With the Bimini Trip mid-July, you’d think the remainder of the month would be fairly quiet…. LOL.
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop
The next weekend we were back at it again, attending a local jet ski rally near Marco Island. We trailered the ski to Naples, and headed towards Marco for the “Dome Home Invasion,” put on by Florida Ski Riders and South Florida Jetski.
More than 70 jet skis showed up at the iconic Dome Home site just south of Cape Romano. Unfortunately the rainy forecast, didn’t make for great footage. But, the sight of that many skis was still impressive, and the fact that it was right in our “backyard” was pretty cool too.
The number of modified jet skis, the large amount of grandstanding, and being referred to by your Instagram name brought back memories of when we did social “young people things” during Will’s #slammed #lowered #stancelife car show phase.
Except here, the girls in bikinis aren’t wearing high-heels and make-up, but rather lifejackets and face shields – which is more up my ally anyways. Don’t get me wrong, we both enjoyed the car scene, but have found our true love out on the water.
Getting back to the story… We ended the Dome Home Invasion with our favorite grouper sandwich from the “Just Beachy Burgers” food boat on Keewaydin Island. I admit, it was a much more pleasant visit than our previous camping trip on Keewaydin.
Not Cool, Wiffersnapp
Back on the Wiffersnapper, however, everything was NOT, “Just Beachy.” In fact, our middle air conditioner decided it was done, leaving just one out of three AC’s to cool the entire 50ft boat.
Will and I had already been assessing our next Wiffersnapper purchase… deciding between a new AC for the aft, or a new toilet for the forward head. Well, the middle AC made that an easy decision since the forward AC was now working overtime, and we were crossing our fingers she wouldn’t hail the white flag and surrender to the Florida heat.
And HOT it was! Our neighboring boat was gone on a trip, and the afternoon sun was literally baking the entire starboard side of the boat. I could actually hear Wiffersnap panting as I came home from work, and the poor cats laid on the floor in front of the fan. Just another fun boat life adventure.
Ending with a Bang
But that’s not all… I meant it when I said July ended with a bang. Several bangs actually, as Tropical Storm Emily sprung up over night and slammed the Gulf Coast of Florida. I woke up at 5:00am, Monday, July 31st, wondering where the severe storm came from.
The wind was howling and I could hear our canvas flapping up top. The lightening struck all around and the thunder quickly followed. “Wow,” I thought, “this is a really bad one,” as I checked my radar app to see when it would pass.
A huge band of red storms flooded my screen as I rubbed my half-awake eyes in disbelief. Emily was not even a named storm at this point, and we literally had no idea there was even a chance of rain. Underprepared is an understatement to say the least.
I like to think I’m pretty calm in stressful situations, and that after nearly a year on the boat, a storm wouldn’t scare me. But I was legit worried our canvas was going to fly off and crash into another boat, or one of our temporary leak protections would give-way and we’d be battling window leaks in the pouring rain.
Thanks Emily
Neither of these actually happened, however the canvas did sustain a fair amount of damage from the wind. Most of the bungee cords we were using to keep the canvas tight had flung off, one of the zipper fasteners that wraps around the pole ripped at the seams, and there was a puddle of water sitting on top of the canvas.
Luckily, no major damage was done, and no leaks occurred on board. Oh, but we can now add damaged canvas to the list of Wiffersnap repairs needed.
Just another day in paradise!
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Comment by Ryu
Ryu August 16, 2017 at 9:26 pm
I love reading you guys blog. You make it sound fun and interesting 😉 keep it up