HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN, JIGGITY JIG!

So we do get water hooked up right away and I go turn on the heater. While I wait, I start dinner; chicken, mashed potatoes and carrots. Jake and Nancy have left to drop Bob off at home and then pick up Jake’s car at the Pet Resort. Before he left, Bob gave me a big hug and said he had really enjoyed getting to know me and hoped I'd had a good time in Florida. I tell him that this trip and the snorkeling trip he took me on were the highlights and thank him for taking me out on the water. He thanks me for rescuing him from falling in the water earlier today. He says he totally over-reacted but he was really afraid that he might get run over by the houseboat. I tell him he had a risk of getting crushed between the hull and the dock, the way things were going. He blanches and says he hadn't thought of that.

When Jake and Nancy get back, dinner is pretty much ready and so we eat. Then I get my much longed for shower and I finish off with a cool water rinse. It feels fabulous but the trouble with doing that is, the heat hits you that much harder when you towel off. But it is worth it.

There is a gorgeous sunset and I grab my camera and take some shots of it. It's one of the nicest since getting here and it's like a going away present for me from Florida.

I dry my hair and then try to figure out how to get the blow dryer and the rest of my stuff into my bags. They are literally bursting at the seams but I manage to find just enough space. I put the blow dryer in my carry-on. I decide to haul the heaviest suitcase out to the car. I have been a bit worried about lugging it from the boat to the dock but they are butting up against each other almost level and it’s a piece of cake. Lifting it into the backseat of the car isn’t quite so easy but I get it in and slam the door. One down, one to go.

I get dressed in the outfit I will wear to go home and then sit in the main salon and think I will watch some TV with Jake but he is sitting there watching the Direct TV logo bounce around a black screen. Apparently the dish is not pointing in the right direction, now that we have moved, and so he can’t pick up the signal. I can’t believe he is sitting there, out of habit I guess, watching a logo. He is drunk and so in a mood to regale me with stories again. Some I have heard already but I just let him talk. He has a good laugh over poor Bob hanging onto the side of the boat; he has brought it up at least 8 times throughout dinner and the evening. He asks me a strange question. “As a WOMAN, what was going through your mind when I told you the cleat was at your feet and you saw it?” “The one I picked up, you mean?” “Yeah.” “I thought, he can’t mean this but it’s the only one I can see.” He shakes his head. “What a blond moment.” he declares. “Umm, I hope you realize I wasn’t serious. It was meant for comedy relief.” He doesn’t say anything.

Eventually he heads off to get some sleep and I stay up and read. At about 1a.m. Nancy gets up to see why the light is on. I guess it is bothering her so I turn it off and watch the electrical storm over the everglades for a bit and then go to my room. It’s looking very bare now. There is just my purse, my straw hat, and my backpack. I lie down on the bed and read for a bit and then turn off the light and nap. I doze in and out of consciousness, listening to the wind howl and rock the boat, until 3 a.m. when I get up and put some makeup on for the first time in two weeks. It’s not hot inside and just nice and warm outside and I will be in a climate controlled atmosphere for the rest of the day so I figure it won’t slide of my face in 15 minutes like it has been doing. Once that is done, I try to wake Jake, who moved into the salon and is dead to the world on the couch. I can’t rouse him. This is the guy who told me last night that he ‘just has to talk to himself about what time to get up when he lies down and that’s it, he wakes right on time.’ Ya, right. I decide to haul my remaining suitcase out to the car and when I go to the back deck, the boat has shifted in the wind and now the small cement dock is to the far port-side of the stern. Fortunately I can still step off ok because it has become wedged hard between the boat and the land. The wind has whipped the water into a foamy chop all around the back deck and the water splashes over the carpet. I roll my pants up to my knees and wrangle the bag off the boat and onto land. I try to watch for poisonous frogs and any other critters that like to come out in the dark. It's hard to see much but there is a powerful light on the neighbouring property about a hundred feet away and so it isn't pitch black out. I don't see anything moving. This suitcase is much easier to get into the car. I go back for my backpack and once that is in, I have to try to wake Jake again.

I loom over him and poke his shoulder, “JAKE!” I say loudly. His breathing changes. This is progress. I repeat the process and his breathing quiets. I repeat one last time and he wakes up with a laugh, of all things. “Hehehe… I was right out of it there.” he says. “It’s time to get up, we need to get going.” I say. It is now 3:35 and I wanted to leave at 3:30, as in - driving away. Nancy has heard us and gets up to make Jake a cup of tea to take in his thermos cup. By the time we are in the car and pulling out, it’s 3:45. Jake say’s it takes an hour and a half to get to Fort Lauderdale Airport. My flight leaves at 6:30 and I want to be there no later than 5:00. He says I don’t need to be there ‘till 5:30. That is shaving it too close for me, thus my wanting to leave at 3:30. Looks like we have split the difference.

He moseys on at a leisurely pace, going 40 in a 55. At this rate it will take two hours to get there and I start to worry. He picks up the pace a bit but the whole way there he keeps dropping way below the speed limit and then, eventually, getting back up just to drop back down almost right away. I am on pins when the clock reads 5:30 and there is no airport in sight. Not even a sign on the freeway saying the airport is ahead.

Eventually those signs start to appear and the road divides repeatedly and more than once I have to call out, “You need to be in that lane there!” Or “You have to exit here.” “Where?” “There, coming up on the right. Now. NOW!” I can finally see the airport on our right and the exit for it is clearly marked as right ahead. The two far right lanes both exit and he is in the left one, which also leads to a second exit. He misses the exit we need and now we are headed onto a different highway, despite my calling out, “You need to go right. You need to BE OVER THERE. Great, you missed it.” He gets annoyed. “Maybe you should drive.” “No, I just want to get to the airport and we are short on time.” It is now 5:40. He, once again, takes this opportunity to say, “I don’t know how you think you could go sailing. You can’t handle a bit of a problem without panicking.” I want to tell him to sod off but I say nothing. He takes the next exit and now we are on a normal street. He turns right at the first light and it’s a private road leading into some sort of work-yard with a big security gate. He pulls a U turn and when we get back to the light I see a sign that says to turn left for the airport. I tell him to turn left and, thankfully, he does. I keep my eyes peeled for more signs for the airport and eventually, with me telling him when to turn, we get there. He asks me which terminal I am going to and I have just seen the sign that lists them and they are color-coded. I quickly pull out my E-ticket but there is nothing on it about what terminal. Jake has just seen a sign for Continental Airlines and so follows the yellow signs. I tell him to get in the far right lane for departures but he stays where he is and we go down a level to arrivals. It is now almost 5:54 and I am really worried. He stops at the Continental sign and I jump out to go find a cart for my bags. When I get inside, the place is deserted except for a big guy in an orange shirt waking towards where I am. I see the baggage carts but they cost $4 in coins and I don’t have any change. I practically accost the poor fellow and beg him to help me. I tell him that the person who drove me missed the exit for departures and I need to get up there as soon as possible. He asks where I am flying to, I tell him and he knows my flight number. I tell him I don’t have the change for the carts. He asks me where my bags are and I tell him they are outside still. I walk to the doors and he comes with me. When we get out there, Jake has literally dumped my bags all over the sidewalk. They are upside down, on end, and my backpack, which contains my laptop, is lying on its side. I don’t think of it right then as all I am concerned with is getting to the check-in desk but later I wonder if he tossed my bags and if my computer will be ok. Gladly, when I get on my flight in Houston, I get it out and turn it on and its working fine. Jake is getting back in his car and I am sure would have just driven off and left them there, but he sees me and asks, “Do you have everything now?” I say that I do. He gets in the car and drives of without so much as a good-bye. I was planning to give him something for gas and tolls. Oh well.

The big guy takes both of my large bags and lifts them. I tell him they have wheels and he drags them inside and to the elevator. I follow behind pulling my backpack, which is also on wheels. When we get to the check-in the line-up isn’t too long and I am relieved to see it. The fellow drops my bags right in front of the desks. I thank him profusely and press $2 into his hand. He doesn’t want to take it but I insist and tell him I wish it were more, as he has been a hero, but it's all the small bills I have. He takes it and leaves and I wait my turn to check in.

I am soon called up to the ticket desk and then the agent promptly walks away and leaves me standing there. I look down and realize that I need to check myself in on the computer that is there. It takes two tries as it won't read my passport but it finally works. Once that is over and I pay for just one overweight bag, even though the other was one pound over but she let it go, I head back downstairs to security. I hate this part. I have to go through the line with the thing that puffs air at you and I don’t like that either. It always makes me jump when it goes off. Then when I go through the metal detector, I set it off. I forgot I had my cell phone in my pocket. I take it out and go through again. All is good. Well, not so fast. They are looking at the x-ray of my backpack and see something they don’t like. They call a guy over and he asks whose bag it is. I say it’s mine and he takes it and me over to a table to go through it. He opens it up, removes a couple of things, pokes around at what is left and then puts it all back together. That was easy.

When I get to my gate, which is close to security for once, they are already boarding and have just called my row. I walk right up and, once my pass is checked, right onto the plane. That is a first for me. Usually I am there 2 to 3 hours before boarding. I hate being stressed out with last minute rushing and so never, ever check in less than 3 hours before my flight, and more often 4. I really wanted to buy a bottle of water as I am parched but there was no time. When I get settled into my seat, I am in the back of the plane, second to last row. The drink tray starts right at the front. The couple beside me sip, somewhat smugly it seems to me, on the lattes and waters that they had time to buy before boarding. Ah, well. I am on my way HOME and other than a dry throat, I couldn’t be happier.

I am leaving Florida without seeing Key West or going to Disney World, the only two places I would think to go if I was going to take a vacation here. It seems a shame but, one day, I will come back and do both. With some or all of my kids.

I didn’t get to learn how to sail, or dive either. My whole purpose for coming never happened. But it wasn’t a waste of time. I got to spend time with my cousin who I hadn’t seen for 18 years. I have a fantastic tan and feel very rested. I got to go snorkeling and see everything in perfect clarity, thanks to my prescription mask. I saw dolphins in the wild and experienced the thrill of one swimming with our boat. I made a new friend. And best of all, I had time to think about what is really important to me in this short life and, as I always knew, it’s my kids. Even though I was feeling like my job was done and they didn’t need me anymore, I now know I couldn’t leave them for more than a few months at a time. They mean the world to me and my world without them in it isn’t much of a life. I can't wait to see them.

THE BIG DAY

It’s Tuesday, the big day. I am awake early but don’t want to leave my room just yet so I sit in bed and type up my blog for the past few days. I get carried away and before I know what time it is, Jake knocks on my door and says I better get up. I poke my head out and see on the wall clock that it is 9:30 already. “You have about 20 minutes before we have to get off.” he says. We can’t be on the boat while it is on the lift. I hurriedly dress and grab my camera, phone and water bottle. I down my vitamins and run a comb through my hair and catch it up in some clips. It’s getting really long and I am thinking of going short again when I get home. And blond. Really blond.

We get off the boat and I take pictures as the process of getting the boat off of the supports and lifted begins. It takes a while. I walk out to the dock for a better vantage and look down into the water to see a huge school of Parrot Fish. Looking closer I see a small Ray of some sort as well. He is just sitting there not moving. I take some pictures of the fish and one of the ray and then I take some of the boat as it is driven to the water and lowered in. The houseboat looks so much smaller once it is in the water. It's weird to see it that low. They turn off the big rig’s motor and everyone walks away. I turn back to the water and look for more fish, and there are lots of them and I snap some more pictures

Sam, the owner of the boatyard calls out to me and asks where Jake is. I say I don’t know, that I thought he was over with him. “No. That cheque he gave me, the bank says there isn’t any funds.” “Sorry, I don’t know anything about it,” I say, “I am just visiting.” “Oh.” he says and walks back to the rig, fires it up, and lifts the boat back out of the water and lets it dangle there as he walks away. Ok, that's not good. It’s then I realize that Jake’s car is gone and he has left yet again without telling me and now I have nowhere to go. I can’t go on the boat, obviously, and it’s blazing hot out here with the shade rapidly leaving. I am not happy. I walk down the dock to where the people who live in a small houseboat there have set up a little makeshift bench of breeze-block and a plank. It’s in the shade and I sit down. I check the clock on my phone and it's almost 10 o’clock, which means it’s almost 7 at home. I dial Ashleigh so that I can wish her a happy birthday. I hope I am not waking her. I needn’t have worried as she is on her way to work. We chat for about 20 minutes and she tells me she can’t wait to see me. I feel the same and talking to her just makes me long all the more to get back. I am so glad tomorrow is the day!

Jake comes back while I am on the phone and when I look up after hanging up, he has gone again. Now there is no shade and I am broiling. Half an hour or more ticks slowly by and just as I think I might pass out he pulls in. I tell him Sam was looking for him and he says he knows. “That idiot tried to cash the cheque before we are even out of here.” he says. “I have been back and forth to the bank to sort it out.” “Is it sorted?” I ask. “Yeah.” I ask if that is why Sam took the boat out of the water and he says, “Of course it is. That’s the problem with being a thief; you think everyone else is a thief as well.” Funny because just the other day he was telling me a story about how he used to steal steaks in California, stuffing them down his cowboy boots and inside his jean jacket. He claims he did it so the kids could eat but I don’t think they needed steak. Takes one to know one I guess.

We wait around for 15 minutes or more for the guys to come back and put the boat in the water. When no one shows up and we are both dripping with sweat, he gets in the car. “It’ll be cooler in here.” he says as if I am stupid for not thinking of it myself. “Yeah it will. If it’s running and the air is on.” I reply. “What?” he says. I don’t repeat it. He starts the car and I get in. I have no idea where we might be going but I don’t care. The air is blasting and it feels fabulous and that is all that matters at the moment. He drives up to the yard office and gets out, leaving the car running. As I sit there I notice that there are three buttons on my arm rest and they each have a picture of a car seat on them. Two show waves of heat coming from just the seat on one and then from the seat and back on the other. The third button does not have waves, just a bright sun beside the seat. I push the button and immediately my seat cools right down. Amazing. Before long Jake is back and he tells me that when Sam lifted the boat back out of the water, a lot of water ran out of the bottom. I tell him I didn't notice that. Now Jake is freaking out that the welding job isn't good and the boat leaks. “Why doesn't he come and put the boat back in and take it out so you can see for yourself.” I say. “That’s what he’s gonna do, isn’t it.” he snaps back at me. Okay then. So that is what happens and I stay in the car and watch while there is a lot of talking and arm waving between them. Then Sam goes back to the lift, drops the boat back in the water and starts to maneuver it out of the slip. I turn off the car and get out as it seems wasteful to sit there with it running for so long. The heat hits me like a wall. Jake gets on the boat and one of the yard workers comes to help move the boat to the dock. I watch the slow process of easing out of the slip. Once it is free of the lift it starts to float to the dock and I can see that it is going to hit it. I run down the dock and get there just before the boat does and reach out to try to hold it back but there is no way I have the strength to push it away and it hits with a loud crunch and bounces off. I see that it has smashed one of the lights on the bow and it now dangles in pieces at the end of the wires. Jake runs forward and I say, “You just lost one of your lights.” “Oh, thank you very much. I really wanted that to happen.” he snaps at me. I am way too hot and cranky to take it lying down so say, “Oh, I’d guess you’d rather not know then? Rather I not tell you?” He doesn't reply, just gets the bow rope and holds it out to me. I take it and hand it off to the yard worker who ties it to a cleat and then I notice that the back end is drifting in towards a small dinghy that is tied up to the dock. “Oh no, we are going to hit that boat.” I say. I run back to see if we will clear it "We aren't going to clear it!" I yell, and we don’t as the boat hits with a sickening crunch. The yard worker runs to pull the dinghy out of the way but it is tied up too tight, there is no slack to move it. Somehow we get the houseboat down the dock enough to clear the dinghy and then I grab the stern line and tie it up. Jake gets off and then I see that it’s a bit loose so I go to tighten it up and he grabs it out of my hand. “THIS is how you tie up a boat.” he says and proceeds to do it just as I had. “I know how to tie up a boat.” I say. He scoffs and then yells, “Look at you getting angry because I am showing you the right way to do it. THIS is what you did.” he says and then proceeds to make a mess of it that looks nothing like what I did. “THIS is what you should do.” and then proceeds to do exactly what I did. I just get on board and walk inside.

He leaves again without saying a word and while he is gone I take another look at my luggage situation and hit on a solution of sorts. I am going to be overweight no matter what so I decide to put all the heavy stuff in one bag and therefore have just one overweight bag to pay for. Not ideal but the best I can do. So I set about switching everything around and because we now have no power on the boat and so no air conditioning, I am sweating like a pig. But I am so focused on what I am doing I barely notice. And to think I never used to let myself break a sweat. It seems that is all I have done since getting to Key Largo.

Jake returns in about an hour with Bob, the captain of the dive boat that took us out on Sunday. He helped Jake get the boat to the boatyard 5 weeks ago and now will help to get it back. I am relieved that Jake won’t be doing this on his own.
Bob asks Jake, "Are both motors running?" Apparently they weren't when they brought the boat here; they came the whole way on one engine. Jake replies, "I don't know." and I can see that Bob is not impressed. He shakes his head and grimaces as he heads for the cockpit.

Bob turns the key for the starboard engine and it starts up right away. Twenty seconds later there is a loud constant beep from the console. Bob groans. "Something is wrong with the engine" he says. He turns it off and goes back to where Jake is at the engine. They can’t see anything wrong but Bob thinks maybe it needs oil. Jake takes off to buy some oil. While he is gone Bob tries to fire up the generator but it won’t start. He calls Jake and tells him to pick up some starter fluid.

Jake gets back and they do whatever they need to do and the generator runs fine and now we have power. As for the engine, apparently the connections to the battery were really loose and have now been tightened. Once Jake is out of earshot, Bob shakes his head and comments to me how unprepared for this trip Jake is. Five weeks of sitting high and dry with nothing to do all day, Bob thinks that would have been a great time to check the engines and make sure the genny was running well, not to mention cleaning up all the crap on the decks so that a person could actually get to the ropes without tripping over something. I can't disagree.

Bob starts the starboard engine and the beep starts up again. They can’t figure out why but they decide to go with it. We cast off and Bob is soon yelling that he doesn't have any steering. We bump hard into the dock on the stern. Jake is yelling from back there that we are hard on the dock and Bob yells back that there isn't any steering. He turns off the engine and goes back to see what is up. Jake is yelling something about fluid leaking all over the place from the genny or somewhere. They seem to get that taken care of in about ten minutes and then Bob starts up the engine and tries again. He still doesn’t seem to have steering and Jake is yelling that we are about to hit something. And we do, hard. Bob tells Jake to take the wheel and he goes outside. It isn’t long before he yells, “JAKE!! HELP. QUICK!!!!” He sounds terrified. Jake doesn’t move. “JAKE!! QUICK, GET OUT HERE.” “WHERE ARE YOU?” Jake asks. “PORT SIDE FRONT. HURRY!” Jake doesn’t move. I yell, “HE NEEDS YOUR HELP JAKE, HE'S FRONT PORT SIDE.” I cannot believe that he still isn't moving so I run out onto the front deck. Bob is hanging onto the side of the boat with his fingernails and toenails. The fly screen is zipped up all around and he can’t get in and he is about to fall off. “HURRY!” he screams. I can’t find the zipper head. I reach down but can't feel it and then up but it isn’t there and then down again and find it way at the bottom tight to the hull. I force my hand in and rip the zipper open, flinging the netting out of the way. “GRAB ME!” he yells. I grab his arm thinking that there is no way I can keep this big guy from falling off and I can't see how he is going to be able to step over the railing from where he is without losing his grip. I suddenly see that there is a gate right in front of me in the railing and I yank up the catch and kick it open with my foot. I am still hanging onto Bob for dear life with my right hand. Jake now decides to come out and says “Just step in Bob, for f***s sake.” I pull hard on Bob’s arm and he makes a giant step sideways and falls onto the deck. Meanwhile, the houseboat is drifting and Bob yells “We are about to hit that wall!” and we do with a loud crack and a shudder. Jake runs to the back to push off and I lead Bob inside and he collapses on the couch. He is shaking like a leaf, sweating, and his face is beet red. All that coupled with his laboured breathing has me worried he might be having a heart attack. "Are you ok?" I ask. "No." he says. Ok so now I am really worried. "Are you having chest pain?" I ask. “I’ve hurt my back.” he says. I ask if he wants something for it but he doesn’t. “This is a disaster.” I say.

After a minute or two of rest, he gets up and takes the wheel again. Apparently it was just a spasm and he is fine now. Jake yells from the back that we are about to bottom out. We have drifted into the shallows. Bob is pulling forward and Jake yells that the props are hitting the bottom. Bob yells back that they aren’t, it’s just really shallow and it’s kicking up silt from the bottom. Jake comes in and says, “Then why did I hear thumping?” Bob hands the wheel over to Jake and tells him to guide the boat out to sea by keeping the sticks on the port-side and the boeys on starboard to stay in the channel. “STICKS ON THE LEFT, JAKE!” he yells. “I AM TRYING” Jake yells back, “I HAVE IT HARD OVER TO THE LEFT.” I guess boating terminology goes out of the window at a time like this. “YOU NEED TO BE HARD TO THE RIGHT JAKE, YOU WANT TO GO BETWEEN THE STICKS AND THE BOEYS.” I can't bring myself to look out of the window. I just don't want to know. Jake finally turns the wheel. I am wondering why Bob doesn’t just do it himself. He is a captain, after all.

By some miracle, we make it out of there without totally wrecking the dock, running aground, or otherwise hurting ourselves or the boat. But I am seriously wishing I had taken up Nancy’s tongue-in-cheek offer to spend the day at the Pet Resort with her. She wants so bad to be here for this but at the moment I think she is having the better day. I am just praying we get there alright. I am having serious doubts.

Once we are clear of the shallows and out where there is no danger of hitting anything other than a turtle or another speed boat, I take my water bottle and sit in a chair I have moved from the roof onto the bow deck. I am watching the water and I can see all the way to the bottom. I can’t see any fish down there, we are going too fast for that although we can’t be going more than 5 knots. Along the way I see a small fish skip along the top of the water like a rock. I ask Bob what that could have been and he tells me it was probably a needle fish. That’s what it looked like to me, I recognized it from seeing one when I went snorkeling, but I didn't know they could do that. He tells me it is how they escape their predators. Every now and then I see a big splash ahead but I never manage to see what made it. At one point it feels like we're veering back and forth and I look back at the wake; sure enough. We aren't 10 minutes underway and Jake's already having trouble keeping the boat on a straight course. I can't imagine what it'll be like when he's had half a dozen or more beers.
A bit later I come inside and see that Bob has blood all down the sleeve of his left arm. "What happened to you?" I ask. "Oh nothing much. I was down in the engine compartment fixing a leaky hose and rubbed up against the fan-belt. It's nothing." I am thinking how I boated for 6 years or more and not once ever did anyone go into the engine compartment while it was running and fix something. I can't believe that it's a very safe practice or a good idea.
This is going to be a long trip, apparently it took 9 hours to get the boat to the boatyard. Bob doesn't think it will take that long to go back, "At least I am hoping not." he says. They both crack open their second beers and then I am hoping it doesn't take that long either. If both of them are going to drink the entire trip, they won't be in any shape to tie it up to the mooring balls and dock when we get there. And I know I won't be able to do it. I am more than a bit worried about the drinking on this trip. I am a firm believer in not drinking while underway on a boat. It just isn't safe. And considering the trouble we have just had while they were both sober, it just doesn't bode well. I decide I better be keeping a sharp eye out for the rest of the trip.

We motor past Ocean Reef, the exclusive community on Key Largo where we went snorkeling from a few days ago. Bob points out a HUGE house and tells me it belongs to the family that owns Chiquita Banana. He says that they bought the property with a big house on it for 7 million and then bulldozed that house and built this one for 20 million. Oh to be wealthy. What must that be like?

The weather is changing and over to the left just past Ocean Reef there is a bank of dark clouds and forked lightening. We never sail into it but the sky does cloud over and it cools off considerably. Earlier in the trip I tried sitting on a deck chair up top but I came down after 20 minutes, it was just way too hot, and sat back down on the fore deck. As we get closer to the canal that goes through the mangroves I spot a dolphin in the water ahead. I jump up for a better look and it swims right towards the front of the boat. I am worried that we will run over it and it appears that we have. I lean over the bow to see if it's OK and there it is, swimming in our bow wake. I yell to the guys that there’s a dolphin. Bob comes out to look. I just took my camera inside. I run in to get it and by the time I get back he is gone. DANG! Up ahead I see two more dolphins breaching and I snap a picture but it’s just as they go under. They swim right towards the boat again and I am hoping they will swim in the bow wake when a wave runner races up and scares them away. That’s disappointing. Bob tells me that he is out on the water almost every day and has been for the past 25 years and has only seen that happen one other time. "It's a rare treat," he says. "I am thrilled to have seen it and even more so that you got to." he tells me. What a sweet thing for him to say.

It's been about 5 or 6 hours since we banged our way out of the dock of the boatyard. We have just passed under the bridge that links Key Largo to the mainland and are making our way to the property where I can see Nancy is waiting in her truck. We slowly troll up to the first mooring ball and Jake hooks it with the boat hook on the first try and then gets me to take over and lift it out of the water so he can clip the line onto it. That goes off without a hitch, thankfully. Now, in theory, the current will swing our back end around towards the cement dock tied to the permanent dock. It doesn’t happen and what ensues is a back and forth, pulling lines, yelling at Nancy to grab the stern with the boat hook she is holding (yeah right), bottoming out with the props, and so on. After about an hour of this we are finally lined up. Jake has to get off the houseboat and onto the pontoon boat and bring it around for the second line, which is then tied to the second ball. At one point Jake is on the pontoon boat just off our starboard bow and he tells Bob that he can tie the line onto the cleat right at my feet. I look down and there is a cleat there all right, but it isn’t screwed down to the boat, it looks like a spare or something. “Down there, right at your feet!” he yells impatiently. So I bend over and pick it up and hold it out. “This cleat?” I ask. Bob cracks up and so does Jake. He doubles over and doesn’t straighten up for a full 30 seconds or more. Turns out there is another cleat that is screwed down about two feet behind me. Not exactly in my line of vision, nor 'right at my feet'.

Now if we can just get the water hooked up and heated so I can take a shower and use the head. I have been dying to go all day.

Our Voyage Marked in Red

A HAT, THE SEA, AND A PEACOCK

It’s Friday and I am back at the Holiday Inn Pool. I no sooner get settled in when Carolyn shows up. “I can’t stay,” she says, “I lost that hat I was wearing at the Islander yesterday and I need to go see if it is there.” “Do you want me to come with you?” I ask. “Sure, if you want to. It’s Alberto's hat and I didn’t tell him,” she says. “He asked me for it this morning and I told him it was in my car but when I went to find it, it wasn’t there. I didn’t tell him. If he knew he would never let me borrow anything of his again.” I am gathering up my things and as soon as I have it all together we walk to her car. “We may as well stay down there for the afternoon.” she says, and I readily agree. I am happy to have another opportunity to go down to Islamorada as it is much prettier than Key Largo.

On the way she makes a stop at a little clothing boutique that often has sales. She wants to check it out today. We spend about half an hour there. I wander around and find a house-wear section in the back. There is some lovely beach themed kitchen and dining goods but the prices make me put them down as fast as I pick them up. It’s shocking. Carolyn puts a couple of skirts and a shirt on hold and then we head over to another store, a huge sporting goods shop on the waterfront. It carries a lot of a popular brand down here, Tommy Bahama, and I take a look through the racks to see if there is anything for Christopher but the prices are out of this world; $35 for a plain t-shirt and over $100 for a short sleeve button down. And there isn’t anything that I think Christopher would wear anyway. I do find a display of Sanuk shoes and one style is on sale for $14.99. This is a steal and I search through them for a size 10 and finally find one. I will buy them for Ashleigh for her birthday next week. They are tan with alternating pink and green stripes; she will love them. Just as I am telling Carolyn what I have scooped, a woman shopping nearby tells me to be sure to buy a size larger than needed as they fit small. I am dismayed as there was no size 11 in this style. Carolyn is just trying a pair on and she is a size 8. She exclaims that she can’t even fit into it. She tries a 9 and they are too tight. I hand her the 10’s very reluctantly and they fit her perfectly. Well they aren’t going to fit Ashleigh then so I let her have them. I am really disappointed as I know she would have been thrilled.

Carolyn pays for the shoes and we walk back out into the sweltering sunshine and drive over the road to The Islander. I find two empty deck chairs where one is in the shade of a palm tree for me; I don’t want to sit in this heat today. Carolyn heads over to the bar to see if they have a lost and found. She soon walks back triumphantly holding the hat high in the air. She is very relieved that she doesn’t have to go back to the sporting goods shop and pay $40 for a new one.

I spy that gorgeous woman from last time we were here and I decide that I am going to talk to her sometime today. But she leaves shortly after we arrive and doesn’t return for the rest of the day.

We spend all day between the pool and the deck chairs, taking half an hour to go over to the bar and split a quesadilla for lunch. It is delicious. Back at the pool I am deep into my book and Carolyn is in the pool when the loud bang of a small explosion somewhere behind me causes everyone to jump and then look around for the source. I can’t see anything amiss in the row of lounge chairs behind me. There are towels draped over two of them and a purse on the ground between them. There is a small table that has a bottle of water on it. Then I notice that an ashtray and a pair of sunglasses are on the ground in front of the table, as though they fell off. I get up and walk over to take a closer look. I see on the towel a small piece of what looks like green glass. I pick it up and it is plastic. I look around and there under the table is the top of a lighter with the straw still attached. The body of the lighter is nowhere to be seen but I am sure I am holding a piece of it in my hand. The heat of the sun has caused the gas to expand and the lighter exploded, I deduce. I put the pieces on the side table along with the sunglasses and the ashtray and go back to my chair. Carolyn is looking at me questioningly and I explain what it was. When the woman returns to her chair a few minutes later, I see her looking at her stuff and can tell she is wondering why it isn’t exactly as she left it so I go over and explain. She is relieved that no one was messing with her things.

All too soon it is time to drive back to Key Largo and we gather up our things and leave. This time I remember to get a picture of the sign on our way out.

Once back at the houseboat I take a quick shower, fighting with the temperature of the water the entire time. I have no idea why, but as soon as I got it just right it went red hot and even when I turned it all the way to cold it didn’t change. I was trying to rinse my hair without getting scalded when it suddenly changed and it was all cold. I quickly fiddled with the controls and it stayed warm for the rest of the shower, thank goodness. I just hate not having a consistent temperature when showering.

As soon as Nancy and Jake get home, she changes and we head out to Sharkey’s for dinner. They have a big barbeque outside that looks like they know what they are doing when it comes to meat and the price is right for their ribs. I ask the bartender if the meat is usually falling-off-the-bone tender and he says it sometimes is and sometimes isn’t. I like it when it is and despite the ambiguous answer, I decide to give them a try. I have a choice of garlic mashed potatoes or fries; mashed it is – no more fried food! When it comes, they aren't as tender as Earl’s ribs but they're pretty good and I enjoy the meal. Tonight, instead of going to The Big Chill after dinner it is decided by Jake that I need to see a new place called Snooks. When we get there, the place reminds me so much of the BVI that I fall in love with it instantly. It is a rustic bar overlooking the water and the sun is just setting so all is cast in that magical shade of lavender and pink. There is a live band playing and small white lights are strung up over the bar, which is a large ‘L shape with the short lower part facing the shelf of drinks and the long upper part looking out over the water. All those seats are taken but we settle into seats right in the corner so that we still have a view. Jake and Nancy order a beer and I ask how much a glass of house wine is and the guy tells me $4.50. Just as soon as I say “Great, I will have a glass…” a woman bartender corrects him and says $6. He apologizes, telling me he is new. I don’t want to pay that much but I go ahead and order a glass of Pinot Grigio. We sit there sipping our drinks and enjoying the music and the view. Jake tells me that they used to live just around the corner, right on the water and tells me a story of when he had his two girls and a couple of their cousins out on the water in a small boat and suddenly a tornado appeared out of nowhere. He was blown to the rocks and he tossed one of the kids onto the shore, but before he could grab anymore, the boat was blown back out in to the ocean. He managed to wrestle it closer to shore and Nancy had waded out into the water and managed to hang onto the boat and keep it from crashing onto the rocks until the storm passed. Honestly, these guys need to write a book.

When it comes time to settling the bill, I have been charged $8 for my glass of wine. I complain to the woman who said earlier that it was $6 and she takes a look at the bill. She tells me that they don’t have a house Pinot Grigio. I remind her that I had specifically asked how much a glass of house was and then ordered and if there wasn’t a house of what I ordered, that would have been the time to tell me. She shrugs as she moves away and says that the guy is new and didn’t know. I am really annoyed and am explaining to Nancy as she couldn't hear over the music. The woman overhears me and says, ‘Fine! Just take the two bucks off then.” She sounds more annoyed than I feel and I am appalled at the attitude. I really like this place but I wouldn’t come back if I lived here.

Jake has informed me that, tomorrow, I am to go out on Bob’s boat and go snorkeling. Nancy talks Jake into going along as well. When I get home I get all my gear together. I am excited about finally getting this opportunity. And I can’t wait to try out my brand new prescription mask.

I am up at 6:30 as we are supposed to leave at 7. Last night Jake said he wanted to drop Nancy off at work and then we would continue on to Ocean Reef, an exclusive gated community up the island. It turns out that was drunken babble. Now he scorns that and says we will leave at 7:45. I could have slept another 45 minutes.

When we finally get going, he regales me with descriptions of this gated community we are driving to. Apparently it is known as “the place billionaires go to get away from millionaires.” It has its own police and fire departments as well as shops and airport. It has two golf courses and a huge marina. When we get there, we have to go through a security gate but we are following Bob and he has cleared us to go right through. We are given something to put on the dashboard and the gate lifts.

We have to go into the dive shop first to sign a waver. There will be just three other people with us for the morning, a mother and her two teen sons, and when we walk over to the boat I see that it is a huge pontoon style boat that would easily hold 35. As we slowly glide out of the marina on water that is as smooth as glass, we pass several large yachts. I am informed by Bob that, the season being over, there isn’t the usual display of massive vessels that would dwarf the ones I am looking at now. Bob is about 60 – 65 and has the typical big beer belly that all retired guys around here sport. Not that he is retired, or he wouldn’t be the captain of this boat. I mention his size and age because it will be important information to have in a few days.

As we head out into the open sea, the water is a bit choppy and I wonder what kind of current we will be swimming in. When I was in Mexico I went snorkeling on a reef in the Caribbean Sea where the current was so strong, I was exhausted after 15 minutes. I am hoping I won’t have a repeat here.

It takes us half an hour to reach the reef and once we are tied to a buoy, we gear up and jump in. The other three go off the front but Bob tells me to go off the ladder at the side as it is easier and I do. I am no sooner floating when I look down and see a huge stingray slowly swim right beneath me. I follow him as he gracefully skims the sand. He stops and settles in and then blows the sand in front of him to uncover food. I stop to watch and realize that there is hardly any current here at all as I am moving very slowly away and it doesn’t take much effort at all to keep stationary. My mask is fantastic. I can see everything as clear as a bell. I watch the ray for a few more minutes and then when he swims off in one direction, I go in another to where the other three are. There are more fish here than I saw in the BVI. I prefer to swim along side the big reef as it is very shallow in places and I fear rubbing up against it. And there are lots of small clumps of coral that has plenty of life around it. I watch, amused, as a yellow and black Sergeant Major darts at any fish that comes too close to his clump of coral. As I swim over he darts at me but stops halfway and goes back. I guess my size intimidates him as he tries over and over to scare me away without getting too close. I swim on and see lots of Parrot Fish and Blue Head. At one point I look down just in time to see a mean looking Barracuda glide by. He was only about three feet long; apparently they can get as big as 6 or 7 feet.

All too soon, it seems, I am tiring and I swim back to the boat to find out that I have been in the water for an hour. It feels like 20 minutes. We let go of the buoy and head over to the lighthouse. Apparently there is usually a large school of Tarpon swimming beneath it and we are going to see if they are there today. I had decided I was done for the day but once we are tied up I change my mind. I can’t pass up this opportunity so gear up and get back in the water. Am I ever glad I did. The amount of sea life here is many multiple times that what we just left. I see a school of Midnight Parrot Fish, one over a foot long. As I swim towards the lighthouse I come across a fish that has strange antler looking things on its head. As I float above it, trying to make it out, it turns away from me and suddenly the antlers come together in a smooth point and I realize it is a squid. I swim around him and he follows me, and it seems to me he never takes his eyes off of me. I swim away a bit and he follows. He is so cute I want to laugh, but that’s hard to do with a snorkel in one’s mouth. I swim on and look back but he has lost interest and is moving back to his lump of coral. I never see any Tarpon. I don’t really know what they look like, but I know that everything I am looking at isn’t Tarpon. When we get back to the boat the mom, who has snorkeled this area a lot and really knows her fish, tells Bob that there were no Tarpon there today. Too bad. I really wanted to see them.

On the way back to shore, the deck hand points out turtles in the water. I can’t see them. I ask him how he is spotting them and he tells me to look for their heads poking out of the water and then a swirl as they dive under. I strain my eyes looking but can’t see a thing. He keeps pointing them out and I look just in time to miss. But then he points to one directly in front of the boat and says we will go right over it. I manage to see it just before we do. Apparently it is mating season and this area is full of them. I wish we could have snorkeled here. That would have been something to see!

I stop into a couple of the little shops near the marina to see if I can find a T-shirt for Christopher that has a nice ‘Ocean Reef Marina’ logo. I find one I really like for $20 and when I go to pay for it, they don’t take cash! Just credit card or charge to your room card. I guess there is a hotel here somewhere about but I haven’t seen it. I leave without the shirt.

When we get back home I make a sandwich and then Jake drops me off at the Holiday Inn. It’s another scorching hot day and the pool is starting to get so warm that it isn’t refreshing anymore. It’s as warm as a bath. Nevertheless, it’s better than no pool at all and I get in and swim around. Soon the couple who live aboard their boat, Phillipe and Terri, show up and we stand around in the water and chat. Soon another two guys join us. I have seen them here almost every afternoon and Phillipe introduces me to them. I thought they were father and son, the older looking my age and the younger about 30. Turns out they are friends and the younger one is 45. I am shocked as he looks so young. I don’t say this until the guys have swam off. Phillipe laughs and says he will wait until I have gone home next week but then he is going to tell them but change the story a bit. I look puzzled and he says “I have been telling them it is time they stopped spending so much time together, people are getting the wrong idea.” I realize he is going to tell them I thought they were a gay couple. “You better make sure you wait until I leave.” I say. He laughs. When they swim back over to us a bit later on, I watch Phillipe and I can see from the look on his face he has a moment where he is considering saying it now but then changes his mind. After the guys leave I say as much and he laughs at me and I know I was right.

Peter is at the pool and we talk a bit and he tells me that a woman he met a week or so ago in Miami is coming down to see him for the weekend. I remember when he told me about her. He said he had met “an ugly fox at Coyote Ugly and that the sex was fantastic”; way more information than I needed to know and I told him as much. I also wondered, at the time, if I had heard him correctly. Did he really call her an ugly fox or was he mixing up his words with the name of the bar? I didn’t want to ask, so I wasn’t sure. At some point while I am talking to Phillipe and Terri the woman arrives and Peter gets out of the pool. I look up and see her walking towards him and watch as they embrace. I am far enough away that I can’t make out her features, it doesn’t help that I am wearing my old prescription sunglasses that I don’t want to replace because I paid a fortune for them but the prescription is not strong enough any more. She has a great figure though. Huge boobs barely constrained in a low-cut black tank top that turns out to be a bathing suit under jean shorts. They sit at the bar for a while and then decide to come in for a swim. She strips off her shorts and when they come into the pool I can see that he wasn’t mixing up his words when he described her. She looks to be about 60 or more with leathery wrinkled skin from being perpetually tanned. She has long wavy hair that has blond highlights. But she is not pretty, not by any stretch. He totally ignores me as if he has never met me. Whatever.

When Carolyn shows up about two hours later, she comments on the woman’s looks and says that Peter didn’t even acknowledge her. I tell her, “Same here.”

That night when I get home, we have dinner and after I clean up I see Nancy is putting on makeup. “Are you going out?” I ask. She says yes and asks if I am coming. I ask where they are going and she says The Big Chill. I don’t want to go there at all; why would I want to risk a repeat of last week? So I say I don’t want to come and will just stay home. They leave and I watch a Hallmark channel movie with Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen about dead people. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, and it's the first movie with Mary in that I have seen since I worked with her a couple of years ago so it's nice to watch now that I know what a lovely person she truly is.

The next day I hang around the boat with Jake while Nancy is gone but she comes home early and we head out to Gilberts. It’s a huge bar and restaurant, all outdoors on the waterfront just across the bridge from the property. I had heard music from there a couple of Sundays ago when I was sitting on the barge at the property and they told me it was a great place to go. There is a live band playing and they are good but very loud so we find seats in the shade away from the stage right next to the water. Almost as soon as we are settled a small coconut falls from the tree above me and misses me by about two feet. If that had hit me on the head it would have hurt like stink, but not killed me as it wasn’t full size. Jake finds it too hot and goes to look for seats under the Tiki roof at the bar where there are huge fans blowing. He finds three and we move over into full shade but now we are right in front of the stage. It’s very loud. We have to yell to talk.





Eventually Nancy and I order some lunch; chicken strips and a Ceasar salad to share. It's delicious. Jake makes fun of us for paying for 'grass' - the salad. We stay for about two hours in all and then leave because the sky has darkened and a storm is threatening. Once home, I work on my blog for a while and then join Jake and Nancy to watch a DVD she ordered from Netflix. It's an old British comedy show called 'Fools and Horses'. It's alright but after three episodes, I have had my fill and go to bed.

It’s Monday morning and yesterday, at Gilberts, I asked Nancy if she would mind if I went into work with her and then take her truck for the morning. I said I hated to ask but I had some errands to do before I leave. She says that is fine. I am dressed and have my door open a bit and I hear Jake and Nancy talking. I suddenly hear him hiss, “…it pisses me off that she EXPECTS it.” I immediately realize that he is talking about me using the truck. I hear Nancy say, “No she doesn’t. She asked if I would mind.” I don’t hear him reply. I want to go get Nancy a thank-you present and see if I can find something for Christopher before I leave. I also need more mineral water and we are out of bread. I wouldn’t DARE assume or ‘expect’ that I can just use their vehicles after the time I said I would like to take the truck to Sharkey’s in the evening to Skype Shonah. If I did, I would have driven off in his car the other day when he drove off in the truck without telling me and left me in the boatyard all day, thus I asked Nancy if she would mind. I don’t understand how one day he makes it sound like it is a given that I will take a vehicle and then others, it’s a problem.

When it is time to go, I realize that Jake is going with us as we left his car at the Pet Resort yesterday and my heart sinks. I feel like I can’t get away from him. We drop him off at his car and then keep going to the property to feed the cats. When we turn down the road it’s on, there is a white peacock in the middle of the road. I don’t know if I have mentioned it yet, but there is a house on that road that has loads of them. One day the girl who bartends at Sharkey’s was driving down the road at about 5 miles an hour, to see the puppies, and one of the peacocks ran under her back wheels and she killed it. Apparently she cried the rest of the day. Anyway, this peacock is amazing. His tail is fully open and I haven’t seen anything like it before. Nancy stops the truck as it isn’t getting out of the way and I take out my camera and snap some pictures of it.

When we stop at a closed-down gas station to feed the cat that the owners used to have there but abandoned when they left, Nancy calls me to come out of the truck to see something. I get out into the already warm air, and walk over to her. She points to a dish of water that has gone a bit green and sitting in it is the biggest frog I have ever seen. She tells me that it is poisonous to dogs. She had one in the Pet Resort yard once and a dog bit it and the frog excreted a venom out of its cheeks into the dogs mouth. She knew what had happened as soon as she saw the dog foaming at the mouth. She hosed its mouth out and then took it to the vet straight away and it didn’t die. She said she has them all over the property. They burrow deep holes under the concrete slab and come out at night. Ugh.

When we get to her shop, there is nowhere to park as the county is digging a big trench right in front of her place to put in sewer lines. We pull off to the side and she isn’t happy about her customers not having anywhere to park.

I spend a couple of hours on the computer, killing time until the stores open. I don’t want to go back to the houseboat. As soon as it is 9:30 I leave and go to the gift store that I like on the highway. It has the best stuff of any place around and their prices are some of the best as well. I saw one of those fabric cutout things that has a whirly gig on top. I don’t know what they are called. But it is of a dog lounging in an Adirondack chair with a beer. The whirly thing looks like a sun umbrella above its head. I think it is perfect for the Pet Resort’s front yard and a perfect ‘thank-you’ present for Nancy. Fortunately, I have found some money in my wallet that I totally forgot I folded up and tucked away so I am not as strapped for cash as I thought I was.

I leave there and head for Bealls, a discount store kind of like Ross and look for a T-shirt for Christopher and can’t find one I like. I look through the cotton shirts but they only have about 5 in a size small, his size. I see a medium one I really like and think he would too but he would swim in it. I decide I am done looking for a shirt for him and will just buy him a box of the coconut chocolate candy that everyone sells around here. It’s a product of Florida and it will just have to do. Guys are just too hard to buy for and Christopher is particularly picky. I have bought the same thing for Rob as the only shirt I found that I thought he would like didn’t have his size either. I tried. I did find a lovely little sundress for Izzy for her birthday, which is today. I hope it fits and that she likes it. She is so tiny.

After I pick up that and the other bits I need at the grocery store, I drive back to Nancy’s to see if she needs anything and give her the whirly gig thing. She loves it. She doesn't need anything nor my help at the shop as it's slow again, so I take off.

I drive to the boat praying that Jake has left already. He wanted to go up to the property to put the cement blocks in the water that he is going to tie boeys to. I know he will do that in the morning as he will want to be at Sharkey’s all afternoon as usual. As I pull into the yard I see that his car is gone. Thank you. I get inside and make a sandwich and just as I sit down to eat it, I see Jake’s car pulling into the boat yard. Dang. He doesn’t even say hello when he gets on board so I ask him if he managed ok with the cement blocks. He says he did fine despite a sore elbow.

I had noticed that one of his elbows is really knobby, almost like there is a golf ball right at the joint. It turns out that it just swelled up one day, really big, and when it went down that bump was left behind. He says the bump is like a ball of gristle. That was about two years ago and the doctor had no idea what was going on. Now the other elbow is going the same way, although he says it isn’t half the size the other one was when it swelled. He says it is really painful and he couldn’t sleep last night. It looks very tender.

He says he is heading off to Sharkey’s and is going to take the truck so if I want to go to the pool I should get my things. I do and we leave. Carolyn isn’t at the pool today, she is with a friend all day. I spend a quiet day reading and bouncing between the pool and the lounge chair until Nancy arrives and calls over the fence for me to go. When I get in the truck they tell me that tomorrow is the big day. The boat will be going in the water. I am glad that I will get to be on it for the 6 hour trip around the island to the property. It seems such a crime to be in Florida and not get out on the water so I am excited.

After I clean up from dinner, I decide to start to pack up my things so I get my bags from the storage bedroom down below. I try to divide up the heavy stuff between both bags to keep them under 50 lbs each but once they are full and I weigh them, they are both overweight. And I don’t even have everything in them yet. I have no idea how this is happening. I am going back with less stuff. I ate most of my vitamins, used a lot of body lotion – I am not even taking the half used bottle back with me, I am leaving behind some clothes I don’t want along with the 8 books I have read since getting here, which kills me. I ponder this problem as I go to bed. How am I going to make this work?

OH! I almost forgot. After dinner I hear my phone beeping and so I go check and there is a message from the agent who has my script to call him back. I do and he tells me that it came back from coverage with ‘no rewrites needed’ and he has read the script now and loves it. He sees it as a Hallmark production, as do I. He says I should hear from him within two weeks and if not, to give him a call. I can hardly believe that I might have a script of MINE go to camera. It’s so exciting.

A NEW FRIEND

At the Holiday Inn pool, a place I am spending a lot of my time, I meet a woman. She is ordering lunch while I am at the Tiki bar ordering an iced tea. She comments on how hot it is and I agree. We get to talking and end up spending the afternoon together. She lives in Key Largo with her boyfriend who works for Ocean Divers as an instructor and she is a teacher in Miami. She commutes there every day to teach her class of fifth graders. She is originally from New York and she has that great accent. I finally ask her what her name is and it’s Carolyn. We get along great and at the end of the day we decide to spend more time together. She has just started her holidays from work and looking for stuff to do. She mentions that she is leaving for Key West, once her boyfriend is off work, to go see a friend and will be back tomorrow night. I mention that I had wanted to see Key West but don’t think I will make it down there. She offers to go with me one day before I leave. That would be fun and I tell her I would love it if she really wants to. She says she does.

Later in the afternoon we meet a guy at the pool named Peter. I have seen him there before. He is late 50’s and super tanned. We get to talking and it turns out he has been in Key Largo for two months. He travels around the states working at various nuclear power plants. He spends a lot of his time pool hopping around the islands down here and tells us that the Hilton has a great pool and a really nice beach with decent snorkeling. He invites us to join him there on Thursday so we agree to go.

Wednesday I am back at the Holiday Inn pool and meet a couple that I have seen there on several Saturday afternoons, a time that a lot of local people make use of the pool, it seems. Actually, the husband and I talked for a bit last Saturday. I found out that he and his wife live aboard a 45’ trawler. We talked a lot about retired life in the Keys and the sort of people that live here. Today I meet his wife and we have a long talk about the Keys and then my line of work. They are a very friendly couple and I really enjoy my afternoon.

I am starting to dislike the evenings.

Getting picked up at the pool and going back to the houseboat, I am so reminded of my childhood where I would be filled with dread walking home from school every day wondering what sort of mood my mother would be in when I walked through the door. The odd night, Jake will be in a bit of a better state of mind and that translates into him telling me more stories or at least quietly watching his sports and news instead of mouthing off at Nancy. But most nights he is in a foul mood and ranting at the smallest provocation. At one point tonight he tells Nancy “You amaze me. You’d be dangerous if you actually had a brain.” It is so hard to keep my mouth shut. He is in an especially foul mood these days as the situation with the houseboat sitting at the boatyard instead of back at the property, where it should have been by now, is causing a lot of tension. He feels like he is being held hostage by the owner of this place, and rightly so. It’s ridiculous that he won’t give Jake a price as to how much this is adding up. But to take it out on Nancy is mean. She is having just as hard a time with this situation as he is.

It’s Thursday and by the time I am up Nancy has left for the day. Jake drove her there in the truck and has brought it back. He needs it to do some work at the property today. He is still around though, watching the telly. I make something to eat and then go out back to read for a bit. After an hour or so it's just too hot outside so I go back inside to read in my room. After about an hour, Jake walks by my room, goes outside and gets in the truck and leaves. Doesn't say a word to me. Turns out he is gone all day and I am now stuck at the houseboat. His car is there and the keys are in it, as usual, but there is no way I am assuming that it is alright for me to just take it and go to the pool. I spend most of the day inside, where there is air conditioning, reading or watching the Hallmark channel. They keep showing a commercial for a movie that I did a couple of days calls on. It's working title was 'The Wedding Dance' and it's now called 'Come Dance at My Wedding'. I'd like to be able to catch that, if I can. It's on tomorrow night at 9.

It's Friday and on Wednesday I arranged to meet with Carolyn at the Tom Thumb gas station across the road. She said to call her in the morning. When she said that, I sort of hesitated as I don’t want to use my phone to make calls down here; it is far too expensive. But that would mean me having to ask Jake to use his phone and I am not crazy about the thought of it. I brush off the feeling thinking it’s stupid; he surely won’t mind me using his phone for a local call. By the time I am done cleaning up from breakfast it’s 9:30 and I am pretty much ready to go. I ask him if he would mind if I used his phone to make a local call. He just looks at me. So I say, “The woman I am spending the day with asked me to call her this morning, just to make sure.” “Didn’t you tell her you don’t have a phone?” he barks at me. I want to say 'No because I didn’t think it would be an issue to use yours for a two-minute local call'. But I don’t say that, saying instead “Never mind, I’ll just use my phone.” “Well, what did she say when you told her that?” he asks. “I didn’t. Don’t worry about it, I will use my phone.” I go get my phone and come back in the kitchen for my phone book and he holds out his phone. I thank him, take it and call her but get her voice mail so say that I am heading to the gas station and will see her there at 10 as we arranged.

I head over to meet her and after going inside to buy a bottle of water and use their bathroom, I wait on the side of the building that has some shade. Fortunately that is the side she will be driving in on. Ten o’ clock comes and goes and at ten-fifteen I pull out my phone. Looks like I am going to have to use it after all. She answers and says that she called the number I used earlier and left a voice mail saying that she got up late but she will be here in ten minutes. She pulls up before too long and when I get in she says she isn’t comfortable going to the Hilton, she wants to go to a place called The Islander instead. I say that I don’t mind going wherever she wants to go but we can’t just leave Peter waiting for us and then not show up. She shrugs like she doesn’t care. I insist that we go by and at least let him know that we are going to a different beach for the day so she heads over to the Hilton.

When we get there I walk down to the beach while she waits in the car. Once I walk through a breezeway to the back of the hotel, there’s a bark-mulch pathway running along the waterfront through palm trees and sea grape and there are hammocks strung up here and there. It’s gorgeous. The water is a lovely shade of blue-green and the sand of the man-made beach is white. There is rustling in the underbrush as I walk along and I see lizards and geckos as they scramble to hide. Up in the trees there are some very big spider webs and I hope that I don’t see any of the occupants. It’s a long way to the big open beach that Peter told me he would meet us at but I finally get there and spy him out in the water. He waves at me and I wave him in. When he walks out of the water and up to me he asks where Carolyn is and I tell him that she isn’t comfortable spending the day at this beach as she doesn’t think locals are welcome and she doesn’t want the embarrassment of being kicked out. He assures me that he comes there a lot and it isn’t ever a problem. I am not going to sit here and mediate so I tell him that, if he wants to, he can come back to the car with me and talk to Carolyn himself. So he does and she decides to try it out. We walk back to the beach together and get settled in some lounge chairs. We aren’t there 20 minutes and I can tell she is not enjoying it. Since we arrived it has really filled up and now it’s a very crowded beach and there are a lot of small children. She insists that The Islander is a much better place so we let Peter know that we are leaving and he has decided that he is leaving as well. He wants to go to a place called Holiday Isle which Carolyn says is a dive so we stick with our plan.



We drive the 30 minutes down to Islamorada, the next island in the chain, where The Islander is located. When we get there, I love the sign for the place, it looks like something right out of the 60’s. We pull off the highway and drive down the winding drive to a large dirt parking lot. We get out and the air outside of the car is hot, hot, HOT as we gather up our stuff from the back seat. We walk a few hundred yards past one-storey buildings of hotel rooms, to the large pool area. It’s gorgeous. The pool is large and meandering. There is a second, smaller pool up a few steps next to a Caribbean style bar and restaurant. The beach, man made again, is HUGE. It’s the typical hard-packed white sand but it has palm trees dotted all over it. There are wooden steps down to the ocean and the rocks have been cleared out of the water to create a large swimming area. Lounge chairs are scattered all over the beach as well as surrounding the pool. The place has the look of an all-inclusive resort and I love it and it is much nicer than the Hilton.

We pass a lovely, relaxing day there. We go up to the bar and split a huge Asian chicken salad for lunch. I haven’t had much salad since I left home and it tastes wonderful. It is far too hot to spend much time out of the water so we enjoy first the beach and the ocean and then move to the pool. At some point I ask Carolyn about what day she wants to go down to Key West. She doesn’t answer the question but makes a lot of comments about how it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and that I might be disappointed and more along those lines. I sense immediately that I am not going to be going with her, she has had a change of heart and doesn’t want to go. I am bummed but don’t say so.

There is a woman at the pool who looks so familiar and I realize that she is the image of Claire Foriani the actress from Meet Joe Black. She is gorgeous and there is something about her and the way she carries herself that makes me wonder if she might be an actress herself. She is with a few teen girls and a young boy who turns out to be her son. I can hardly take my eyes off of her, she is so beautiful.

Four o’clock rolls around far too fast and we gather up our things and head back to the car. Carolyn is as red as a lobster and I am so tanned it’s ridiculous. On the way back the bridge is open between the islands and we have to wait in a line of cars for about 15 minutes before it closes up and we can proceed across it. When we get to the boat yard Carolyn asks me if I want to join her and her boyfriend Alberto for drinks and dinner tonight. They are going to a place called The Pilot House. I say I would love to and so she says she will pick me up at 7. It will be nice to spend an evening somewhere new and I am looking forward to it.

When I get to the boat, the guys have painted the swim ladder up the back that we use to get on the boat with the same thick black paint that they have painted the bottom with. Fortunately they haven’t left yet and tell me that I will need to use the stepladder to get up on deck. I hate stepladders. They stand there waiting, it seems they want to see if I can climb up it and make it aboard ok. I am not about to climb up with them all watching me so I just stand there and they seem to get the hint and leave. The ladder is just leaning up against the boat so I jostle it a bit to make sure it isn’t going to topple when I get up on it. It seems solid so I climb up and gingerly step onto the boat. It wasn’t too hard to get up but I am not looking forward to having to go down it later.

After a refreshing shower and clean clothes and some makeup, Jake and Nancy come home and I tell them my plans. Nancy thinks that it’s great that I have made a friend and am going out for the evening. Jake tells me to get the gate card key out of the truck so that I can get back in later (the yard has a security fence and is gated once the staff leave for the day). I carefully climb onto the step ladder and get down to the ground without falling off. I really don’t like the ladder leaning up against the boat this way so I open it up and stand it on all four legs properly and then put the side of it up against the boat. That will be a lot easier to climb up when I get home later, in the dark. Carolyn picks me up at Tom Thumb’s again and we drive over to Ocean Divers, which is in the same building as Sharkey’s, to pick up Alberto. I met him the other day at the Holiday Inn when he came over to check up on her. I gather he is the jealous type because he had called her while we were sitting at the pool together and she mentioned to him that she had made a new friend, meaning me. He must have asked her if it was a guy because I heard her say, “No. It’s a lady. She is from Vancouver, Canada.” Not an hour later he just ‘happened’ to be in the area going for lunch and thought he would stop by to see her. She called him out on it, saying he came to check up on who she was with and he didn’t deny it. He is a big Italian guy and he too has the New York accent. He’d be perfect for a role on The Sopranos.

When we get to The Pilot House, I notice that the floor under the stools at the bar is plexi-glass so that you can see down into the water. There are lights under the water and it is very green and murky and I can’t see a single fish. There is live entertainment and it’s awful. Two guys, two guitars and amps, and not a shred of vocal talent between them. Ahh well, the view is gorgeous; right over the water, and the company is great. He orders fajitas, she orders nachos, and she invites me to pick at them with her as I have declared that I am not very hungry and so will just have something to drink. The heat is oppressive and I don’t have much appetite as a result. I ask him a lot of questions about his job as a diving instructor and he asks me a lot of questions about life in Canada, particularly about our health care. Universal health care is a political hot topic down here at the moment and he wants to know what I think of how it operates at home.

Throughout the evening a lot of people who know Carolyn and Alberto drop by the table for a chat. It seems everyone knows everyone down here. It’s the same when I go to The Big Chill with Jake and Nancy. At one point a guy that I met just the other day at the pool comes by. His name is Robbie and he has a deep southern accent that makes it really hard for me to understand him. He has just quit smoking and is encouraging Carolyn to quit as well. Alberto has gone to the restroom and he returns while the two of them are talking. Eventually Robbie takes his leave. Alberto turns to me and says, “Now that really bothers me. Did you see that?” I have no idea what he is talking about. “That guy that was just here. Now why did he wait until I left to go to the restroom before he comes over here to talk to Carolyn?” I hadn’t made that connection, I barely remember Alberto leaving. “That’s just not okay in my books. If you want to come over here and talk to my girl then have the decency to do it when I am here, you know?” So my hunch was right. Jealous type. Yikes. Other than that he’s a really nice guy and I enjoy my evening with them.

They drop me off at the boatyard gate and Carolyn tells me that she will see me at the Holiday Inn Pool tomorrow. As I walk through the yard to the houseboat I savour the warm night air. It reminds me of summer in the Okanagan and I love the memory. I had a voice mail message from Club Penguin, or Disney Online Studios - as they answer the phone, on my phone this morning and they want me to come in for an interview Tuesday the 23rd and I am excited about it. I wouldn’t mind living in Kelowna again, especially in the summertime. The idea of giving up the film industry is not an easy one, I love it so much. But if I have to then I can’t think of anywhere else I would rather work than Club Penguin (other than the bar on Anegada, that is). And summers in the Okanagan? Well, it's not the BVI but I wouldn't mind it.