We were able to leave the Roland Martin Marina early on Thursday morning. Although gale force winds had been predicted for that day, we woke to much calmer winds than had been predicted so we decided to cross Lake Okeechobee. It was a bit bumpy in places but the crossing was pretty uneventful.
We locked through the Port Mayaca Lock without a problem. The folks that tend the locks through the St. Lucie canal are awesome and very helpful. They take a stressful situation (for us newbies) and make us look like seasoned boaters. Thanks guys!!
We arrived at Indiantown Marina and were psyched because we were within miles of the Atlantic coast. However…things were about to change (sigh).
We had noticed a bit of an oil slick around the boat when we ran the engine bilge. We thought it was left over from a problem that was supposed to be fixed. It doesn’t take a lot of oil to look really bad when mixed with water. However, since we didn’t want to pollute, we decided to have the head of the service department take a look at things to find out where the oil was coming from and to hopefully fix it so that we could be on our way. Eric Bamburg (a Mainer who lives in Florida now) heads the service department. He checked it out and found oil coming from a breather on the transmission. After checking it out, he thought that maybe it had been overful. The oil was drained, cleaned up and a sea trial was done. Unfortunately, it was still throwing oil.
After cussing and discussing for a couple of days, Steve and I decided to leave the boat in the able hands of the service team at Indiantown. Steve has to have back surgery in May — he should have had it in April but wanted to get the boat moved first. We stayed long enough to make arrangments to leave the Misty Moose “on the hard” AGAIN. She will be tied down with hurricane straps with the rest of the boats that are stored in the yard and Eric and crew will get her fixed up for us. We will spend the summer in Maine, between our home and camp while Steve does physical therapy after his surgery.
Next fall, after hurricane season has passed, we will head back to Florida, put the boat back in the water and head for the Keys to spend some time getting reaquainted with the boat. After that, who know?? We have learned very quickly that you have to be flexible when cruising. It was surprising how many folks told us that they had very similar problems within the first year of purchasing their boat. You can’t believe how many times we heard “welcome to the world of boating”. Quite frankly, I decided that we had better get out of Florida quick because I was going to hit the next person that said that. 
We are on the way back home now. We are liesurely driving along the coast and then we will visit my mom in PA before heading for Maine. We don’t want to get home too quickly because we grew really fond of the warm weather. The saga of the Misty Moose will continue but at another time. Hopefully, I will find some fun places to blog about as we travel.
sad to hear about boat see ya soon. love ya
It was disappointing, for sure, but at least we know that it will be fixed when we head back out next year. We should be at Gram’s tomorrow. I will give you a call. Love ya back!