Mushrooming projects and the itch to sail Lindsay McRory January 30, 1996 At times it's difficult to tell if we have made any progress with the large to-do list that still looms on the Hakuna Matata. The weather, meanwhile, has been great for boat work, but not so great for sailing. Chat hours on the radio, and conversations with fellow sailors, tell us there is still a large contingent of boaters waiting to cross the Gulf Stream en route to the Bahamas. We remain in Titusville, Florida. Our next destinations, Vero Beach and West Palm Beach, are overflowing with boats right now so it doesn't make much sense for us to push on. This has been a good location to lay over. Dolphins frequent the marina, entertaining the kids. We are close to parks, hardware stores, and marine supply stores. And the price is right. The weather has been warmer, but we are hit with fierce northeast winds every three to five days that last about 12 or more hours. The last nor'easter hit two nights ago and severely damaged the concrete dock beside us. On the project front, things continue to be a challenge. I get a little queasy before starting on a new project. Once you open something up, there's no telling what else is inside screaming for attention. I opened the inspection plate on the starboard water tank to fix a leaky pickup tube. Simple job, two hours max. What I found was a couple of buckets of sand in the bottom of the tank and an array of cracks that had been filled with an improper sealant that had started to crumble. Hmmmm, did I say two hours? I guess what I really meant was four days. Apparently, the sand gets dumped in the tank when they get filled with deck water. Whatever sand or muck that is on the deck gets funneled down the fill-up tube. We've also been looking ahead at our planned route. This has changed considerably. Our current plans put us in Venezuela by August. We will follow the Bahamian island chain before ghosting along the east side of the Dominican Republic. After crossing the infamous Mona Passage we'll cruise the west side of Puerto Rico before going to the Virgin Islands. Once in the Virgins, it's decision time. Depending on how late it is in the season, we may continue to follow the island chain or we may head straight south to Grenada or Venezuela, safely beyond the hurricane belt. From there we will most likely spend another year in the Caribbean before going through the Panama Canal. But that's a long time from now. But back to the present. With any luck the weather patterns will stabilize, our to-do list will get done, and we'll be on the road again.