Late yesterday, David discovered a new more serious problem. Our stuffing box was dripping too much. This is where the propeller shaft enters the transmission. It lubricates the shaft with salt water and cools it. Forward it makes a seal around the shaft. Our stuffing box was supposed to have 2-4 drips per minute only when the boat was in gear. It was slowly dripping at rest.
David was at the marina office when they opened and was able to get a mechanic to come to the boat. The first step was to tighten the nut on the stuffing box and see if that would help. If it didn’t, we would have to have our stuffing box repacked which would require a boatyard haul out. Larry was quite helpful and made a an adjustment. At first the drip rate was too slow, then he got it right. Such a relief! We began to plan our day.
The fact that we had eaten too much cake the night before did not deter us from planning our new day around meals. Our plan was to walk along the water to the city market and eat. We had three restaurant recommendations but only two meals. We decided on a Lebanese restaurant, Leyla’s for the evening meal, and chose seafood at Amen Street over barbecue for lunch.
We got a rather late start and arrived downtown around 115 after a beautiful walk along the water. Amen Street had a wait of 20 minutes so we walked to a nearby fountain to wait.
We were seated on time. Appetizers were shrimp corn dogs and fried green tomatoes with pickled okra and pimento cheese. Then there were various seafood sandwiches: grilled fish, fried flounder, crab cake, and tuna tacos. Delicious. The meal took quite awhile. The waitress apologized.
“It’s all good,” said Michael, “The only thing we have planned for today is dinner.”
After lunch, we cruised the city market. Becca and I got palmetto roses. We went to the nearby park to watch kids, dogs and boats and possibly nap while waiting for dinner time. Napping was quite successful for most.
We cruised the shopping street and dropped into a five and dime for a spare set of dice on our way to the next restaurant. Leyla’s was located in the shopping area. It was empty except for some family members eating at the front table. They had two adorable toddler girls who kept escaping the table to go see grandmother in the kitchen.
We ordered baba ganoush and halloumi and we shared a kabob. The baba ganoush came with pomegranate arils on top which was nice. Then came dessert. The homemade pistachio ice cream was a hit. We played Chauncey during dessert. The restaurant had a few more patrons but was not full.
It was good we had along walk back to the boat. We sail for Southport in the morning.
