Thursday, 28 February 2019 - I had offered a seller $50 less than his asking price for a Raymarine ST 60+ Depth display on Ebay and he accepted today, so I hope that when it arrives and I install it next week, that problem is solved.
                    This evening I headed over to the Hurricane Grill to listen to music played by Candace, one of the ladies single-handing a sailboat here in the harbor.
                    Tomorrow, snorkeling at Sombrero Key Lighthouse!

Friday, 1 March 2019 - David and Pat Tye of the S/V Blue Moon, whom I have just recently met invited me to go out to Sombrero Key on their boat to do some snorkeling today. I jumped at the chance and we all had a wonderful time. Porpoises escorted us out of the harbor. It turns out that they both went to school in Fort Worth, so we not only had sailing and windsurfing to talk about, but all things Fort Worth...time spent on the nearby lake, the restaurants, school rivalries, and on and on. We left the harbor at 9 am and I didn't get back to my boat until 9 pm.

Saturday, 2 March - Don Shuler of the S/V Lady Trianna hosted an informative meeting at the tiki hut at the marina to talk about nearby sailing destinations on the gulf side of the Keys, passing on information gleaned from six years of sailing the local waters. Much of the information was about his favorite local anchorages, where to get rid of trash, where to get essentials like ice, water, beer, ice cream, etc. Very informative, even though my 6.5 foot draft on my boat will definitely restrict my sailing in the area. He sails a trimaran with about a two foot draft. At least I did find out I'm not totally excluded. There are places I can go nearby. I'll just have to really be careful. One of his favorite places is the bomb holes left from military bombing practice near Teakettle Key. They can be seen even on Google Earth and are only about 15 miles away. After that, Wayne Shosie of the S/V Blue Max and I headed over to the Overseas Restaurant for happy hour and dinner, then I filled my 9 five gallon water jugs with water at the docks.

Sunday, 3 March - Fred Rybczynski from the S/V Otter II joined me today at noon and we kayaked the Boot Key Mangrove trails. It was his first time in there and he apparently had a very good time. Upon arrival back at my boat, I finished siphoning the 45 gallons of water I got at the marina the other day into my water tank on the boat.

Monday, 4 March - Two trips to the marina today; one to stuff bags for the new arrivals to the marina and to go to Walgreen's and the grocery store, and the other to go to the library. While at the marina the first time, the lady at the desk told me I had a package to pick up. It was a new hand held VHF radio that I had ordered to replace the one I have that has quit receiving...send, but no incoming signal. About 5 o'clock, a tall waterspout appeared on the north side of the island and I got a nice photo of it.

Tuesday, 5 March - Today turned into an unusually long work session. I started defrosting the refrigerator about 11 o'clock and didn't stop, even for lunch, until after 7:30 pm. I'd acquired some closed cell foam recently with the intention of using it to beef up the insulation in the refrigerator and decided today was the day for that to happen. I lined part of the front of the refrigerator with 3/4" of insulation and the back with two 3/4" layers. Unfortunately, there is a section of the back of the refrigerator that I can't access without totally disassembling the unit, but I'm sure what I did will help either keep it cooler or reduce the time that the refrigerator has to run. I also filled some spaces that I never put food into with the foam, sealed in plastic bags, and rearranged several re-freezable ice packs so that once frozen, the temperature will stay low longer. Next time I have to defrost will define whether all the work I did today was in vain or not.

Wednesday, 6 March - I received notification that my replacement depth sounder display was delivered today, so I went into the marina, picked it up, and installed it. It looks almost new and seems to work fine. Later in the day I watched a movie at the library and then went for dinner and to listen to open mic night music at the Hurricane Bar and Grill.

Thursday, 7 March - I have three sets of diving weights, many of which I wasn't sure of the weights on the belts, ranging from about 1 lb. to 5 lb. Today I borrowed a scale from another sailor and weighed each one. I need to start keeping notes about which belt and how much weight I need for the different wetsuits I wear when diving and snorkeling. Which wetsuit I wear depends on water temperature and how long I'll be in the water. Keeping records will help me get the right amount of weight so I won't have to get out of the water and add more or take weights off my belt once I'm in.

Friday, 8 March - I checked for my mail today, but nothing was there, so I stuffed bags that are given out to the new arrivals to the harbor with information pamphlets, then joined Bob Dahmer and his girlfriend, Ellie for happy hour at Castaways, music and a cocktail at Barnacle Barney's, then a Mexican dinner at El Molcahete Restaurant, the only Mexican food on the island.

Saturday, 9 March - Virtually all day today was spent at the annual Marathon Seafood Fest which in sponsored by the local fishing fleet and has music by about 6 bands, two hours each from 10 am to 9 pm and about a hundred booths with art, clothing, and all kinds of other trinkets to spend your money on. Fortunately, at age 70, I have virtually everything I need and have no more room on my boat for anything else anyway.

Sunday, 10 March - Another day full of music at the Marathon Seafood Festival which ended at 5 o'clock. After that Bob and I dinghied over to Sombrero Beach for a bit, then back we capped the night off listening to music over at the Hurricane Bar.

Monday, 11 March - I spent today cleaning the hull of the boat using the Hookah equipment, then rinsing the gear with fresh water and putting it out to dry.

Tuesday, 12 March - I put away all the rest of the dive gear today after having let it dry overnight and all morning, then helped Bob Dahmer get up his mast to replace one of his halyards.

Wednesday, 13 March - Tax Preparation, then a movie at the library and dinner and music at the Hurricane with Bob, Roland, Leta, and some other friends.

Thursday, 14 March - Bob Dahmer needed to borrow my portable generator to charge his batteries so I took it, along with an extension cord, to his boat, then stayed for a great dinner and cocktails.

Friday, 15 March - I went to the Hurricane for lunch today with the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association). Actually, it's just about 20 boaters getting together to eat and BS for a couple of hours.

Saturday, 16 March - It was a beautiful day with very light breezes, but I spent the day onboard creating a spreadsheet that I needed, then merging it with another that I already had. I had wanted to create another database for the information, but I'm having trouble with my database program again. I think (know) the recent operating system for my Mac really screwed things up. For some reason the update either damaged, destroyed, or hid the Java Runtime Environment within itself and I can't figure out how to replace it. Without the JRE, even one of my other, less important, databases that runs on another program won't run.

Sunday, 17 March - Another absolutely beautiful day here with a high of 84°F. It's been summer here almost all winter. That makes me wonder how warm summer will be this year.
                    We had another nautical flea market at the marina's tiki hut today. I managed to come out ahead this time. I sold a spare hand held depth finder that I had for $40 and only spent $6 for a twisted shackle that I needed. Later, I went to Home Depot and bought some plumbing connectors to assemble a filter for the water I collect from the top of the bimini when it rains. I have three filters that filter the water after it comes out of the tank, but I want one to filter the water as it comes off the bimini top and before it goes into the tank. I don't know how dirty the tank is now, but there's no sense letting it get worse. I always let the rain rinse the bimini off before collecting water, but this filter will remove anything that is left.

Monday, 18 March - I assembled and installed my new water pre-filtration system today in advance of the rain predicted for tomorrow. I'm anxious to see how well it works. There's a small chance that it will slow the flow down too much and that the pockets at the corners of my bimini top will just overflow, but I'm hoping that won't happen until the filter starts to clog. Time will tell.
                    Something unusual just occurred; a small electronic weather station that I've had since before I left Salt Lake City, but has not worked in about 2 years here on the boat just came on all by itself and is now showing the correct temperature, 80°F. Go figure. I had replaced the batteries in it many months ago, but that didn't help and I assumed it was totally dead. I never got around to throwing it away since it hangs from the ceiling and never gets in the way. Maybe it was rejuvenated by sunspots. Who knows?

Tuesday, 19 March - Well, the weatherman was right this time, it's cloudy, rainy, and quite windy today. I think this is only about the second time since I got the new solar panels that it's so overcast that they can't keep up with the refrigeration during the daylight hours, so I've turned on the wind generator, which I rarely have to do anymore. It's putting out between 7 and 25 amps as the wind gusts and lulls and the refrigeration only uses 3.5 amps, so I'll have the batteries recharged from their overnight low again real soon.
                   Oops! I barely got those words typed when the wind picked up to over 30 mph and the wind generator's over-temperature sensor turned itself off. I'll have to wait till the wind has backed off to near about 15 before I'll turn it back on.
                   I'll take this opportunity of being sequestered onboard to get this posted.