2014-9-18 to 10-23 - Palmetto

9/18 We docked at Regatta Point Marina about noon & were welcomed by old friends, Michael & Margaret. They live & work at the marina. 

Michael, Margaret & Baileys (circa 2010)

Regatta Point Marina & their wonderful restaurant, Riverhouse Reef & Grill

We really enjoy this restaurant with a great view. Happy hour from 3-7 & $5 yummy appetizers. The facilities at the marina are very nice. Large & clean bathroom/showers; a comfortable lounge with a big screen TV, leather furniture, microwave & refrigerator. Every boater gets a free bag of ice every day if wanted. Most boaters have a separate cooler as a back up & extra space to store food. We were docked here for a few months in 2010, Tom & Susan Hanchett, Tom & Sue Melton & Michael & Margaret were all living aboard here. We had some great times together.

 

Sue, Tom, Rudy & Maggie @ Rudy's 10th birthday party on the docks. Lots of dogs joined the celebration & all got a taste of Rudy's meatloaf birthday 'cake'. (circa 2010) They met us in Englewood a month ago

Wednesday was 'movie night'. We gathered at the lounge with DVDs then voted on what we'd watch that night. It was at that time, Tom Melton, replaced our stanchions & made them 3" higher & raked them back to match the lines of the boat.

Tom, Tom & Wayne removing the old stanchions/hand rail (circa 2010)

New on the left - old on the right

We met a lovely couple at the bar while waiting for Tom & Susan, Janet & Larry who live in Bradenton. Stimulating evening for all of us as well as $5 kickin' shrimp for me & ribs for Wayne.

9/19 Lots of rain & gloomy most of the day. By putting on their collars, the pups knew they were going someplace - they really don't care where, they just know they won't be home alone. Difficult to restrain them as we packed up a few things to take to Tom & Susan's for a night of dominoes. As we opened the door on the boat, they hurried out & before we could say 'NO', Jack was already in mid air from the boat to the dock. The dock was slippery & only his front paws touched the wood & down he went with a SPLASH. Thankfully, he's  a good swimmer as is Scupper. Had these been floating docks, it would have not been a problem to pick him up...I ran to get my fishing net but Wayne couldn't get him...I then ran to the swim platform & called him. For once in his short, disobedient life, he obeyed. In the meantime, Scupper was beside herself worrying about him. She cried, barked & ran around looking over the side to make sure he was OK. Obviously, no pictures...just when you want one cuz it was funny, in a sick way. In the meantime, Tom was waiting for us in front of the Marina to take us to his house...we were, of course, a bit late & showed up with Jack bundled up in a beach towel, shivering & wet. We played multiple games of dominoes. Wayne had been watching the "Roosevelt's" all week on PBS & suddenly, I remembered, what I thought, was the last night of the episode & we gathered around the TV & watched the show - we were mesmerized & wished we had watched it all week. Despite the excitement with Jack, we had a great time that night & repeated it the following night. (except Jack didn't 'splash' ) Susan made us a wonderful dinner & learned that tonight was the last night to see the 'Roosevelt's". We moved the dinner table into the living room - ate & watched the final episode. 

 There's a place above the bed in our cabin...we call it 'the dammit' because if you wake up & sit up with a start you bang your head really hard thus saying 'dammit' or other choice words. There is a round hole in the middle of the dammit that was used for an emergency tiller. Thankfully, we've never had to use it. It was covered on the outside by the new teak decks but the hole remained below. We noticed what appeared to be water damage surrounding the hole. Not easy to determine where the leak would have come from & not an easy fix. Tom came over to review the situation with Wayne.

The decision? Tear the damn thing out. This was the beginning of one of the first, unplanned projects while here in Palmetto. Everything had to be moved out of the way to get access. 

He added insulation this time & teak quarter round which I sanded & varnished.  Wayne was already involved in another project so when the varnish was dry, I installed the quarter round, cleaned & polished the shelf & walls then put everything back in its' place. 

Everything would have been copacetic until Wayne helped Tom clean out his storage shed which was packed with goodies men love. Wayne came home with heavy-duty wire, a new faucet for the forward head & pieces of diamond-plate covering  (like the stuff used on a tool box in the back of a pick up truck) which really excited him as he'll cover the floor in the engine room. He used Tom's table saw to cut the pieces.

Lookin good

You should never assume a project will proceed without a hitch - even if it appears to be a simple project - like switching out an old faucet for a new one. This modest procedure stopped in its' track when Wayne was unable to remove the old faucet, even with a special tool. Fortunately, the sink was not permanently secured so he took the whole thing out including the old faucet. He tried to fit the new faucet into the holes for the old one...no go. We debated what to do? Here's the weird part, after a few hours, he tried to put the new one into the holes & it fit this time! ?? go figure.

10/7 My birthday (UGH!) Wayne was anxiously waiting for me to get up so he could say 'Happy Birthday" & "we're going out to dinner". (he was so proud that he remembered & I was impressed) Since the temperature dropped a bit, I started working on the teak hand-rail & cap rail  - sanding & applying Cetol. That's how I spent my day. We had dinner at the Reef & Grill & I got 2, yummy lobster tails. Played more games of dominoes at Tom & Susan's. I'm in heaven!

Laurel visited the week-end of the 10th. She took me to the pet, grocery & liquor stores on Friday which was the day we were supposed to check out of the marina. They let us stay so we could get 'happy hour' & appetizers at the restaurant. After 'dinner' we moved the boat & anchored outside Tom's house between the RR tracks & Rt 301. We dinghied in & played - dominoes. On 10/11, we took the boat across Tampa Bay hoping to anchor at Egmont Key. Unfortunately, the beach was closed for nesting birds so we turned around & anchored by Passage Key which is a clothing optional sand bar. Wayne took the pups to the beach-Laurel & I vegged out on the boat. After the beach, we anchored at De Soto beach. Grilled steaks for dinner. We all went to the beach on Sunday & spent several hours meeting lots of people - all had dogs. There had to have been at least 30 pups on the beach at one time.

Monument by the Catholic Diocese in memory of the original Priests who arrived at this spot

This is just a handful of the dogs who arrived at the beach- that's Laurel & Wayne

We anchored outside the Reef & Grill, for happy hour, I got lobster tails again, Laurel got the surf & turf special, Wayne got his usual burger. 

I walked Laurel to her car & said our good-byes. I returned to the bar & found Wayne talking to Jay & Karen living aboard LARGO, just a few slips away from us. LARGO was owned by Tom & Susan & sold it to Jay & Karen a few years ago. How could we have been at the marina for 3 weeks & not have chatted with this interesting couple??  After conversations about everything boats, we learned that they want to cruise to the Bahamas but are 'newbes', never cruising that far. We told them our plans of 'crossing' in November after my return from Philly. We made tentative plans to cruise together. 

This neat Smart car parked at the marina

The original plan was for Sue & Dean to drive to Lauderdale (they're flying to Bonita Spgs on 10/28 to open their rental house) spend a few days together in Lauderdale then the 3 of us would fly to Philly from there. I should know better than to make detailed plans like that.

River Skipper at the dock

The following week turned into a nightmare. Someone from Indonesia breached our major account with Fidelity by ordering something from EBay & somehow used our Pay Pal account. Much to our dismay, Fidelity had to close it as well as cancelling our debit card. Every bill for the cottage, our health care & credit cards are auto paid from this account & our Social Security payments are directly deposited into this account. I spent over a week trying to straighten out all accounts. In the same week, Wayne voiced his concerns about me flying to Philly in the midst of the Ebola crisis. I wrote to my classmates & called my cousin to tell them I was cancelling my trip. After a week, I still had not cancelled my flight or the hotel. ?? My gut was in a knot. I received responses from my classmates & several calls from Sue trying to convince me that I should fly up. In the meantime, the Ebola issues calmed down a bit in the US. (sorry to get into such detail but I do write my blog as sort of a diary for me) I told Wayne that I decided to go anyway - he seemed to be OK with that. The 3 of us changed our flights from Lauderdale to Ft Myers. I'm still working on the teak hand & cap rails. 

It's definitely time to leave. Last minute games of dominoes, went food shopping, got the boat ready to cruise. Decided we should have a farewell dinner on 10/22 at the Reef & Grill. Guess what - I got to have lobster again!! 

W&W, Tom, Susan, Karen & Jay

10/23 We pulled the anchor, got pumped out & filled the water tanks at Twin Dolphin marina. Arrived at the DeSota park anchorage about 1:30. Vegged out until Jay & Karen arrived late afternoon.

We took Scupper, Jack & Widget (Karen's Jack Russell) to the beach for some exercise...boy did Widget run & run Jack had a hard time catching up to her. I think she was sure happy to get off the boat. 

Next stop...maybe Sarasota?