Thursday, 2 January 2020 - I had broken the throttle handle on the 8 hp Evinrude outboard motor a few weeks ago which necessitated changing the Evinrude for my Yamaha. I had ordered and received the replacement parts, so today in installed the new parts. I am, however, enjoying the 15 hp Yamaha, so I think I'll leave it on the dinghy for awhile. Bob and Ellie texted me around 4 o'clock, inviting me to join them, along with Jeff and Sheila Gordon at Castaways for happy hour. I was glad to do so. We had a couple of drinks there, along with snacks, then retired to Island Time for a margarita each, then it was off to Dockside to listen to Fiddle Rock. Another great day in paradise.

Friday, 3 January - A three day music fest started this evening at 5 o'clock featuring over 100 musicians in 45 different bands from the Keys. I missed the first band, which Bob Dahmer says was the best and was surprised at the low attendance for the show. I hope the numbers pick up tomorrow. I saw several members of our local bands playing with various other bands today, but didn't really see any bands today that were any better than our own home grown groups. I expected better since bands will be playing from the larger, richer islands like Key West and Key Largo.

Saturday 4 January - From 11 am until almost 11 pm, Bob, Ellie, Jeff, Sheila, and I enjoyed the music at the music fest, with Susie Adaska joining us around 5 pm. We were all surprised and disappointed again at the poor turnout that the festival got. At any given moment I don't think there were more than 2 to 3 hundred people there including volunteers that helped run the show and the musicians. The entry fee for the whole of three days was only $20 per person and I'll bet the major part of the people there had half price coupons. Ten dollars for three days of live music; less than 50 cents per hour, and no one shows up? I can't figure that one out. Poor promotion, I'm sure. The weather and the music great, so was the company.

Sunday 5 January - Five of us met for $7 breakfasts at the American Legion at about half past ten this morning. Susie didn't make it. The festival ended at about 5:30 and we all went to dinner at the Florida Steak and Lobster House, which is right across the street from the park where the festival was and across from the marina. We finished dinner and it was still early, so I dinghied over to Dockside and met Susie there again. It was a bit cool since Dockside is open-air, so the turnout there wasn't great either, but the music, again, was good and we had a wonderful evening.

Monday, 6 January - I defrosted the freezer and I finally got the jacklines, snubber, and the rest of the running lines put away that I'd used when we sailed away last week, but that's about all. I was, however, thrilled when I got a call from Susie late in the day. We took a short cruise around the harbor, then, since she'd never been on a sailboat, I took her out to Island Time for a tour. I think she thought it was pretty cool.

Tuesday, 7 January - I blew out my flip-flop the other day. They were Tevas that my brother gave me for my birthday or Christmas a year ago, but I had tried to keep them looking nice so I hadn't worn them much until I finally had to give up on the Chacos that came before them. Both of those are pretty expensive shoes, but both of them had had the heel straps pull out. I repaired the Chacos several times, but I can't figure out how to push the straps back into these Tevas without making them worse. I went to the local Sandal Factory today to try to replace them, but realized that I just don't want to $60 or $70 on a pair that aren't going to last any longer than these did. I even called Teva and their rep didn't know of any of their model in which the heel strap runs under your heel inside the sole like their original models did. They make them fancier and pricier, but not better. This afternoon I worked on the bicycle for a couple of hours trying to get the gears and brakes back to working like they should. The brakes are dragging and the shifter skips a gear.

Wednesday, 8 January - I've been out of milk and bananas for a couple of days, along with many other items of lesser immediate need, so I grocery shopped today, then barely had time to return to the boat, shower, and head to a meeting of the Cruiser's Net controllers at 4 pm. At five, Susie met me at the marina's tiki hut and we dinghies over to S/V Nautilus for a Thai dinner prepared onboard by Sheila and Jeff, and were joined by Bob and Ellie. Dinner was delicious and there was a bit too much wine, so we all had a good time.

Thursday, 9 January - I was still recovering from that wine last night so I was glad I'm retired on a boat with nothing pressing to do today. It was a blustery day here, so staying aboard was just fine. Later, I joined Susie and Liz Dixon over at Dockside for some musical entertainment by Ty Thurman singing Tropical Rock songs and ballads.

Friday, 10 January - Susie and I went to the Steak and Lobster house, then to Barnacle Barneys, where we met Mike and Bev from S/V Queequeg for a couple of drinks and to listen to Ty Thurman sing.

Saturday, 11 January - I accompanied Susie to the Celtic Fest where she had volunteered to man a booth for KAIR, a Keys welfare group that supplies needy islanders with food and other resources, for a couple of hours. When she finished we listened to some of the Celtic music, watched some of the Irish cloggers, then wandered over to the soccer field where they were having ladies competition in several Scottish sports events, including: hammer throw, Sheaf Toss, where you throw a ten pound bail of hay up and over a bar with a pitch fork. I think the World Champion Lady won that competition at over 18 feet high. Another event was the Caber Toss where the ladies tried to pick up, balance, run with and then throw and flip a vertical, tapered log end over end that is about 20 feet long and very heavy. I noticed that the Irish seem to like their ladies slender and light on their feet while the Scots seem to like theirs a little, actually, quite a bit, heftier.

Sunday, 12 January - I was so impressed with the breakfast I had last week with Bob, Ellie, Jeff, and Sheila at the American Legion that Susie and I went there again this morning. It's hard to beat sausage or ham, two eggs any style, French toast, fried potatoes, and all the grits and orange juice you can drink for $7. Later, she showed me around her neighborhood at Key Colony Beach and then we went to Dockside to hear a great night of music. It was one of the best nights there I think I've had the pleasure of seeing and hearing. As is the case with all Sunday evenings, it was open mic night there and at one point they had a steel pedal guitar, fiddle, harmonica, bass guitar, saxophone, drummer, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, and keyboards playing together and all were seemingly masters of their instruments. Great music!

Monday, 13 January - It has seemed like it's been go, go, go lately, so it was nice to stay on the boat today and catch up on some of the emails, blog, and paperwork.

Tuesday, 14 January - House cleaning on the boat today plus, for the rest of the day, I did research online and on the phone trying to find sandals that have the straps that go into the sole pass all the way under the footbed to the other side. Tevas got their start and made their name with sandals made that way because they were river guides on the Colorado and kept losing their sandals in the mud. By making the straps pass under the foot inside the footbed, when they got stuck in the mud and pulled their foot out, the sandal came with it. They were selling those sandals in 1984 for about $19. Now they make about 30 styles, none of which pass the webbing under the foot. They just glue short tabs into the footbed and sell them for about $70 to $120. I called Teva, Olukai, Sperry, Dockers, Guy Harvey, Margaritaville, Columbia, Merrill, Chaco and Keens. None of them pass the webbing all the way under the foot except for a couple of models of Merrill and Chaco, and the local Sandal Factory store doesn't stock any of the models that do. The search will have to continue. Do you know of any sandal makers that make a good sandal? If so, let me know. I'm tired of pulling the straps out of expensive sandals. At least for now, I have a mismatched pair of Tevas to wear; left foot of one style and right of another.
                        Everything boating is new to Susie. She came over last evening and got her initiation on starting and driving a dinghy. She started it, got a little befuddled by the need to push the tiller left to go right, but made it through the mooring field and docked it just fine.

            Until next time.

                        "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S. Thompson

                                          Rick