Shanty Boat Trip - 2016: Day 3

The day is kind of misty after a hard rain in the afternoon yesterday. Fortunately I was already in my slip for the night and took time to make pizza, which was great! Will have leftovers for lunch today.

I'm going to bed at dark and getting up at first light each day. Made coffee and had two of the left over oatmeal chocolate cookies from yesterday's morning baking.

Discovered the USB extension cord and USB bus was losing too much power and my tablet was not charging. Hooked up direct to a double USB adapter plugged into a 12v socket and all was well. Fully charged this morning.

I set up a shower on the fore-deck each evening and have a hot shower using my old camp shower equipment. I did have to replace the old pump before this trip and it is also USB charged so after two showers so far I decided to recharge it this morning so it is connected now.

The slip last night was very quiet compared to the night before, I think due to the fact that I am in low bulrush, grassy, low brush area rather than a dense tree lined stream. The night before last was so noisy with the evening sounds it was hard to go to sleep! Last night it was just the bull frogs making racket.

I will try to get a picture of my shower shelter later today so you can see it set up. A must use device unless you are certain it is completely private! Works fine. I did bring along a larger five gallon pail to hold shower water which works better than the stock shower 3 gallon container. It is better to have some left over than to run out of water which can overheat and damage the hot water heater coils. I pick up water in the middle of large bodies of water where it is debris free even though it is coffee color. I did notice my eyes itching this morning which is probably from the water.

I'm thinking of modifying the plan again and staying put today and just relaxing. I like the wilderness like feel of this spot. No other boats so far.

This guy was checking me out, about 15'
from the boat after I pulled in for the night.

Looking me over, yes...a tasty treat to be had,
just trip please and fall over the side!

Oven on small burner, baking pizza

The finished product, very tasty!

Shower gear, hoop in the foreground is the shower shelter which sets up on the platform, blue pail for retrieving water, white pail for shower water, red pump for pumping the water to shower head, water heater on left.

USB equipment, BT stereo speaker on left for listening to Pandora, tablet for doing the blog, navigating, checking email, shower pump recharging, phone for backup navigation, weather, etc.

Spare jug of water for washing or drinking,
chair for enjoying the evening.

Here is my little hidey hole I'm enjoying (see below). I heard a sound like someone trying to start and outboard motor that won't start and actually thought some boat must be around the corner, but I kept hearing it and thought I could hear an echo of sorts. It really puzzled me and for the life of me I couldn't figure it out. Finally while working on this blog I heard it close by and looked out the window and saw an alligator with his mouth wide open and am certain it was him, my curious friend from the evening before. I think he was calling to his girlfriend?

My hidey hole

Satellite View Of Hidey Hole

Had warmed up left over pizza for lunch with a cold beer and then relaxed on the fore deck with a glass of wine and a few chocolate covered almonds for desert. Took a few pics, see below:

The essentials, starting with a deck chair with sun shade, a glass of wine accompanied by chocolates, Pandora streaming Celtic Woman, Binocs, and camera for that occasional surprise wildlife shot. In the fore ground is a mosquito net I made for the trip that goes over the fore hatch to the right. It works! The shower shelter is the green colored hoop.

Self Portrait

After that pulled away from the slip to explore the end of the channel for future sites to spend the night. Had to turn around when I started churning up mud with the prop. Scared an alligator in his haunt along the way. Filled the shower buckets for tonight's hot shower. Rearranged the gear to make things more efficient. Just generally taking it easy today. I plan to bake bread sticks for tonight to go with the spaghetti. Accompanied by some good red wine of course!

Have decided to make some drastic changes to my trip plan. I decided it was way too ambitious for distance and number of stops. Too many tourist sites, will change the plan to be more back waters oriented. I do not need to go into any place with people except to get gas or water and since my orientation is to the wild, I will modify the plan to accommodate that interest. Without a shower on-board most people would be oriented to the tourist sites where you can swim to clean up or perhaps even shower. I don't need to do that since I have a hot shower on-board and do so every evening.

Had dinner and watched an osprey hunt from his perch for about a half hour before he gave up and flew home to the nest before it got dark. More marsh noise tonight, not sure why? Took a few more pics, see below: