Sailing Miles

We spent our anniversary, November 13th, getting ready for sailing to the Bahamas next week. Nine long wires came out the bottom of our new mast, and they needed to be run to various parts of the boat. Only they need to go under the stove, behind the cabinet, through the wall, around the plumbing, through that hole that is not big enough, and into the fifth dimension. This required calisthenics, yoga, and the escape skills of Houdini. I found my torso trapped in a storage area door, my arms were no help because they were over my head, my legs were tight up against the nearby (too nearby) wall. I began to wonder if Cindy would cut the cabinet to pieces to get me out, or cut me into pieces to get out of sailboat maintenance. I bet Houdini could have done it underwater while handcuffed. We spent the entire day with knee pads, a hole saw, and sweat. Good thing sweaty bodies are slippery, or we might still be stuck. Whoo-hoo! We have a galley sole again! ...

Accomplishing tasks seems to take longer on the boat. While we were trucking, I would buy groceries in the span of my half-hour break. Now the trip is so long boaters have a different name for shopping. It's called provisioning. Sometimes it takes all day. Put the dinghy in the water. Put the engine on the dinghy. Load up all the backpacks and roller bags. Motor to shore. Find a place to dock the dinghy. Walk to the store. While you're in town, check the hardware list, the marine store list, the liquor-store list, and make an attempt to see a local site. Find a friendly trash can. Go through all the supplies and eliminate unnecessary cardboard (cockroach eggs can live in boxes). Take off excess plastic packaging. Repack all supplies into backpacks and roller bags. Walk back to the dinghy. Motor back to the boat. Hand bags into the cockpit. Hand bags down into the salon. Unpack and stow supplies. Go to bed. Walking around towns is mostly fun, and exploring is why we are out here...

We made it to Key West! We are getting provisions, doing repairs, and planning for our Bahamas crossing. I also challenged Cindy to a "campy" photo contest. She's winning, with a video of a floating tiki bar going two knots through the channel. Here's a few, so far, along with some random flower photos. I'm not sure why GoogleMaps thinks we sailed down US 1 for a while. "Uhm, yeah. I'll take the Mullet. To go. Customers waiting for a table. I winked back. Is that flirting? We love this tree. It's like its own eco-system. I think a parking ticket on the window would add. Sponge Bob? We picked up a few boat items... Key West Social Club? Their recruiting departments have different approaches.

Buying a large boat, and learning all the systems, can be nerve-wracking. Especially if she is an older boat, and many of the "learning experiences" involve repairs or upgrades. Our trucking experience has taught Cindy and I to be vigilant about changes in how things work, a change means something may have broken. For instance, if black smoke suddenly starts billowing from under the hood, something may be amiss. That visual clue is a message that we need to check something out. The changes also include if a new sound pops up. Neither one of us could abide a new rattle while we were on our sleeper break. That noise had to be discovered and stopped! It might be simple, like a zipper tapping on a plastic closet door, or it could be serious, like a chain slipping of the chain-hanger about to go under a drive tire. The worst-case scenario is what keeps us up, I guess. We can even sleep with a sound going on, as long as we know what it is. When we got to Florida in our 1989 Ste...