Idling Along

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Oops! Nine days since I last blogged. Sorry. Besides sunrises, sunsets and softball, here’s what’s been happening in Boot Key with the Magees.

Sara and Trevor bought their own dinghy, a used inflatable with a 5 hp outboard. Now they are independent and so are we.

Sara and Kerry went fishing the other day and caught 30 or more fish. So they say. We saw no evidence of fish, just the smell of stinky bait in the dinghy. The fish were all small, and they threw them all back, but they had a great time fishing near the 7 mile bridge. It’s a little cramped fishing from the dinghy, and they were both a bit stiff afterwards.

In softball, Kerry managed to hit one over the fence. While that made him feel powerful, it counted as an out by senior league rules. Sara is hitting well and catching well in the outfield. They all say, “Don’t hit the ball to the blue-haired girl.” Trevor is batting well, even managed a good shot down the third base line for a triple. Not bad for a lefty. He’s also a designated runner and is learning the subtleties of that. They have all recovered from their early injuries and are regaining their running abilities (except Kerry, who is still pretty slow with his stiff Achilles tendon.)

Kerry noticed when he and Sara were fishing that we have barnacles growing on the bottom of our dinghy. Not sure yet how we’ll get rid of those. Imagine what the bottom of our big boat looks like. Sara and Trevor are planning to get in the water and clean the bottom of their boat before heading for the Bahamas.

Sara and Trevor are on their way to Key West this morning on the bus. They have an appointment this afternoon to get their Local Boaters Option, which will allow them to phone in to customs when they get back from the Bahamas, rather than have to appear in person. They will spend the night with friend Annika and we’ll meet in the morning and go on the fast cat to the Dry Tortugas National Park. We’re all looking forward to that trip. Kerry and I will take the first bus to Key West in the morning, at 5:30!

We gave Kerry and Trevor haircuts the other night. Since we are on mooring balls, we have no electricity, so we took the clippers to the laundry room to cut hair, then swept up afterwards. They look and feel better.

Relay for Life here has a sign project going. We bought a sign that I painted with our boat name, our names and home port, and the distance to our home port. The signs will be mounted on a post by the marina. What a neat idea. I forgot to take a picture before I turned it in, and it’s not put up yet, so you’ll have to wait to see it. I’ll post a picture when it’s up.

That’s all for now. Will post about Dry Tortugas probably on Friday.

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