Into the belly of Ciara
Ah! The joys of sleeping in! The joys of not getting going as soon as we get up! Although my knee was unhappy this morning when I woke which didn’t help throughout the day. Captain made a plate of bacon and we had Bloody Mary’s while I typed up my blog. Those are good, but I am starting to realize how much salt is in them and how thirsty I become all day. Not the greatest idea when it’s going to be a hot day. We all headed to shore a little late around 11am.
Being Saturday, Frankfort had their farmer’s market going on right where we land our dinghy. They also had a pretty sizable car show going on next to it. Cory and I went off to enjoy the market while Captain got to ask lots of questions to the collectors and ogle at all the cars. It was already pretty hot so I ended up sitting in the shade with Kona while Cory and Captain finished up their browsing. Cory did get a cantaloupe and a necklace for a friend.
We headed to the beach with Kona. As we got closer the sidewalks disappeared under the soft sand that inevitably continues to blow inland. Kona pulled harder. She remembered her beach for sure. As we got to the pier I unleashed her while Captain held her ball even though there were many people around, she only had eyes for the ball. They walked down the pier quite a bit and Captain threw her ball into the harbor as she jumped after it. Cory and I stayed at shore to where she would swim. Sure enough, as soon as she got to shore, she ran to shore, jumped on the pier and ran back to Captain. She did this for about an hour while we all made friends with folks on the beach or pier. Kona is impressive, many folks can’t believe she can swim so far, not to mention so many times. Cory wanted to go check out the lighthouse so I stayed behind and chatted with other dog owners. Frankfort’s public beach is insanely dog friendly.
We did something new with Kona. After the pier jumping, we all came back to shore and I pulled out a new toy. This one I could fill with sand and it would sink. The water is pretty shallow for a bit here, but deep enough that if something sank, she would need to dive under to get it. We gave her a few tosses and for the most part she did pretty well. She will put her head in the water and dive down a little way but seems to have issues seeing it in slightly deeper water and also has trouble swimming down…. she bobbles at the top. I had to rescue the toy a few times. Proud of her for learning a new trick. We will keep trying. We walked the beach for a bit after that. It was pretty busy and not great for wide open spaces and we were getting pretty hot so we didn’t play too long. My knee was unhappy managing Kona on a leash and the soft sand.
We took a walk though the neighborhoods (rather then main street) to get some groceries for the evening. I was so happy to see the entire street lined with Pride, Hate has no place here, upside down stars and stripe flags and more. Everyone sitting on their porches enjoying the shade in the heat of the day with family and friends or a quiet book. Gardens well maintained and a sense of America from long ago.
We got some chicken thighs for Jerk Chicken at the store and I took advantage of their restroom and marveled at how COLD the A/C was. Then we all got a cold treat at the little ice cream shop in the parking lot. I got Blueberry Dole whip. Captain ordered me a large. Somehow I managed to eat the whole thing without making a mess! I guess I needed that cool off.
We went back to Ciara and had a relaxing two hours resting out the heat.
Our bridge has been going off frequently. This is common. Our drive shaft leaks on purpose, but the drip rate should be pretty slow. It has been going off a lot this entire season and Captain and I finally decided we needed to get in the belly of Ciara and tighten down the packing. He did it once, a long time ago. He has to lie on his belly and superman it. I have done it ever since by being able to crawl down into Ciara’s belly and contort my body into a position to do the work. Cory wanted to do it today, thank goodness! Captain and I helped them by holding flashlights and walking them through the process.
When we got down there, we found the drip was pretty high but not as high as we expected. What we did find was water dripping from the stern compartment as well. Cory got their job done and after they were out of the hole we went to the cockpit and opened the large manhole cover to see if we could find the source of the other drip. The short answer is no, no we didn’t. All we found was primer paint coming off (that means I have a big winter project of cleaning and painting that part of the bilge) and could see wet way down at the bottom of the bilge. Completely inaccessible with the water muffler and hoses in the way. We fear the drive shaft my be leaking a little. This will be a winter project and not a good one. Poor Ciara. So for now our bilge is going off frequently (1-2 times an hour) to pump out the small leak. I’m sad about this.
The jerk chicken was amazing for dinner. We enjoyed eating up deck while music played from on shore for a wedding party that was happening at the old rescue station. Captain and I took Kona to shore for a night walk while Cory hung out on board. We walked to the beach and sat on a bench high up on a small dune. We marveled at the endless sea of ship lights from the massive amounts of salmon fisherman off shore. We talked about repairs on Ciara and other dreams and goals for the fall. Two weeks until this adventure comes to an end. Day one in Frankfort went so fast and there is still so much we want to do. Glad we don’t have to leave tomorrow.
