Day Eleven and I'm doing just fine thank you very much...

 

Well whadda-ya-know... it's day eleven and I'm doing just fine thank you very much. It's day eleven as in the number of days since I last imbibed an alcoholic beverage. It feels good to wake up in the mornings feeling completely rested for a change.

It's not like I wouldn't like a cold beer now and then, its just that I have to come to terms with the reality that if I have even one beer then I'll want to follow that up with a couple of pitchers and a few tall ones out of a can. Not only that but it occurs to me that the one compelling reason why one drinks is not to forget but rather because one is simply bored out of their mind.

In any event this marina is full of numerous examples of why one should not drink in excess not that I should be talking.

For starters, there is the "tree of knowledge". Underneath that shade tree can be found an assortment of lawn chairs and ice coolers all loaded up with cold beer. The same usual suspects can be seen swapping stories of the goings-on here in the harbor while sipping on a few cold ones first thing every morning... and that scene goes on all day.

But heck, who am I to judge... I suppose I'm no different. I've simply done my drinking in the comfort of an air-conditioned tavern while watching sporting events on a flat-screen. Yet had I done my drinking under the "tree of knowledge", I then would have known some time ago about a fellow boater whose nude body was found floating in the harbor one morning.

One thing that I've discovered while living aboard my boat while tied up to a mooring here in the harbor is that there is very little actual discussion about sailing. It seems as if the concept of sailing is but an afterthought. Being tied up to a ball here in the harbor has a trailer park feel to it with the only difference being that one is on the water.

In other news, the crud that I had contracted on Thanksgiving Day is now a thing of the past. That crud along with its lingering effects lasted a good nine days. It feels good to be finally over the incessant fevers and to make matters even better the cold snap that found its way down to the Keys has finally relented.

In any event, I got stir-crazy yesterday and got out and did something that I'd been wanting to do for some time now. I drove on over to the north end of the Seven Mile Bridge, parked the car, and hiked the old Flagler Railway Bridge to Pigeon Key and back.

This old bridge was once part of a railway that ran all the way down to Key West and the bridge has since been made pedestrian friendly. I hiked a total of 4.4 miles in some eighty minutes with a number of stops along the way. I kept hoping to spot a spiny-tail lobster down in the shallow waters but I didn't see any.

It felt good to get out and breath in some fresh air while gazing out upon the open blue waters.