Waiting on the Dock on the Bay
06 January 2011 | Hypoluxo, FL
Anne
We've been here at the Palm Beach Yacht Center for several days now. This is not a posh marina. This is a boat yard with haul-out capabilities and mechanics available to diagnose problems and work on them. They have the basics: one toilet and one shower for each sex. But that's it. No on-site laundry facility, no lounge, no cruiser book exchange. And there's virtually nothing within walking distance. Well, there is the grizzly little convenience store, where I was able to buy milk the day we arrived.
So we rented a car to get to a laundromat and grocery store. We also drove down the road a piece and found the shopping mecca with many big name stores and at least one very good restaurant. Because there's not much in the way of distractions, this has been a time for more concentrated schoolwork, much of which was done in the shade of the Tiki Hut (a palm-thatched roof over some picnic tables).
We have been waiting for the arrival of several packages, one of which should be the part necessary to repair our transmission. It arrived this afternoon and should be installed tomorrow. We're crossing our fingers and hoping that will fix the problem.
This morning, in the wee hours (0400 departure), Colin and Leslie drove Evelyn to the Miami airport for her trip to Nova Scotia. After seeing them off, I went back to bed. Even so, I wasn't at my peak today. But Leslie and I went to a local park and walked the quarter-mile nature trail. We spotted two gopher tortoises and lots of tracks of other critters. We returned to the boat just before the heavens opened and dumped a torrential downpour. It only lasted a few minutes, but Leslie got soaked putting the hatch boards in to keep the wind from driving all that rain in the companionway.