Onshore: Strip malls, long walks and goofy parking lot signs.

It's hard to believe that I've been here four days already. That's almost a week. I've met some fifteen people casually including Fat Freddy (who is), and Barnacle Bill (who is not). I hope to leave tomorrow but may not get out of the area until January 2nd depending on a few factors. I'm anxious to leave.

I've spent the last few days at the Red Eye Cafe that's part of the Finz Seafood Restaurant off of Manatee Pocket. I've been able to pick up a few scratches of writing work and have made enough to cover a few weeks of gas and food. I'm just ninety miles from Miami, so I should be able to coast the rest of the journey on two fuel stops - that's about $100 of gas. Once I stop consistently burning fuel my expenses should decline somewhat. Wishful thinking, probably.

I picked up a length of about 20 to 25 feet of anchor chain at a DIY boat yard across the street from the cafe. The owner was very friendly and gave it to me for $5. I didn't realize how great of a deal that was until I saw 15 feet of the same chain priced at $30 at a different used marine supply store. Now all I need to get a respectable anchor setup is a shackle and some new line. As is, I'm always nervous leaving the boat for the day - and sometimes with good reason. I've dragged anchor a couple times over the course of a few hours onshore, sometimes twenty yards or more.

I hope to see my Grandpa today or tomorrow, sometime before I move on at any rate. He'll be in the area for a few months escaping the cold and catching up with family. It will be great to see him.

The days have turned warm although cloudy, and my spirits have picked up so that I wonder if I'm not emotionally hardwired to the weather. It's appalling how hard it can be to pin down the sources of itching anxiety and profound deflation. The relationship between my mood and weather is almost vulgar in its simplicity: a warm, sunny day always has me laughing out loud with delight.

I should be able to make it to Marathon, Florida by the fifteenth of January. That's where the marina is that's (hopefully) holding packages for me: books for a friend and a replacement transducer for my faulty depth sounder. They expected me a month ago, so we'll see what happens.

After finishing up the last of the work I dug up this week I'll be all set to move on. I'm hoping for sustained good weather.