Columbus Day weekend

Columbus Day weekend we had four days on the boat. After driving down and un-packing and settling in we called it a night. Saturday was calling for 15 to 20 knot winds with gusts of 30 to 35, seas, 4 to 5 feet with a chance of thunderstorms. We have wanted to get out and sail in some waves as we had yet to do it. Its always been so smooth. Our plan was to anchor up at Shell Island for a couple days and just relax. As we are headed out the pass we started noticing several dead fish. At first I couldn't figure it out. As we made it into the gulf I noticed the water wasn't the pretty shades of blue and green I'm use to seeing. Instead it looked like we were on the Mississippi. Things finally clicked, "red tide". Apparently a pretty good case of it judging by the amount of dead fish. So plans to anchor by the island were pretty much shot as you really don't want to be anchored among dead rotting fish in the heat. It also cuts out any water plans you had. We did however have some nice sailing as I get use to the heeling side of sailing. It was actually fun crashing into the small waves. By no means were they 4 to 5 footers as called for but it was still fun.

As we headed back to the marina we were being chased by the chance of thunderstorms. We made it back into our slip right before the rain hit. That evening we had friends over for a shrimp boil. Sunday we decided would be maintenance and Monday I had my sister from Naples visit on the way to Louisiana. After getting Rebecca and Chance, her dog aboard we headed out for a sunset sail. Alas there was no sailing to be done so we did a sunset motor out to a spot and sat on the bow watching the sun set catching up on each others lives. My brother flew in for a business trip and caught up with us later at the marina. We had not seen each other for close to a year so it was nice playing catch up.
My brother Jerry, sister Rebecca, and myself
Dirk with Rebecca
Dirk with Jerry and Rebecca

Up date on floor project

Well I'm guessing you would have to laugh as not to cry. Although I did cry when I saw the mess my husband created below. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about getting the new floor installed but I can tell you I would never want to do this again. Ever hear the term "what were they thinking?" My thoughts exactly. I had my suggestions and ideas on "the best way" and so did Dirk. And since Dirk is the one that was actually doing this part of the floor project he won. But I know I will have my say when it comes to the varnishing. But as you can see from the photo the new floor was taken down and fit into the boat. They were cut a little on the bigger side so that Dirk could take a bit off here and there to get a nice snug fit. What looks to be an explosion of flour is actually very fine sawdust from him sanding the pieces to fit. I was banished to the cockpit for the day so that Dirk could be left in peace to do his work. I think my overly watchful eye was getting old. So I finely admitted defeat and headed to the cockpit for a day of reading and enjoying the bit of cooler weather that we had. I say cooler, it was about 85 which is cooler than its been during the day in a long time. Sunday Dirk spent the day re-bedding some deck hardware and I spent the day.....you guessed it, cleaning. So the floor is now cut and ready to be epoxied on the bottom and sides. Once that is done then I start the never ending coats of varnish. Whooohooo, I am finally seeing an end to this project. Next major project on our list is to replace the salon windows.
As you can see they have more silicone then some women. I'm surprised they aren't leaking more then they do. Only during very heavy rains do we get any water, and then its only a few drops here and there. We are replacing them with a material called Lexan. Its suppose to be a lot more durable. This way we only have to do it once. I will let you know when this project get started. Lets see if we all survive the floor first.