I have changed my plans and am going to keep GANNET here in the Florida Keys rather than sail north. There are several reasons for this among them that, despite the heat, I like Marathon. It is a convenient place to provision and prepare for the passage to Panama. And GANNET is already settled in a safe slip in a marina run by friendly and responsible people.
I would rather store GANNET ashore. There are three yards where I might do that here, including this one, but as I expected all are already full until after the hurricane season ends in November.
I would rather store GANNET ashore. There are three yards where I might do that here, including this one, but as I expected all are already full until after the hurricane season ends in November.
I am told that my new sails will be delivered not later than a week from today.
Once I have them I will sail around some. Certainly out to snorkel on the reef. Possibly down to Key West and out to the Dry Tortugas and back. It depends on the wind and the weather.
Even though I will be paying for this slip, I also intend to rent one of the municipal moorings in Boot Key Harbor for a week or two. Carol and I were living on THE HAWKE OF TUONELA at anchor there in 1994 when we drove down to Key West to be married.
Most of the remaining work on my to do list is cosmetic.
I managed to get metal polished this morning.
I apologize for creating expectations I will not fulfill.
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A few days ago I noticed that there were dozens, perhaps hundreds of tiny ants in the cockpit. I usually have a plastic trash bag out there that I dispose of each day and sometimes it has food in it. To reach it they made an epic ant trek. By comparative size a thousand or even a ten thousand mile march. There is no sign of an ant colony anywhere nearby ashore, and they had to make the final leg crawling along one of the dock lines.
I don’t take pleasure in killing, but I was not going to live with these.
One of the things I do not understand is that consciousness instinctively resists unconsciousness. I also don't understand DNA's imperative to be projected into the future. When I reached down with a paper towel to crush the ants, they took off, zig-zagging along the groves in the diamond pattern Treadmaster on the cockpit sole.
I now throw out the trash more quickly. I bought ant spray and have sprayed the area they frequented, around the companionway, and the dock lines.
I’ve only seen three lost survivors today, and they are no longer surviving.
I may have won.
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An unexpected heavy shower at 2 a.m. established that my wind scoop is also a superior rain scoop. Sleeping partially under the forward hatch, I was awakened by a splash. Rather than go on deck, I released the four snaps that secure the bottom of the scoop and let it fly so I could close the hatch. It was still attached at the top to the spinnaker halyard and a line running to the forestay.
That was fine until the rain passed and the wind died and the scoop begin dragging across the deck. I reached up, brought the tabs back in and rescured it. Until a second shower a couple of hours later. This time I went on deck and lowered the scoop.
I put it back up this morning.
I will check the forecast before I go to sleep tonight.
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In the above photo you can see some of the reasons little breeze reaches GANNET. Boats stored ashore and beside her block most of it. You can also see that for a while we were sitting in our own personal Sargasso Sea.
I like the name of the boat stored off GANNET’s starboard bow. BE AS YOU ARE.
I am about to go ashore to find a bowl of conch chowder, a big glass of ice tea, and shade.
