May 2nd: Just hanging out, a little fishing and cleaning for the arrival of Sailor Dave and Kelly

The day I returned from Ohio we had a heavy rain. We get very little rain so we could always use it, and it never lasts too long. During the night I woke up feeling a drip over my head. Hmmm. We've had this problem before. The caulking on the walk around deck gives way and leaks. Fortunately, it was not dripping much so I just moved over and figured I'd deal with it in the morning. 

I removed most of the old caulking behind the sliding door, which is above my bed. It clearly needed to be replaced. Let it dry out for a day and then caulked it. The new caulking is to the left of the railing shadow in the picture.

New caulking in place

There was a spot in front of the door that was much worse. When I started checking there was a soft spot below the fiberglass. I started digging and ended up with quite a hole. 

I had fiberglass repair supplies so I replaced the rotted wood with 5 layers of fiberglass. That should definitely do it. It took several days to complete everything and all is good. 

The only issue was my white Brightside paint was so old it's not white anymore. But it will still protect the fiberglass until next year.

No more leaks! I checked it with the hose, just in case. It was fortunate I found these issues before I left for the season. If I had missed them, water would have been leaking in for 6 months!

 

Steve and Michael

Dennis and Lois had a visit from their 20 year old grandson, Michael. He wanted to go fishing in salt water, a first for him, I said I'd be glad to take him. I warned him that it had been pretty windy and that usually means the fishing isn't great. Shortly after we arrived Michael caught a Hammerhead Shark. It took a while, but he was able to land it. Well, bring it alongside the dinghy so I could release it. No way that hammerhead shark was coming in the dinghy! I was able to get a video. Definitely provided some excitement. Later, he hooked another shark, I had a tarpon on for just a few seconds and we caught quite a few grunts. We had fun and came home without fish to clean, not all bad!

Location of the removed
 swivel lamp

I decided the boat was in need of some cosmetic improvements. Some of the wall paper was coming loose and a swivel wall lamp had gotten very rusty over the last few years.

Rusty swivel lamp

Wallpaper repaired and lamp restored

Wallpaper coming loose

There were several places like this where the wall paper was coming loose. It's a vinyl wallpaper and very tough but the thinner pieces seem to be shrinking and coming loose. I glued them back on the best I could but replacement will be another project for next season. The wallpaper did last 11 years so I can't really complain!

Becky's baby hummingbird

I received some fun information from Rebecca. Her dog Trevi was in the garage barking like crazy. She went out to see what was going on. She found a baby hummingbird that couldn't fly. She rescued it and fed it some sugar water. She looked on line and found a nearby lady who rescues hummingbirds. She delivered the bird and the lady said she had the correct food to give it and it will be just fine. She learned that hummingbirds can't fly for the first ten days on the ground. Sounds pretty dangerous to me!

Cindy with a Yellow Jack (2018)

I was able to get out fishing two days ago with my friend Bill. We fished from my dinghy under the bridge and did very well. We caught around 15 Yellow Jacks. They're great eating and fun to catch. Most were 3 to 5 lbs. After keeping 9 we started throwing them back. That's a lot of fish, even sharing. This time of year more than half the people left for the summer so not many to share with. Unfortunately, I didn't think to lay the fish out and take a picture before Bill and I cleaned them. I dug in my archives and found a good picture of Cindy holding a nice Yellow Jack she caught a few years ago. Most of ours were about that size. Unfortunately, Randy and Cindy no longer come to Banana Bay. I sure do miss them! We hope to get together on our boats in Canada this summer if COVID allows it.

Speaking of fishing, my friend Mike with the fishing boat is still fishing for Tarpon. He uses live mullet as bait. The mullet are 8 - 10 inches long and shaped like a torpedo. This time of year the mullet come into the marina in large schools. I always alert Mike if I see a school. Here's a video of Mike trying to catch some with his throw net. There is an art to it that he is just learning. It's difficult in the middle of the marina because it is deep enough for the fish to swim under the net before it drops to the bottom. But he did get a few!

Natalie

While Mike was fishing, Natalie spotted a cute little weather vane sailboat sitting on the rocks. The sails turn based on wind direction. Sometimes we're easily entertained!

Linda and I met sailor Dave in Baltimore 6 or 7 years ago. We spent five weeks together as I was recovering from my shoulder break. Dave was rehabbing from a back injury and resurrecting a 32 foot sailboat he had bought sight unseen! He is very talented and can fix anything. 

Dave on his sailboat MaraLee

We had a lot of fun together and have reconnected a few times over the years. We enjoyed a lobster dinner with Dave who had not had the experience. 

Over the years Dave sold his sailboat, returned to long distance truck driving and this last Christmas he married Kelly. He and Kelly will arrive Thursday to spend a week with me on the boat. They are looking for a trawler to move to and this will be a nice chance for Kelly to check it out. Obviously Dave remembered the lobster dinner fondly because he told Kelly we'd have to show her what a real lobster dinner is like! We are hoping for good weather so we can anchor out some nights. Either way it will be fun. Kelly has never been to the Keys so there will be a lot of fun stuff to show her.

It almost feels like deja'vu. I've been going to Key West to see Rosie for physical therapy to repair my left shoulder, (not the one I broke). I did something not good to it in California and decided I better seek help. It turned out a lot of the stretching and exercising I was doing, made the problem worse instead of better! I'm now improving but not there yet. And Dave is still struggling with back issues! In spite of all that, I'm sure we'll have a good time and Dave could use the break from driving.