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SMILE! Travelling is GOOD, eh?
Vern and Linda on Melodeon at Vero Beach...far, far from our Key Largo goal!There are shifting shoals, shifting goals and always the boat shifting on its mooring. Just when you think you've got it figured out, something changes...and changes again.
For some of us, blogging has the feel of time shifting. Past, present continuous and future perfect all get rolled together when we're trying to make a coherent report of our activities.
It seems that wherever we are, we start taking root. There's always a bit of us left behind with new land friends, old friends visiting to make new memories, and new cruising friends who loop in and out. There's also quite a bit left behind in the literal sense, as we drop things off at each landing. We continue to weed out our storage, supplies and equipment, hoping to make things run a little smoother.
The Marine Stadium where we have been docked across from Miami for a few days, waiting out bad weather, has been really interesting. We have witnessed several boat races and practices from the Miami Rowing Club. Kids from many highschool, public and private schools gather here daily to practise their skills.
The swimming meet was the most interesting. Hundreds of kids swam miles
3 Captains and a Chef
...added great vitality to a dreary day. Chef Jamie, Capt Catherine, Jimmy and John around the boat, with rows of elbows cutting the water like little pink shark fins. Such incredible waves of energy in a choppy sea. Their coaches seem to have trouble keeping up with them in boats!
We were truly astounded by the kids skateboarding on the cement roof of the stadiumm a hundred feet up in the air. Chair smashing, graffitti drawing and nude photo shoots have replaced the speedboat races of decades past.
The visit of the crew of Ruling Passion was a huge treat for us. In typical boater fashion they hailed us one evening and asked for help with a broken metal part. Frank loaded the generator and tools, dingying to the rescue. The next day they arrived bearing beautiful gifts of fruit and books. After a quick chat, one of their team climbed our mast to repair our tell-tails. I knocked one sideways on a bascule bridge and the other we had forgotten. This is a task we've simply been unable to do and we are so grateful to the 3 captains John, Jimmy, Catherine and chef/mate Jamie. We wish them a lovely trip home.
The study of history has never been our
John scales the mast!
Our hero. There are really special people who surpass the rest of us on the way up! Thank you!!! strong suit and chronological accuracy is a luxury that we haven't yet cultivated. That's a convoluted way of saying that we have challenges about recording place and time accurately. To make matters worse, we suspect that the more we cruise, the more our grasp of these two arts will wain. Yawn. So be it. Since we first started this issue of the blog, which crashed a couple of times, we have left Vero, cruised Miami, plus a few Keys and high-tailed it back to Vero Beach in our quest to be north of Florida before the notorious, arbitrary June 1 hurricane deadline. Lots of water has run under our keel and at least 70 bridges (35 in 3 days, 12 once before noon) have been lifted in the name of Melodeon since we started this entry.
We've been out long enough that we are now meeting people 3 or 4 times as our paths cross and recross. It's quite magical and a little confusing. We tend to be constantly busy with the general business of living and moving about, so that meeting and parting are starting to take their natural place in the shape of days. If it makes
John's back-up crew
Catherine, Jamie, Jimmy and Frank any sense, more and less significance are placed on these pleasant rituals. Most boaters eagerly exchange boat cards and snippets of plans as they prepare to dart hopefully off in all directions.
And so do we.
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Toni
non-member comment
Ahoy There!
Great to hear from you! Sounds like you are having some wonderful adventures. Love hearing from you! As for your mystery picture......eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww! Take care and keep the posts coming!