Morning. Dave immediately started breaking down the railings in preparation of re-varnishing the mahogany cap rails on the perimeter of Blue Moon. This has to be done about twice a year and I really don't think he minds at all. Kind of like when I'm working in my gardens; a labor or love.
It was John and Karen's last day aboard Blue Moon; for this trip anyway. They got in touch with Bob and Kayleen Muscarella, friends from Pt. Breeze who are Boca Raton snow birds. Kayleen is an awesome cook and insisted we all come for dinner. We happily drove the 1/2 hour to Boca and enjoyed their company and fine dinner. Thanks you guys!
John and Karen stayed the night with them and Bob is going to drive them to the West Palm airport tomorrow to catch a red eye and return to the frozen north. John has a vintage snowmobile weekend planned at his cabin in Redfield, the heart of the Tug Hill area north of Syracuse that gets wallooped with snow every year. They measure it in feet there; not inches. He and some buddies have collected antique snowmachines from the 1970's so they are packing along a bunch of tools and having an outing. They have made friends with snow! Something I could never do.
We will miss them. It was their misfortune to join us when I am pretty worn out from these 9 months on a boat. My whining level hit Defcon 4. Thanks for putting up with me!
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
We took the dinghy (1/2 Moon) up the ICW about a mile to a restaurant called Guanabanas. It's a tiki hut style place and we love it. Crissy and Clint gave us a gift certificate for there and we were happy to use it (keep 'em coming kids!).
After lunch we explored a little and ended up near the infamous Jupiter Inlet. This is one of the most dangerous inlets on the Great Circle route. It's only 400' wide and gets the big surf breaking in the mouth of the inlet. What causes the danger is a build up of sand and shoaling about 1,300 ft. offshore from the inlet. The flow from the Loxahatchee River emptying into the Atlantic pushes out the sand, building the crescent shaped shoal about 5' deep making for unpredictable waves. People have died there. Google or U-Tube Jupiter Inlet accidents.
A few years ago we had a 28' Boston Whaler we kept here and decided to attempt to go out into the ocean via Jupiter Inlet. We did not make it and I informed the Captain that I would NEVER go out or in Jupiter Inlet again. I am sure there are days when it's safe but that's not the norm.
It was funny on Sunday, while putting up with the ICW congestion and bridges, John innocently suggested that we go "outside" and come in Jupiter Inlet. It would have been much faster and less hassle. I went mental! He didn't know the history of that ill-fated spot. I enlightened him.
We made a run to Ace Hardware to get some more varnish supplies. While there Carmen facetimed me to show me a tiny boo-boo on her head. This fueled Ganny's homesickness for sure. This has been an incredible trip but about 3-4 weeks in I get pretty homesick. Never thought I would miss home in the WINTER but there you are.
This motorcycle and dog (check out the goggles on the dog) were in the parking lot:
Wednesday, March 5, 2014--Happy Birthday Karen!
Dave finished putting the 4th coat of varnish on the cap rails by 8:30a.m. It was already pretty hot out and windy. Good drying wind. Low humidity or we would of had to postpone the project. Humidity is not a friend of varnish.
We decided to take a road trip up to Stewart to interview baby sitters for Blue Moon for the Spring-Summer-Fall, until we come back next winter. Dave is like a newborn's mother; nervously considering a daycare center for her precious. I know he will have separation anxiety. Me? Not so much! I have many things I want to do and none of them involve a boat! ha-ha
The facility is gated, super secure, is about 14 miles inland (good hurricane storm surge protection) and they have some serious yachts there so I think the can take care of our boat just fine. Papa Dave told them to expect us next month. He also asked them to recommended where to get a piece of replacement mahogany for our little docking boo-boo from the other day. They sent us to Ft. Lauderdale to Seafarer Marine.
What a cool place! Every kind of marine wood and hardware you could ever need. They pulled a piece of perfectly matching wood out of their scrap pile, ripped it to size, and $15.00 later we were happily on our way.
This area of Lauderdale is ground zero for all things for boats. We stopped at a marine supply warehouse that makes West Marine seem amateurish. Fun times.
Once back to Blue Moon the skies got really dark and soon it was gushing rain on top of our new varnish. Pretty sure it was dry enough not to worry but hey, you can always sand it down and start over again. So now it's still raining pretty hard and Dave is happily playing with his wood. All is well on the Blue Moon.
No comments:
Post a Comment