December Doings

Mara Beel has been sitting in salt water for a month now, for the first time in her life. Time to have her bottom cleaned. Salt water promotes the growth of various forms of marine life on the hulls of boats. This stuff needs to cleaned off regularly so it won't slow down the boat or damage the bottom paint. Some intrepid boaters have the gear to do this themselves. We don't have the expertise or the equipment, so we had divers tackle the job yesterday.

The divers said our hull and zincs are in great condition, and thought our props were brand new- that's a minor miracle considering all those logs in the Mississippi!

We took a long walk through Hammock Park and found more trails to explore.

We were part of the gang of 17 that gathered for BBQ at Ozona Pig Wednesday night, a "see you on the water" to several boats that left the next morning.

Photo by Patsy Conrad

Last night we hosted dinner on our boat- Jim and Mimi and Patsy and Tom joined us for Mimi's jumbo gulf shrimp, Patsy's fresh green salad and my pasta.

Sunrise was spectacular today.

Michigan Unsalted

We traveled 80 miles across Lake Michigan today, an 8-hour cruise from Frankfort, MI to Manitowoc, WI. The lake was very calm so it was a pleasant ride.

Our most traumatic event was the discovery that I accidentally purchased salt-free tortilla chips. Ugh! We like our lakes unsalted, but definitely NOT our chips!

This evening we shared a glass of wine with Carol and Dennis, fellow beginning loopers on Reunion, and Kathy and Bob, who we first met in Leland. 

Bob introduced us to this Scottish ditty:

Just a wee deoch an' doris,
Just a wee drap, that's a'.
Just a wee deoch an' doris,
Afore we gang awa'.
There's a wee wifey waiting,
And a wee but n ben.
If you can say "It's a braw, bricht,
Moonlicht nicht," 
Well you're a' richt, d'ye ken!

If only he had brought his bagpipes along....