work before play

Monday dawned with the realization that we needed to get a good bit of work done on the boat before we picked up our last boat guest, Stephanie, from the Key West airport later in the afternoon.  We are working furiously at whittling down the to do list once and for all.  It's hard to believe that we could be leaving for the Bahamas two weeks from today :)

An OCPD's dream- provisioning, cleaning and organizing the galley
for a month long cruise in the Bahamas...canned goods first. 

While I worked in the galley, Donnie tackled the water
pump.  A flip of the switch got me nothing at the faucet.
Until Mr. Fix It came to the rescue yet again :)  To done!

Provisioning the galley, part two- squirreling this all away in some
semblance of order into the dry storage box. By gosh it all fit!!

While I worked in the dry goods box, Donnie unfortunately
tore into the bilge. Our bilge comes on about every two
hours meaning we have a leak somewhere.  Willis
has been very clear he does not feel safe on a leaky boat.

It was not a pleasant chore, sopping up the mess, and scraping up the
sludge.  The water seemed to trickle in from the rear of the boat.  Next
move was to tear into the sea berth yet again (which is where we store the
dive gear, the life boat, the ditch bag, the guitar, the fishing rods- in a
word, it's a hassle removing all of that crap).  From there he looked into
the engine compartment and tightened up the stuffing box to only about
two drips per minute.  Water was still trickling in from the rear.  The only
thing we can figure is that by being connected to water on the dock, which
is constantly pressurized, perhaps there's pinholes in the hoses or seals.
We did not have this problem last year when we filled our tanks and
pumped the water in, so we are assuming (hoping) all is well when we
go back to using our own water supply rather than from the dock.

One gallon Don and the Jersey boys, Kevin and Justin, pulled
Stargazer out and back onto the trailer to head for home.  It's official-
SPRING BREAK IS OVER :(  The party has left the premises.

Donnie left to get a haircut from Paps, so I tore into Marquesa to give
her a thorough cleaning, and to get the bed made up for Stephanie.
We left for the Key West airport to pick her up, and then stayed to do up the town. 

No trip to Key West is complete without purchasing
the most comfortable sandals from Kino's :)

Best. fish. sandwich. EVER. @ Fogerty's- ocean catfish- yum!

We walked along the wharf to see the sights and catch the sunset.

Good times :)

And y'all know how much I love roosters!

Quite the crowd gathers to watch the street performers
and wait for the sun to set...

Unfortunately it was kind of a cloudy bust.

We stopped in at Sloppy Joe's for a cold drink before heading back to
the jeep.  This was a family of nine kids- one girl, eight boys, from
ages 6-23.  The 17 year old bass player was amazing :)
They were all ridiculously talented kids- unbelieveable musicians!

We stopped at my favorite gelato place, and window shopped our way
back down Duvall Street.  It's not everyday you see a grouper on scuba, lol.

My FB status was me waking up to a howling Willis...he had his tail
caught in the fan above my bed.  Donnie had to do a Fix It job before
we could turn in for bed- the fan sounded like it was on it's last leg.
Nothing that the removal of a wad of cat hair wouldn't fix. Dern cat.
Another job, to done, and then to bed.  G'nite, y'all!