Wednesday, 14 November 2018 - Well, the bead of sealant that I applied on the port hull to tube joint on the dinghy on Monday had to be duplicated on the starboard side, too. It was leaking so little that I hadn't even noticed it until I sealed the first one. There was still too much water in the bilge of the dinghy, so I had searched a little harder.I discovered today, too, that the silicone sealant that I applied to the cable ties on the transom isn't curing. I've never seen this before. Usually, if anything, the sealant starts setting up way too quickly. I can't believe that it hasn't set up in two days.

Thursday, 15 November - I couldn't believe it, the port tube on the dinghy was still leaking air, so I made yet another attempt to fix it today, but already know that it, too, failed. This is starting to get discouraging indeed.

Friday, 16 November - I had acquired two 5 gallon gas jugs that someone had done a very poor job of drilling vent holes in, so today I drilled the holes out to 1/2" and installed vents with closable caps on them that I had purchased online. Another boater came by and bought one of my spare fenders today, too. I think I still have six or seven that I've found in the mangroves.

Saturday, 17 November - Awhile back I installed a new bilge pump and had to jury rig an auxiliary float onto the built-in float on the switch to compensate for the weight I had to install under it. The adhesive on that had come loose freeing the auxiliary float, so today I rewrapped it with significantly more duct tape.

Sunday, 18 November - I lead a trip through the mangroves today in which we had six kayaks and one paddle board and two sailboards being used as paddle boards. Although it was overcast all day, we all had a great time. Unfortunately, with that large a group, there wasn't really any exploration done, we stuck to trails I had already traveled. In fact, we had one lady with us that had never been in a kayak before. She fell out of her kayak on one of the channels when a fish jumped into her kayak and the kayak I loaned out had a crab in it when it was returned to me. The girl that was paddling it might have exited the boat if she had known the crab was in the boat with her. I found the crab as I was lifting the kayak back onto the deck of Island Time at the end of the journey.

Monday, 19 November - Taxes! Bills! Paperwork! Yuck! Actually, I recently had a couple of months worth of my mail forwarded to me and opened it today and had to respond to several items.

Tuesday, 20 November - Another attempt to patch the dinghy, with a silicone sealant this time.

Wednesday, 21 November - I tried another hypalon glue on the dinghy tube today, but it still didn't seal the leak. Later, I checked my mail, hit the library for some movies on DVD, then went over to the Hurricane Bar and Grille to listen to their open mic night performers.

Thursday, 22 November - Thanksgiving Day - And a good one it was. The harbor boaters all come together for a great pot luck dinner on Thanksgiving and this year seemed better than ever. About a hundred boaters and their families showed up so you can imagine what variety there had to be in the food. We had roast turkey, deep fried turkey, Bar-be-cued turkey, baked turkey, and some eclectic conglomeration of methods and spices in a turkey that turned out to be the best one of all. There were several varieties of stuffing, macaroni, potato salad, bean salad, green bean casseroles, fresh pineapple, yams, ham, and an almost infinite variety of salads and homemade deserts. The turkeys got stuffed and so did all the boaters. It's always a great time to renew old acquaintances and make new friends, too. Lots of new boaters and return snowbirds have showed up in the harbor this week. The harbor is filling up fast.

Friday, 23 November - We had a gorgeous dinghy drift this evening. A dinghy drift is a gathering of the boaters in their dinghies. We met in the main harbor channel and tied the dinghies together, creating one big raft, then shared hors d'oeuvres and snacks, sipped (or guzzled) our favorite beverages, and met and conversed with our neighbors as the sun set and the moon rose over the harbor. We had great weather, too, clear skies, very light wind and an air temperature near 75°F. It's hard to beat that.

Saturday, 24 November - I still haven't been able to get the dinghy to hold air and today it cost me. I had someone come to look at it and he passed on the purchase because it obviously lost a little air while we were out for a test drive.
                    Near dinner time, Jay and Tami Klassen texted me about going to dinner at the nearby Thai restaurant. We had a great meal, then, when I returned them to their boat they invited me aboard for cocktails and we spent about three hours catching up since they have just arrived back in the harbor after having spent time further north since spring.

Sunday, 25 November - Another pleasant Sunday in the Boot Key mangrove trails. The tide was unusually high today causing us to do a lot of serious Limbo moves under low limbs, but also opened the opportunity to go over one tree that usually blocks one of the routes. It all adds to the adventure. We only had a group of five today, three of which are new to the harbor. One of the ladies, Catherine, of the sailboat Sweet Pea, had to get back early so we had to shorten the trip a bit, but we still had fun and I left them with something to look forward to next time.