Paradise Lost!!

Paradise Lost!! What I’m referring to is my paradise has been lost.. Or at least it will soon be if I don’t find my wife’s missing rings. Yesterday I had a mishap of moving a mattress pad which upset the wooden cover over the attached hole and a tray with my wife’s jewelry fell in. Not on that visible plastic tank but BEHIND it!! I was able to reach all but her three favorite rings. At any rate she let me wait till today to figure out how to retrieve them.

The hole is a utility cavity with the holding tank and assorted plumbing and some electrical switches. The cavity curves down under the tank and is closed off in a sealed bulk head. I tried but could not find them by feel but my arm is just so long. I thought about removing the tank but that wouldn’t do much since it is mounted on a shelf. The alternatives is to create holes into the bulkhead -- not a good idea.

I tried “C'est La Vie” but that didn’t work. One of the rings was quite expensive -- now I didn't buy that one, but she wanted it back. I fished a video camera into the hole along with a flash light and panned around – aaaha I saw them. Down low and trapped by a hose from going any further.. Hmmm where to cut a hole and not damage the hose (a sanitation hose mind you) or find the ocean.. Another AAAAHA – Mr shop vac. Maybe I could suck them out. It took several tries but I did retrieve the rings along with 2 dimes, a stainless steel screw and 2 unused cable ties. Not a bad morning.

With it be a rainy very cool day this was not a bad job. I then pushed my luck and replaced the light switch in the refrigerator. Now that works better. Then I tackled why my AIS receiver is not reporting commercial traffic. After much troubleshooting the connections and computer port setup I discovered I had not declared the view properly in the software. Ohhh well should work now – just waiting on some commercial traffic to come by but with this the weekend – none today.

The rest of the day was spent topping off water tanks. Ohh found a leak in a hose there. After filling tanks the bilge pump started to run. Not good. Investigation found a vent hose put on without the hose clamps tightened being the culprit along with overfilling and filling the fill tube. Me bad..

Going over the engine and all the nuts and bolts I removed and reinstalled when I replaced the prop shaft packing log -- none found loose -- yet.

Well time for a leisurely dinner then maybe a walk amongst the 150+ shops here. The gale conditions predicted for here today have not yet materialized. It is flat calm at 5:30pm tonight.

We will probably leave for Georgetown, SC in the morning. Unless the wind is gusting over 30 MPH. They won't open the Socastee Bridge if it is.

It's a long run of some 50 miles from here to Georgetown so we will probably anchor in the Waccamaw river for the night then go into Georgetown Early in the morning. The anchoring is difficult there because of the soft gooey mud bottom and little swing room so if we stay the night we may have to go to a marina otherwise a day trip then down to one of the creeks to anchor for the night.