5.03.2014

On the northward migration

Our winter in Marathon sped by really fast. When we got there, our 5-6 month planned stay seemed to stretch endlessly before me, full of possibilities. Chances to learn to basket weave, to spend long, unhurried hours chatting with friends, to blog daily about all the interesting people we would be meeting, to get some of the long-put-off boat upgrades done. In 5 months we managed to get a lot of that done.
As with all boat projects, the new fiberglass dodger took much longer to build than we had planned. We spent so much time working on it in the project room at the marina that by the time we were done, we'd met everyone at the marina and just about everyone from the  mooring field. We met lots of people who would come through daily to check our progress and give advice, lots of advice. Lots and lots of advice. I tried the Tom Sawyer trick daily, trying to hand over my resin roller or paint brush, to get a demo from one of the advice givers but I never got a taker.  I think next time we have to do a big fiberglass 'something', I'm going to call it a class and charge for attendance. The end result is wonderful and we are loving the added protection off shore and the new hand holds for safety. The pictures show the new stuff, but if you really want to see how beautiful it is, you may just have to come and visit.
We left Marathon about a month ago, spent a fun week in Miami with friends Bill and Sarah on Moonlight Serenade, made our way up to St Augustine for another couple of weeks and are now back in Oriental NC. to see more good friends. This trip north and south takes longer each year as we meet more and more people along the way that we want to stop and see each time we go by. 



From this, old canvas dodger.
 
 






...to the new awesome hard dodger.
 
 
Oriental has a new free dock and we spent 2 nights there. It comes complete with 2 pair of beautiful white ducks. They wander freely around the Oriental Marina and Inn grounds, stopping to quuwack and flap at anyone who gets too close. They were very entertaining to watch, but they got up way too early.
 
                                                                       Fuel duck.