Our days have been filled with checking off the numerous items on the daily to-do lists. To the normal routine we’ve added all that has to be done before we cross, as well as getting our act together for Benj’s arrival and Christmas.  If the weather holds up Wed- Sunday will look like this: rent car, Publix, Miami airport, depart mooring, spend Thurs night behind a teeny tiny Key about 25 miles north, depart very early Friday for an overnight run up and over Bimini and into Great Harbor Cay Marina on Saturday to check in and spend Christmas in the nearest protected anchorage surrounded by crystal clear Bahamas blue water. Subject as always, to change. As it is, this plan must be the third or fourth so far and even as I write this the winds might cause a one day delay.

One of my longtime (since owning Ortolan) wishes is to have a photo of our boat under sail. Seems rather dull to have a tag line of “Ortolan in Flight..” and nothing’s flyin’!  Santa heard my plea and when Benj retrieved our mail it contained a postcard from Yacht-shots.com with Ortolan sailing along in full glossy color! Back in August on our way to Block Island after our haul-out we were happily under sail, main and screacher flying when we saw a plane circle us several times. Couldn’t quite read the lettering; obviously our picture was being taken. Spent a few minutes wondering if we’d be contacted somehow, then completely forgot all about it.

If we don’t find someone to take our picture in the Bahamas, we may just have to shell out mucho pesos for a yacht shot. Be the first to check them out: ID: Ortolan, PW: 06413; some day one may appear on the blog.

Meet Captain Slime Buster!

As our stay at Boot Key Harbor stretched from one to two then to three weeks- geez way too much slimy stuff is beginning to grow on the hulls – I couldn’t help but jot down my rendition of the Christmas classic.  Cutting to the chase, or rather the last day,  and you must sing it out loud.

On the twelfth day at Boot Key, My captain gave to me:

12 projects accomplished, 11 Yellow Dinghies, 10 Margaritas, 9 green avocados, 8 boats parading, 7 glasses red wine, 6 loads of laundry, … 5…  miles walked, 4 calls to rehab, 3 dinghy rides, 2 trips to Publix and some baking in the galley.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all: fair winds, calm seas and may all your dreams come true.    We’ll see you in the Bahamas.

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