I decided to get the laundry action item off my list first thing this morning and gathered up our one last load of wash to be done before leaving the marina on the 1st of March. As I went to step off our boat, Jim from Hour Plan, our neighbor to starboard, saw me and said, "I just started two loads!" "Great", I replied sarcastically since there are only two washers at the marina. He laughed. I walked my laundry up to the marina building anyway, so I could put it in queue to be next when he took his out. Then, I came back to our boat to get breakfast.
As I sat down to eat, however, I noticed that a man and his no-more-than-three year old daughter came and stood on the dock behind our boat for quite some time pointing and talking. I thought they had found a fish to admire. It turned out they were looking at the back of our boat.
When I looked out and the man caught my eye, he said, "There's an iguana there." I went out to have a look and was quite shocked to see a rather long, perhaps 4' long, iguana spread out on our swim platform soaking up some rays from the morning sun!
 |
| Leaning over the stern of the boat, I captured a mirror image of the iguana. |
As I looked down at him from inside the boat, he tipped his head and looked back up at me. He was not intimidated at all by my presence.
 |
| He watched me looking at him. |
Folks on our neighboring boat recommended I shoo him away any way possible as quickly as possible and told me how iguanas had gotten into their boat while in storage and clawed up all the covers over the teak on the boat and the teak as well. They offered me a broom, but I already had one handy.
Even when I threatened the iguana with the broom, it was hesitant to leave this prime real estate. It took two swipes of the broom to convince him the water would be safer. He struggled to hold his grip and pull himself back up onto the boat after the first swipe. The second swipe saw him splashing into the water.
Since they are amphibian, I figured it would be able to swim. It positioned its limbs parallel to its body and slithered through the water like a fat snake to a nearby rock under the fixed dock and climbed out of the water to sit there for a while. I wondered how on earth it even managed to get on there in the first place. My friend, Faith, showed me a picture she took of an even larger iguana walking across the grass floating around a boat. I guess they can basically "walk on water".
After the excitement of the iguana, I sat down to eat my now soggy breakfast cereal. As I finished my food, the timer on my phone rang to indicate 30 minutes had passed and the washers should be free soon. I stood up to take a walk back to the laundry room and saw Jim walking up to move his clothes to the dryer. I waited a while and then followed.
Normally a load takes 30 minutes to wash and 40 minutes to dry. Today's, however, took almost 90 minutes to dry since I forgot to push the start button after I pushed in the money. The green light lit up and my brain took that as a signal all was a go. Nope. I came back when my timer rang 40 minutes later to a wet load of wash sitting in the dryer. Fortunately, the timer did not start on the drying time until after the start button got pushed, so I did not have to offer up any additional money to dry the clothes. I have never made that mistake before that I can remember. I hope not to make it again!
When we said goodbye at the Sunset Celebration yesterday evening, Sandy and Kevin from Koastal Karma told us they would stop by this morning to see our new boat. Around 11:00 they came by to check it out, and we gave them a tour.
 |
| We had Kevin and Sandy pose for a picture. |
 |
| And then Sandy took one of the two of us. |
They knew we had a lunch date today, so they did not stay long. Shortly after they left, Jim and Faith from Third Degree came by to collect us for our lunch at Lazy Days South.
 |
| Jim and Faith from Third Degree |
After a leisurely and very enjoyable lunch, we headed back to the boat. My only agenda item for the rest of the day was to collect the rental car at 4:00 for our road trip tomorrow. Clark, however, decided he wanted to go learn more about solar panels at S.A.L.T., and Kenny from Daybreak planned to join him to see what he could learn as well.
These two objectives conflicted with each other as, by the time Clark was ready to go to S.A.L.T., it was already well after 3:00. Clark decided we should all go, Kenny included, to pick up the rental car first. Then the two of them could go directly to S.A.L.T., and I could return to the boat. That's what we ended up doing, and it worked out well. I deviated from the plan after we went our separate ways, however, as I stopped at the produce stand and Home Depot on the way back to the boat - both spur-of-the-moment decisions.
For a day that I thought would be laid back and casual, it had more agenda items than a day at work. Earlier in the day, Jo Ann from Namaste texted Clark to ask if we could join folks at the marina for docktails at 5:00. Of course, we said yes, but with my shopping stops and Clark's visit to S.A.L.T., we barely made it back to the boat before it was time to go to the party.
Several boats are preparing to depart. Tonight was a farewell docktails for those of us leaving the marina. Lone Star gets underway tomorrow. We and Shell Belle head out on Wednesday. It is bittersweet to be pulling out. On the one hand, I am ready to be moving again. On the other, I will miss these great people that I have become so dear to me.
 |
| Shell Belle at Faro Blanco Marina |
 |
| Crane hunting for dinner |
 |
| Stretching out for a better look |
We had plenty of people and lots of good people food for our docktails party.
 |
| Just a very few of the docktails attendees: Mandy from Shell Belle, Jo Ann and Jim from Namaste, Kenny and Jeanne from Daybreak, and A.C. from Hour Plan |
Although I have seen her boat here since we arrived on February 1st, I had not met Karen from Sixty Eighty until tonight. She and her husband Terry have lived aboard their boat for 12 years. Karen and I had a nice long chat which included an explanation of her boat's name. If the weather is below 60 or above 80 degrees, it is time to move on!
Docktails lasted until 7:00 or so and then it was time to come back to the boat and prepare dinner, eat, and wrap up a very busy day with the blog update. Tomorrow, we get to sit in cars, and hopefully not too much traffic, all day long as we pre-position our own car to a spot along our path back to New Jersey.
No comments:
Post a Comment