Nice Night

Back at anchor in our favorite spot, Cayo Costa.  Ran twin Honda 2000 generators last night to power our 12,500 BTU air conditioner.  69 degrees in the V berth this morning, almost too cold.  We have to run the AC full blast, if it tries to cycle, the generators won't re-start the compressor on the econ-throttle setting.  So it is all or none.  Have to remember to bring an extra quilt next time!

Three boats at anchor here last night, the other two left early this morning.  We have had our coffee, been up to the ranger station, watched a large manatee swim under the dock, heard the birds and other critters.  It is so pretty.  Gail posted a sunrise picture on Facebook.

We went fishing yesterday, no luck.  We have a new bimini top on the dink that really cuts down on the heat and sun exposure.  Will get a picture later.

Stay tuned, more later.

More Manatee's

These are some of the reasons we enjoy getting out in a boat!

Low Water

We anchor in an area the is a little difficult to get to.  We observed a number of boats going into this area prior to going back there ourselves.  After a number of attempts, we finally found a good route--actually, Gail did.  I have an unique ability to find shallow water!

All three of these pictures are at a low tide (minus water, in fact).  The top to bottom picture is our view, left to right from our anchorage.  If you look closely, you will see a bird that appears to be standing out of the water--because it is.

On the last picture, you can see where the deep water around this grass flat is.  Unfortunately, we see a number of boaters attempting to go straight across the bar.  Yes they run aground usually we hear the motor roar, outboard tilted up, boat moving very slowly.  It does seem that chart reading, water reading, depth sounders reading and general water skills are in short supply.

A commercial operator brings a large passenger ferry boat through here several times a day!

Another simple, good idea.

We saw one of these earlier this year on a small sailboat.  An excellent addition.  This gives us pressure water for washing hands, salt water off your feet, rinsing dishes, dirt off the anchor line/chain.  When it is cool out (January here in Florida), it can be left out in the sun and gets pretty warm water.  Gail even used it to wash her hair. 

The simple stuff works.  Because it puts out an fine spray, under pressure, 2 gallons of water seems to last all 3 days of the weekend.

The Secret for Cool

It's not a new idea.  We've had the Honda 2000 since just after hurricane Charley.  It will run the small air conditioner easily.  If we put the air conditioner into the V berth with us, it and a fan does a reasonable job of removing the humidity and will cool (somewhat--no ice sickles here).  With the internal tank, and under this load, it would run for 6 hours.  This meant getting up and 2AM and adding more fuel. 

The addition of an extra 3 gal tank makes it so it will run two 10 to 12 hour shifts with fuel left over.  No more middle of the night re-fueling.  Life is good.

Cayo Costa Wildlife

We had the best day ever for seeing manatees.  We took the dinghy into the small bay at Cayo Costa and had two, very friendly fellows check us out.  Will try to get some more photos loaded later.  The connection here is pretty poor.

Stay tuned, more later.

Happy Father's Day

Unfortunately, Mike and I have the hospitals this weekend. So no boating. We did aquire a nice laptop (at a great price--thank u Gail). Next time out we should be well connected. Stay tuned. More later.