Project Completions

Highlights are project completions!  Honda outboard motor is fixed, mount is custom fitted, and both are home on the stern pushpit.   We put another igniter in the grill and shined it up nice and pretty.  We order another fold-a-bike, it arrived and D assembled it.  We replace jib halyard, topping lift, davit and crane lines, roller furling, and lazy jacks.  We have 2 more halyards to replace and the lines are on order to pick up next week.  Big bucks!  I hoisted Daryl up the mast to repair the deck lights and to install the flag halyard for flying the yellow quarantine flag when coming into a different country than you left.  All’s well on the mast.  

Good news on our new dinghy; Highfield determined we should get a new dinghy. They do not have one in stock, and expect a shipment in 45 days, the end of August.  We can pick up the repaired dinghy and use it temporarily, but we are not sure how it will affect our crossing to the Bahamas. 

 

JoAnne and Mike from St. Pete came to Marathon for the weekend to visit Hank and us.  They have friends, Sandy and Ted, in Marathon who own a slip in Harbour Cay Club.  It’s like a condo but for boats.  There are about 20 slips in the marina and Sandy and Ted live on a 52 foot Irwin named Viento.  The marina has a shared apartment, party room, project room, laundry room, and other common areas.  A guest can stay in the apartment if they are sponsored by an owner and it’s about $100 per night. It’s a beautiful, roomy apartment overlooking the marina and gulf, and less than 2 miles from us at the city marina.  Sandy is the apartment manager and offered to sponsor any of our friends. 

We meet JoAnne and Mike at Burdines, a hopping restaurant and marina, where we listen to music by 2 of the local boys, Ty and Corey.  They both have boats in the marina, and Ty works at the marina.  It’s our first night out in Marathon, and we have a great time. JoAnne and Mike are visiting Maine September 10-21, so I recommended the Common Ground Fair, Acadia National Park, Young’s Lobster Pound, and Camden with a hike to Mt. Battie.

I am taking Spanish classes, enjoying them, and hopefully will be able to use on our trip, think Cuba.  Augusto was the teacher at the last class. He was 5 years old in Cuba when Castro took power, and 12 when his family came to USA.  He shared great insights to the Cuban people and information on the geography of the country for sailors.  He recommended the Isla Juventud (Island of Youth) in the southwest and Cayo Coco on the northeast shore, both look pristine. Yo aprendi mucho.  I learned a lot.  Still mucho trouble understanding Spanish speakers.  I practice daily with menus, dual signs in the stores, friends, listening, and Duolinguo, a free app on my phone and computer.  The key is diligence and practice. I hope!

So last week we practice our Spanish on the translator on our phone. I could not find my phone when I got back to the boat. Thinking that I left it in class, I rushed back to the library. The library was closed so I went the next day as soon as it opened. No phone. Librarian was very helpful and made a call to the teacher.  No phone. Oh, my. Daryl found that t-mobile has a missing device locator so he found that my phone was in the middle of Boot Key Harbor, so I thought perhaps one of the students from the marina moorings inadvertently picked it up. But a few minutes later it was on Sombrero Boulevard. So we hustled over there, but the locator was vague with bad addresses and gave approximate locations.  Bottom line, we met a lot of very nice strangers, who were extremely helpful, but I didn’t find my phone.  The first couple, Ned and Diane, looked at my map where the phone was supposed to be, and they said it looks like it might be at Ann Lynch’s house up the street.  What a surprise, I happen to know Ann, she lead the book club meeting!  Could one of my Spanish cohorts be lunching with her?  So I knocked and she recognized me, and I told her my story.  She led me through the neighborhood, but no phone.  Later, my Spanish teacher calls to let me know her mother had picked it up thinking it was hers.  Meanwhile, D and I find that the security on our phones, Lookout, has a more accurate locator and other features, like, my phone was on vibrate because I was in the library, so when we dialed it no one could hear it.  Lookout will override vibrate with a siren that escalates in sound for 60 seconds.  I recommend everyone to check their phones for locator features, and activate, it was so helpful.  Btw, my Spanish teacher was 2 doors down from Ann. 

Some boats are sailing off, to the Bahamas, to Cuba, to Belize, so we aren’t the only ones who will be in the islands for hurricane season. I am just so ready. I am happy to be here, now, preparing for the islands. I am grateful that we are moving in the right direction, my cats are doing well in Maine, my condo and mail are ok in St. Pete, and my friends are staying in touch.   Adios!