Thursday's
fierce winds ushered in Friday's storms at Old Port Cove. Clay and I planned
the day accordingly. OPC is one of only a handful of marinas with an exercise
room where I spent a bit of the morning on the elliptical, chatting with Nicole
(Joy), a Canadian boater on her way to the Bahamas. Later morning, I summoned
the courage to attempt a highlight and cut at nearby Elegance Salon. I highly
recommend Cheryl, but, of course, there's a story here (my luck with hair
stylists on the Loop is...well, not exactly legendary...but entertaining).
Making comment as I departed the salon that I loved the cut and color but might
need the bangs a bit shorter, Cheryl encouraged me to pop back by on our return
trip from Ft. Lauderdale, and she'd tweak them should I desire her to do so.
By
late afternoon, returning from Publix in the spritz (I'd abandoned the umbrella
in favor of more grocery-toting ability), I stopped back by Elegance, knowing
that my bangs needed that tweak. Another hairdresser offered to trim the bangs
in Cheryl's absence, saying she owed Cheryl a favor. Well, maybe she did Cheryl
a favor, but no favor did she do me! As she combed my bang area into a ponytail
peak on top in some fashion of a unicorn's horn or rooster's comb, one decided
debilitating scissors snip tells it all! "Oh, that's not exactly what I
had in mind," I thought. Life's an adventure, right? Without even looking
at the results, I'd knew I'd be back to see Cheryl!
I returned to the boat to find our evening guests Del and Portia Richter had already arrived. In the 'real' world, I would have
been embarrassed not to be ready to welcome company; but, the boaters' world
seems to be defined by maybe a different set of standards so I'm realizing. If
errands are necessary and legs are the only means of transportation, then time
becomes a variable of a different sort. And, don't forget women and their bad
hair days! There's a different definition of 'bad hair' on a boat, but my 'do
maxed out the Richter scale!
Thank
goodness my return to Elegance was sooner rather than later. As I entered the
salon Saturday morning prior to our departure south, Cheryl's look at me said
it all; her comment, "I see what you mean," reinforced her look. Enuf
about hair...
Saturday
late morning brought a marina crew for a pump out followed by our preparation
for departure toward Del Ray Marina. Extreme winds heightened my stress level
and encouraged Clay to check weather. I breathed a sigh of relief when we
aborted our departure with Clay noting red masses dotting the radar screen,
further emphasized by the weather radio emitting lightning and 55 mph wind
warnings. Clay checked lines and tied additional ones to stabilize and secure
us, and we busied ourselves with housekeeping chores while awaiting Howard
Greene's early evening arrival for wine, a boat tour and dinner at nearby
Sandpiper's Cove. What a treasure we have in this dear friend from home!
I commented to Howard how thrilled Doris would be for him to be aboard,
if even for a short time. And, further, how much it meant to me each time Doris
told me how proud she was of me for doing this Loop!
Sunday
morning's scheduled departure went without a hitch; we motored toward Ft.
Lauderdale, putting in a long travel day and anchoring at Lake Santa Barbara as
the sun set (a bit late for my liking). During Sunday's run, we fought for
position among the mosquitoes (a 'fond' name among Loopers for the little
boats) and bigger vessels awaiting bridge timed openings which are numerous
along this stretch of the ICW. Clay did a superb job holding his/our own in the
traffic; I am continually amazed of the naivety of boaters as to the
maneuverability of larger vessels: "We can't turn on a dime" nor
"Stop at a moment's notice!"
With
leftovers on the menu for Sunday night, Clay and I retired for the night with
the boat swinging around the set anchor with wind and current in opposition. It
left me wondering 'who' would win. Just prior to lights out, I reminded Clay of
our previous anchoring experience where middle-of-the-night toilet flushing
didn't bode well for the CO sensors nor for a restful night's sleep. He was
oblivious as to what I was referencing. Well, at 2:20 a.m., he was no longer
oblivious! Once again, the PROBLEM reared its ugly head. Of course it would;
we'd done nothing to remedy the problem, so...duh? A groaning flush was
followed by blinking CO lights and alarms. Oh joy! Oh joy! And, another item to
add to the ongoing fix-it list.
In
anticipation of an early anchor pull, I hurried through my daily exercise
routine and Nordic Tracking only to find the captain deeply absorbed in
trouble-shooting Sunday night's problem. Keeping my mouth shut (not always an
easy assignment for me), I mentally questioned the logic of Clay's
trouble-shooting while afloat (well, we'll hopefully ALWAYS be afloat) in the
middle of a body of water rather than in port where emergency help would be
more readily available. He soon realized the problem was out of the realm of fixing
at sea, so we transacted an easy anchor pull and motored up the New River to
our next docking station for a few days, Las Olas Riverfront Marina (City),
where the dockmaster assigned a face dock position on the prison side of the
river, not on the Las Olas Boulevard side. Really? Not to worry...only a short
bridge crossing away! I guess we were paying the same per foot price for the
'low rent district.' While Clay checked resources for available electricians, I
hoofed it around the block, passing the city jail, the courthouse and a Publix
to acquaint myself with the area. A shower, glass of wine, then
cross-the-bridge trek to Cheesecake Factory for dinner completed our Monday.
I'm continually amazed that Clay is so very well acquainted with all of these
various areas of Florida; he knew there was a Cheesecake Factory close by as
well as a restaurant called City Tavern where we'd met a
John's-college-friend-turned-FLL-Aetna-Rep for a glass of wine multi years ago.
Tuesday
was a mostly-wasted day, awaiting the 8:30 a.m. electrician who arrived
at 1 p.m. to install a new 180# port battery to remedy our
toilet-flush-CO-sensor-alarm problem. See how I spend money on Las Olas Blvd?
Once the task was completed, we bid adieu to SaSea Sally, left her in the
semi-secured(?) harbor of the Nu River Landing condo complex, and made way
toward 9240 with Woody and Mary Ellen for a few days of hospitality in his
home.
As
we land-cruise toward Plantation, I again bid you a fond farewell until our
aqua adventure resumes.
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