Calm Before the Storm

  Sunday was the last day of Fantasy Fest and things are back to normal here in Key West, if there is such a thing.
  While this blog is intended to be mostly about living aboard our boat, I'm going to give myself a little more latitude in my subject matter if for no other reason than attempting to maintain some interest in the blog. Heartland Boating may decide to remove us as a featured blog, but I can't write a blog about setting at the dock everyday. "Today we were at the dock. The boat is still floating." Yawn.
  I guess our everyday experiences while dockside can inspire folks who are contemplating this lifestyle by knowing that leaving family and friends back home will not mean an end to social activities. Quite the opposite will occur if you let it.
  Not only is our social circle beginning to include other boaters who we keep bumping into along the way, our connections with friends old and new through this blog and Facebook have allowed us to feel as though we never left our home port of St. Louis.
  Now, becoming "regulars" in and around Key West, we feel like we belong in a certain respect, at least at the marine supply stores and the bars.
  I titled this blog as the calm before the storm because we were to have a two days breather before another contingent of St. Louis area visitors is due to arrive on Halloween, this Thursday, and we need to rest up.
  There is still five of our friends here for the month, and we spent Monday evening with them at one of their rental houses, for a barbecue and some World Series watching, before declaring a moratorium on any social activity for Tuesday, as we wanted to realign our equilibrium. But it was not to be.
  Yesterday morning, Rosie washed the boat and I began waxing some parts of it that was in the shade, and I also waxed the bottom of the dinghy since it's hanging over the dock and I can reach the bottom of it by laying on my back on the dock. My real focus is the bow, and the bow of Swing Set is not in the shade until five o'clock, when the large yacht next to us blocks the late afternoon sun. We learned from some local experts here on the dock on how to more effectively care for the finish on our boat, and the lessons are paying off.
  We had a sirloin roast slow cooking in the crock pot, and were waiting in the cockpit for the "waxing hour" when we got a rare phone call. Some folks we had met along the way were in town until Thursday and they wanted to get together for happy hour.
  Normally I won't let a last minute invitation keep me from any boat maintenance mission, or any other mission, but these people went out of their way to contact us, so we didn't want to disappoint them. Not only that, but waxing overhead on the dinghy had gotten to my arms and they were sore. (I haven't held my arms that long over my head since our last gig at the Ice Capades.)
  Now, let me back up a little to last January: We were here in Key West looking for a slip for New Year's Eve and were at our wit's end. We knew that Fast Eddie from Fast Eddie's Bonaire in Alton, Illinois was in town as he had a condo in Key West. We called him and asked if he had any friends in the area with a dock slip we could use, but he didn't. We promised to look him up once we got situated, but once we finally got a slip at A & B last January, Eddie had gone back to St. Louis for a family emergency and we left town with not ever seeing him. Until yesterday.
  Now we have been here at A & B Marina for a month, and we walk past the Conch Republic Restaurant and Bar nearly everyday. We knew that "The Conch" was a favorite watering hole for Eddie, so we looked in to see him at what we had learned was his usual perch almost every time we had passed, but never saw him.
  So after I had put away my boat waxing equipment and we took showers and put on some nice duds, Rosie and I walked over to the Conch and got two seats at the bar right at happy hour. I looked down the bar and sure enough, there was Eddie, nursing a cold one. Not wanting to give up our premium seats, especially with two more folks due to show up, I saved our seats and Rosie walked over to see Ed.
  Coincidences are a phenomenon that I truly believe in, and we had one in meeting Eddie at the bar yesterday, because he had just left the local title office, having closed on the sale of his last condo here in Key West and was headed back to St. Louis in the morning. Had we not altered our plans, or had we chose another bar to meet up with our friends, we would have missed Eddie altogether, and probably would have spent half the spring still looking in to see him at The Conch every time we would pass.
  Rosie brought Eddie back over to where we were sitting and we spent the next ninety minutes talking about his bar (Eddie Junior is now owner) and some other things we have in common, and then Eddie revealed something to us that we weren't aware of.
  Some of you might not know about Fast Eddie's Bonaire in the Alton area, but I know that most of my blog readers do know about it, and they know how many customers Fast Eddies  has served over the years, and it would be fair to say that the number is in the millions. Keeping that in mind, Eddie went on to describe meeting us, or seeing us for the first time, and he described it to a "T", so I knew he remembered it well. That day was over twenty years ago, so we must have made quite an impression.
  Rosie and I were with some good friends, one of which had just taken his new Sea Ray up to the Alton Pool on the Mississippi and we had been up there for a day of boating. On the return trip, our friend Don suggested that we take the Illinois route, so as we were all piled into his van anyway, we had no objection.
  On that day, Eddie was tending bar and we all took seats front and center, and none of us were even vaguely familiar with Eddie at all, but like I said, he remembered us. Let's just say that we were all having a good time, and we gave new meaning to a new bar shot we had just heard of, called a "Buttery Nipple". I also claim to be the inventor of the "belly button shot", now know world wide. Prove I ain't.
  Over the years, we finally met Eddie, and we only frequented the Bonaire once or twice a year, but every time we were in there and saw him, he made it a point to buy us a beer or two. We eventually met his son when he started working there and kept up the practice. We didn't know until yesterday that we had made such an impression. It's good to be known for something.
  Today I have every intention on following up on my plan to wax the bow of our boat, and I'll still have to wait until five o'clock to do it, but afterwards, we'll be watching the sixth game of the World Series at The Lazy Gecko on Duvall Street. The Lazy Gecko is Boston Red Sox territory and we're both going to wear St. Louis Cardinal attire and enter the lion's den.
  Maybe I better not get my arms too tired waxing the boat, but even though we will "go in peace", I might need my limited arm strength for slugging Red Sox fans.

Fantasy Land

  I may have to change the name on this blog to swingsetatthedock. We're spending most of our days right here at A&B Marina and we're getting spoiled.
  In the picture above is our new Duck Club burgee brought down by some St. Louis friends, arriving with several others for the Fantasy Fest activities here in Key West this week. We aren't Duck Club members anymore, but we like to fly a reminder of how enjoyable river life has been for us. Always a River Rat.
  Right now there is over a dozen folks down from the St. Louis area, and nearly as many that we know from the Tampa area visiting too. We can't say that they're here just to see us, but it's certainly an added bonus for us to see them. There are others coming for Jimmy Buffet Days in a few days, and then a whole slew of folks will be here for the offshore boat races in November. It's nice to see folks we've known for a while.
  Since we haven't been out much, I haven't posted much, because this blog is supposed to be about the boat and traveling with it, along with the trials and tribulations of living aboard. One of the regular blog readers suggested that I just post pictures of Rosie every week and that would be enough. That's on my other blog if you can find it. That is a joke Dad.
  We sent in our deposit for a new generator and we should have it installed by mid November. Good thing we're at a dock and plugged in, it is extremely hot and humid.
  Our water heater has been nice to have and we're getting used to having hot water showers. The mechanic (electrician) had taken a water line apart when he installed the water heater and last night the line came off of the pressure tank, causing us to lose our water. Luckily we had turned off our water pumps when we left the boat last night because the level in the tank was low and we had planned on filling up our water tank this morning.
  I didn't want to crawl down in the engine room first thing this morning to repair some plumbing, but there was no other way around it. A person has to be at least a little handy to solve issues just like this one, otherwise you're too dependent on others.
  One thing we don't do is hook up to the dockside water directly into our plumbing system. If a line breaks in the boat you could theoretically sink the vessel, although I think our several bilge pumps would keep up. I don't want to test it. We just fill up our water tank every few days with a hose.
  One of the couples down from St. Louis are really interested in following our footsteps and making the plunge into living on their boat. The one question they had was how to go about finding out if they'll like it. My answer is always the same: Take a few two week long extended trips anywhere and see how you feel about it. For them I suggested traveling up the Mississippi, requiring lots of lock and dam experience. You can find out a whole lot about each other while locking through a dam on a boat. I'm surprised Rosie is still with me.
 

  Rosie had dropped Holly's collar off the back of the boat in The Exumas. We lost her rabies tag too, but what was more distressing to Rosie (and maybe Holly too) was that one of Holly's neat little neckerchiefs went down with the collar.
  We had planned on getting some replacements at the dive shop here in Key West where we had seen them last January, but they don't sell them anymore.
  Rosie sent an email to Larry and Linda from Cape Coral, some nice folks we met while anchored in Bimini Basin when we were there last October, and asked if we could buy a couple more neckerchiefs for Holly. Linda had made the two she had and presented us with them before we left.
  Linda refused to take our money, but in a few days a package came with five new neckerchiefs in it for Holly! She is sporting one of my favorites in the photo above.
  Now she has one for each day of the week except for Sunday when she goes naked. Going out in public naked is a good character builder and very humbling in most cases. (This may or may not be a joke.)
  Because we are backed up to the floating dock, Mediterranean Style, and our dinghy is hanging over the dock, we haven't been taking it out, and that's one reason I have so little to write about, but when we get to Stock Island in December, we'll be situated in a slip differently and we plan on making full use of our dinghy again.
  But yesterday we wanted to take out the boat because the wind is due to pick up considerably for a week or so and we won't be able to get out. (It's not really about the getting out so much as it is about getting back into a narrow slip in the wind.) Anyhow, we took some friends along from up north and tried some snorkeling.
  Outside of the bight, the waves were kicking up and the visibility wasn't very good. We really didn't have enough time to get to a better snorkeling spot and I began to feel like our little outing was a bust. I climbed back in the boat and left Ryan and Aimee swimming close to the boat as I had asked them to do, when two dolphin came up so close to them that they could almost touch them.
  Soon after, another one joined the first two and all three of the dolphins stuck around for nearly 45 minutes. Ryan was able to get some video of them too. The whole experience made our day. Ryan and Aimee were happy Rosie and I were happy for them.
  We made our way back to the marina and in the short time we were gone, the marina had nearly filled up. As I was making our way past several big yachts, Rosie was on the foredeck and said something to me that I couldn't hear. I asked her what she had said, and when she repeated it, the comment turned out to be nothing important, so I told her to limit her verbal communications to me to only very important matters while I was engaged in slipping Swing Set into our skinny slip.
  I was backing into our slip and was doing an excellent job, thank you very much, and had the boat just about snuggled in when Rosie said something else. I wasn't so cross about this last comment, as I was so proud of myself for the great docking job, so I asked her again what she had said.
  "You're in the wrong slip", was her smug reply.
  Aimee says, "I guess that was important enough to mention."
  Sometimes I get what I deserve, but I doubt if I'll learn anything from it.
  The title of this post is Fantasy Land, not only because of the hedonistic activities going on in Key West currently, but because living here is one big fantasy for us too. The rent is high here at A & B, so staying here indefinitely would be a fantasy, and having so many bars and restaurants at our fingertips and affording them on a long term basis is another one.
  The greatest thing about our lifestyle is that if we tire of our location or the weather, we can always head out. It's the sense of freedom we have, even if we stay in one place for months at a time.

The Rainy Days Have Come

  It's been two weeks back in Key West and we've gotten re-acquainted. We've visited some of our favorite haunts from when we were here last January and we've discovered some new ones.
  A week ago we took Swing Set out for a Sunday cruise over to a marina we've been wanting to check out, Sunset Marina. Sunset is on the "back side" of Key West, and it's a long boat ride to get out to the ocean through some skinny water.
  The marina is typical of what you find in the Keys, full of questionable looking vessels in various states of repair, or disrepair, however you want to look at it.
  Although the condos adjacent to the marina look fairly nice, the opposite view is of the prison, or "correctional facility". The landfill we had been recently reminded about is within view too, but it doesn't appear to be operational anymore. There is grass now growing on the huge mound of dirt. I don't know where the trash from Key West is going now, but it's not going there.
  Sunset Marina also doesn't allow "liveaboards", at least officially, so all things considered, it's now off of our list of potential marinas where we might spend some extended time.

  The dinghy dock in Key West Bight is a busy place. Unfortunately, it's busy with dinghies owned by the folks anchored out in Key West Harbor and some of them haven't been used in a while, taking up space for those who actually need a place to land their dinghy if they are coming in to Key West Bight for the day, or the evening.
  Even in Marathon, have we seen such a sorry bunch of watercraft in one spot.

  Swing Set is sitting not quite alone at A&B Marina, but slips are filling up fast. By this time next week, every slip will be full. We'll still be here because the Dock Master informed us last Thursday of a recent cancellation, allowing us to stay here and not move over to The Galleon for five days, saving us some dough.
  We have, however found out about other boat owners who were given slips long after we were on "the list" but these were boat owners who have stayed at A&B more times than us and are higher on the pecking order. If we behave ourselves, maybe we can get priority next time too.

  We haven't let grass grow under our feet, even if that was possible. This was our sunrise last Thursday when we had arranged for "Mark", of Mark's Diesel of Key West, to come and inspect our generator because it wasn't starting.

  Let me just get to the point: Here's Mark, (in the bilges) with his helper "Bubba", pulling out our old generator because it was pronounced near to death.
  Had I not been dutifully changing our engine oil every 100 hours, the generator may not have lasted as long as it did, because sea water was getting into the crankcase.
  But adversely, had I been hiring someone else to change the engine oil, they would have probably noticed something amiss with the oil, or noticed salt residue on the backside of the engine.
  Doing my own work is not always about saving money, it's about being independent, but this time I paid for it. Doesn't mean I'm going to change my ways entirely. I wouldn't have been able to find anyone to do regular maintenance in The Bahamas anyway.
  We had picked up our new water heater at West Marine shortly after we got here in Key West, and our first day here I attempted to take out the old one but didn't get very far. Two exhaust lines stood in the way of extracting the old water heater, as well as installing the new one, so I hired an electrician referred to me by Mark the generator guy and he came this morning.
  I watched him work, and actually was able to help him out some. "Kevin" got our new water heater installed without incident in four hours and he had a hard time of it. I'd still be down in the engine room.
  I'd been waiting for an estimate to rebuild our generator, wanting some hard numbers to compare before deciding to rebuild or install new. I had gotten some good advice from our friend John, years ago the owner of Meramec Marina, and we were both waiting to see what a rebuild would consist of, and at what cost.
  Just as Kevin was finishing up with the water heater, I got a call from Mark of Mark's Diesel, and got a rebuild estimate. Without getting into specifics, I had just about decided on what to do, but ran things by John and sent him the estimate via email.
  For not much more money than a costly rebuild, we can get a brand new Westerbeke generator with a two year warranty. So that's what we're going to do, especially when the rebuild didn't include some key things that our friend John felt were necessary.

  Even before we got the estimate on the generator, I went out and bought a sheet of Starboard and made a bigger base for whatever generator we were going to put back in. The base is extended toward the bow by four inches. This would allow us to install the generator a bit further away from the back to allow better access to the water pump, but after watching Kevin wrestle with our water heater in the close quarters, I've decided to install the new generator in the same spot as the old one, but the bigger shelf will allow us to remove the mounting bolts and slide the generator forward when we have to access anything on the back side of it. The four hundred pound generator will slide easily on the slick Starboard. At least we'll be accomplishing something to make service easier in the future.
  There is one good thing though. One year ago at this time we were just getting out of debt from some service we had gotten done in St. Louis before we left. Our condo was still for sale and we hadn't built up any reserves.
  But now, we've been saving for this rainy day, and we'll be able to pay for a new generator and the installation of it without going into debt. Anytime you can solve a problem with a checkbook, you really don't have a problem.
  We have another change in our lives coming soon. No, nobody is pregnant, but we bought a new bicycle!
  I had been contemplating getting a bicycle for some time now, especially after seeing all the cyclists here in Key West, plus our move to Stock Island in December is going to require some type of transportation.
  Last week we walked over to Eaton Bikes on Saturday just to look around. We met Chris, a member of the staff over there, and he was very helpful.
  I asked about bikes that would haul two people, and he showed us a brochure of a Yuba Cargo bike, the Boda Boda model. The Boda Boda is all aluminum, and is about a foot longer than a regular bike. It has an integrated rack on the back big enough for an adult to comfortably sit on, and has cool running boards for the rider to rest their six inch high heels on, if that rider happens to be Rosie.
  When Chris mentioned the price, I balked, and we then asked about some of the refurbished tandem bikes that they were selling because Eaton is overturning their rental fleet. For $300 bucks we could get a tandem bike, and I figured for that price, we'd just leave it here in Key West when we left in the Spring if we couldn't sell it. (There's no way a tandem will fit onboard the boat.)
  Time for a test ride. It was the shortest test ride they had ever seen. I was on the front. Rosie mounted the rear seat. I pointed the bike toward the street and no sooner did I get my second foot on the pedal, Rosie started squawking. "Stop! Stop! No, No! This is NOT working!"
  Apparently Rosie didn't grasp the co-ordination involved with having to pedal when I did. We went a total of four feet.
  I told her to suck it up and don't be a baby and give it another try. (I learned my encouragement techniques at home.) We wound up riding a few blocks, but the result was the same; Rosie did not like the tandem bike.
  We consulted with Chris a bit more, and he herded us out the door with our fists full of big brochures. Before we had even gotten back to the boat I was considering each of us having our own bikes, but our history with Rosie riding her own bike has not been pleasant. I didn't want to be riding my bike and hers too, plus storing two bikes on the boat is not something we ever wanted to do. We won't even get into the subject of riding two bikes back from a pub late at night from downtown Key West to Stock Island.
  Back at our computer, we looked into the Yuba Boda Boda bike and liked what we saw online. The price Chris had quoted for it, even though it is half what I paid for my first brand new truck, was lower than some prices quoted online.
  Now this was before we found out our generator was toast, but I told Rosie that if we were going to get a bike, we were going to get a neat one, and the Boda Boda was what I wanted.
  "Let's go back and order this bike", I said, and we gathered up Holly and back to Eaton Bikes we went. I told Chris that I was an impulse buyer, and he said he liked impulse buyers.
  Here's the other thing: The Yuba comes in a "step over" model, and a "step through" model. The step over model would be considered the "boys bike". We wanted a white bike and it only comes in the "girls" version.
  Hey, we're in Key West and we see some crazy stuff, so who cares what model of bike we're gonna have? But I can't help but think of the movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", when Jonathan Winters trades his broken down truck or something to Phil Silvers for a bike and finds out "This is a girl's bike!" You had to see it.
  New generator coming, new water heater installed, and a new bicycle coming! You'd think we were Rockerfellers. But no, we've just been saving for a rainy day.

Key West Again

  On our last day in Boot Key Harbor, last Sunday, we took the dinghy over to Sombrero Beach to try out our beach umbrella set up with the rod holder I installed near the bow of our Mercury dinghy, on the bulkhead of the anchor holder.

  Rosie and Holly sat in the shade while I completed the overdue job of cleaning the dinghy with the Formula 88 Degreaser that we bought at Home Depot. Outside of some subtle mold spots on the dinghy, it looks close to new.

  With my work completed, we took a slow cruise over to Sunset Grille for a late lunch. Even though it's the slow season, the pool was full of kids and adults, and we stayed for most of the afternoon, getting back to Swing Set before sunset.

  We left Boot Key Harbor at the break of dawn on Monday morning and had an uneventful cruise to Stock Island Marina Village.

  As we entered Safe Harbor, we were reminded of how industrial the area is. The Key West water treatment plant is on the starboard side as you enter the harbor, and a boat yard with the rusting hulks of vessels in various state of repair, or disrepair, is on the port side.

  But then we came up on Stock Island Marina Village and the view changed. New buildings and docks have been built, and the place was teeming with workers. I called the office on our radio and was directed to a dock right in front of their marina office.

  Rob Cate, the Dock Master, and Eric (I think I got that right) came out to assist us in tying up Swing Set. As soon as we plugged in to shore power, and changed out of our swim wear, we met Rob in the marina office and then he took us in his golf cart on an extended VIP tour of the facility.

  Folks, this place is going to be very nice. Everything is being done first rate. A new marina office with ship's store is out on the main peninsula, which has a cruiser's lounge on the second floor which will have a bar area and a lounge with big screen T.V., accessible by key card by boat owners at all hours.

  A new laundry facility is next door, and also has shower facilities for cruisers too.

  The floating docks are well built with concrete walks and composite edging, and they look beautiful too. (I'll post pictures when we come back in December.) We actually got our pick of where we want to keep Swing Set when we come back. We were able to choose a 50 foot slip as we are right on the cusp of a 40 foot slip because we are 41.5 feet overall. We have a hard time choosing when we have the run of the place, but we hope we chose right. We picked a slip on the end of a finger, reducing the amount of foot traffic passing our boat, plus reducing the drive coming in from the harbor entrance. I had one reservation about airborne debris from a neighboring boat yard, but Rob assured us that it wouldn't be an issue. If it is, we'll move I guess.

  We also got to see one of their floating condos. They have two, and another is on the way. These cozy little "houseboats" are very clean inside, and come with a kayak and have inviting decks attached too. We have family members visiting in January and they are staying in the "Red Grouper". We sent them an email telling them that they're going to love their accommodations.

  We saw the new dog park on the premises, a tiki hut for entertainment events, the community garden, the new pump house and generator facility, and the site for the soon to be built hotel, restaurant, and pool. We're very excited to be getting in on the ground floor of this marina.

  As I've said, Stock Island is quite a bit different from the downtown Key West experience. We took a walk later in the afternoon to check out the neighborhood, so to speak.

  A convenience market is not too far away, and the Rusty Anchor, a seafood restaurant, is very close. West Marine and a handful of other restaurants are within walking distance too.

  The Hogfish restaurant and bar are within walking distance too, but we'll most likely be taking the dinghy to that establishment when we go. There is also a "beach" gathering spot of sorts just a short distance away on Boca Chita Key, where we'll be able to take Swing Set, or the dinghy, over to socialize with other boaters.

  We decided to have dinner in the Rusty Anchor. It just happened to be happy hour. Go figure. Bud Lights were cheap, and appetizers were half price, but we also ordered sandwiches too. The owner came over to bust our table when we finished, and asked us how we liked everything. We told him we'd be back. I bet he's very happy about the new marina being built.

  The wind picked up during the night, and we got bumped around at the dock a bit, but it sure was nice having our air conditioning on. We slept later than we have in months!

  We took our time having coffee and breakfast in the morning, and then visited the marina office one more time to say goodbye and thank-you, promising to visit occasionally while we're in Key West Bight, to check on the progress at Stock Island Marina Village.

  They hope to be operational by the time Fantasy Fest rolls around, and by the looks of things, they will be. We asked to be invited back to their Grand Opening and Rob said we would. Can't wait.

  We cruised over to familiar Key West Bight and called Mark, the Dock Master at A&B Marina for our slip assignment. He asked if we needed help and was going to send someone to help us tie up, but I told him we'd call if we needed any.

  Generally, we like to tie up ourselves so we can take our time and not be rushed. Also, I like to secure our boat the way I want to do it, and if the person helping us is doing it differently, then I have to give orders. I don't like giving orders. (Rosie may not agree with this last statement, but, at the core, it's true.)

  We got into our slip just fine, plugged into shore power again, and then went to see Mark at the marina office. There were several packages waiting for us, and more on the way. We took them back to the boat, and then trekked over to The Galleon to confirm our slip for later in the month when we'll have to vacate our spot at A&B for five days, due to reservation conflicts at A&B.

  Suzy at The Galleon confirmed our slip reservation and we told her we'd see her in a few weeks, if not sooner. We returned to Swing Set and began to organize the items we had brought aboard earlier.

  On Wednesday morning we walked over to West Marine and picked up our new water heater. We also visited Key West Marine where I picked up two gallons of Barnacle Buster. I'm going to CIP our heat exchangers again because I don't think I did it long enough last time. We were still running a little hot coming down from Marathon.

  On Wednesday evening, after a light dinner, we went to The Tropic Cinema on Eaton Street to see a movie. We didn't like the movie, but we like going to The Tropic. It's mostly run by volunteers, and it's about the cleanest, neatest, theater we've ever been in. The popcorn is the best!

  On Wednesday night we got a hellacious storm, and in the morning, Front Street was flooded all the way to Duvall Street. This is a common occurrence in Key West, especially when it occurs like it did this time, at high tide. Everyone takes it in stride, and the water recedes after a few hours.

  Thursday was haircut day for Holly, and she got the shortest cut yet. She didn't behave as well for her haircut as she has done in the past, and we think it's because she hasn't had a cut in a while. I'm going to have to trim her more often so she is used to it. You don't think it's because she is just getting more spoiled as each day passes, do you?

  Some bad news: I checked the engine room when we went to leave Stock Island Marina Village and found a bit of oil debris in the bilge, obviously from the generator.

  To verify the oil source, I wanted to start the generator (after checking the oil level) and it wouldn't start. I saved further investigation until this morning, but in the meantime, had contacted a local Westerbeke mechanic, referred to me by Key West Engines, the folks who installed our turbo chargers last January.

  I replaced the Racor fuel filter, plus the primary fuel filter on the generator and tried to start it, and it wouldn't. I bled the fuel line several times with no better results, so I called the Westerbeke mechanic to get us on his schedule. If the generator won't start, we can't diagnose the oil leak, so first things first. I was hoping for a simple fix, of course, but we'll just have to see.

  We went to the Dog Island Bar yesterday afternoon to watch the Cardinals in their first game of the NLDS. A place called Dog Island and Holly was not allowed in! We checked a few other nearby places, but wound up taking Holly back to the boat and returned to Dog Island before first pitch. We didn't really want to go back to Dog Island, but other bars we checked on had golf on their T.V.'s. Golf?

  One place had NO customers, had golf on T.V., and we asked if he'd put it on. He took just a little too much time to formulate an answer, so I said "Never mind", and walked right out the door. He must have learned his business acumen in The Bahamas.

   We enjoyed the game, especially the outcome, but vowed to find a place where Holly was welcome for the second game this afternoon.

  It looks like Dante's will be the place. We like Dante's anyway, for the pool firstly, plus they have at least three outside bars. Holly has been there with us before, so we don't expect to be thrown out, at least on Holly's account. Maybe mine.

  In between all this fun to be had in Key West, we have a generator to get fixed, a water heater to install, heat exchangers to clean again and taken apart after cleaning to check for blockage. I'm going to be busy, but we want to have our boat running and working smoothly for when our friends start showing up here in a couple of weeks. Then we can play all we want.

Familiar Boot Key Harbor In Marathon On Vaca Key

  Our first night back in Marathon was very calm and peaceful. The harbor is protected from most any wind as it is, but on Monday evening it was especially calm, but it was also hot. We'll be happy to get to Key West and turn on our air conditioning.
  In The Bahamas I had made a repair to the seat in our dinghy. The thin fiberglass forward seat had begun to crack, so I made a truss to run along the bottom of the seat to give it some support, but the seat itself was beginning to de-laminate, so the damage continued. The material I needed couldn't be found in Miami, at least in places we could walk to, so early on Tuesday morning, we took a walk to K-Mart and Home Depot in Marathon to pick up some things on our list.
  I bought some plastic trim board at Home Depot, an eight foot long piece, eight inches wide. I also found out that I could have bought twice the amount of Starboard that I had purchased at Crook and Crook in Miami, for about half the money. If you need Starboard, Home Depot is the place to get it.
  We used our two wheeled cart from West Marine and trucked our purchases back to the dinghy, and then motored out to Swing Set. The long walk, plus the heat, had gotten to us, so we took a breather in the salon with the fans on high, until I felt rested up enough to make the repair to the dinghy seat.
  While I was just getting started, a neighbor from a sailboat rowed over in his dinghy to say hello. The fella was very interesting. He was 72, on his fourth wife, and had refurbished a 40 plus year old boat that he and his new bride was going to take to The Bahamas in November. We were trading some information about the Abacos when he suddenly asked me what time it was. When I told him, he said he was late picking up his wife from the library and he had to go. He then rowed his dinghy away, saying we'd be talking later.

  I finished my work on the dinghy without any mishap. The seat is about as strong as we could want. I used the truss from the old seat even though I probably didn't need it, but I didn't want the lumber to go to waste. I also mounted a rod holder to the bow of the dinghy so we could put our new beach umbrella in it. Maybe we'll sail with it.
  As I was wrapping up my work, our neighbor came back with his bride and introduced both of themselves. I mentioned that if her husband was late in picking her up, it was probably my fault, as I had kept him talking. She grumbled something about having to "wait in the cold library" for so long, and didn't have too much else to say.
  Rosie or I didn't feel too sorry for her as we were both sweating our bejeebers off, thinking a little stint in the library air conditioning sounded pretty good to us. Our sailboat neighbors made their departure and it was the last we saw of them. The next morning they moved their boat. I wish I could remember what exactly what it was that I or Rosie had said, or did, to get them to move, so that I can use the line on our next new friends, but I don't know what it was. Maybe the guy has bad taste in women. Some people get desperate late in life and will marry anything.
  On Wednesday morning we went to our scheduled appointments at the dentist where we both got our teeth cleaned and no new problems were found. I was glad to learn that my use of the Water Pik that they had suggested I get on my last visit had made an improvement. I hate to floss, and the Water Pik is easier to use.
  We then went to pick up the sunglasses I had ordered on our last visit in March, plus Rosie had to pay for the sunglasses she had already picked up back then. The owner was there and I made a suggestion to her that we made every effort to finish our business with her when we were in Marathon last, but she had went on vacation and closed up her optical shop. I mentioned that the worse thing she could do is not leave anyone in charge to dispensed eyewear or to schedule appointments. She agreed with me and decided to hire a temp next time she goes on vacation so she doesn't lose customers. We were happy with our glasses and also happy that she accepted the constructive criticism.
  After our dentist visit we went to one of our favorite breakfast joints, the Stuffed Pig, and had a great breakfast, which turned out to be breakfast and lunch, as it was so filling. This is one place where the name fits. They give you a lot to eat.
  Later on in the afternoon we went for a dinghy ride to see what had changed since our last visit. The advertised opening of Sombrero Marina Dockside Bar turned out to be false. The promised "refurbishing" is taking longer than expected. It's going to take a lot longer since there is no sign of anyone working on anything there.
  Meanwhile, we've been going nuts ordering things online to have delivered to A&B Marina. Some things we've been putting off since we were in The Bahamas, or because we had to be someplace long enough to have them get to us.
  We had gotten some items delivered to Dinner Key when we were in Miami, but some medicine I needed was mistakenly sent to Miami when we had told them we had to have it sent to Key West, so we had to make up a mailer for a staff member at Dinner Key to use to send the medicine to us when it got to Miami, which they did.
  We also ordered a new hot water heater from West Marine, just like the one we have in the boat now, only one that doesn't leak, hopefully. West Marine actually beat the price on the water heater from a couple of the other sources I use for supplies, Defender Marine and Amazon. I think West Marine gets a bad rap, but they are competitive on some things.
  Shortly after we get to A&B on Tuesday, we'll have waiting for us; my medicine, a new cap for our rubrail that came off in Nassau, (none were available, so the Sea Ray factory in Tennessee had to make one up.) a decal from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol for 2014, dog food and potty pads for Holly, new impellers for the main engines to replace the ones I used so I always have spares, four new pillow cases, three new couplers for our Kitchenaid blender that we destroyed making daiquiris in The Bahamas, a new trash can for the cockpit, and some zincs from BoatZincs.com because our hull zinc is about gone, or at least half gone, and I want to replace some spares I have already used.
  It's nice to be able to shop from the boat and have things delivered to a marina where will we'll be. Makes living without a car bearable.
  One thing about Marathon though, is that taxis are cheap. It only costs five dollars to go just about anywhere on Vaca Key. You tip the driver two bucks and you're royalty. The ride is usually a junky mini-van, but so what? It's The Keys man.
  I changed the oil in the main engines yesterday, only a few hours overdue. Boot Key City Marina is a good place to do a job when you have to dispose of waste oil or coolant because the marina has a nice recycle station on site. Makes things very convenient.
  To celebrate a job well done on the oil change, (we are always looking for reasons to celebrate) we decided to hit a happy hour on Thursday. Our first choice was Sparky's, home of the 25 cent wings and peel and eat shrimp. The downside of Sparky's is that Holly wouldn't be able to go. We wisely made a call to confirm that they were open, (It's the Keys man.) and were told that they were also closed for remodeling. This info was true, as we found out later. The owners were gone for vacation, and instead of laying off the staff, they keep them on to do odd repair jobs and touch up around the restaurant. I think that's considerate of them as employers.
  Our second happy hour choice was Porky's, home of half price beers and cheap appetizers during from 3 P.M. until 6 P.M., at the bar only. Holly was welcome at Porky's too.

 
  There was already a smattering of customers entrenched at Porky's when we arrived via taxi at around 4 P.M. We took two stools at the bar, leaving ample room between around us so that Holly wasn't too nervous.
  Porky's is basically an outside joint with a roof over it, and not fancy in the most liberal sense. The Overseas Highway is just a few yards away on one side, and the dock where numerous charter boats are lined up are on the other side. The building, if you can call it that, is a mish mash of construction, seemingly held together with the staples that are used to tack thousands of dollar bills to anything sturdy enough to hold them.
  We took possession of two very cold Bud Lights, complete with coasters and cooly cups, for the mere price of a buck fifty each. "Would we like to see a menu?" Was the question posed by our young bartender, still in possession of a fair amount of baby fat and sporting a tight low cut t-shirt. She learned her trade well.
  We declined the menu for the moment and was well into our second beers when a lone woman more or less stumbled into Porky's, looking for a seat at the bar.
  I know a barfly when I see one, and this woman fit the bill, and my suspicions were validated when she announced to anyone who would listen that she had been drinking rum and cokes since 8 A.M. that morning. I cringed when she took a seat right next to me at the bar.
  Any attempts to avoid conversation were dashed when she spied Holly and left her seat to meet her. Holly took to her right away and I suspected that she had pot on her somewhere in the skimpy outfit of hers, and I was right. Holly apparently likes the smell of pot and chums right up to anyone who is holding. I don't know where she learned that, and I'm not being sarcastic.
  We ordered some appetizers; chicken wings and fish fingers, for five bucks each, and both items were delicious. I guess we made our new friend hungry, so when the bartender asked her if she wanted to see a menu, she said yes. No sooner had she gotten the regular menu, I offered her the "bar menu" featuring the happy hour specials. She was extremely grateful, ordered the chicken wings and nibbled on three wings in between stories of her exploits. "I don't eat much, I just drink", is what she told us. We couldn't guess.
  A guy came in to play some music and our friend went over to talk to him and we got to meet some other patrons at the bar, one being another sailboat neighbor in the harbor who knew the fella we met the other day with the new wife. He told us that the guy has moved his boat four times in the two months he has been in the harbor. We're not sure if we felt better about it, but at least we didn't feel totally responsible about them moving away from us.
  All in all we had a nice time at Porky's and it was dark before we got back to the boat. Anyone seeing us climbing aboard the boat at the late hour might have thought we were barflies though.
  Friday was grocery shopping day. We stocked up at Publix and hauled our groceries back in a taxi. But first, we went to breakfast at the Conch Diner, a place we also liked on our previous two visits. The Conch Diner has been in Marathon a long time, and perched out in front of the place is a pile of junk, which I supposed, used to be a small boat of some kind. The wood is completely rotted off and really what's left is a pile of Styrfoam and some drooping railings. After taking our coffee order, I mentioned to our waitress that they ought to pay somebody twenty buck to have the "pile of junk" out front hauled away. I may as well have told her that her grandmother was ugly.
  "That's been out front for over thirty-five years", she said, "and some people like it."
  I told her that I could see the appeal if it still resembled a boat, but I maintained that it now just looked like a PILE OF JUNK. She walked off after taking our order, shaking her head and muttering. I don't want to know what they did in my omelet.
  I was going to take a picture of the item in question, but there was another "event" when trying to leave our waitress a 15% tip. I won't get into it, but as things went, walking out front to take a picture may have prompted our waitress to grab a shotgun and have a go at us. Some people just can't take constructive criticism, or advice.
  Honestly, I hate advice and mostly never heed it, unless I solicit the advice in the first place, but whenever anyone finds out that we are "new" to the area, they are compelled to tell us everything they think we need to know or do, based on what they know. I wish I could find a way to tell them to save their breaths without offending them.
  Speaking of "piles of junk", we see plenty of boats that fit the description, and folks are living on them. I need to take some pictures. It's not just the sailboats either. We saw a houseboat the other day that was loaded up with so much crap, there was hardly any room outside on the boat to even sit, but yep, there was a woman sitting in a plastic chair gabbing away on her phone, sucking on a cigarette, surrounded by piles and piles of rusty junk. I don't know how the boat was even floating. We don't live that way and I hope we never do.
  Yesterday I mixed up some gelcoat and touched up three spots on the boat that had gotten nicked in some way or another, just trying to stay ahead of the game of eye appeal on a 17 year old boat. Swing Set doesn't look much different than she did when we started out a year and a half ago, and especially after spending a year in salt water.
   I found a new cleaner at Home Depot, called Formula 88, that removes the diesel soot from the transom and it's only three bucks per bottle. Roll Off is about four times that and it plain doesn't work. Formula 88 is also working on the dinghy too, and nothing has been able to remove the dirt from it until now. We like to keep our dinghy clean too.
  This morning we're going to unhook from the mooring ball and take on water, then go to Marathon Marina and fill up with diesel. We want to leave first thing Monday morning to head for Stock Island Marina Village where we'll spend one night before taking our slip at A&B Marina in Key West Bight for the next two months.
  Stock Island is the low rent district of Key West, and boat slip prices reflect the difference. We're committed to two months at Stock Island Marina Village after we leave A&B Marina. It's a new facility and the pictures look pretty nice. If we like it, we may stay longer, but we can do anything for two months. There is a canvas shop on site, and we need some upholstery work done, so we'll probably do that over the winter. The floating docks there will allow a thorough waxing of our hull, and we'll be able to keep Swing Set sparkling clean with all the water we want to use at dockside. We'll get spoiled.
  If we don't like it after two months, we're not sure what we'll do, but while we're in Key West Bight, I'm going to be doing some networking and line up some potential slip options for February if we need them, but we need to find something more affordable than the $2400 per month we'll be paying in slip rent for the months of October and November.
  We need to adhere to our budget so that we can attend more happy hours and meet more interesting people.

Goodbye Miami

 

  We spent a total of two weeks in the Dinner Key Mooring Facility, and even though the main reason we stayed so long was because we wanted to see a friend who was coming in to town, our visit was not a total waste.

  Our friend had just purchased a home in Hollywood, Florida, and as it turned out, he and his family were too busy getting the house in order to take the time out to see us. We get that.

  What we did learn was that we wouldn't entertain the idea of staying at the Dinner Key Mooring Facility again, unless it was for a day or two. It was just too rough there.

  We do like the marina there, and we could stay there for a while sometime. As we visit areas, we make a mental list of places we would like to visit again, maybe for a longer time. Coconut Grove is one of those places.

  I also replaced the vinyl on the inside of our transom door with a nice piece of Starboard. I cut it to fit with my jigsaw, and then sanded the edges with my orbital sander. Looks better than new.

  We spent our last weekend "in Miami" at Elliot Key, on the southern end of Biscayne Bay. Lots of boaters gather there, and some other spots, on the weekends. We're used to the party atmosphere at Missouri's Lake of the Ozark's, or even our home port on the Alton Pool of the Mississippi River. We weren't impressed.

  What is hard for us is to constantly be the "newcomers" in every place we visit. We need more than a few days to make an impression. Make that a "good impression".

  Yesterday afternoon we left Elliot Key and made our way south. We didn't know how far we were going to get, but the afternoon was very nice, we had a pleasant breeze on our bow, and we were just enjoying the ride.

  

  After a couple of hours of cruising, we picked a spot on the northern end of Key Largo. We had shelter from the wind and spent a quiet night after a quick dinner of pasta.

  This morning we waited until a squall passed us, then we followed the Intercoastal Waterway for eight hours until we found ourselves back in Marathon. The Waterway is shallow in some spots, and narrow, but we had the tide working to our favor and we made the trip without bumping bottom.

  As you can see, there is not much to report. We'll be spending more time in marinas in the next few months, and the blog posts will be less frequent, but I could tell I hadn't posted anything recently because I started getting emails in the last few days with folks wanting a blog. So here you are.

  One thing for sure is that it's HOT! The nights in The Bahamas were usually nice and cool, at least in the mid seventies. But since we've gotten back to Florida the lows are closer to 80 degrees. We'll be happy to plug into shore power and run our air conditioning when we get to Key West in a week or so.

  We have dental appointments here in Marathon this week, and I need to change oil and repair the seat on our dinghy. It's always something, but one thing is that our engines are still running great after I cleaned our heat exchangers.

  Another project due is to replace our hot water heater, but I'll do that in Key West. One issue is that I need to take apart the exhaust hose to access the water heater, and that may permit water to enter the bilge from the exhaust line. I bought a plug at Home Depot that plumbers use to seal a pipe when they are working on it. The plug is for a four inch pipe, but it gets inflated with air and will expand to six inches. That should be enough to seal the exhaust outlet on the starboard engine and allow me to take the inside exhaust hose apart. I'll fit it into the underwater exhaust port and inflate it with my Hookahmax.

  When we left Key Largo this morning, Rosie piled some pork chops that we had bought in The Bahamas into the crock pot, and dumped a can of vegetable soup in there, and let it slow cook all day. She made a pot of yellow rice and we had just about the best dinner you could have with little fuss. It was great!

  

The Key To Having A Good Idea Is To Have Lots of Ideas

  If you've been keeping up with our blog, you know that we've been having some issues with our main engines overheating. While in The Bahamas, both raw water pump impellers were replaced and this improved the operating temperature of the starboard engine, but when the impeller on the port engine was replaced some months later, the high operating temperature was not solved on that engine. Therefore, we "limped" home to the U.S.A. at our normal cruising speed of nine miles per hour.
  I began to focus on the heat exchangers on our engines and made a call to Key West Engines to verify a few things, then I began a mission to clean the heat exchangers on our engines. We made no less than five trips to Shell Lumber and Hardware in Miami to purchase what I needed to CIP both raw water cooling systems on our Caterpillars, at the same time.

  I rigged up a bilge pump to supply the inlet to the port engine. I used this Igloo cooler because I figured that a bigger supply vessel would in turn provide a larger return vessel, allowing the particulates to settle out in the larger vessel and not be pumped back into the system.
  The return line from the outlet of the starboard engine was smaller than the supply, assuring that the lines would stay packed, eliminating a need for a cutback valve on the solution return.
  My mistake was using the cooler as a solution vessel because it was too big and I had to add more water to the acid concentrate to allow the pump to be deep enough in the solution to keep pumping. In the picture, the solution is just starting to turn dark, confirming that the acid is doing its job.

  In this photo you can see the PVC elbow on the inlet to the starboard engine. Why I had to make so many trips to the hardware store is because I kept improving my method to do this job in my mind. I was going to clean each of the four components separately, but this would have wasted a lot of Barnacle Buster, at $70 per gallon.
  I used a similar device as the one pictured above on the port engine, which is the inlet to the engine heat exchanger, which then exits that heat exchanger and then runs to the oil cooler. So then I routed the hose shown above from the outlet of the port engine oil cooler to the raw water inlet on the starboard engine. From the outlet of the starboard oil cooler, I ran the return line back to the Igloo cooler.
  I ran the solution for 90 minutes. In retrospect, I should have ran the solution, and then let it sit overnight in the acid bath. I think this would have cleaned the system better. Next time, I'll also use a smaller solution vessel (a regular bucket) and I'll use two gallons of Barnacle Buster to strengthen the acid solution as there is quite of bit of raw water in the cooling system of our Caterpillar 3116s.
  The key here is safety. An initial rinsing of the whole system is critical. I used rubber gloves in handling the return hoses, and then set up a fresh water supply and rinsed the whole system for ten minutes before I disconnected all my hoses and fittings.
  Once everything was put back in place, firing up both engines allowed the ocean water to complete my rinsing process. I couldn't wait to take Swing Set out for a trial run to see if the cleaning made a difference!
  Rosie and I put all our tools away, then we took showers. Next, we popped a couple of beers and left the mooring field. I was in no hurry for potential disappointment.
  We had some packages at the marina office, and we had to fill our water tank, so the next stop was the Dinner Key Marina. Rosie made the trek up to the office to retrieve our packages while Holly and I filled our water tank.
  Finally, we were headed out to Biscayne Bay. Both engines were warmed up and put the coals to them. We ran up and down Biscayne Bay without any temperature alarms, and I verified our panel gauges with the engine room gauges and we were well within proper operating temperatures on both engines. Rosie and I gave each other a high five.
  I still think we could be running at cooler temperatures, so I'm going to make sure we have no restrictions in any of the heat exchangers in the way of errant broken off zincs, but for the time being, Swing Set is running, and running well.
  I had been thinking about the little sunshade umbrella that we bought to use on the dinghy so Holly wouldn't have to sit in the sun all day, and was wondering why she got all the shade and we had to endure the sun all day.
  I searched Amazon, and then West Marine, and then some other umbrella manufacturers, and would up ordering a non-corrosive umbrella from Amazon to use on the beach, or in the rod holders on the dinghy, so that we could all have some shade when we took the dinghy to the beach.

  What we bought has an aluminum pole and nylon ribs so that nothing will rust. While the umbrella was being shipped, I thought of an additional use for it on the boat, as you can see from the photo.
  It always happens that our cockpit faces the setting sun in the afternoon for some reason, and the heat is unbearable at times. My idea was to use the umbrella as shown in the picture, so that we could get a little more shade in the cockpit than our small overhang on the flybridge provides. The rope keeps the umbrella post from turning when the umbrella is in the tilted position.
  I can envision our friends in a raft up back in Missouri using an umbrella like this to provide some shade as they gather behind their boats having a cold one.
  So today was a good day. After our trial run we cruised to downtown Miami. Not many boaters were out because today was overcast all day, but we became a little more familiar with the area.
  We took a spin through the other Municipal Marina in downtown Miami today and we saw a boat similar to Swing Set at a dock, surrounded by much larger boats, and we were reminded of just how small of a boat we are living on. And we don't care.
  This little tub may be small in comparison to some of the other boats we are running across, but dockage is charged by the foot, and a bigger boat just means more cleaning, not to mention more fuel to make it go. The most important thing is that with each maintenance issue that we're able to do on our own, we put another notch in our belt of independence, and although total independence from outside sources will never be accomplished, just getting closer to being "off the grid" is very satisfying.