Lazy days and busy days

Posted on by Maggie Selo

I had intended to post every other day, but warm weather and sunshine has turned me into a very lazy writer!

The past several days have been consumed with Rich trying to figure out two nagging boat issues. One involved a non functioning bilge bump for the guest shower and sink. He thought it was a faulty float switch, but replacing it didn’t solve the problem. Next, he replaced the pump. Still non functioning. It was a simple matter to unhook each of those and replace, but when that didn’t work, he was stumped. After many swear words and lots of time wasted, he started unhooking all the wires connecting everything, only to discover there were wires not connected to anything! Eventually he figured out how to wire everything back together correctly and we now have a functioning bilge pump!

So on to the next problem – a dinghy lift that didn’t work. Again, he had checked everything, saw no apparent loose connections, etc., changed the batteries in the remote, and it still didn’t work. After several calls, emails, and texts with several people, he finally got a YouTube video from the installer about how to jumpstart the motor that operated the hydraulics. When he opened up the cover to jumpstart he discovered a hidden connection that was loose. He tightened it and voila! our dinghy lift works perfectly!

We celebrated Rich’s achievements (without having to pay $$$) with a very nice bubbly!

On our lazy days this is what we see from our boat

Looked like a picnic one day!
This boat came in after dark and missed the channel. Fortunately the rocks didn’t puncture the hull and TowBoat US was able to pull it off later that day.

We went exploring one day, found the only beach ( where I neglected to take any photos), and stopped by a local fish place for a late lunch. You order at a counter and find a spot at a picnic table over the water while you wait for your name to be called – or you go upstairs to the bar, grab a drink while you wait, and have this view.

We ordered lobster reubens and as strange as it sounds, they were actually quite delicious!
We’ve seen historical markers in lots of places, but this one on the wall at the fish market was one of the most unusual.
Taken from the stern of our boat, I love how the palm tree is lit up!

Yesterday we drove to Key West. It’s about an hour drive from our marina, over lots of bridges, including the 7 mile bridge. It’s mind boggling to think of what it took to build all the bridges connecting the keys from mainland Florida all the way to Key West. Many of the bridges have parking areas just before the start of the bridge, with a pedestrian bridge alongside the main bridge so people can fish. Fishing is such a popular thing down here that Publix has a freezer section at the end of one freezer aisle that’s filled with frozen chum and other baits.

We have arrived!
We had a very delicious lunch at this place.
There were chickens and roosters everywhere – this one was wandering around our table at lunch.
And this one was perched on the wall by the post office
This was a huge kapok tree in front of the county courthouse – sometimes it feels like you’re in a land of giants.
At the start of the trip, I had two places I wanted to see – the quilt museum in Paducah KY and this marker in Key West – mission accomplished! This is such a populat tourist attraction that there is a line to get up to it for a photo op – it took us at least 15 minutes to get up to it. Amazingly, there’s no one trying to take your picture by it for a fee. It seems to be one of the few free things on Key West.
Kilwin’s is one of our favorite ice cream places in Saugatuck, so when I saw that there’s a Kilwin’s in Key West, we had to stop for some Key Lime ice cream – quite tasty!
Mallory Square is supposed to be the place to be at sunset, with all kinds of street musicians, jugglers, etc. but it was so cool and windy that we decided we will have to come back on a warmer day to witness that.
I never thought of Key West as a cruise ship destination until we saw this next to Mallory Square.
On our way out of town – don’t know the guy in the lower right hand corner – didn’t realize he was in it until I looked at the photos last night.
Want to go fishing? This looks like a good spot to find a boat for that.
Today we went grocery shopping – it’s a good thing I didn’t buy any more that needed refrigeration!

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