It took us about 3 hours to travel about 40 miles-our normal cruising speed is 25 miles an hour-and we were happy to find an open slip at Burnside Marina so we could wash the salt off the boat, inside and out. Conditions were not as predicted (what else is new) and in our home waters the spray would have been rinsing our beautiful hull, but here was spraying corrosive salt over everything, including the dash, as we needed the windshield vent open for ventilation. There seem to be fewer floats marking crab pots and lobster traps or maybe it's that we've decided to just look ahead, where we might actually run over them. We did have one close call (that we know of). We both saw a float at about the same time, too late to go around it, so John quickly shifted the engines into neutral and we drifted until we could see it behind us-whew!
One of our neighbors here at Burnside:
Mary noticed a few sprinkles of salt on one of the cabinets in the cabin and discovered that one of the portholes (windows) in the salon (living room) had leaked a little. Maybe she hadn't quite latched it all the way when she cleaned glass and mirrors last week. The stunt kite, which lays in the sill, and the end of the curtain were a little wet, so we cleaned and dried them. Sunday Mary noticed that her new lighthouse book, bought at the Key West lighthouse, looked wrinkled, so she pulled it out of its spot and it was soaked. Guess more water came in through the porthole than we realized! We are glad-yes GLAD-the paperback Guide to Existing Lighthouses in the US is soaked as it saved, for the most part, the boating log we've kept for the 8 years we've owned this boat (wrinkled outside corners only), the log for our previous 3 boats (a few wrinkled page bottoms), and the books we've made (using Shutterfly) for each month of this adventure (thanks for the idea, Sally and Greg). Mary cleaned the seals for the portholes and John rubbed on a silicone lubricant, which will hopefully solve the problem. Having a boat is a lot like owning a house-there's always something else that needs to be repaired, replaced, cleaned, etc.
We know it's springtime in Michigan and hope to see a few crocus peeking through when we go home soon for doctor and dentist appointments, but we've certainly enjoyed the endless summer this year:
There is a Mainship 35 Trawler 3 slips down from us. Even though we know the other Mary and John are in the Bahamas, we each did a double-take when we noticed it. An employee here at the marina told us there really are less floats, as crab and lobster seasons are coming to an end so some traps are being pulled. We saw a boat that had so many traps aboard that it looked as though the crew was hanging on the outside-the only place there was room for them. These traps are on land, but there are stacks as big or bigger than this all throughout the keys.
Sunday we rode our bikes to Pigeon Key and actually took the tour this time. We saw 3 rays on the way:
There are interesting pictures in the museum from the time the key was a work base for the Oversea Railroad and when it became a base for the engineers and other supervisory personnel. Eventually it housed bridge maintenance workers and bridgetenders to open the bridge for boat traffic. Now it is an historic and education site. This was the assistant bridge tender's house. This palm tree reminded John of the climbing tree in the yard when he was a child:
We rode only 8.3 miles, but deserve extra credit for the 2nd half of the ride into the brisk winds that are keeping us here.
Monday John cleaned deck carpet and Mary continued "spring cleaning" in the cabin. We just checked the marine forecast, which had indicated that Wednesday would be a good water travel day, and it has changed. We made just-in-case April doctor and dentist appointments (we want to leave the boat further north when we next go home) and will call local marinas tomorrow to find a place to stay until the traveling is good again-maybe sometime next week?
No comments:
Post a Comment