So this is what you do to get double the BTU’s out of the propane. Bake cookies to warm up the boat and the belly.
Not acting and weather can make a few decisions for you if you let it. It seems we have. We’ve been having one cold front after another pass through which has us pinned in Stuart. A rapidly approaching wedding and family visit in February have made us decide to stay in Stuart until after both. It now looks like we will be here until March. The weather should be better for traveling after then so it isn’t a bad decision.
My sister arrived from up North and has settled into the condo. They were gracious enough to drive up and take us to Boynton where we retrieved the car and brought it back to the marina. Practically speaking it makes more sense to stay here, since we would have had to rent a car in Marathon and spend at least two nights in hotels along the way to attend the wedding. Our cruising kitty is a bit skinny of late. Now is the part where I could get on my soapbox about health care costs but I’ll bite my tongue not wanting to start any blog wars. Insurance continues to be our largest expense and would be if we were totally land based.
The marina and Stuart continue to be a very enjoyable place to stay. The marina is pretty much full with very little turnover on the moorings and docks. The seasons’s activities are in full swing. There have been a number of pot lucks, movie nights and sundowners with friends. We went to a great antique car show down in Hobe Sound, visited the local flea market, and there are always boat chores to be done. The dingy has to be pulled up and the bottom cleaned. We had neglected that task and the last time was a real mess which resulted in needing to clean the mother ships decks afterward. It’s due again but not until the wind calms and the seas settle.
Yesterday it rained the entire day which is rare for us. Scott had to pump the dingy out twice. We did manage to get into shore between torrents for a short while. I’ve been doing a lot of dinners in the oven to warm the boat. Last night the rain continued and the winds picked up to 25 to 30 knots. We bounced around like a cork on the mooring ball. Today the sun is out but the winds are still in the 20 knot range out of the northwest. That’s the worst direction for this mooring field because of the long fetch. We are both bundled up and have the furnace running to stay warm. We went into shore this morning and walked to the bagel shop just to have a break from all the bouncing and some breakfast.
We’ve been past due to defrost the fridge and have managed since my last post to reduce the amount of provisions to a point where it was a good day to do that. This is a job that is easily pushed off and ignored because it’s a pain. Now we are running the generator to put some juice in the batteries while the fridge recovers. In between chores, stores and shores we have also enjoyed some downtime reading, working crosswords or Sudoku and keeping up with family and friends.