Sunday March 20: Time with the Kubits

Joe and Joy arrived right on schedule late Friday afternoon. We saw them last about a year ago as they were in Marathon on their sailboat for a few weeks before heading to the Bahamas.

Since then our former 55th Street Marina boat neighbors have sold their boat and settled in to their home in New Hampshire. I feel certain they should have had enough of winter having lived in Cleveland for ?? years but apparently not!

Joy still enjoys skiing and that is certainly hard to do unless you are willing to live in the climate that produces snow (or of course you travel to Dubai).

They came bearing gifts: purportedly the best key lime pie in the Keys.

Personally I wouldn't argue that it wasn't!. Found it somewhere in Key Largo and had to make a U-turn after passing up the place the first time through.

A definite winner and with careful cutting, it made it for desert three times :-)

Of course we had to play Euchre every night. I don't seem to recall who came out ahead overall - it was perhaps the guys but then with my bad memory maybe it was us ;-)

It was plenty warm on Saturday - enough so that Steve and Joy went snorkeling off of the beach. Surprisingly murky though.

And later that day it was a gathering in the water for the Banana Bayers. People just kept on joining in! Very fun. (Thanks to Nancy for the picture!)

Prime location for us as you can just make out the front of "Yesterday's Dream" to the left of the tree. Love this new dock!



Sunday morning was a trip to the Blue Hole. It did not disappoint as Wally Gator was there waiting for visitors.

There was also a soft back turtle laying eggs along the shoreline - very unusual according to the park guide.

Steve also found a green heron. In the picture left, it's head plumage standing on end (apparently this is attractive to the females!) and then in the picture on the right is the same bird with it's plumage flat.

Oddly enough, green herons are one of the few species of birds known to use tools. In particular, they commonly use bread crusts, insects or other items as bait. The bait is dropped onto the surface of a body of water in order to lure fish. When a fish takes the bait, the green heron will then grab and eat the fish! Perhaps Steve should try this method next time he goes fishing :-)

There were several key deer spotted along the road as well. Look very much like Ohio's white-tailed deer - just a lot smaller.



And the Banana Bay resident ducks can be spotted most days (and heard most mornings) hanging around the area.

This day was particularly hot so they were sitting in the shadow of the dock piling just in front of the boat. Guess everyone's just trying to stay in the shade on these hot days :-)

Friday March 18: Life on the Hard

Most things that go wrong on the boat are no big deal - easily dealt with, corrected or replaced.

Except when a thru hull is involved! So when we were completing the major engine work last week, the bolt in the thru hull for the engine raw water broke off.

Not a good thing as the bolt holds the handle tight into the thru hull - thus preventing water from leaking into the boat. We've found from experience that water leaking into the boat is never a good thing!


And of course the biggest problem with trying to work on a thru hull fitting is that it has to be done out of the water. Should we replace it now? Should we wait until we're traveling and will stop for a week in May anyway?

It was pretty much a no brainer - let's assume the temporary fix of hose clamps will work temporarily but better to get it fixed ASAP.

We headed out for the local boatyard (2 1/2 hour travel time because it was on the ocean side of Marathon). The view out the back was pretty nice actually - so even on the hard life was good :-)

The only real difference was we needed to climb the 8 foot ladder to get on or off the boat!

Hauled on Tuesday and work started on Wednesday. Jeff (the great guy who did the work on the thru hull) had the fitting ground off and out within an hour!

As you can see by the hole thru the hull on the picture left, this is something that could sink the boat in very quickly!


After waiting a day for the part, the new thru hull was in place in short order. Sure looks better than what we took out!

In the meantime, Steve occupied his time cleaning the rudder and prop with a wire brush. Sitting in Banana Bay is hard on the running gear as lots of little critters like to cling to any and all surfaces possible (barnacles mostly),

Sure looks nice with a new coat of anti-fouling paint on both surfaces!

I spent my time stringing a wire from the aft cabin to the outside of the main cabin wall. Seems simple enough - NOT! Not hard - just a pain in the neck. This line will allow us to hook up the solar panels from outside instead of having to run the hookup through the hatch or window.

We're still enjoying the sunset even though the boat is out of the water!

The lack of any bugs at Banana Bay is being appreciated though as we are closing up by 6 pm as the mosquitoes and no-see-ums are out by then.

Fortunately with fans running (can't run the air conditioner as it requires us to be in the water to use), it was quite tolerable.

 Jeff suggested adding a screen/scoop on the outside of the thru hull as well. This eliminated the need for a filter on the inside as well as providing additional flow of water to the thru hull to the engine.

He also took some time to remove an obsolete depth finder transducer from the bottom. Another hole patched - definitely a good thing!!

The most fun was a call from Jenna Star (George and Nancy) on Wednesday saying they were going to take a cruise to the Island Grill - did we want to meet them? Of course :-)

A one hour cruise from Banana Bay but a short 1/2 mile from our workyard!

Definitely a score :-)

And fun to see a helicopter land for lunch. What the life :-)


We arrived back to Banana Bay about noon and are awaiting the arrival of Joe and Joy - our boat neighbors from East 55th St Marina in Cleveland!

Monday March 14: Mundane Things

Although the sun has now moved so it is setting over the water, we have yet to see the green flash.

We watch most nights as the weather is cooperating quite nicely. In fact maybe too nicely.

It's in the 80's and sunny - and humid. Some days it's tiresome just moving around!

So it's been pretty low keyed around here lately - you know, kinda just getting mundane honestly.


And then I checked out the synonyms for mundane: humdrum, dull, boring, tedious, monotonous, tiresome, wearisome, unexciting, uninteresting, uninvolving, uneventful, unremarkable, repetitive, routine, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, commonplace .... well you get the idea.

Then I came to the conclusion that mundane really doesn't describe what we do every day. Each day is different even though all one way or another revolve around getting this boat ready to travel a total of more than 4,000 miles to Canada and back this year.

Things need to work properly! First off was a road trip to Miami with George and Nancy. Destination: Sam's Club for a new set of golf cart batteries. Apparently the trickle charger we had on the batteries when the boat sat from May to December overcharged the batteries. No solution other than to replace them. What a pain in the arms for Steve to lift the 65 lb battery over the engine and into the battery box. Four times. Good to go.

Next was to make a storage cover the for solar panels we decided to carry. Helps keep the batteries charged and lessens the need to run the little Honda 2000 gas fueled generator.

Lots of floor work! Good job, Steve :-)

Happy with the fit. These two 4' by 2' panels will proved 200 watts of power on a nice sunny day. Plenty to run our fridge and freezer when we are not plugged into shore power.

Screw the storage bag to the back of the seating on the flybridge and good to go.

Easy place to store the panel and well protected from mishap.

And finish up the wiring needed. Which always seems to mean bring lots of tools out along with various fittings.

Good thing there is a workbench/kitchen in the main cabin!

As usual there are always some casualties involved. Not usual is that it was Steve!

Cut finger with a knife - bleeding heavily and in need of pressure. What better solution than a paper towel with a velcro strap to supply the pressure!

Of course antibiotic dressing and a real band aid but good enough for now :-)

Best good idea in a while?

Fix Steve's broken flip flop with the good old glue gun - and so far it has worked!

New sandals are definitely going to be ordered soon .........

Saturday March 5: Fish Galore!

The wind finally quit blowing long enough for us to head out for a couple of days. First time this season that we've been able to leave the dock for an overnight Thursday.

Of course since it was the first time it seemed that we needed to do EVERYTHING that we haven't had the weather to do.

First was a stop at Sombrero reef for a snorkel. The winds were calm but the visibility was still not the best. Water was too stirred up I guess.

Steve spent the better part of the day on the aft deck - either fishing at anchor or trolling.

He was not disappointed! First several porgies (small but good on the grill).

Then several hogfish that sadly were not large enough (weird looking but very good for eating).


Must be time to head toward our destination for the night - Newfound Harbor. Trolling all the way of course!


Several time we heard the 'zing' of line being pulled out.

Twice he had picked up very nice sized mackerel - one Spanish and one Cero.

I see fish for the freezer - way too much to eat in one night!!











We caught up with Jenna Star and Phinns (didn't get their picture :-(  ) at Newfound Harbor.

After a fish appetizer on the flybridge with Nancy, George, Gary and Karen, we called it a day. By now, when the sun goes down we're about done as well ;-)

But we were up early and headed now to Looe Key to see if the visibility had improved any. Jenna Star picked up the mooring ball next to us. It was very calm :-)

Steve and George actually dove instead of snorkeling. Sadly the visibility was still not great but they still saw the many small fish that hang out at the reef.

More fishing - but not much luck on Friday. Guess the fish were all hiding that day.



The waters were gorgeous with the many shades of blue that come out when the sun is out.

So it was a nice ride to Bahia Honda - our destination for the night. We spent the night at the marina while Jenna Star anchored out just off of the marina entrance.

Of course there was ice cream to be had so George and Nancy dropped their dingy and came into the harbor. This place has the best bargain for their cones - excellent!!

We needed to be up early to leave the marina (very shallow entrance and we needed the tide to be at least up 1/2 foot for us to leave) or we would have had to stay for another 5 hours!

Once outside it was easy to pass over a couple of blueberry muffins to Jenna Star - using a boathook so we didn't need to get too close :-)

Back to Banana Bay with a successful outing. One of the reasons we wanted to get out was to also check the engine systems since we had done quite a bit of work.

No oil or water leaks anywhere - success!!

Wednesday March 2: The Beast is OUT

But I am getting ahead of myself (how is that possible to do, anyway?).

The weather has not been agreeable to take the boat out for an overnight so instead one of the neighbors organized a dingy ride to Burdines - a restaurant on the other side of town in Boot Key Harbor.

An hour dinghy ride there and an hour back. But fun and good food was had by all.

Nice break for a change!

And the manatee have visited again - in force. There were four very large ones in a group that found dripping water near our dock.

They love fresh water to drink and seemed to be pushing each other out of the way as each one fought to catch the water dripping!

Of course it's more of a shoving match rather than a fight :-)

We also celebrated the sale of "I Think I Can ..." with Randy and Cindy. It was perfect timing as they were scheduled to trailer the boat back to Pennsylvania for the birth of their 3rd grandchild.

Instead of hauling the boat back, they sold it and then they packed a ridiculous amount of stuff from the boat into their pickup. There was literally NO space left. We thought about calling the SPCA to report the abuse of Cricket and Gigit but both seemed pretty happy in their center seat! Their plans include a new boat - larger and more comfortable for the dogs :-)

Anyway, back to the BEAST - a 7.5 kw, 1978 Onan diesel generator (the big white thing in the picture left).

It ran pretty well for us for the first 8 years we owned the boat. Since then it's been one thing after another - mostly related to the coolant systems.

Finally, the decision was made - get it out of the engine room! It weights 500 lbs so the challenge was to figure out how to physically remove it.

Time for professional help: call Billy!

First set up an A frame with a leveraged winch. Now detach it from the flooring. Done.

Carefully winch it up all the while twisting it sideways so it fit between the flooring and the engine.

Now replace the floor boards and lower the generator onto a two-wheel dolly.

Next step is to get it out of the boat!

Ramps were the solution. One pair from the cabin floor to the walkaround deck on the boat.

Second pair of ramps from the walkaround to the dock along with a bunch of boards to fill the gap inbetween.

All went amazingly well!! Way easier than we expected to be honest. Billy really knew what he was doing :-)




The last the generator was seen was when Steve and Billy wheeled it down the dock to his truck - hopefully he will be able to recycle at least the copper winding in the armature.

Wow! What to do with all of the new space!! Still lots of cleaning up of wires, hoses etc. that belonged to the generator but so much easier to do.

First job was to replace the water heater and the fresh water pump (since it was leaking!).

No problem now that it was easy to just crawling and sit up (well sort of!) while disconnecting and reconnecting the fittings.

Last job of the day: remove the manifold end plate (with help from George on Jenna Star).

This will have a hole drilled and tapped so we can reroute some hot water hoses - which will enable an easier connection from the engine to the hot water heater.

The connection will enable the hot water circulating around the engine to heat the water in the water heater. Gives us hot water after traveling all day - always a nice thing.

Heat: amazing how this helps to remove two broken bolts! The project could not have gone any better!!

Next day's project - replacing the oil cooler and the transmission cooler!

Both are painted in the Ford Leman rustoleum red :-)

Amazing what the handholds on the ceiling are good for - including tying things from strings!

Lots of projects completed over the next 3 days; new oil/transmission coolers, replace hydraulic hoses on the oil filter, new raw water impeller, drain and replace antifreeze in the closed coolant system. Mmmm... doesn't seem like a very impressive list but trust me it WAS.

Overall - everything went pretty well but I am DONE.

This boat is just too much work!!

Tomorrow we head out for at least an overnight and hopefully two nights if the weather holds (this equates to low winds :-) )