Thurs Sept 3: Dowry Creek Marina to Alligator River Marina

 In which we are mmmmmmeeeeeellllllttttttiiiiinnnnnnggggggg...

Our day started, as they so often do, with waiting for a mechanic to show up.  That made me happy as I could drink my tea in a leisurely manner, and do my actual job.  It made Rick less happy as he was anxious to get to our next destination before dark (which we did, with about 5 hours to spare..).  I'm not sure he slept well as he was having solenoid dreams.  (Solenoid Dreams would be a great name for a band - maybe smooth jazz?)

Said mechanic did show up, BUT, as is so often the case, with the wrong part.  So we parted with $100 (which was money well spent as now we, and by we I mean Rick, know what needs to happen) and the dock at about the same time.

It was like cruising in a molten sauna.  At one point I looked over and Rick's CALVES were sweating.  I didn't even know that was possible - they were, like, squirting.  We both lost about 20 lbs from sweating - we knew it would be a hot day, but if there were a boat broker standing on the dock at the end of the day we would have sold the boat.  The only thing that broke up the miserable day were the fly-boys, possibly flying F35s, over our heads for about an hour.

 

Blue Horizon's wake - we were blazing along at 10mph today, trying to get done and out of the heat.

 

Arriving at the dock, I did a good job lining us up for the face-dock, but with the 'help' of a less-than-fabulous-dockhand who managed to get the bow straight into the dock with no other part of the boat anywhere near the dock, it was not elegant.😒

Ah well, Alligator River Marina is a no-frills dock/gas station, but they supposedly have good gas-station food (oxymoron?) so we are looking forward to that. Also, with the AC blasting we aren't going to have to listen to the highway RIGHT NEXT TO US.  (Remember, we would be anchored out tonight in a remote/scenic location but we can't lower or raise the chain)

Fried okra and fried soft shell local crab.  From the gas station.  Fried being the operative word here.

On the plus side the depth gauge and odometer are working...  I am not going to mention the Forward Bilge Pump light which goes on and off all day. ..