I always kick myself after the fact...
We filled up the waste tank this morning...well, we didnt do it all on our own...this is a boat we have just inhabited in the last week, so there is no way we could have filled her up. But I digress...
we filled up the waste tank, called the mobile pumpers and waited. At about 9.30am, they appeared alongside and pumped us clean and empty. Now, if I had thought about it, I might have had my camera on hand to record this first, in our boating lives:)
2 hrs later, we ran out of water in the water tank. You know, because suddenly there is nothing coming out of the faucet!~
Waz is out there right now filling her up with the hose from shore. As we are in a Marina, this is only a couple of feet away.

Off to do some errands and get a smaller vehicle.  I think!

Back again. Smaller vehicle was going to cost $2 per day MORE than the one we have, so we maintain status quo. I did drop the $17 per day insurance (have cr. cd cover) so it actually becomes affordable. Did I previously mention that getting the rental car 'locally' is much less expensive than getting it at the airport? Like $100's of dollars less in fees. The money we saved by getting a yellow cab from the airport on the other side of the city to the south east side, is half of what it would cost us in fees alone for a rental car from the airport. Said vehicle was supposed to be returned next week, but we have decided to keep it for the complete month we are here.Let's hope we have this boat sorted by then.

We finally found some Jandals (flipflops, slippers), at West Marine, that are comfortable and dont hurt my poor arthritic feet. We had gone there to pick up a part which was ordered for the head (toilet) pump, and found that the part we had waited a week for they actually had had in stock when we ordered it!!!! Can  you say PEEVED?
We also went and organized to get pumped out every week by the mobile pumpah people. For a one off pump it is $42. For a contract of one month, weekly pump outs, it is $18 a time. Not sure if this is false economy yet, but we will see. The gauge on the waste tank isnt working (is there anything that does, on this boat???) so we dont know what is in there (well we do now..nada!). we purchased a new tank monitoring system while at West Marine. I think we have taken shares in that company, since our arrival:S
It is a bit silly, because the part we needed to repair the monitor in the existing system is small..you just cant buy it on it's own, so mucho dollaries later, we have a brand new system. Atleast it goes in the Maintenance Schedule, on record, as being new.


The heat continues. What started out cooler and overcast has turned into a cloudless sky and up to 97F again (37C). It is HOT out there. Wonderful to get back to the boat and into the airconditioning. Yes, we leave it running...too hot not to. The floating dock alongside the boat is made of dark wood and it is amazing how much heat that thing reflects into the boat. No way to counteract that really. We draw the curtains when the sun is on the windows, which are heavily tinted, but you can still feel the heat when you put your hand near the window.

There is lots of bird life in and around the Marina. Brown Pelicans and Egrets, Great White herons and lots of birds we dont know the names of yet. I need to buy a book of birds and fish. I think I said that before, but we still dont have one.

When we were driving over the Galveston Bridge the other night, it was amazing to see the seabirds riding the thermals above the bridge...hundreds of them. This is three hundred feet above the water!! I just love watching the Pelicans...sch huge birds, but so aerodynamic and fabulous to watch feeding. They are so buoyant!

Tonight is Fireworks Night again at Kemah Boardwalk. We will sit topside on the flydeck and watch, or we may walk around to one of the many waterside vantage points close by and take the video camera with us to record the event. Standby for video footage.

Frankly, I dont know how people stay in one Marina for any great length of time, especially if they are on their boat all day. While there is much to see in and around the Marina, it gets pretty boring too. Perhaps that is just me??lol.

It is just 5pm, and already the traffic going over the bridge is slowing down. most nights the slowdown continues through 6.30pm. We wonder where all the traffic comes from and where it is going?? We are just off Hwy 146, which joins several major arteries...NASA Pkwy, I45 included.

We discovered some excellent meat selections at Target Grocery when we first came here. We went back recently and stocked up on some pork loin and Fillet steak, which is lovely. The latter is tonight's dinner with new potatoes and salad.

I still havnt decided what we are going to eat to celebrate 4th of July, but I did buy a box mix of Chocolate Brownies (Betty Crocker) for $1.69 (normally over $5 in NZ) to make up in case we get visitors.

We made friends with Kathie, the Office Mgr at the pumpout company, who lives on her 42 ft yacht with her third husband...it is his third marriage too, apparently...totally works for them both, she said..third time lucky:). what a delightful person...and they have a dinghy to go visiting, as they live just across the Clear Creek in Portafino Marina (sorry,long sentence!). When we get our boat motor back (Yamaha 15hp) from the service fellas, we might be able to go visiting them. They both hail from Michigan, originally, and are just a couple of years off retirement, when they hope to do what we are doing...The Loop:)
Time to go and sort out where to put the bottles of water sitting in the middle of the Saloon floor...we keep walking around them. Then perhaps I will also go and clean out the upstairs drinks fridge, which has seen better days, but the cost of a new one is motivation enough to try to fix this one. Lots of rust, as she is exposed to the elements, so she may not be salvagable.
Time to do some work!!!