March Madness, Wacky Wednesday, Humpday Hijinks, just one or all three may explain March 18th at Boot Key Harbor.
We woke to another nice day, got in the dink, went to shore to meet with a nice Canadian who had 2 one-year old solar panels and Blue Sky charge controller with remote indicator for a really good deal. So we put pen to paper and determined that it would save us a whole lot of money and wear and tear on the engine to have them. With some reluctance we handed the nice gentleman the majority of our savings. We carefully loaded the panels into the dink and brought them back to Sargasso. Later that afternoon we went back ashore to make a trip to Home Depot to get some wood to build a frame for the panels. We fortified ourselves with Blue Bell ice cream from Kandio’s, our new favorite place to visit. We needed the strength to walk with 9 1X2s and the 2 gallon gas tank that we had to refill. Getting the gas was a danger in itself as Jack had to cross the 4 lane highway to get to the service station, while I waited on the other side with the wood.
We got back to the dink safely, loaded the wood and the very heavy stainless steel brackets that came with the panels, and set off. As we were loading the dink, a gentleman noticed our Honda motor and he and Jack spoke at length about how wonderful Hondas were. We fired her up and left the dinghy dock, glad to be going home and to a cool swim. Ha! the lovely Honda died. She is a little finicky and we mostly have her quirks down pretty well, but this time she would not go. Now we are half a mile from the docks, and with the breeze and current against us it was gonna be a long row home. Then, one of the oarlocks broke, making it even more difficult. Still we rowed on, really, Jack rowed on for some time, seeming to get nowhere, especially loaded with lumber and brackets. He tried the Honda once more and.....AND SHE FIRED!!! Home safe, we did arrive. It was around 5 o’clock and as I was donning my suit for a swim, a couple went by in their dink, she was talking ninety to nothing, a little cursing was faintly heard, then splash, she flipped herself out of her dink! He circled back to get her but she stayed in the water. He talked awhile, handed her a cigarette, which she took and swam off, their boat being close by.
I got back in our boat and we settled down for our evening libations to watch the day end. Soon it was time to fix dinner. I had just gone below to make a start, when Jack psst me and whispered “come up”. I’ll let the picture below show what we saw.
We watched as the boat and sleepy dude drifted over to the mangroves. We felt sure, that would jar him awake, but no! The current took him into one of the small openings in the foliage and he was lost from sight. We continued to watch, thinking he’d appear at any minute, but after about 45 minutes we grew concerned and Jack went off in the dink to find him.
Just as Jack was getting close to the spot where we last saw him, out he shot. Like a bat outta hell, like a squirted watermelon seed, like a scalded dog, like Maggie when she falls in the water, this man sped out of the mangroves and presumably found his way to his boat.
We enjoyed a giggle or two, maybe three.
We went to bed. I installed the new LED battery light above my head so I had better light for reading. I used the stick’em to place it above my head not realizing that I had to remove the paper from both sides as I thought it was already stuck to the light. But it wasn’t, it had just been placed on the light with a small dollop of glue, which kept it from falling down until I had turned it off after reading for an hour. As I started to drift off, down it came on my little bitty head.
A couple hours later, fully asleep, we hear and feel a large thud, then a man’s voice saying “sorry, sorry”. Upon investigation, Jack realized it was a guy who’d been rowing his boat and had run into us. The fellow apologized again the next day, but we did get some more giggling done.
Couldn’t go back to sleep, reinstalled the light correctly and read some more on my new favorite book, “The Little Friend” by Donna Tartt
