During our travels, we have found that many things that are “not allowed” are not discovered until after the fact. This week, we were continuing to work on our boat projects when we found out a very huge “not allowed”. Bill needed to know if the dock we were on had 220 voltage for an air compressor that we were going to rent. He went to the marina front office to ask a simple question. The marina worker inquired why he needed the 220 voltage. Bill responded by explaining to him that the air compressor for the fuel tank removal would make the process easier. The marina worker then simply stated, “You can’t work on fuel tanks in the marina. It’s not allowed.” Needless to say, since Bill has half of one fuel tank removed and the entire fuel system disassembled, his response was not what the marina worker wanted to hear…. “Well, we don’t have any way to move the boat so that’s not happening.” Keep in mind we have been tearing out the fuel tanks for several weeks now and no one has even noticed. “Your neighbors will complain” was the response. “No, our neighbors all know we are working on the tanks and none of them care” was Bill’s response. Bill then exited the office and we waited for someone official to show up to tell us we had to move the boat. Then, we would have to show them that our boat has no fuel tanks which would tend to hinder any kind of boat movement. We waited. No one came. We began working again. No one came. It has now been 5 days so we figure that we are in the clear and since large pieces of metal sheeting are being offloaded daily they must be choosing to ignore us. As for the neighbors, we took them out for wings and beer at a local beach bar so they are all happy to let us make noise for awhile!
While we were out to dinner, our neighbors asked if we had been using the local transportation since we arrived. I explained to them that we had rented the car because just the thought of cramming into a small, hot 15 passenger van with 20 people caused my claustrophobia to skyrocket. They stated that we were definitely missing out on the local entertainment by not taking the “bus”. They told us of a time when they were heading back from the grocery store. The bus pulled up to a stop where a woman was waiting with two live chickens, one under each arm. The bus driver told the woman that no live animals were allowed onto the bus. The woman proceeded to snap the chickens’ necks and she then boarded the bus with two dead chickens, one under each arm. Gotta love the island life! There was almost a mutiny at the marina this week among the boaters. You can close the airports, you can close the businesses, you can close down Carnival but you most definitely cannot close down the pool! Evidently the pool guys were struggling with chemical balance this week so they kept “shocking” the pool daily to get the water clear. We returned from running errands one day when our neighbor told us the pool was closed. Standing on the dock, staring at him in horror, I knew what it must feel like to be addicted to drugs. I began to shake uncontrollably, sweat pouring down my face. “What do mean closed?! As in closed closed….or just kind of closed. What does this mean?!” Hysterics began along the dock as word spread. Without the pool, there would be no working on projects because what would be the immediate reward? A boat that won’t sink? Puh-leeze….the pool is the only thing that makes this boating world run. Why don’t you just jump off the side of the boat into the water, you ask? If you are on anchor, that is a thing. If you are in a marina, you don’t get in the water. The water is not the cleanest in the world and you definitely don’t want to swim in it. Thus, the pool. The pool is the place where all boating problems are solved, world crisis are resolved, pandemics are laid to rest. Without the daily pool meetings, the world would simply stop. Just as true panic was beginning to set in, a neighbor yelled, “Pool is open again!” Whew…that was the longest 15 minutes of my life! All the boat work is beginning to wear on us so we will definitely be planning a few outings in the next week or two. All work and no play is breaking all the boating life rules! Until then, try to stay cool in August and plan an adventure of your own before another summer slips away!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
|