With the boat back in the water, we took the trailer back to the storage unit this morning. After struggling with the gate lock (someone had put the lock on backwards... which looks right side up, but you can't see the numbers on the bottom of the lock... and it is a giant pain in the ass... but, laying on the ground with a flashlight and magnifiers took care of that) for about 20 minutes, we got in. The property owner is making a new road to the storage units, and it is still a work in progress; would have been a very muddy mess if it had been raining... but, it wasn't... and I'm digressing again.
We backed the motorhome out and put the boat trailer in...
Joan decided to sweep out the unit...
I was in the driver's seat of the motorhome, waiting to pull it in, when I heard a shriek! Then, Joan chasing something with the broom and dispatching whatever it was with a stomp of the foot. I asked, "Palmetto bug?"
She replied, "A big hairy spider!" I haven't seen any tarantulas here, but the Texas brown tarantula is found here. I can neither confirm nor deny, as it got swept out.
Heading for home, we picked up some lunch and discussed taking the boat out. It has been away for 11 days for the bottom paint, and we are both ready for a little time on the water. The fly (spider?) in the ointment: the wind is blowing about 20, with higher gusts.
"Maybe it will be less when we get back to the coast?"
Nope. Still out of the south, still blowing like stink. We can get a little protection from our island, so we decided to just "poke our nose out there" to get on the boat. Heading out our canal...
Water looks pretty calm there, huh? The canal opens to the southeast, so there is some protection with this direction of wind.
A sign heading out the next canal...
The wording underneath is: "please don't make waves." Pretty good philosophy, even when not on the water. ;-)
Most of the birds were hunkered down...
Coming out of the protection of the canal and into the ICW, there was sloppy chop...
Yes, those are building whitecaps in this protected area. I'm guessing we won't be going too far. Joan moved up to the bow to level us out as we made slow progress...
One has to make fashion choices when boating. Going into the wind, should I let the hat flip down so it covers my eyes, or let it flip up and look like Gomer?
Gomer, it is! We motored to the turning basin, hoping to see more wildlife, but only birds hunkered down. I timed our rotation with the waves and took us east northeast, with the wind mostly at our back. Cruising by our island...
We turned north past the Homeland Security/Border Protection office, and by a marina there - looks like this boat owner is not having a good day...
If not for the lines, I think it would be further underwater. Sad.
More shrimpers in for the holidays...
This one is getting some work done on the stern...
Those boats live a pretty tough life; the guys on the raft were doing some welding. Back into the ICW, then down the canals to our house. It wasn't a long cruise; wasn't a particularly dry cruise (spray)... but, we both enjoyed being out.
The wind is going to be building the next couple days. It got to around 80º today; supposed to be warmer tomorrow. Then, the cold winter system that is kicking butt up north will drop our temps into the 40s... just in time for Steph and Dan's arrival. Of course.
;-)
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