Tuesday March 5: Visitors and Boat Dogs

Cindy, Liam, Randy, Nick, Nikki, Mea

Randy and Cindy had overnight (several overnights actually) visitors for the first time this season last weekend.

Daughter Nikki, son-in-law Nick and grandkids Liam and Mea flew down from the frozen tundra region called Ontario to spend some time in the warm Florida Keys sunshine!

It was a great 2 1/2 days of Banana Bay days before everyone took off to a more fun place: Disney World!!




Steve, Liam and Mea scoured the marina area and luckily scored with several coconuts that contained milk (easy enough to determine by shaking the coconut!).

After some well placed hits by a major rock, Nick was able to extract the small coconut seed. Randy produced a drill to drain the nut of the milk and then more smashing to crack the nut open.

Talk about fresh coconut!! It was quite good .....


In the meantime, Steve was not letting any grass grow as he continues to prepare the boat to head to the Bahamas in April.

The two repair spots on the front deck were now ready for the final coat of Raptor - a truck bed liner that we've found works quite well. Hold up well and cleans up fairly easily.







The two spots he repaired on the front deck look very nice - and are both now solid and should no longer leak.

The end result really doesn't begin to reveal how much work it took on his part to make the repairs - definitely looks good though :-)



And it's not only the boats in the marina that need repair sometimes! The pedestal on the dock in front of us which provides the power and water for our boat) has been leaking water for years. Not a lot of water - just dripping that seemed silly that it couldn't be fixed.

So one day an "attempted" repair was made. It involved Scott the dockmaster, Flint the ass't dockmaster, Tom the maintenance guy here at Banana Bay and Steve.

It looked like a regular meeting of a repair crew seen working along construction sites! Regardless, it  was a semi-success with a much reduced drip of water and a note to 'do it fully' at a time when there isn't such a need for the marina to have water (since the water had to be turned off to fix the problem :-) )

Another project on the Bahamas list was to make sure the dinghy was ready. Out of the water it came.

First was to repaint the bottom paint and extend it along the gray inflated tubes that also sat in the water when the dinghy was in the water with the engine still on it. Much easier for dinghy fishing but just a small thing that needed dealt with.

Steve also wants to attach some towing rings in a case where it becomes rough enough that we are unable to lift the engine and dinghy aboard, we can at least just tow it slowly until we are able to reach a protected spot to lift everything aboard.

Sometime in the next week or so ....







There was an opportunity to fish under the bridge the other day so off Steve went with Lois from Mystified.  They had fun - caught lots of fish but not too many keepers.

The exception was the yellow jack that Steve managed to get into the boat. It's great when fresh!!

So ever since Monday when Randy and Cindy left for Disneyworld, we've been keeping Gigit and Cricket.

They are great dogs and very easy to watch. Boat dogs for a week - it's nice as we enjoy both of the dogs. And the added benefit that we get to send them home when Randy and Cindy return!







Cricket (all 5 lbs of her) can usually be found on the flybridge with her blanket. She loves looking out of the window and checking out who is walking by.

Gigit (15 lbs) is typically on the floor by Steve's feet or else she is in my chair!

As soon as I get up, she hops up and pretends to be sleeping. How could I possibly make her move, right?






So it's been a good week. Lots of physical preparing of the boat by Steve while I spend time searching out and doing what needs to be done to keep the coast guard happy for when we return to the US.

Cricket does occasionally like to hide by pretending to be one of the stuffed animals on the bridge.

It's weird to be looking for her only to realize she is right there!

This is probably the last night with them as Randy and Cindy are due in tomorrow .....