January Update - 31 January 2010

We’re getting complaints from friends and relatives wanting to know why there have been no updates to the blog. Once again I must apologize to everyone for not posting more frequently.

Life in paradise isn’t all parties and fun although there is a some of that too. Things we take for granted at home become real chores while living on a boat. Take for instance, flushing the toilet…at home you press the lever and if you haven’t overloaded the bowl, everything disappears down the drain and you never think of it again. Out here on a mooring, when you pump the bowl empty the contents are transfered into the boats holding tank. Unlike the sewage system at home, the tank doesn’t have near infinite capacity. After a while that tank gets full and must be emptied. Believe me, this is not a chore to be neglected. Read on to see what this little task requires.

First you need a day with the wind speed and direction are appropriate for a safe or easy docking approach. Then you get out the binoculars and check to see if the pump out facilities at the dock are clear. If they are a quick call on the radio to the marina office will usually get you clearance to proceed. Next you start the engine and prepare to leave the mooring ball by lowering the dinghy and moving it forward to the bow where you tie it to the mooring ball. This makes it easier to catch the mooring line when you return. Then you cast off the mooring lines and motor about a quarter mile to the pump out dock. When you arrive, if you are lucky, there will be a dock hand available to help you tie up to the dock.

Once secured to the dock, you commence the pump out process, which essentially entails using a big vacuum hose to literally suck the tank empty. Once that is done it’s a good time to attach a your “drinking water safe” hose to a water connection on the dock and fill up the domestic water tank on the boat. With that done its time to return to the mooring ball. Again, if you are lucky, the dock hand may help with your lines, otherwise you’re on your own.

Motoring back to the mooring you always seem to encounter different wind/current conditions than when you departed. Approach to the ball must be dead into the wind and slow enough to allow the bow person to grab the mooring line, get it aboard and get your bow lines secured to it. Miss the ball grab and you’ll have to go around and try again. Second and third tries bring out big audiences on neighboring boats out to watch the folly. Once the boat is secured to mooring ball, you move the dinghy back to its usual position, tied to the stern cleat.

Let’s see now, somewhere between an hour and two hours have elapsed and you have managed to take on 50 gallons of water, get rid of 20 gallons of sewage. Just think, at home you turn the faucet and press a lever to do the same things. Oh, well only 7-10 days until we do it all again.

Lets see, there has to have been some more interesting or fun stuff during January.


I know…the weather, we can always talk about the weather. The whole east coast got an artic blast and we suffered for two weeks in bitter cold for Florida. Record night time lows in the 20’s and 30’s were set and also a record for the number of continuous days with temperatures never exceeding 45. We consumed copious amounts of denatured alcohol using the stove just to put some heat into the boat. Our gas consumption for the Honda generator also increased as we also used a small electric heater we have onboard. I caught the bus and went to Wal-mart where I purchased two sleeping bags so we could zip them together and sleep warm and toasty, me, Donna and Buddy. The cold had a real bad affect on some species of fish in the river too. We saw lots of them swimming upside down at the surface and then dead a day later. Someone estimated the weight of one near the dinghy dock at 150 lbs. This wasn’t like the weather we experienced on the last trip.

Walter and Maggie invited us to attend a Mardi Gras costume party at their condominium one Saturday Night. We all dressed as gypsies, carried little instruments and went as a Band of Gypsies. There were lots of hors d'oeuvres
and wine, then a sit down dinner and dancing afterward. We didn’t win the costume contest, but we did have lots of fun.

We’ve been making good use of the folding bicycles this trip. We’ve mastered the art of balancing bags of groceries hanging from the handle bars on our trips to Publix for groceries. I even found the max carrying load on the rear platform…a 18 pack of beer. Riding along Federal Highway is a little daunting though. Crossing intersections with right turn lanes are the most dangerous. We stick to the sidewalks where ever possible and even walk the bikes across some intersections using the pedestrian crosswalks. Riding the side streets is much more pleasant.

Our friends Fred and Phyllis stopped by for a short visit one weekend. They were on their way to Miami to catch a big cruise boat for a trip to the western Caribbean. We enjoyed margaritas and noshes in the cruisers outdoor lounge area, walked through the shops along Osceola Street and then dined at Flannigans, one of the local watering holes. Afterward, they took us to Wal-Mart which helped us re-supply the boat with a couple of heavy items…cases of beer and bottled water.