Hmm...the firsts just keep on coming. Today is something that I should have expected, but I certainly hadn't thought it all the way through ahead of time. How do I get out of the boat, take a shower, go back to the boat, then get to the car in the pouring down rain. Well...it wasn't hard at all. That is, unless staying dry is a priority. I had on my nice pants because I was headed job hunting, and I threw on my rain jacket, but by the time I finally made it to the car (which is where my umbrella happened to be located) I was completely drenched. Nothing I could do.

After a visit to a few of the marinas, I've learned that the captain do all of their own hiring, so I've got to talk to each one of them. And, since it's raining, none of the captains are out on their boats, so that wasn't much of an option. I think I remember picking up a charter boat directory that listed all of the boats and captains...hopefully it'll have their numbers too...that'd be good. I'll have to try that.

For lunch, I rode over to Live Bait, a pretty nice resturant/bar with live music on the weekends. I put in an application because they said that they were hiring. That'd be good. I've got to go back tomorrow afternoon to talk with a manager. After that I ran by the library to see if I could get on the internet for a little while, but there was a line of about 15 snowbirds waiting to use the computers, so I decided to try again later. (as I'm writing this, I don't have access yet...not until wednesday, remember?)

I got back to the marina around 1:30 or so, and the weather was worse than it'd been all morning long. I did have the umbrella, but as luck would have it, it was of very little use. The wind was one of those that would blow you out of your shoes and the rain was shooting across horizontally. When I finally made it out to the boat, I had quite a time trying to tame it enough for me to jump in. Opening up the companionway just long enough to go below, I was able to keep some water out, but by that point, there wasn't a whole lot that was dry anyway. I guess it's good that I'm not doing anything else today, because my time's been taken up mostly by finding leaks, making notes of where they are, and trying to minimize the leakage. Don't get me wrong, these aren't the leaks that will sink a boat, they are just leaky windows and screws and things like that, but they can't be fixed until everything dries out. I will say, though, that the Chinese could probably learn something if they took a look at these things. Not to mention the fact that dressing tomorrow is going to be an adventure seeing as I have no dry clothes or towels. It'll be alright. All I'm saying is that as soon as the weather clears up, me and a big tube of sealant are going to spend some serious time together.

So, here I am, 5 o'clock on Monday afternoon in my rainsuit running around with a roll of paper towels trying to keep things on the dry side of damp while the boat's thrashing about wildly in its slip (which has become oddly natural feeling), eating vienna sausages, and writing all this. And secretly, I'm enjoying every last second of it. (just to clarify, I'm the one eating vienna sausages and writing this, not the boat...I think I misplaced a modifier, but whatever.)