This was a day to travel about and take care of some errands. We left the boat around 1000 and caught the Go-line bus right at the marina. The bus service here is quite interesting and our own county could take a lesson from these folks. They have bunch of little short buses so they are more economical and stay closer to full. At home we have full size buses running all day with one or two passengers. A big waste.
Here the buses are free. They have a donation box which we contributed to but most people do not. They have a hub over on the mainland. All buses are at the hub once per hour and none leave until all are lined up. This way transfers are simple; you just step off of one and pick the next one you want to ride.
Today we went to Lowes, Walmart, West Marine and Publix. By the time we got back we looked like pack mules carrying 2×4’s, PVC pipe and groceries. This was for several small projects I had in mind.
This lady helped us with the bus schedule. We were on the opposite side of the four lane waiting with all our gear. That was the side headed back to the boat but she told us that the same bus would first come to the other side and then back to the hub before coming to where we waited. So like the chicken we crossed the road
and were able to sit in air conditioned comfort for nearly 45 minutes that we could have sat on the side of the road. Funny thing was when I took this picture she was talking on her bluetooth phone and cursing like a sailor about some guy. I would hate to be him tonight.
We met a fellow boater named Victor who was from Colombia. He has a big sailing catamaran tied to a mooring ball in the harbor. We had lunch with him at Kelly’s Irish Pub. He was a most interesting character. A retired engineer who has travelled the world and handles his boat alone.
When we got back to the boat mid-afternoon Jan headed to do more laundry and I handled cleaning the anchor locker and securing the anchor rode better than the original setup. All went well except when the mirror in the main stateroom, which is how you get into the anchor locker, fell and hit me in the head. I hollered and Jan said what is wrong as I lay on the bed holding my head. I told her I was trying to hold my brains in my head. When we finally assessed the damage it was minor. One cut in my crown and one in my temple. Taking Plavix makes every cut bleed more but it was not too bad. I went back to work.(The injury would prove more serious later.)
We talked to Jim at the prop shop and discovered that the spare props we were going to purchase will not work on this boat. I knew the deal was too good to be true. Because we have 2″ prop shafts, the hubs on these props are too thin to be drilled out to fit. So now we are back to our original set which will be fine until we hit something again.
Tomorrow we expect to get the props put back on and with any luck get moving on Wednesday.
Correction: I told you that the SYZYGY was the Moon, Venus and Mars. That was wrong. It was the Moon, Jupiter and Venus. I did not know you could see Jupiter without a telescope but apparently you can. Run outside and take a look.
