We were up early with the sunrise, but laid in bed for awhile. Since we only had to go 2 miles to Palm Island Marina, we skipped taking Auggie to shore and left right after breakfast. The anchor was coated in muck, so it took awhile to haul it up and clean it off. We were gone by 9:00 and took the slow ride to Palm Island Marina. We were tied up to the dock by 10:00 after first getting the head pumped out at the gas dock. This is our first stay at a real marina since we left and we were treating ourselves, besides completing some boat chores. After getting tied up, I took Auggie for his long awaited walk. Then he got the full salon treatment with a bath and a haircut. I’m sure he felt so much better after that and looked better, too. Bob got a ride to Publix grocery store and Radio Shack with the marina manager. He wanted to rewire the TV and I needed a few grocery items. While he was running errands, I did the wash in their complimentary laundry room. After lunch, I gave the inside of the boat a good cleaning and vacuuming, while Bob washed the cockpit outside. While he was finishing hosing it off, I noticed 2 huge manatees swimming toward us.
They came right over to where Bob was spraying fresh water with the hose and wanted a drink. Bob sprayed water into the mouth of one manatee, while the other one waited.
When the second manatee wanted a drink, he would push the first one aside.
They hung around for about 15 minutes taking turns getting a drink and then slowly meandered away. I tried to touch them when they got close to the pier, but they were a little shy. What gentle creatures!
After that, I took a short walk to check out the ferry boat that carries people over to Knight, Palm, and Don Pedro Islands. I didn’t realize how close we were to the ferry crossing the last time we were here, so I wanted to see it up close.
At the ferry landing, they were loading vehicles onto the ferry and were taking them across the ICW to the outer islands. There are actually two ferries–one leaves Don Pedro Island at the same time the one leaves from here. There’s also a water taxi that will take you from the marina to the Rum Bay Restaurant located on Palm Island Resort. It costs $5 for a round trip ticket.
Once I got back, I worked on cleaning up the dinghy while Bob finished washing the bow of the boat. It needed a bath so bad. After all our chores were done, we treated ourselves to a swim in the pool. It was so refreshing and we had the pool all to ourselves.
Around 4:30, we went up to Leverock’s Restaurant (on site) for drinks and dinner. They had some nice “early bird” specials. Bob had shrimp pesto and I had coconut shrimp, my favorite.
After dinner, I took Auggie for a nice long walk around the marina. He likes walking down the piers and looking over the edge into the water. I don’t know what he’s looking for, but he did get to chase a few geckos on the grounds around the bushes. That’s his favorite thing to do. We relaxed on the boat as the sun went down. We felt good about all we had accomplished today and had a nice day besides!
Was Bob or Augie chasing the geckos in the bushes?