Thursday, 29 June 2017 - Well, yesterday, for me and last week for you, I hadn't finished replacing the grey water pump switch, which I had worked on all week, but now I have. I installed it today and am happy to say it passed three successive on and off cycles that I put it through by pouring seawater in my aft shower pan. Yahoo! I'm headed in to take a shower as soon as I finish this evenings post. I was reminded that some people don't know what "black water" and "grey water" on a boat is. Black water goes through your toilet and must be held in a holding tank while near shore, then pumped out at a dock or by a pump out boat every so often. Here in Boot Key Harbor a pompous boat comes out to me about every two weeks to pump out my black water tank. Grey water is water that goes through my sinks and showers. Since it poses infinitely less of a threat to the harbor, it can go overboard immediately, and the water from my galley sink goes directly overboard. The bottom of the drain in the sink in my galley is higher than the waterline on my boat by about 2 or 3 inches, so it drains by gravity. However, the bottom of my shower pans are below sea level, so it drains into a small holding tank near my bilge, then, normally, is automatically pumped out when the tank is about half full. That hasn't been happening, but now will again since I replaced the sensor and switch. Good night!

Friday, 30 June - I finished cleaning the bottom of the hull and keel today using the Hookah. It sure was nice to hear that pump come on several times during my shower to rinse the salt off! Boy! I can't believe how dead the night scene is here on a Friday night. I had a beer at each of two bars and there was nothing going on.

Saturday, 1 July - I made up a replacement strap for holding up the side windows on the dodger when I roll them up and made up a couple of extras for the future. I think I've already lost two. I think one came loose and blew away one night and I recently unsnapped one that caught on my clothing and immediately fell into the water and I watched it sink as it headed down toward Davey Jones' locker.
                  Around 3pm, I decided to go for a dinghy ride, however, about a week ago, the day the girl fell into the water and couldn't get out, they asked me to stop back by and answer some questions, so I took this as an opportunity to do that. I spent about three hours there, then headed out Sister Creek and over to East Sister Rock, turned around, and then explored some of the man made channels on this side of the island; very expensive properties, each with at least one boat docked or raised out of the water on cradles with hoists.

Sunday, 2 July - Inspired by my trip with Mark and Pat Becker to Key West a couple of weeks ago, I was up at 6:30 to dinghy in and catch the bus to Key West for another day of sight seeing. I, also, wanted to check out some of the resources for sailors while there, so one of the first things I did was head over to the commercial docks, then to the harbor master's office about four miles away. I checked out their facilities and rates, then headed back through town to find hardware stores, West Marine, the post office and other facilities. One thing I never saw and forgot to look for was a grocery store. Key West is much larger than Marathon, so when I go there, access to things will be more spread out.
                  I ended up back at Duvall Street, which is the "main drag", and checked it out, knowing however, that it really doesn't liven up until dusk or dinner time. My next stop was Fort Zachary Taylor, a masonry fort that was started in 1844 and served through 1976, during the Civil War, the Spanish American War, WW I, WW II, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The self guided tour was very interesting and informative. I took pictures and although most are pretty self-explanatory, the one of buried cannons might beg a little explanation. The fort, being so long in use, went through many changes, especially in ordinance. Some of the huge cannons were merely used as fill when they were replaced and the fort itself changed from a three tiered fortification to two tiered. Later, conservationists and historians dug several back out of the concretions with jack hammers and restored them in order to establish the park. That photo is of ones that were only partially excavated.
                  I hadn't eaten all day, so I headed back to the city for a refreshment at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Bar and some fresh seafood at the Smokin' Tuna Saloon. Almost every bar/restaurant has live entertainment every evening and Duvall Street is filled with cars, motorcycles, scooters, skate boarders, three wheeled bicycle taxis and lots of people shopping in the art studios, clothing stores, getting tattoos, real or henna, or otherwise enjoying the "Key West experience".
                  At 10pm, I caught the last bus back to Marathon, arriving back at my boat about midnight, and after a day that included a walk of approximately 20 miles, it didn't take long to go to sleep.

Monday, 3 July - There are a couple of cracks in the teak that protects the pyramid hatch covers on deck, so today I removed one of them and glued two cracks with Gorilla White Glue and will leave them clamped overnight, then reinstall them tomorrow.

Tuesday, 4th of July - I went to West Marine to get Cetol Wood Treatment and since it was July 4th, the Coast Guard Auxiliary was there to remind people about safety. It reminded me that I haven't had them inspect my boat and I wasn't sure when my signal flares are due to expire. They also had one of the new electronic signal lamps to show. I'm surprised that they are Coast Guard approved because they are only 75 lumens in brightness, but will blink out SOS for about 60 hours on three "C" cell batteries. A regular hand held flare is over 15,000 lumens for 60 seconds. Make your choice; brightness or duration, one or the other, you can't have both. I got one because the regular flares cost about $35, but must be replaced about every two years, whereas the $100 electronic never goes out of date - supposedly. I'm sure in a few years they'll say these are out-dated and no longer acceptable.
                  When I returned to the boat, I decided that today would be a good time to inventory the contents of my "Ditch Bag". That's a bag that is supposed to contain emergency items that can be instantly accessed and thrown into a life raft if Island Time were sinking. I've looked at everything in there before, but couldn't remember everything in there, including whether my flares were legal. I can tell you this. I'm not short of hand held flares, rockets, or parachute flares; I have lots, including 3 guns, all of different sizes. However, sure enough, I only have 4 legal gun fired rockets and no hand held flares that are not outdated. I do suspect, however, that most of them would light up if needed. Anyway, at least I'm legal, you're only required to have three onboard that are fresh, and now that I have the electronic "flare", I'll always be legal. Now I just have to remember to keep fresh batteries in it. It will be easy to forget, since it stays packed away all the time, hidden under the saloon table.
                  I doubt that I'll ever have to use the bag, but it's there if I should ever need to bug out in a hurry. An onboard fire would probably be the most likely reason, but I guess you never know when a supertanker or a floating city is going to run over you.
                  I had planned on going over to the beach early for the Independence Day festivities, but got too engaged it inventorying the ditch bag, so I dinghied over just before dusk and found out that I couldn't go ashore where I planned because it was too near the fireworks and cinders would probably be landing there. I headed out into the bay where there must have been a couple of hundred other boats anchored to watch the fireworks and was asked by another sailor anchored near me in the harbor, who happened to be there in his tow boat, Tow Boat 1, if I'd like to tie up to him. Since it was a little choppy and I knew it would be tough to get any sharp pictures bouncing around in my dinghy, I said, "Sure." With the choppiness of the water and the time lag of the shutter on the little camera I have, I still got very few photos worth saving, but I'll post a few. Fireworks are always pretty over the water, but we were almost too close; they were almost overhead so it was hard to get any foreground in my shots.

Wednesday, 5 July - This morning on the Cruiser's Radio Net a couple of people asked for help, so I took one fellow over to get gas. It turns out that he is from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, not too far from where I grew up and, when I took him back to his boat, I discovered that they had a non-caged King pigeon on board that doesn't have its wings clipped. They say it merely adopted them when it was a young bird by flying aboard and not leaving. They've never caged it, although they say its homing instincts get a little confused since it has a mobile home. They said, too, that it flew over to another boat one day and lit on the arm of the owner of that boat while he was working on his engine and although the man was frequently moving his arm all over, up and down, that the bird simply adjusted his feet and stayed balanced there for about two hours observing, then flew home. They originally thought it was a white dove, but when it grew larger, they suspected not. Since I used to own and raise lots of pigeons, I informed them that it was without a doubt a "King", even though it's female. At first, they didn't want it on board, but it became so friendly, perching on their shoulders, head, arms, etc., they just couldn't get rid of her. They've had it about 3 years.
                  As soon as I got back, I got an email from a local lady that needed help raising the mast on her small sailboat. Shortly after I arrived, a couple of other guys showed up and we raised it with ease and attached the shrouds and stays to the chainplates and she's ready to sail. Well, close.