Slum Dock

We were awoken this morning about 6:30 by something rocking our boat.  It's only about 2 1/2 feet deep here, so that pretty much rules out a breaching nuclear sub that I first thought it was.  After we got up, we saw a manatee swimming under the boat.  Must have been scratching it's back.  We had seen red and blue bottom paint on it's back earlier.  Now we know how it got there.

We met a guy from Chicago who introduced himself as the "Hot Dog Man."  Could have a lot of different meanings.  But then he went on to explain that he takes his old houseboat out to the sandbar just outside Whale Harbor and sells hot dogs to the party people who pull up on the sandbar.  He also sells hamburgers, ice cream, and soft drinks.  We asked if he sold beer.  He doesn't have a liquor license, but if you buy a "souvenir cup" for $3.00, you get a free beer with it.

The hot dog man told us we were on the "slum dock."  In addition to our "cute" boats, our dock has a few live aboard houseboats, some nice center console fishing boats and four sailboats.  Actually, if the hot dog man would leave, it would escalate the status of our dock immensely.  The other dock (non slum) does have some boats that are a little nicer than those on our slum dock.  That dock includes a Nordhavn, a Hatteras, a Hinckley, an Ocean Alexander, a Leopard Catamaran, and many more similar ($$$) boats.

We went for a short ride in our boat today, and then after washing off the salt, we went to Winn-Dixie.  Took the truck this time.  Too many groceries for the bikes.

I had a bad thought today.  Just a little more than two weeks to go.  Our slip fee is paid until March 6th.  When you rent a slip by the month, you loose 2 or 3 days by being here in February.  I also thought about how I've been driving 45 miles per hour for so long here in the keys, that it might take us a week to get home.