Pura Vida held tight to her position at the dock all through September, refusing to go south during hurricane season. Tropical Storm Ernesto scraped by and dumped enough rain to flood the streets for a few days, but that's mild for those of us who have lived in Florida the past few years. We simply waded through the water in our rubber shower shoes (I saw only one little snake).

September brought us out of our idle mode and we busied ourselves by practicing cosmetic surgery on the old tub. Tom began the process of repairing the outside cabin by filling cracks and pinholes, during which time he managed to sand most of the skin off his fingers. After that he put on a basecoat and a couple of topcoats of urethane for temporary protection but he still has more repair jobs to look forward to. The old girl still needs another basecoat and topcoat on the hull and new non-skid on her decks. I wasn't left out of the fun: I got to scrape and sand old weathered wood and finish it off with three coats of Cetol. Pura Vida didn't get an entire facelift, just a little nip and tuck, but she's looking a little better in her old age.

Departure day drew near and Tom started thinking, always a dangerous prospect, but he came up with a brilliant idea to make it easier for me to loop a line over bollards or cleats. The old lines had become stiff and hard to work with so he rigged up a 3-foot eye in new, softer line and then put a stainless steel hose clamp on the fending pole to hold the line in place. That makes it sooo much easier. Too bad he didn't think of that three years ago!

(click on pictures to enlarge)