After our adventure with our friends from work, Joey, Burt and their son Harley, to King's Bay in crystal river, we decided to try it ourselves on "Blue." It was one of those perfect lazy days. The kind of day your soul aches for when you are doing some hard stretches of work with "already filled up days off" in between. (like I am right now) Ah the lazy days of summer...
This time we brought my wiener dog Hercules to get him use to boating. (which he better get use to it quick) At Pete's Pier we met a kindly man with a Cheoy Lee 33ft sailboat that took us on board and showed us around. It was quite a revelation to see an actual boat in the size and year range that we were looking for. Cheoy Lee's, being made in Hong Kong, are obviously designed for small Chinese people as there was very little room on board. The three of us were fighting for space to look at things on our tour. We were very thankful for the tour though and thanked the man thoroughly.
It was while Amber was inside paying the launch fee that I noticed one of the sailboat's mortal enemies, low hanging power lines. We ended up putting the boat in with the mast down and then raising in the water. Not a big deal really, only slightly more inconvenient.
Since there was almost no wind we motored around to some of the spots we had visited with Joey, Burt, and Harley. It was quite a different experience since it wasn't a weekend this time. We spent quite a bit of the time hanging out in the shallows swimming and lounging in the cool water.
We docked at Crackers restaurant and enjoyed great food and good drinks with an amazing view, especially with our boat as part of it. Unfortunately Herc had to stay in the boat but that how it goes.
Hercules seemed to really enjoy being on the boat. It is probably less the boat and more him being with us on an adventure when he is otherwise left behind. He has not had much experience on the water so it became a very tense situation very quickly when Hercules, trying to follow Amber back from the bow of the ship, slipped off the edge and into the water. In the instant I registered what had happened Amber was already in the water, hat and glasses included. Now I was faced with the dilemma of successfully navigating the boat, only under sail power, back to Herc and her. I am not an expert sailor and this is actually more difficult than it sounds. Luckily i was able, u-turning into the wind, putting the boat in irons, and coasting right up next to them. I was first handed a hat, then a dog, and then helped pull Amber aboard, It doesn't sound like too big a deal in text but it real life it was very scary.
We spent the rest of the day sailing around relaxing and enjoying the summer sun. Although we were more mindful of what Hercules was up too.
We spent the rest of the day sailing around relaxing and enjoying the summer sun. Although we were more mindful of what Hercules was up too.
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