Lots to talk about....

As you all know, we have had the third crew member Mike aboard all week. It’s been a blast and we miss him now that he has gone back north. We have alternated playing tourist, mechanics and boat movers all week.     
Boat movers:   In this past week we have moved the boat approximately 250 miles down the Florida coast (Mile Marker 715 to 951). The last two days of the trip was nearly dead straight down the canal system. It was so straight, I had to tap the compass a couple of times to see it was still working. It also rained very hard….the kind of rain if you look up, you could drown!! The bimini kept us dry and the 18 packs of Corona eased the effects of the rain. (Yes, Corona is sold in 18 packs down south).
    
Boat Mechanics:   Mike and I got lots of “stuff” done on Persephone…oil and filter change, bilge cleaning, fixed an oil leak on the genset. ..etc, etc. The biggest project was the replacement of all of the ship batteries. There are five large batteries (70+ lbs each) which provide power for the lights, electronics and all of our electrical needs. The batteries were 5 years old, and I knew they were on their way out…..but being cheap, I wanted to get the last electron out of them !! And I did.  Last week, we had a complete electrical failure, including alarms and equipment shutdowns. Yep, the batteries died….I didn’t even bother to try CPR….DONE DEAL. We were at Cape Marina in Cape Canaveral which is a large “do it yourself” type marina. We ordered new batteries and they had them at the boat in hours. Mike and I spent the afternoon installing all 5 and it has made a huge difference. Lights, the computer, stereo and refrig can all be going without fear of running the batteries into the ground. NICE.
    
Tourists:   On Wednesday, we rented a car (well, it was a Chrysler 300 land yacht…sort of a “gangsta-mobile”) and rolled to the Kennedy Space Center for the day. KSC is a study in really really big and really really small. The rocket and capsule which took John Glenn into orbit is amazingly small. ( I think you can buy fireworks rockets at the local pyro store which are bigger than the redstone rocket ! And the Mercury Capsule….well see for yourself. It is amazing that a guy in a spacesuit could fit in this thing !!

The Apollo moon capsule is not much bigger….it is about the size of a Volkswagon bug with 3 stretchers for seats….you need a shoehorn to pry the guys in. But the guys themselves were small. The space suit of G. Cernan (last man to walk on the moon) was on display, so I had Trudie stand next to it….. T is 5’ 5” tall…..

 The Saturn V rocket is absolutely HUGE. It dwarfs the other rockets, including the rockets attached to the space shuttle. To give some perspective…..here are Trudie and Mike standing under the solid rocket boosters and external tank of the shuttle….get what I mean by BIG !

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We were a bit disappointed by the lack of hands on exhibits and real science. I wanted to be convinced that we really landed on the moon. Looking at the equipment, it is amazing it got off the ground, never mind landing on the moon !! Persephone has more sophisticated electronics !!  This is the Apollo 14 capsule that carried the "astronuts" to the moon:

We are currently at Vero Beach for the week. We are getting ready for the next phase…provisioning for 3+ months and preparing for the crossing to the Bahamas. Bahamas or bust by Christmas !!