We rented a car to take Peanut to the vet and pick up all the heavy supplies that we needed. Of course there were issues with getting our new fishing boat /dinghy off the roof and set up. Add a 20 minute ride into the marina and we were behind. The only place to pick up a car is at the airport, three miles down the road so Peanut and I walked part of the way down and waited in front of Publics while Tom rode his bike to the airport. I waited, and waited and waited! I even had to call the vet and tell them my husband was lost going to pick up a car so we would be late. Finally Tom showed up but instead of driving a little compact car he was in a very nice SUV. Wow, nice upgrade I announced! Upgrade my %#*! He went on to explain that he peddled as fast as he could, I bet that was a sight, making good time. When he told the gal at the Enterprise desk we had called Enterprise and reserved a car the day before she announced they didn't have any cars. How could that be he announced they took our reservation. They don't know anything about my rentals at the main office she states. I have customers I have promised cars to. I don't have a car for you. After a few more words were exchanged Tom went over to Avis which is also Budget and rented a car from them. After all that mess we still were only 15 minutes late to the vet. $199.00 later we had another round of antibiotics for her ut and our international vet permit to take her to Cuba. We completed our errands then stopped by Sombrero marina to visit some old boating friends we had not seen in several years. We met Allan and his wife in the dismal swamp and buddy boated with them to Florida. We met Twyla and Mike in Corabelle while waiting to cross the gulf several years ago. They also have a 1990 Jefferson 42. We had a great visit and at dusk headed back to the marina and to the boat. Now its pitch black out and Tom did not set up our required light on the back of the dinghy. Luckily enough I threw a light I had bought for my bike in my backpack. As we slowly headed threw the mooring field without hitting any mooring balls then through the anchorage we spotted the dreaded blue lights. The boat police. They passed us so at first we thought we were in the clear. No such luck. They turned around and asked us to slow down so they could come aside. The officer noted that the registration sticker on the side of the boat was from 1996. Hmmm now that could be a problem. He then asked for a copy of our registration. Oops Tom forgot to put it in the dinghy! He reminded us we were to carry it and reminded us we were supposed to have a light on the back of the boat. They pulled us over to the dock at Burdines. He looked up the numbers on the side of the boat and they were nonexistent. That's because Tom never registered this boat when we bought it this summer. The numbers on the boat were from the previous owner who again had not registered it since 1996! After a few minutes the policeman said it was our lucky night. He was having computer issues and it would not print a ticket. He told us to be careful and let us go. When we found the boat, remember there was no moon, it was pitch black out because we spotted the blue solar lights in the aft window, we tied up and went aboard. There wasn't much conversation between us. Being that I was not a happy boater about the chain of event, quiet was probably best. We were in bed early that night. At midnight the wind started picking up and the rain came down in buckets. At 3am Tom got up to check the dink and because the back of it was facing the wind the water was coming over and filling It up. He put a life jacket on, dipped out some water and with my help carefully turned the boat around so the nose was in the wind. The wind howled all night and we bounced from side to side. At dawn exhausted and tired of bouncing we pulled anchor and headed in. We found a big enough hole between three sailboats and dropped the hook. The water was calm, and we were exhausted. We hung around on the boat all day just being lazy.
Sunset on Monday evening
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