Just Another Day in Paradise

Honey got up early this AM and spent some time sitting in the cockpit.  I joined her, finding that the early-morning cool was very comfortable. After a while, she prepared another award-winning breakfast, and following that, she started on the laundry. Just watching her tires me out. I offer to help, but am always told (albeit nicely) that I'd just be in the way.

Kibby is bored. I don't think that life afloat is as exciting as she expected. Not only that, staying cool is a problem. Not too bad, if you aren't very active, but the slightest exertion causes us all to break a sweat. As a result, we engage mostly in sedentary activities.

While being sedentary, it occurred to me that I could actually measure the volume of the holding tank. This is important, because the size of the holding tank is a limiting factor in terms of how long we might be able to anchor out, and according to our survey, it was only 3 gallons. One of the old log books aboard, however, indicated that the tank was somewhat larger.

I put on my knee guards and got my trusty measuring tape, and then stuck my head through the cabinet door in the ships head.  I could only really see two sides of the tank, and they measured 9" X 10". I did get an estimate of 18" for the length, which yeilds slightly more than 7 gallons of holding capacity. Still not enough.

We paid a visit to the nearby West Marine store, in order to get some parts for the "B" list repairs - stuff that needs doing, but isn't an immediate threat to safety. While we were there, I asked about the availability of replacement holding tanks. They didn't stock any, but could order several sizes of rigid rectangular tanks. That doesn't help, however: a flexible tank is the only way one of adequate size can be installed in the space available. So much for West.

While we were out, we visited the marina office.  I had earlier been told by BoatUS that a copy of the relevant parts of our insurance policy would be faxed there, and I wanted to pick it up.  While I was doing that, Honey asked about available pump-out facilities, and found out that a pump-out boat will call at our slip, on Wednesday, for free, if we schedule it no later than Monday.  Needless to say, we're getting our holding tank pumped on Wednesday...

Kibby wanted to try and spot some manatees, so when we left the marina office and went to the nearby shoreside park. We didn't see any manatees, but we did observe two squirrels begging for food, and a number of fish jumping well out of the water. After a while she got bored with all of that, and we returned to the boat.

The remainder of the afternoon and evening was relatively quiet.  Kibby spent her time watching Fairy Tale Theatre videos and texting/talking to her Mom. I'm not sure what Honey did, but it involved the kitchen, and I spent some time writing this blog.