8 Jul 14

We are getting low on fresh water and clean underwear, so it is time to head for a marina. We motored over to the PW Town Dock to take advantage of their free (holding tank) pump out facility, then moved into Brewer Capri Marina West, where the boat will be for the next month (while we head to South Carolina for the bi-annual Wells Family reunion and a few weeks of R&R back home in Houston). We met Kerry and Renee from “Arrimar”, who apparently are mutual friends with our buddies Charlie and Anita of “Raison d’être” (small world, this cruising group); they are parked next to us at the marina, but head north tomorrow. We tidied up the boat, I scraped a few more feet of varnish on the port toe-rail (the starboard side is done now; two coats of teak oil and it looks smashing, if I do say so). Then, we showered and headed to Finn MacCool’s to watch the first semi-final of the World Cup (Brazil v Germany; Germany thrashed the home team 7 - 1 in a stunning - no other word for it - match). A bit of grocery shopping on the way home and the day is done.  

9 Jul 14

Spent the day doing laundry and scraping varnish off the toe-rail. Took a break at 15:00 to take the bus in to Finn MacCool’s to watch the other semi-final World Cup match (Nederlands lost to Argentina in penalty kicks). Dinner aboard.

10 Jul 14

Finished varnish scraping and prep work and got the first coat of teak oil on the remainder of the port toe-rail.  

11 Jul 14

Completed teak-oiling the port side toe rail and spent the rest of the day cleaning the boat inside and out and getting ready to leave it for 3 weeks. Sorted out the hurricane lines and bought new tie-down straps for the bikes and kayaks. Terri’s bike suffered a blow-out on the rear tire, so I had to make a second trip to town to buy a new tire and inner-tube. Dinner aboard.

12 Jul 14

Final preparations for leaving the boat. We are pretty much packed up and ready to go. In the afternoon, we went into Finn MacCool’s to watch Nederlands and Brazil play for 3rd place (NED 3 - BRA 0; humiliating end of the World Cup for Brazil). Our boating buddies from New Jersey (Jimmy and Sue on board “Great Notion”) have caught up with us again and met us for drinks and dinner. They are headed north to Martha’s Vineyard area, so we will hopefully run into them again later on in the season.