Summer time, and the livin' is HOT!

After traversing the Mississippi River in the coldest of winters I promised myself I would never again complain about the heat , so I am not complaining, but I will say .... it HOT.... really hot. So hot the water is hot, the dock burns my feet, it gets up to 90 degrees sometimes. I know those readers living in other climates are thinking to themselves "I wish it was only 90 around here", but this ain't there, this is the Keys, it's supposed to be sunny and cool in the summer too.

Some Arkie friends are visiting for the next few days, they have never been to the ocean before and got a chance to stay with me for a bit, the owner of the house is really enjoying their company and insists on spoiling them. This gave me an excuse to pull everything out of the boat and clean her throughly, it's the first time since Oct 2009 that she has been this clean, I also slapped a coat of fresh paint on her so she looks sharp. There have been lots of firsts for my guests, first time on an airplane for one, first time at the ocean for two and first time sailing for all three of them. The shake down sail on Waltzing Matilda was more of an exercise in ghosting in 5kt wind, but that is better than taking them out during high wind and bouncy seas. Today they got to see their first manatee, a young manatee with no screw marks on it's back swam up the canal and hung around for a while, we took photos and swam with the creature in the canal. It was a first for me, the first time I have swam near a wild manatee. Such docile and playful creatures, I would dive and roll over, it would dive and roll over, it was curious about me, one of the girls swam above it and petted it for a bit then hung on while it took her for a ride around the canal. I think the manatees are very empathic, it knew we meant it no harm and was completely at ease with humans touching it and playing with it, and unlike fish and sharks the warm blooded eyes look warm and friendly.

It was good to take Waltzing Matilda out for a sail, Ive been on power boats too much lately, I miss the simplicity and peace of cruising slowly along with no worries. I hope there are no big storms coming here, I don't want to worry, but I do have a hurricane plan.

till next time dear readers,
Nate and Mattie