Back in the States

 Now that we have been back in the States quite a while we're already thinking about getting back to the Bahamas. We've never been over in the late Spring or Summer so there is some interested in that time of year. But now is the time to give Freedom her due and make sure she is ready for another season. Oil samples were pulled anylised and returned, maintenance lists were made, and the shopping began.

 Over the years we have always monitored Freedom's engine oil using Blackstone Labs and their input has been appreciated. I will say that this is not an exact science and the best approach is to look at the trends not the isolated reports. Basing the decision to tear down an engine on one report would not be a wise approach and Freedom has proved that point with the last sample. This one turned out to be good. Wear materials were down significantly from the prior report. I was always a little concerned about the way I collected the sample last Spring and perhaps that concern is now justified. We'll see what happens next year. But we did have some oil showing up on the compressor side of the starboard turbocharger fittings and that indicated a leak in the turbo. Sure enough removal of the turbo proved that point well. So both turbos were removed and replaced. As a part of removing the turbos we opened them up and sure enough the starboard turbo was "slobbering" oil the intake system could do without.

 Along with the turbos we lost the engine battery bank charger, the site survey wifi router, sold the dink Madonna then ordered her replacement, installed a house battery bank monitor, and cell phone booster amp. A few boat units to be sure. It's all water under the hull.
 In between the shopping sprees and rain which we have had 10+ inches of so far, we made a stop at the Tampa Aquarium where we met this fellow. I was surprised he had his eyes open given it was day time. But he merely looked people over and as the cameras came up to capture his image, he would squint his eyes knowing a flash was coming. I didn't have ours on but if I held the camera up there long enough he reacted in anticipation. The aquarium was a good stop up in Tampa that broke up a long day of driving to RIB dealers and scrounging parts for Freedom.

We also [sarcasm] enjoyed [/sarcasm] shelling out on Sanibel Island. I have to admit that if one gets there early enough one can find some very nice specimens that would show well in any collection. However, if you get to this spot late, you will find the competition almost threatening. I wasn't there a minute before I was ready to leave for a walk down the beach and hope to catch something that was recently washed in. I mean, shelling on the beach is not supposed to be like riding the subway in NYC.