We’ve been in Ft. Lauderdale for two weeks and should have been out of here 1 1/2 weeks ago.  Such is the problem with having warranty repairs done here.  We always seem to have to wait.  Our main reason for coming to Ft. Lauderdale was to get the mast cut down, which probably isn’t going to happen as we have run out of time.  We also came here with several mechanical problems.  One was fixed the day after we arrived when a new charger was installed, under warranty.  However, we still had a problem with the generator which starts and dies right away.  We can’t leave our slip in New River without the generator working as it charges our engine.  We have to stay on shore power.

We waited all this time because the person who was supposed to fix the generator kept making excuses.  Today we finally gave up on him and called someone else, who came to fix it a few hours later.  Unfortunately, this repairman really didn’t seem to know what he was doing....for $100 an hour.  He’s coming back on Monday, so we’ll obviously not get out of here this weekend, as we hoped. 

While we have been waiting, we haven’t done very much.  We did ride our bikes to a theater to see a movie.  We also rented a car for two days last week and did some shopping.  A large Publix grocery store is very close to us, but it was nice to run errands around Ft. Lauderdale.

The rest of the time we have read, relaxed and done a few boat chores.  Mark was able to fix the toilets with some repair kits he ordered.  We also connected our Direct TV satellite dish and have been able to watch TV.  We only use it when we are at docks and can set it up.  The rest of the time it is “on vacation.”

It is very hot in Ft. Lauderdale, in the low 90’s and extremely humid.  Therefore, we have run the air conditioner the whole time we’ve been here.  We do pay a small amount for electricity in addition to the inexpensive slip fee.  We have paid slip fees of  $18 a night for part of the time with a BoatUS discount and $23 a night for the rest of the time.  Water is free and we have laundry and shower facilities to use.  While it isn’t very expensive to stay at New River we just didn’t want to stay this long.

Since we probably won’t get the mast cut down so we can go on the ICW occasionally, we’ll be taking the outside route up the East Coast.  We’ll stop in Port Canaveral to see my daughter Jennifer for a few days.  The plan was to anchor in a much nicer area where we could go ashore to actually do things but we can’t get under the bridge to Cocoa with our mast.  Where the anchorage is in Port Canaveral is mostly industrial and while we can go ashore, there is no place to walk to once we get there.   Last year we stayed at a marina, but it was very expensive so we probably won’t do that this time.  After we leave there, we’ll sail up the coast to Charleston where we’ll stop for the summer/fall season.