mile marker 1218
Saturday, (NY day), we were up with the sun to welcome the new year. It was a spectacular sunrise.
We had a nice breakfast then I set about making the food for the New Years dinner. I steamed the sweet potatoes for the brownies in the solar oven, then did the potatoes for the mashed potatoes. This kept steam out of the boat which was great. Later I started cooking the brownies in the solar oven but ran out of sun. It will be easier when days are longer. Our meal was very tasty: mash potatoes, chicken sausages, sauerkraut, broccoli, and brownies for dessert!
While I worked on the dinner, Stew worked on the engine. We also moved to our new home on mooring ball F4. We are really close to the dinghy dock which is very convenient.
It was a nice relaxing day.
Happy New Year!
Sunday (Jan 2nd) we bought bikes! We heard on the Cruiser Net that someone was selling 2 cruisers for $75 – Stew got on the VHF and set up a meet in the afternoon. We planned to haggle on the price but once we saw the bikes we didn’t – they were much better than we thought they would be. With a few tweaks they worked perfect.
We took our first bike ride and explored the west side of the marina area (opp. From Publix and Home Depot). We found the library branch, hospital, turtle hospital, lots of Cuban eateries, trailer parks and the fishing area. We tried to get some seafood but no one was around. We are really happy with the bikes.
Monday (Jan 3rd) we woke early and headed to Sombrero reef. We got there nice and early so there were no other boats yet. It wasn’t quite as calm as we wanted but we had a blast. Stew fixed the Go Pro so we could get better wide shots of the fish and coral. We stayed about an hour. Boats were starting to show up and the wake was getting worse, plus we were actually tired.
Once back home (it was only 10:30am)! I made some chili in the thermal pot and set out the ingredients for making cornbread later for dinner. We spent the afternoon making water, which we are getting pretty good at.
Tuesday (Jan 4th) we got up and went to pickle ball – had a great time as usual, met lots of other sailors. However we both pulled a muscle. I did something to my hip and Stew did something to his upper back. Maybe this form of exercise is a little too much right off the boat!! We need to stretch big time!!
Wednesday (Jan 5th), we spent most of the day in the library using wifi to get caught up on financial stuff and the blog. We found a great fresh seafood place just down from the library and bought some shrimp. We also found a great produce place just down the road across from Home depot – there is a really neat seafood restaurant right next door “irieislandeats.com” that is just filled with greenery – you can barely see the tables for all the greenery. We will have to try this at some point.
Thursday (Jan 6th), we went to Sombrero reef again to snorkel. We again got out there early – someone had spent the night on a ball, but otherwise the selection was ours. We had a great time again!! This time we went further from the boat into the shallow area. We also used Izzy the ISUP as our safety board and we ran Pete’s old floating line as our safety line. This worked well. We spent over an hour but again it was getting crowded, and the excursion boats were wanting to tie up to us… we wanted no part of that!! So, we got situated and took off.
Friday (Jan 7th) was more errands and Stew cleaned the compost toilet.
Saturday (Jan 8th) it was rainy with high winds so we stayed on the boat, made water and watched some “Hannah” episodes.
Sunday (Jan 9th) I wasn’t feeling great but we ran a few errands in the morning, Stew worked on the teak, and I rested.
