DiGiorgios

Captain’s Log – Mon 5/12/25

As the weather forecast predicted, it started heavy rain overnight, continuing through the morning and off and on all day. Time to start on the rainy day list of boat chores.

Alicia took a month’s worth of laundry up to the marina laundromat. I worked with the rain to wash and rinse all the salt off of the boat. She hasn’t had a good bath since we be left for the Bahamas. Water is 50 cents a gallon there and a scarce resource. After a good wash, I went over all the stainless with rust remover. All the salty sailing was taking its toll.

I gave the engine a thorough going over. Several hose clamps had worked loose and had a few leaks. I guess it’s the vibration or bouncing around, not real sure why. One was for coolant, the hose that I had replaced a couple weeks before we departed in February. One was on the heat exchanger. The worst was on the exhaust riser, which was noticeably salty. I cleaned up the engine and bilge which makes it easier to monitor for leaks.

I checked the transmission fluid and oil, no issues. The water strainer picked up a ton of grass leaving Tavernier Key yesterday. I ran the fuel polisher all day. It seems slightly less cloudy but still pretty cloudy. I couldn’t get a fuel polishing service to come out until Wednesday, which is when we are leaving and they wanted $500 for my tiny tank. I’m going to run to West Marine tomorrow and get a 2 micron filter and some more fuel treatment then let than run all day again. Lastly, the Venturi filter for the AC unit was clogged causing the condensation to run into the bilge. Laundry and Maintenance done and the boat is cleaned up. Have to make the most of being in port on a rainy day.

We went to DiGiorio’s Cafe for dinner, a local Italian restaurant. Wow, we were blown away. Alicia had the bone in veal cutlet featured on the Diners, Drive ins and Dives show while I had the osso bucco. There was so much that sounded good on the menu, coupled with how good the dinner was, we’ve already decided to have dinner there again tomorrow. How often do you find a restaurant that you just have to go to again the next night? It was that good. If you only have one night in Key Largo, have a drink at the Caribbean Club and watch the sunset, then come eat dinner here.

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