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.