I decided to focus on higher priorities. We needed a pump out and it would be nice to top off the fuel tank. We had used 10 gallons of our 50; averaging a gallon a day. That was more than I would have liked, but certainly acceptable. Marathon Marina had fuel, but no pump outs at the fuel dock. Burdine’s had both fuel and pump outs, but they would not pump out after 10:45am. Their restaurant opens at 11:00am. It was 10:10 now.
I told Grace to get moving we had to get to Burdine’s before 10:45 for the pump out. She was alright with that. We weighed anchor and were underway in just 10 minutes. As we were motoring in to the harbor, an inflatable tender was slowly coming up behind us. I wasn’t sure why they weren’t passing as there was plenty of room for them to do so. I’m focused ahead, to keep us in the narrow channel but fully aware of the drone from the small outboard engine closing on us. I take a quick glance back to check our position against the channel marker behind us. You need to know your position from the marker ahead and behind to ensure you are actually in the channel. They were now just 30 feet directly behind us. Just as my mind is questioning again, why don’t they just pass? I hear the familiar tone of Dick’s voice. It was our friends from the sailing catamaran NATI: Dick and Anne, along with a friend of theirs who had been sailing with them the past week.
We exchanged some pleasantries. Dick expressed his surprise that Grace survive sailing with me. She said “barely”… nice! They were taking their friend back to Ft. Lauderdale airport to fly home. We agreed to meet up later this week.
When I pulled into Burdine’s, the dock master asked what they could do for us. Knowing the time constraints, I said, “First, we need a pump out and then 10 gallons of Diesel”. He looked at his watch, glanced up to the restaurant, back at his watch and finally replied, “Let’s get this done in a hurry, then.” Phew!
After getting that all set and paying in the office, I checked once again on a possible slip for the boat while I go back to Syracuse with Grace… no luck. I did get permission to leave the boat on the end of the fuel dock so we could go to the restaurant.
While sliding the boat back, one of their tenants gave us some suggestions. The one that worked was to check at Panchos Gas Dock. Theil did have a slip for us. Amazingly; his prices were by far the most reasonably priced… just a little more than Upstate NY prices. In my search for a slip I temporarily thought maybe Key West… Well, at $45/foot of boat length per day. That thought did not last long. That’s $1575 per day for over a week! That is a seasonal rate for Lake Ontario!
Now, Grace and I could relax and have an enjoyable lunch. We knew the boat would be in a secure safe place while I traveled back and forth to Syracuse.
After lunch, we took the boat back to anchor off Boot Key. We spent the rest of the relaxing.
That evening, we watched another amazing sunset and did a little star gazing.
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| A catamaran coming in to Boot Key to anchor at sunset |
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