06/20/2011, Boot Key Harbour, Marathon
Underwater AWESOMENESS
Sailblogs has been down for maintenance. On Wednesday Gina and I popped for the $25.00 to go to Sombrero Reef to snorkel on board The STARFISH.. It as worth every cent. The price included the trip and equipment. We each had our own gear, I am totally opposed to using mouth pieces used by a gazillion other folks, no matter what industrial strength antiseptic they use for sanitizing. The water was a perfect temperature for lingering in the water for 2 hours taking in the sights. It was beautiful and clear and so much to take in. It was like a whole other world under there. There was a diving school there as well and I watched new divers exploring and for the first time ever, thought I'd like to try SCUBA.
We saw hundreds of types of fish and coral. There was a sea turtle the size of a Honda. I saw a meter long barracuda; in fact there were many barracuda. It was a lovely morning and I was pooped by the time we rode our bikes back to Close Knit.
When we arrived back I was mildly chastised by my sweet potato pie. Our door to outside that is starboard, often slides open by itself. When I left, just before 8am I latched it on the outside mindful of keeping the air-conditioning inside. Shortly after my departure Al realized he was LOCKED INSIDE. OOPPPS He tried to extricate himself through the aft cabin door that leads outside. Because of the air-conditioning he had forgotten he had fastened down the outside canvas with the poppers all around. He was locked in tighter than Fort Drum. After unlatching the inside latches he tried to push outward hoping to un-pop the canvas. From his banging he heard a voice on the other side ask if he needed help. Al did request the help. The gentleman boarded and un-popped the snaps allowing Al to get out. Al told him I had locked him in and that I had left. He made it sound dramatic I think. So now Close Knit is all the scuttlebutt about the wife who locked the husband inside. Yup that's how rumours start. Al asked me in future to try to remember and not secure the door from the outside DOH!
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06/14/2011, Boot Key Harbour, Marathon
GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS
Which do you want first?
OK bad news is our transmission it toast. I don't know all the lingo but something about metal filings every where, there were teeth missing, on and on and on. Some amateur had previously tried rebuilding this transmission apparently. Any way Jim the specialist is culling through his parts today to see what can be salvaged. Good news is on good old Ebay we found another transmission, our same one, its being shipped to us from California. The hope is that Jim can make a viable working reliable transmission from all this stuff for us. I hope it all comes together fast because I'll run out of body space for tattooing.
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06/13/2011, Boot Key Harbour, Marathon
Going ROGUE
Not sure if PRIDE was inspiring or just made me nuts. With the boredom of waiting for the transmission repair I had time on my hands, apparently too much time. I've never been a fan of tattoos but here in BKH it seems to be the norm, and the more the better.
All my life I've been a late comer to everything. In the 70's I was the last to get Lee jeans and buffalo sandals, in the 80's I was last at what ever was in style then. In the 90's my hair was never the right length for the "Friends" hair-style.
The only thing I've seemed to get ahead of schedule was to have a stroke at 47 instead of the fashionable age for stroke of 70.
My sister who is 10 years older than me seems even more with the times, getting her humming bird tattoo over a year ago. Since I'm a late bloomer I figured go BIG or go home. Since the transmission is being fixed I'm not going home so I opted for BIG.
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06/13/2011, Boot Key Harbour, Marathon
Shawlette
I finished this shawlette for a friend back home. Its my rendition of what is called a prayer shawl. Since I'm not what you'd define as overly religious I do consider myself somewhat spiritual. So this gesture was created for a friend back home who is going through some health issues and I want her to know I thought of her each stitch of the way and when fall rolls around, and it will, she can tuck it in the top of her jacket and remember I was thinking of her.
Tip AKA Life Lessons: When you tell people you have been thinking of them, its hard for them to know that, unless you act on it and do something tangible, write a card, Send a token, even make a phone call. I learned this while I was recovering from my stroke.
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06/13/2011, Boot Key Harbour, Marathon
Its OUT
Its not even 10 am on Monday morning and the transmission is OUT and on its way to the transmission mechanic YAY. Good thing those handsome repair men come is size small.
Now we can only hope the next step goes as quickly. We are enjoying the AC though and Bridget is enjoying getting off the boat more often.
I seem to be not winning the space use issue. I even told Al that the yarn stash may be the only thing we have to bequeath our children since the cruising kitty is being sucked up with boat repairs. I'll keep trying every angle on this one.
If nothing I'm creative and bordering on being certifiably nuts.
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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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