i was bound and determined to find another pair of my beloved Emu shoes on this last trip. No deal… With just a couple hours of “malling” in Annapolis between boat and plane, i had to be flexible. Luckily enough, i found something i like (in clothing, that’s a near-miracle) in one of the first stores i went into, a outdoor gear place. Keen shoes. Or are they sandals? Well, at any rate, they fulfill the basic essential requirements: closed-toes (no chopped or stubbed toes in the shop or on deck), razor-cut soles (for traction on wet rocks/decks), slip-on (for the frequent removal required by working below on boats), and open enough for sockless wear. An oh yes, wide enough for my doublewides. i got myself a pair of the snappy “Newport” model.
i bought them to be boatyard shoes, but Val thought they looked too good for rough use, so she picked up a pair of Crocs for me at West Marine in Fajardo. Not so sure how they’ll stand up, but so cheap (less than $30, ’bout the same as my flipflops). Speaking of which, i finally had to replace my beloved 2nd- (or is that 3rd-?) hand Locals flipflops with some ubiquitous Reef units. What can i say? can’t live in the islands without slippers… in an article on credit abuse in some magazine i saw, there was this spoof on the Mastercard ads: “Sandals: $2; Hawaiian Vacation to purchase sandals: $3500”. The model in the picture was wearing bright pink Locals.
With all this, i’m up to FOUR pairs of shoes! Ack! Then again, perhaps with a few more shoe choices, they might last a little longer for me…