Sunday, February 8, 2015
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Stock Island
Sunday February 1, 2015
24 33 913 N
81 44 298 W
The marina called and said we could arrive at Noon. We were in two minds as it was very windy and we had to wind our way about 10 miles back around the island to the Atlantic side. We decided to go.
When we we in the lee of the island it was calm enough but as we turned out into the Atlantic it was pretty rough - 4 to 6 footers, close and confused. Plus we had to dodge a cruise ship making its approach.
Tide Hiker handles rough water pretty well, it was docking in the wind that I was concerned about. I asked Deidre to set up the fenders before it got rough so we just had to toss them over the side when we arrived. We added two 18" ball style fenders to the "other side" so that if we drifted into another boat when docking Tide Hiker we would be protected. Good thing we did.
As we pulled into the slip I "lost it" a bit and we scraped the yacht next to us. The fenders did their work and no real damage was done. The owners were not on board so I told them when they returned and they we not concerned.
Monday February 2, 2015
Tide Hiker needs a wash and we started today. Its a big job and at our pace will take a few days. We unloaded the bikes and had a look around the neighborhood. We located the local Northern Lights dealer and arranged for a service call in a week or so.
Our dock neighbor is John, who describes himself as a writer. He makes an income writing business plans and publicity content and such, but wants to write novels. He is waiting for his first novel to be published. He plans to have more influence on Key West than Hemingway. We had him over for "happy hour" and that turned into "happy few hours".
Tuesday February 3, 2015
More boat washing today - windows and decks. I also installed a small 'anti-ventilation" fin on the dinghy. Invited the crew from the boat on our other side in for Happy Hour. (Dennis and Roberta)
The weather is pleasant but a bit cooler than expected.
Wednesday February 4, 2015
The marina is "in between airports". The commercial airport is just west of us and the jets take off pretty much over the marina. But there is maybe only a couple of dozen flights. The Navy Air Base is east of us and maybe a mile away. However they seem to have taken the muffles of the F16s etc and they are amazingly noisy. Deidre does not like noise.
Lots of planes today. Meanwhile I changed the oil in the dinghy and sanded and varnished the rails. Looks nice. Dinner out with the neighbors.
Thursday February 5, 2015
Cold wet and windy. Spent the day inside.
Friday January 6, 2015
Rode to the local Mexican restaurant for dinner - it was great! (I have not said that in a while.)
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Not a bad day but still windy. Managed to get a bit of varnishing done.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
A nice sunny morning! A day to "do something". I sanded the rails and prepped for more varnish while Deidre cleaned up inside. At about 11 we headed into town on our bikes and after a bit of confusion boarded a tourist bus ("Lolly the Trolly") that would take us around town on a "get on and get off basis".
I really like Key West. It is really a "happening place", especially when there is a ship or two in town, (And there was a huge ship at the docks, right down town). There are "hundreds" of restaurants, bars and tee shirt places, especially along Mallory Street. Some how many of them seem to exude the "just meeting health department standards" but exude ambiance. There are crowds of people enjoying the relaxed atmosphere.
If you buy a house in Key West you enter into an agreement with the city to renovate it back to its original "historic" condition. As a result the residential streets are just spectacular with restored 19th century wooden houses. I have decided to dedicate a page for photos of the houses that impress us.
Monday, February 9, 2015
This morning we launched the dink. We are "bow in, starboard to" so we needed to move Tide Hiker away from the dock to make space. Sounds easy, but its quite tricky with a 35 ton boat. The people next door helped and all went well.
Just as we got the dink settled Margnus and Charlotte called ("Swede Dreams") and invited us to lunch at a local waterside cafe ("Hog Fish") so we headed over in the dink. The outboard motor stalled half way over. After 5 minutes I got is started but it seems to have a fuel supply problem - it never ends.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Pump out day! I sanded and varnished while we waited for the pump out guy. They have a great system here - a valve at every dock and a long hose on wheels. Then we loaded the bikes and headed to the beach. The wind was still 10-15 but would be off shore at the beach. It would be about 3 1/2 mile bike ride both ways.
Key West has no natural beaches, so they have "made" a couple. (The guide on "Lolly the Trolly" asked us to shake our shoes well when we left the beach, as the sand was very expensive.) We took chairs and drinks and books and towels so the bikes were quite loaded. For some reason all the other people on our part of the beach were French.
Last coat of varnish before dinner. We are going to a DeFever Rendezvous in Palm Beach in March, so i want Tide Hiker to look her best.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
More varnish today. The rest of the day I worked on the dink. Biked to West Marine and bought 5' of hose and a new motor connection, which is now in place. Took the dink out, hoping the problem was fixed, but it stalled again. The tank is 1/2 empty so I filled up the tank and retested - all ran well. Not sure what to think.
We decided to take the 7 PM shuttle into town for a walk around and dinner. On Duval Street we ran into the daughter (and husband) of good friends from the Valparaiso days. They told us of other Valpo people in town and we made contact Thursday morning.
In the meantime we had dinner. It was another bad one. I am getting disillusioned about eating out.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Finished varnishing today and put all the supplies away. Started on cleaning and teak oiling the aft deck table and hatch.
Decided to try the dink again and headed to the bar at "Hurricane Hole" - a 5 mile round trip. It was sunny, wind 5 to 10, and a bit cool. Dinghy ran very well. Hurricane Hole is primarily a sport fishing boat harbor. We sat in the sun and DEIDRE HAD TWO BEERS! Very pleasant. Its why I came to Key West!
Friday February 13, 2015
Breakfast with Jan and Jim Ditto. Friends from Valpo that we had not seen in 10 (?) years.
We picked up the rental car and then filled it up with groceries.
Saturday, February 14th, 2015
Up early and headed off to Miami. The drive through the keys is interesting but a bit slow. Took us 4 hours to make it to the Miami Beach Convention Center. It is a huge show but we only had one day and needed to corner the Northern Lights people. (As well as gather up info from the other generator brands and get their "Show Specials")
Needless to say i was disappointed at the NL booth so made sure that we got prices from the Onan, Kohler and Mace. Spent another hour or so cruising the show, it was great fun for me but hard work for Deidre's ankle and knee. We bailed out about 3 PM and headed into the suburbs to attend to some other jobs. The drive back was long and dark.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Busy Sunday morning preparing for our visitors. The kids plane was an hour late but we had them on board by about 2 PM. After settling in we headed off to the "Hurricane Hole" in the dinghy for happy hour. Adam and Kathy needed some sun and a break, so I entertained the kids in the dinghy. All good
Sunday evening Adam and Kathy headed into town for dinner (they also had friends in town) and the kids ate on the boat with Deidre and I
Monday, February 16, 2015
Too windy for boating. So Kathy and Adam hired tandem bikes and we all headed into Key West. Walked the docks and Duval Street. Lunch at a restaurant on the beach. And even gate-crashed the Waldorf Hotel and swam in their pool. We ended up circumnavigating the Island on the bikes. Some of us were a bit sore.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
The wind calmed down a bit so we headed out Tide Hiker. Even so, the run down to Key West harbor was a bit rough and both kids were a bit green. But the harbor was protected so we found a spot to anchor I took the kids "tubing". Every one got a bit of sun.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
A line of storms passed thru about 2 AM bringing thunder, lightening, wind and heavy rain. This morning the wind and rain continued.
We made it an easy morning. Deidre needed to clean up after our guests and had plans to bake a loaf of zucchini bread. I had ordered the parts to rebuild the raw water pumps and I needed to quit procrastinating and get it done.
Thursday February 19, 2015
Wind blew all night and continued all day. Was sunny enough this morning but just too unpleasant to be outside. So we resumed work in the ER, this time on the starboard raw water pump. I wanted to remove the pump and install new components (back wear plate, cam and front plate) and swap the impeller for the new "easy out" style. In addition, while I had all the hoses disconnected I wanted to go hunting for the "pieces parts" of the impeller that we replaced in January.
Friday
After a bit of grunting the water pump was successfully (I hope) re-installed.
Saturday
Not much going on. Still a bit breezy. We only have a week left at this marina. The marina has been OK but not very social, which is a disappointing.We rode our bikes over to the Hurricane Hole for a happy hour beer in the sun.
Sunday
Nice day, sunny and calmer. Not much going on. We rode to and from the super market. I cleaned and re-oiled the lazarette hatch and the aft deck teak table. Saturday afternoon we did nome exploring in the dinghy. Deidre had packed afternoon tea and we anchored in a little waterway and enjoyed the sun for an hour or so On the way back we stopped at the fuel dock to buy some gas. While we were there a 40 ish foot cruiser dumped 30 or 40 gallons of diesel into the channel. What a mess.
After dinner wandered over to the Captain's lounge to watch the Oscars with a few others.
Monday
Nice calm, sunny day.
The mechanic turned up right on time. "John" is a quiet conservative fellow. I sat in the ER for a couple of hours and watched him put the engine back together, virtually in total silence. If he could answer a question with a "Yes" or a "No" or a "Maybe" that's what he did. But he did complement me on how organized I was and how neat the ER was. There were a few parts that they had failed to order :( and so he could not complete the work and will need to return Tuesday or Wednesday
Monday afternoon Deidre and I both had doctor's appointments. Deidre for a checkup and me to have my skin checked. Deidre had a 6.0 mile (round trip) bike ride and I had an 8.6 mile round trip. My doctor was very pleasant gay guy (there is a large gay community in Key West) and turns out had completed his residency in Cleveland, Ohio. He asked me what I had done in Cleveland and I responded that I was in the steel business. He scratched his chin and told me that he only met one guy in the steel business in Cleveland, "Bill Mikler". I just about fell off the chair. (The doctor was a friend of Bill's sister.)
Tuesday Feb 24, 2015
Foggy morning. While we waited for the pump out we changed the oil in the two main engines and transmissions. It was a bit early (175 hrs) but the oil looked really black, and now we can motor to Charleston with a clear conscience.
Caught the 1:00 PM shuttle to town. Needed to drop some items at the post office (new baby clothes, returned pump parts) and enjoy the town. met some fun folks on the bus and had them over to Tide Hiker after returning.
John visited while we were gone and completed reassembling #2 generator except for one small part. He will return Thursday AM to crank her over.
Good news from Enterprise. The claim was paid in full by the people that hit us! Wow, miracles still happen.
This week we were visited by a 3 masted sailing vessel owned by some religious organization. Nice boat.
Wednesday Feb 25, 2015
Nice morning. Magnus and charlotte called and said they would pick us up for lunch and a walk around town. They did so and we had a fun time, back at Tide Hiker by 4 PM.
Thursday Feb 26, 2015
John returned on schedule this morning and "we" started the generator. It ran OK and now only time will tell (But Collingwood won its first game of the year last night and I see that as a good omen.) Overall we have spent about $3,500 on it since it failed. Tested the genset again at about 5 PM and it ran fine. Looking for loss of coolant and/or water in the oil.
Rode the bikes to the beach for the afternoon. It was in the 80s and very sunny. We both got a bit of color. Deidre is doing well on the bike and I am sure it is good for her knee. (She may disagree)
Friends have loaned us a CD of Downton Abby, season 5. Last night we watched 3 episodes. We have to return it Sunday morning, so tonight we will probably look at another 3. (I think 3 a night will be overkill)
Friday Feb 27, 2015
Cooler and overcast. Deidre took the shuttle to go shopping again, and get a hair cut. I am trying to wrap up the ER and get ready to resume cruising. Reinstalled the "vented loop" on the port engine. Started both engines and checked for leaks.
Saturday Feb 28, 2015
Busy day cleaning up. Its amazing how much has to be dome to get tide Hiker ready after 4 weeks on a slip. Drinks on Santorini with Donna and Carl.
Sunday March 1, 2015
Up at 7:30 AM and underway by 10:30 AM. The weather had deteriorated overnight and this morning there was a "small craft warning" with 20-25 MPH winds. I had to back out of the slip into the wind, turn Tide Hiker 90 degrees and get forward movement before the wind blew us back into the slips. Tide Hiker is a "bit windy" but all went well.
Because of the weather we planned to only run east to Key West harbor and drop the anchor. It was quite blustery (Deidre saw 28 MPH on the anemometer) and we did not see a spot to our liking in the harbor so we continued on to Garrison Bight and took a ball. Had a tough time picking up the ball till a nice fellow in a dinghy took sympathy and helped us. Then another large boat came in and he helped them also. We gave him a bottle of red.
I was tired and took a nap from about 3PM till 6PM. Its so nice to sleep with the boat moving around.
24 33 913 N
81 44 298 W
The marina called and said we could arrive at Noon. We were in two minds as it was very windy and we had to wind our way about 10 miles back around the island to the Atlantic side. We decided to go.
When we we in the lee of the island it was calm enough but as we turned out into the Atlantic it was pretty rough - 4 to 6 footers, close and confused. Plus we had to dodge a cruise ship making its approach.
Tide Hiker handles rough water pretty well, it was docking in the wind that I was concerned about. I asked Deidre to set up the fenders before it got rough so we just had to toss them over the side when we arrived. We added two 18" ball style fenders to the "other side" so that if we drifted into another boat when docking Tide Hiker we would be protected. Good thing we did.
As we pulled into the slip I "lost it" a bit and we scraped the yacht next to us. The fenders did their work and no real damage was done. The owners were not on board so I told them when they returned and they we not concerned.
Monday February 2, 2015
Tide Hiker needs a wash and we started today. Its a big job and at our pace will take a few days. We unloaded the bikes and had a look around the neighborhood. We located the local Northern Lights dealer and arranged for a service call in a week or so.
Our dock neighbor is John, who describes himself as a writer. He makes an income writing business plans and publicity content and such, but wants to write novels. He is waiting for his first novel to be published. He plans to have more influence on Key West than Hemingway. We had him over for "happy hour" and that turned into "happy few hours".
 |
| John at work. He is happy that Tide Hiker provides shade. |
Tuesday February 3, 2015
More boat washing today - windows and decks. I also installed a small 'anti-ventilation" fin on the dinghy. Invited the crew from the boat on our other side in for Happy Hour. (Dennis and Roberta)
The weather is pleasant but a bit cooler than expected.
Wednesday February 4, 2015
The marina is "in between airports". The commercial airport is just west of us and the jets take off pretty much over the marina. But there is maybe only a couple of dozen flights. The Navy Air Base is east of us and maybe a mile away. However they seem to have taken the muffles of the F16s etc and they are amazingly noisy. Deidre does not like noise.
Lots of planes today. Meanwhile I changed the oil in the dinghy and sanded and varnished the rails. Looks nice. Dinner out with the neighbors.
Thursday February 5, 2015
Cold wet and windy. Spent the day inside.
Friday January 6, 2015
 |
| Makes you feel safe. Apparently the boat in B1 had not paid their monthly fee! The guy with the beard has an assault rifle. |
Rode to the local Mexican restaurant for dinner - it was great! (I have not said that in a while.)
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Not a bad day but still windy. Managed to get a bit of varnishing done.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
A nice sunny morning! A day to "do something". I sanded the rails and prepped for more varnish while Deidre cleaned up inside. At about 11 we headed into town on our bikes and after a bit of confusion boarded a tourist bus ("Lolly the Trolly") that would take us around town on a "get on and get off basis".
I really like Key West. It is really a "happening place", especially when there is a ship or two in town, (And there was a huge ship at the docks, right down town). There are "hundreds" of restaurants, bars and tee shirt places, especially along Mallory Street. Some how many of them seem to exude the "just meeting health department standards" but exude ambiance. There are crowds of people enjoying the relaxed atmosphere.
If you buy a house in Key West you enter into an agreement with the city to renovate it back to its original "historic" condition. As a result the residential streets are just spectacular with restored 19th century wooden houses. I have decided to dedicate a page for photos of the houses that impress us.
Monday, February 9, 2015
This morning we launched the dink. We are "bow in, starboard to" so we needed to move Tide Hiker away from the dock to make space. Sounds easy, but its quite tricky with a 35 ton boat. The people next door helped and all went well.
Just as we got the dink settled Margnus and Charlotte called ("Swede Dreams") and invited us to lunch at a local waterside cafe ("Hog Fish") so we headed over in the dink. The outboard motor stalled half way over. After 5 minutes I got is started but it seems to have a fuel supply problem - it never ends.
 |
| Magnus and Charlotte at "Hogg Fish" |
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Pump out day! I sanded and varnished while we waited for the pump out guy. They have a great system here - a valve at every dock and a long hose on wheels. Then we loaded the bikes and headed to the beach. The wind was still 10-15 but would be off shore at the beach. It would be about 3 1/2 mile bike ride both ways.
Key West has no natural beaches, so they have "made" a couple. (The guide on "Lolly the Trolly" asked us to shake our shoes well when we left the beach, as the sand was very expensive.) We took chairs and drinks and books and towels so the bikes were quite loaded. For some reason all the other people on our part of the beach were French.
Last coat of varnish before dinner. We are going to a DeFever Rendezvous in Palm Beach in March, so i want Tide Hiker to look her best.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
More varnish today. The rest of the day I worked on the dink. Biked to West Marine and bought 5' of hose and a new motor connection, which is now in place. Took the dink out, hoping the problem was fixed, but it stalled again. The tank is 1/2 empty so I filled up the tank and retested - all ran well. Not sure what to think.
We decided to take the 7 PM shuttle into town for a walk around and dinner. On Duval Street we ran into the daughter (and husband) of good friends from the Valparaiso days. They told us of other Valpo people in town and we made contact Thursday morning.
In the meantime we had dinner. It was another bad one. I am getting disillusioned about eating out.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Finished varnishing today and put all the supplies away. Started on cleaning and teak oiling the aft deck table and hatch.
Decided to try the dink again and headed to the bar at "Hurricane Hole" - a 5 mile round trip. It was sunny, wind 5 to 10, and a bit cool. Dinghy ran very well. Hurricane Hole is primarily a sport fishing boat harbor. We sat in the sun and DEIDRE HAD TWO BEERS! Very pleasant. Its why I came to Key West!
 |
| Deidre in the peach shirt, ADAKY in the foreground |
 |
| The charter captains cleaning fish around a "well" occupied by hungry pellicans |
Friday February 13, 2015
Breakfast with Jan and Jim Ditto. Friends from Valpo that we had not seen in 10 (?) years.
 |
| The girls |
 |
| The boys |
We picked up the rental car and then filled it up with groceries.
Saturday, February 14th, 2015
Up early and headed off to Miami. The drive through the keys is interesting but a bit slow. Took us 4 hours to make it to the Miami Beach Convention Center. It is a huge show but we only had one day and needed to corner the Northern Lights people. (As well as gather up info from the other generator brands and get their "Show Specials")
Needless to say i was disappointed at the NL booth so made sure that we got prices from the Onan, Kohler and Mace. Spent another hour or so cruising the show, it was great fun for me but hard work for Deidre's ankle and knee. We bailed out about 3 PM and headed into the suburbs to attend to some other jobs. The drive back was long and dark.
 |
| Lunch on Lincoln Avenue |
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Busy Sunday morning preparing for our visitors. The kids plane was an hour late but we had them on board by about 2 PM. After settling in we headed off to the "Hurricane Hole" in the dinghy for happy hour. Adam and Kathy needed some sun and a break, so I entertained the kids in the dinghy. All good
 |
| Dinghy Lessons with Ruby |
Sunday evening Adam and Kathy headed into town for dinner (they also had friends in town) and the kids ate on the boat with Deidre and I
Monday, February 16, 2015
Too windy for boating. So Kathy and Adam hired tandem bikes and we all headed into Key West. Walked the docks and Duval Street. Lunch at a restaurant on the beach. And even gate-crashed the Waldorf Hotel and swam in their pool. We ended up circumnavigating the Island on the bikes. Some of us were a bit sore.
 |
| On our way to Key West |
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
The wind calmed down a bit so we headed out Tide Hiker. Even so, the run down to Key West harbor was a bit rough and both kids were a bit green. But the harbor was protected so we found a spot to anchor I took the kids "tubing". Every one got a bit of sun.
 |
| Tubing with the kids |
 |
| Farewells! |
 |
| Gotta love the head gear |
A line of storms passed thru about 2 AM bringing thunder, lightening, wind and heavy rain. This morning the wind and rain continued.
We made it an easy morning. Deidre needed to clean up after our guests and had plans to bake a loaf of zucchini bread. I had ordered the parts to rebuild the raw water pumps and I needed to quit procrastinating and get it done.
 |
| Got it off!!!!!!! |
Thursday February 19, 2015
Wind blew all night and continued all day. Was sunny enough this morning but just too unpleasant to be outside. So we resumed work in the ER, this time on the starboard raw water pump. I wanted to remove the pump and install new components (back wear plate, cam and front plate) and swap the impeller for the new "easy out" style. In addition, while I had all the hoses disconnected I wanted to go hunting for the "pieces parts" of the impeller that we replaced in January.
 |
| Windy and sunny |
 |
| We were looking for 8 pieces, we found 6! |
 |
| Starboard pump ready to go back in - tomorrow. |
Friday
After a bit of grunting the water pump was successfully (I hope) re-installed.
 |
| The local fishing fleet |
Saturday
Not much going on. Still a bit breezy. We only have a week left at this marina. The marina has been OK but not very social, which is a disappointing.We rode our bikes over to the Hurricane Hole for a happy hour beer in the sun.
Sunday
Nice day, sunny and calmer. Not much going on. We rode to and from the super market. I cleaned and re-oiled the lazarette hatch and the aft deck teak table. Saturday afternoon we did nome exploring in the dinghy. Deidre had packed afternoon tea and we anchored in a little waterway and enjoyed the sun for an hour or so On the way back we stopped at the fuel dock to buy some gas. While we were there a 40 ish foot cruiser dumped 30 or 40 gallons of diesel into the channel. What a mess.
After dinner wandered over to the Captain's lounge to watch the Oscars with a few others.
Monday
Nice calm, sunny day.
The mechanic turned up right on time. "John" is a quiet conservative fellow. I sat in the ER for a couple of hours and watched him put the engine back together, virtually in total silence. If he could answer a question with a "Yes" or a "No" or a "Maybe" that's what he did. But he did complement me on how organized I was and how neat the ER was. There were a few parts that they had failed to order :( and so he could not complete the work and will need to return Tuesday or Wednesday
Monday afternoon Deidre and I both had doctor's appointments. Deidre for a checkup and me to have my skin checked. Deidre had a 6.0 mile (round trip) bike ride and I had an 8.6 mile round trip. My doctor was very pleasant gay guy (there is a large gay community in Key West) and turns out had completed his residency in Cleveland, Ohio. He asked me what I had done in Cleveland and I responded that I was in the steel business. He scratched his chin and told me that he only met one guy in the steel business in Cleveland, "Bill Mikler". I just about fell off the chair. (The doctor was a friend of Bill's sister.)
Tuesday Feb 24, 2015
Foggy morning. While we waited for the pump out we changed the oil in the two main engines and transmissions. It was a bit early (175 hrs) but the oil looked really black, and now we can motor to Charleston with a clear conscience.
Caught the 1:00 PM shuttle to town. Needed to drop some items at the post office (new baby clothes, returned pump parts) and enjoy the town. met some fun folks on the bus and had them over to Tide Hiker after returning.
John visited while we were gone and completed reassembling #2 generator except for one small part. He will return Thursday AM to crank her over.
Good news from Enterprise. The claim was paid in full by the people that hit us! Wow, miracles still happen.
This week we were visited by a 3 masted sailing vessel owned by some religious organization. Nice boat.
Wednesday Feb 25, 2015
Nice morning. Magnus and charlotte called and said they would pick us up for lunch and a walk around town. They did so and we had a fun time, back at Tide Hiker by 4 PM.
Thursday Feb 26, 2015
John returned on schedule this morning and "we" started the generator. It ran OK and now only time will tell (But Collingwood won its first game of the year last night and I see that as a good omen.) Overall we have spent about $3,500 on it since it failed. Tested the genset again at about 5 PM and it ran fine. Looking for loss of coolant and/or water in the oil.
Rode the bikes to the beach for the afternoon. It was in the 80s and very sunny. We both got a bit of color. Deidre is doing well on the bike and I am sure it is good for her knee. (She may disagree)
Friends have loaned us a CD of Downton Abby, season 5. Last night we watched 3 episodes. We have to return it Sunday morning, so tonight we will probably look at another 3. (I think 3 a night will be overkill)
 |
| It was pure coincidence that I was facing East at this moment |
Friday Feb 27, 2015
Cooler and overcast. Deidre took the shuttle to go shopping again, and get a hair cut. I am trying to wrap up the ER and get ready to resume cruising. Reinstalled the "vented loop" on the port engine. Started both engines and checked for leaks.
Saturday Feb 28, 2015
Busy day cleaning up. Its amazing how much has to be dome to get tide Hiker ready after 4 weeks on a slip. Drinks on Santorini with Donna and Carl.
Sunday March 1, 2015
Up at 7:30 AM and underway by 10:30 AM. The weather had deteriorated overnight and this morning there was a "small craft warning" with 20-25 MPH winds. I had to back out of the slip into the wind, turn Tide Hiker 90 degrees and get forward movement before the wind blew us back into the slips. Tide Hiker is a "bit windy" but all went well.
Because of the weather we planned to only run east to Key West harbor and drop the anchor. It was quite blustery (Deidre saw 28 MPH on the anemometer) and we did not see a spot to our liking in the harbor so we continued on to Garrison Bight and took a ball. Had a tough time picking up the ball till a nice fellow in a dinghy took sympathy and helped us. Then another large boat came in and he helped them also. We gave him a bottle of red.
I was tired and took a nap from about 3PM till 6PM. Its so nice to sleep with the boat moving around.
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