This and That

Hi All,
While we're sitting at the marina in Tarpon Springs I thought I'd pass on a few things that I left out of previous posts.

Traveling by boat is not fast. When you're driving your car and you see a city in the distance, generally it isn't too long before you're there. It's not the same on the water. On our first overnight passage from Pensacola to Panama City I remember seeing Destin. We were only 4 or 5 miles offshore at the time so you could see buildings lit up, not just a glow in the sky. "Look, there's Destin up ahead." Two hours later, "Destin is getting closer." Two more hours, "Look, we're directly offshore from Destin now." The thought of that would probably frustrate many but you get used to the slower pace. I would like those overnight passages to go by faster though.

On our passage from Port St Joe to Tarpon Springs we saw many flying fish. They are amazing to watch. Our friends on Another Life who were out there with us got an up close and personal look at flying fish. One flew right into their cockpit. Ted was eventually able to get it out and back in the water. The next morning they found several dead ones on deck. Flying creatures seem to really like Another Life because they also had a couple of swallows hitch a ride with them for a while. That was going well until one flew downstairs and was flying around the salon. Ted was able to herd it back outside before their cats could catch it.

Tarpon Springs is the self proclaimed Sponge Diving Capital of the World. We're at the Port Tarpon Marina which is a good way up the Anclote River. Our first day here we took the dinghy farther up the river to the main part of town to see it. The people, the shops and the restaurants look more like they are in Greece than in Florida.

We came into the marina because we were having some issues with our generator (AGAIN!) and we had a mechanic scheduled to come look at it. He spent several hours here and never really found anything wrong other than it is undersized for all we're trying to do with it. We'll just have to be more miserly with electricity and see if that works. While he was here I had him adjust the stuffing box (a nut that holds some material against the propeller shaft so water doesn't leak into the boat) as I wasn't able to break the locking nut loose. He had a tough time with it too but was able to get it loosened and then adjusted. We should be able to handle it from here. There are supposed to be a few drops of water seep through every minute to help keep the shaft cool but it was a constant drip before.

There is a canvas shop right next to the marina. Yesterday we stopped in to get a quote to make us some new side curtains for the cockpit to replace ones that were blown off the dock in Kemah during a storm. They gave us the best price we have received so we're having them make them. We were discussing them doing the measuring and making a pattern and then shipping them to us at some future point. We went back and forth on that for a while until the suggested if we'd stay one more day they would get them done for us tomorrow (today).  Eric and Debbie of Seebird Canvas are real gems. Eric even gave me a ride to a marine store to try and get some wire I need for the water maker installation. We are repeatedly impressed with what people will do to help others.

Aren't you glad I didn't put all of this in my other posts? Just think how much longer they would have been.

Take care.
Brian