Gary ... how did you get the gear back to the boat???

. . .like Johnny Cash, "one piece at a time".

I sailed my boat to the resort's dock, and loaded it back onboard. After the job ended, the resort manager allowed me to store my gear in her office. Nice lady. She allowed me to leave my boat there for the night on Wednesdays after that first job. That allowed me to load my gear back aboard the boat after the job, plus I had electrical hookup at the dock so I could fire up the AC unit and dry all the humidity from the keyboard and amp that settled during the performance. Some nights were very humid after sundown, which had me worried, but the equipment handled it better than I anticipated.

Only one time did I haul the gear to the job on the dinghy. It was too much for one trip, therefore, it took several trips from the boat to the job to offload the equipment. After just one performance at each location, the managers allowed me to dock my boat at the venue, which made life a lot easier. While at the City Marina I was docked at the sea wall, which made loading and unloading a snap. Well, kinda a snap. Still had to lug the stuff out of the boat's cabin to the cockpit, then heft it out of the boat and on to the sea wall pier and load it on the rock and roller cart. Then I pushed the cart loaded with gear a couple hundred yards to the Tiki Hut and went to work. As you can see, the sea wall dock was just about level with the boat deck and the tidal change here is only about 2 feet at most.



The City Marina Tiki Hut, which is where the Saturday night shows were held, was really close, and measured about 30 X 50 feet. We had some fantastic crowds there, up to 300 people at times, they didn't want me to go home and in reality, I didn't really want to leave, but I had to.



I met a lot of very nice, wonderful people there, folks from all walks of life, millionaires to people who drove garbage trucks, all of which I really miss. I still manage to keep in touch with many of them, and with luck, hope to see them again in the next couple years. I really want Carol to meet them - they were all just fantastic individuals. They were cruisers, many of which that had lived aboard their sailboats and trawlers for decades. Some had pets onboard, some had children that were home schooled, some had children that attended the local schools and their school bus was essentially an inflatable dinghy that took them to where their bicycles were locked to a massive bicycle rack that held several hundred bikes. Some of the bikes had side carts, the parents would pedal and the youngsters rode in the side carts. The world of cruisers is very unique, unlike anything most people here have encountered. Their connection with old friends and outside world is via cellular telephone and Internet, skype, email, blogs, etc...

Overall, the weather there was excellent. Warm summer breezes pretty much year round, not too hot, mostly 70s and low 80s during the day, a bit cooler, sometimes in the upper 50s at night. Summertime weather is usually in the low 90s during the day, but cools to the upper 70s at night, so not much different there here in Maryland. Unfortunately, the music jobs dry up fairly quickly, usually in early April when the snowbirds head for the Bahamas in their boats, then head north a month later. From the end of April till the first of November, you could shoot a cannonball down U.S. Route 1 in Marathon and not hit anything other than a stray pelican. Consequently, most small businesses only have about 4 to 5 months to make their entire year's income.


Cheers,

Gary

Gary,
I know you love the vibe of the Tiki huts, but I hate playing outdoors. I'd be sweating bullets on stage and I'd be miserable the whole time. I'll stay up here where I know what to expect from each season... and dress accordingly.

I'm with dave.....love 4 seasons.

...and the four Aces, for Tops, four Freshmen .... etc

It's amazing how quickly you get used to performing outdoors in Florida. Yes, the first couple of weeks can be tough if you have been an A/C junkie, but then you acclimatize.

There's generally only a couple of weeks in the dead of summer when I'm a bit sweaty, but a big fan and loads of water takes care of that! And it does wonders for your voice, all that warmth and humidity!

I remember getting out of an air conditioned car in Miami and hardly being able to breathe. A short walk into a store, from the parking lot was like torture.

LOL... A/C junkie!