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We got started fairly early. After listening to the news at 7 AM we were up at 8 and I changed the motor oil and transferred fuel to the main tank. At 11 AM we closed up the boat and started for the office to buy a paper and wait for the parents. We meet them walking up the dock to meet us. They drove us to a marine store where we bought new foul weather jackets, motor oil and a battery charger and then to the grocery store to top up our food and drink supply. We had lunch at Scotties next to the marina before they left. We got all our tasks done by 2 PM and relaxed for the rest of the day. The weather was very fine and we sat in the cockpit reading and watching TV until late at night.
Parents came! :) Scotty's for lunch. Shopping with Mom and Dad! :)
2/22/98 SundayI woke up at 8 AM and went out to get the Sunday paper. Jill gathered washing and I helped carry it to the washing machines. One machine was broken and we filled the other 3 with our dirty laundry. Just as we started the machines other people showed up with their laundry. We picked the right time to start. I returned to the boat and read the paper. At noon we went to Scotties for lunch and returned with more ice. The wind was really blowing from the E and we watched a bunch of sailing school boats zipping back and forth in front of the restaurant. Several windsurfers were also enjoying the perfect conditions for speed sailing. We hooked up the new water hose and filled the water tank and washed down the interior teak which was getting sticky with salt and mildew. After a shower I tackled the tax paper work. After struggling for several hours with Schedule D I found that all the extra calculations only saved $150, almost not worth the effort. One success that I did have was recovering the stock information that I had done with Excel on the laptop with MSWorks. This saved me several phone calls on Monday and allowed me to complete the Florida Intangible tax although the numbers were still depressing. Jill fixed me several stiff drinks to take my mind off the horrors of tax preparation.
Rich doing income tax. Laundry.
In the morning I made several phone calls to get the missing tax information and then hit the books to finish the tax forms. After several corrections I finished at 1PM and we mailed them off on the way to Scotties for lunch. We made reservations at the chart house for dinner and then walked to the library to spend a quiet afternoon. The Chart House is in a very modernistic building and seems much larger on the inside. We get a nice table by the window overlooking the bay. The food and drinks are excellent and we return to the boat completely stuffed.
Ate supper at Chart House. Wonderful :). Went to library - read whole M.T. book
The weather was blustery and the reports were for 2 days of N winds so after reading the paper I signed up for 2 more days at the marina. After a shower we walked to Cocowalk and watched the movie ‘Titanic’. After the movie we did some shopping and listened to a jazz band playing in the court yard. We ate dinner at a French restaurant and walked back to the boat.
Another beautiful lazy day. The wind was 10-15 Kt from the N. After a slow start we walked N and found Monty’s restaurant and stopped there for lunch. After lunch we continued walking N thru Kennedy park and looked at all the expensive mansions along Bayshore drive. The SORC was going on and the yacht club had banners up and lots of traffic in and out. Jill made dinner with some rice noodles that we bought yesterday at a health food store. Very good.
Long walk through Parks along bay. Ate at Monty's
The next front is supposed to go thru Sunday so I decide to stay till Monday. The weather is nice but he wind is 15 Kt from the NE. These days at the marina all start the same, we wake up around 8 and listen to the morning news. The first one who has to go to the bathroom buys the paper and we read it until about 10. Then we take showers and decide what to do for the day, either walk, shop or watch a movie. Today we decide to watch Sphere and have dinner at Monty’s. We watch the news again at 11. Today is the solar eclipse and when a cloud crosses the sun we can see the eclipse with sun glasses. I punch a hole in a piece of cardboard and when the clouds clear we can get an image on the side of the cockpit. At 12 leave for Cocowalk and the movie. On the way we look for barracuda that Jill saw yesterday and see a manatee stirring up mud in the marina. We get a picture from about 20’ away. We call Tom from the pay phone, only $.35 after the battery of the cell phone failed. Tom reported that the monuments on 18 Ave. are done with copper roofs and he is working on a grant application for up scale landscaping for the monuments. Jamie is still cooling his heels. We walk to the theater and watch Sphere. It was OK but not a great SF movie but at least not as scary as Alien.. After the movie we walked around for a while and then had beer and calamari at Cocowalk while listening to a Spanish instrumental group playing in the square.
After returning to the boat and relaxing we walked to Monty’s for dinner. I had their pain killer number 2 (1,2,3 corresponds to the amount of alcohol in the drink) and don’t remember much after that.
2/27/98 FridayAnother beautiful day. I work on new dock lines in the morning and Jill does some laundry. After lunch we walk S to the Barnacle. We saw it yesterday but it was closed. It is the home of Ralph Monroe who was an early settler and yacht designer. They had a nice tour of the house and the boathouse he built. There was a shallow well where they used to get water before the draining of the Everglades. The 2 story house is built on a ridge 18’ above sea level and 300’ from the water. A 2 story boat house and marine rail way are on the shore and a larger open boat shed just behind the boathouse. The boathouse was destroyed in the 1926 hurricane and he rebuilt it so the end walls would be blown out and spare the rest of the structure which is just what happened during Andrew. The house originally had 1 story but when he decided to expand he jacked the whole house up and built a new ground floor. The view from the 2nd floor balcony is spectacular. After the tour we bought his book and a few post cards.
As we walked back to the marina we stopped at an ice cream parlor for ice cream cones. They tasted terrific.
2/28/98 SaturdayIt may be repetitious but this was another beautiful day. We rested most of the morning and had lunch at Scotties. Our neighbor warned us that barnacles grew quickly here so we pulled the dingy and washed the bottom. It had numerous white dots on the bottom which came off with rubbing. Jill made beans and rice which we took to the party on dock 6. We meet a number of the permanent live aboarders. They hold a party every month. There was lots of good food and then a scavenger hunt followed by folk songs.
It rained a little during the night and periodically during the day as the front went thru. We watched the news and read the Sunday paper. Jill finished the laundry and I straightened up the boat in preparation for leaving tomorrow.
The wind was quite strong from the W 20 Kt with gusts of 30 Kt. and was predicted to blow from the W till Wednesday but diminishing in strength so we decided to wait another day. We went to the movies again and watched ‘Apostle’. It was interesting but not your typical Hollywood movie.
Sunny and windy - We'll wait to leave - Went to movie - Saw The Apostle and got hair conditioner.
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