A nice diversion!
Sunday, we put on our swim suits and walked the two blocks to the beach (you would think we would go more often with it being so close!). Ponce Inlet beach is not nearly as busy as Daytona Beach on the weekends. We strolled to the break wall and watched the surfers. On the way back we watched the kitesurfers. Then the Ahhhh! moment came when we waded into the surf and bobbed in the waves. The sea water was refreshing and just the right temperature at 76 degrees.
Bird Poop!
Lately, every evening while we are in the club house having dinner, about 40 Mockingbirds flock to the backstays and spreaders and treat our boat like an outhouse! Seriously! The boat is so covered with splats of bird poop that it looks like it has a chicken pox! Thankfully, it easily washes off with the hose, if we do it nightly. We think we are being singled out because we have so many high places for these birds to cling to. Mind you, there are many other boats they could use for their daily constitutional. We have resorted to watching for them during dinner. As soon as we see them flocking to our boat Chris runs out and claps his hands loudly and yells. If that doesn't work he vigorously shakes the halyards (ropes that go to the top of the mast), or scrambles into the cockpit and shakes the backstays (wires that go to the top of the mast). Hopefully they will get sick of us because we aren't backing down!
What the heck have we been doing?
Fiberglass repair on the anchor locker doors, and a custom modification to fit our new Manson anchor; stowing the 200 feet of chain that finally arrived four weeks after we ordered it (don't ask); sewing a cover for the Raymarine chart plotter; bringing all the items from the storage locker on board and figuring out where to stow them; applying another coat of Semco to the hand rails; creating a list of where we stowed everything so we can find it later after we forget about it. Lindy came for a visit and both she and Linda went to Cassadaga and saw a medium; we went for a day sail, anchored off the beach and went for a swim to scrub the hull and knock off barnacles (mental note, do this on a less choppy day). Lindy was our onboard crew and checked to make sure she saw fins and we hadn't drifted off to sea! (Chris and Lindy are in the video.) We hoisted the Reacher pier-side (large light wind sail given to us by Dennis Gorden who owns Toki our "sister" boat) then carried it to a grass lot and folded it and put it in the crew cabin; we wanted to hoist the Spinnaker (large kite like sail for even lighter wind) to try and figure out the best way to set it, and to finally see it since it's been in the "sock" (long tunnel of fabric to keep it from opening up until we are ready) since we bought the boat, but there was too much wind; Chris repaired the aft head aft bulkhead; we discovered new leaks in our port lights (little side windows) go figure; sewed a bag for the Fortress Anchor (saved us $140); watched dolphin chase fish in the marina; drooled while the commercial fisherman loaded 86 lobsters into their trucks; replaced the old cushions in the master suite with 6" foam thus creating our new wonderful bed!
**See the photo gallery for pictures of some of these items, and the side links for Linda's mattress project ("Sleeping soundly aboard").
What's next?
We plan to sail to St. Augustine this month and stay for a day or two to test out our systems, such as the generator, shower, etc. We are also considering doing the Ponce Inlet to St. Augustine night race Labor Day Weekend along with our friends on Island Time.
No named storms, yet!
We have made it through the first two months of the Atlantic hurricane season without a named system, and even now into August, there is nothing going on. We are thankful for that. The daily thunderstorms are loud and angry, but they pass quickly.
Central Florida Hurricane Center Link
Keep in touch by writing a note on our blog. We welcome visitors, so let us know if you will be in the area. We are less than 90 minutes from Orlando!