Day 10 - By Aaron

Well, first I will say that I had friends betting on us.  Some said we would go two days, others saying we would not make it past ten days.  Well, this is day ten and I’m still not giving up.

The mechanic came today and  had everything I needed fixed at the moment done in two hours.  I told him about a couple of other minor things that I needed done but was in no hurry, meaning I didn’t need it done today but in the next few days.  He’s a very nice guy and does an excellent job on getting things done.

Well, let’s hope that’s the last of the scary things that happens this trip, God willing.  I forgot to mention yesterday that I had cases of water, soda, and liquor in storage bins in the bottom of the boat.  After we got the pumps working, a little bit later I needed to pull a case of water out.  I found out that the storage compartments were flooded.  It took me an hour and  a half with a cup and a bucket and then finally a roll of paper towels to get it all leaned up- Fun Stuff. 

Anyways, after the repairs were done today, I helped to tidy things up in the boat and make it more comfortable again.  Then tonight, I finally took some time and told my wife lets go for a walk around town.  We decided to go to the St Pete Yacht Club for dinner.  Being that I’m Vice Commodore of the Hernando Beach Yacht Club I figured It would be a good place to go.  The dinner was excellent.  Then we walked to the grocery store, got some supplies and brought them back to the boat.

Oh, and I want to make sure you all know that I have taken all the boat safety classes.  I have no problems operating my boat safely and getting where I need to go.  I will admit that I’m still not that great at backing the boat up into slips, but I’m getting better all the time. 

One thing I will say is I’m just not a mechanic, so I’m lucky that we’ve ran into some good mechanics on the way, even though it’s breaking bank. 

The boat started rocking back and forth tonight, last night, and every night as you will see in this little video clip.  So, I told my wife mine as well not go back to the rocking boat after being on it for ten days we need to do laundry.  So, I grabbed the laundry, some wine for the wife, and rum and coke for me, and we headed to the laundry room at the Vinoy hotel.  After that, if it’s not raining, maybe we will explore the town a bit more.  But, I will say one last thing for tonight.  I think when I get back to the boat at the end of the night I’m going to grab Vicki and if the boat’s a rocking don’t come a knocking. 

My drinking helps make me more steady.