. Now that you’re prepared…here goes! Jason is a great guy with a disgusting habit…He uses chewing tobacco! You know…a pinch between your cheek and gum. Skoal is his brand of choice. “Dippers” need to spit the saliva/juice as they use this product. Jason likes to use an empty water bottle to collect this foul byproduct. As much as I hated to do so, I NEVER let that bottle out of my sight. I think that you might know what happened today. As we cruised from Fernandina Beach to St. Augustine, Jason was dipping and spitting as fast as he could into a water bottle that had a coozie around it. Mark picked up the “spit bottle” by mistake and took a BIG swig! He immediately started gagging and getting sick as he ran to the port side rail. After brushing his teeth several times and gargling a whole bottle of Listerine, Mark gave Jason a very heated performance review (I would have KILLED him with my bare hands)! I still get queasy thinking about this incident.
