2010 - 5/25 - 5/31 - North Carolina

Sunday, May 23rd Same ole weather - HOT… I waited until the starboard side of the boat was in the shade then sanded the window frames to ready them for the first coat of Cetol. It’s now time to see if the new dink will fit on BLUE MAX. With all fingers crossed, we hoisted it up and onto the stanchions. YEA! With a few minor adjustments, she’ll fit. However, the 30 hsp motor is huge and takes up a bit more room above the dunnage box which is where I sit to fish.

Monday, May 24th - Gathering, packing, organizing trying to stuff everything in a duffle bag that meets their criteria as a carry on. I did it! We went out for a ‘good bye’ dinner with Tom and Susan - the best baby back ribs I’ve had in years. AND if you got drinks during happy hour, you then drink happy hour prices for the rest of the night!! Great deal…of course, we had a few more drinks than we normally would have. Tuesday, May 25th - The big travel day. I hate the hassle of flying and in today’s world, it’s even worse. I used some of our World Points for air & car rental but all I had was a print out from the web…shouldn’t I have more than that ?? It was a good choice to have Dean drive me to the airport in the Marina’s complimentary van. We met at 8:15am. My plane was leaving at 10:30. I arrived in plenty of time to have a margarita. Now I’m ready to fly. One stop over in Charlotte. Didn’t think much of it until I realized that my next plane was leaving from a gate at least 5 miles away !! Hitched a ride - you know, the golf carts that transport the old and decrepit. Rental car hassle was next - But not so, it was painless. (god I’m getting negative in my old age!) I ordered a compact, like a Versa, instead, the guy fumbled around the drawer and gave me a key to an black Dodge Avenger- fully loaded. I think he liked me. I got a bit turned around on the
highway but finally corrected my error. However, I didn’t arrive in Kitty Hawk until 7pm. David was frantic. He lives with a wonderful family, Jeremy, Eileen and her 16 year old daughter, Veronica. What
                   Veronica, David, Jeremy, Eileen, Jamie

a cutie, but a typical teen ager. I'm staying at a little motel down the beach called Beach Haven. Raina runs the joint - she’s great and so is the location.

View from the motel

 I was pretty exhausted & frantic by the time I arrived at the Hilton in Kitty Hawk. I called David & got directions to his house only 1/8 mile from the hotel. After hugs and kisses from David, I was greeted at the door by a monster, black & white Pit Bull who, I was sure, perceived me as dinner. Her name is Harley and the most precious thing - can’t help but love her. We all had drinks and the boys cooked dinner. Eileen said she was nervous meeting me because she didn’t want me to think David was living with ‘riff raff’. I didn’t check in Beach Haven till midnight but there was Raina, coming to the rescue

to help me get settled. Can’t say enough about the motel and the marvelous staff - they made me feel very much at home. David had off for 3 days and we settled into a routine. I let him sleep till about 11 then I’d call to wake him up. In the meantime, I had my coffee, walks to the beach, primped and pampered myself for a change. On Wednesday, we spent the afternoon at the motel just talking - it was great for both of us. We went back to the house every night for dinner. They wouldn’t let me treat them for dinner so, as a thank you, I bought them Yeagermeister and Crown Royal, their

Winnie & Winnie

their favorite adult drinks. Eileen’s friends from South Philly - Winnie and David !! Now how weird is that ? David took me on a tour of the Hilton and the Ramada, both on the beach and both owned by Sterling, the owner . We also saw a fox roaming wild in the dunes at the Ramada - Who’d expect to see

a wild fox at the beach no less !!

David and I went to the Wright Brother’s museum and to Manteo, a sweet little town with a marina. Of course, Wayne knew all about it and has been there. Nice place to stay if we ever get up there.

Unfortunately, David had to work some weddings at the Pier House mid-afternoons on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I popped in to see him while they were setting up and met his boss, Robin, and the owner, Sterling. Beautiful setting for a wedding. In the meantime, others were fishing from the pier - strange rigs other than what I’m used to. I spent my evenings and dinners with the family. I felt a cold coming on Saturday night - figures, mingling with all those people on the plane. It was Sunday already and time to leave. I spent the morning with David - he made me the best over-easy eggs I’ve ever had…I sure miss him and being with his ‘family‘. Returning to Norfolk airport was SO easy and took me no time to get there. I wore warm clothing but I was so cold and shivering on the plane anyway. I asked for a blanket - they said they don’t have them anymore ?! The plane landed about 9:30pm - Dean was waiting for me. It took everything I had to pile my bags in a cart & walk the docks to the boat. My temp was 103 !!

2010 - week of 5/16 - 5-23 - Yet another party

Week of May 16th - Sunday We finally met our neighbors, Mickey, Shane on their gorgeous & custom 54’ sailboat-VIRTURE & VICE…what a dream boat. They’re still working but home now to play and cruise.
Tom invited us back aboard RIVER SKIPPER, this time going to a beach - now you’re talking. Others were invited but only the six of us showed up with beverages, food and more beverages.-at the last minute, I grabbed a bottle of Spiced Rum, just in case. I took my bucket, cast net and pole. The weather was picture perfect. We landed at Egmont Key and tried the new landing ramp - perfect except for one minor omission - there were no pins to hold the ramp onto the boat consequently, we backed up and the ramp plopped onto the beach. Once again, I struck out in catching bait fish…I don’t get it ?? The west coast is where I always caught them by the bucket load. We could see dark and heavy storm clouds with thunder and lightening over by the marina and the Skybridge was totally obliterated by heavy rain. We called Deb and had her disconnect the electric to the boat. We were still in the clear but not for long. The storm was moving fast and
                                         Shane, Wayne & Mickey

thought  it would be gone by the time we returned to the marina - HA ! We got blasted !! It was very cold with nothing to keep us warm - except, of course for

the RUM ! Everyone scrambled to get the curtains down but they were new and still stiff. Soon, the sun came out but the storm was still all around us.

Docked without getting any wetter, and feelin’ OH SO good.
Monday, May 17th Overcast and dreary but a nice relief from the hot sun. Same ole, same ole…not much to report - making progress on all the projects. But I did download the upgrade for the King Dome - satellite TV and it works like a charm, I’m happy to say.
Wayne invited me to happy hour and ‘teasers’ at the bar with Tom and Susan. Home in time to watch Dancing with the Stars. Tuesday, May 18th Today was water maker repair day - I think the leak is finally fixed. I had the great pleasure of cleaning the head then worked at transferring more items from the old computer to the new Toshiba…blah, blah, blah - boooring. A few weeks ago Wayne went to Growers, a local hardware store. While there, he got his beard trimmed by the owner - yes, you read that right. Trish not only owns the hardware store, she is also a cosmetologist and a barber and created a little shop within her store surrounded by French doors and windows. Haircuts are $8 and she’s very busy. Anyway, because Wayne bought a heavy duty extension cord, Trish gave him a ticket for a free cut. Off I went for my free cut even though I was a bit skeptical about the outcome. I’m here to tell you the trim was as good as I get at home for $25+!! The Honda dealer called to say the dinghy was done. Tom picked it up with the trailer, launched it and he knew right away something was wrong with the carburetor. So back it went - Tom was pissed and told them so. Now the problem is that the trailer had to be returned to its’ owner which means we’ll have drive it from Sarasota to Palmetto- about a 25 mile trip in the scorching sun. Oh well, at least we’ll be able to find any faults. Wednesday, May 19th Wayne got me to go along to pick up the dinghy by promising we’d stop for lunch. Tom gave us directions to a place called Star Fish in Longboat Key. Problem was, we had to go directly past the Coast Guard Station and we were totally illegal - no life vest, a 2008 registration sticker, no proof that the dink was even ours. Amazing that the government‘s Homeland Security buy multiple go fast vessels so they can get the bad guys - and the bad guys floated right past them ! Like most water-side restaurants it was funky and surrounded by fishing boats of all types. Lunch comes served in shrimp boxes…there were hand painted signs on wood for sale - I had to get this one but you’ve had to see the movie Jerry Maguire to ‘get it‘. We also passed a floating wedding chapel-what next ?? VERY neat !

Got home safely still admiring our new purchase. Margaret and Michael came by and made their final payment- they are ecstatic about their purchase too. They took the boat before I had a chance to clean it up - but that’s what Margaret does for a living. AH…movie night. ‘Remedy’ Tom (the welder) has Net Flix - tonight he brought the movie Knowing, a SciFi with Nicolas Cage. I had mixed feelings about it because Cage never smiled, he didn’t look himself and too many unexplained story lines. Thursday, May 20th Another hot, hot, hot day -90‘s- very little breeze. Reluctantly, I agreed to put on the A/C. I put another coat of Cetol on the rails. Wayne working on the electric and putting together the electric box for the inverters. And people wonder why retirees are so busy and the days fly by. Dominoes aboard LARGO. Another game where Wayne acts like it’s his first game ever then beats the shit out of all of us.

Friday, May 21st Are ya’ll bored yet ?? I sure am - I want to be on anchor somewhere taking a shower on the swim platform. I started scraping the window frames. I haven’t a clue when they were last taken down and boy are they ugly. Wayne hasn’t wanted me to do them in the past few years - well, too bad…I’m doin’ them now.

Saturday, May 22nd Same weather pattern…I finally broke down and went food shopping - I hate that task. I bought a whole “little” chicken and invited Tom, Susan and Nymah for dinner. I dragged a few recipes out for chicken and potatoes. I seasoned the little birdie and put him into the oven-sure smelled great. I thought about having to cut up the chicken while everyone was here and decided I didn’t want to deal with that hassle; Once cooked, I cut him up and placed him into a casserole dish; I concocted a mushroom sauce with broth, flour, mushrooms, sherry and a few other things and poured it over the pieces. Instead of making cold garlic potatoes I changed that to a casserole as well. I also made tomatoes, onion, garlic, spices oil and vinegar for color. While we were all having happy hour on the fly bridge, Wayne asked, “are we going to be your guinea pigs tonight?” I said, “yes” and I could see everyone sorta squirming in their seats. But the good news, it was really tasty but unfortunately, not too colorful. We played dominoes after dinner - this time, Nymah was the rookie and guess what ! She won a game ! What a nice night and that’s what boating’s all about. Sunday, May 23rd Counting down for my trip to NC. I opened the ‘luggage’ locker. Everything smelled like mildew-yuck! I picked one and cleaned it the best I could. I gathered some clothes and other items I knew I’d forget if I were rushed. The weather for that area shows mid-70’s in the day and mid 60’s at night. Normally, 70’s is great but for me, it’s 20 degrees less than what I’ve been used to here.

2010 - 5/11 - 5/15 - Work, Work and more Work

Tuesday, May 11th Tom’s Jeep is fixed - he borrowed a trailer and took his dinghy to the Honda dealer for complete inspection. We had the car for the remainder of the day and went to Marine Surplus which is several large buildings full of ‘stuff‘ but much more organized than Don‘s Salvage. We were in search of an upper helm chair for me. After taking three off the shelf that fit the bill, I finally found the one. Wayne was after a device to allow his pilot chair to swivel which froze up long ago. We were there for hours! and they say women take a long time to shop - NOT. Bottom line, he traveled back and forth to this store three times until he got what he wanted - finally, everything works right and looks good too. Wednesday, May 12th - I’m not sure what we did. The weather remained very favorable. I continued to move my documents and pictures from the old Dell to the newer, Toshiba with Vista but without Microsoft apps. To be honest, because of my efforts to get the Toshiba operating the way I want, I’ve been negligent in documenting. The days and weeks are moving along at a rapid pace… Quite frankly, as Harry Chapin said in his song, 30,000 lbs of Bananas “it sucks“. Once again it’s movie night - watched the new Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law-the group had mixed reviews but I liked it. Thursday, May 13th - Wayne continues to make progress on his many projects and I continued to move my documents and pictures In the afternoon, Nymah took me to a thrift store and to the Dollar Tree. A true dollar store where everything truly IS a dollar - what a concept. I bought 19 things and had a ball. I decided it’s been wwaaay too long since I’ve seen my son, David who lives and works at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk, NC. I booked a flight and rental car for May 25th to the 30th. He wasn’t able to assure me that I could get an employee rate at the Hilton but I found a little motel on the beach 3 miles from the Hilton. I’m excited ! But what to wear?? Friday, May 14th - Hot - Hot - Hot - in the 90’s barely a whisper of wind. Engine room, sanding, computer, scanning pictures. Someday soon I guess I’ll clean the boat.
Tom and Patrick took RIVER SKIPPER to meet the Coasties for an inspection. Great news - they got certified to carry 39 people ! Undoubtedly, a justified reason to celebrate - The gang met at the bar for Happy hour.

                                               Wayne, Patrick & Tom

Saturday, May 15th - Productive day for both of us. I got a coat of Cetol on the rails and finally got the Toshiba and the printer in sync - Wahoo ! Wayne installed and bolted in both the muffler and the two inverters in the engine room. All that’s left is the wiring - but a major and complicated undertaking.

                                             Pondering what to do next

                                                                     Inside one of the invertors

I'm adding technical pics for the guys who read this. mostly electrical 'stuff'...these are the things Wayne deals with all the time.

                                                The main electric panel - circuit breakers
                                           
                                                                          Distribution panel

He installed everythin- wiring etc. I have no idea how he does it

2010 - 5-7 Kate and Mick's visit

I’m already on page 19 and we haven’t gone anywhere…May have to change the title of this log cuz it’s way past the ‘Shake down’.
Wayne signed us up for another month at the marina! I can see where this is going and not where I wanted to go. For some reason, we can’t connect with the internet via our Verizon air card. No answer when I called for help. Will try tomorrow. I’m afraid to wonder what else is going to shut down ! Scupper got a bath - she’s SO spoiled!
Sunday, May 9th Happy mother’s day mom – I miss you bunches.
Wayne and Kate surprised me by cleaning up the deck from my scraping efforts, then wiped the teak down with acetone in preparation of the first coat of Cetol. That done, Mick and I set off in the dinghy to catch some trout. NOT ! Skunked again. Our neighbor caught two huge alligator trout trawling along the shore line, so that’s what we did…nothing – nada! BUT, we did encounter a monster from the deep-or so it seemed and we were only in in 2ft of water! Something rose from beneath right beside the dinghy bringing up at least a foot of water and mud from the bottom – so much muck we couldn’t see exactly what it was. “it” made a mighty ruckus and a splash, almost landing on top of me…too fast and furious for me to get a picture but sure did scare the begeesus out of us! The event was the only fish story we could bring back with us. The Marina hosts
                                         An 'inside' cook OUT ?
a monthly ‘cook out’ on the third floor of the restaurant. They provide the main course and non
alcoholic beverages, boaters provide side dishes and desserts. Tonight, hot dogs and burgers.

Week of May 10th - Monday Gorgeous morning, air is cooler, 14k wind blowing from the east; turned off the a/c…ahhh, lovin it. The morning started out with a bang. I called ‘611’ for Verizon. She verified there was nothing wrong with our account; We verified that the air card was OK as it worked in our other laptop. Welder Tom arrived in the midst of the confusion taking off the bow sprit stanchions – Mickey helped him. The screws have been in place for almost 30 years and tough to remove. The other Tom, came asking for help to install the beach

landing ramp on the tour boat. Wayne, Mick and Kathryn went to help while I put another coat of varnish on the grab rails and eyebrow…I finished as they returned to the boat…they successfully installed the ramp. Sometimes, things do work out without a glitch. Mick and Kate returned to Ft Myers  :>(



2010 - 5-7 - New dinghy and First Friday

We took our dinghy down and hoisted the Novurania up. Not bad! But it can move forward another 6” once we relocate the aft stanchions. (UGH!) Hopefully, this will provide enough room for me to still sit and

                                                       Our old fiberglass, Jolly boat

fish on the dunnage box which houses our 3 propane tanks. You can see how huge the outboard motor is. The motor is big enough to hip-tow BLUE MAX should the main engine fail. We’re trying to find as many “pros” as we can so to justify buying this thing. Wayne hard wired the running lights; installed fish pole holders; in As you know, the outboard was just serviced in April.

A new seat cushion was made before we left home with special flow thru material and new cover.

We spent another fun–filled night of a rousing game of Dominos with Tom and Susan including strange stories from Wayne about his questionable past. The wine loosened his tongue. We were home at midnight.

1st Friday-May 7th Last week we complained about the steady winds – I’m here to tell you that I’m praying for them to return. It’s dead calm with temperatures in the mid 90s, the sun, intense. Ya can’t please boaters no how…I made a flyer with pictures of our dinghy and hung them up in the laundry room and office. In the meantime, Tom spread the word and I mentioned it to Margaret who was working on the teak on the sail boat next to us. Mickey and Kathryn arrived in the afternoon and we scrambled to clean up and put away the mess that was covering their bunk. We went to Riverside for happy hour, had a lovely dinner. Before we left for the car show (part of the 'First Friday' festivities)a few blocks from the marina, I took my left-overs back to BLUE MAX, got the girls ready for the walk when Margaret appeared at the door. She was shoving something at me and said, “here, take this – it’s $500 to hold the dinghy for us“. Of all the marine items I’ve sold this past year, this was the quickest sale ever. The car show was interesting and right up Wayne’s alley…the sponsors were the owners of Slick’s Garage, a car shop specializing in restoration and custom work on old cars. Music, food, drinks – it was called prom night and many dressed the part. I
thought these two were exceptionally adorable standing in front of his restored red pick-em-up truck that he used at his prom. (with a different woman) Nice evening-great weather. We chatted on the fly bridge till 11 or so.

2010 - 5-3 - 5-5 - A day with Dan and Don and stanchion replacement

FYI for non-boaters: here’s a picture of the stanchions. The base is bolted to the Cap Rail and the top is fastened to the Hand Rail. Currently, the height is such that one could easily flip over and fall over-board. Making them higher will also be more stable while fishing and bringing in the big ones. (method to my madness)

The week of May 3rd My guess is that we’ll be here way longer than the 2 weeks we signed up for. Cruising to the Bahamas looks less likely now. I’m very disappointed. So to keep my mind busy, I began scraping and sanding the aft grab rails and eyebrow which sit atop our cabin. Once that tedious
                            Sanded Cap rail (stanchions sit on the cap rail)

                                            Port side finished
and difficult part is done, I then apply many coats of Cetol and gloss. (this took well over a month to finish) It’s hard work but when it’s done – WOW – what a difference and makes me feel proud.

                                    New on the left - old on the right

Tuesday – Dan Stone took us to Don’s Salvage – every girl’s dream of a fun-filled day. The property is on several acres with storage trailers everywhere filled with some good stuff but also lots of items that should have been trashed in the first place. Men love it here. Wayne got 70’ of heavy duty wire 3” around for the inverter installation. New, it would have cost a fortune. The guy threw in an oar for the dinghy – Mickey will be ecstatic! Stopped to get Laurie for lunch – the margaritas were yummy – food was great. We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and playing with Bentley (A maltipoo Maltese-poodle mix) at their lovely 1950’s, 3000 sq ft rambling home in St. Pete. Wednesday, May 5th - 89 degrees, sun burning hot but the constant wind helped keep us comfortable. I continued scraping and sanding the cap rails; Wayne began running the huge electric cord from the breaker switch box down thru the engine room. Tom told us he was going to sell his dinghy, which we always lusted after…however, it’s another foot longer with a 30 hp motor and weighs 200lbs more than our Jolly boat which is 10.8’ with a 15hp motor and weighs 400lbs. Will it fit? Will we be able to haul it aboard with our current methods? Will I be able to sell our dinghy? Measurements of every sort were made - back and forth between our two boats. However, this is another distraction from getting the inverters installed. Stay tuned for the results. Movie night in the boater’s lounge. After reviewing all the movies available, we voted to watch Stealth. The women decided this was a “guy flick” however, the men say no “chick flicks” – Excuse me?? Next time I’ll take Beaches with me. Thursday, May 6th More measuring; Wayne replaced the old wire cable on the winches used to haul the dinghy – he was going to do it anyway, but now seemed a good time since the only way to see if Tom’s dinghy would fit is to put it on our deck.

2010 - 4/26 - 5/2 - Dan, Laurie - River Skipper tour

Not much happened from Monday April 26 to Sunday the 2nd Typical marina life – waves and a Hi to everyone. At least the weather was nice. Several nights I watched TV in the Boater’s lounge – leather couch, fluffy pillow, wine and alone – who could ask for more? On Wednesday, Dan and Laurie drove down from St Pete. If you haven’t read my other logs, we met them in 2002 in the Tortugas. They also had a 43’ Albin – sold it 2 years ago – Laurie was not happy and still misses the boat. We saw them here last year too - We try to visit each other as often as possible. We had a lovely time and a good dinner at the Crab Shack, their favorite spot. Wednesday is also ‘movie night’ in the marina lounge. We got home in time to see most of Avatar – I liked it, Wayne wasn’t impressed. Thursday night we played a rousing game of Mexican Train Dominoes with Tom and Susan aboard Largo. It’s been well over a year since we’ve played and I missed those get-togethers. I want MORE…! On Friday, I had to get off the boat for awhile. I walked to ‘town’. Surprisingly, there are many stores within walking distance including a Walgreen’s, CVS, Publics, a resale shop, Checkers, Dominos, Subway, Pizza shop, several restaurants, a pawn shop and an ACE hardware – and not one parking meter in sight. (take note money hungry Key West) For the entire week, Wayne worked on the electrical aspect of installing the inverters – drawing schematics, talking with the techs etc. he also strengthened the floor boards where they will be installed.

I had one of those ‘nothing goes right’ weeks. Out of the blue, the computer wouldn’t recognize the USB for downloading pictures from my camera; the printer refused to recognize the computer so I couldn’t scan pictures or use the camera card slot to download pictures; the computer totally ignored the existence of the printer so we couldn’t print; in addition, the Dell was moving at a snail's pace. I uninstalled and installed the HP printer software at least 5 times; I installed the camera’s software and tried many other steps to fix the problem-nothing worked. I gave up in total frustration, broke down and called HP – I hate to call them mostly because I can’t understand what they’re saying! Luckily, I got a knowledgeable woman who spoke decent English. We were on the phone about an hour but she fixed the problem (she also uninstalled and installed the software so I didn’t feel so dysfunctional and stupid) She commented about the computer being slow – she opened the ‘temp’ files and, with my permission, deleted hundreds of files. How could I not have known about this file?? After we hung up, I went back into it – here’s where you sit down for the news…are you ready? I deleted over 28,000 files !!!!!!!!!!!! I was flabbergasted. Saturday Another gorgeous day. We didn’t dance around the May pole but we did go out on the River Skipper. .                                  Deep into the Manatee River

We went up river as far as we could and that trip will become their nature tour – it was worth it! We left at 3:30 - again, passengers were friends; Tony, his wife Jalene, Nymah and Denise. Pictures can’t truly capture the beauty, but I tried anyway. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any alligators, manatees or many birds but found a group of campers. Wonder how they make out at night with the dreaded mosquitoes?

 Ahhh…Peaceful and void of civilian clatter.

On our way back, we turned the music up – a little bit of everything but it was the Latin music that got
                              Susan & Nymah

everyone up and dancing. Tom kept the boat on the river until the sun set…end to a perfect day.
Sunday, May 2nd Sun, hot, humid but the wind saved the day. Steady from SW at 14k but gusts up to 22k Moderate chop with white caps in the river. Will this wind ever quit? Fairly uneventful day. We hired Tom to replace our old stanchions and base plates with taller and better quality 316 stainless. He’s a welder, who lives on a boat near us, . This will raise the hand rail 3” higher and make it safer and sturdier.