Days 104 – 105
On Thursday morning, 12/24/20, I woke up with a terrible headache, and wanted to roll over and go right back to sleep, but I remembered I still needed to purchase some shoe inserts for my latest pair of Sperry shoes, and feared I wouldn’t be able to do that for another several days, since tomorrow was Christmas Day. So I hauled myself into the shower and got dressed to walk over to the nearby Walgreen’s. I was groggy and tired (still being behind on sleep), and so wasn’t thinking too clearly. I walked all over Walgreen’s searching for shoe inserts, but soon discovered that – because of it’s location – this Walgreen’s was apparently more of a souvenir shop than an actual drug store. On top of that, it was so busy I couldn’t locate an employee to even question. So I decided to leave that store and walk more than a mile over to the Publix, I knew was nearby. The sun was out in full force and the temperature in the high 70s, which did not help my headache or alleviate my exhaustion! After trudging for what felt like days, across several busy intersections that had me picking up my pace, I arrived at the Publix store and managed to find some shoe inserts which were not my favorites, but would do in a pinch. I’d texted Steve to see if he needed anything from the grocery store, since I was there, and he requested a gallon of milk. I felt awful and had no intention of trying to hand-carry something that heavy more than a mile back to the marina, so I left Publix and began hoofing it and dodging fast-moving traffic back toward Walgreen’s, which was closer to our boat, and where I had seen gallons of milk in one of their refrigerators. By the time I got back to Walgreen’s, I felt like I was going to pass out. I fumbled to get my mask on without dropping my purse and earlier purchases as I headed for Walgreen’s refrigerators. While I was there this time, I DID happen to find a store employee to ask about more Dramamine, which I knew I needed on the boat. Lo and behold, she directed me to their 2ND FLOOR, where I found the actual drug store! D’OH! In addition to Dramamine, they – surprise, surprise – also carried the exact shoe inserts I’d gone in search of originally! UGH! I had walked all the way to Publix and back in the hot sunshine and howling winds for absolutely NO reason. By the time I got back to the boat, my head was splitting, so I handed Steve his gallon of milk, downed some aspirin, got back into my pajamas, and went back to sleep for another 3 hours!
I woke up that evening feeling much better just in time to join Walt and Ladonna for docktails out on the dock between our two boats. We all talked and laughed at each others’ boat stories for almost two hours as the winds increased, until the dropping temperatures forced us to break up our little party and run for cover inside our respective boats. A notably strong cold-front blew through our tropical paradise overnight on Christmas Eve, plunging our Christmas morning into temps in the low 40s!
We had previously made Christmas Day dinner reservations at Bob Heilman’s Beachcomber restaurant, at Brenda Wehrle’s spot-on recommendation, for 1:00 pm that afternoon. Even though the temps were predicted to rise into the mid-60s later in the day, we donned our coats to walk the half-mile to the restaurant in the cold, but gorgeously sunny air. On a whim, we’d asked Walt and Ladonna if they’d like to join us for dinner, but Ladonna was already planning to prepare a prime rib on board especially for that day. Bob Heilman’s did not disappoint and we enjoyed two delicious meals (Steve ordered lamb chops and I had filet mignon) with scrumptious desserts of key lime pie and a peppermint hot fudge sundae afterward. By the time we left, we almost had to roll ourselves back to the boat as we felt full as ticks. No more food was needed by either of us on Christmas night!
Position: N 27° 58.582, W 82° 49.453
Marina Nights: 88