then Wayne took the whole thing out to the dock to locate the problem. Some sight that was! Kate was right - she said it was clogged with…well, I’ll let your imagination figure it out. Mick & Kate went for a long walk; Wayne and I went to Ace Hardware in search of a new light over the dinette table which also failed– awe-inspiring life hugh? I went to the Restaurant Store, one of my favorite places to go. I purchased a small plastic carafe to house my homemade salad dressing. (geeezzz, I can’t stand all this excitement!) Since none of us could decide on an acceptable venue for the night, I remembered about the piano bar at the Pier House with Larry Smith at the keyboard. In the past, Wayne and I often wanted to go but the show didn’t start until 9pm which was too late for us…now it starts at 7pm. Mick and Kate 
went to Dante’s pool for a drink and a swim, Wayne joined them. Quick showers and we were on our way to the Pier house for dinner and music. Lovely evening that all four of us enjoyed. We also met some interesting people. There’s Kate in a cute new ditty that can be tied in a hundred different ways…That’s my Kate! We stayed till the end getting back to the boat about midnight…a good time was had by all. 
work widout da coffee mon! Here’s Kate securing the dock lines - she’s a quick learner. Note the outfit! We cruised around Fleming Key and into the mooring field checking out other boats. We anchored behind Christmas Tree Island west of Mallory Square. A heavy squall line fast approached with wind gusts up to 25k. Kathryn asked if this was something to be afraid of? Not unless it comes in at 3am – then it’s scary as hell. Pasta and Caesar salad for dinner.
Monday, April 12 Wayne called ‘Fish & Race’ - they repair Honda motors. They’re located at Sunset Marina all the way around Fleming Key on Stock Island near the hospital. We needed a place where we could off-load the entire dinghy because you
can't simply remove the motor. Mickey at the helm, Wayne on anchor. (sounds like a rock group to me) Anchor up at 10:15am – a short ride around Fleming Key to the 
marina. Very nice, clean marina with floating docks and $.75 less/foot to dock than the City marina. 
They’re pretty sure the carburetor needs a rebuilt due to using fuel with Ethanol. Figures-our beurocrats at work! In the middle of all this confusion, Mickey voiced his concern about not having enough of his BP meds to stay much longer. A quick decision was made - they would take the bus to the cottage, stay overnight, return to the marina to get all their stuff the next day.
Tuesday, April 13 As planned, we met at Sunset Marina to off-load their “stuff”; the ‘girls’ started barking, squealing, whining and screaming when they saw them and disturbed the entire, marina! In turn, they brought some of our “stuff” from the house – Refrigeration gauges which I had to deliver to a guy in Marathon, ripe tomatoes from our plants, the mail, a full propane tank and brought the permit for the dogs to enter the Bahamas. My new passport arrived and with the permit for the dogs, we’re ready to cross over to the Bahamas-yea! They decided to stay another night at the cottage and return to Ft Myers on Wednesday. The shop ordered parts needed for the outboard…it should be done in a day or two. We returned to the same anchorage to sit and wait. Wayne continued his extensive research for a new inverter. After talking with several people, he decided to get TWO! This will allow us to run all things needing AC power but more importantly, we can run the water maker while underway without using the generator. (too technical? -sorry) Wednesday April 14 Anchored not far from the marina & across from the Navy’s campground. (yes, the military has campground facilities all over the county- our tax $$ at work) Remains partly cloudy, with steady winds between 19 & 21knots -frequent gusts even higher and seas a rough chop (REALLY becoming annoying now!) I cleaned the forward head and cabin, washed the sheets, remade the bed, oiled the teak and generally dinked around. All this work in one day made me sleepy – I tried to take a power nap. I was in bed about 10 minutes when the anchor alarm went off – we were dragging anchor and moving fast. Fortunately, only two other boats anchored here - little chance of crashing. I turned on the main engine, grabbed a coat, flew up to the fly bridge and Wayne to the anchor. The wind and waves were so strong it took some doing to keep the boat in a forward motion in order to reclaim the anchor. Just as we re-anchored, the shop called -the dinghy was done. We pulled the anchor, returned to the marina, put dinghy back on deck and away we went.
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