Workers of a different color.....

For my landlover friends and family, I want to share with you the unusual encounters with workers while here in Marathon FL.
This morning, about 9:30, I was cleaning the salon floor and heard someone say, "Ahoy, Ed, are you up?" I looked up and saw MARK, standing on the dock, doned in his wetsuit. Mark is the "Boat, Bottom Inspector". Truly!
The day previous he had gone down and inspected the bottom of Great Mates II while scraping off the barnicles, grass and checking the "zinks". Great Mates had barnicles but beyond that her zinks were all in good order.



Then came Laura and Bill. Laura and Bill are from up-state NY and they live-a-board a sailing vessel here in Marathon. They do chartering while also doing sewing work for those in need (like us) who may need a new biminy, table covers, seat covers, sails, etc. Late last year, the bimini of Great Mates was riped away during a storm so Laura is making us a new one. She and her husband, Bill came down to measure the fabric they'd cut to add the zippers so it may be installed.

Then came Dennis (from previous blog's, Dennis and Judy). Dennis has reincarnated a screen printing business that he learned while in highschool. He came down to pick up teeshirts that we've purchased (from my fav vendor, Lands End) to print our boat design artwork by dear friend, Vincent DeFelice) and text we wrote about her on some shirts. He carried them back to his boat, "Smokeena's Wish" to make the shirts...just ours.

Yesterday, Ed and I went for a bike ride. We rode up to All Keys Diesel, walked in to this tiny shop only to hear a woman talking on the phone in Spanish or Cuban to obviously a realitive,,, no one else around. Ed said to me, "I'm not going to be able to talk to this person". But; much to my amazement, the woman approached the counter and said, "hi, can I help?" Ed proceeded to tell her that he would like to have a diesel mechanic come to the boat to review the Cummins with him. She then started asking lots of quick questions indicating that this woman clearly knew what she was talking about. (stuff, I've never heard of and I live on this boat) Then, she said, I think I can have someone overthere this afternoon to help. How wierd is that. We walk into a place of business, tell them what we need and they come to our boat that afternoon.

The dude who arrived clearly knew what he was talking about and the end result was that he affirmed that we have one "kickass" engine and boat. And, Ed learned. Isn't that what it's all about?

Happy learning to all who care to share in our journey.

God's peace, Lisa

Pelicans and such

As Ed and I sat cuddled on the bow this morning drinking our coffee, Ed mentioned, "wow, the bird traffic is really active today". And, it was. The Brown Pelicans, the Herring Gulls, the Laughing Gulls, and others who's names I am still learning....they were flying, squaking, and diving for their meals.
But this afternoon around 3:30 a storm blew in and I watched in amazment out my "office" window the activity of the Pelicans. I think these birds are amazing. I tried to capture some pictures of them but need daughter Emma with her camera and photographic skills to do them justice.
When the rain came and the wind picked up, here came the pelicans swarming, and diving to catch their prey. God created them to be such incredible divers for their existance but I also find them a beautiful bird.
When Ed and I set out on this chapter in our lives, we said one reason we wanted to do this was to continue our life learning. Well, with the flight of God's creatures, we are doing so. How fun.

It's been too long...........

Yes, I am homesick and YES, and YES, I miss my REAL toilets and wonderful kitchen at our home but that's not why this is titled, "It's been too long". Simply, it has been too long since I've taken the time to write.

Since my last "post", we have been at slip 64 in Marathon Key, learning, visiting, eating, walking, bike riding, spending money, drinking (of course) but mostly absorbing this new life as a "live-a-board" boater.

What's happened? Nothing specatcular. But what's happened,.....everythink specatcular.

We've had friends from our campground in Bloomington IN come to hang out with us for a whole week. One might think that 3 couples on a boat would get "crowded". But not with this crew. Mark, Melodie, Gregg and Chris were all just great boatmates. Everybody pitched in, kept the boat clean, picked up after themselves but most importantly, enjoyed. The ladies would trade off cooking and the guys would fix things and then we cruised to Key West. The trip down caused 3 of us to toss up our cookies. While we planned to stay one night "on the hook" we ended up staying four nights at Conch Harbour Marina as the storms were coming in on Saturday evening and we just decided to play it safe. Well, it was better anyway because that way we could go where we wanted, when we wanted. And we did so. Saturday night was deemed "Pirate Night" so we all doned our Pirate wear and walked to Duval Street.

It will be repeated.."what happens in Key West, stays in Key West.

On the way back to Marathon on Monday we stopped in Sombrero Key and the guys tried on some snorkeling while the gals sunned and visited on the top deck. So fun. The, Ed decided he would take the dinghy back to Marathon to pave the way for Great Mates as well as help her to get back into her slip at the marina. Well, that wasn't a great choice for Lisa but it's all racked up to experience. Lest it be that Melodie and Chris are great crewmates.

All the while, my greatest blessing has been the people. Old friends and new friends alike. So to my new friends, Craig, Chris, Uula, Larry, Judy, Dennis, Rick and Christine, Andrew and Carol and John, I am especially grateful for your friendships. To my old friends, you know who you are....it's been too long.

To my children, I hope you are blessed and guided my our Almighty.

Learning to be a Captain; Lisa