1/18/16   Monday   Martin Luther King, Jr. Day   Stuart, FL


Holy Cow Paddies! It's cold here tonight. It has been cold all day. Difficult to get out of bed this morning and it will be really difficult tomorrow morning with predicted 44 degrees.

Okay, I know. Forty four is way warmer than 28 but this is Florida, for goodness sake! And I've put ALL my winter wear stuff deep into deep storage. I even have the propane space heater on in the saloon. And my neck wrapped in warm material. HA! No socks, yet, though.

Kitty just did the biggest stretch. Woke herself up snoring, stretched and is now curled and snoring again. Even she has tucked her nose in to avoid the cold.

We'd hoped/expected to leave Stuart this morning but we've been velcro-ed in....until the wind subsides a bit more. All the marinas and anchorages along the canal - lake - canal that let's us arrive on the west coast of FL at Ft. Myers are, reportedly, "full" with other boats waiting out the wind, the "northers", so they can cross the Okeechobee Lake safely and comfortably. So, best to wait here rather than be stuck hanging out in a canal with no place to drop our anchor and lay our heads.

So used the morning to read (me) and get broken phone replaced (David), final provisioning meant bike rides to the grocery store, charge our various electronic implements...all before 5 PM. Then, fuel, water and pump out for the boat and I packed up our folding bikes in their travel bags (!). Took a bit of trial and error, especially with the baskets. Finally back to the boat for more reading (me and David).

Earlier in the day David became a hero for some other people...other than me for whom he is always a hero. A lovely power boat was trying to catch a mooring a couple down from us. The man would steam up to the mooring then run down from the flying bridge to take/snatch the boat hook from his wife's (?) hand to pick up the buoy. Twice that didn't work and he had to run back up to the flying bridge to regain control of the boat. Once it was moving too quickly backwards and endangering another boat. David and I watched, amused and horrified and David said, "I'm going to help them." Good thing, too. David motored over in our dinghy while I tried to hail them on the radio. No response on the radio but that was okay since the captain clearly had his hands full managing the boat. David, at the bow of the power boat asked the woman to toss a bow line. She tried twice to toss it - tangled or short, no good. David fished the line out of the water and yelled "Watch your stern, Captain" as the boat backed hazardously close to another moored boat. I was wishing David had his life vest on. Our dinghy and David looked pretty small and vulnerable next to that high-rise boat and it's high bow. Finally the line was attached to the mooring - thank you David - and the boat was secured (sort of). And David came home to Grace, a hero in a couple of other people's eyes. Clearly, the boat is bigger than the Captain's abilities and I'm thinking the woman, the mate, needs some practice, too. They'll get there. We still need practice in so many things.

Hoping to leave tomorrow as soon as we sell our bicycle around 10:00 AM. Fingers crossed for all good outcomes.