Friday, 9 February 2018 - I intended to change out the anchor chain today, but as I pulled the hardware together, shackles, chain, and swivel, I realized that the swivel I have on hand looked too small for the job. Physically it is large enough to fit, but I didn't think it would be strong enough, making it the weak link in the system by far. I looked at the one on my other bow anchor and realized that I was probably right, then I did some research and confirmed it. That meant I needed to make at trip to shore. I had hoped to finish the chain switch out in time to attend a seminar at the tiki hut at the marina about free diving and realized that I couldn't make the trip to the hardware store(s) and finish in time to attend the dive seminar, too. I went to shore, showered, attended the meeting, then went to Home Depot on my bicycle. Home Depot didn't have a chain swivel large enough so I headed off to West Marine and bought one there for $30. That will put the safe maximum working load limit of each device at about 3000 lb. I'm not trying to lift my 40,000 lb. boat, just hold it in place against the pull of the wind and tides.
                    The free diving seminar was really just a casual get together put on by a married couple that are traveling through on a boat here in the harbor and that happen to be professional divers and world record holders in the sport of diving. They can free swim down to almost 300 ft and swim back up in one breath. Wow! They are trying to promote the sport of free diving and, of course, make a little money teaching lessons. This meeting was free and very interesting, mostly about safety and breathing. They really have the breathing down to a very teachable science. They didn't go into depth about the breathing techniques, but did walk us through the basics and got virtually all the attendees to hold their breath for two minutes. For ten minutes of practice, I thought that was pretty good. Now, if I could only remember what they taught us...er, told us. Obviously, they didn't teach us because I didn't learn it. I think I need more practice. Actually, I don't even desire to dive deep. I just want to be able to clean the bottom of my boat without the hookah or scuba gear, but I'm not sure I'll ever get to the point that I can hold my breath for the three or four hours it takes to scrape the bottom of the boat. ;-) Without having to get all the gear out, organized, operating and then cleaned up and put away later, the total time for the job would probably be cut in half, however, if all I needed was a snorkel, face mask and scraper.

Saturday, 10 February - I left the boat immediately after the Cruiser's Net on the radio this morning and headed to the tiki hut at the marina to participate as a seller in the nautical flea market. I must admit, I made two mistakes at the swap meet. Rule #1 was "Don't buy anything." Rule #2 was "If you break rule #1, don't spend more than you make selling things." I broke both rules, as usual. But I did get some really good deals. Yesterday I bought a 1/2" swivel at West Marine for $28 and today I bought one just like it as a backup for $2. I sold $60 worth of stuff and bought a never deployed Para Anchor, used to stop the boat from drifting in violent weather, that I'd been wanting ever since the day before hurricane Irma hit, for $150. They sell new for about $600. It's insurance. I hope I never have to use it. Now I wish I had the four or five hundred feet of heavy anchor line back that I cut away the night before Irma hit. That's how much line is needed to deploy this Para Anchor. They suggest using anchor line 10 times the length of the boat, so that would be 450' for Island Time.
                    I have a guest coming in on Tuesday, so I thought I'd better get clothes and sheets washed before he gets here, so I spent the rest of the afternoon watching clothes go round and round and got to watch a bit of the Olympic snowboarding competition on TV at the laundromat.

Sunday, 11 February - Another breezy day with a high around 80°F. I started out the day intending to clean the bottom of the boat, but when I climbed down to the swim platform and checked the clarity of the water, I gave up on that idea. I couldn't even see the rudder of the boat. The winds are keeping the water even in the harbor stirred up too much. I wouldn't have bee able to see what part of the hull I had cleaned and what I hadn't. Plan B was to switch out the new and old anchor chain. I did that, but it took all day. I had to set a second anchor, raise the one I've been using. Remove the anchor from the chain, go below and untie the bitter end of the chain from the bulkhead in the chain locker, remove the old chain from the chain locker, tie the new anchor in and load the new chain into the chain locker, then attach the anchor to the chain with new shackles and a new swivel. When I raised the anchor and dropped the new one in, the second anchor didn't set immediately and Island Time drifted out into the channel. I wasn't worried about anybody hitting me, but I was afraid that while I was out of place, another boat might come in and anchor in my spot, so I hurried as best as I could. The wind was blowing hard enough that I decided to get help to steer the boat while I pulled up one anchor and dropped the one with the new chain on it. Patty Williamson came over and helped me out which made the job a lot easier, safer, and a lot less nerve racking. It's really hard to be steering at the back of the boat and raising and dropping anchors at the bow at the same time while the wind is trying to move the boat off course. That's not a problem out in open water, but here in the anchorage there are too many obstacles to run into, namely, other boats. I'm glad to get that done, now tomorrow, I have to put the rode for the secondary anchor back in its locker and put everything back into the forepeak storage area.

Monday, 12 February - Much of today was spent organizing things on the boat, then, later, Bob Dahmer and I went over to the marina to help drink up some of the beer that was left over from the Superbowl party last week. Boy! When the announced "Free Beer" LOTS of people showed up! There was lots of beer on ice in the coolers when Bob and I arrived, but I think it all disappeared in about 15 minutes. When I went back for a second, all that was left in the cooler was ice, water, and one Diet Coke. It was still a good party though. Around 7:00pm Bob, Patty Williamson, another boater named Rolando and I walked over to the Hurricane for cheap pizza and beer.

Tuesday, 13 February - My good, long-time, family friend of almost sixty years, Mark Stephens, arrived in Marathon this afternoon for a stay of about a week. I met him at the shuttle drop-off point and we returned to the boat. Later, we dinghied over to Burdine's Restaurant for dinner, then returned to the boat and caught up on family occurrences and reminisced about old times in Texas until we realized it was 1:15am.

Wednesday, 14 February - Mark and I talked most of the morning away, then went for a dinghy ride out Sister Creek to Sombrero Beach and walked the beach for a bit. As we returned, I turned the dinghy off Sister Creek into Whiskey Creek and did a bit of exploring. I explained that Whiskey Creek is where I initially intended to take Island Time to tie off into the mangroves, but upon hearing that Irma was going to be a category 5 hurricane, I decided to hightail it out of Marathon to the western side of the Gulf of Mexico because the mangroves wouldn't have been enough to protect me. We returned to the boat to allow me to get this out and we later went to the library for this evening's movie and some popcorn.

            Until next time.

                        "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S. Thompson

                                          Rick