Drinks with M/V Anna Marie

2-10-16   Today Karen and I decided to take a trek to Home Depot (3 miles each way) to look for a rubber gasket that I need to replace on the manual water pump. I guess the rubber that Fynspray used to make the gasket only had an 25 year life span. Luckily enough we were able to find 10 replacements that seems to work great for less than $2. That’s not too bad, probably the least I’ve ever spent at the Depot. Even funnier was during our trip we were finding pennies, nickels and quarters on our walk, we almost came out money ahead. Another funny moment came as we were returning to Mango through downtown West Palm, Karen and I were still finding money when a homeless guy heard a woman say she was looking for a Subway restaurant. At that moment he looked over at me and said “I just need another dollar and I can buy a sub” while at the same time Karen was bent over next to me picking up change that was scattered about the walkway.

The evening came upon us fast, as before Karen and I knew it 4 O’clock rolled around and we needed to make it to the library, check weather and then make it to Bar Louis for drinks. Tonight we were having drinks with the Aussie’s on the 90 footer M/V Anna Marie and we invited the S/V Emerald Isle to join us. Karen and I arrived at Bar Louis shortly after 5 spying Bob and Maureen speaking with a server across the room. We quickly got a table and attempted to agree on what to drink. The sign outside the restaurant stated Hurricanes were $5 and a bucket of 5 beers for $6. I had a couple of Margaritas and Karen had wine. Shortly thereafter the Aussie’s showed and we started drinking PBR buckets, talking about our travels and their grandson who joined them for a part of the trip. Great times! The Aussie’s, Jenny and Geoff have been in the states for 4 years and love it here except for our healthcare. Way too expensive compared to anywhere else in the world they stated. I guess we already knew that but it’s just another outsider telling us. Jeff stated that they get their meds in the Bahamas because of the insanely high prices here in the states. This comes from a couple that just filled the fuel tanks with 3500 gallons of diesel, you can also imagine they’re loving the low diesel prices. The price is well under $2 a gallon down here on the water.

As you can see Anna Maria (large white yacht) makes Mango to the left look tiny.

What do you know they don’t carry guns either, they much like us have met nothing but wonderful people and believe that the world has many more good people than bad and will take our chances by not carrying guns. Bob and Maureen agreed also and stated that pepper spray was their choice for self defense.

A discussion of when to retire came up and we tried to narrow down what was the best time to retire. A very hard question that can vary from person to person. The crew of Anna Marie believed you should do this as soon as you can believing it will liberate the person retiring. Jeff stated; “When your young you do what your parents say, When your older you do what your teachers say, When you even older you do what your bosses say, When your even older you do what your customers say and now after retirement you can do whatever you want.” It’s not an easy adjustment and it does take time but once adjusted to it, it’s a wonderful thing. I agree it takes a little getting used to but after just a night with them and the crew of Emerald Isle I feel fully adjusted.

Karen and I discussed our evening on our way back to Mango, we both had a great time. We are looking forward to our future even more than before. Spending time with these two couples has helped us understand how important it is to “take your time and not hurry through life”.  What a great time we had tonight and what great new friends we now have.

Parking for the cool people, Oddly enough I didn't see a Prius.

Road closed for a party.