Dock antics

Welcome to the C-dock Carnival!!

The people had gathered, anticipating a grand show!
In the center ring (the middle of C-dock around slip #26, to be exact), we have the Reeves trying to accomplish feats of large and small projects on their sailboat---Fiesta.
Oh, but wait, where are they?  Oh yeah, it's September in Florida; it's sticky, like sweaty cotton candy?  They must be hunkered down inside with their AC, because it's the middle of the day and the humidity has them disabled (jeesh, what wimps).  

Yanmar 35HP maintenance--oh boy!

But all is not lost, as they find there are plenty of indoor projects as well.   There's the stuffing box nut to juggle....there's thru-hulls to jiggle....there's engine belts, filters and impellers to wiggle----not to mention oil and trans fluid to re-fiddle....and THEN....the finale.....will she start?  Yes! 
But alas, not for long....she dies.....dang.  
Our Yanmar Guru, Kevin, showed our simple mistake: before changing fuel filters, we forgot to shut off the diesel line, so all the fuel had drained back into the tank. Learn something new everytime/everyday.   A re-prime in the Racor fuel filter and off she went---yippee!!!  Yahoo!!!  (a real crowd-pleaser)  

Amongst other projects,  our luckiest find on the dock last winter in the "free-box" was these little companion-way screen doors. Lo and behold, they fit our boat perfectly!  But what good are screen doors when the air conditioner is running?  So, with a little creativity (and borrowed tools), we cut two plexiglass trapezoid panels to inset with swivels so they can be removed. Sometimes, wimps can be smart too.

Companion-way doors to the cockpit

The new upholstery has been ordered (big applause) as well as new Explorer Charts for the Bahamas. There are three of them: Near Bahamas, Far Bahamas and Exumas. These beautiful charts give our cruising dreams gusto, like a treasure map to paradise.  Though we have our trusty Garmin chartplotter, it's electronic and there's nothing better than paper to back it up.  

New Tri-Color light

But let's get back to the Big Top Show....ladies and gentlemen...cast your eyes way up high (approx 48 ft) on top of the mast, we have Miller, the swinging trapeze artist, hanging for hours in a bosun's chair trying to replace the defunct Tri-Color light.  Not for the faint of heart, especially in gusting 20mph winds.









And off to the south over on E-dock we have the truly talented Bill from Solo performing a variety of well-known songs on his portable piano.  The amazing talent here is that he plays from ear; he doesn't know how to read music.  "MacArthur Park" shall never be the same... cake in or outta the rain.

E-dock's piano man---Bill from S/V Solo

And now, circus fans, in the center ring we have a dueling birthday bash on C-dock---
Leslie (Oct 14) and neighbor Larry (Oct 13)

We decided that the sum total of 124 candles would have burned the dock down, but as all C-dock-ite residents know, one more party on the old pilings might take it down anyway.  

B-day buds

Speaking of going "down", I had a one-act clown show that next morning (which no one actually saw).  At 7:30am, while stepping from the boat to the dock, I slipped and fell between the two into the water....KER-splash!  (more like Ga-dunk!)

A demonstration of the gap

Barnacle-crusted pilings under dock----aka meat shredders

Tim heard it and thought I had dropped something. Thank goodness I didn't have the cellphone on board the body AND thank goodness I didn't hit the razor-sharp barnacles encrusted all over the pilings. 

It was therefore quite humorous. I crawled out like a drowned rat onto our swim platform. Happy birthday, Leslie- baptized by the Manatee River (which fortunately is not the typical sludge harbor water).

By the time the rumor ran around the marina gossip circle and got back to me that afternoon, it declared that I had gotten drunk-as-a-sailor the night before at my b-day party and fell in trying to get back to the boat. Not true, but it would have been a humorous story as well.  Yep----we live in a three-ring circus on the west coast of Florida!

Robert and Joanie on "Rest-A-Shore"

Wednesday afternoon found us peacefully sailing out on Tampa Bay with our friends Robert and Joanie on their Catalina 385.  We slept on the hook (anchored) at Emerson Point with the dolphins that night.  Thank you, Robert, for a wonderful breakfast the next morning!
After being dockside for two months,  it was free sailing on a picture-perfect day!

While we wait for temps to cool down and hurricane season to pass, I have been caught up in a geeky kinda syndrome called "Paralysis by Analysis".  There are so many decisions to be made that require hours of research on the computer, which results in analysis-paralysis, which means nothing decided or accomplished---that's me.  What we have decided is that, like an artist painting a piece, it can go on and on, never perfect or finished.  We got a strong, well-outfitted boat that will take us where we want, without more expensive (not totally necessary) add-ons. So outside of a few more tweaks, twerks and twaks...(and the new upholstery), we're ready to go, or at least we think we are. But are we ever REALLY ready?  No, we're not, but we're going anyway.  

"Bones" our newest crew member, though not the most dependable.