Reservations...

So, we go into a nice restaurant and the maitre d' says, "Do you have reservations?"

"A few, but we thought we'd give it a try anyway."  (rimshot)

It's an old joke; I'm an old guy.

Today, Joan and I sat down and visited about what we'd like to do this summer.  We are alike in our thinking.  Since we'd like to be in one place for a while, rather than traveling every couple of days, we made a reservation.  We'll build around that.

So, we'll be heading north.  Easy guess, since anywhere you're going in the Continental US means you have to head north from here.

Maps.  A general area.  With a goal of: a place we enjoy, some good scooter roads, and cooler.  Yeah, you may be thinking: "Isn't it incredibly hot in the Tropical Tip in the summer?"

Well, it is hot, but not "incredibly."  Low to mid-90s, most of July and August, but the humidity can get into the OMG category.  So, some bigger numbers on the latitude and elevation.

That's it for the "details" until we get closer.

I was looking at Facebook this morning, and it showed me a "memory" from 3 years ago... we had already started our trek north, heading to the Pacific Northwest via stops at Branson, MO, and the Winnebago factory in Forest City, IA.  Those aren't on the agenda this time around.

Project and some boat stuff...

Joan has been working on another quilt - cute fabrics, including some guitar and cat stuff.  She downplays what she makes, but I think this is really nice...

More detail work to go.

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This morning, I sent this photo to my kid, to show her how furry Rufus has gotten since she has last seen him...

With her two Siberian Forest Cats, she knows FURRY - Rufus isn't close to that, but he has come a long ways since we first rescued him.

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The boat stuff...

Late this morning, we took John and Ruth out for some hands-on with Cool Change.  They haven't owned a boat before and would like to get a pontoon the size of ours.  We tried for yesterday, but Mother Nature blessed us with a gentle rain.  Today was overcast and breezier, but a good time to see how the boat handles that.

I drove the boat out the canal, then let John take the helm for a while.  Taking things slowly, I had him go forward, turn both directions, pick something on-shore to head towards - he did fine with it.  Then, time for Ruth to get some helm experience...

We even saw a couple dolphins while maneuvering in the turning basin...

I figured an hour or so of explaining boat things and giving them both some time to try it, we headed back in.  At the dock, we visited for a bit, then said our good-byes.  I think they have a bit more understanding about what all is involved with this, and said they'd take my advice to take a class and learn more.

When I came into the house, Joan said, "Would you like me to make some sandwiches for lunch and we'll head back out on the boat?"

"Absolutely."  I really enjoy our time together on the boat... and, food.

I went back to the boat to get it set up for just us two, while she made lunch.  "Food delivery!"

The wind was blowing around 16, but the temperature was in the mid-70s.  Nice to be out and about...

We at our lunch while heading to the ship channel, planning to run east.  We saw a lone dolphin watch boat before that, but decided to let them have 'em to themselves.

This guy had the marker all to himself...

Then, our first view of some dolphins...

We had 4 or 5 - they were more interested in feeding than checking us out...

Listening to the commercial whale watch folks on the VHF, it didn't sound like anyone was seeing much activity.  We enjoyed having these to ourselves, including quite a few views of this Mom and baby...

You have to look close to the first and third images above - baby face!

We enjoyed cruising around, then headed for home.

Rufus was waiting for us - I think he was a bit miffed that he didn't get to go out today...

A schedule...

A guy came to our door early this week.  Not selling anything (we don't get that in our gated community), but he said he was thinking about getting a boat like ours and asked if we could share our experience with it.  We visited for a bit and I took him down to the boat.  He doesn't have much boating experience and was wondering if a boat the size of ours would be safe and good to learn on.

"A boat is only as safe as the person running it."

He offered to pay for fuel if I'd be willing to take him and his wife out sometime.  I recall all my concerns about a pontoon boat before we got ours.  We were supposed to go out this morning, but Mother Nature had other plans: what was supposed to be "occasional drops" started out as a light sprinkle around 8:00 and has turned into a very nice, gentle rain.  Not the more typical wind and rain that seem to go together here.  We can use the moisture.

I called him this morning to let him know that we wouldn't be going out.  He asked, "How about tomorrow?"

"That's kinda up to Mother Nature, but we'll see how it plays out."  I don't miss having a schedule on a boat.

This is the third couple who has stopped at our house to ask about our boat.  The two previous couples both bought SunTrackers.

Come to think about it, that is how we met friends Herb and Wilma years ago, when Herb came to our door to ask about our C-Dory.  I took them out for their first experience with a cabin boat, including a real world use of GPS and radar when the visibility went down.  Yeah, we didn't let a bit of rain stop us from taking Wild Blue out... not quite the same with Cool Change, since is very much an open boat.  ;-)

Beach baby, beach baby...

Joan has been working on a quilt project, I spent some time playing her* guitar.  No boat, no scoots today.  We went out for a late lunch over on the island.  Before heading back to our island, we took a drive by the beach - beautiful emerald color to the water today...

With the breeze out of the northeast today, I expected more wave action.  Wind around 15 mph, and a few kite surfers taking advantage of that.  We watched a ship head out, and just enjoyed the scenery.  The Friday traffic was getting thicker on our drive back across the causeway.

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* Regarding "Joan's guitar": no she doesn't play.  Right after I bought my Taylor 814, we came upon a deal too good to pass up on this Taylor T5.  I couldn't justify getting another guitar, so Joan said, "This one is mine... but, I will let you play it."  Very nice of her.  The T5 is an electric thin hollowbody.  It plays and sounds great.  I haven't had this one out of the case in a while; I'll work it into "the rotation."

A new technique for dolphin watching...

And, it really, really works!

We were only out for about an hour and a half - had an amazing dolphin experience.  Not saying that lightly, as we've had some pretty special dolphin experiences here in our home waters.

As we got ready to head out, Rufus was making a lot of noise... it may have been, "Don't leave!" but I took it as: "Take me along!"  I had the engine running when we brought him down to the boat in his carrier.  Heading out our canal...

He likes to look around.  He also re-discovered the storage cubby under the helm...

Checking out the view from the front gate...

Sitting between us...

Joan moved his carrier and left the door open, in case he wanted to go in there - nope, on it, instead...

Yes, this was all before we got out of our canals.  Out into the ICW...

We haven't seen this in quite a while...

A shrimper intentionally run aground on the west side of our island.  They do this to get the boat ready to head into the Gulf, sometimes sort out any mechanical issues before getting too far away from the dock.  We used to see it regularly, but they don't have to raft up 3 deep at their docks since the fleet has dwindled.  They can take their time.

Not far behind the shrimper, we had our first dolphin sighting...

It wasn't long before we had them swimming all around the boat...

Oops - too close to get them in the frame...

Rufus could sense something was up, and came out from his spot under the helm...

The dolphins seemed to be curious about this noisy cat...

Rufus wasn't sure about them, but they seemed to enjoy him.  Did I mention: all around the boat?

Nice face...

A Mother and baby...

Too close again...

This is my idea of "face time"...

This boy has some scars on his back...

Tails...

Underwater next to the boat...

No, this is not a manatee...

A smiling face...

All this less than two miles from our dock.  Rufus wasn't freaked out... but, he was vocal much of the time.

Heading back in our canal...

We did put him in the carrier for the last 30 seconds before getting to our dock.  Again, no "Let me outta here!" when we opened the carrier - Joan walked him across the dock and up the stairs.  I'm thinking we'll be able to leave the carrier behind next time.  Maybe.  He did just fine again today - Joan and I are both convinced that the dolphins were more curious than usual.

Hey, dolphins!  This is Rufus!

:-)