June 21
I left readers last time with a cliffhanger about hosting the Hash House Harriers here today. Well, the hash turned out to be a success. I had found meat so we could serve burgers after the run, and we almost sold out. Since most of the students at the university are gone for the summer, and they comprise about 30% of the hashers, there were about eighty people attending the hash. We were prepared to serve about seventy-five burgers, and sold sixty-five. Unlike last time we hosted a hash, we sold a lot more beer. We sold almost two hundred bottles of beer, and went through more than one keg (five gallon kegs here). So, it was a good day.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
June 22
After yesterday, we had a nice quiet Sunday. In the afternoon, Dave & Sue from Pirates Hideout, and Pia & Erling from Thora To, came up to play dominoes. We were invited to join, and did so. Everything was good until about halfway through the game, when we heard a Mayday call on the VHF. A Mayday means somebody needs help and is imminent danger of bodily harm or severe damage to their vessel. The Mayday was from a large sailboat that had hit the reef trying to enter the Hog Island anchorage just around the corner from the marina. We listened as several cruisers went to the boats aid in their dinghies. We also listened as many calls to the Coast Guard went unanswered. After gathering a bit of information about the situation, I called the Coast Guard on the phone to see if they had heard the radio call. They said they were aware of the situation and were on the way. Well, after at least thirty minutes, the Coast Guard was still not on the scene, but Mike, from Palm Tree Marine, was onsite with his large RIB and he had the boat in tow and was getting it away from the reef. After Mike saved the boat, the Coast Guard finally showed up and towed them back to Prickly Bay where they could be hauled out to repair the substantial damage they had incurred. This incident pointed out something to me that was somewhat disturbing. While I would like to participate in the fun things cruisers do, especially while a bunch of us are parked together, I still have to be responsible for the marina. So while I was trying not to hold up our game, I still had a responsibility to be paying attention to the marine emergency and do what I could. I guess I'll just have to resign myself to the fact that our role in the marina community this hurricane season will be different than last year.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
June 23
The ground beef saga continues. Foodland cannot supply our weekly standing order, so I went to the store early to buy whatever they had left in one-pound packages. I got all that Foodland had, but it wasn't enough to make fifty burgers like we want to. So, I went to the IGA and found they had some ground beef. The problem with IGA's ground beef is that it costs two bucks per pound more, and it is usually "lean" ground beef. By shear luck, this week they had about eight pounds of "regular" ground beef in addition to the "lean". So, I bought enough of the regular stuff that we could make fifty burgers. With the meat assured, I went about the task of getting the rest of the burger night supplies.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
June 24
Rainy season is definitely here. We have been having showers everyday for a week or more, but today was the first rained-all-day day that we have had. While it did rain all day, it was a nice moderate rain, so we didn't have a lot of dirt washing down the driveway, etc. The lawn and the hill behind the marina have been brown and bare for several months now. It's amazing how with just a week of rain, everything is green again. The greening happened a week or two later than last year, but the place looks good again.
The other Sea Otter that we know came in today. Terri & Britt on Sea Otter from Maryland anchored just off the marina. They were here for several weeks last year, and we look forward to catching up with them.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
June 25
Today is burger night. The day went nice and smooth and we did the regular stuff to get ready for burger night. Barb made the burgers, and after we counted them we decided to get a half dozen buns more than I had ordered. It was good that we did that, because we sold out. Even with the extra half dozen, buns were our constraint tonight. We had fifty-two, and sold them all. Normally, we figure in several comped burgers, for Barb & I, Ashley, Bob, the security guard, and the band on the weeks he is here. But, those comped ones aren't counted in up front, so if we sell out there are no comped ones. Well, we sold out and I started cleaning up. As I took some stuff behind the bar to the sink, Ashley told me that a guy was pissed off because he and his kids didn't get burgers. She said she had sent him to Barb. I went over to Barb to see what was going on, and as she started to tell me about the guy, he came back up with his two teenagers in tow. He started to get in her face, yelling that he wanted her to see the kids that she had disappointed. I grabbed his shoulder and turned him around to face me as his kids were trying to get between us. The guy was screaming, and the kids were trying to get him out of there and at the same time apologizing for his behavior. They left, and then Barb filled me in on what had preceded me being aware of the problem. It's probably good that I came in at the very end, else I may have had a more physical reaction to him. A couple of other folks came up to us afterwards and said they were friends with the guy and just didn't understand his reaction. When we got back to the boat after closing, we found that the cat had puked on the bed. This was all it took to put Barb over the edge emotionally. I hadn't realized how upset she was by the burger guy until this happened. We talked about it, and then I crafted an announcement for the morning radio net.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
June 26
This morning, I opened stuff up as usual. When the morning radio net came on, I made my normal announcement about the shopping bus that runs on Friday. I then added that on a personal note, I wanted to thank the sixty folks who came out to burger night, making it a huge success and a sell-out. I then said that I wanted to apologize to the family that didn't get fed since we ran out, but that I was unhappy with the father for bringing Barb to tears over it. Jonathan, from Island Water World was hosting the net this morning, and he echoed what I said and added that while the marina is a business, Barb and I are cruisers trying to do good things for other cruisers, and there is no room for a reaction like that. Mid-afternoon, Barb and I were both on the boat when Ashley called on the radio. She said "the guy from last night is here". We came up to the bar, and the guy introduced himself as the jerk from last night. He apologized for his behavior and said that something just set him off and that it was one of those things in our lives that we wish we could take back. We accepted his apology and met his two kids. He turned out to be a nice guy, and the kids were delightful. They both were very well spoken and engaging. The semi-finals of a European soccer tournament was on TV and we all sat and watched, with the kids educating all of us on the teams involved.
Bruce & Lin on Alize had wanted to invite us over for dinner and we agreed that tonight would be a good night, since Ashley is here until 19:00. In the interest of time, we agreed on an early pizza and salad dinner. I went to Prickly Bay marina to get two pizzas, which Alize paid for, while Lin made a salad. I got back to the marina with the pizza about 17:30, and we spent an hour and a half with them enjoying their company. At 19:00, we left Alize and relieved Ashley. Bob took Ashley home and we closed up the bar shortly thereafter.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
June 27
We had a pretty quiet day today. The only unusual thing was that in the evening, the folks from Bozo Cinq were to return from a month in the States. Normally when we expect a taxi late at night, we tell the security guard so he leaves the gate open. We forgot to do this when we closed, so when the taxi came, the gate was closed. The security guard saw a car at the gate, but since he wasn't expecting anybody, and they didn't honk the horn, he didn't go right up there. The folks from Bozo Cinq decided to just get out there and walk in, which was ok since the airline had left their luggage in Puerto Rico and they didn't have to drag it all the way across the property.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
June 28
This morning I profusely apologized to Bozo Cinq for not having the gate open last night. They were not upset with that at all, but were plenty upset with American Airlines. The luggage had apparently been left behind just because the plane (a little one) was too heavy. Bozo Cinq ended up leaving the marina today as planned, but they just went around to Prickly Bay to await the delivery of their luggage.
Mid-day, Sue from Pirates Hideout brought a bunch of brownies up to the bar. Turned out she made a batch for them, but she changed something in the recipe making them more cake-like than chewy. Dave likes chewy, so Sue brought the first batch to the bar for us to give away. I've rarely met a brownie I didn't like, so half a dozen found their way to MoonSail.
This evening was our regular pot-luck dinner. We had a good turnout and did some karaoke after dinner. We were having a good time with the karaoke and the usual suspects, but we also had some new blood. The kids from Salt & Light, High Five, and La'ventura did a few songs. It was a fun night, and not too late.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
June 29
Today is the final game of the soccer tournament we have been watching over the last few days. We had almost twenty people come in to watch the game. That's more than we had for the Superbowl. We ended up having a late night since we got a visit from Adrianne, the guy who cleans boat bottoms, just before closing. He and his friend stayed quite late, along with one cruiser.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
June 30
Being Monday morning, I went on a quest for ground beef. Knowing the problems we had encountered over the past two weeks, we were concerned that we might have to cancel burger night. We stopped at Foodland and they said they wouldn't have any beef until next week at least. We then went to Bulk Buy to see if they would be interested in supplying our beef. They said yes, but that they too were out of ground beef. The options were getting limited. We went to the IGA, and found that they had frozen ground beef from New Zealand, and fresh ground beef from the US (I think). I got all the New Zealand beef we could, and then added the US beef to it. The only place we have had different tasting burgers was the Dominican Republic, and I'm not sure where their beef came from, so we'll mix it 50/50 and hope it's good. I got the rest of the shopping done and we proceeded with burger night. The question was would anybody notice the different meat, or would anybody care.
With the meat procured, I went ahead and called in a bun order and bought all the rest of the stuff we need. We pretty much ran out of everything last week, so the shopping was extensive. Of course, as if one food challenge wasn't enough, I went to Bulk Buy to get a case of fries. Sorry, no fries. I haven't had a problem with Bulk Buy before, so I had to think about my options. As a last resort, we could go with chips, but I know lots of people look forward to our fries as much as the burgers. The other grocery stores sporadically carry large bags of fries, so I went to CK's to see if they had any. They did. Problem solved.
Since I've been getting in the habit of cliffhanger endings, I'll do one more. Big thing happening tomorrow.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.