Jessica, Happy 22nd Birthday!
Summer is speeding past in a blurr. Darrell went to Amarillo earlier this month and had a great visit with family and friends. Here are a couple of pictures of him and Roxy in the dinghy with his suitcase.
We went to work on the dinghy to try and find the leaks in the tubes. We bought some liquid stuff like fix-a-flat and had to roll it around in the tubes so we put it in the basin and flipped it every which way. Here are some pictures of Darrell and Capt. Mike who drives for us working on the dinghy. We still have some leaks and will most likely try and find a source to get new tubes instead of buying a whole new inflatable.
We had a very busy Father's Day weekend at the dive shop but Sunday evening, we departed for a sailing trip. Two friends (Jerry and Sandy Canning) who are sailors came and we went for a day and a half sail. We left the dock around 7PM and motored up into Barnes Sound for the night. Ann chose an anchorage close to the mangroves to try and give a calm mooring for the night (strong west winds). Darrell didn't want to get that close to the land. Welllllll we learned a lesson - listen to Darrell. We were SWARMED by mosquitoes!!!! They were clinging to the net on the companionway trying to get in and suck our blood. Many did in fact make it into the boat and all four of us are covered in mosquito bites - in spite of the bug spray, OFF candles, and incense sticks. Whew they were BAD!
But we did manage to get up and plan a hasty departure just after sunup the next morning and outrun the rest of the swarm! We sailed north through Card Sound and out Angelfish Creek to the ocean. We went to Turtle Rocks and did a snorkel venture. After that, we sailed back home. Jerry and Sandy have a lot of sailing experience and gave us several good tips! We had a great time and are already planning the next trip to meet them somewhere. They own a 40 ft Catalina and live on the southwest coast of Florida.
We are back at work at the dive shop and are beginning menu planning for the July 4th party mentioned in the last post. Sometime in late July or early August (Happy Birthday Darrell) we will begin the installation of new electronic instruments on Alibi. The chartplotter and radar will be COOL! Of course Darrell and I still like our PAPER charts too.
In less than a month, we plan on having Jason (our NASCAR friend and Ann's favorite fishing buddy) come down and do some sailing, diving and fishing. His wife, Nicole, is expecting their second baby and will stay at home this visit. Plan on keeping up on the blogs because there will be some great stories from that visit!
Ciao for now
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Saturday, June 13

Yes, my friends, progress is being made on this old boat. We have replaced many of the items lost from the lightning strike AND we have made some progress on "the list" we had before that. Many of the items had to be shuffled and prioritized because a lot of items require electricity to work.

After the last post, we learned that we owned a bosun chair but didn't know it. We had borrowed one from our Friend Joe Wilson and found out that we have one almost identical to the one we were using. THANKS!, Joe. Have not made any more trips up the mast lately but have made progress on the lower levels of the boat.

Darrell went to Amarillo this week and while he was gone, I did a few more things to the boat. I bought a new stereo as we both missed our music and NASCAR. I got it installed and was jamming to some tunes last night. I did a service on the marine head yesterday - what a shitty job! We bought a new start battery last week and the house batteries seem to be holding their own for now (they are also several years old). I have spoken with a friend who works at West Marine and he is going to come over and help us sort out some of our electrical issues that are above and beyond our level of expertise (inverter and electronic instruments).

I am beginning formulating plans to replace the dodger and bimini on the boat. We had a lot of rain this month and we like to spend a lot of time outside. In fact I consider the cockpit more like our living room than the salon area. Especially with this South Florida heat - we have to have all the breeze we can get. We still get lots of compliments on the boat - many from total strangers passing by in other boats.

Its hard to believe that the summer is going by so quickly! We are planning a July 4th party out there in Blackwater Sound. We're going to raft the two dive boats up on either side of Alibi and people can mill around on all three - plus we'll be legal with numbers of passengers and life jackets and all. The fireworks will be right over our heads and we will have all the modern conveniences right there - what fun!!! Above are a few pictures I took recently off the boat, hope you enjoy them as much as we did being there watching.

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