Thursday, January 13, 2011

29 Degrees! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

Who can you sue over this weather? Somebody has got to be responsible. Who is it? 29 degrees and they even got snow flurries some place north in Florida this morning. Snow? In Florida? Something is definitely wrong here. And the temp in Fort Pierce topped out at 59 for the high today. I am sure there is an appropriate Anglo-Saxon expletive that can be used but let's just say it is damn cold.

And then there is the wind. That don't help at all. Wind chill makes the temp feel even lower. And that wind was a lot more than NOAA forecast, sufficient enough that I had to haul and reset the anchor this afternoon. I trust NOAA about as much as I trust my depth sounder.

Speaking of the depth sounder, I think I finally got it working correctly. Being in one place for a while, I have been checking the depth not only with the depth sounder but also with a led line. The difference was usually about 5 feet or so. Getting tired of this and wanting to give Towboat/US a break, I called the Garmin people and asked what the problem was. I told them that I had put a minus 5.5foot keel offset into the system as indicated in the owners manual. The response was, "Oh, the manual is wrong. It is supposed to be a positive not a negative number." Boy, you just can't trust some people.

There was a fire somewhere today in a marsh. The north wind blew the smoke over the anchorage and it really created a smokey haze. Perhaps the best thing was that the wind, more than NOAA called for, blew the smoke away as quickly as it brought it. Now, if only the wind would go away, taking the cold with it. Not tonight though, at least according to NOAA, though it may only get down to the low 40's. Then again it is NOAA saying this.

Haven't heard if Lucille made it in from the left coast or whether she is hung up because of all of the delays caused by the recent snow. Hopefully she got in safe and sound and she and Jerry and me will break bread together soon. I really want to meet her but I also want to get to where the air is at least as warm as the water!