Friday was a leisurely day here in Boot Key Harbor. I got an email from another member of the Trawlers and Trawlering email list who happened to note our arrival notice I had posted the day before. We ran over there to their buoy on the way in to shore this afternoon and met the crew of the motor-sailer Outer Reef. They have been here eleven days waiting for better weather to allow them to cross the Gulf Stream for a visit to the Exumas in the Bahamas. We may get with them another day for a meal - they have a rental car; thus, they are indeed cool.
We went ashore to walk the mile or so to K-Mart and Publix and to find a meal along the way. The Cracked Conch Cafe turned out to be a winner. I had cracked conch with the whole animal beaten flat and fried rather than the fried strips I usually get in the Bahamas - good.
Before we left the boat, I spent some time on the phone with the Garmin techie about how I could get my new radar to do contact tracking for anti-collision purposes (it's called MARPA in the maritime community). Back when I first entered the Fleet, we used a grease pencil, tongue depressor, and the sweep second hand of the bridge clock to calculate a contact's course, speed and closest point of approach to us right on the radar plotter face. Later I was aboard a more modern ship with the Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS), which, with inputs from guys on radar screens in CIC, would do this calculations using a room full of computers. Now all this is done with the MARPA software in little bitty radars like the one I have.
When I tried to use the radar's cursor to acquire a contact and "do MARPA stuff" to it one day on the way here, I got an error telling me the unit needed heading sensor input to do the tracking. Well, I thought, I have a fluxgate compass on the boat which I use to double check the old fashion floating card compasses with, and it has output wires which have never had anything to send information to before
So I broke out the manual on the fluxgate compass while I had the tech on the line and read him off the function of each wire coming out of the compass. He said to grab this extra cable that came with the radar and plotter when I bought them and plug it into the back of the plotter and use two specifically colored wires of the fifteen dangling off the other end of it to connect to two specifically colored wires coming out of the compass and I'd be in bidness. And he was right. Next job is to get the AIS information input to the radar - work for another day.
During conversation with the tech, I discovered that the display part of the radar came loaded with pretty much all the navigation charts I need. I had not even bothered to look at the manual for the thing because I have been happy with my GPS-guided laptop navigation system. Nevertheless, I delved into the book (which is terribly inadequate) and played with the display to find out that yes, indeed, I do have a functioning chart plotter there with the capability of making and following routes on charts. I can even overlay the radar picture on the chart or display a split screen with radar and chart plotter sharing the screen.
I still prefer my laptop chart system because it is much easier to manipulate, but I will definitely make use of the radar /chart overlay and split screens on the Garmin plotter display.
I decided to NOT put up with any more oil in the port engine drip pan from the leaky valve cover gasket - even for the few hours of running time before I get a new gasket delivered by Fedex in Boca Chica on Tuesday. I cleaned the several inches of leaky area up with alcohol and smeared on some hard-setting Prematex.
As it did last night, the wind is howling outside and making us yaw about on our shyort tether like a drunken sailor. The weather is predicted to change dramatically for the better on Monday, which is when we will make a run for Boca Chica. We will likely remain there four four or five days doing some sightseeing in a rental car and fixing the oil leak (again).
