Life on a Boat

January 31, 2017
Day 147

Mike and I were back home for a week (meetings and appointments) and while there, he was asked, "What do you do all day on the boat?"  In other words, how do we spend our time?  I think the short answer to that question is:  often it is the same thing other retired people do, only we do it in the sunshine and wearing shorts (most of the time!). Being on a boat conjures up images of sun and sand and water and vacation.  But living on a boat involves the daily chores that make up life.  There is no cabin steward that comes in to tidy up, make the bed and leave cute animal shapes made from towels.
We do all the things everyone does - laundry, grocery shopping, preparing meals, cleaning, paperwork, etc.

I used to complain (Mike uses the verb "whine") when we washed the RV once a month.  We now wash the outside of the boat once a week! Our son Matt said he would take cleaning the boat once a week any day over washing the motorhome once a month.  The doing the task in the sunshine and wearing shorts thing probably heavily influences his decision.

Mike and Greg both have "to do" lists.  As Karen says, Greg's is a "fix-it" list and Mike's is a "clean-it" list.  The chores on the lists are on top of normal cleaning.  Most of the things require Karen and I to be involved, when we would much rather be sitting in the shade with a good book.  Everyday we do something from either list.  Some of the jobs can be done in an hour or so.  Others take half the day.

One of our biggest  jobs was scraping the barnacles off the bottom of the dinghy.  I mentioned before that dealing with the tides is a new challenge for us.  So is being in salt water.  Barnacles growing on stationary objects is a way of life in salt water.  Our dinghy floated in the water the month we were in Dunedin and the month we were at Burnt Store Marina.  We knew when we secured it back onto the swim platform for the ride to Marathon that the pesky crustaceans had begun their work and cleaning the bottom of the dinghy would be a top priority once we got settled in Marathon.

We had to find a beach where we could take the inflatable up to shore, remove the engine, flip the dinghy over and scrap the bottom.  Finding a sandy beach isn't as easy as it sounds.   "But you are in the Keys!" you say.  It is easier to find a nice sandy beach in Michigan than it is in the Keys.  So much of the shoreline is mangrove trees or rocks.  I have not swam in the ocean since we got here.  Marathon has a small public beach - Sombero Beach.  It took us about 20 minutes by water to get there.  When we got the dinghy flipped over, we were amazed at how dense the barnacles were.  (see picture below) They are hard and razor sharp so you cannot touch them.  It took us over 2 hours using metal scrapers to clean the bottom.  We hire divers once a month to clean the bottom of True North.

We now keep the dinghy on the swim platform and only put it in the water when we are going to use it, which we do fairly often.  A favorite thing to do is ride through marinas and look at the names on boats.  They often reflect a profession.  Here are a few I found interesting:
Dr.'s Orders
School's Out
LocoMotion
Dealer Ship
Knot Farming
Private Stock
Sails Call
The Branch Office
Prime Interest
Pharma Sea
No Patients
Prenup
Mental Floss

But don't think life on a boat is all work and no play.  When the daily work is done, we explore the area by car and dinghy.  Saturday was a cold, overcast day so Mike and I drove north up beyond Key Largo and on the way back stopped at Lorelei's in Islamorada.  It's listed in the top 10 of places to go in the Keys.  An outdoor bar/restaurant right on the water.  Fishing for the guys has begun.  Books are being read. Our marina has a beautiful pool area that we use.  They keep the water warm for us old people!  I can sit out on the back of the boat for hours watching other boats come and go, and the pelicans dive and fish jump and search for the elusive manatees.  And every day, late in the afternoon, a catamaran leaves from our marina on a Sunset Sail.  I wave to those onboard as it goes past us, as if they were on a ride at Disney World.  Then, from the comfort of our own boat, we watch the same gorgeous sunset that those on the catamaran paid to see.

You have to be thankful for the little things . . .

One side almost cleaned off.  They look like mush in this picture

but the barnacles are rock hard.

2 hours later - a clean bottom

We used this brush to clear away the barnacles we loosened

The white bristles were as long as the black ones before we started

A diver cleaning the bottom of the boat next to us

Barnacles up close

On our way to Sombrero Beach in the dinghy, we saw row after row

of boats anchored in Boot Key Harbor

A commercial fishing boat.  Different from the shrimp boats we saw in the panhandle 

After the work comes the play - dinner at the Cheeky Tiki

Greg has outfitted the dinghy for fishing!

They are trying to catch bait fish

Getting off the plane in Key West

That's Mike in the orange sweater

Lorelei's in Islamorada

It looks like the limo is on pavement, but it is in the water

And look at the boat behind it

Only in the Keys!

We had dinner in Marathon with fellow Loopers and fellow Ionians-

Jeff and Carolee MacFarlane

Our nightly view