Captain's log: 3-29-12

        I've almost mastered it!!!!  Doing nothing CAN take all day to get done.
So, I have not blogged because I am too busy doing nothing. It is extremely time consuming.
       So it seems we are getting to the end of another season, and a great one it was! 6 months of winter has never gone so fast. So just a few pics of some of the things in the last month that have taken up my "nuthin time"

Clive has finally earned his grillen/chef hat!  hopefully not the last potluck of the season but, could be.

Drs Meints proving for the first time that 4 people will not sink my homemade dingy. Shall we try for five? Also notice the new bimini. Works great and only cost approx. 30 dollars including the cost of my new 10 dollar sewing machine!
     Since we're talking dingy rides, except for the guy in the foreground isn't this just beautiful?

   
      Clear blue water. Ahh gonna miss that on the OLe MIss.  
      One of the things that is still soooo cool is that almost everyday there is some new wildlife that shows itself. Here are some:  

    This girl showed up one day for a spa treatment. She's been thru the mill. Prop scars all down her back. Some old some newer. Only half a tail. But still apparently happy to have a drink of fresh water. Now those in the know don't get all bent out of shape about giving her water blah blah blah. We called the fishery people to report and as we started to desccribe her they said , "Oh, that's Manx. She lost her tail in 1985 and travels from the Tampa area to our marina every year" Her bad habits are already well ingrained.

Makes you want to ban "STUPID power boaters" NOT power boating.

  I Think I found a new job down here.... Manatee spas. I stuck the brush in the water, not wanting to scare her, but she came right up and knew what the brush was for and demonstrated exactly what spots needed scratching. She was about 12 ft. long and guessing 2000 plus pounds. Unbelievable humbling experience. To me better than any dolphin encounter. Either the most stupid animal on the planet (trusting humans) or the most gentle, forgiving animal on the planet.  I'm sure the latter.
      

Seahorse on a dock line. Approx. 8 inches long. I thought they were mythical creatures......maybe there's more to this mermaid story too.!?

Starfish.

     Well, it's time for the first of friends to head north. I don't say home because I think to a lot of us this is at least a 2nd home.....
    Clive and Jack....till next year pardner..

       What do you suppose they are talking about?     Time to go?.... Should we go?... Isn't that a song? Should I stay or should I go?   Stay tuned to see which way they go...

Captain's log:3-01-12

       Let's see... Last we talked we had just come in off the mooring ball at Fort Myers Beach. Back to Salty Sam's and civilization! And guess what, we got our same spot back and they just completed a new dance floor/dock overlooking our dock. How convenient! With a floating stage for the bands!

My first official Packer shirt!

This is actually a view from the dance dock to the floating stage. 30 Below is in the background upper left hand corner. That is not the band. The owner is from Wis. and they have a Wis. Day. Over 800 people showed up. I think 1 buc beer and cheese curds had something to do with it.
        The next night we broke in the dance floor with a band called the Gatlins.

A band, dance floor, Bar, restaurant , without ever leaving the dock.....I thought for sure this would be our new permanent home dock but, we did get away and I am writing this from back in Chadwick cove. The beach is a powerful thing. But, is it worth twice the price?
           Before we left FMB  a Nor-Tech off shore "go fast" boat parked right next to us. 80 feet long and 4.9 million dollars. Only two of them made. Unfortunately the captain's rectal opening was bigger than the boat! That's all I'm going to say about that. Moka did consider leaving something from her rectal opening on his boat but, afterall the Boston  Terrier is considered the gentlemen of dogs so I'm proud to say she talked me into  the high road or high shore to us boat people.

It's hard to appreciate the size of this vessel but, that's Kris and Dorene beside the boat and our boat which is 18 ft high is directly behind it. (can't see it)  Not that impressed though , it only goes about 60 mph.

We anchored in Pelican Bay at Cayo costa on the way back with about 15 other boats. First night was good, 10-15 mph winds. Second night the winds picked up to 20 with gusts to ? Always bigger at night. Watching anchor most of evening. Looked like it was holding good so finally decided I could shut my eyes around 11 PM. As soon as I did I hear an air horn blow, fly out of bed, look around, ....nothin but black. Then air horn guy flashes his spot on another sailboat. Oh ya, he is definitely closer than he was before. No lights on his boat. More flashing of lights. Finally he wakes up and gets his motor running. Did I mention he was coming directly at us? Anyway he gets anchored again. Did I also mention that most of the boats were up wind of us? I decided that there would be no more sleep this night and finished a novel instead. (that makes 3 this month, a new record)
      So even though 20-25 winds are predicted the next day and we have to cross Charlotte Harbor with an incoming tide (high short waves) we go for it because I am NOT spending another night on anchor watch! Some of the nastiest on the beam waves we have encountered thus far. Dorene drove, I hung on, MOka slept, (she's getting good at this). Tacking back and forth, boat and crew did just fine. But glad to be back in the ICW.

         So we had to anchor out 2 nights while waiting for our dock to open up. Water is much bluer here than FMB. Dorene caught a shark. I call it a bonnethead some call it a hammerhead.

                                           catch and release. Go. Grow up.

While we were away our dock turned into a sailing club. 4 people bought walker bay sail boats. This is Rod sailing his.

  

Till next time!

Captain's log: 2-19-12

      4 days on the mooring ball! We survived. We learned some things. One thing being that if we run our gen. a couple times a day, especially if it's while the frigerator is running we can stay ahead of our electrical needs and therefore stay as long as we want.  We also learned that we don't want to stay too long. Different opinions of how long too long is. I guess we are more social than we think.
      Speaking of social, did you know there is a hierachy of socialness and it can be measured like this: expensive marina, cheap marina, mooring balls, anchored out, anchored way out. It's kind of a bell curve with anchored way out =  leave me the he$$ alone.  We were in the far corner of the mooring field and every night the "way outs" would dinghy by in the dark , no lights, some motoring some rowing, one guy had a constant full out screaming argument all the way all by himself!!!

      Other than that it was pretty good. sunrise:

     And a few other obviously insane:

The girls and Doug....

Other than that same old stuff... sunsets, etc.

      This next week we will probably be going out on a afternoon/sunset cruise.

 Oh, we also went to a great little marine flea market at Bonita Bill's this AM. Lot's of great "guy" stuff fuel filters, tools, boat hardware, fenders, anchors, etc..........and Bloody Marys .

Captain's log: 2-14-12 V-Day

      So, we have moved out to a mooring ball at Fort Meyers Beach. Easy huh? In theory we know how it's supposed to work. You Hook the loop , pull it up, slip your line through it , cleat it and your done. Keep in mind neither one of us has ever seen "the loop" up close before. So we are pulling and pulling on the loop and that sucker is real heavy!  Now if something doesn't seem right then it probably isn't. It turns out the city hasn't completed all the balls and there was no mooring line on the one we were at so we were trying to lift the whole ball . I'm guessing 70-80 pounds. Who knew?
    Heres a pic just to show that we finally did get one.

Sleeping on the "ball" is a lot better than the "hook". Maybe a false sense of security since you really don't know how well they are maintained. Not well given the 5 pages of "it's not our fault" documents they make you sign.  Oh ya, I'm still in Florida. Land of cosmetic surgeons and lawyers.
     
   Moka here: Boy this guy is in trouble. It's Valentines Day and he thinks he is gonna get by with just taken her out to eat! I'll have to try and save him here. This is a pic Dorene took. Maybe she'll let it slide as a Valentines card if he declares his LOVE to her on line in front of no one but, technically everyone.

Notice the heart shaped moon. This is not a touched up photo, just amazing movement considering I needed it for Valentines Day.

  Moka again:  How long have I been on this boat? 2 seasons? and they finally take me to the beach. I love this water stuff. I wish they would have told me sooner, I would have held back on the grilling and kept my trim hips for the beach.

A day at the beach does really tire you out though!

     Well more pics to come but, I better go see about that Valentines dinner.

Captain's log: 2-8-12

                                             Sky's the limit!

view last night (cool)

     The weather/sky is the deciding factor. We've hung around in Fort Meyers Beach long enough for the weather to go down hill. Looks like the wind is going to hold us here for a few more days and calculating travel time down and back to the Keys we decided not to rush it. Looks like the keys will be next year. Just going to explore the water aound here,fish and try out our first stint on a mooring ball. 
       More friends from MN are coming down so staying here this year just makes sense for now.

Moka says she will have to "make do" but, the grill is a bit small. You can't see it because it's not there at the moment but, there was a dolphin splashing around just beyond my grill. Sounds cool but a large animal exhaling just behind you is kinda creepy at night!

Less intimidating,. A green heron watches us daily from our dinghy. They are supposedly shy but, this guy doesn't mind getting close.

Cobb salad. Not sure why this pic is here.......Dorene likes pretty food.

     

Captain's log: 2-5-12 Superbowl!!!

     SUPERBOWL, BIG day....So what do you need for a BIG game on a Big day?


 A BIG chair of course.

What is it with big chairs down here?    I'm pouting. It's a "time out" chair. What am I pouting about in paradise? 

Someone stuck a packer fans only sign in a remote corner of the bar with asolutely no view of anything. Someone must pay! I think Moka will have to pay a visit to the New England section.
     There is a large sports bar called "big game" right at the end of our dock so I guess it's a no brainer. we will be meeting Kris and Dan there later to watch the Superbowl. We met up with them yesterday on Fort Meyers Beach. Much different sand than Englewood,(White powder). Much different clientel also. 3 beach goers ages here don't add up to 1 beach goer at Englewood. Starting to feel my real age again. Gotta get back to Englewood!

Kris and Dorene at Times Square in FortMeyers Beach. (a couple a young chicks )

Captain's log:2-3-12

      Well It's true. If you don't move your boat often enough when you finally do it leaves a hole in the water. I didn't see it but Chrissy says she is fishing in it right now!

This is where our boat was.......

and this is where we ended up the first night...

Anchored behind Punta Blanca Island at Cayo Costa state park. Nosed into 3 ft of water and then set a stern anchor towards beach in about 7ft. Didn't move a foot during the night. Of course it was dead calm. That helped. I'm used to soft Mississippi mud/sand. Darned near took the bow pulpit off backing down on that "hard as cement" sand at Cayo Costa.

Moka liked this feature... Shuttle to the beach for her evening duty or is that doody?   Saw some rather large fresh paw prints (panther?) We didn't stay long but Moka definitely wanted something back in those Mangroves.  And since it for sure wasn't Clive's grill , I'm betting large animal. We're outa here!   Look closely, Is that a Leprechaun in that dinghy? Remember him you never know where he might turn up.

   Meanwhile back at 30 Below...

Fishing was plentiful but not desirable. 7 catfish released.

     For anyone interested back at Chadwick Cove . This is what the large anchorage at Cayo Costa looks like.  We dingyed over and payed our 4 bucks to the state of Florida , rode the shuttle a mile over to the beach only to be told by the driver that no dogs are allowed on the beach.  What did he think this thing under my arm was? a tumor? Sorry Moka maybe he was looking at your back end.

Of course the sunset was beautiful but the next morning was even better!

Now, what is it they say about red sky in morning? Oh ya- Sailors take warning.  I guess we are safe then. No sails on this boat!   So we left for Fort Meyers Beach anyway.
Turned out to be a beautiful ,calm, overcast day. Great for cruising. This is a pic of the fort Meyers Beach bridge that Dorene piloted under.

And of course the pay off for all this?....

A little rest and relaxation of course.                     AND....

Maybe the biggest Margarita I have ever seen! And if you don't believe me . Look closely. There is that leprechaun again, sitting under the umbrella ordering another one!!!!!

        

Captain's log:1-25-12 Happy Birthday Johanna!

      I was going to say not much has been happening but, that's just the way we like it!  The big thing this month... We got Grampa to visit the "30 Below" (latitude that is). Good timing too because it was not quite 30 below zero back up north.

                                     Ain't they cute?

        6 days and I think Grampa was finally thawing out. Of course it didn't take him that long to thaw out at the liars table.
         Some of us are perfecting our boating skills.........

     And looking pretty good at it too!  She can go out fishing and not even take the bait! :)  Actually she doesn't need me in the boat at all now.   Should I be worried?
          We are still catching fish too. This 7+ pound black drum was caught right off our dock behind our boat! Unfortunately friend Chrissy caught it not us. Landlubbers might argue that it was in our yard.

Nice catch!

      Oh, Dorene just reminded me that she was the one who actually netted it.

    So I will let Moka tell you about our next big adventure.

      Moka here, " I don't need to tell you that as far as a dog's life goes, I've got it made here. Imagine 10-12 families grillin"  almost every night!!! One beggin glance in the right direction and food just comes flying down from the heavens. ...Steak, chicken, pizza ...it's PARADISE!!!     So, imagine my horror when I hear through dockside conversation that these nuts are going to go cruising again. Yup, something about the "keys"... Keys to what?   We have the key to paradise right here!
        In case you are not aware cruising means leaving these wonderful people (suckers for a begger like me) and worse I hear talk of anchoring out!!!! that means pooping on the swim platform again. :(
I bet you didn't know dogs knew how to make those faces did you?
       Well dog friends,don't worry about me, I have a plan. The "Keys"  are south right? And they are different down there right?    I have a plan to fit right in.....

                                                       Rastafarian begging at its best!

We are leaving Mon. or Tues. I'll let you know how it goes.....(don't worry dock friends, we will be back about March 1st, so save ME some grillin scraps!!!)

Captain's log: 1/4/2012

     I hope everyone had a merry Christmas! AND a wonderful start to the new year.  We spent New years day with our friends Rod and Christina aboard their boat ,Dream Catcher, learning how to be "Air Heads".(term of endearment).. I mean "sailors". The gulf was perfect for beginers with 5 to 8 mph  winds. They are wonderful, calm and patient teachers. (shown at helm below)

    Thanks guys!
 

This is proof that they did let me sail. If sailing is turning that big wheel thingy back and forth. Well I did pull on a sheet or two and come about (that's sailor talk) . Notice the huge seas in the background?...Lucky "I" was very good  so we made it back safely.

                                              This is a picture of BOB

                                              Babes On Bow

 We have been fishing (not seriously) quite a bit. Only skunked once! We usually catch something. Dorene can't stop. This is her catching catfish at night off our dock. I'm NOT appreciating that because I clean em.

Someone else thinks fishing off our dock is pretty good....

     This dolphin spent about a half hour just off our dock throwing this fish into the air. At first we thought she was just playing with her food (bad manners) but, we actually think she was teaching her baby to catch fish. Kind of like a game of fetch.

Other activities at the dock include daily conferences at the "liars table" I don't know why they call it that. All of the stories told there are definitely true.
       And of course nothing at the beach across the street has changed this year....

                                            Happy New Year!