Saturday, 3 November 2018 - Today was predicted to be cool and rainy, but actually, very little rain fell. Still, because of the prediction, I spent all day aboard cleaning and organizing.

Sunday, 4 November - This afternoon was one of the most enjoyable days I've had in a long time. The usual Sunday kayak trip was supposed to originate from Island Time since the other, usual, meeting boat had moved further into the harbor. I knew that a couple of the usual kayakers weren't going to show up, but another called about twenty minutes from the proposed departure time called and said he and some others had just been served their breakfast at one of the cafes in town, the Stuffed Pig, and they would be running late and have to catch up. No one showed up at the prescribed time and I found something to do for about an hour, at which time I decided to head out on my own to see if I could find an entrance to "Vanishing Lake" in the mangroves. At the last minute I decided to invite Odie, on my neighboring sailboat, Cloud Walker, to join me. He doesn't have a kayak, so he would use my second one. We headed out and found the channel quickly in spite of my having missed it before. Unfortunately, the tide was at almost its low point of the day, so when we arrived at Vanishing Lake, there was barely enough depth to navigate, in fact, the bottoms of our kayaks were dragging bottom much of the time, but we managed. When we arrived at the lake, I decided we'd better mark the entrance to it and I found a styrofoam plate hung up in the mangroves to mark it with. Thank goodness. The lake has dozens of mangrove outcroppings in it and it was very disorienting as we circumnavigated it. If the plate hadn't been in plain sight, we might have searched a long time before we found our exit. On previous trips in the mangroves in the other channels, we've seen only an occasional fish, but on this trip there were hundreds, some of them up to about 15" long...and in the shallow lake, thousands of upside down Cassiopeia jellyfish. The trip in was only about 15 minutes, but with numerous side channels to explore, plus, when we got to the lake, I was hoping to find a route that might join up with some of the other inland lakes that we've explored previously. The shallow water precluded that, but I did find a route that, with about a foot more tide, might just connect. According to my map of Boot Key, we must have been less than 300 yards from previously explored routes. I'm anxious to go back at a higher tide level and find out. Another nice thing about our trip today was that Odie was just as willing to explore new routes as I was and I never felt like I was slowing him down or that he was in a hurry to end the trip. Not only that, but upon finishing the trip, he came aboard to help me bring the kayaks on deck and clean them up some instead of just saying "thanks" and leaving me to put them away. Since the others were so late, and since we decided to explore a totally different section of the island, I don't know if they ever showed up or not. Their loss.

Monday, 5 November - I attempted to access the inner workings of the Azimuth electronic compass today because the backlight in it isn't lighting up, but was blocked by a nut that stripped loose in the housing. It was only one of six nuts, but that was enough to keep me out of the housing since it wouldn't let me remove the bottom plate without breaking it, which might let water in.
                    Right after leaving the boat on Sunday to kayak the mangroves, on of the two straps that supports the seat-back support broke, making for a less than comfortable ride, so this afternoon I dug out the bag of strapping in the port lazerette, found a strap that matched, cut it, drilled out the blind (pop) rivet that held the old strap in, and replaced the strap. As good as new - maybe better.

Tuesday, 6 November - Since acquiring the new dinghy and hanging it on the davits, the old dinghy, which I desperately need to sell, has to stay in the water 24 hours a day. That means aquatic growth and critters take up residence on the hull. I decided today was the day to remove that growth so I assembled cleaning tools, removed the new engine from the old dinghy and raised it on one of the davits. I had to wait until a short squall passed by because to lift the outboard motor, I had to remove the cowling to expose the lifting ring. That left the engine vulnerable to the rain, which I wanted to avoid. The rain passed and I headed over to the beach to scrape the hull. Most of it actually came off pretty easily and I returned to Island Time only to find out that it had just rained on the boat even though I didn't get rained on about a mile away. So much for planning.

Wednesday, 7 November - I had a rude awakening today. When I went to the stern of the boat to get in the dinghy and head to shore to buy groceries, I looked down and to my total dismay, the dinghy was totally swamped with every little wave washing over the transom. The gas tank was floating upside down, the oars were floating, as was the air pump. This has never happened before. At first I assumed it had something to do with my having scraped the bottom yesterday. Eventually, however, and after having bailed and pumped about 75 gallons of seawater out of the dinghy, and seeing no further inflow of water, I remembered that last evening I had felt a larger than usual wake hit the boat. It must have topped the transom on the dinghy that was tied at the parallel to the swim platform at the back of the boat, causing the boat to sit so low in the water than subsequent waves also broke over the transom of the dinghy, filling it. The new four stroke engine is almost 30 lb. more than my Yamaha two stroke engine of the same horse power, making the transom sit very low in the water. That is one of the reasons I am selling the newer instead of the older one. I'll be reversing the dinghy so that the bow, instead of the stern, is facing the boat channel from now on. I am, also, delighted that the dinghy hasn't sprung a huge leak.

Thursday, 8 November - I was asked to go ashore and render assistance to the marina staff this afternoon, but it turned out that they didn't need the help after all, so I felt like I just totally wasted several hours. When I got back to the boat, I made another attempt to slow the leakage of air in the dinghy, and perhaps I did, but not by much.

Friday, 9 November - I discovered today that while scraping the bottom of the dinghy on Tuesday, I must have broken the seal on a couple of below the waterline holes with cable ties for clamps that hold my night time motoring light in the dinghy to the transom. That is allowing considerable water into the dinghy and I am having to bail or pump the dinghy out much more frequently than in the past. At least that will be an easy fix. I just need to decide where I can get the boat out of the water long enough for some silicone to cure.

Saturday, 10 November - I, once again, towed the old dinghy out Sister Creek, this time landing at the mouth of the creek on the island of Boot Key in order to attempt stopping the air leak on the starboard tube. I pried up part of the patch, then, while waiting for it to dry, I took about a 45 minute hike up the east/west road on the south side of the key and back. While the west end of the key still has a few inhabitants, the east end is totally deserted and has been ever since they retired the bascule bridge that used to connect the key with Marathon in 2007. There aren't even any buildings left on the east end now.

Sunday, 11 November - One other sailor, actually my dance instructor, Billy Maynard, and I headed over to the Boot Key mangrove kayak trails in search of a trail that might connect Vanishing Lake with Big Lake. We tried it from Big Lake out toward Vanishing Lake, but discovered that even at high tide that's not going to happen. The mangroves have just taken over and grown too thick, closing off any trails that might have existed in the past. We did have a nice three and a half hour paddle, however, with me showing him some trails that he hadn't seen before.

Monday, 12 November - Since I screwed up the seals on the cable ties the other day and the dinghy has been taking on so much water, I resealed those today and also sealed about two thirds of the port hull to rubber joint that has still been leaking. I had tried sealing it from the outside last time, so I ran a thick bead of 3M 4000 sealant on it on the inside this time. If this doesn't keep the water out, I'll be sorely disappointed and amazed. I did the repairs at the boat this time, so I can let the sealant cure longer before I have to put it in the water. That should help, too.

Tuesday, 13 November - I had found a cracked boat fender awhile back and saved it thinking I might be able to cut a patch out of it to cover a hole I repaired in one of the kayaks with melted milk bottles dripped onto the kayak much like you would drip P-Tex candles onto a ski base to repair scratches. The patch appears to have worked fine but I believe that in burning the milk bottle plastic, it becomes more brittle, so I don't quite trust it. I adhered the fender patch over the top of the dripped milk bottle patch with contact glue and I think that will be more than sufficient. At least it will keep the whole blob of milk bottle from just falling off if it gets bumped hard. If it came loose, that would allow the kayak to totally swamp and that might make it a little harder to get back to Island Time!
                    By the way, just to let everybody be a little jealous, here in mid-November, it's 85°:F today with blue skies, puffy clouds and a light breeze. Nighttime temps near 80°F. Mighty fine on-top-of-the-covers sleeping temps. Ahhh! Paradise!