Day started out great. Beautiful day... sun was out and it was about perfect. We left Amelia Island, FL just before 7:00am and started making our way through Georgia. We had run about 5 hours and had covered about 70 miles since we left. We were out in the middle of no-where. And I mean the absolute middle of no-where Georgia when we lost our only engine. We get a low pressure oil alarm. Run down to the engine room to check it out. Looks like the Exxon Valdez threw up in our engine room. Oil everywhere. I can't figure out where the leak is coming from. We were at mile marker 650 on the ICW (look it up). I check the waterway guide and chartplotter to find the closest marina. We could turn around and head 50 miles back south to Golden Isle (Brunswick, GA) or continue north about 60 mile to Isle of Hope in Savannah, GA. Doesn't really matter since we don't have an engine that works. We really had no options.
Called Sea Tow. Sea Tow starts arguing over who has to come out and get us. Believe it. No one wants to come out to the middle-of-nowhere and help us. After about 2 hours, they finally decide that Sea Tow Brunswick has to come help us because technically, based on our Lat/Lon position, we are still in there franchise territory. We ask to be taken to Isle of Hope Marina in Savannah where there is a chance we can get someone out to take a look at the Yanmar diesel. They say, "No way". Sea Tow says they can only take us back south 20 miles to (get this) "Two Way Fish Camp". Now I have stayed at a lot of different marinas in my day, but I have never stayed at a "fish camp".
Now I will admit, the "fish camp" is not that bad. It actually has a nice little restaurant on site called "Mudcat Charlie's". How is that for a name. During our 2 hour tow to the marina I make a few million phone calls to try and find a Yanmar service tech that is willing to come out to "Two Way Fish Camp" in the middle of no-where Georgia on Friday afternoon at 4:00pm. That is like selling ice to Eskimos. Believe or not, I find someone that is willing to come out and take a look.
Long story short, and already this is a long story, they figure out that we have a crack in an oil line. Call another million parts stores to see if we can find the part and get it overnighted to us. Again, no way. Everyone is closed or does not have the part in stock. So I will be enjoying the next 4 days at Two Way Fish Camp near Darien, GA waiting to see if we can order the oil line on Monday and get it overnighted to arrive on Tuesday so I can get back underway to NY.
The owner has decided he has had enough fun for one trip and is catching a plane in the morning back to NY. I don't blame him. At this point all I can do is smile and be thankful that we didn't try to run off-shore today. I wanted to go outside from Amelia Island, FL up to Beaufort, SC. But the seas were 3 to 5 feet and it would have been an uncomfortable ride. So we stayed on the ICW. Good thing we did. Can't imagine what it could have been like if we lost our engine 20 miles off-shore.
I still wouldn't trade what I do for another career, but days like today do make me pause for just a moment.
Sea Tow pulling us to Two Way Fish Camp
Saturday, June 1st - Didn't get a very good nights sleep. The forward A/C unit which supplies the air for both staterooms froze over, so no cool air. About 4:00am the owner couldn't take it any more and went into the salon since the A/C there was working. I heard him up and got up too since I couldn't sleep. We turned off the A/C to the staterooms to let it thaw. After a few hours, it was working again. Thank goodness.
So our day began a bit earlier than normal. Tom and I talked for a good while and made coffee about 5:00am and had some breakfast. We were both on the internet off and on all morning trying to catch up on what has been going on in the real world.
Funny, but when you are on a trip like this, you really do lose all track of what is going on. The pace of change in the world is staggering sometimes. Although it is kind of nice to be disconnected sometimes too.
Got to know "Cricket" the dockmaster pretty well today. Nice guy with a great sense of humor. Also got to know quite a few of the local fishermen as they were launching their boats this morning.
Mostly spent the day doing odds and ends on the boat. Tom headed out for the airport around 3:30pm. Had dinner around 7:30 and then hit the hay.
The owner, Tom Siriani, getting ready to head back to NYC
Sunday, June 2nd - Got up around 6:30 this morning and decided that I needed to tackle the engine room. The Exxon Valdez was still under the engines and it wasn't going anywhere without some help. I had a few oil absorb pads and started the clean up. I very quickly realized that I didn't have enough. Went and saw "Cricket" the dockmaster to see if they sold oil pads at his store. No such luck. I think he felt sorry for me and offered me his truck to go to West Marine. I jumped at the chance to get off the boat for a few minutes.
I drove his truck into town. It was a good 20 minute ride each way. Got to West Marine and picked up 25 oil pads and some bilge cleaner. It just so happened that Winn Dixie Grocery Store was right next door to West Marine, so I stopped in to get a few things since I knew I was still going to be a while. So that was a really lucky break.
Got back to the boat and started the deed. Removing about 4 gallons of oil from under the engines was a very messy job. But 15 oil pads and a gallon of degreaser later and you can now eat off the engine room floor. It made me feel good to get that cleaned up. I just hope the oil line part replacement doesn't put me back to square one later this week.
Got an email around noon from Tom saying that he got in last night just fine and his flight went well. He was very happy to see his dog Sandy and it sounds like Sandy was glad to see him too. A small victory, but we will take it.
All is well here at Two Way Fish Camp. Looking forward to getting Y Knot Now back on the water. Only question now is what to have for dinner tonight at Mudcat Charlie's.
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