Views from our cockpit

As I have mentioned (several times) before, the marina where we have stayed for the past month + is fabulous. We are at Hall of Fame Marina, although we kind of ended up here by accident. Why is it such a great marina you might ask? Well because it is clean. And close to everything. And the staff is great. For example, yesterday I was returning from a Target, liquor store, Laundromat, Starbucks run (yes, we are with car again) and had a very large and heavy dockcart full to the brim. As I was going down the ramp trying very hard not to dump a bottle of wine or the freshly laundered pillow cases in the water, I saw Scott the Dockmaster walking the other way on the phone. He waved for me to stop, hung up the phone, and proceeded to take the dockcart from me and walk me back to the boat. Oh, and I should mention that it was way after 5:00 pm and he should have already gone home?

The marina office has also been very flexible and patient with our plans. We had a reservation for only two weeks. We are going on six.

Another great thing about this marina is that it is small. There is a north side (where the big boats are) and a south side (where we are) which is mostly liveaboards. Last night when the wind was howling out of the East pushing us onto the dock at low tide, my mind started doing that thing it does best when Bill isn't around to solve all the problems of the world (or at least give me the impression that he will). I conjured up the scenario of how the fenders were going to be caught under the dock as the tide started to rise and the boat would list to port and / or the fenders would be lost. But I did go to bed assured that if anything happened while Bill was in DC, I would simply knock on the boat door of a neighbor and ask for help changing the lines or whatever. Of course it didn't come to that.... But it was nice to feel comfortable enough that I could ask for help.

Cruising, living aboard, boating in general brings out the best in people. For the most part, it has been our experience that everyone is willing to help and be helped and then pay it forward. It is nice to feel part of a small community in some way... especially when we are so transient.

I will admit that we don't really know our neighbors at Hall of Fame too, too well. There haven't been any dock happy hours or dinners. I think part of the reason is because Bill and I have only been in Lauderdale to hang out one of the five weekends we have been here (Boston, Largo, my dad was here, Lake Wales). Ironically we were invited to a BBQ on a neighbor's boat last night. Bill was in DC and I politely declined since I was rearranging and cleaning out all of the closets on the boat. Plus I had to get through Mama Mia before Bill came home or I would never see that damn movie! When the cats away.... yeah right! Hopefully there will be another invite or we can host before we leave.