BACK IN SHANGRI-LA

                                                                           

                                      A VIEW OFF OUR "BACK PORCH" AT THE MARINA

So here we are, back at the White Marlin Marina in Marathon, Florida. Having moved the boat down here from Punta Gorda back in November we returned to Kingwood for Thanksgiving and Christmas but returned to the boat on December 29 to find her in excellent shape and waiting to welcome us back to our winter sojourn in Florida. The past several weeks have flown by.as we managed to stay rather busy but we found time to cruise down to New Found Harbor--one of our favorite anchorages about 1/2 way from Marathon to Key West. The harbor was more crowded than usual but we found plenty of room to anchor securely in about 8 feet of water. After about a 4 hour cruise we had our usual celebratory Corona Light with a lime and chilled the rest of the day. The following day after sleeping late and just enjoying the views and other boat activity we headed out on the dinghy for the 2 mile jaunt around the corner to Kiki's Sand Bar restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner. Again----back to the boat, more relaxation (and a nap), a little reading and retiring early. So, after 2 nights on the hook we headed back to our marina. Upon arrival we encountered this:

                                                       SHANGRI-LA INTERRUPTED

                                                                             

       We've known for some time that we were getting a swimming pool at the marina and had hoped that it would be constructed last summer while we were away from the marina for several months---but noooooo---They couldn't get the plans approved and the necessary permits for many months. So--here we are having to put up with construction on a daily basis-----"Beep, Beep, Beep---roar". It is reported that construction will take several months and completion should occur shortly after we've left. Oh well, it should be ready for us next winter (along, most likely, with a steep rise in our slip rental charges). 

But, nonetheless, Diane still finds a way to sit back and relax with a glass of her favorite beverage:

                                                                         

           Actually, it hasn't been too bad and we're excited about having the pool next year,

We're also thrilled to be having lots of fun with our very good friends at the marina--Jimmie and Gayle, Jay and Laura and others. Lots of activity at the Tiki Hut this year--just good fellowship over-all. We are, however, truly missing our friends Tim and A.J. on board M/Y Oloe who may not make it down here at all this winter. We're hoping to do some more cruising away from the marina--some more nights on the hook. We've not made it out to the sand bar yet but are looking forward to that. Also, we'll be perfecting our skills on our stand-up  (sit-down?) paddle board upon which we miserably failed last year. Above all we are enjoying greatly our new bimini enclosure on the fly-bridge that gives us another room even when the weather is inclement.

So, enough of this exciting discourse for now. LIFE IS GOOD

WHY WE FLEE TO THE MOUNTAINS

                                                                            

    

Taken from Shrine Pass Trail at Vail Pass, Colorado

So, a couple weeks ago I went to play golf with a friend. We had an afternoon T-time (big mistake) and the plan was to get a practice round in before we headed to Colorado for a couple of months. After 2 holes, my feet were sliding around in my shoes, my hands were slipping around in my glove and my wet, sweat soaked glove, was slipping around on my grip. We quit after 9 holes.

This is summer in Houston. 

The next day I spent about 20 minutes removing the cushions and covering our outdoor furniture to protect it during our absence. I sweat through every piece of clothing I had on---completely soaked from sweat. 

This is summer in Houston.

Today, at about 7AM I sat out on the deck at our summer rental in Vail--having my morning coffee and morning (yes) cigar. It was 47 degrees and 25% humid. This is indeed why we flee to Colorado in the summer. By 10AM it will have warmed up to 60 or 65 and by noon, low 70's--with virtually NO humidity.

(From top to bottom) Daughter Kristin, Granddaughter Anna, Diane and Your's Truly

 We'll be here until around the middle of September and then return to Houston until we head back to Florida in late Oct or early Nov. It's been rather routine since my last post---nothing exciting to report. We had nice visit up here by Kristin's family and are now waiting to have our son and his significant other visit us toward the end of the month. Till then--it's just the 2 of us enjoying the weather, food, walking for exercise. and all the beauty this valley has to offer. Things we've done since arriving---concert at Gerald Ford Amphitheater of the New York Philharmonic with Kelli Ohara performing Broadway tunes; attended the local farmer's markets; Vilar Center performance by Susan Tedeschke and her band, Tedeschke Trux (my ears are still ringing); playing golf at Eagle Ranch Golf Club with my Friday morning golf group (so far 2 second places and one closest to the pin); strolling around downtown Vail; strolling around the neighborhood (for exercise); just enjoying life and dreaming about the year ahead on our boat, and time to spend with the family and friends.

So last year we bought our boat in October and about 10 days later the LAST named storm of the season went right through the Keys where the boat was located---we tied her down and fled north to my cousin's home outside Ft. Lauderdale. Fortunately it was mostly a non-event and the boat came through just fine. We left the boat at the end of the season in Punta Gorda and drove back to Houston. Within a few weeks the FIRST storm of he 2021 season went---you got it--- right over where our boat was sitting tied to a marina dock. In advance of the storm's arrival I flew over to Ft. Myers, rented a car and drove to the marina to prepare the boat for the storm's (Elsa) arrival--remove canvas, double all dock lines, disconnect electric shore power, get everything that could blow around off the decks. The storm arrived a couple of days into my visit and we experienced 40 to 50 mph winds and about a 4 foot storm surge and a whole lot of rain but overall it wasn't too bad. No damage other than serious street flooding. So far all has been quiet and we keep our fingers crossed that the storm god's have had enough fun aiming at us.

Until next time. Life is good.

Wild Flowers

                                                                     Mushrooms

                                                                        Crazy Daughter

Been Too Long ! !

 Sorry folks-----It's been way too long since I last posted. Uh, uh, uh I was busy; Uh, I forgot; Uh, uh the dog ate my homework. Actually, none of the above---I just got lazy. But I'm back and ready to fill in the blanks between April 3 and now (June 14). 

We have truly enjoyed our stay at Safe Harbor Burnt Store Marina. We ended up on their first floating dock about 6 slips down from where we kept our sailboat, "S/V Assisted Living" back in 2012-2014. It's immediately adjacent to the pool, laundry, bathroom and shower facilities-- just mere steps away--very convenient---and the truck is even closer---very nice with regard to hauling our groceries from truck to boat. Just a very nice set-up all the way around. We were the first to tie up to this brand new dock but it is now completely full and the people here are great. There are 2 other Mainships on the dock and we have gotten to know one of the owner couples quite well---Jim and Darlene--aboard an almost identical 2007. They live in the Cape Canaveral area but have recently bought, and are fixing up, a home in the Punta Gorda area where they will be able to keep their boat in the canal in their back yard. Really nice (and helpful---more to come) folks. Also, Terry, the harbor master for the marina lives on his boat 3 slips over. He has promised to keep an eye on our boat while we're away. Very nice. It's really a very good situation considering that we will be away from the boat for almost 6 months. (I'll probably be back and forth a couple times, especially should any tropical stuff start to develop.)

                                                                         

M/V Endeavor  at Burnt Store Marina

(Taken from our truck)

We weren't there long before our son, Scott and his girlfriend Karina came for a week long visit. They were supposed to have been with us in Marathon but that didn't work out so they drove over from Miami where they had spent a week or so. They stayed with us on the boat and we had a great time together. This was the first time that we had met Karina in person and found her to be a delight. It was so much fun to watch this young couple who are obviously very much in love. While we weren't able to take the boat out (High winds) we had a great time showing them the area with a trip to Boca Grande, a trip to Ft. Myers and the Edison and Ford museum and estates and a trip to Sanibel Island and the beach. Lot's of good food, drinks and conversation. (With the pandemic it had been almost a year and a half since we had seen our son). They introduced us to a new board game--Codename-- and we promptly killed them (It helps, as a team in this game, to have been married for over 50 years). Its a fun game---try it.

                                                                

Shortly after Scott and Karina left us it was time for Diane and me to start thinking about heading home. We had Grandchildren and daughter birthdays and it was just time to head home and take a break from the boat. So we packed up the truck and headed back to Houston where we hung out for about 5 weeks. But it was surprising--we shortly developed a longing to be back on the boat so we jumped back in the truck on May 23 and headed back to Florida where we spent one glorious weather week and another that brought rain almost every day for at least a couple hours of the day in the afternoon. 

That first week was fabulous. The weather was clear and calm and in the 60's in the mornings and evenings and 80's during the warmest part of the day. The highlight of this trip was motoring down to our favorite anchorage--Pelican Bay---off of Cayo Costa Island where we dinghied around, took the park shuttle over to the beach and even dinghied the 2 miles over to Cabbage Key (The claimed "original" cheeseburger in paradise location). We were at Pelican the week-end of Memorial Day although we had departed for the anchorage on the preceding Thursday anticipating that the anchorage would get crowded over the holiday week-end. Boy! Were we right. Typically there have been perhaps as many as 10 to 15 boats in this somewhat small bay over a given week-end. By the time we left to head back to the marina on that Sunday there were close to 70 boats at anchor. We  were not crowded at our spot as we had chosen carefully and wisely before the arrival of the "Madding Crowd". It was a wonderful stay---one of our best---certainly in part due to the fantastic weather. The next week--not so much.

As mentioned, the weather turned unsettled and we elected to stay in port. We planned to take a trip up to Punta Gorda and actually made a reservation for a slip for 2 nights at the Fisherman's Wharf Marina but had to cancel due to the weather. Along with the rain came the heat and humidity and by the time we left for home we knew we were in Florida in the summer. So we left Florida's heat and humidity to return to Houston's heat and humidity.

 The silver lining in the 2nd week was the opportunity to meet and get to know our marina neighbors a bit better. I mentioned Jim on the other Mainship. It so happened that one hot and humid night the power on the boat went out. I spent a couple hours trouble shooting but could not get to the cause. Our generator was being repaired as well so without shore power we had no electric coming into the boat and were unable to run our air conditioning. Our inverter would run fans but we had no way of recharging the batteries without either shore power or generator. The fans got us through the night fairly comfortably.  The next morning the marina electrician came by and determined that the problem was indeed on our boat, not the electrical pedestal that provides the shore power. Shortly thereafter, Jim walked by and I mentioned the problem to him. Turns out he is an engineer and actually knows something about boat electrical systems. For 21/2 hours we traced the entire electrical system all the way through the boat--from shore power cord to circuit breaker to galvanic isolator to the 120/240 breaker panel and down to the inverter. We had power at all those places but not at the panel where the circuit directs the power to all the 110 volt applications. Jim located a cable that seemed to be running to my inverter and we questioned whether the inverter was the culprit. The problem---the inverter is located behind the refrigerator requiring the removal of the fridge. Jim had done this on his boat, so we set about removing the fridge. Once removed, Jim was in the process of removing the cover on the inverter box when he stumbled across a little tiny button on the outside of the inverter----obviously a reset button--he pressed it, reset it and voila! We were back in business. I'm pretty sure I know what I had done to cause it to shut down but won't go into it in any detail--just to say I think I had tried to pull too much current to too many things the night before. (Curses on whoever decided to bury the inverter behind the fridge!!!)

Needless to say, the Admiral and I were thrilled with the result. We took Jim and Darlene out to dinner the next night to thank him for his assistance. The silver lining here?---I know my electrical system a lot better now.

For now--we're melting away in Houston looking forward to heading for the mountains and cool air of Colorado in another month. While I may be going over to Fla. a couple times to check on the boat we don't anticipate being on her for any extended time until October------sooooo----I probably won't be adding to this site for a while. I wish all a very happy and fun post-pandemic summer wherever life takes you.

GOING NORTH

 On Tuesday, March 23, we left our friends at White Marlin Marina to head down and under 7 Mile Bridge over to the Gulf of Mexico and up the West coast of Florida to the Punta Gorda area on Charlotte Harbor, just a few miles north of Ft. Myers. We had made arrangements to keep Endeavor at The Burnt Store Marina just south of Punta Gorda. We had been here previously ---spent a  month at this marina on our sailboat, "Assisted Living", back in 2011 and actually had kept her here from time to time as we left her during the hot summer season--probably about 3 years in total.. It was falling into disrepair then, but has been purchased by a large marina operating company--Safe Harbor---and they're pouring money into the place with all kinds of up-grades, including floating docks (instead of fixed docks where you're constantly adjusting your dock lines to accomodate rising and falling tides---these docks float up and down with the tide but you are secured to the dock so the boat and dock rise and fall together. No line adjusting necessary.)

Our first day started at 8AM and we headed West to 7 Mile Bridge, passed under and began our passage north to drop anchor at the mouth of the Little Shark River, in the Everglades. The day was PERFECT! Very little wind; very little wave action; clear sky overhead and beautiful blue water below. The boat did well as did our new electronics and the new auto-pilot made the trip quite pleasurable. The only inconvenience was the occasional string of crab pots that you have to steer around, but there were not as many as I remember from prior trips along this route. We arrived at Little Shark around 3:30 that afternoon and dropped anchor in an oxbow near the mouth with very good holding and wind protection. Surprisingly, bugs were not a problem. (Our last visit to this spot found us infested with "No-seeums", little bugs that bite and cause large welts and extreme itching on some people (including Diane)). Even though I felt we had a good anchor set I was up much of the night keeping an eye on things as the current changes 180 degrees here which requires the anchor to turn 180 degrees as well. This can sometimes result in the anchor failing to reset and the boat can drag with the current (or wind) into shallow areas. My vigilance went unrewarded as we had no anchor dragging issues all night.

Diane at the helm and a screen shot of our first day course

Our anchorage in The Little Shark River

 

Check out the calm conditions on this passage

                                                                        

The next day, being the longest of the passage, had us up and gone at 7:15, just after sun-rise. It was a little choppier but still very comfortable and we made good time. There were many more crab pot arrays along this stretch but we managed to avoid them. Very heavy as we approached Marco Island.

                            Marco Island in the distance as we approach from around 8 miles off shore

We covered roughly 90 miles this day (from Little Shark to Cabbage Key near our final destination. We simply ran out of daylight and decided to anchor approximately 2 hours  south of our destination right off the famous Cabbage Key restaurant. (We've stayed here many times before and occasionally dinghied over to the restaurant for lunch or dinner. It's a very popular spot and you can only get to it by boat.). Our past experience here usually found us among only 2 or 3 other boats in this rather small anchorage. This time there were 8 or 9 other boats. It's right around the corner from our very favorite anchorage--Pelican Bay, on Cayo Costa Island, but we noticed as we were coming into Cabbage Key that Pelican Bay appeared to be quite crowded. So we dropped the hook in about 8 feet of water and spent a very comfortable night.

The next morning, after a leisurely wake up and breakfast we headed up Charlotte Harbor for a couple hour trip to our final destination --Safe Harbor Burnt Store Marina--near Punta Gorda. We've been here quite a bit before--back when we had our sailboat and even once on Opus V, so we are quite familiar with the marina as well as the surrounding area. They've poured a bunch of money into the place including the building of the floating docks, upon which we are securely tied. 

Retrieving our truck from Marathon and bringing her up here proved to be quite a challenge. Usually we have Enterprise pick us up and we drive a one-way rental to where we left our vehicle. Drop off the rental and return in our vehicle. This time proved to be a bit more problematic. There were absolutely NO rent cars available in South Florida---Spring Break; approaching Easter week-end. Even if you could find a car to to rent they all were requiring a 2 week rental. But we were desperate to get our truck up here in order to prepare for a visit by our son, Scott and his girl-friend, Karina. We ended up paying an Uber to drive us to Marathon (Don't ask how much---It was a lot; but we needed the truck.) We accomplished this on the Friday before Scott's anticipated arrival on Sunday. It was another incredibly long day --left here around 9AM and got back around 7:30 that night. (We're to old for this!!!)

But now we had our truck and were able to use it to provision in advance of Scott and Karina's arrival. More on that in my next post.

THIS PLACE IS FOR THE BIRDS

 One of the things I enjoy the most about this location is the plethora of birds that cruise these waters. We're tied up to a dock at the marina, with our starboard side alongside the dock. The port side looks out over what we call "the lake". (It's actually a small bay whose name I cannot recall.) The birds fly around all day but about 5PM (coinciding with our cocktail hour) they get particularly active. We like to sit up high on our fly-bridge where we have a nice view of the surrounding waters and the sky overhead.

Mostly we have 3 varieties of birds-----the usual Seagulls, Cormorants and Pelicans---oh so many pelicans. We'll occasionally see Frigate birds flying high overhead but they seldom come down close enough to be exciting. We'll also see  Osprey soaring overhead---but they, like the Frigates, usually don't come down very close.

Seagulls are actually kind of boring. They fly by, very seldom diving on prey. Their flight pattern seems to consist of fairly relaxed wing flapping and some occasional soaring for short spurts. But they're pretty fast in the air. About the only time they are a bit interesting is when they've spied someone at the fish cleaning station when they congregate and fight for morsels and then chase the one who succeeds in snagging the fish guts. (Remember "Finding Nemo"?------Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine) They don't like to fly too close to the boat but will occasionally fly over close enough to concern us with the possibility of a little doo doo being dropped on our decks.

Cormorants are a bit more interesting. They're terrible flyers---flapping their wings violently to get off the water and continuing their rapid flapping as they fly to their next destination. There's no soaring involved. They fly like they mean it. But they fly very fast, once airborne. The don't seem to want to mingle even with others of their own specie. They are excellent swimmers and divers. They'll stay down for minutes at a time often surfacing with a fish in their mouth.

But my favorite is the Pelican. A wondrous bird the pelican. His mouth can hold more than his belly can. I love to watch them fly by. Some of the adults are huge with 6 foot wingspans. They fly beautifully and gracefully for such a large bird. They'll fly by, flapping their wings gracefully and leisurely and then soar for 6, 7, 8, 10 seconds, often dropping down to inches off the water where they soar often toward a water landing. As opposed to the pelicans I use to observe in Galveston Bay these pelicans don't dive straight down into the water after their prey. In fact, I haven't seen one of them do that dramatic dive. I don't know how they get their food.  Quite often you'll see them flying and soaring in pairs. Are they mates or just following each other? Sometimes you'll see 2 or 3 flying along and then 3 or 4 or so will change their course and fly with them. I don't know where they're going or why they seem to be more active during my cocktail hour (just before sunset). Perhaps they're flying home for the night. Rush hour?  It really is a beautiful sight and I continue to be entertained by the beauty and grace of their flight. 

Well-------You can ignore some of what I said above. After I started drafting this post we went out to the sand bar with our folding chairs to enjoy an afternoon of sitting in the water, sipping a beer (and smoking a cigar) and listening to music from our friends boom box. Looking off toward shore--about a mile away---I saw what I thought were waves breaking against the shoreline. But it was a calm day and there were no waves to speak of . It turns out that it was a large number of pelicans diving for fish in the manner that I had been familiar with back on Galveston Bay. There were so many of them diving that it truly looked like a breaking wave. Then, later, back on the big boat at the marina I saw this going on across the bay:

This is a guy on his anchored boat throwing fish cleaning remnants into the water. The birds congregate waiting for the next contribution then they fight for it.

EUREKA!!!!   It finally dawned on me. This bay is surrounded by about 8 or 10 fish cleaning stations, including two right here at our marina. Also---the bay is very shallow. The pelicans here , first of all, would break their necks if they dove for fish; and secondly, they don't have to dive for fish. They simply fly around looking for whichever fish cleaning station is in business and head over there. They can always fly the 1/2 mile to the ocean if they want to go diving for their prey if there's no activity here on the bay.

So---forget the above about these pelicans don't dive---They dive elegantly and savagely where the water's deep enough. So, enough for your ornithology lesson for today.

                               

THE PENULTIMATE PROJECT

 When we bought the boat it had horrible, dirty, oil stained carpet throughout. It is OK in the bedrooms but the main salon was a mess. So----Diane made it her mission to replace the flooring. At first we shopped replacement carpet but received ridiculously high bids for the cost of the carpet. This led us to reconsider and ultimately decided to replace the carpet with a vinyl flooring product that looks like the popular teak and holly wood product. We found the vinyl product by cruising through the Mainship on-line forums and then found it at Defender.com, a large marine product store located in California. This is, I believe, the same flooring we had in Opus V, our prior Mainship 400 and we really liked it. When we were shopping for the boat this time we knew we wanted the vinyl flooring but with the dirth of Mainship 400's on the market we had to settle for one with a dirty salon carpet.

On our way through this flooring journey we came across a young flooring installer by the name of Alex Parera. We met with him a few times to assess the job and finally he agreed to do our installation even though he had never installed this particular product before. Alex emigrated to the US from Cuba in 2014 during the more lenient Clinton policies with regard to Cuba. Later he succeeded in getting his parents here as well. Having had no carpet laying experience before, he learned the trade after he came to the US. He started his own business after a while---Parera Carpet---and has been quite successful staying much busier than he wants to be. He is truly a terrific young man and I've never seen a tradesman work as hard or as meticulously as he did, completing the job beautifully in a day and a half. He was assisted by another Cuban emigree and also by his father. They had worked a couple of hours on 2 different days and finished the job on a Saturday, working non-stop from 8AM to 5PM (without a lunch break). They had a particularly difficult time removing the old glue-down carpet and padding and then the hundreds of staples that had been used in the original installation. Then they meticulously laid the new flooring and made the cutouts for the 4 different removeable panels that lead below decks into the engine room and the equipment room. Here's what it looked like during installation:

                                                                 And here's the finished product:

                                                        

                                                                            

                                       

                             Diane is a happy camper. And you know what they say:  Happy wife--Happy life.

I call it the penultimate project because we have one more major one to do. When we get to our next marina, in the Ft. Myers area we will contact  a guy that built a new fly-bridge enclosure for Opus V and have him build us a full enclosure for Endeavor. Right now it only has an unenclosed bimini cover. So---Kaching, kaching--(sp?) and we'll finally be finished with all the major projects that we felt we needed to bring this boat up to Opus V standards. It really is a labor of love because we truly love this life-style and want it to be as pleasurable and comfortable as possible.

WE FINALLY GET OUT AND ABOUT

 January has proven to be just what we needed to get the boat in shape for getting out and about. The weather had been a bit blustery from time to time giving us the perfect opportunity to spend time at the dock taking care of all the minor and a few major issues. We got a "bottom job" a few weeks ago and she's now slick as glass under the water. It will be interesting to see how long bottom paint will last in these constantly warm waters. 

We've toyed with the idea of replacing our navigation electronics (original equipment) and after discovering that our radar was shot (along with our autopilot) we decided to pull the trigger and we've arranged for the installation of a new chart plotter (GPS), along with the synchronized auto-pilot (that allows you to set a course by compass direction or by inputting a waypoint and the boat will steer itself on that heading or in the direction to the waypoint) as well as our radar. This alleviates the tiresome effort of manual steering everywhere you want to go. I bought a reconditioned chart plotter on Ebay to replace a completely non-functioning one on the fly bridge. Paid $225 for what would ordinarily cost (new) around $1500. It works perfectly and will give us a reliable backup (redundancy) at the helm.

 With the functioning plotter we decided to, finally, head off shore and down the Keys to one of our favorite anchorages where we spent 2 nights on the hook. (Had to hand steer all the way out and back, against fairly choppy seas but the boat handled beautifully ) Here, at last, are some pictures of our new boat on the hook in Newfound Harbor, a very nice anchorage off and between Big Pine and Ramrod Keys:

                                                                         

It was really nice to get out on the water. We're looking forward to some more benign conditions that will allow us to get out to the reefs for some snorkeling. Tried while at Newfound Harbor, but conditions just too rough and choppy.

Now looking forward to getting our new navigation instruments installed  --probably next week---so we can feel comfortable about upcoming longer passages. In that regard--looks like we'll be leaving here around mid-March and heading up the West coast of Florida to the Charlotte Harbor area where we have some of our very favorite anchoring areas and very familiar waters. We'll leave the boat in that area when we return home in April and have a new fly bridge enclosure built while we're away. (We hope to use the same guy that did it for Opus V out of Ft. Myers---He did a great job although a bit on the expensive side.) As these craftsmen stay quite busy we'll arrange well ahead of time to book the job.

A few more pic's of the boat"

While posting these shots and this message we are quite cognizant and concerned about all our friends and family in Houston who are going through the unprecedented cold (freezing) spell throughout the State of Texas. We are checking with them every day and know that they are uncomfortable, but safe and looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel coming this week-end. Hurricane Harvey, Pandemic, freezing temps----what will be the next "plague"? These last few years have been quite trying for people in our area but we know that God has a plan--it is good--- and we will survive, only to come out stronger. God bless all.

JANUARY WEATHER IN THE KEYS

                                                              BUT FIRST;

                         WHAT'S THAT GUY DOING DIVING NEXT TO MY BOAT 

                                                                       

That's our new boat friend, Jay, who's a certified dive instructor and who has dived all over the world. What's he doing next to my boat?

A few days ago I was working on the flybridge--doing some waxing and polishing. I was out on the "shelf" that runs the length of the fly bridge on both sides--holding on with my left hand and polishing with my right. In the process of moving my left hand to a new hand-hold my wedding ring popped off, bounced off the shelf and fell into the water next to the boat---about 8 or so feet of water. (Fortunately it was not my original ring----Many years ago I bought one with a little more bling. The original is safely tucked away at home) (Unfortunately--that bling was worth a bit of money)

SO----knowing my good friend was a skilled diver I asked him if in any of his dives he had ever searched for treasure. HIs reply was negative so I asked him if he would like to dive for treasure. When he learned what it was he was enthusiastically helpful and agreed to search right away. (It didn't hurt that his wife, Laura, vehemently insisted that he suit up and head down.)

After about 30 minutes of searching we threw in the towel. The bottom here is just very loose mud and it probably was buried as soon as it hit bottom. Oh well!

Oh yeah---The title of this post is about the weather:

January, even in the Florida Keys, is pretty variable and cold fronts manage to work their way down here every several days. Right now--2/2/2021-- the temp is in the 60's and the wind is blowing a steady 20 to 25 and has been gusting to the 40's. We're tied up securely to a pier on the downwind side so the wind keeps us pretty well and firmly pressed up against the pier. It's fairly comfortable in the boat--not a lot of rock and rolling but we're on the north end of the marina and the wind is coming out of the northwest--right at our broadside--so when you venture outside it's a bit "blowey?" I guess you could say January in Florida can really blow.

So we take advantage of the good days and take dinghy rides, dinghy out to the sand bar about 1 mile out on the Atlantic side where we set up our lawn chairs on the bar and spend an afternoon enjoying the hot day and cool water and colder beer. A whole group of about 8 dinghys went out about a week ago.

There are also kayaks available for our use here at the marina and Diane and her sister, Nancy, enjoyed a pleasant afternoon on the water a couple days ago.

Nancy got down here a few days ago, unfortunately into this rather inclement weather. We've had a couple good days, however.

Yesterday we drove up to the Publix supermarket in Islamorada where we received our first of two inoculations for the virus. What an ordeal it was to get an appointment. First of all you have to go on-line and try to get an appointment. Diane got up at 5AM three different days in order to try to get in line by the 6AM opening of the web-site. Fortunately on her third attempt she was successful and was able to make appointments for us. There are relatively few doses being shipped into the Keys and we were quite fortunate. Additionally Florida requires that you show proof of state residence (responding to all the New Yorkers coming down here to get their shots.) Fortunately there is an exception for "seasonal residents" for which we qualified (after some intense scrutiny by the pharmacist) by showing some received mail labels, a copy of our marina lease and our Florida boat registration. The whole process took only about an hour and a half and everyone was quite helpful and cordial. Neither one of us suffered any side effects but we hear the 2nd shot will be a bit different.

Today we'll just chillax and spend some time catching up on projects, reading, playing Canasta and nap time and wait for this blow to blow itself out. Nan seems to be enjoying herself and the sisters will be having lunch together out somewhere while I remain on the boat laboring away.

We're looking forward to more extended spells of good weather soon so that we can finally get out of the marina and enjoy the beauty the area has to offer from the water. Despite my complaints, life remains good!!!

AFTER

So this is what she looks like after the "bottom job". We had her hauled out on a Tuesday morning and put her back in the water that Friday afternoon. After a thorough house cleaning we're back aboard and proud of our clean home. Now we're waiting for a fuel truck to deliver about 200 gallons of diesel. (Ordinarily, we would pull up to a marina fuel station to take on fuel but at this marina they bring in a fuel truck to the parking lot and deliver the fuel from there. It's significantly cheaper than marina prices.) I've assembled at least three other boats who need fuel--the more he sells the cheaper the price. 

Then we're ready to hit the high seas and do some cruising around the area. We want to visit some of the off-shore reefs for some snorkeling and spend a few nights "on the hook" as we visit some of the beautiful anchorages around here . Diane's sister is arriving Thursday for a week and we're looking forward to that visit and showing her around the area. Maybe we'll even get in some fishing.

                                                                                  

                                                                           

Here's a picture (below) of the dock gang waiting to help us tie up after resplashing her. The picture is taken from the boat yard where the work was done. As you can see it's right across the water from our berth at the marina ---only 100 yards away---very convenient.

                                                 

            (Every time I adjust one 0f the pictures the blog site moves it to a different location . That's why they seem to be out of order. I'll get it figured out eventually)       

BEFORE

 Back in October when I flew down to Florida for the survey (similar to a home inspection) of the boat it was hauled out of the water on a "Travel Lift" and all the below water parts were examined. At that time the bottom was quite clean and smooth and there was very little growth. In fact, it was so clean that I opted not to have the hull power washed. --------That was then------This is now.

                                                          Rear of boat. (Note the prop shaftand blade)           

Front as she comes out of the water

I think I was growing a garden down there

We did not knw how bad it was and had been thinking about just hiring a guy to do a bottom scrub (This is where a guy in scuba gear spends an hour or more under your boat in the water scrubbing and scraping to get the growth--grasses, barnacles, etc.---off the hull.) If the bottom paint on the hull is in good shape these things come off very easily and sometimes there's no growth at all. Obviously, our bottom paint was depleted  and the whole underwater part of the boat needs to be cleaned and repainted. The surveyor, back in October told me he thought the paint was nearing the end of its life but I didn't think it would happen this quickly. I've owned 5 boats that basically

stay in the water full time and this is the worst growth I've ever experienced. 

(Unfortunately, when I bought the boat the selling broker was unable to provide me with any maintenance history so I had no idea when the last bottom job had been done)

So, it was on to the travel lift again for a complete bottom job that should then last 2 to 3 years if care is taken to have it scrubbed by a diver on a regular basis---or we can do it when we're out somewhere at anchor with smooth water.

My next post will be entitled, "AFTER"

BUTTTTT!!!!

This will be the last of major work as we near the time when we can set out on some at-sea adventures. She is shaping up quite nicely and we're ready to go. We just have to get the boat onto the same page.