continued… Not far from the otter area was an area on the prehistoric animals of Florida, which included megalodon sharks (more on megaladons).
Florida also had mammoths. The mammoths didn’t go extinct until 10,000 years ago, so they lived alongside man in Florida.
Dawn on Thursday, April 9, 2026
It was windy and the wind created big waves out in the ocean. In the early morning, Eric drove over to the beach to watch the big waves. It also rained on and off all day – sometimes it rained hard for a few minutes and stopped, sometimes there were a few big scattered drops now and then, sometimes just drizzle. The humidity made the air temperature hot, but the wind was cold, so it made the temperature fluctuate in a weird way.
A Yacht Tech employee came out this morning and worked on the water maker. He changed the oil and salinity sensor. Eric had been unable to change the sensor himself because of the odd wrench size. The technician had actually made his own specialty wrench by altering another wrench. Having the right tool for the job did the trick. This was another project that Eric hated to pay someone else to do, but he knew that he would risk hurting his back again if he tried to do it himself.
In the early afternoon, Christi and Keith headed down to Ft. Lauderdale to see Tiki Tour. They were still in Ft. Lauderdale, but had moved locations. This time, the drive was uneventful, but the Maps app routed us through the airport, which was weird. Christi and Keith picked up Fynn and the three of them went to the Museum of Discovery and Science in downtown Ft. Lauderdale.
This week has been fun. On Saturday, we drove up to Pennsylvania to see the leaves change color. We stopped at an Italian restaurant, which I thought was going to be meh but it turned out to be really really good. Afterwards we went to Gettysburg. Mom promised that we wouldn’t go to a museum, but dad had other plans! We went to the museum of the Gettysburg address. I learned that I was very bored and that my parents are liars (just kidding). Mom is saying I have to put something I learned, so I learned that Abraham Lincoln was not the main speaker at the dedication of the cemetery where he gave the address.
Friday, October 31 — This morning it felt like 38 degrees with wind chill factor. Christi had a hard time dragging herself outside to watch the sunrise. Because of the cold, she didn’t stay outside long, but she was glad she at least got to enjoy a few minutes of the lovely dawn, Here were a couple shots:
We were pleased to report that this morning, the flooding was gone and all was back to normal in the marina. While Christi and Keith did school, Eric cleaned the sea strainers. There was lots of mud in them and two live fish! One fish was long and skinny. He thought it looked like a snake and wondered if it was an eel.
Continue readingThursday, October 30 — Yesterday, morning, we spent a long time discussing whether we should leave Annapolis today for Bermuda. The forecasts promised good weather for the passage. But… Hurricane Melissa, which had decimated Jamaica on Tuesday as a category 5, was still in the Caribbean. It had calmed down to a category 3 and was en route to Bermuda. It was expected to calm down to a tropical storm by the time it hit Bermuda and would be long gone by the time Kosmos arrived. But we’d learned the hard way that when there was a hurricane in the broader area, it could make local forecasts inaccurate, so we ultimately decided that the forecasts couldn’t be trusted and it was best to stay put.
Meanwhile, a storm was coming from the north that was supposed to hit tonight. While Christi and Keith were doing school, Eric spent a long time adjusting the lines and added 4 more lines in anticipation of the storm. For perspective to help understand the tide swings, the first photo was taken near low tide, the second photo near high tide.
