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.

Smooth Trip Home

Up anchor near 9:30 this AM.  Ran the genny for the A/C.  Caught several fish this morning before we left, no keepers.  We saw a very large snook under the dock--same one we saw a small alligator under last weekend.  Gail caught a few fish on her sambiki rig--too funny to watch.

We hope to have our fish finder (depth sounder) module replaced this week.  It seems odd to be running around without knowing how deep we are running.  We have only traveled in familiar waters at this point--and will stay that way until we are fully equipped to explore new places.

The most fun is just watching what is going on around us.  We walked to the beach and found these osprey.  The dinghy was the mode of choice to get back into a protected pocket where the manatee were so close Gail thought that they may "snot" on us.  Of course, we stopped on the way back home to fish.  The best fish I caught was in our own canal as I was cleaning up the boat.  Gail saw Jacks in the canal and I pitched a gold spoon--1 cast, 1 16 inch Jack--fun!

We will likely stay at home the next couple of weekends, but may try some day trips.

Arrived yesterday. Bunch of wind, with the usual big water in Charlotte harbor. 2 to 3 footers with a number of 4 footers (frequently back to back).  Took us 90 minutes to travel the 8 or so miles from Ponce Park to marker 5.  After making the corner, we decided to try to run on plane, and it worked (slow speed, 17 to 18 knts) just enough RPM to keep her on plane with the trim set mostly nose down.  It turned our last 6 nautical mile trip from 1 hr to 20 minutes--it was rough, but both my kidneys survived.  Gail rode in the back where it was much smoother--but she did see some salt spray.

Pretty warm during the day, but if the breeze continues (as it usually does), it isn't bad.  We took the dinghy about and caught a few fish (1 keeper trout).  Great sunset.  Only 8 boats in the harbor Friday night--we had 119 last weekend!

We ran the genny all night, had to add some fuel near midnight to keep it running for the A/C.  Much nicer than the warm, humid Florida June weather.

Coffee out at anchor always tastes a little better than at home.

Yes, it is an alligator.  No, they aren't suppose to be in salt water.  The ranger says that there are 3 "little" ones living in the end of the inlet for the ranger staff.  This one was between 3 and 4 feet.  We saw it again later in the weekend.

Stay tuned, more later.

More Fishies. 1 Blackberry Tango Uniform

Gail and I went out in the dingy this morning and brought home 2 nice Trout. We caught several that were too small and a couple of Lady fish. We had several Trout that came off (those looked too small).

Gail upgraded her blackberry to tether as a modum to a laptop. This morning her phone decided not to function at all. Time for a trip to the Verizon store.

Gail just finished cleaning the 2 trout. They will be good on the grill Monday.

We had a good night on the anchor. Nice breeze until about 2 AM. We broke out an efficient 12 volt fan and enjoyed the "electric" breeze the rest of the night.

We awoke to the sound of manatee's frolicking in the anchorage--yes, it is that time of year.  Dolphin were all over.  It's pretty fun to hear them before your know which direction to look for them.

That's all for now, more later.

Yes We Like Pelican Bay

Back in our favorite anchorage. It's always a gamble on a Holiday weekend. We are tucked in way behind a bar. I think we anchored close enough to the bar to discourage anyone from anchoring it front of us. So far, it has worked. We counted 30 sailboats earlier and a number of powerboats as well. Of course, more are arriving. A very nice breeze is blowing and its only 83 degrees. Very nice.

Tarpon are in Boca Grande Pass.  This time of year, it is common for a tournament and or a practice day.  We took a couple of pics on the way into our anchorage.  Boats get pretty thick and when more than one boat is hooked up, it can be a real challenge to stay out of the way.

Stay tuned (Ropa Vieja is ready). More later.

Our Favorite Anchorage

Back in Pelican Bay for just 1 night. Back home tomorrow morning. Our depth sounder is not working (joys of boat ownership).

We stopped at Fisherman's Village Marina for some fuel--non-ethanol. 50 gal for a bunch of $. It is good to get the old fuel used up.

A pretty sunset and the two of us on the bow at anchor.

More later.

Back Home

Up anchor about 10:30 and home about 2 hours later. Got tied up and a few things off the boat when the sky opened and a good amount of thunder and lightning hit. The rain will help get rid of a bunch of salt from the trip out. Much smoother water today, no spray. Will work on pictures to add later--great weekend!!

Yes, I know our boat looks like a couple of Okies headed for California (no mattress on top though).

A couple of pictures of a very neat boat that was in our anchorage.

Flies, Bugs and Mosquitos Oh My

Ok, we are past the prime season for boat camping in SW Florida. The wind calmed after supper last night. An older couple in a nice 40 foot boat (named Sorry Kids) anchored closer to us than we would like and ran there generator all night. Part of me was upset at the disturbing of the natural surroundings, then I became jealous. The bugs and mosquitos became thick. The thought of a nice airconditioned boat sounded really good.

We ran a fan for a while, but shut it off before we went to sleep. The breeze finally came back up and the temperature dropped to the low 70s. Nice for sleeping.

We have a device for flying insects. Looks like a small tennis racket--only the "string" part is metal, and electrified at the punch of 2 buttons. The little buggers make a very satisfing spark when they make contact. We couldn't swing it fast enough in the cockpit last night before we retreated to the cabin.

This morning, Gail is fishing with the last of her shrimp. We are taking home a nice mackerel and a nice spotted sea trout. They will be great on the grill this afternoon. Soon we will load the dink and head for home. Pretty Girl needs a good bath and so will Gail and I.

That's all for now. Pictures to follow.

Good Fishing

We spent a great night at anchor. Tacos for supper. The breeze kicked up a bit, but we choose our spot well. After our showers, we slept like babies.

Gail has been catching all kinds of fish off the back of the boat. Jacks, snapper, catfish (of course), and a nice 19 Spanish mackerel(now cleaned and in our ice chest). All of these were caught on her 24 inch pole. I'll add pictures when we get home.

That's all for now. More later.

Pics now in. Top--what is now off the grill and in our tummies! Gail's instrument of choice for the weekend. The fisher girl herself.

From April to Now

Sitting at anchor in Pelican Bay (Cayo Costa) 5/14/10. This trip started 4/2/10. We took off that day for the weekend only to have the boat run poorly. Fuel filter changes did not help. Time for a real boat mechanic. Unfortunately, we weren't the only poor running boat in town. A number of simple tries did not fix the problem. Eventually the injectors were removed and serviced. Several internal fuel filters were replaced as were the spark plugs. Pretty Girl now runs like a top.

We were out with Nick and Shannon on Mothers Day and had some fresh fish for supper.

We left our dock about 9 and had the hook down in our favorite anchorage about 2 1/2 hours later. We are waiting to see if we will be able to see the shuttle fly in about an hour.

That's all for now. Stay tuned. More later.

OK, we did get a glimpse of the shuttle in between cloud layers. We had plotted the direction from our anchorage to Cape Canaveral on the GPS. We have a little portable TV, watched the lift off and shortly saw the shuttle (very briefly) exactly where the GPS showed us it would be (043 degrees magnetic). Too bad it wasn't perfectly clear. At least we saw a part of history.