Thursday, 9 March - Visitors came aboard today. It was the fellow that had been anchored next to me last week on a powerboat. He and his wife are from New Hampshire. Their opportunity to move from the anchorage to the mooring field came up and they had moved. He brought a friend with him to see my boat and we visited awhile.

Friday, 10 March - One of the sailors that I had met in Ft. Myers Beach, Robert Dahmer, called me today. He's here now and we went out exploring the island looking for an alternative dinghy landing spot. It would be nice to be able to tie up further west on the island to go to stores on that end rather than having to dinghy east, then walk or bicycle back west as I do now at the city marina dock. Not much luck, virtually all of the shoreline is private land...but we did have a pretty good lunch at Burdine's Tiki Hut, and then later some stone crab claws at the Fisheries Tiki Hut...lots of Tiki Huts here.

Saturday, 10 March - Robert and I spent all afternoon and evening at the Marathon Seafood Festival, a large gathering with lots of booths, displays, food, beer, and live musical entertainment put on yearly by the fishermen and seafood restaurants. The best stage act today was Igor and The Red Elvises, two guys and three girls in a group. Two of the girls were outstanding, one on guitar and the other, Robert and I thought, was the best drummer of the day, by far. The best artwork was the wood marquetry of aquatic scenes in one of the artists booths made with exotic woods and mother of pearl. Incredible detail and absolutely beautiful.

Sunday, 11 March - I woke up hearing unexpected rain on the boat, but it soon cleared off and the day turned out absolutely beautiful. The music and girl watching was so good yesterday that Robert and I did the same again today, but with less time spent at the commercial booths and more at the music stage. The best entertainer on the stage today was a 17 year old fiddle, guitar, mandolin player and singer/song writer that is already a Nashville recording artist, Maggie Baugh. Not only can she play and sing, but she already has great stage presence and interaction with the audience.

Monday, 12 March - A couple that sail a 50 foot sailboat, Slip Away, that I met in Ft. Myers Beach came by the boat this afternoon and said, "Hi." They are Steve and Cindy "Something". I don't remember the last name, but they also know Gene Ramos and inquired about him. It was nice to visit with them awhile. They are anchored over in Sister Creek where I had so much electrical problems, and I warned them about that.

Tuesday, 13 March - This morning on the Boot Key Harbor Cruiser's Net on the VHF radio, a gentleman was offering five gallons of free, premixed gasoline to someone and I decided I might as well be that person. I contacted him and he actually brought it to the marina from the other side of the island (two blocks away.) He's leaving the area to go home but leaving his boat here and didn't want the fuel onboard for six months, so we both did each other a favor. I certainly came out ahead.
                  Other than that, I needed about $10 worth of food items from the store; milk, eggs, and bananas, so I went to the grocery store and bought $106 worth of food. I'm not going to starve to death!