And the seal replacements only took 6 hours; that included break and lunch! In and out in one day and not a single penny (coin or plastic) left our pockets. Laundry, as you may recall is cheap at the Boat Yard so I did 3 loads for only $6.

Did I mention we are down to one inflatable kayak and it has a tiny leak? These kayaks gave us yeoman service, a comfortable ride and were easy to tote around; can’t complain that after more than 7 years they crapped out. Over the summer we’d checked out tandems and then discovered that 14ft was too long. Ok, that saved a grand; we’d keep the two we had until they fell apart. Didn’t know the falling apart would begin in earnest a few months later. We checked around; new, used, and then West Marine had one at a decent price while we were here in Marathon. The store would order one for stock and we’d be under no obligation to buy it if we (read: Russ) didn’t care for it. Great. Now how does one get this 10ft long, 50 lb tub, I mean tube, from the store to our boat? With help from Lady Luck. West Marine is right next door to Marathon Boat Yard. The kayak arrived the day we were at the marina, so after the engine work was complete we walked over and simply carried it to the boat.

By 4:30pm Thursday we had reunited with our mooring and our neighbor on O4 got his answer to where we’d gone.

Our own Sunshine Yellow