Dock Friends - January 29, 2010

WOW - one of the greatest gifts of living on a boat is the way that relationships form so quickly. Why is that? Here's an example. Wednesday afternoon I was walking up the docks to the ships store and noted a new boat that had pulled in. A real beauty she was. A catamaran, blue windows, very cool looking. (see pix). The captain was checking out his lines so I said, "welcome, cool looking boat!"



That evening, about 30 folks from the Marina car pooled and went to a nearby restaurant. The new folks went along and we sat with them plus our friends, Larry and Ulla, Doug and Cathy, Rick and Richard, Jim and Robin, etc. As the evening progressed, Ed and I quickly discovered that we really liked STEPHEN AND ESTELLA. After dinner, we headed back to the boats and ended up on Larry and Ulla's boat, "Rough Life", along with Stephen and Estella "Zuri", and the six of us learned about one anothers life experiences, thoughts about politics, small business ownership, and why we have chosen to live on boats. Stephen and Estella are from South Africa but are American citizens. Their prospectives on the American government are amazingly like ours, and that of Larry and Ulla. Suffice it to say that we all are disgusted and look forward to a new administration.

The next evening, Larry, Ulla, and our other new friends, Craig and Kim (from Cleveland), and Ed and I got together on Stephen and Estellas "Zuri", had cocktails and continued the conversations. We all journeyed to The Fishery where Ulla taught me how to eat Stone Crab Claws. (YUM!!!!) Afterward we all came back to "Great Mates" and chowed down on a Pina Colada Bread Pudding I had made earlier in the day. Laughter, stories, cocktails, more laughter. What a grand time! You know, eight people in the salon of "Great Mates" is pretty crowded, but a boater doesn't worry about such things. We just celebrate new friendships and the moment.

Murky Day

I don't know how to spell "murky" but let it be said that the water was not clear.

We set out with friends and dockmates, Larry and Ula(see photos) on their dinghy to go lobstering. Never done it, don't know anything about it, but away we went. Our other dock mates and neighbors to our port side, Kathy and Doug went along in their dinghy (see foggy photo). We searched via the GPS, we checked "holes", and Ula kept telling Larry, "it's not clear, I can't see". (she's a perfectionist when it come to lobstering and other things I think as I see her cleaning their boat daily).

So we'd go to the next "hole". We would look for "white spots" and then a large dark spot amidst. That would mean that there was a cave or rock in which the lobsters hung out. Ula said, "look for the holes", and then, "look for tentacles."

Well, I was just amazed that I could see the bottom, grass, sand, rocks, fish, coral, etc.

It was unusually foggy as well. Here it was 12:00 noon or so and it was foggy. The fog would burn off and the sun warmed us. Then it would come again. The only explanation on the murky water was the recent cold spell. We passed lots of dead fish and a few dead manatees.

Then we've been seeing a few Portagese man-o-wars. They look like a zip lock bag floating. So interesting. Cobalt blue, then clear. Neat!

What I've learned -

Boat people get to know one another quick. Why? Cause we don't know how long one another will be here. It's not any different than life in the burbs but we just have a closer identification to it and hence build our relationships acccording.

God's peace,

Lisa

Friday January 22, 2010

Two weeks in Marathon Key and it's been good. Adjustments? Sure! Such as:

1) Learning that I don't have to do a task, NOW. We don't have a schedule so if I don't get the floors cleaned today - they'll be done tomorrow, or the next day.

2) Getting used to receiving our mail once per week. We walk to the ship store and check several times - "mail NOT in". What a simple thing to wait for.

3) Being invited to one boat or another to enjoy the sunset together:
"hey, we're doing sunset on our boat tonight", "yeah, what time?", "oh, key time." "Okay, we'll be there." And, we pack up a snack, our drinks and off we go. Some people just watch the sunset, some people photograph the sunset, and some people comment about the sunset and then some people just visit. Oh, and some people bring their conch shell and blow it and the sun sets. COOL! Carole (from Bermuda) and Andrew (from Scotland) had a wine and cheese gathering. Richard, from Memphis, had a varied mix and loads of conversation. We had mini hamburgers and beer. It's all so fun.

4) In Mooresville, about 4:30 a.m. I am usually awakened by the UPS jets going over head beginning their day. Here, I am awakened around 6 by the sounds of the fishing boats heading out through the channel to begin their day. Ed and I find it most interesting to sit on the bow seats (made by Sharon in KY) and watch the day begin while enjoying our coffee. I love watching the pelicans dive for their breakfast. Such neat creatures.

Then there are the things we've learned.

Yesterday, we went to lunch with Larry and Oola and Richard. We all piled in Larry and Oola's dinghy and went to Burdines for their famous burgers and fries. Larry and Oola taught us about lobstering. Larry reminds me so much of cousin Don Humphries from TX. He's a riot and has a heavy southern accent. Oola is from Sweden so she too has a unique accent. Larry shared, "you have to take the tickle stick and tickle them out of their caves." "They will move forward with their tenticles to figure out what's ahead of them, so you just have to gently tickle them out." "It's a delicate art, just like dealing with women." chuckle, chuckle

Then a few nights ago, we went to dinner with Jim, Richard, and Robin. Jim and Robin shared about diving - the different gases, mixes of gases, etc. What science!

Ed has purchased his wet suit to go along witht he "Brownie" third lung apperatus. He wants to be able to clean the bottom of the boat and take care of issues like line being wrapped around the propeller as well as exploration. Me? I'm not their yet. Still a little afraid.

Enough sharing for now. Life is good, and we feel blessed. But I miss our kids. It's all a part of it, I guess.

Gods blessing and peace, Lisa

Oh yes, and about peeing....

I met a woman from Flagstaff AZ today at the laundry. She was accompanying her husband who delivers sail boats for a living. Hence they had stopped here in Marathon. She shared with me in her brief conversation that they had come across some rough waters and she said, "how in the world do you pee when the boat is at a 30 degree tilt? I replied that I had only once, so far, experience this and it was damned difficult to do anything when the vessel is tilted that far and then to be sure, tilting to the other side quickly. One cannot open cabinets, refrigerators, or anything else when these rolls are taken. So, what do you do......
The best you can. Live on what you can live on food wise, drink what you can to live on and
pee when you can without making a mess.
That's all I know at this early stage of living a-board.

Peace, Lisa

How do you pee at 30 degrees?

Ed and I arrived aboard Great Mates on January 7th at her dock located at Marathon Key, FL.

My PC was in for repairs so I couldn't record our journey - but it's back....yippee!

This last week has been chilly and true sweatshirt weather yet not without learning and meeting all kinds of new folks and situations.

The first morning after arrival, we awoke to the gentle rocking of the boat and had our coffee afterwhich, Ed proceeded to the shipstore to find a newspaper. He was gone a good bit and returned excited to share with me a new story. While at the ship store a fellow said, "excuse me mate, can you tell me where I can find a ....... (some kind of tool) to which Ed replied, "well, there's a new West Marine just up the road, do you have a car". "no" Ed volunteered, "well, I have a rental car and I'd be happy to take you there". Hence the story continued. This fellow and his crew were taking a trip to deliver a boat to Mexico. So after the proper tools and quick repairs were made, Ed and I helped them push off and wished them well.

Next interesting meeting was a group of 6 fellows on a 65' Choey Lee (the maker of our boat) and they had pulled in for some "autopilot" repairs. They were on their way to the Cook Islands (near Austrailia). I baked them some chocolate chip cookies and wished them "God speed" and a few days later they were off. They anticipated a 3-month journey.

On Monday, our friend from Ed's work arrived for a few days and he was a great help to Ed in repairing some items. We took him back to KW in the rental car on Wednesday and turned in our "wheels". There's a bus that runs from KW to Homestead on a daily basis so we caught it and got off right outside our Marina.

Now on to our lives on Great Mates. It continues to evolve.

We've met people like Richard, from Memphis, TN, and Robin and Jim from somewhere (we can't tell you or they would kill us) and then some neat people from Bermuda, who have told us all about their business there as well as the politics there. How totally interesting.

And then the transients we've met. Cindy. She has lived and worked aboard since '98. A woman my age and such a delight. She's taken all kinds of certifications, from dive instructor to chef and from my best guestimants, does them all very well... She and her husband also raise Swiss Mountain Dogs on a small farm in Virginia. She shared with us all of the places they've lived as dive instructors and all the folks she has met and worked for as a result of working for a specific yaght company. What broad horizens this woman painted for us as we ensued the conversation.

Well, the next few months will be most interesting as the weather changes and we meed more people. As I told my mother in a conversation today via phone that I love this life...the experiences, the people we meet and definately living aboard. We are blessed.

God's peace to all who care to share in our journey.

Lisa