Sunday, 14 October 2018 - Seven of the local boaters, me included, met at the trail head near my boat into the channels that kayakers use to explore Boot Key this morning around eleven o'clock and spent about four hours paddling throughout the island. This is my third trip in there and each experience gets better. I took a small pull saw with me today to clear some deadfalls out of the way and I discovered that one of the trails I had been to before and believed was a dead end, wasn't. The channel merely had a tree that had fallen across the stream, and once cleared, about another half mile of winding channel became available to explore. It was a beautiful day and lots of fun. About a third of the channels are so overgrown that you can't even use your paddle, it's easier to just lay the paddle on the boat and pull yourself along or glide down the channel with the tidal current, ducking under limbs and roots and bouncing off or dodging more or the same. We saw lots of small land crabs on the mangroves, fish, lots of upside down jellyfish in the ponds or inland lakes, a few herons and fish. I took a few pictures.

Monday, 15 October - I still need to get the mainsail up, but it's now pretty windy and I think that will make it hard to get the stud at the bottom of the luff extrusion into the hole in its mount, so I didn't even try to get help with the project today.

Tuesday, 16 October - Now that the winds have picked up again, I finally came across the fellow I'd hoped would help me with the furler while there was little wind. The wind is, however, predicted to continue through Sunday, so I probably won't attempt the installation until then. I went to the marina and got 40 gallons of water this afternoon and while I was there I picked up the gas line that had been delivered this morning. I returned to the boat and installed it. Now I won't have to keep turning the gas off at the tank as soon as I finish heating something on the stove, nor will I have to worry so much about the boat blowing up! I've also given up on the fresh water pump in the galley. I've done everything I can to repair the old one. I think it got hardening of the arteries valves and just won't pump water well enough to create enough pressure to open the switch to turn itself off, so I ordered a new one this morning.

Wednesday, 17 October - Trying to convince myself that I really am retired, I did absolutely nothing today. No, actually, I just can't remember what I did since I waited till a day later to write about it. Either way, I don't think I did anything worth writing about.Oh, yea. Now I remember. I defrosted the fridge.

Thursday, 18 October - I thought that, in order to not buy so much food, it might help to NOT go to the grocery store hungry, so I stopped at the Chinese Panda Restaurant buffet and stuffed myself first, then proceeded to the grocery store and spent about $60 more than I usually do. I guess that didn't work too well.

Friday, 19 October - Awhile back at the last swap meet at the marina, I purchased an expensive clamp-on multimeter, used, but supposedly working fine, although it had a dead battery. The fellow guaranteed it was fine or my money back. When I tried to turn it on the next day, of course, it wouldn't work. I tested the battery and it was fine. Putting it back into the unit, I discovered the, or rather, a, problem. The 9V pigtail for the battery was bad. I have another pigtail, but thought I'd better tell the guy about the problem. I couldn't reach him for several days on the VHF radio, then discovered that his wife had broken her leg and they left town temporarily to get her treated. Finally, Wednesday, I saw him at the dock and we agreed that I should try to repair it myself, but that if I couldn't, the guarantee still would be honored. Getting it apart and back together wasn't a problem, but removing the solder and resoldering small electronic connections with limited resources on a moving boat isn't always that easy. I'm happy to say that, today, I was able to repair it. Now I need to sell my old one. I think people are tired of my ads on the Cruiser's Net. They say I have my own chandlery on board because I have a dinghy and engine, several fenders, a 5 - 16 foot fishing outrigger, a 400 Watt wind generator, and a ten gallon, aluminum propane tank all for sale. Now I'll be adding the multimeter to the list. We're starting to get an influx of new or returning boats to the harbor since hurricane season is supposed to be winding down, maybe that will help me get rid of some stuff.