Moving onto a dock in a marina with other live aboards a year and a half ago truly showed us how mariners stick together. As I’ve written before, this is the friendliest, most tight-knit “neighborhood” we have ever lived in. If you need anything, and I mean ANYTHING, from a tomato (if you forgot to get one at the store), to someone to run to your boat and close your hatches (if it starts raining when you’re not onboard), to an obscure tool that you never knew you’d need for your boat, everyone will race to help you.

But, as with any neighborhood, there can be some problem people – folks who act too big for their britches, folks who over-imbibe on a regular basis, busy-bodies who poke their noses into everyone’s business…and folks to who take those “ask for help for anything” requests too far.

One example was an individual on the dock who had too much to drink one night, and walked down the dock, knocking on people’s boats at midnight, asking for a cigarette. We don’t smoke so I’m not sure why our boat got knocked on at midnight. I was still awake (I’m a night owl) and Coco went nuts, just like she did when we lived on dirt and someone rang the doorbell. By the time I got up on deck, this individual was stumbling back down the finger dock. We learned from neighbors the next day why he was wandering the dock at that hour.

There are other neighbors who cause problems but I won’t mention them here because they might recognized themselves and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. There is a woman on another dock who has a pit bull that attacked one of our Dock 4 dogs. I don’t mind upsetting her. I have nothing against the breed as I have met many loving, friendly pit bulls but that dog shouldn’t be out in public, even on a leash.

And, there are the people who get themselves into situations where they MUST ask for help. You know, like when I fell off the boat and had to go to the emergency room. (I was sober, by the way.) After that happened, people checked up on me constantly, brought us meals, and even gave valuable medical advice (our dock nurse). I’m not the first one to fall off a boat here and I certainly won’t be the last. One individual, who has since moved, fell off his boat while drunk, swam to another person’s boat, and knocked on the hull to get help crawling out of the water. The danger with falling off a boat is the possibility of hitting your head on the boat or dock on the way down. More people die on boats in marinas than they do at sea.

Here’s something that’s really cool (and somewhat related). I received an email yesterday from a man who lives nearby. He heard about my accident from a WritersWeekly subscriber and he wrote to say he writes boating books, and wanted to know how I was doing after my accident. He used to live in this marina, and now lives in a nearby RV park. I was very happy to make his acquaintance and, hopefully, we’ll be able to work together someday on one of his future books.

I have another Pancake update. I measured it and it’s down to 2 1/2 inches by 2 3/4 inches! At this rate, it might be gone by…October maybe?

I have to run. I’m meeting our son, Frank, at Nate’s Animal Rescue to look for a new doggy for him to rescue. I can’t wait!!

RELATED

How Do You Give Your Dock Neighbors Colon Control Issues? Crash Your Boat RIGHT NEXT TO THEIRS!

The Size of My “Pancake” is Changing! (Update on my “falling off the boat” accident)

When an E.R. Doc Treats You Like a Junkie (and an updated pic of my deformed leg!)

WHY THIS ISSUE IS LATE: Neighbor in Need

A Hectic Week and the Neighbors from Hell

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