It was my sewing machine's fault.
Just as we were winding up our projects in preparation to leave Brunswick, Georgia, the last piece of on-board equipment to break down was my trusty Pfaff 1525 sewing machine. It got shaky, couldn't loop thread properly, gave some ominous clicks, and then spat out a couple tiny bits of metal from somewhere in its innards. Which led to a shriek and some salty words from me. But, Yay! No more sewing!
GB could not abide such a loss, plus he felt I was a little too gleeful at the sudden lack of sewing opportunities. Bless his heart, he took charge and discovered that the second-closest sewing-machine repair shop to The Fox was in…our next port of call, St. Augustine, Florida. Awesome luck.
Once in town it was an easy taxi trip to the repair shop, American Sew-N-Vac. The proprietor estimated a 2-week turn around time due to the Thanksgiving holiday, so we paid for 2 weeks' moorage and did more turismo than just about anywhere else we've been. It's been fun. (Favorites: the lighthouse and light station, affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution & very well-curated; the Gator Farm; and the Fountain of Youth open-air museum and archaeological dig. With actual dig in progress!)
Our Pfaff returned in a quick 9 days; the bobbin case had blown apart and was replaced. The Pfaff was refurbished and I learned that its interior was in very good shape despite having lived in a tropical marine environment for the past 7 years. The Fox is indeed a very lucky boat and it and the Pfaff 1525 get along like BFFs.
As expected, the retun of the Pfaff did not coincide with a weather window for offshore travel, but now we have a few extra days to get chores done and plot our next move. Which looks like it will involve driving The Fox a couple hundred miles all the way down the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) from St. Augustine to Lake Worth/West Palm Beach FL. Which for a multitude of reasons is one of my least-loved activities of all time.*
*Heavy boat traffic. Narrow. Shallow. Three or four places that The Fox can only pass at high tide without running aground. Few anchorages with enough water. But: think of the fun navigational challenges!
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