That pitting behind the anode is the real story, once that zinc is half gone the current starts jumping to whatever bare steel is closest and it eats a crater fast. I pulled a 3 pound anode off a riser clamp last spring that was doing the same thing, looked fine from the boat side but the back was hollowed out like a sponge. First thing I'd do is grab a silver/silver chloride half cell or even a cheap multimeter and check the potential on that leg before you just bolt a new one on. If it's reading lower than -850 mV you got a bigger problem than one anode, could be a stray current from a nearby dock or a bonding issue. Also take a wire brush to the pit and hit it with a caliper, if it's more than 10 percent of wall thickness that leg needs an inspection, not just a new zinc. The deck hand probably saved you a diver bill down the road.

I read a survey last year from Pew that said people who quit for better work-life balance were way happier six months later even when they lost money. A guy I know in Tempe did the same thing you're thinking about, left a $60k sales job for massage therapy school and took a $20k hit his first year. Two years in he says he'd do it again because he stopped dreading Mondays. Dave is only looking at the math and ignoring the part where you were miserable at that desk. $38k with a job you don't hate beats $52k that slowly kills you, and the pay in PT assisting usually goes up once you get experience.