The spaces here for maneuvering are very tight. You have to watch all four corners constantly. On Thursday I needed to turn around, so I thought I would do a three point turn at the first fairway. But a boat is not a car (I know some of you were wondering about that). My boat has a strong prop walk, so when I start backing up, the boat turns the way it wants (stern to port) no matter how I turn the steering wheel. Plus the wind was in cahoots with the prop walk. A wise sailor would have done the tight three point turn using those things to his advantage. A not so wise sailor would learn after his failure to use those things to his advantage the next time.

I found a stowaway on my boat yesterday. It is so wet, I am seeing small crabs on the dock - and one on my boat. Boy, they sure can scurry when they want to. Later, while down below looking out the port, I saw a young boy stop and carefully examine my boom lashing to the deck. I was pretty sure a 10 year old boy would not stop to admire my beautiful tie down job on the boom, so I went out to check on what he was looking at. There was an even smaller, quarter inch crab there. Then later a second one. These are my first critters outside of spiders on the lakes. I don’t have any active spiders now.

The last two mornings I have spent prepping the mast ... in the hot Florida sun. Then it rains in the afternoon. The boatyard blames me for all the rain - it comes everyday. They figure if I didn’t have any rain to speak of during my trip, I must be getting what I had coming to me now, all at once. They definitely noticed that once I arrived, so did the rain. The current forecast would suggest that the rain will stop when I leave.

My time to flush the dinghy motor with fresh water was 5:30 after the yard closed. And everyday at 5:30, it would be raining. Yesterday, Mason and I got things ready, in the rain. Later, I finally got that job done - the clouds broke early for the night for some reason. The first time I got the motor to the flushing station, I used a cart. There is a ramp, some steps and the walk is not short. But the station was not ready and it was late, so the motor went back to the boat. It might have been easier to check if the station was ready without the motor. Yesterday, when I worked with Mason to get things ready, he offered to help get the motor. He is younger, taller and stronger than I am. He didn’t need a cart for a 35 pound motor. Fine, so when I took the motor back to the boat after flushing, I didn’t use a cart either. But I couldn’t help but notice that when he carried the motor it appeared lighter than when I carried it. But still, I didn’t use a cart ...

My best manatee encounter was his afternoon. It was a large one and it came over to the kids on the dock. Manatees like fresh water and the kids have learned to splash the water to attract them - like water splashing from a hose. The kids petted him and a couple of times he rolled over, the first time looking for a tummy rub. I will post video on my gallery.