Suspended Animation

That is the state it feels like we have been in for the past 11 days. If you have been following Coyote SPOT you will have noticed it has not budged in quite a while. After wondering if we would stay in Beaufort through Thanksgiving, we have been here for that, plus 9 days! As a result of enjoying ourselves, waiting out yet another storm and having generator woes, we have managed to significantly overstay our welcome here at David and Gini's. Just kidding, they have been incredibly gracious hosts despite our extended visit. I told them we may just stay here forever! I think they are starting to believe me. We have definitely had our boat at the River Club longer than anticipated and have been drawing the attention of the local residents since we are almost certainly the largest vessel thay have seen docked there. They don't seem to mind though and it has been fun being the subject of discussion!

It has been a very nice time here. David had surgery recently and has thankfully been fairing very well. He and Lynn have had a great time just hanging around together...the two of them can putz for hours! You all know what Lynn is like...can you imagine two of him...at the same time?!

After recovering from Thanksgiving dinner, we have been spending our time living the good life. This has involved lunches at the club and cocktails with friends (the Potrykus')...visits to local community fairs and yoga in the afternoon...shopping in lovely southern towns like Bluffton and Beaufort...leisurely morning breakfasts and walks along the golf course...a festive evening in Beaufort with a Christmas tree lighting and the Paris Island Marine Band playing dixieland-style carols. This is all the regular routine for David and Gini (plus golf thrown in!). I can't believe how quickly the days go by. I really can't remember how I managed to find time for work. I guess I will have to do that again in the not-so-distant future, but for now I am thoroughly enjoying this time out.

When Lynn and I were finally ready to tear ourselves away from this life of luxury, we spent a few days getting the boat back in order, which included Lynn diligently changing the oil in the engine and the generator. All went swimingly until he discovered that a breaker switch had broken in the process. No generator, no power. Uh OH! So, the next two days were spent in a race against time on our battery charge to track down the necessary breaker...a typically unusual, expensive, hard-to-come-by, marine-style 42 amp breaker that is. He finally contacted someone who could help by overnighting the part to us. It arrived this morning and we were back in business in a few hours after Lynn deftly reinstalled it with surgeon-like precision in the usual cramped space. We held our breaths as we started up the unit and shouted out with a big hurray when it purred into action. Whew...just in time to prevent the thaw of all our meat provisions!

So, I have checked the weather and it is looking good for an ocean hop from Port Royal Sound to Cumberland Sound in Florida. It will take about 18 hours and we should arrive there on Monday morning...yippee! After such a long wait we have started to lose our sea legs and some of our momentum. It is definitely time to be going again. But, we will be sad to say goodbye to David and Gini and really can't begin to thank them enough for helping us out while here and offering us their home.