Well, isn't this pitiful? As I gaze upon the sad condition of my food bowl, I am mystified about the poor service on this yacht. I have made myself available to be petted and loved, yet this is how I am repaid - an almost-empty food bowl! I should adopt some of the Needyman's tactics and play soccer with my fresh deposits in the litter box so that when I leave, I track it all over the salon and bedsheets. That will teach them!

Good lord, it sure doesn't take much to impress these humans. The captain caught a fish from the dinghy and you would have thought he was going to become a seafood merchant the way he boasted about the size of that fish! Turns out it was a mutton snapper, about 5 pounds, just enough for them to eat. But he had to get the local expert to show him how to fillet it. When he whipped out his brand new, rusted-in-the-sheath fillet knive, I was embarrassed for him. But they got it cut up and ate it that night. I'll take my fish from the can, thank you very much! The Needy Man lapped up the scraps like it was the first food he had eaten in a month. No surprise.

We are back in the Bahamas! That was the worst boat ride I have ever experienced, and I let my staff know frequently how displeased I was for my house to be moving up and down for 41 straight hours. I even left them some reminders from my stomach in various places around the cabin lest they forget what torture I endured. It took me days of eating and grooming and sleeping to recover. Anyway, today I went for a little swim in the marina again. It seems to be the only way I can get to the dinghy. My staff immediately sprang into action and could get nothing useful accomplished as they watched me swim and climb into the dinghy. At least they helped me from the dinghy and dried me off. My adventures scored me some delectable treats and more grooming and sleep time. Oh the life in paradise!

Hi fans. I am still hanging in Fort Pierce, Florida waiting on the captain to announce that they have accomplished their chores and we can get back to sailing. Our latest ETA is sometime before November 21. We are still hoping to be in the front of the snowbird pack, but it won't be by much. You probably know that 2-3000 boats migrate down the East Coast around this time headed for South Florida, Bahamas or farther south. It makes for fun times at popular anchorages and drawbridges. Anyway, not my problem. I love exploring the different boats on our pier and worrying my staff about my whereabouts. I have even been nominated as the official dock kitty for our pier!

While we sit in Fort Pierce and my humans slowly check off their chore list in anticipation of heading to Grenada this fall, I thought I would fascinate my fans with the “snake on the boat” episode in the Bahamas a couple of months back.

We had been anchored in a pretty little cove at Royal Island, Eluethera for several days. The humans had been exploring the island with its ruins of old mansions from the heady drug trade days and doing some snorkeling. They even saw a waterspout from a nearby thunderstorm. It started out as a typical morning. The humans finally decided to get up, make their coffee and let me out into the cockpit so I could clean myself and catch some early morning rays on my fur. Since Rick makes the coffee, Sandra was out into the cockpit pit (after me, of course), moving cushions around to find a good place to sit and enjoy her coffee. She noticed a dark shape like a mound of something near me, but it didn't register at first. When finally it did, she screamed (that scared me to death) and Rick immediately came out to investigate. A snake! It can't be, we are at anchor, a good distance from shore! Sandra managed to trap the poor guy under a cockpit cushion while Rick came up with a plan. He dug out his long needle-nose pliers and managed to get a hold of the snake a couple of inches behind the head. Boy was that snake big, and pissed too! I watched all this from the safety of the inside of the boat with Sandra, behind the cockpit doors. Once he had him with the pliers, Rick flung him out into the water a good thirty feet from the boat, guessing that he would make for shore at best available speed. And he did, for about one minute. And then he turned around and headed back to the boat. No more Mr. Nice Guy, Rick jumped into the dinghy ready to crank it up and deal with this threat. Only he didn't know where the dinghy key was. So here's the scene on this lovely morning – Rick screaming at Sandra to get him the dinghy key, Sandra screaming that the snake was headed back to the boat, and me having to watch this embarrassing behavior. Needless to say, the dinghy key was in the dinghy engine, so Rick finally cranked up the dinghy, but by the time he got it going, the snake had arrived back at the boat. Now, I know everyone is wondering, how in the heck did this dude get in the cockpit when we were anchored so far from shore? We have never seen or heard of swimming snakes in the Bahamas! Well, Rick may be a little slow at times, particularly in the morning until he has his coffee, but it finally dawned on him that the snake swam from shore during the night, climbed up the swim ladder and rested from this arduous journey in our cockpit while we slept. And he was coming back the same way, headed straight for the swim ladder! Rick tried to crank up the dinghy while yelling at Sandra to hurry and pull up the swim ladder. Sandra is screaming “Where is he?” as she is trying to do it. You can almost feel what happens next – Sandra gets the ladder up and guess who is wrapped around the end of the ladder. She screams and lets the ladder go, Rick arrives at the back of the boat with an oar in hand and commences to do battle with Mr. Snake, who decides that the swim ladder is no longer a good place to hang out and swims around to the side of the boat. Sandra finally gets the swim ladder up and secured, cutting off his ability to board the boat from the rear. But Mr. Snake is a resourceful dude; he swims around to the front of the boat and tries to come up on deck by crawling up the dolphin striker, all the while enduring blows from Rick's oar. By now our good friends and boat neighbors Mike and Joyce decide to come over in their dinghy and find out what all the commotion is about. Mike was immediately enlisted to join the battle with his oar. Finally, the snake is defeated and sent to Davy Jones' locker, to be food for barracudas. The Needy Man, of course, slept through it all with nary a care in the world. What a morning! Even though we had pictures, we never quite found out what kind of snake this was, and my humans felt bad about dispatching him, but Rick did give him the chance to swim away. Guess he liked the sailing life too much!

I finally get my paws on dry land! My humans decided to park our home in Fort Pierce, Florida for a couple of months while they take care of some family issues and wait out the hot weather and hurricanes. I have already sneaked off the boat and visited several, much larger boats nearby. My daddy was not happy. But I get a treat to get back on board. Works well for me.