Portuguese man-of-war

When I go out in the dinghy by myself, I can put it on "autopilot."  I twist it up to full throttle (as full throttle as a 2 hp motor goes) sit on the front seat and steer it through the crab pots by leaning to one side or the other.  Reminds me of "hanging ten" in my old surfing days.

I had planned on going out to the reef to fish today.  However, as we were finishing breakfast, the water pump started to cycle on and off when the faucets were shut off.  That can only mean one thing.  A leak.  The water "pipes" on most small boats are plastic hoses that are clamped to connecting fittings.  Ours is especially troublesome.  We have a water heater and I've added bi-pass valves and lines so I don't need to totally fill the water heater with antifreeze.  (I will need to winterize again before go back NOrth.)  So almost every trip, we have a leak in one of the many hose clamps holding the water system together.  I can see 24 hose clamps in a space that's about a cubic foot, and they're all inside a little door under the kitchen sink in a difficult spot to reach.  After tightening all 24 of them, the water was still leaking.  Mopping up where it ran out from under the cabinets, we could feel that the leak was hot water.  A clue.  Turns out that the water heater has a pop off valve that goes into a hose that is supposed to go into the bilge, but the hose is about 2" too short, and it was running down the outside wall.  Don't know why the pop valve started letting water out, but after a trip to the hardware store for a longer hose, and bleeding the valve a little, the problem seems solved.
That is a long explanation of why when I went to the bait shop to buy shrimp, they were sold out.  The guy told me they sold 6000 shrimp before I got there at 11:00.  If I wanted shrimp, I should get up earlier.  They open at 6:00.

So we thought maybe we'd go out to the reef and try snorkeling.  However, the ocean was covered with Portuguese man-of-wars.  They're interesting to look at, but they sting. Their sting is not often life threatening, but is painful.

 

We also saw a sea turtle

Phil and Cathie took BUDDY out today as well.  Here's a very short video. 

Here's a shot they took of us

And oh by the way, I saw my shadow today, so it's 6 more weeks of Florida.