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!