March17th: Bimini Top, ongoing work and St Patrick's Day fun

Last year I noticed the front zippers on the bimini top canvas were getting seriously worn They are important because they hold the canvas to the poles. I was hoping to get this season out of them. I had tried to get them replaced before I left last year but the wait time was a couple months. These zippers require a heavy duty sewing machine.

When I tried to put the canvas up, The straps holding the top down in front were completely deteriorated. 

Hmmm. Ordinarily Linda would just get out her sewing machine and whip out some new ones. I looked and found I had the strapping material. Surely I can sew the straps. I got out the machine, and after a slow learning curve, figured out how to thread it and successfully made the straps.

 

Next I checked out the zippers and found they were completely shot. I thought I might just need to forget the bimini top until next season. But then I decided I might as well drive down to the canvas guy and see what he said. Turns out he was a new owner. He looked at my canvas and said I had quite a few thread issues due to sun rot. (I was aware of that!) Happily he said he could install four new zippers and re-stich everything. He said it would take two days. That was great. And it cost only $225.00. A great price.

I decided to put the mast and boom up so I could put the outboard motor on the dinghy. It weighs 85 lbs., and takes two people to manage without the boom to assist. The mast and boom make it easy. It was nice to have that completed with the help of friends.

Mast and Boom

At docktails March 16th someone suggested we do a dinghy run to an on the water watering hole for St. Patrick's Day. I said I had a physical therapy session for my shoulder at 9:00 AM and my dinghy wasn't ready.  I did have the mast and boom ready to go. Help was offered to put the motor on and get it ready when I got back from Key West so I was in. 

The next morning I arrived early at Key West and was waiting in my car when one of the Key West chickens and a chick were walking around. I thought I might be able to get a picture. I rolled down my window and they came racing over. Clearly people are feeding these chickens! No problem getting a picture. 

Key West Chicken and Chick

 

I returned to Marathon about 11:00 AM. We had the dinghy motor on and everything ready to go before noon.

Cruising across the bay side of Marathon.
The other four dinghies are behind us. We passed under a very low bridge to take a short cut!

Sparky's fun logo

The weather was perfect, calm winds, smooth water and sunny. The cruise took about an hour up the bay side of Marathon. We arrived at Sparky's, an open air restaurant/bar on the water. We enjoyed lunch and the conversation and then headed back to the dinghies. It was determined we should cruise to the Islandview Restaurant since it wasn't very late. It is also on the water and a fun place to have a drink and talk.

Kim & Steve (Maya) Karen and Mychael

Dennis & Lois, (Mystified) Bill, (Snowbird) Keith
 & Stacey (Big Sailboat) and Mike (Flight Risk)

We had a pleasant cruise back to Banana Bay. Everything went very well.

Marathon Yacht Club

I needed to be back by 5:30 PM because George and Pat had invited me to the St.Patrick's Day dinner at their yacht club. 

Donnie, a local boater and musician provided enjoyable music. 

Pat & George (Reflection)

 

Of course, my dinner was
corned beef and cabbage,
enough for three meals!

It was a fun evening. By the time I returned to the boat I was pretty tired.

While at dinner I had received a voicemail message from the canvas guy that my canvas was finished. When I got back to the boat I thought I'd call and leave a message that I'd be in the next day to pick it up. It was 8:30 PM so I was surprised when he answered the phone. He said he'd be there for an hour or so if I wanted to pick it up. It's a five minute drive so away I went. He did a wonderful job. I paid him extra and said his price was too low. By now I really was worn out. It was a great day and I went to bed early.

I was happy to get the bimini top up the next day. It provides shade and the boat just looks better with it up. 

New straps and zippers

As I was on the flybridge I once again saw the rust on the bow. I decided it was time to clean that off if I was going to sit on the flybridge looking down. I have a good rust cleaner so it wasn't too bad of a job.

We had some calm winds and good fishing weather coming up Monday. I asked Robbie, a newly arrived nice young boater if he wanted to go out in the dinghy. He said, "Well we could take one of my boats and others could come!" One of his boats? Turns out he manages a fleet of fishing boat rentals and is allowed to use them. 

So Robbie, Steve, Bill, Lois, Dennis and I headed out fishing in a very nice fishing boat. The weather was perfect. We anticipated a good catch. Unfortunately, we were reminded why it's called fishing and not catching. We caught enough fish to make it interesting, but not the Yellowtail we were hoping for.

Bill caught the Grouper

Three nice fish were caught, two Groupers and one Hogfish but they were out of season. Still fun to catch something. 

We caught many Grunts, small but tasty fish, and one Yellow Jack which was the best fish of the day. We had enough fish for dinner for those who were interested.

Yellow Jack