Day #20: My grandfather used to say, "I don't know what I did all day but it took me all day to do it." I feel this way a lot while cruising. The days fly by and there's not much to show for them. The fact is there's a lot of overhead for anything you do while living afloat. Take for example today's trip to get milk. Going ashore in the dinghy means finding a dock to land. The Caribbean Club (where allegedly some of the 1947 film Key Largo, with Bogart and Bacall, was shot) has such a dock but there's a quip pro quo; the dock is free as long as we dine there. With the dinghy safely tied up we march into the Club and ask for a menu. A blank look from the bar keep signals there's trouble coming. We've overlooked the fact that the Caribbean Club is a bar--nothing more. We order a Coke, a Corona and a bag of chips--$6.00. Done with 'lunch' we start walking the mile along Route 1 to the Tom Thumb convenience store. Halfway there we come across a Philly cheesesteak shop. Seems our earlier 'lunch' hadn't quite filled us up--$12.00. At the Tom Thumb we purchase one gallon of milk--$3.99. We then walk back to Henry (our dinghy) and motor out to Nellie. So, all told it took 2-1/2 hours and $21.99 to procure one gallon of milk...
You can see from today's picture that we doubled back while transiting the shallows between Barnes and Little Card Sounds. Some poor fisherman had lost their engine and were paddling into a stiff wind. The boat waiting to tow them home couldn't get close for fear of going aground. Nellie dropped her dink which was able to fetch the exhausted fisherman and join them up with their tow boat. All's well that ends well.
Anchored between Pumpkin Key and Key Largo. 16nm today and 331nm for the trip. DBH.
