Friday December’s eighth, twenty seventeen
I’ve been studying all the things I need to know to be a captain. I’ve found this simple and handy chart to study to review all the things, terms, and stuff I need to know to be a safe captain.We will be seriously underway after New Year’s…
The folks here continue to prepare for the cold front (temporary ice age) here in Florida. The Cold Front is a slow mover and has been stationary for a day. It will be pushed into C and S Florida tonight into Saturday. The workers here continue to nail down decking hoping that they can save it from scavenging Floridians looking for fire wood. We do have a couple of heaters on board, not sure where. The Mangos will be here for the ice age, we will likely resort to sweaters and booze.
Mangos did come by and give us a ride up to Fort Pierce to pick up our car. We did an afternoon of shopping and picking up boat things to get projects moving again. I must finish the port installation before the rain gets here.
We shopped at BOW (Boat Owner’s Warehouse), West Marine and Chapman’s Marine (Stuart). We also spent some time at the Marine Connection Liquidation Center. They have a mix of used, recovered and new boat stuff. Their new stuff will be cheaper than any of the three ‘marine stores’ and they know what they are dealing with. It is certainly the place to go when looking for hardware for an old (middle aged) boat. For example, the Pettit polyurethane paint I should have bought there was 34.95… The cheapest at the other stores was 39.00 and 50 at We$t Marine. We finished the outing of shopping picking up a few groceries to get us through to Thursday morning when we fly out of here.
The next trick was to affix (an odd word for me to use) the sticker provided by the marina to get us back into the property. Nettles Island and the marina is a gated community. The sticker was one of those inside windshield things with magnetic grabby glue. I only had to get it within 5 inches/13cm and it jumped on to the glass on its own. The guards at the gates lowered their H and K MP5s when they saw the sticker and allowed us to pass. Signs tell us we can’t go beyond the marina.
When Mangos are here we have planned an excursion. I will go up the mast, they will get me up the mast and do my bidding while up there. When up the mast I am truly the captain. In my other life I am a compliance and safety instructor for the Ontario Recreation Facilities Association. Therefore (also dictated by ML) I must work in compliance and with safe practices. Pictures to follow. I’m going to send a camera up today to see what remains to connect things to. Pictures to follow. I will use the Garmin virb not the canon for this mast adventure.
I may try to get some pics of the pelicans again. I love these birds; Larry, Morris, Curly, Mae, Dolores and Cynthia. You might ask how I can tell them apart? A fair question and one I can’t answer or do sober. But with a couple of rums their identities become apparent and they talk better than most parrots (woody notwithstanding). As you would expect, they slur their words and have a pronounced southern accent and fishy breath… more later