We are certainly in warmer weather. Last night the mosquitoes came out; not in droves but a small advance party. Enough to be really annoying and I had to break out the mosquito coils as a counter attack.

The Indiantown Marina population are certainly a social lot. Last night one of the Quebecois couples bought a whole bunch of pork and took the trouble to make shish kabobs and BBQ them for the whole marina. I got a chance to be introduced to a few more of the long term residents and had a great time. The only thing missing that would have made it a perfect evening was Barb.

I have been consulting some of the guides and, conditional on confirmation from local intelligence, I think that we will up stakes here next Wednesday, the day after Barb gets back, and travel the seven miles to just this side of the 49' RR bridge and anchor there for the night. That'll put us in a good position for being tipped early in the AM and continuing across the lake. The alternative would be to head up around lunch time and get tipped through in the afternoon and anchor on the other side for the night for the crossing the following day. I'll check with Billy the Tip-miester about what would be good for him.

I have been hammering away at the chores on the boat for most of the day. Funny, how it always seems that you are making no progress and then all of a sudden things start to end up done. Right now I am in the "no progress" state, but I do realize that I am chipping away at the ice cube. Jim is trying to get his hands on an extension ladder that I could borrow to put the tuner up in the rigging. He had one himself that I could have used but someone seems to have "borrowed" it so he is looking to get it back and in the meantime trying to find another in case he can't. On the plus side I now know that Nelleke's mast is 52' high including all the "cabbage" on top. That's not very tall compared to some of the sloops that have a shorter length but higher mast. Based on my trig calculations, that means that they will have to roll Nelleke over by about 25 degrees, if they can do 30 we would have a margin for error. I will be meeting the tip-miester this afternoon to iron out details and get a time. At this point I have suggested the day after Barb gets back in the afternoon. That will give Barb a chance to rest up and sleep in the next morning after her travels and will put us in a good position to get across the lake and through some of the locks on the other side before dark. I have made arrangements with Gulfport Marina to stay there for a month or so and they are expecting us sometime on Monday the 15th.

One of the really interesting things that happened to me today was that I got to meet one of them there armour-dildos that they have down in these parts. UI was out in the boat yard looking for Jim's step ladder when here comes one of those little fellows, bold as brass across the path in front of me. I was able to walk right up to him to within arm's length and squat down and get a close look. He really wasn't too aware of me until I made some noise whereupon he sort of peered at my myopically like an aging librarian. I guess they are a bit like porcupines at home with very poor eyesight. They are about the size of a large cat with the armour plating. They have a relatively small head with small beady little eyes and a shout like a skinny piglet surrounded by a good crop of whiskers. I imagine that the whiskers and snout help them find grubs and insects and root around in the dirt if they must to find them. This little guy didn't seem to mind me too much; at least he didn't roll up in a ball which is their ultimate defence mechanism. He even came over to sniff my fingers. I guess I didn't smell too good or at least smell right to him and all it took were a couple of whiffs and he about faced and waddled away. I'll have to change my deodorant, I guess, if even the wildlife can't stand the smell of me.

I have asked the marina to see if they can get me some more oil filters as I am down to my last one and I prefer to have some spares aboard. If I can get the Baldwin make, I have asked them to get me 4 but if all they can get are the NAPA ones then they will pick me up two. I think that when I get to a major place like Tampa, if I can find a supplier for the Baldwin filters, I might buy as many as a dozen.

Indiantown Marina is quite an active place. I have watched about a half dozen boats being launched today and an equal number being hauled out for bottom work. In addition, there were three or four more transients arrive at the dock. I guess I lucked out about getting here when I did as there happened to be space for Nelleke, the last available. The spot behind me has had four different boats cycle through it in the two and a half days that I have been here.
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