Ed Herndon on Great Ketch
We had a dozen days in Port Aransas and it was broken up by two of the three trips home needed to help get Daddy settled in the Nursing home.
Our slip for the next ten days was at the end of the long transient pier. Our next door neighbors are Jeff and his 5 year old daughter, Summer. They have a dog and a kitten named Barnacle. Barnacle is a Chocolate Point Siamese.... very playful, inquisitive and fearless. Right off the bat she comes aboard and terrorizes our two cats. Beau and Belle flee into the cabin, sit at the top of the stairs, and stare at the new intruder.
The next morning, before Barnacle is out, Beauregard decides to venture out of the cabin. There is no kitten, so he ventures on deck before we can get his harness on. Feeling his prowess he jumps onto the dock. In an instant he decides to hop aboard Jeff's boat. He falls short and plops into the drink.
Three seconds pass and not a sound... then "YeeRowwww..YeeRowwwwww."
Beauregard swims to the nearest pair of pilings and climbs up under the pier. The howling continues at a more urgent level. Well there is no way he is going to get out of that situation on his own, so I remove watch, glasses, shoes and wallet and jump in.
What I find is a wet rusty orange critter that doesn't look like our cat at all. I grab him by the scruff of his neck and pass him up to Marion on the pier.
Marion gave him a shampoo in the kitchen sink. Beauregard was so grateful at being rescued that he didn't even complain. For the rest of the trip Beauregard would never venture out of the cockpit.
Later that day we got out the bicycles and toured the town. We found the University of Texas Marine Institute and dropped into their visitor center. They have several large tank aquariums that feature different marine environments... marsh, reef, deepwater, etc.
The Autohelm replacement head was in Port A when we arrived. I installed it nervously; I didn't want the new one to go into "CODE LOCK". Instead it came up and announced "NO SEATLK".
A phone call to the 800 number for Tech Assistance put me in touch with a very knowledgable expert. He assured me that there was a short somewhere in the cable connecting the computer to the control head. Why do I get these kind of electrical jobs? I'm a software guy. I took the tape off the splice in the seatalk cable and separated the three wires. Next I tried the control head and everything worked!!
Remembering the maxim "Always quit when you are ahead", I wrapped the three separated wires loosely with lots of tape and then closed up the housing. It still worked and continued to do so all the rest of the trip.
We got a rent car from Enterprise for our trip home to see Daddy and Helen. We left early the next morning and brought the "CODE LOCK" control head with us.
Daddy had been moved from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility and was in good spirits when I saw him. Helen had been researching nursing homes in anticipation that would be the next step.
That afternoon we headed back to Port Aransas. On the way we ate at Harvey's in Port Lavaca. Very good Seafood and reasonable prices! Also checked on the Lottery and found that Marion won $3. We got back around 9 pm.
Marion won another $3 on the lottery.
Our tour took us to Island Moorings.. Shrimp Hors D'Overs at Snoopy's and a tour of subdivisions near the JFK bridge.
I worried about Daddy and wasn't much fun.
Got my banking done and checked on the part being sent for the knot meter. It had not been sent. The order was still in the computer. Decided to have it sent General Delivery at Port A.
Returned the car.. left my wallet behind in the rent a car. Went out of my mind looking for it. They returned it.
It was a record hot day, Heat Index 110. We went swimming in the Marina pool before heading back to Port A.
On the way back the GPS was complaining about "Poor Coverage". I decided to see if others were getting the same, so I called the sail boat behind us and asked them if they were using GPS and if so were they having similar loss of coverage. They responded that there was no problem on their Garmin 38. The Sky Map display showed plenty of satellites so I think it may be time to get mine checked out.
The folks in the sailboat behind us asked us where we were headed. When Marion said "Port A Municipal Marina".
They asked to follow us in.
We got settled in first and I noticed they were heading over to the other transient docks. They didn't see us waving them over to our location, so I went over to assist them in docking.
When I arrived, they were pinned by the wind astraddle three of the transient slips. It turned out to be a three person job getting the Hunter 34.5 unpinned and safely into the slip. I invited them to come over to our boat later and we would go to dinner together.
Turns out they were both employees of a company SES in Austin that I had had dealings with in the past. Russell Turpin and Carolyn West were on a vacation and had chartered the Hunter for a long weekend. Russell had developed some of the simulation software I had been using for years. Yes it is a small world.
We had a very enjoyable dinner at the QuarterDeck Restaraunt and exchanged contact information.
Later Russell wrote me:
Carolyn and I greatly enjoyed meeting you and Marian in Port Aransas. (And I am very greatful for your help when my helmsman-not-to-be-named was blown into the pilings!)
Oil Low added 1.5 Qts. Water not circulating.
I ran the engine too long and it overheated, and it automatically shut down.
Cleaned the water trap.. broke the thru hull handle..
Unkinked the feed water hose.. Tightened belts.
Now the engine won't start.... Oh damn!
We hiked across the desert to the beach on San Jose Island and took a few photos. Miserable hot hike over. Made it back much faster. Drank all the beer and swore we will never do that again.
Been there,,, Done that.
Marion detected a fool odor in the forward beth . I could not smell anything as usual. It was a real urgent situation because we have guests coming.
I said,"Just don't tell them you smell something. I can't, and maybe they won't."
She prevailed " It smells like an outhouse."
I opened the fart hose connection to the forward holding tank and got sprayed with two year old stuff. It was under pressure and it was awful ripe. Even I could smell it.
We got a pumpout. Then I washed everything down five times. Now alI I can smell is Clorox.
While I took a shower, Marion washed out my clothes.
We did laundry and waited for Tom and Sally to arrive. When they came we went to Quarter Deck for dinner and toured around the town before turning in.
We went out ahead of the fleet to watch the start. They caught up with us just as we passed the end of the jetty.
Sea was rough ... 4-6 foot waves.
Sally contracted mal de mer on the way back. We cut the sailing short.
We went to the University of Texas Marine Science Institute and saw a wonderful film on cephlapods. They are Big Suckers... Squid, Octapus and Cuttlefish. Tom and I also got a good nap in the process. As a result I missed the part where the Giant Squid eats Moby dick.
Went to Shells for supper then back to the boat for a nightcap.
We attempted to follow for a while then decided to just reach on out into the Gulf. The air began to get lighter so we turned for port. We were expected back by 2 PM and I did not want to have to motor back.
As we approached the shoreline the wind began to freshen so instead of returning to port we headed up the Corpus Christi channel. As we went the wind began to build. We were on a port reach, full sails, heeled 15 and doing hull speed. What a blast!
Alas the wind continued to build, and soon we were shortening sail. Roll in some Jib, drop the Main, and turn back to make our appointed hour. It was a pinchy beat back down the channel but we still made 5 Kts on Jib and Jigger.
I rode back to Houston with Tom so I could visit Daddy. Sally stayed with Marion in Port A so she could shuttle my car back when I returned. That evening I got to stay at home in a comfortable bed and use a toilet I didn't have to pump.
Next day I saw Daddy and Helen and went to see the nursing home where Daddy will move. I am reassured about the move.
On the return trip to Port Aransas I visited Sam and Charlotte. Charlotte was supportive about nursing home care; it helped a lot.
Next morning we went to breakfast with Sally and she drove my car back to Houston.
I dwell on these arrangements because they got me home to see Daddy without having to rent a car. Sally invented the plan so she gets all the credit.