We snugged up into the club with some of the friendliest people we've met. We topped off the fuel tank and emptied the poo tank so we're ready for the next phase. I took advantage of the convenient washer and dryer and caught up on 10 days worth of stuff, even cleaning the rugs. The second day was chore day. We also hadn't done a major shopping trip in a while so we were out of all fresh fruits and veggies. Canned stuff will keep you alive but.... On a boat, things always take much longer than at a land based domicile. First, you have to see what you have room to buy. You have to make sure that you can securely stow everything so it won't bang around in an unkind seaway. I once had a case of sodas break a cabinet which held our only set of drawers. Lesson learned the hard way! Second you have to gather all your bags and shopping list and then call for a ride. Sometimes there is someone around with a car that offers and it is such a great thing! From our experiences, we always try and make sure any guests at our club know we are available to trips to wherever they need to go. If we only need a small amount, we either walk, ride bikes or take the bus with backpacks to the local store. If the store is a far piece away or we need bulky (think beer, propane, etc.) we need a ride. Right now, our choice is Uber but we noticed this time there were a lot of "fees" that couldn't be explained so I'll check into other options. At the store, if you're alone, you go up every aisle trying to find stuff. If there are two of you, you go into combat shopping mode. That is each goes in search of their own stuff. I'd rather he choose his beer and cookies anyway. Once you spend what seems like an eternity trying to find all the stuff on your list in an unfamiliar store you then call for another ride and hope there is a dock cart at the end destination for all your treasure transportation needs. Next, you have to pull everything out of the bags, look at it a while then figure out what the heck you were thinking 4 hours ago about where it will all fit. Finally after all is done you treat yourself to a nice libation since the whole journey took up your entire afternoon and it is now Captain's Hour. I told you all that as an excuse for the lack of pictures and I hope it worked! We are currently experiencing the storm that we chose to avoid by sailing farther south. Tomorrow, we'll leave about mid-day to head straight to Marathon and Boot Key Harbor. We had wanted to visit other spots but weather says no. Of course, we may get out there and find the seas bigger than we want and turn tail. Who knows, we're cruising!
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The passage from the sound to the river is not an easy one. In fact, there is a stretch
called the Miserable Mile with good reason. The channel is very
narrow, heavily traveled with wicked currents. |
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Oh, did I mention it's narrow? There are sand bars like this as well as hundreds of
little islands all along the route. |
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Boaters with big engines are always in a hurry and apparently think it's
funny to watch sailboats, kayaks and paddle boards rock around in their wake. |
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Not a frequently observed restriction. The manatee population continues
to decline due to death by turning prop. |
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You can see the weather was not really friendly for going out into the gulf.
Hopefully it won't be too many days before we can be on the other side
of the San Carlos bridge. |
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This is the junction and turning point for the ICW. It does not continue on south
from here but cuts across to the east coast via Lake Okeechobee. |
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David was troubleshooting an issue so he had to have the service panel
down. It may look like pretty spaghetti to the untrained eye but this one
is a thing of beauty to a savvy boater. All wires are color coded, correctly sized,
and actually go to something. The previous owner of Blue Moon did a great job
of keeping wiring neat. We spent a week on our last boat pulling all the extraneous
wiring out of the boat. The panel looked like a rat's maze! |
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| The one picture of the club I took while waiting to be picked up. |
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Our girls bought us a wonderful Christmas present. A digital frame that they
can add to via the internet. This way we can keep up with them and our grandkids
is a visual way. We can't have it out all the time but when we do, it's fun. This is our
oldest granddaughter, Evie all the way in Australia. |
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