Ron and Judy pulled in their fenders and removed the tethers that kept Pioneer connected to Imagine's hip for the past week. We shared a mooring ball and tales. The seasoned cruising couple are heading to Cuba, an opportunity available to Canadian cruisers. Their enthusiasm is enticing.
Ron and Judy hail from The northwest Canadian province of Alberta. We would love the opportunity to visit Cuba, but it isn't permitted by the U.S. Fair winds pioneer.
After Ron and Judy sailed south, Ed and I dinghied into the dock and caught the bus to town. Milk, eggs and stuff were found at Publix. A short walk to find an ice cream treat for Ed turned out to be longer than we estimated. We got back to the bus stop just in time for a ride back to the marina.
The weather is cool and expected to go to 59 degrees tonight.
Received a call that daughter Christina was in the hospital again. She will follow up with her doctor on Thursday. They sent her home, but suspect that it might be appendicitis. This was her third attack this year. It's hard to prepare to leave when there are unanswered questions about her health. For me Christmas is the hardest part of living aboard Imagine. Yes, I do get homesick for family.
Even former journalists get writers block. I do write a bi-weekly column for a Today's Sunbeam, a newspaper covering South Jersey. Sometimes it's not easy to come up with story ideas, other times ideas come faster than I can type.
Today I brainstorm with myself; trying to come up with a stories that I can write quickly. I've come up with one about St. Augustine and one about my reading cave/aft berth hideaway. Most of all, I'm trying to figure out out to do this blog thing. Settig up the blog seems to be the most interesting challenge. Maintaining it should be a problem... as long as we can get Internet.
In between thoughts, we head to shore to use the head. We've been doing the pumpout dance for three days out here on the ball. With the holidays there seems to be a shortage of staff here at Vero Beach City Marina. The pumpout boat is not expected until tomorrow says the staff. Crap! We might have to pull out the buckets tonight. Pooping in a bucket is not fun. Oh yeah! One never knows what adventure one might have while living aboard. While out we also jugged some water back to the boat. Batteries are charging to the tune of the Honda 2000 generator. As the Honda hums we make hot water, charge the computers, phone and Kindle.
This starts week three on the ball at Vero Beach City Marina. Ed's brother Tom and nephew Joseph flew in from Phoenix for the Thanksgiving weekend. It's been two years since we've seen them. At 15 Joe is now taller than Ed's 5'11". Instead of turkey, we grilled a side of beef for Joe.
The boy can eat, and when he's done he eats some more. A half loaf of bread, 5 eggs, peanut butter, fruit and a quart of water followed by a protein drink for breakfast. Later in the day, father and son played in the water and competed in kayak races. The old man didn't do too bad. On day two, Joe and I hit the mall. Mission Ipad was accomplished. Joe was a great help in getting us started with our new electronic device.
Today, Joe actually ate a whole large pizza with ham, mushrooms and banana pepper... sans the cheese... for lunch. He watches the fat content. The dough ball with vegetables was washed down with three full glasses of water. All I can say is I'm glad I don't have to haul groceries back to the boat for the hungry teen on a weekly basis. We would have to get a larger dink. His dad had a rental car. Thanks for small favors. We ate out a lot over the weekend. I'm still in awe at watching Joe eat two who entrees at Vero Beach's Ocean Grill last night.
Tom and Joe bid farewell and headed for Orlando this afternoon. They will catch a plane back to Phoenix in the a.m. There were several firsts for Joe. He learned to drive the dinghy. He saw his first manatee... not too many of them in Phoenix. He rode public transportation with me to the mall. He learned to economize on water while doing dishes. Jugging water helped nail that lesson down. To his dismay her quickly figured out what the baggies and the little white bucket is for in the head. No paper down our toilet. Joe was impressed that we only use electrical outlets when running the Honda 2000 generator.
Tom and Joe now have a closer understanding of what it means to live aboard. Imagine is rafted up to Pioneer, crewed by longtime cruisers Judy and Tom. Joe was impressed with how friendly cruisers are. He was even more amazed that his lost Oaklely sunglasses were found by another cruiser who left a note to call them on the VHF. The crew of Cookie Monster found the shades and were able reunite Joe with his glasses just before they left for Orlando. He thought they were gone for good. "Boaters are cool", he said.
