The alligator lurks 60' behind behind me as I am working on the boat. Suddenly he turns right towards me and is within 5 feet of me. Is he thinking my size 13 dangling in the water is his next lunch or is it the school of fish that are circling the boat. Just to be safe I make sure my feet are no longer near the water. Looking hungry and disappointed he swims on.
We have been in Florida for a little over 3 weeks. The first week was spent sanding and varnishing the interior wood. This was a good excuse for us to rent a condo on the beach. Who wants to sleep with sawdust and varnish vapors? The second week we moved onto the boat and will spend the next 5 months living aboard our 40' sailboat.
There was a long list of to do's to get the boat ready for our next adventure. New solar panels needed to be installed, a motor lift for the dingy motor to help us get the motor on and off, basic diesel engine maintenance, rig inspection, boat cleaning, and the list goes on and on. We took frequent breaks to watch the enormous manatee swimming under the boat, the two sea otters playing on the dock and the dolphins swimming by chasing the large schools of fish.
Finally the must do list before we leave got finished and we decided on a departure date. Suddenly friends we had not seen since last spring arrived.
"Should we postpone our departure one day so we can spend time with them?" asked Mary.
" It would really be fun to have dinner with them." I replied.
We looked a each other and knew we were both ready to leave and head out on new adventure. Tomorrow was the day we had planned on. There would always be a reason to postpone our leaving and then we would never get off the dock. We had not purchased the boat to live at a marina.
The last evening we invited a new arrival to the dock over for happy hour. He was by himself but over the years had sailed with his wife in the areas we were now heading toward. It was a great night of talking about places we both had been and many that he had been to and now were on the horizon for us to explore.
Tomorrow is the day.