The Fourth of July holiday week is over and it’s back to work and boat repairs. In between all the thunderstorms/downpours that have been hitting the Gulfport area, there have been a few completed boat projects with many more stacked up in the que. But first, a quick recap of the Fourth!
Based on a clear weather window, a last minute decision was made to watch the fireworks from the boat. This put me, my wife, my cousin and his wife out into Boca Ciega Bay late in the evening, but we still mangaged a good anchorage among the tons of other boats already in position for the fireworks show. The storms looked like they were going to stand down for the evening and the cool breeze coming across the water felt more like a fall evening than the regular uncomfortably balmy summer nights that we are used to. It was a VERY short trip from the marina to our viewing spot – about 5 minutes – so we felt we could beat any storms back to the dock, even with all the boat traffic – even with our broken gear shift.
Yep, no trip would be complete without some part letting loose, and the gear shift handle was the part of choice. It snapped off in my hand when I tried to put the boat in reverse during anchoring. Good thing the anchor took hold on the first attempt or it would have been fun-turned-tradgedy stuck in reverse in the conglomeration of boats. A quick switch-around with the throttle lever and we back in biz. The gear shift works harder than the throttle, so I put that good throttle lever onto the gear shift and used pliers (fogot to put the damn vise-grips on the boat) for the throttle. It worked well enough and got us back to the dock after the show was over. It was a great time and I highly recommend seeing the fireworks via boat.
That following Sunday Cannonball, Lee (my cousin) and I took a little trip to Egmont Key for some snorkeling. Just another beautiful day, warm water, no storms and met some nice people from Palmetto.
