Monday January 4, 2010

The Boat Marina, Fort Walton Beach Florida
After waking up at the Sea Breeze Motel, Bill and I headed directly to the Waffle House for Breakfast. The waffles satisfied our hunger and we were off to check on WaterMark. As Bill and I walked down the dock, we passed a 40 foot fishing boat that has sunk right at the dock. I was anxious to get a look at WaterMark. She was floating and her hull looked intact! Bill and I made multiple trips to the car ferrying food, beer, pop, guitar and clothes. I checked the cabin and with the exception of a little mold the boat weathered the layover nicely. Once all of the gear was aboard. We headed off to Walmart for additional provisions. I bought water, lemons, limes, lunch meat, potato chips and some cranberry juice. We had a hard time finding Walmart as it was not where the GPS said it should be. We actually had to stop and ask directions. How appropriate. We had 2 GPS navigation systems in the car and neither of them had the correct location of Sam Walton’s store.
Once we returned to the boat and off loaded the provisions, Bill took off to central FL to meet up with Marian’s sister in Zepherhill. I programmed Bill’s GPS and he headed out for hopefully warmer temperatures. Bill called and said that it took him about six hours to reach his destination.
I started taking inventory of the items on the boat and examining their condition. I quickly noticed that my 38 year old down feathered sleeping bag had developed a slight mold problem. So I called Sandy for directions. She told me to fill the washing machine with water and then add one-half-a-cup of bleach and the proper amount of soap to the water and then after the bleach and soap was dispersed in the water to add the sleeping bag. She then told me to put a clean tennis shoe into the dryer so the shoe would beat the feathers back into their proper positions. It worked. Sandy is a genius. My favorite sleeping bag was free of the mold and looked new. I started the motor and the Honda jumped to life after 2 tugs on the starter chord.
As I did laundry, I installed the new Garmin Chartplotter. The oak face plate the I made fit perfectly on to the cockpit bulkhead on the port side. I ran wires and had to cut out a portion of t he bulkhead as the new Chartplotter was replacing a depth finder and a knotmeter. Once I ran the wires to the battery, I hit the on button and the instrument came to life. The installation was a success.
The weather was really nice during the day and really cold. The little space heater that Dave Luther recommended I purchase was hooked up and keeping the cabin warm. It was 20 degrees outside. When water was spilled on the concrete dock it would freeze and leave a very slippery patch of ice.
As I walked back and forth from the boat to the laundry room at the Marina. I met a gentlemen sailor named Tug Buse. Tug started his trip in Sioux City Iowa. He is in a 15 foot Commodore Trunion Class Pram. It took him 5 years to build the boat he has christened “Adventure“. Tug got his nickname because his parents own a tug boat. Tug grew up in Washington and spent his childhood sailing around the San Jaun islands in the Puget Sound. His destination is the State-of-Maine. He hopes to arrive there in October of this year.
I asked Tug if he had met Buzz. A fellow boater that I first met in Paris, TN. I asked Tug the question because his little boat resembled Buzz’s 15 foot West White Potter. He said that he had been traveling with Buzz and that they had spent the Christmas Holidays with Tug’s parents at a nearby condo. Tug’s parents flew in to be with their son during the holidays. I am observing that many long distance sailors take time off from the water and head back to land for breaks.
Tug has and advanced degree in film making and his hobby is singing sea shanties. I had never heard of sea shanties prior to meeting Tug but am fascinated by them. Sea shanties are songs with out musincal accompaniment that were song by sailors as they went about their work on the sailing ships of the 1800’a. Back on the old days it would take several hours to weigh an anchor and while working the sailors would sing these shanties. There are sea shanties from Scotland, England, Australia and there are even Great Lake shanties.
We got together on the WaterMark. I would play Walleye Willie and Tug would sing a sea shanty.
About 8;00 PM the Evening Start tied up at the end of the dock. They had been out fishing on the Gulf and returned early because of the cold weather. Robert one the of the crew said that after three days of 20 degree temps and 15 to 25 MPH winds they returned to the dock. They spent the entire night cleaning their catch. They played the radio while they worked and I fell asleep listing to the faint sounds of the music.