Good morning from, you guessed it, St Augustine, FL! Since the last post a few things have taken place. We were lucky and the transmission did get removed at the end of last week, we’ve continued to try to relax, and we met a few Hampden-Sydney grads here at the harbor. Oh yes, and I turned 60!

The Camachee Boat Yard and the owners, Peter and his family, have been great to us. They were able to get a couple mechanics free between jobs, and they spent 2-1/2 days unhooking and getting the transmission removed from the boat. They started on Tuesday and the transmission came out Thursday morning. I also want to thank Travel Lift and their ownership and employees, for their great support getting parts and a service tech here to fix the yard’s travel lift so they could continue the work on our boat.

The little problem child!

The engine is lifted, the shaft is unhooked, the turbos are disconnected, the transmission is separated, the fireboy system is removed, and she is ready to have the frame built inside the engine room to lift the transmission and get it to the center of the engine room so it can be lifted out with a boom truck.

Next fun part was to drive the boat over to the lift well with only one engine and a bow thruster. This was really tight, so we just went very slowly. As Peter, the owner of the yard said, this is the pucker factor of driving a boat.

I came from the top of the picture and had to bend it around all the boats and then turn to back into the lift well. They did help once I got to the well dock with lines to help pull into the well. All the guys on the dock said that was incredible and great job driving, all I could say was you should see me with two engines!

The well is between the fishing boat on the right and the metal ramp. Lots of room!

All set in the well and ready for the boom truck to lift the trans.

All hooked up and ready to pull with lots of guidance.

James giving the boom truck driver direction.

They had an inch on either side to spare!

Almost out.

And she is out!

I was really hoping the strap would hold!

And she is out of the boat. Memphis and Amy checking out the trans and hoping it will be back soon.

They put it on a pallet and the transmission was picked up by ADR trans service from St Petersburg, FL Friday morning. Yes, the transmission is now on the gulf side of FL, and they will actually open it up later today and into tomorrow morning.

All I had left to do was move the boat back out of the tight area and back to our slip. Got the boat back into the slip and then it was time for a glass of wine to celebrate that the next phase of the repair can take place. Everyone here has been great, and we are two weeks ahead of what we were originally told would happen. Now we will wait to see if all the parts needed to repair are available or if we will have to wait for parts. We will once again cross our fingers and hope that we can get the transmission back in two weeks or less and be heading north by the middle of May.

Friday afternoon Amy and I went to the pool to cool down, as the temps down here are in the high 80’s. While cooling down, a couple guys came to the pool, and they were down from Jacksonville for the fishing weekend. Turns out they went to Hampden-Sydney College and were only a couple years behind me. I did not know them in college, but we had a great time getting to know them now.

Now it was time to celebrate my 60th birthday. Amy and I went out Friday night for a great birthday dinner complete with a single candle for me to blow out!

After dinner the Hampden-Sydney gang was still going strong at the marina with their wives, so Amy and I grabbed a bottle of wine and joined them for a bit. One thing led to another, and they ended up coming over to the boat for a drink before calling it a night. Not sure how they all got up to leave the dock at 4:30am the next morning for fishing. They did very well fishing Saturday and even dropped off some fresh Mahi for Amy and me.

This brings me to Sunday, May 5th. Happy Cinco De Mayo. Amy and I got to enjoy homemade fresh Mahi tacos and a Magarita or two. She made a great sauce with a slaw mix and blackened the Mahi. They melted in your mouth.

You can see we are still roughing it here on the boat. Amy continues to amaze me with her cooking abilities and creative dishes she is able to make in the galley.

Today we will take the loaner car up to Jacksonville to restock the boat. We are running low on lots of items and still planning like we will be back up and moving soon.

We should hear back on the transmission parts needed and the timeline to fix it no later than Tuesday afternoon and will make our plans at that time. We are hoping for the best but will adjust again as needed.

We do have some friends arriving here to see us Thursday and depending on the timeline of the repair, we may return back to WI for a few weeks if need be. We hope not, but we will see.

I hope everyone has a great week and I will update with a short post when I hear what is required on the transmission.