Young Adventures: Earthday 2013! Boot Key Cleanup

So yesterday was Earthday, and what better way to celebrate then cleaning up our very own backyard here in Boot Key Harbor. Mother nature was doing her best to wash everything down and the festivities kicked off during a downpour that soaked everyone.

I had some work to do on the boat and let the kids go off for a few minutes on their own with the intention of getting picked up a little later to join in. Little did I know Colby and Peyton would be canvassing the harbor and forget about me. I'd listen to them coordinating on the radio with the other boats and couldn't believe the etiquette they have when operating the VHF. They weren't two little kids out there, they were boaters and part of the community, working hard and helping where they could.

I radioed for them to come by and pick up their old man, only to be told I would have to wait since they were on the other side of the harbor and had a full bag of trash. It was nearly an hour and a half later I finally got picked up. So off I went with them to help continue the cleanup. I managed to get around an hour of helping in before the event was almost over. I took the camera along to get some shots of the effort. The day ended with a large boat full of trash that filled up an entire construction dumpster. The City Marina and all it's employees were involved and the turnout was great.

At the Tiki there were hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and refreshments for those that helped clean up the harbor. A little bit of why we love living here. The boating community is a very tight knit group of people and it doesn't take long before these people all feel like family and for this harbor to feel like your backyard.

My Grandparents are coming to visit next month and we are going to move the boat to a dock for a while. This will allow me to get some work done that's hard to do while out in the mooring field and for us to make it easy for them to get on and off the boat. I'm looking at getting some projects accomplished and I think making my to do list public will put the pressure on me to get it done.

1. Re-bed the port windows to seal up some leaks

2. Get the fuel tank cleaned and polished as well as redo the fuel system (filters etc)

3. Find a way to mount solar panels to the boat either with dinghy davits, on the bimini or stanchions

4. Installing some new electronics and maybe a new VHF antenna

5. Things as they arise.

Below are a few shots of EarthDay 2013 Boot Key