Earplugs and my white noise fan kept the shoreside music at bay and it was a calm night. That led to a less than calm early morning. A bit of a swell has set in and every couple of minutes the boat gets into a harmonic rolling that appears quickly and disappears just as quickly. Although I want to work aboard, I might postpone the start until later when the winds hopefully pickup again.
Morning
I went ashore to the SMYC for a breakfast coffee and omelet back on Terra Firma. I was there shortly after 08:00 and was surprise at how busy the place was, and how high the client percentage that was drinking something alcoholic was. Everything from Bloody Mary drinks, which I’ve come to expect to see; to beers and mixed drinks. It is a vacation and holiday location, but many of those I saw didn’t look like tourists but more like locals.
I spent 2 hours making a shopping and repair list. My optimism sank with each added line item. Each one represented either an expensive replacement part, or a length/difficult installation, or a heavy grocery item. When I finally dragged myself from the SMYC I walked to the Ocean Explorers dive shop and purchased a used Scuba Pro BCD for about half the price of a new one. I’ve got it aboard now, but the rolling is preventing me from trying it out.
I had taken some pictures ashore and wanted to load them, but missed hitting the “import” button in Lightroom. And I’ve discovered that the Windows message “Are you sure you want to delete these files? This action cannot be undone” is not a bluff…
This makes me think of 1980’s computer error message haiku:
File that big? . . . It might be very useful . . . But now it is gone.
Three things are certain . . . Death, taxes, and lost data . . . Guess which has occurred.
At least the images weren’t that important and not worth me finding an undelete package on the internet, check it for malware and install it – then restore my 4 files and delete the software prior to an in-depth Virus scan. Some of those innocuous seeming free internet helper programs can contain a gift that just keeps on giving.
Noon
The winds and waves remained obtrusive enough to prevent me from cleaning the hull. I did work a lot on getting the new logbook format page working and will tweak the layout later on today. I’ve already downloaded the KML files with my tracks and prepared the buttons/popup windows. That means that once the layout is finalized then adding the tracks to the page should be fast and effortless. I’m sure there’s a Haiku for that naïve statement as well.
Happy Hour and Dinner
My arrival at the SMYC for the 5 o’clock opening was just in time, but the opening was uneventful with just one catamaran transiting. I met some fellow cruisers (Shelly and Brian) with a giant Schnauzer named Moses and we decided to walk to Buccaneer’s for dinner and some live music.
Unfortunately the live music element was missing, but it was still good company and a great sunset coupled with a tasty meal. The dog was a great attraction for young and old alike. From the awed voice of a small girl exclaiming “He’s HUUUGE” while looking up at him, to our server wanting to get a photo-op.
We stumbled back to the SMYC dinghy dock and went our separate ways, they returned to their rented rooms (their boat is being repaired on the hardstand), and I to Zanshin. My grand plans to work aboard today had come to naught.