Thursday, 19 May 2016 - I didn't get this day's report written up quickly enough so I really don't have a clue as to what I did on this day. I don't thing it has anything to do with old age; I've always had a terrible memory, at least as far back as I can remember.

Friday, 20 May - As frequently happens, today didn't go as planned, and sometimes that's not a bad thing. Today was one of the good days. I had planned to go over to Moss Marine and wash clothes. However, just as I was preparing to head out, Steve Luta texted me that his friend Bill Dolan would be arriving about 11:30am instead of in the afternoon. That didn't give me enough time to get my clothes washed before his arrival. We were all going to go to Bonita Bills to "talk boats." I had to put off the washing (darn), till later in the afternoon. We met Bill at Bonita Bills at 11:30, talked about an hour, then the offer was made by Bill to take us to any stores we might need to visit. Bill is a really nice fellow with many years of sailing experience. We headed to Target for a few groceries, then to a marine hardware store, and then to an Ace Hardware store. That done, we decided pizza sounded really good and headed out to eat some great pizza. After that, we headed back to Bonita Bills where we had left the dinghy, loaded it up with groceries and headed back to the boats. Too late to wash clothes, darn.

Saturday, 21 May - Today was a VERY GOOD day for me. Steve Monaghan had us over for breakfast this morning at 8am. Very good bacon, eggs, avocado, and toast. After some talk, and since the day heated up pretty good, Steve Luta suggested perhaps an ice cream cone and a walk on the beach was in order.
                  Back at the boat, I decided to try to get the Ubiquity Bullet WiFi booster to work once again. I've spent so many hours trying to get this thing to work I lost count long ago. Well, today, I think I finally got it. As my email signature says, I may not be the smartest or most knowledgeable guy out here, but I never give up. I am so glad to get this thing to work. Now I can actually start using it instead of just spending unending hours TRYING to get it to work. Yahoo!!!
                  As soon as I figured it out, however, it was time to pick Steve Luta up with the dinghy and head back over to Moss Marina where Steve Monaghan has his boat for dinner. I supplied a rack of Southern Style Ribs for the barbecue and we had British style baked beans, since Steve Monaghan is British, and a four bean salad supplied by Steve Luta. Lots of good food and sailor talk. A great day.

Sunday, 22 May - Up early to go to the monthly boater's swap meet at Bonita Bill'l this morning. I picked the Steve's up in the dinghy and we headed over about 7am. If you want to get your pick of the stuff at a swap meet, you need to be there when it opens. Well, we weren't. We were a week late, not realizing that this was the fourth Sunday of May instead of the third, since the first Sunday fell on the very first day of the month. We headed back to Steve Moynahan's boat and spent most of the morning talking about boats and women, driving to the marine hardware store for lights for Monaghan's mast, or hauling Steve to the top of his mast (twice) to install the lamps. We had lunch on the boat, then headed our separate ways. I headed back to my boat, got my laundry and headed back to the marina to wash clothes and do some serious downloading of updates for programs and other software on my laptop and phone.

Monday, 23 May - One of the first things I did this morning was run back over to the marina to return their key to the boater's lounge. I had borrowed it yesterday to wash clothes and they had locked up the office before I tried to return the key. On the way over, I came very close to what must have been a very beautiful sting ray. She was being courted by no less than four males. After that, I spent much of the day preparing to take the boat to get hauled out tomorrow. That was supposed to happen at 8am, but now has been moved to 2pm to take advantage of the higher tide to accommodate my 6.5 foot draft.
                  I also spotted a bunch, or pod, or school, or pride, or flock, or swarm, or pack, or wedge, or host, or nide, or murder, or herd, or bale, or shoal, or swarm, or hive, or gaggle, no, there weren't that many, of manatees not far from my boat, but they never came close enough for me to get a good picture. There were at least four, and I think about six, although I really couldn't tell because they never actually surfaced at the same time. When they surface for air, about all that you see is their noses, but I was able to track them for about 40 minutes, then lost track of them.
                  At 6pm, Steve Luta and I went over to Bonita Bills for the Monday night jam session, which was, as usual, pretty darned good...and I won another bandana in their rock and roll trivia contest. The question was, "Who had a hit with the song, 'Winchester Cathedral' in 1966, and my answer was, 'The New Vaudeville Band.'" of course.

Tuesday, 24 May - Today was a very disappointing day for me. I can hardly believe what happened. It's a good thing that they moved the appointment to the higher tide level. I don't think I could have made it in otherwise. I think I was dredging my own channel into the marina as it was. However, it was a moot point anyway. They had me back into the slip to be hauled out. I hate backing the boat. It only wants to turn one way going in reverse, however, I had already decided that I wanted to back in for this because I would be coming in at high tide with no current and with very little wind. Getting out might not be such great conditions. We got the boat into the slip and they tried to get the lifting straps under the boat. The front one kept getting caught on the keel and there was nothing we could do about it. Their channel just wasn't deep enough for me to clear it. Then they realized that even if they did, they could only raise me high enough to clear the back wall by 1/2 inch. I thought a half inch or ten feet, it doesn't matter as long as it clears. Then they said, "Yes, but to remove the rudder we need to raise you another 4 or 5 feet," and I thought then what the hell are we doing here in the first place. I should have been told that they can't service the boat and we could have saved everybody's time and money. I traveled 37 miles via boat, waited a week for the appointment to find this out now? I could have been hauled out in Marco Island by now. The main reason I came to Ft. Myers Beach was because the surveyor, chosen by the insurance company, said this was the very best place to get the work done and well worth the wait, and I know that the surveyor and the marina personnel were told that I had a six and a half foot draft. That was one of my major concerns, so I've told everybody and that's why they moved the appointment to the higher high tide of the day. This as a family owned business that has been around for over 30 years...and they don't know that they can't lift a boat with a 6.5 foot draft. How can that happen? What a waste of a day!
                  They made arrangements to have me hauled out tomorrow at 1pm at the marina next door, but the surveyor can't look at it until Friday. The marina that I am to get hauled out at can't do the work, they are booked up, so the marina that failed to get me out would then do the repair on the rudder by removing it and taking it to their facility. That sounded ok to me, but then I realized that, if there is anything else that needed to be done, neither facility could do the work. I think I have a lot of phone calls to make tomorrow.

Wednesday, 25 May - Lots of phone calls made this morning and, unfortunately, without finding another marina that can haul my boat out and work on it within about 60 miles. I went over to Gulf Marine Ways to find out if they could get to any secondary work that needs to be done, if any, and they reassured me that they can and will. That's good. On the way back to the boat, Steve Luta, who had been over to Olsen Marine, where the fiasco took place yesterday, said he had a message for me from Dominic, the owner of Olsen. The message was that, since I had made a derogatory remark about the surveyor, actually I told several people, that not only the marina, but the surveyor, too, should have been on top of this situation and not scheduled the appointment at all; so they don't want to work with me. Finding out through a friend seemed a little odd to me too. They should have at least had the guts to call me and told me so themselves.
                  Another phone call to Gulf Marine Ways and, at least for the moment, I think they are going to haul me out and do all the work, assuming the surveyor hasn't put me on her black list, too. We'll see what develops in the next episode.
                  In the meantime, my French friends, Pierre and Jessy, arrived here at the anchorage this afternoon and I'm going to join them for a drink at 5pm, and go to dinner with Steve later.