3/10/16    Thursday              Boot Key/Marathon, FL


Coffee on the aft deck w/Amelia. Not a bad way to start any day. The white dividing strip is solar panel hardware.

Well.....the solar panels didn't make it today. Alex came out to measure and went back to his shop to assemble all the parts. But, they never made it out today. Disappointment reigns. David was supremely disappointed and frustrated. He missed a gathering he wanted to attend (I represented us) and stayed on the boat until around 4 PM today. He was also trouble-shooting and trying to discover the problem with out AIS receiver. Hero of mine that he is, he found how to circumvent the AIS difficulty AND he got the depth sounder to work again, though we still have to calibrate it.

Meanwhile, I met with the sailors-to-Maine group and shared ideas of anchorages and favorite spots in Maine. (Fun) Then I hung out with the basket makers and continued with my attempts...re-learned 3 times how to attach beads.

Beginnings

Libby in the middle is the pro and our leader at this table

Post basket weaving class/practice I took a much needed shower. Delicious. Then came back to the boat to see how David was doing. Not too well. He's so frustrated with the slowness of panel installation - did not happen today. Measuring happened but not installation. Tomorrow is promised. We know how projects can run into bumps and they always take longer, etc after all we built a house...but! And the AIS has not worked. David DID figure that out but it has taxed his brain and his patience for about 2 weeks now. Even the pros at Simrad (or whatever the company name is) were stumped. So it was left to David to continue to try and figure it out. And he DID!!! He IS a very smart, clever, dog-on-a-bone-type of guy. He will stick with a problem long after I'd say "trash it and buy another." Good thing he's also frugal or we'd really be broke or ridiculously in debt or without stuff we need.

We made a date with our boat buddy friends and took their rented car down to the Sunset Grill, a place we'd gone w/Dick & Nora when they were here. Wendy and I went swimming. The restaurant pool is warm, salt water. Perfect pre-dinner dip. Dan was really the person who wanted to swim and neither he nor David did.

Swimmin Wimmin

Dan & Wendy from Chester, Nova Scotia

We ate by the pool tonight. No sunset drama. Ate inside w/Nora & Dick

I've learned to organize my photos differently on the page. Let's see that only took 6 months this trip and I never figured it out in the 3 months last year. Slow learner category. Working on learning faster w/my iPhone.

Here are photos of the community garden that I helped weed yesterday. It is stunningly beautiful, I think. Jim, the primary gardener, imagined the entire thing and did most of the work to make it a reality.    

The raised bed walls are made mostly of dead coral found around
any construction or digging project since FL is on coral

Jim is at the right of the photo. Building in the background is the
Marina warehouse which houses the office, cruisers' lounge and
meeting spaces, plus sail, woodworking and metal working shops

My "garden" doesn't compete. However, look at those geraniums  - blooming in MARCH!!

We're gearing up with some trepidation and sadness to leave in a few days. Sigh.