Key West Sailing Adventure - Day 8

You will be glad to know that Monday is our last day at the Perry Marina. Boats are safe tied to the dock but that is not what boats are made for. We will get underway on Tuesday and take our time cruising back to Ft Lauderdale. It has been a very enjoyable visit in Key West but it is time to be sailing again.

We saw this photo of Ernest Hemingway hanging in the boaters lounge. It was taken in Bimini, the Bahamas in 1936. It is a photo of Hemingway and a giant marlin that has been half eaten by sharks. It was not until 1952 that he published his classic novel “The Old Man and the Sea,” I have to believe the experience in the photo was his inspiration for the story of Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Cuba.

Looks like the sharks took a few bites out of this marlin.

This is the view of the Perry Marina from the upper deck of the boaters lounge.

I know there are dreamers reading this blog. Dreamers that will someday cast off the dock lines and follow their dream. There is a lot of reality that goes into cruising on a sailboat. One of the realities is pumping out the head (toilet holding tank). We have been cruising for a week and we will be cruising for another week. We use the shore facilities when we we are in a marina. If we were three miles or more offshore we could pump out the holding tanks using the macerator. The macerator pulverizes the waste before it is discharged overboard. A little known fact of living on a boat is we do not put toilet paper in the head. Toilet paper is placed in a waste basket with a plastic bag next to the head. Toilet paper could clog the vaccuflush system which would be a crisis to say the least. Pump out usually takes place at the fuel dock. However some upscale marinas that charge $5.00 a foot per night have a pump out system at each slip. The Perry Marina is one such facility. We were able to have a dock hand come by and pump us out using a valve in our slip. Life is good at the Perry Marina.

The black valve on the dock above the yellow power chord is a joy to behold when you tie up at a new marina.