Lily, A Dog's Life Aboard Moondance: Two Steps Forward, and One Back on Marco Island

May 16, 2017

After a healthy yogurt, fruit and granola breakfast that I only got a lick of...what's up with that??? It was a lovely cruise from Ft Myer's Beach to Marco Island...The Gulf of Mexico was a calm blue green for as far as we could see...White fluffy clouds accompanied us with one resembling Aladdin popping out of his bottle...We didn't even have to dodge many boats along the way...The Beatles Channel accompanied us...

Coming into Marco Island Yacht Club

Sadly, the Yacht Club itself was closed both days we stayed here but the Marina workers were great!!!

Even the white sandy beaches on the way to Marco were pretty uninhabited. We arrived at Marco Island Marina and Yacht Club with the assistance of dock master Elmer around 1:30 PM. Elmer gave mom and I a lift to the beautiful dog potty area. The ride was great because the black top was hot as HELL!!! I was doing the silliest looking hot foot dance you have ever seen, trying to jump from the black top to grass as fast as I could!!! After mom and I checked us in, she tried to find a path back that involved as little black top as possible...even with that by the time I returned to Moondance, I was panting and hopping badly...Mom went into nurse mode putting soothing gooey stuff on my hot pads and me in between two fans! They felt great...she even shared a bit of beer with me...Ambrosia!!

There are times mom and dad just work at cross purposes trying to be helpful...all three of our AC's kept shutting themselves down after we got in...and it was HOT!!! While I lay between the two fans, mom was going through our manuals and online research while dad tried to work his way through the problem...They cleaned out the sea strainers...YUCK...even I could smell those! Still it kept shutting down...mom was yelling something about "were the seacocks opened or closed" so dad checked that issue...fixed it. Then, dad was yelling about the pump not working??? OH CRAP!!! Mom and dad had turned off and on the control panels so many times...the last time ,the pump got turned off...YEAH! An easy solution or so we thought??? Two out of our three AC units were working and we needed to leave to meet up with Micky and Sara...Since they weren't sure what was going on, they took me with them to the Wolf's house which was fine by me! I love it there!!! We no sooner arrived and I got to make use of their luscious lawn than the sky let loose with a Tree Shaker Storm...HOLY CRAP!!! That was a lot of rain in a short period of time, but Florida needs it so badly, no one was complaining!!! As we came down the coast, we could smell the fires after we passed Naples...

Shortly after arriving, our other friends, Tara and Jack joined us at the Wolf's. After feeding me, they left for their dinner...I was in heaven in their cool, comfortable house & desperately needed nap!!! The next thing I knew they were picking me up...

Glory, Glory Alleluia!!! The boat was cool as could be and the evening clouds were spectacularly beautiful! I was in the middle of my happy dance (after I got my nightly treat) when dad came inside covered in Wetness??? It seems the fresh water connector broke as he was checking it...so, just when one problem seems fixed another pops up!!! Never a dull moment!!! I'm always thankful that I'm just along for the ride and because they love me so much, they can't leave me behind!

May 17th
Mom and I were attacked this morning when we walked to the doggy place for me to do my business. We now know what they are talking about with the mosquitoes down here! OH MY GOSH!!! I didn't know whether to pee or bite at them? We all but ran back to the boat as soon as I was finished.

After breakfast, mom and dad got busy...Dad figuring out how to repair the broken fresh water connector, find someone to pump us out and to clean our boat bottom again while he cleaned the AC hoses.
Mom was in FULL cleaning mode!!! Mom likes to have friends for dock tails since it inspires her to clean the boat better than normal!!! As usual, I just tried to stay close to the fan and out of their ways...Sara and Mickey picked up the connector for dad and gave mom a lift to the grocery to pick up stuff for tonight and a few other items we needed. It will be fun to have friends on board...then we are off to the Wolf's for a combined grill out...YUM!!!