Messin' Around in Boats

Since my last post we've just been enjoying the Punta Gorda area and all it has to offer, especially the fabulous sailing. We invited our neighbor, Chuck, to sail with us down to Cabbage Key for lunch at the famous (Cheeseburger in Paradise) restaurant and a walking tour around the island. We anchored on the other side of the ICWW off of Useppa Island and dinghied over to Cabbage Key to the restaurant and inn's small marina. The cheeseburger was indeed delicious and the island, if not truly Paradise, a close approximation. We took the short walking tour on their nature trail and climbed the water tower for a very nice view of the area.
The following Monday Diane and I sailed back to the same anchorage for an overnight and then on to Captiva Island to explore Tarpon Bay and the wildlife preserve located there. We were under the belief that we could rent bikes and explore the island there, but never found the park HQ. (It may have been the building at the far end of the bay but that was just too far to dinghy --at idle speed because of the manatees--and we had already dinghied about a mile and 1/2 from where we had anchored the boat. After a cold beer and a short nap we weighed anchor and moved to the other side of the channel off of St James City on the very south end of Pine island where we dropped the anchor for the night. The next day we motored al the way back to the marina as the wind was very light and what there was was directly on the nose.
After a day of reprovisioning on Wed. and relaxation we prepared for the visit from my cousin Marsha and her family.
Thursday at around 12:30 Marsha, her husband Jim, their daughter Emily and her husband John and their 4 children, Cade, Gracie, Brooke and 4 month old Ashley, arrived for an afternoon sail. (They are all from the Holland, Mich. area and staying for a while at Siesta Key, south of Sarasota) The day could not have been more perfect for a boat full of "rookies". The wind was around 13, the temp at 82 and the sea was almost flat---It was definitely a "10". It was great to see the cousins and enjoy this beautiful family (pictured above). But to top it off, tomoroow Marsha and Jim return along with my other cousin, Jane, from Ft Lauderdale. We'll either sail down to Boca Grande or to Cabbage Key for lunch and back that evening. This should be an entertaining get-together and we have been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks--ever since we learned that Jim and Marsha were in the area.
This is truly a marvelous area for what we like to do. I played golf again today with the group that I played with last week. This will be my last golf game for a while as we leave next week--Diane to Colorado and I to Kingwood to take care of a little business. When we return on the 28th we plan to take off on the final legs of our journey to the Bahamas--back on track. We will miss this beautiful and friendly community and the many new friends that we have made here--but it's time to move on. We wil probably be back on the return trip and may end up leaving the boat here for the purpose of future exploration and cruises.
I probably won't post again (except for some random photos) until we return and get underway to the islands. See ya later. Life is indeed good.

Manatees

They claim they are an endangered species. I don't believe it. At least to the extent that the term implies that they are in danger of extinction. They're everywhere!!! We have at least 2 dozen of them right here in the marina, right off the back of my boat, feeding on the grasses that grow at the bottom. They submerge for 3 or 4 minutes and then come up to exhale and inhale. They sound like a dolphin blowing out--or a small whale. We even have one here who has asthma or at least severe bronchitis. You know when he comes up to breathe---sounds like an old man doing that blow his nose thing without a hanky. It's actually quite annoying.
But seriously---they really are all over the place and they are really endangered at least from the standpoint that they are very vulnerable to injury from boat props. The boaters here are very conscious of them and try to go very slowly and carefully through the marina. It's fun to watch them in the middle of the day when they are particularly active. Mostly they just poke their snout out of the water to breathe but occasionally one will come up for a rest and reveal a good bit of his body. They will occasionally stick that fin-like round tail up out of the water like they're waving a fan at you. I am curious however how many the experts think there are and why they are considered endangered---probably because it gives some scientist a job that wouldn't otherwise be available--kind of like that global warming thing---you know--the "Climatologist Relief Act."
We picked up a car yesterday and continued our pattern of land based exploration. We spent most of the day shopping for a bunch of things we needed but did manage to enjoy lunch at a marina cafe in Ft Myers Beach and a fabulous seafood dinner at "Red's" on Pine Island just south of here.
Looks like the mini-reunion will take place: Cousin Jane is going to drive here on Sat the 19th and Jim and cousin Marsha will come down from Sarasota. Hopefully we can get a nice sail in before we settle down to cocktails and "cousin talk". Still waiting to hear from my sister as to whether she'll be able to make it. We're also trying to plan a sail the week earlier to include Jim and Marsha's daughter, Emily, and her fam. It's just plain fabulous the way this has all just "happened" and we couldn't be happier to see everybody.
Immediately thereafter, Diane will fly to Colorado Springs for a 5 day visit to help out Kristin and see the little ones and I'll take the same flight but get off in Houston to take care of a little business there. We'll both get back here on the 28th and prepare to continue the voyage down the coast and around to Marathon in the Keys and then on to the Bahamas. Thus, we hope to be in the islands in early March, weather permitting.

A view of the dunes at the beach and Diane in "the jungle

Assisted Living at anchor in Pellican Bay off of Cayo Costa Island

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Boca Grande and Pellican Bay

I guess we're not welcome here!!

Downtown and on the beach at sunset at Boca Grande

After securing the anchor and the tether to the mangroves at Boca Grande Lagoon we dinghied ashore for a short walk into town to stretch our legs and pick up some provisions for dinner that night aboard the boat. Hudsons is a little grocery store about the size of a typical convenience store--it's the only one on the island--but it has absolutely everything. It is ingeniously stocked including an excellent meat and seafood section, wine selection and everything else one might need. Instead of having 7 varieies of baked beans, for instance, they have only one or two---but, they have baked beans. It really is a gem, and the prices are not too bad. We picked up a couple of very nice steaks for our feast that evening.

While we had planned on renting bikes the next day it turned out to be cheaper to rent a golf cart for a couple of hours---so we did and toured the island. We drove to the southern most point where it looks out over the pass out into the Gulf. It was very windy this day and the pass did not appear very hospitable. I would not have attempted it under these conditions. The beach was gorgeous, however and we decided to walk back later that night to enjoy what promised to be a beautiful sunset. After a brief nap in the sun we returned the golf cart and went across the street to the legendary "Temp" (Temptations Bar and Restaurant) for a glass of wine and an appetizer before returning home for dinner. (We had decided against dinner at the Pink Elephant after previewing their prices--besides, we have found that we enjoy eating on the boat more than throwing a bunch of money at fancy restaurants where we tend, too often, to be disappointed in the quality. It's a different thing if we are familiar with the place and the quality of the fare----Like my Uncle Bob said to my Aunt Sally years ago when she was trying to get him to take her to some fancy restaurant that he hated, " Crap Sal, you can't eat atmosphere!!!"

So it was back to the boat. On the way back we happened upon a little specialty store that had some very nice looking crab cakes. We bought some and had them for dinner before returning to the beach for the sunset pictured above--you really can't very often capture sunsets in photos can you? Once in a while with luck.

The next morning we waited for a thick fog to lift before setting out for Caya Costa Island and State Park where the sign, pictured above telling us we weren't welcome on the island, hung on the park headquarters building. You can tell from Diane's expression how she felt about it.

After motoring in 0 wind for about an hour we worked our way very carefully through the shallows that guard the entrance to Pellican Bay where we dropped the anchor, had lunch and dinghied ashore.

After paying our $4 at the ranger station we set out on the 1 mile walk across the island to the Gulf side to an incredible beach. We dropped our back pack and towels. etc and continued walking another mile or so down the beach picking up shells, sand dollars and small brown (dead) urchins that had washed up on the beach ( a lady showed us how you can dry them out, scrape off the spines, shake out the remaining dried up innards, and you have a very pretty shell --just make sure you do the drying-out part outside and away from your olfactory senses.) WE spent quite a while on this gorgeous and mostly deserted beach--caught a few rays and then took the mile long walk back to the ranger station where we splurged with a cold diet coke from the small store they have there---They were out of Snickers ice cream bars.

It was a great day---one of a little exercise but a whole lot of relaxing. Life is Good!!

Next morning we were underway back to Burnt Store Marina. Decided to sail on by it as the wind and water were perfect for a very nice, comfortable, quiet sail around the bay. We arrived back at our slip in time to prepare for dinner with our new friends, the Oredniks--I hope I spelled it right. They are the friends of friends from back in Houston and they live down here 4 months out of the year--the rest of the time in the Chicago area. After dinner they introduced us to some neighbors who have been sailing their trawler here for many years and are quite familiar with the area waters. It was a delightful evening with some of the many new friends that we have met along this journey. This has truly been one of the best, but totally unanticipated features of this trip--meeting and getting to know people along the way.

Tomorrow will be laundry and cleanup day and then Superbowl!!! Go Steelwers!!!!

Oh yeah---I forgot to mention. My cousin Jane lives in Ft Lauderdale and we have been planning on seeing her somewhere, sometime during our stay in Florida. I e-mailed her about getting together and she wrote back that another cousin--Marsha Nelson--and her husband,Jim, are coming down from their home on Lake Michigan to spend a month at Siesta Key, just south of Sarasota--not 2 hours from here. So, we are now working on the logistics of us all getting together for a little mini-reunion. I've even suggested to my sister, Barb, up in freezing Pittsburgh that she come down as well and she's looking in to it. Whodathunk??

Well, it's time for me to make the coffee and wake ujp Diane. It's now Superbowl Sunday. Tomorrow we pick up a rent car and start to do some land side exploration. Looking forward to it. So far we really like this area.

Sailing and Discovery

Gasparilla Inn

Assisted Living and Other Boats at Anchor in Boca Grande Lagoon

We departed Cape Haze marina on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011 at around 0900 on a very low tide. We had some worries about getting out of the marina and back into the waterway but it turned out those worries were unfounded. We had plenty of water beneath the keel.

We crossed through the Boca Grande Toll Bridge ( the one we payed $5 to cross over the day before) and headed toward Charlotte Harbor and our destination of the Burnt Store Marina on the southeast side of the "bay". The day was magnificent, with temps in the high 60's and, despite fairly light winds---8 to 13 kts---we had a wonderful, quiet (no engine) smoothe sail across Charlotte harbor to our destination, arriving around 4:30 PM; and after several really lame and embarrasing attempts to back the boat into the slip, safely secured her, bow-to, by around 5:00.
The marina gets its name from the area---everything around here is named after "Burnt Store"---the story is not too exciting--there was a trading post that the indians burned down when they got pissed at the settlers---big deal---I think that happened a lot. Certainly nothing to name several hundred square miles of geography over---

BUT---The area is very nice. Lot's of "old people"---Hey! That's us!! NIce residential area---high rise and single family--golf, tennis, clubs, a restaurant or two, and a very nice full service marina. Diane asked for and got a slip right by the "facilities" so we don'thave too far to walk to pool, bathroom, showers and laundry--in fact they're right at the dock we're tied to.

This is the area we decided to put down some roots to explore the area for a few weeks. It's about 10 miles south of Punta Gorda proper, 15 miles from the PG airport and only a few miles farther to Ft Myers and its airport. WE will explore the area by car and by boat and Diane will leave me here for a few days as she travels back to Houston to take care of the taxes (unless we can figure out how to do it from here---all the files and papers are, of course , in Houston. She's also taking care of her Dad's taxes and estate as well, so, we may have to send her home for a few days.)

We met the people in the boat next to us--Chuck and Nancy from Springfield, Mo. They keep their Catalina 350 here year round and come down and live on it 4 months out of the year during the winter months--another variation on the "snowbird" experience. Nancy still works as a Cath Lab nurse but pretty much calls her own hours---she returns today for a couple weeks for work, then she'll be back. Chuck is a retired---get this---insurance defense trial lawyer. Go figure.

They have a vehicle here and have offered it to us, and Chuck will take me over to Ft Myers on Monday to pick up our rent car.

We also met Paul and Eileen Orednick--friends of friends from Kingwood. I may play golf with Paul friday if there is an opening in his group, but we are also to have dinner at their home on Friday evening. They also offered the use of their car. We have met and enjoyed the nicest and most generous people on this trip, and these are no exception. We are truly looking forward to our stay here.

Right now we are at anchor (actually--we have a bow anchor out and are tied at the stern to mangroves, along with 5 or 6 other boats) in Boca Grande Lagoon ( By the way, they pronounce it "grand" and don't sound the Spanish "e" on the end).We were told about this anchorage by everybody we have talked to and are truly enjoying it. We arived yesterday--Tues.-- and after spending about 2 hours getting secured (with the very generous help of Jack from New York, aboard a 27 foot Watkins, who just happened to be passing by in his dinghy as we were unsuccessfully trying to swing the stern around to get it tied up to the mangroves) we dinghied over to an available dock and took a short stroll into town, sat for a glass of wine at an outdoor cafe--and some delicious O rings-- and stopped at the local market for a few things. We'll rent bikes tomorrow and see more of the island and probably have dinner at the "Pink Elephant"--a restaurant that is part of the Gasparilla Inn complex.

The weather has been outstanding---70's--finally, we're in shorts and sandals. The blue ski jacket and long undies have been retired to the plastic tubs in the "garage" and life is truly good.

We had a great jib only sail over here--about 2 hours-- on Tuesday. We'll spend another night here and then on to Pellican Bay off of Coya Costa Island, just north of Captiva Island. We'll save Captiva and Sanibel for another discovery expedition because I plan on being ensconced in front of a TV watching the "Steelwers" prevail on Sunday---How 'bout them Steelwers, Bill and Peggy and Barb!!!!!

So now it's time for lunch aboard and then dink over to the island for a bike ride, etc.

BTW------Our hearts go out to all of you experiencing the worst storm/cold front to ever strike the Continental US while we are comfy and cozy in the tropics. You know, it's a crappy job but someone had to step up and do it---That's me!!! Hope all are safe and warm.

West Palm and Friends

The Dormers and Livingstons at" The Blue Martini"

Delray Beach

Last Wednesday we jumped in our little Hyundai and headed for West Palm Beach to meet up with Teresa and Ed Dormer who were staying for a week at a Marriott time share there. We have been friends for many years, have traveled together extensively, foreign and domestic and gone on cruises together, and truly are inseparable friends. (I even bought Ed a very expensive original oil painting in St. Tropez for which he has never reimbursed me----an inside joke)

The trip was about 170 miles across the state, along the southern end of Lake Okechobee. Rather long, but we didn't mind as it meant that we would finally get to talk to someone other than each other.

WE got into WPB at around 1:30 in the afternoon and after a get reaquainted bottle of a very good Presceco (the girl's favorite) we set out for a late lunch at a supposedly famous seafood restaurant on the waterway---which turned out to be closed for lunch---so we went next door to the Crab Shack which turned out to be a Landry's restaurant. After enjoying the company and the expected less than mediocre/ overpriced Landry's food we took off on a car trip to explore the area. We fouund ourselves in downtown WPB--a beautiful, art deco architecture, city and decided to go back there for dinner that night. Diane and I still had to check in at the hotel we were staying at---Ed and T only had an efficiency---. WE did so, took a brief rest and freshened up and were picked up by the Dormers for our evening out.

We went back to WPB and had martinis at the "Blue Martini" in a very attractive new restaurant section. The "tini's" were great but then it was on to BB King's Blues Cafe for some live music and a pretty good dinner.

The next day we took another road trip down Ocean Highway past some of the most impressive "old money" mansions I've ever seen. (This area is truly beautiful--and once again it is difficult for me to comprehend the level of wealth represented here.) We ended up having a late lunch at a Cuban restaurant there, accented by a couple pitchers of excellent sangria. By this time, although we had already checked out of our hotel we had decided to check back in for an extra night and get an early start home the next day. (We had provisioning to do along the way and also needed to go to the post office at Boca Grande--just south of Cape Haze marina to pick up ---get this---Diane's microfibre towel--a gift to us from Linda Sitton of "Sea Yawl Later" ---that she had left in the shower room in Ocean Springs---the harbormaster graciously offered to send it to her and she picked Boca Grande out of the air as the place to send it.)

Great choice----Boca Grande is on Gasparillo Island, the last of a string of barrier islands just prior to hitting Charlotte Harbor and the pass back out into the Gulf. You have to cross a toll bridge--$5--to get onto the island and once there you are greeted, once again, with signs of extreme wealth. This is a winter nesting ground for the rich and famous--particularly those who like to tarpon fish in the alleged best fishing waters in America. Amazing!!

The town is quite quaint, highlited by the Gasparillo Inn (see above) and golf course. Once here we vowed to return and spend a bit more time.

Sure enough--the towel was here and Diane is relieved---These towels are perfect for a boating life. They dry you like a chamois and dry easily overnight. Cotton towels never seem to dry out in this always moist environment. They're not soft and cuddly like a good, warm cotton towel, however.

We stopped at the Publix grocery store that turned out to be just a few miles from where our boat was parked and prepared for an early AM departure for Charlotte Harbor and the Burnt Store marina.