06/12/2011, Boot Key Harbour, Marathon
Key West PRIDE
Gina and I had a fine day in Key West on Saturday, The bus Ride is about 2 hours because of stops and starts. Gina is learning to knit 
so we worked on our knitting going and coming and it made the ride seem fast. A part of Duval Street was blocked off for celebrations. We were a bit disappointed because we thought there would be artisans displaying and selling their craft, instead the booths were mainly promoting safe sex practice and we were given condoms. Pride tee shirts and flags, banners were for sale. We did meet some interesting folks. There were other venues with other activities but we didn't venture to those. We did enjoy a margarita at the Dragasylum/801 Bourbon.
Our bartender Matt who originally hails from Orillia Ontario
was a former Canadian Olympic skating competitor. We enjoyed several hours of wandering the art galleries. I think we came away with inspirations for our own craft. Gina dabbles in acrylic painting. Gina bought gifts of KINO sandals for xmas giving. We settled on Hogs Breath Saloon for a burger. That burger was better than Jimmy Buffets, in my opinion. I purchased a world famous Hogs Breath tee shirt "Hogs Breath is better than no breath at all". Next door was a bakery with the biggest choc chip cookies I have ever seen. 5 bucks a piece woosah. But delicious. We caught the 5:03 bus home and the boys greeted us just after 7. Miss Bridget was inside out with excitement to see me. She hadn't eaten all day.
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06/12/2011, Boot Key Harbour, Marathon
The Hole in the Floor
For Petes's sake here is a photo of our floor excavation. We are ready for Luis to do his part Tuesday, if not Monday.
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06/10/2011, Boot Key Harbour, Marathon
Back On The GRID
One positive about a boat fix is that it usually forces you into a slip, which puts you back on the grid and in touch with all the amenities. We are now luxuriating in air conditioning, getting all our batteries fully charged and have unlimited fresh water. We won't miss the daily ritual of lugging around two 5 gallon jerry jugs of fresh water each day.
Tow Boat had us on the sea wall in fine time without any incidents. We thought we might mind the dock traffic but the hum of the air conditioning makes any other noise nonexistent.
We have invited Tim & Gina for supper and games (Farkle)and they want to learn to play backgammon. So we are off to Publix, I'm thinking of a dinner of curried mussels and a Caesar salad topped with seared tuna and home made rice pudding with whipped cream dusted with cinnamon.
Yup just another day in paradise.
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06/09/2011
Making Progress
We have located a highly recommended mechanic to remove the transmission and have been recommended another mechanic to do the transmission repair itself. Al and I have been getting lots of bike exercise riding around and negotiating with the various mechanics and possible walls to have the boat moved to for the work. Provided there is still space on the city sea wall on Saturday TowBoat US will move us over. Monday, Tuesday at the latest Luis the spearhead mechanic will remove the transmission and deliver it to Joe the transmission specialist. Joe is predicting a one day turnaround, based on our symptoms and because it appears it is only the reverse that is affected.
Now in order to make this fix smoother and less expensive we elected to cut a new hole in the floor above the transmission. This would avoid the cost of taking out the engine to get to the transmission. Al was in favour of the floor being removed because it would make other maintenance issues more accessible , especially for him.
I was called to inspect the precision cut hole, as I peered down into the bowels of the bilge I was filled with the overwhelming thought that there was a lot of storage space down there, I thought Al was going to lose it when I suggested I could fit at least 4-6 good sized plastic containers of yarn down there.
Always a silver lining.... Anyway we can negotiate that at a later time. I like the thought of this new accessible space.
Al "Over my dead body".....
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06/06/2011, Boot Key Harbour, Marathon
Busted literally. As we backed off our mooring ball this morning, our transmission when put into reverse, stalled out the engine. It did a kind of groan and promptly stopped. BOAT after all is an acronym for Bring on another Thousand.....or more. The engine is fine it would seem to be the reverse gears that are binding (where's Al the mechanic when you need him). We got ourselves back on the ball after deploying the dink and hauling out the extra rode we had on the back up anchor.
We have located a reliable mechanic who will be by tomorrow to see where we go from here, he is busy so we may be here a bit longer.
I have been invited to go snorkeling at the reef tomorrow with Tim and Gina and Al said to go ahead while he putters and waits for the mechanic. Send us good Karma that its something small.
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Good wishes for a cheap fix coming your way.
06/05/2011, Boot Key Harbour, Marathon
Today we have spent getting ready to leave tomorrow morning. The bikes have been ferried back on board and stowed, I took one last ride to Publix for the last of the provisions. Laundry has been done, we had showers. The family car (dinghy) is back in its cradle with the outboard racked. We were treated by the visit of 2 manatee this morning on our way to check our laundry. The largest and darkest of the two came right up along side the dinghy. Against regulations Al could not resist reaching down to scratch its head which it seemed to enjoy. The second one was more aloof and very white in colour. Apparently they are plentiful here but this was the first time in our stay here we had the pleasure of encountering one. Perhaps it came to say goodbye.We have mapped out a leisurely pace for heading back to Palm Coast, hoping to arrive there by June 23-ish. We really enjoyed Ft Lauderdale so the captain has promised a rendezvous there. Tonight we will eat a light supper, hopefully have a good night's rest and sit on deck to enjoy one last Marathon sunset.
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