The Many Adventures of Stray Cat: January 2015

I think it's a good thing that I'm starting to have a hard time keeping track of what day it is...alcohol induced amnesia notwithstanding. Thursday of last week we had moved inside Boot Key Harbor for the rigging work and found that our 'near bridge anchorage' was pretty nice and held us well.

Friday we rented a car to do a canned vegetable intensive shopping trip then take a quick return trip to Key West so we could lunch with artist Richard Matson and then stop by Sean and Tania's place on the way back to pick up all the packages they had held for us. Three carts and hundreds of dollars later, we left the store and Jon bravely took all the groceries back to the boat for us so we could get to KW in time. It was a lovely meeting with Richard and a group of his Friday Lunch friends and a treat to see Sean one more time (we missed you Tania). Jon enjoyed the blissfulness of having the boat to himself and not listening to me drone on about one thing or another...lucky guy!

Some firsts: first time on the 7 mile bridge and first time taking a car to KW haha

So happy for Sean and Tania and so proud of all Sean has accomplished

Saturday Mark and Jon took our old frig unit to shore and gave it to the fella who worked on our freezer. Hopefully he'll be able to make a little coin off it. We would have loved to have kept it or parted it out but things like that are not our priority anymore, but I know it killed Mark to let go like that. I can't tell you anything else that happened except I think that was the day that Alley Cat, Shiloh and Yachtsman's Dream arrived in the Harbor. Byron and Denise from South of Reality were there too and it was really nice to be included in their group. Wish Island Khaya was there too...miss them a bunch! We had burgers fries and fried key lime pie one last time at Burdine's and arranged to leave at sunrise with Yachtsman's Dream, who kindly offered to lead us out Sister's Creek rather than back out by Boot Key and all the way around again.

Bye bye frig

So yeah, low tide. Especially for that guy. A trio of hippies lived in the boat on the left without a mast...and their cute shepherd puppy

These are two very dear and kind ladies

Catamaran club at Burdine's...Alan relaying his wisdom or at least telling a good tale

What the lights of hundreds of boats looks like - the real thing was just mesmerizing

All was well the morning we left except we pulled up someone's anchor line (don't think it was attached to anything though) and even speared a Budwiser can...nice job but next time let's try for a better beer. Away we went by the hundreds of boats and out the creek to a lovely rising sun. Then the wind and waves hit and and slammed all the way up to Channel Five...three hours...slam, bang, water over the front hulls, bang, slam...Jon took some video but I did not because the "thrill" of that type of pass wore off for me a long time ago. It hurts to walk inside and hear these creaking and cracking noises, knowing that you are overtesting your new rigging and should be more reefed and your boat is taking a pounding. She's a good boat and our captain worked it well as he always does.

So long Marathon

Remember those lights in the picture above--here is what made them

Thank you for guiding us through Yachtsman's Dream

Looks lovely as we leave Sister's Creek

Very nice to see you Channel Five

It was a pleasure to go inside where the water was calm and the going quite easy, even if we motored. Jon drove us through the worst of the crab pots then it was a relaxing few hours to Tarpon Basin where we planned to hunker down since we knew a storm and heavy blow was coming. Once anchored we took our super fast outboard ashore and found Upper Crust Pizza! Tough times out here on the water huh?!

You can't tell but that's a cigarette boat being tailed by an airplane like the one Mark is building! I said it's a vision of the future for Mark and Jon!

Some lovely shots on the inside - Everglades nation park area

Mangrove cuts through the Florida Bay

Tarpon Basin aka home for a few days

A nice surprise was the arrival of Alley Cat and Shiloh who came up in 25+ knot winds and rain. We enjoyed hosting them for cocktails that night but were still so missing Island Khaya who is in Coconut Grove already. Apparently I was overserved and turned into "Mark's Birthday Suzanne" who many of you know and kindly tolerate. Note to self, keep better track of how many times you fill your wine glass.

Hmmmm, that looks a bit scary

Oh my! And that's in a protected anchorage.

Rain, ick

Holli has a spirit bright as sunshine

Poor John, I know I annoy him

The next morning Mark worked on updating the solar panel controllers...he had previously wired back the relocated and new panels and I have to say that we are doing really well with power now. The frig and freezer stabilized once we loaded them and are working just fine plus the new battery solved the mystery of "where is all our power going?". It's a good feeling to wake up to charged batteries and see the solar panels and wind gen working well independently and as a team. Everything is falling into place and it feels awesome!

That's what you want to wake up to!

Not bad for 8am, a freezer, a frig, fans, phones charging. The wind gen helped a lot all night too

A true engineer makes a lab where ever he goes!

He does so much for this boat and for us all to have whatever we need on the boat xoxo

A friend of mine asked for deep thoughts...I tend to either share nothing or overshare so this will be more of the later. Most of you can skip this part but for my career-women friends, you'll understand. I took a big final step of closing out my job and transferred all my responsibilities and my official designation to my replacement. It was bittersweet and a little sad to transition myself out. Now everyone will say "that's insane" but many of you know that I love working--even when I complain--and have defined myself by my career for over 20 years. This is a big step: going from being an important part of a company where I know I contributed and was appreciated to being voluntarily unemployed. Add to that loving the people you work with and being treated very well by both of your bosses...sigh, I'm literally getting choked up now. On the boat I struggle with my place or purpose and often overreact about it...so it's scary for someone like me to walk away from the control and authority and responsibility I earned and was so proud of...we'll see how it goes after Friday when I am done for good. Ugh, everyone who knows me knows that I hate change. Needless to say, getting back to yoga and tapping is important to me now. Ohmmmmmmmmm!

From work...

To Yoga!

Ok enough of that for now, can't handle too much depth...we relocated anchor spots and took a trip to Publix and for lunch at a cute place called the Mermaid Cafe. OMG, the Publix had a giant scale--the kind used to weigh grain and such--yeah, I've gained 8 pounds since we left. Jenkies!! I suppose we'll have to do something about that like stop eating crap food and drinking so much--the horror! Later in that day, we planned to leave on a short trip the next day with Alley Cat and Shiloh...we typically get up before sunrise and go all day so taking a short trip and leaving later in the a.m. feels good.

Fun cafe; wish they had places like this in Haymarket

Words of Wisdom courtesy of the ladies' room mirror


Last sunset in Tarpon Basin

Off we go into Barnes Sound

Knot!!

I disturbed him deep in thought

Driving through like a pro

Hi Shiloh

Blog central today, complete with microwave popcorn

Off we went and are now saddling up to our anchorage for the night at Long Arsenicker Key. Nice name ain't it?! We'll veg here for the rest of the afternoon all cozy and safer from 10-20 knot winds from the North.

Thank you to Shiloh for this stunning photo of Stray Cat!

HUGE NEWS!!
We are starting up the water maker to test it and make sure it's in good order. So far so good and the pump it working as hard as it can. We all tasted it and it's great and way more potable than the 750 ppm minimum! I can't do it justice because I'm not technical but it's a reverse osmosis system that is taking this salty water and making is crystal clear and just as good any anything you pay dearly for at the store! Stray Cat Water! A huge success and I'm so proud of Mark for yet another wonderful system he installed on the boat.