"B-reak O-ut A-nother T-housand"

and another...........
and another..........
and another..........
and another...........



Who stole half my engine !?!?

Ahhhhh......the joys of owning a boat!  This past week, we had the engine mechanic look at our port engine to figure out why it has been shutting down at exactly the wrong time (like approaching the fuel dock inside a very narrow channel with the wind blowing in the wrong direction!).  The conclusion was that the fuel pump had a seal leaking inside of it, allowing air to get into the fuel system.  For some strange reason, a diesel engine doesn't run very well without a good supply of fuel.  The solution?   (Get out your credit card & sit down before I tell you.)  Remove the fuel pump (a 6 hour effort), all the high pressure fuel tubing, and the fuel injectors to send to Mobile for repair/rebuild.  And we need it done within 5 days, if we have any hopes to resume cruising about May 22.  So all the parts are removed & boxed for UPS shipment.  And of course to get the box to Mobile by Monday, it must be air freighted.  So, don't put away that credit card yet!!!

BUT........

The best part of the past 2 days is that we were visited by our good friends and our boating buddies Clint and Leigh from Lynchburg TN (home of Mr. Jack).  We've kept in close touch ever since we took joint week-long cruises up & down the Tennessee River a couple years ago (and our boat earned the name "crawler").  We shared family stories and sea stories (at least half of them were true!), and found all the great oyster restaurants in Panama City. 

One of the restaurants we ate at, was across the street from a topless place called "Tan Fannies".  But why should Clint & I care when we already have all we can handle?