Day 71 – 73
Turner Marina normally has a courtesy vehicle available for its transient boaters, but unfortunately it was flooded in one of the previous hurricanes to roar through the area, so we had to rent a car for our errands and provisioning runs. Steve called Uber for a ride to Mobile Airport, where Hertz is located, then drove our rental (a Chevy Equinox) back to the marina. While Steve worked on getting the water-maker back up and running, I drove the rental to a CVS to pickup our prescriptions. I used Google Maps to get me where I needed to go, which took me through a rather sketchy part of town, but ultimately to the right place. I returned to the boat to work on some crafting projects while Steve continued down underneath the cockpit with the water maker. A fresh water-maker is a wonderful thing to have onboard when its working, but when it’s not it can be rather frustrating and high-maintenance. But Steve soldiered on.
Sunday, 11/22/20, was a great day. The weather was warm and sunny when we drove the rental car to West Marine, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Michael’s, Dollar Tree, and finally to BJ’s Microbrewery for lunch. I couldn’t believe my good luck when I found the perfect-sized container of Mosquito Bits at Home Depot, which are used to control fungus gnats in the soil of potted plants. I’d been wanting this product for weeks and weeks, since I had a problem with gnats in my beloved house (boat) plants. After searching fruitlessly at multiple Walmarts and Home Depots in town after town as we traveled, I’d finally decided to order the Mosquito Bits from Amazon and have it shipped to the boat. But moving around so often proves to be a logistical nightmare when trying to determine where to have online orders shipped, especially when back-orders are concerned. So I felt this was truly my lucky day when I actually happened upon the holy grail of gnat-control! It even inspired me to buy another plant, so that my boat-plant count has now increased to a total of four. 🙂 That night we ate a delicious Mexican dinner at Azteca’s Restaurant and Cantina.
Early on Monday, 11/23/20, Steve drove the rental car into town to find a specific O-ring he needed for the water-maker. When he returned, I drove the rental car to Publix for a grocery restock, while Steve stayed on the boat as Turner’s technicians repaired and centered our port side stabilizer that had broken several weeks back when we were fighting the strong current on the Tennessee River at Volunteer Landing. We’re learning that stabilizers are rather fragile and can be drama queens. In fact, Steve has read that “once you’ve owned a boat with stabilizers, you will never own another one.” Once I’d unloaded my grocery haul, I drove the rental car back to Hertz at the airport and rode back to the marina with a nice, but chatty Uber driver.
Position: N 30° 33.973, W 88° 05.358
Total marina nights: 58
Total nights at anchor: 15
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 27