Cape Florida Lighthouse on the tip of Key Biscayne off Miami
We sailed back up to Ft Lauderdale yesterday from No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne. The plan was to leave from Key Biscayme, cross the Gulf Stream and go on to the Bahamas banks on our way to the Exuma island chain in the central Bahamas. But who needs plans? The sail up to Fort Lauderdale was hard on the wind at 20kts, so it was a bit lumpy and bouncy. We made it in about 4 1/2 hours – so it was a fast run. Entering Port Everglades we were greeted by the Sunday afternoon traffic jam.
There were 6 giant cruise ships taking on passengers and getting ready for their week long run into the Caribbean. These ships look like they giant condominiums. If you turned them on end, they’d fit in fine with the condos along Miami Beach.
This gal was flying off from Biscayne Bay along with us.
So why’d we head back to Fort Lauderdale? This is our Village Marine water maker sitting on the dock after I removed it from deep in the bowels of Georgia. I recently ‘upgraded’ the water maker to the new vessel container and 40in membrane – the blue tube in the picture. After this upgrade I couldn’t get decent water quality out of the beast. I took the unit down to Southeast Power, AKA Village Marine Tec Ft. Lauderdale. The tech there was great and we stuck it on his bench and did thorough bench tests. Well, I now know a lot more about water maker membranes. Turns out the 12v Village Marine units will only work with low-flow membranes, not the standard Dow high flow ones. We switched the membrane to the low-flow type and the water quality was great (TDS 250). Problem solved. Now we have to still wait for a decent weather window to get across the Bahamas.
If you’ve read this far then you surely have too much time on your hands and have a decent Internet connection.
Paul
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always something! reviews of the contraption were indeed entertaining.
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