Thursday, 20 April 2017 - I continued my inventory of the starboard lazarette today, starting on it right after breakfast and the harbor radio net. Remember why I got started on this project? I was hoping to find a spare alternator. Instead, along with lots of hoses, tubing, paint, fiberglassing materials, wire, lots of wire, and other stuff, I found a second starter motor...then I found an alternator. Unfortunately, it looks to be in worse condition than the one on the engine now. By about 6pm, I was finally ready to pull the bottom of the second level of storage up to reveal what is in that compartment. I was really having a hard time remembering what was stored there. I pulled the flooring up and...lo and behold, there was the top of one of the fuel tanks! There is no third level! No wonder I couldn't remember what I put in there. This is exactly why I need an inventory and database. My memory is shot! Maybe it's just overloaded. Nah! It's shot. Never was very good. Well, that'll make the inventory finish quicker. Maybe tomorrow. Then I have to figure out how to get all this stuff to fit back in there. I was hoping to find enough space to fit one of the starter motors in there that has been sitting on a shelf in the forward cabin. That doesn't seem likely now. I'd hate for it to fall off of that shelf. It weighs about 40 lb.

Friday, 21 April - Well, it's 9:15pm and I just put in a half day finishing up the inventory of the starboard cockpit lazarette. Half a day, that's 9am - 9pm. It only took about 3 times as long as I thought it would. I knew it would be time consuming, so I put it off as long as I could, but needing to know if there was an alternator hiding in there somewhere meant it was time. I only added about 170 unique items to the database, but lots of the items needed to be reorganized into different containers and many items needed to be have rust removed, be lubricated, and sealed in zip lock bags to resist further corrosion. Even paint and epoxy cans were really in need of cleaning up. I'm glad to have that over with. There are still a few spaces I haven't inventoried, but they'll be much easier. I did make room for the second starter in the lower compartment and it's wrapped in plastic and in a heavy bag with handles on it to make it easier to lift out when the time comes. I got a spare bicycle tire in there, too.
                  Now I can have some dinner. My stomach's growling like a bear.

Saturday, 22 April - There was a small boater's swap meet for the harbor today. I took a couple of small items to try to get rid of, but knowing that they were specialty items that few would be interested in, I wasn't surprised that they didn't sell. Instead, I spent $5 on a small, bottom weighted float for my dive flag that I can use while I'm diving or snorkeling. When diving on a reef, I'll probably just tie it to me and tow it around with me so I'll have the flag near me at all times. The weather was threatening to rain, but we had decent weather during the meet. When it started to sprinkle, I returned to the boat, then it rained off and on all afternoon with temperatures near 75°F.

Sunday, 23 April - I took my new grappling hook out for a spin this morning. The first thing I hooked was a line that was very tight. I couldn't pull it to the surface to tell exactly where it went but I think I could see it. It pointed right between two boats at anchor not far away. I didn't think it could belong to them, but finally decided I couldn't take a chance on pulling up one of their anchors, so I released it. Then, not far away, I hooked something else and pulled up a sunken boat! I let it go, too. Next, I hooked something else behind a boat a little further away. Before I could try to pull it up, the owner of the nearby boat happened to return. I figured I could save some time and effort by asking him if he had an anchor out in that direction. He said he had a 1200 lb. anchor out there. What? 1200 lb.? He said it was big. It must be a VW bug! I don't know how you'd get an anchor out there and over the side of a boat without tipping the boat over, but I didn't ask any more questions. I had other things that needed to be done. I returned to Island Time and cleaned up the spare alternator I found onboard. Unfortunately, it's not a match for the one that I suspect to be bad.
                  Today is the first time in about a month that the wind hasn't been near 20 kts., so I had planned on reinstalling my mainsail. To do so, I need to run it up the mast, then furl it. I decided I had better wait for help so I can raise the sail, then immediately go to the top of the mast, before furling it to see if the repair job that I did to the halyard is going to be effective. I'd hate to tear up the new sewing job trying to furl it the very first time if my repair job isn't sufficient.

Monday, 24 April - An interesting and prolific day. Just as I was about to get started on my day's activities, I noticed a fellow, whose name I later learned is Erich Grabski, on a nearby boat, named "Miss Sara", having trouble with his genoa, a large sail at the front of the boat. I went over to offer to help. At first, he said he could handle it, but when I mentioned that it would be a lot easier with two of us, he acceded. His genoa had gotten tangled in yesterday's squall as he neared the harbor and he'd just bundled it up as best he could, which wasn't very well, and let it flap all night. He anchored outside the harbor last night, got very little sleep, and then came in this morning to get it untangled. With the two of us working on it, we got it straightened out in about 45 minutes, got the furling line untangled, and got it furled up nicely again. When I mentioned that I'd had a similar problem with my mainsail and could use some help reinstalling it, he came to my boat and mere than repaid me with help. We reinstalled my mainsail and he then raised me to the top of my mast so I could inspect the mechanism. I had thought the problem with it had been an extra ferrule that I had installed, but upon inspection, I determined that wasn't the problem at all. A pin holding the sheave at the top of the furling extrusion had come partly out and was probably what was catching on the lines. I couldn't see how that could happen, but there was nothing else up there that could be snagging the lines. I replaced the pin, came down the mast, and furled and unfurled the sail several times without having any lines catch in the mechanism, so I'm hopeful that problem has gone away.
                  I helped someone, got some help and reinstalled my mainsail, learned a few things, and made a great new friend. Not bad for a morning's work.

Tuesday, 25 April - Robert Dahmer took his friend, Patricia, and me out to Sombrero Lighthouse Reef, about 5 miles off shore, today on his sailboat "Christi" today to do some snorkeling. What a great day! The sailing was very nice and the snorkeling was good, but the water was still a bit turbid as you can see in my photographs. I tried out the flash on the little underwater camera, but the light bounced off of every little particle in the water directly back at the camera causing white dots all over the images. The flash is just too close to the lens. Not a surprise to me, but I was hoping for better. I still haven't mastered this little camera. To use the flash I'm going to need almost perfectly clear water.
                  As soon as we got back to the harbor, we cleaned up and headed over to meet several friends they had met while out kayaking recently to have dinner and a three hour long game of trivia at one of the local restaurants. The night was still young when the others headed back to their place, so Robert, Patricia and I headed to the Overseas Bar for a little musical entertainment. They had a solo guitarist playing along with canned background music, but he had a great voice and good interaction with the obviously local and longtime patrons there. We finished the night by returning to the boat by dinghy on a beautiful, calm night about 11 o'clock.

Wednesday, 26 April - Robert and Patricia had invited the six friends from last night's get together out sailing and four of them took them up on it today. I went along and it was a near perfect day; wind about 10 kts., sunny and warm. I don't think any of them had ever been out sailing before and they all thoroughly enjoyed it, as did I.
                  We got back to the harbor just after low tide today, which gave me a chance to get in the dinghy and go put a float on the boat I hooked with my grapnel the other day to show its location and warn other boaters away. I could see I was a little late. Someone had obviously already hit it with their propeller. Better late than never though, I suppose.

Now you know why I didn't get this posted on the usual Wednesday evening. I was having too much fun! I'd apologize, but I'm not sorry.