3.5.2022 - 3.13.2022 Moved to Crown Bay Marina for Upgrades!!

It took a few weeks from the time our batteries and inverters shipped to St. Thomas until they got cleared through customs. As soon as Jesse and his team (Mark, Patrick, Beau) got word they were cleared, we scheduled a slip reservation at Crown Bay Marina.

To give you all an idea of where we've been anchored for a majority of the past month, I included a satellite picture from Google maps. We've been staying close to Crown Bay so that there was easy access for me to get to the airport for work travel (mainly conferences) and in anticipation of needing to move into the marina.

Due to travel for a conference, we moved into Crown Bay on 3.5.2022 and the guys were going to start the install 3.7.2022. This was our first time back in a marina since we left Port Louis is Grenada 2+ months ago. The entry/exit of the marina is somewhat of a choreographed effort similar to what I imagine air traffic control is for planes. Prior to entering, you need to hail the marina office to make sure your slip is empty/ready to dock and also make sure there isn't another vessel or any of the ferries are exiting the marina.

Our approach into the marina was a bit delayed because after we got the ok over the radio to enter, a distress call was made for a boat in the marina that was taking on water in their engine room! It was all hands on deck for the marina personnel to get pump-out equipment to aid the vessel so that it would sink. We ended up idling between Hassel Island and Banana Point near Water Island (reference above satellite map) for about 30 minutes for the other vessel to get aid.

Once the emergency was under control, we made our approach!

Dockmaster Karl was ready and waiting to assist us with maneuvering into our slip - we'd met/worked with Karl before at the Crown Bay fuel dock and he is very helpful and really likes Ollie!

Once we had all our lines secured to the dock, we were able to check-in to the marina office and they gave us a welcome gift.

We spent the weekend getting situated getting set back up on shore power (like we were in Grenada at Port Louis Marina). Ollie was VERY excited to have so many things to see and listen too - it kind of made us realize how he's been a bit people deprived with it just being us and him out on an anchorage and mooring. We also did a mini-project of upgrading our outdoor grill!

The guys showed up first thing Monday morning to begin the install. Our battery/lithium upgrade was completed mainly in the port aft (left rear) cabin and includes

• Went from 4 lead acid batters with 1000 amp hours to 4 lithium iron phosphate(LiFePO4) batteries with 1200 amp hours. One of the old batteries is the first photo and the new batteries are the second and third photos.

• Went from a 3000 watt inverter to 2 Victron multi-plus inverters that have 4800 watts. The old inverter is the first photo and the new inverters are the second and third photos.

The guys also prepared the wiring for our solar panel upgrades - the solar panels unfortunately are on the island but haven't cleared customs, so we'll finish that portion of the upgrade in a few weeks.

Lastly, we upgraded to something called a Cerbo, which is an electrical monitoring system that will give us data on our battery power, inverter power, and solar power.

What this essentially means is we no longer have to worry about power and energy for daily life on the boat!!! It allows us to live off the grid for as long as we want. The only reason we now NEED to return to land is for food (which depending on how well we provision can be weeks between land visits).

This was a big project that required a lot of really advanced electrical work and rewiring between the cabin, salon bench (where the old inverter was), under the salon navigation desk, and at the breaker control box/panel. It took the guys 5.5 days to complete and I was bummed to miss seeing the progress.

Mike had his hands full with work, helping the guys and answering questions, and taking care of Ollie. On day 2 of the install, Ollie escaped the boat on took a stroll down the dock to the marina restaurant. The bartender returned him and said that Ollie just came up to him and was really happy and wanted attention! On day 4 of install, we got a new neighbor and Ollie got very excited (see below screenshot).

When it was time to leave the marina Sunday morning, we realized that all of our navigation instruments (AIS, auto pilot, depth meter, wind meter) were not working. Mike tried to troubleshoot but the wiring under the salon navigation desk is a mess. We contacted Jesse and we think that some of the wiring got affected during our upgrade install. Due to this, the only place we could safely go was back to Hassel Island since we already knew the area and depth. The plan was for Jesse and team to return during the weak to figure out the electrical issues.