Day 43 - cousin vinny — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $40, daily high temperature 77*F

We awoke to a sunny blue sky. The rain has gone. Our day is focused around getting our blowers replaced so we can continue our cruise. We will have been at Eastern Shore Marine for seven days when we depart tomorrow. The sea stories will start again as we travel the inter-coastal waterway (ICW).

Blue Heron perched in Fly Creek.

The evening was spent chatting with Randy about his life as a computer specialist for some special government operation. He did not reveal any black ops secrets. He is apprehensive about his cruise to Guatemala because he does not know how to sail. Fortunately his steel hulled ketch is bulletproof. He can bounce off the reefs. Speaking of reefs he intends to reef all his sails and sail his boat with the reefs in. That way when a storm comes he has already shortened sail. His boat weighs 34,000 pounds. He will quickly find out it will not sail well in moderate winds with all sails reefed. It will be a very slow ride to Guatemala.

A small beach along Fly Creek. No beach goers today.

The Kansas City Royals beat the New York Mets 7 – 2 to win the World Series four games to one.

Ellen Sholtes bought a 19′ boat. It had a few repair issues but is running fine now. The boat is brown on the outside and brown on the inside so she named it “Piece of Ship.” I will ask her for a photo. We will visit with Pam, Ellen and her uncle Bill in Gulf Shores. They will host a BBQ for us. We will be staying in the Bahia Mar Marina in Pensacola Bay.

Final repairs were made on the boat today. The four blowers were replaced. We are ready to start moving eastward. We are watching the long range weather forecast the best day to cross the gulf to Tarpon Springs will be Saturday.

John and Priscilla got off the boat and gave Dale and Andy some “me” time. This is only the second in time in 43 days that the two couples have not all eaten dinner together. John and Priscilla went to Cousin Vinny’s in Daphne, Alabama for dinner. The lobster ravioli and pan seared ahi tuna were divine.

One of the regulars at the Eastern Shore Marine docktail events was Chuck the cat. Chuck has been at the marina for 16 years. He was such a celebrity that he even had his own Facebook page at one time. Chuck is not well. He was recently in a cat fight and injured his ear. He has only one tooth and we watched him get stared down by a mouse the other night. Chuck still riles up all the Looper dogs that walk the dock. It was nice knowing you Chuck.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote for the day.

“very nervous first time crew member says to the skipper, “Do boats like this sink very often?” “Not too often,” replied the skipper. “Usually it’s only the once.” – Captain Carl Woode