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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