Monday, 21 January 2019 - I only got a tiny peek at the Super Blood Wolf Moon total eclipse last night, about 10 seconds total in two sessions. Too many clouds. I was beginning to believe I wasn't going to see it at all, but at 11:55 and again at 11:59 I got very brief views.
                    This morning I had to get up just a little early to prepare to be the net controller for the morning Cruiser's Net. After that I finally got out my previous blog episode. Then, about 2 o'clock I got a text from Bob Dahmer saying "let's go to out for some entertainment this evening.
                    There's something mysterious going on on the boat. Recently, I've been hearing a strange, intermittent tap, tap, tap on the boat. It sounds like someone thumping on the boat, but I can't figure out where. I go on deck to see what's going on and, of course, there's no one there, nor is there anything that is loose that could be bumping the boat as a result of the wind blowing or wave action. If I go forward inside the boat, the sound quits. Strange! Maybe there's the ghost of a previous owner or pirate onboard. I'll keep listening.
                    We headed to Castaway for happy hour, then to the Sunset Bar @ Grill to see the sunset and hear one of the most popular local singers, John Bartus, perform. He plays a mix of island music, blues, and rock; all stuff I enjoy.

Tuesday, 22 January - Good news and bad news. The good news is that I finally figured out where the water's coming from that has recently soaked the bottom of my bed twice. Water has been accumulating when it rains on the aft deck and runs into the locker that is there. The lid fits over a lip and there is a drain hole in it that drains directly into the locker, which is then supposed to drain out the back of the boat. Those drain holes had become plugged with small debris, so the locker was partially filled and rusting all the chain and tools that I keep in there. Two chains I had in there are totally rusted up. I unplugged those drains, but now the bad news. I can't figure out how the water is getting into the interior of the cabin or how to make it stop other than to constantly be keeping an eye on those drains and unplugging them much more frequently. I really need to figure out how it gets into the cabin. There must be a crack in a fiberglass joint in one of the drain holes.
                    More bad news, although, this time, it probably won't affect me since I moved onto a mooring ball. It's midnight and someone just came on the VHF and announced that one of the previously troublesome, abandoned boats has broken away from where it was grounded again because of the high tide and high winds. It is down near where I used to be anchored and is a very large Carver cabin cruiser. I hope it doesn't hit anyone else's boat tonight. I just reported it to the Coast Guard. I'll be interested to hear what they do about it, if anything.

Wednesday, 23 January - Right after the Cruiser's Net this morning Bod Dahmer called suggesting we go try to move the big cabin cruiser that had broken loose again last evening to where in would be well aground in all but the highest tide. Today's tide was pretty high so it was the perfect opportunity. The wind, however, was pretty high, so I suggested I get on the radio and round up some more help. Three other men showed up to help and after about 2 hours, we finally accomplished moving it and getting an anchor out to hold it on the grass flats even if the tide does rise.
                    Mike and Bev on Qweequeg had invited me over for an afternoon dock party at their boat up in one of the channels at 3 o'clock, so I joined them for that. A nice party with Mike and Bill from M/V Dark Star supplying the music on guitar. Unfortunately, it started to sprinkle at about 5:45, so the party broke up. That timing allowed me about 10 minutes to ride my bike to arrive at the library about 5 minutes late for the free movie. I just snuck in in the dark. After that, I headed to the Hurricane for the open mic night, but the music was so loud it hurt my ears even with napkins stuffed in my ears, so I only had one drink and left. My hearing is bad enough as it is.

Thursday, 24 January - I spent all day today tracing the wiring for the depth sounder and running some tests on it, but couldn't find anything wrong. At six this evening I went to the marina for a meeting with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the boaters. The FWC is, among other things, in charge of removing the derelict boats around the state. While at the marina, I also picked up the hand held depth sounder that I sent to be repaired last week. Pretty quick service, too.

Friday, 25 January - Unfortunately, the hand held sonar still isn't working properly. The depth finder works fine, but it has a light on it that won't turn off now. That means I'll need to remove the batteries or they will run down every time. I emailed the company and they say they'll just ship me another one on Monday.

Saturday, 26 January - The weather man promised cold and rain today, so I decided to get some things done that suit the weather. I removed two fluorescent lights that were in the heads (bathrooms) with ones I've acquired at flea markets. Both of the replacements seem very bright, but that's probably because they are only lighting very small spaces. I also tried to fix an couple of old weather devices that I neglected to take the batteries out of. The one that I really hoped I could salvage has an inside / outside feature for temperature, barometric pressure, and humidity. The battery acids ruined it. The other, which merely reports inside / outside temperature, I was able to clean up and is working again. It didn't rain too much, but it is pretty dreary and blustery outside.

Sunday, 27 January - Another cold, rainy day, so I probably won't leave the boat again today. I actually wrote that last sentence last night before I went to bed based on the weatherman's prediction for today. He was wrong. We had a beautiful day until 9 pm this evening, at which time we finally got some rain and the wind picked up to 25 miles per hour and one boat started dragging its anchor in the anchorage. Luckily, the people were aboard and aware of their movement, so they raised anchor and moved. I hope they found a place they could get their anchor to hold. They never got on the radio to ask for help, so I assume they had the situation under control. It would be nice if, when the winds picked up, everyone would turn their radios on so if there were trouble, everyone would know and could respond quickly. In the last blow, if the people who's boat got run into by a derelict boat had had their radio on, they would have heard several others telling them their boat was about to get hit and perhaps moved out of the way. As it was, they didn't know until they heard, and felt, the other boat hit them.

Monday, 28 January - I was the net control on the Boot Key Harbor Cruiser's Net this morning, then, this afternoon, Vickie on the S/V Whensday needed a ride into the marina via dinghy, so I picked her up, waited for her to go buy groceries, then brought her back to her boat. While waiting, I killed time by stuffing bags full of information for new arrivals in the harbor.

Tuesday, 29 January - I spent three hours today helping Art on S/V Salt Shaker repair the anchor light at the top of his mast. Actually, all I did was winch him up the mast and back down and kill time while he was doing the work at the top of the mast. I was notified yesterday, by Hawkeye, the distributor for the hand held depth sounder that they had shipped me a new one and it arrived today.

Wednesday, 30 January - I made time today to add the two grab handles that I bought at the flea market on Big Pine Key a few weeks ago to the front corners of the bimini top. Those corners were in need of a safe hand grip as I move forward from the cockpit to the foredeck, especially in rough seas. Everywhere else on the boat has something to hold onto, whether it be, shrouds, the edge of the bimini itself, safety lines, or other grab bars. That one gap made me a little nervous at times.

Thursday, 31 January - Before I left Salt Lake City, my good friends Hook Ershler and Jon Lindgren gave me a going away present to make backing my motorhome up to the trailer hitch by myself much easier. It was a wireless camera with a transmitter and receiver. It was designed so I could temporarily attach it to the back of the motorhome, pointed at the hitch on the bumper. Since it has a wide angle lens, I was then able to see the trailer from the driver's seat as I backed up to it. I must admit it came in very handy. Thanks guys. Much appreciated. This camera is one of those things that, I'm sure, most people would have disposed of when the motorhome went away. After all, what in the world would you need it for on a boat? Awhile back, I made a mount to attach it to my bow pulpit pointing down over the anchors and into the distance. I hadn't needed it much while at anchor, but now that I'm on a mooring ball that disappears below the bow as I approach it, this is going to come in mighty handy again. The screen on the monitor is very hard to see in bright sunlight, or for that matter, under the bimini top of Island Time, so today I made a folding light blocker that surrounds the screen, blocking all extraneous light. The camera is designed to be used at the rear, pointing backward, so the image is reversed, but luckily, it also has the ability to change the screen to proper alignment while shooting forward, too. Another great feature is the ability to switch from full color during daylight to black and white at night while using infrared technology. I was amazed today to see how well that works here on the water. The water itself looks black, but the anchors, other boats, and, especially the mooring balls really "pop" out even in total darkness. This is going to be a great help. Most other boaters have crew to go to the bow with a spotlight at night and to see and point out the mooring ball even in daylight, so this is going to be great for me while single-handing the boat. Thanks again guys.

Friday, 1 February - I worked on the boat most of the day trying to resolve the problem with the depth sounder, but really didn't accomplish much.
                   A pot luck dinner at the Tiki Hut at the marina was held this evening to celebrate the birthdays of one of the boaters that works at the marina office and her daughter. There happened to be lots more desserts than main dishes this time for some reason. With snowbird season in full swing, there are lots of new faces and boats in the harbor now. A good time was, as usual, had by all that attended.
                    Near the end of the party, a young fellow that has just bought a boat and sailed back from Panama with two friends asked if they could get a ride back to their boat. Their boat has no engine, so they couldn't enter the harbor, and no dinghy. Someone had brought them ashore this morning and they need to get back to the boat. It took almost an hour to take them to their boat and return to mine they were so far out of the harbor.

Saturday, 2 February - As I returned to the marina from buying something to take to the pot luck dinner yesterday, I happened to meet the couple on the boat right next to mine in the mooring field. I rarely see them because he works. I happens that he's a marine electrician and he volunteered to come take a look at my boat's problems, but he must have left his boat early and I couldn't reach him today, so I did some more trouble shooting while hoping he would show up.

Sunday, 3 February - Superbowl Sunday - Since the marine electrician on the boat next to me didn't show up yesterday as I had planned, I called Diesel Don Shuler and asked him for some help with the electrical problem. He came over and made me feel like a fool. He had the problem with the engine/battery figured out in less than 10 minutes. I told him everything that I had done to find the problem and he said, "Did you check the fuse?" Well, yes and no. I visually inspected it and it looks like it's all shiny and new, but I hadn't tested it with the ohm meter. I was only familiar with fuses that have an element that burns up or at least looks burnt. These don't. Unfortunately, Don didn't have any solution for the depth sounder problem.
                    I had to be at the marina community room at 4:30 this afternoon to help organize, run electrical cables, and set up tables for the Super Bowl party. Someone had suggested that we make it a chili dinner, so twelve people prepared their recipes and lots of other items to accompany chili were on the tables, too. Surprisingly, as far as I know, only one dessert showed up. Not surprisingly, the brownies went quickly. I didn't even get a chance to see them. There sure was some good chili. One of the boaters made up a batch of white chili, which I'd never even heard of, but it was the best of all. Well, I didn't get to taste them all, but it sure was good and lots of others were raving about it, too.

Monday, 4 February - I was net controller again this morning. After the net, I jumpered across the fuse holder by joining the two cables without the fuse and started the engine, thinking and hoping that the bad fuse was causing some kind of interference in the system and making the depth sounder act erratically. The depth gauge seemed to be working fine sitting here at the mooring, but I decided that I needed to take the boat out of the harbor to make sure. After putting things away and preparing to motor out of the harbor, I restarted the engine and dropped the mooring lines and headed out. I didn't have to go far to prove that I still have a problem with the depth sounder. Most of the mooring field is about 10 to 12 feet deep and the channels a little deeper. I move about two rows of boats over and my sounder read 20 feet, then at 3 rows over, it read 32 feet. I immediately returned to my mooring, disappointed.

Tuesday, 5 February - I really need to start getting ready for a visitor, my long time friend Chuck Richardson from Salt Lake City, that will be coming to visit this weekend, but on the Cruiser's Net this morning a lady came on and said she needed to borrow a sewing machine to do a small job. I volunteered mine and she and her husband came over, I thought, to get the machine. She asked if maybe she could do the sewing here on Island Time rather than carry the sewing machine back and forth in their dinghy. That was fine by me, so we set up the machine and while she was sewing, I mentioned to her husband that I had the depth sounder problem. They have a sounder made by the same manufacturer, Raymarine, and said, "Let's take a look." He got no argument from me on that, so we took the cover off the back of the control panels and got out the ammeter. I hadn't been able to figure out which wires were supposed to supply the power to the unit, but he knew from working on his just which ones to test. I'm getting 12v to the panel, so that's another possibility eliminated. About all that is left to do now is to find someone with a same model display unit that is willing to let me borrow theirs and plug it in to see if that eliminates the problem. If so, I need a new display. If not, I probably need a new transducer. That is the sensor that is mounted on the bottom of the boat's hull. That would be expensive because I would have to haul the boat out of the water at a cost of about $600, plus replace the transducer.
                    I'm glad I volunteered to help the people with the sewing machine and got the help from him in return.

Wednesday, 6 February - I washed clothes and went and got $150 worth of gasoline for the dinghy and auxiliary generator this afternoon, then went to the library to watch a movie this evening.

Thursday, 7 February - I hauled 45 gallons of fresh water to the boat and siphoned them into the tank onboard and this evening one of the girls from the harbor had her debut as a paid professional singer tonight at the Hurricane Bar and she got lots of support from the boaters. She was pretty nervous at the beginning but eventually settled down and had a great night that we all enjoyed.

Friday, 8 February - Since I'll have Chuck Richardson as a visitor for a few days, I cleaned the boat up quite a bit and put things away, then made time to go to the marina and stuff about 40 of the Cruiser's bags with information pamphlets so they'd not run out before I have more time available.

Saturday, 9 - Chuck and I threw the kayaks into the water and tied them to the dinghy to tow them the first mile across the harbor to the beginning of the trails into the mangroves. This was a down wind run, but with 20 mph winds, I knew we'd be glad we had the dingy to tow us back at the end of the day. We had a heck of a time finding the correct entrance into the trail. We eventually did and then had a nice run into Vanishing Lake. At the lake we studied the Cassiopeia jellyfish for a bit, then headed back out. We had wasted so much time at the beginning that upon return to the dinghy, the tide was out and it was totally aground with the propellor totally buried in the mud. It was immoveable with either of us in it, so we both got back into the kayaks and towed it off the shallows, then got back into the dinghy and headed back upwind to Island Time.

Sunday, 10 February - Today Chuck and I cast off the mooring lines and headed out of the harbor then turned to port, broke out the genoa and sailed out toward Sombrero Key light house. The wind was out of the east at about 15 to 20 mph and as we got into deeper water the wave height increase a bit. At first I remarked about how few lobster and crab pots there were, but I spoke too soon. Suddenly, as we approached the lighthouse we ran into a whole swarm of them. I guess it had to do with how close we were to Vaca Key, the island Marathon is on. We were fairly near its western end as we sailed out, but after getting further south and then on the return tack back, it vas like a slalom course trying to avoid them. That made for a much less than relaxing sail and we decided to head back in just as we got a couple of 25 mile per hour gusts of wind. Just as we entered the channel back to the harbor we once again encountered a pod of porpoises we had seen on the way out, and this time they were chasing a large school of small fish that were trying to become flying fish. They were frantically trying to get away from the porpoises and repeatedly leaping out of the water in various directions. It was a great day and as we entered the harbor, I mounted my bow camera from Hook and Jon and it allowed me to easily pull right up to the mooring ball so Chuck could simply reach down with the boat hook to pull the mooring ball's pennant up and insert the mooring line. I'm gonna love it in the future when I'm by myself!

Monday, 11 February - I was supposed to be net controller for the cruiser's net again this morning, standing in for another fellow as I've done for the last two or three weeks, but he arrived in time to retake control. That freed Chuck and I to head out to Key West a little earlier for a couple of days. Our first destination was to check in at the bed and breakfast, then off to Fort Zachary Taylor, a large brick fort than was in active service for over 100 years starting in 1845. The fort was actually reduced in size due to modifications for new technology and range of the guns it supported. Its walls are five feet thick and rose 50 feet above the water, with cannons firing cannon balls as large as 12" and guns with a range up to 17 miles during its service.
                    After that, we went over to another, smaller, fort that has now been converted into a botanical garden. We tried to visit another fort, but arrived too late, then turned in Chuck's rental car. From there, we hopped on a bus to the old town section of Key West to watch the sunset at Mallory Square, but barely missed it. Next we walked Duval Street, the center of entertainment and had a great BBQ dinner of chicken wings, ribs, pulled pork, brisket, corn bread, potato salad, and other items, that was way more than we could eat.

Tuesday, 12 February - Our first destination today was the historical home of Ernest Hemingway. We tagged along on a guided tour and I'm glad we did. Our tour guide was excellent and we learned a lot more about Hemingway than we otherwise would have. Next we hit the Wrecker's Museum that tells the history of the early salvors on the island. Because of them, and since early on there was, on average, about one wrecked cargo vessel per month, Key West was, per capita, the richest town in America at one time. That museum was so interesting that we barely had time to visit the Mel Fisher Museum, which is almost across the street and contains millions of dollars of the treasure that he and his team salvaged over $450,000 of treasure from the Spanish galleon "Nuestra Señora de Atocha" that sank near Key West in a hurricane in 1622.

Wednesday, 13 February - Chuck left just in time. It's a cool, windy, rainy day here today, but that will let me catch up on this blog and get it out. This is long, but sometimes I'm just too busy to get it out.