December 13-14, 2015 dragging boats and alternator problems again

these young lads put on quite a show for us

love this picture, texting and boating

some boats are getting into the spirit of Christmas

we decided to do a message in the bottle thing

all ready to be tossed in the Gulf Stream

we picked up a new boat orchid

last night this sailboat (the white one) anchored beside us, and Joe and I commented on the poor anchoring skills, the 2 men left the boat and went to shore, a few squalls came thru, so the white boat dragged, it just missed the large motor vessel, and we think the anchor took hold a bit further along, just beside another marina, at 9:30 pm the 2 men had not returned … but in the morning the boat was anchored behind us this time 

we had more problems with our alternator, this time it was smoking within 5 minutes of starting the engine … we took it off again and took it and the regulator back to the alternator guy, he tested both units and said that they are working fine … we decided to buy a new alternator with a built in regulator, once back on the boat Joe installed it and ran the motor, everything is working properly … we then hauled anchor and headed about 5 miles away to the inlet of Lake Worth

Snowbirds dinghy motor is not working, so Joe took them to Customs to pick up there boat papers. Snowbird has 48 hours to get out of the country, and we did just that.

I understand it was quite a wet ride on the way back to the boat.

while Joe was away I did some chores, and found this screw on the deck, not always a good sign.

it came out of the hatch cover, the one that is leaking

the regulator that goes with the alternator, we will be selling it when we get back home

another squall coming thru, we collected a few more gallons of water

to bed early, cause tomorrow we cross the Gulf Stream to Bahamas