Thursday, April 29, 2010
Whatever floats your boat...
We have been having the dinghy blues. Our dinghy was just too small and slow to be of much use. After looking on craigslist everywhere from Tampa to Key West for a couple weeks and going to look at a couple dinghys that were not as advertised, we finally found a good prospec in Matlacha, FL. Yea, we never heard of it either. Well after a 4 hour drive to get there it turned out to be a nice boat. It is an AB boat with a 15hp 4 stroke Yamaha engine. Now we can really get away from the big boat and do some exploring. She will be named the Pig-2 once I get some money from the sale of Pig, being sold at Shoreline Outboards in Marathon on commission. Thanks again NOPD!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Update
Sorry for the lack of posting. When we got here we made it in before a really unusual high pressure system enveloped the area causing about a solid week of really high winds. It stayed between 25 and 30 knots around the clock. That meant we could not get out of the harbor or do any of the fun things we came down here to do. It also provided very wet dinghy rides to the marina every day. After a few days of being stuck here we decided to rent a car and do a little exploring that way. We drove down to Key West a couple times for dinner and drinks, etc.
Now the wind has died down and we will hopefully be able to get out to the reef a couple more times before we head back north.
Now the wind has died down and we will hopefully be able to get out to the reef a couple more times before we head back north.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Head to Row
Allen asked for the gory details of our head dilemma so here goes. Actually the head was not really broken when we got to Marathon. There was an annoying very small leak that had been going on for some time that I got the bright idea to fix when I saw the part I needed at West Marine here in town. It was to be a very simple 5 minute fix. Well I got the plastic piece and 2 O rings installed and it worked, for a minute. The O ring slipped into the bowells of the beast as I neglected to set it properly into the plastic thing a ma jig. Well that necessitated a lot of cussing followed by a complete tear down of the unholy one to recover the 25 cent O ring that cost 35 bucks. After being elbow deep into the joys of sailing I was ready for a drink once the #2 job was complete. Ah, the wind in your face, the sun on your back and your arms covered in what you had for lunch last week.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Update
After a long crossing of 31 hours from Ft. Myers Beach we were exhausted. But since we arrived at night we were forced to anchor in the lee of Marathon for the night in a very rolly anchorage. The anchor held for awhile but after I was asleep my anchor alarm went off and we were slowly dragging. That necessitated another anchor attempt, this time with more rode. The 2nd time was a charm and we were able to sleep. The next day we made it into the mooring field and were officially part of the cruising community in Marathon harbor. The next day we made our way out to Sombrero Key reef and lighthouse for some diving / snorkeling. I took that opportunity to scrape the barnacles off the bottom of the boat as well. I took a short dive around the reef, at least as far as my hose connected to the snuba system would let me travel. Fortunately the reef is directly under the boat. There are 20 or so mooring balls which enable you to park the boat right over the reef and dive directly under the boat.
Last night we made our way to a favorite restaurant called Dockside which is a long dinghy ride away. Well the dinghy motor quit about 100 yards from the restuarant so I was forced to row the last bit. After eating and listening to music for awhile a nice neighbor towed us back to the boat.
Today I took the carburator apart on the dinghy motor and cleaned it with chem tool. Now it seems to be running good. Hopefully that will last.
Today is laundry day! Woo hop!
Last night we made our way to a favorite restaurant called Dockside which is a long dinghy ride away. Well the dinghy motor quit about 100 yards from the restuarant so I was forced to row the last bit. After eating and listening to music for awhile a nice neighbor towed us back to the boat.
Today I took the carburator apart on the dinghy motor and cleaned it with chem tool. Now it seems to be running good. Hopefully that will last.
Today is laundry day! Woo hop!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
the beautiful Florida keys.
I got to fix my head (toilet) in the beautiful Florida keys today. woo hop
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
rest time some more
we picked up a mooring ball in fort myers beach. that way we don't have to worry about other boats dragging into us. this seems to be a very cruiser friendly town.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
rest
anchored off cabbage key in charlotte harbor. going to rest awhile then dinghy over and check it out.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Sailing
We are finally under sail again after a long motor from Apalachicola to Tampa. There was absolutely no wind and the gulf was totally flat last night. The night was beautiful though. There were millions of stars which reflected on the flat water. There were even a few falling stars.
Day 4 - The Twilight Zone by Pam
On the morning of our 4th day, our vented loop arrived and Rich installed it in a jiffy, during which we had our morning coffee before shoving off.
We opted to take the “route less traveled” (at least for boats our size) up the ICW to the Apalachicola River and then on to the bay where it would dump us out on the first leg of our journey across the Gulf of Mexico. Traversing this stretch of waters looked more like kayaking grounds but made for a pleasant cruise until we got to the John Gorrie Memorial Bridge at the entrance to the bay. Our navigational sources indicated a bridge height of 65 feet. Past experiences have taught us to be cautious of bridges you are not familiar with because they can fall shy of their published heights and only have full vertical clearance at low tide. And sure enough, upon our approach, a quick check with our binoculars revealed that we only had a little more than 62 feet, maybe 63 at best. According to specs we believed to be accurate, our Tayana 42 has a mast height of 62 feet. We just could not risk hitting the bridge and backed off.
Adjacent to the bridge is the city dock of Apalachicola. We tied up there and got off the boat to ponder our dilemma. We looked up the tide information and found out that low tide was at midnight, and it was currently about 5:30pm. After some further study, we determined that although the tide would be starting back in, if we got up and left at 4am the water would still be a full foot or more lower than it was right then and we were confident we could clear the bridge. So we decided to spend the night. That’s when we entered The Twilight Zone….
Apalachicola is a strangely sleepy little town. First we walked down the dock to inquire of some shrimp boats (which were the only boats there) if it was OK for us to dock there for the night. They said yes, in fact, the city of Apalachicola would allow you to do so for up to a week. Huh? Prime dock space for up to a week, for free?
The town was small but it did not lack for restaurants, a bar or two, specialty shops and inns. The unusual thing was that there appeared to be nobody in them except the owners or a barkeep. There were a few locals milling about the streets, every one of them was walking a dog…The businesses were all eerily laid back, like a bygone era. There didn’t seem to be any cars on the streets. The architecture was old and the doors to all the places were propped open. Nobody cared if you walked in with your dog. We had a beer at a little bar called the Oasis which had been there since 1938. It was next to an oyster bar called “The Hole in the Wall”. We asked the barkeep if it was any good and he said yes. They were friends of his and had just brought back some crawfish from New Orleans. So we went over there and the owners were the only ones there, sitting on the porch drinking wine with their friends. They said sorry they were closed for the day (it was only 7:30pm!)…but to go over a couple streets to another place they called by name. It was strange. Everyone knew everyone else and every place else in the town. We walked into a shop called the Apalachicola Chocolate Company, where the candy maker proprietor was sitting in a chair leaned back on two legs, again the door was propped open and there was no one inside. He engaged us in conversation about his confections, which he took very seriously. I bought some and we left.
As we walked along the streets which were deserted except for those few walking their dogs, it occurred to me that their appeared to be nothing to support the economy of this town. It was like a Norman Rockwell façade. It was a pleasant relaxing feeling that made you want to stay in this dream world.
We ambled back to the boat and set our alarm for 4am, and when Twilight came, we left the Zone, but vowed to come back to the city dock of this enchanted little town called Apalachicola….
We opted to take the “route less traveled” (at least for boats our size) up the ICW to the Apalachicola River and then on to the bay where it would dump us out on the first leg of our journey across the Gulf of Mexico. Traversing this stretch of waters looked more like kayaking grounds but made for a pleasant cruise until we got to the John Gorrie Memorial Bridge at the entrance to the bay. Our navigational sources indicated a bridge height of 65 feet. Past experiences have taught us to be cautious of bridges you are not familiar with because they can fall shy of their published heights and only have full vertical clearance at low tide. And sure enough, upon our approach, a quick check with our binoculars revealed that we only had a little more than 62 feet, maybe 63 at best. According to specs we believed to be accurate, our Tayana 42 has a mast height of 62 feet. We just could not risk hitting the bridge and backed off.
Adjacent to the bridge is the city dock of Apalachicola. We tied up there and got off the boat to ponder our dilemma. We looked up the tide information and found out that low tide was at midnight, and it was currently about 5:30pm. After some further study, we determined that although the tide would be starting back in, if we got up and left at 4am the water would still be a full foot or more lower than it was right then and we were confident we could clear the bridge. So we decided to spend the night. That’s when we entered The Twilight Zone….
Apalachicola is a strangely sleepy little town. First we walked down the dock to inquire of some shrimp boats (which were the only boats there) if it was OK for us to dock there for the night. They said yes, in fact, the city of Apalachicola would allow you to do so for up to a week. Huh? Prime dock space for up to a week, for free?
The town was small but it did not lack for restaurants, a bar or two, specialty shops and inns. The unusual thing was that there appeared to be nobody in them except the owners or a barkeep. There were a few locals milling about the streets, every one of them was walking a dog…The businesses were all eerily laid back, like a bygone era. There didn’t seem to be any cars on the streets. The architecture was old and the doors to all the places were propped open. Nobody cared if you walked in with your dog. We had a beer at a little bar called the Oasis which had been there since 1938. It was next to an oyster bar called “The Hole in the Wall”. We asked the barkeep if it was any good and he said yes. They were friends of his and had just brought back some crawfish from New Orleans. So we went over there and the owners were the only ones there, sitting on the porch drinking wine with their friends. They said sorry they were closed for the day (it was only 7:30pm!)…but to go over a couple streets to another place they called by name. It was strange. Everyone knew everyone else and every place else in the town. We walked into a shop called the Apalachicola Chocolate Company, where the candy maker proprietor was sitting in a chair leaned back on two legs, again the door was propped open and there was no one inside. He engaged us in conversation about his confections, which he took very seriously. I bought some and we left.
As we walked along the streets which were deserted except for those few walking their dogs, it occurred to me that their appeared to be nothing to support the economy of this town. It was like a Norman Rockwell façade. It was a pleasant relaxing feeling that made you want to stay in this dream world.
We ambled back to the boat and set our alarm for 4am, and when Twilight came, we left the Zone, but vowed to come back to the city dock of this enchanted little town called Apalachicola….
Friday, April 2, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Day 3 - Everything turned to Sh#t! by Pam
I mean that in the literal sense and not the figurative sense. Day 2 was unremarkable as we slept a good deal of the day and reveled in the warm sun and calmness of our scenic anchorage, but Day 3 started with a problem with our “flusher” so we entered into the Port St Joe Marina where we could fix it and discovered one of the remaining jewels of Northwest Florida. A pristine town un-mucked by society!
Rich removed the offending part known as a vented loop which appeared to be obstructed by years of crud, and I commenced trying to clean it out to no avail. One of the other boaters at the marina gave us some muratic acid to soak it in and we set off to explore this newfound paradise.
We walked to a Mexican cantina called Peppers and had some margaritas on a sidewalk table where upon I spied a goodwill store across the street. I didn’t know if it would appease the sea gods, but thought perhaps karma would intervene on our behalf, so I went in and bought a pair of shorts since the extra 15 pounds I gained since last summer left me a little short-shorted.
After returning to the marina we inspected our loop after the de-crudding session. It revealed some holes pitted through the stainless pipe. The marina said they could have a new one delivered in the morning with their weekly supply order from Panama City. “Oh, darn!...forced to spend the night in this beautifully idyllic port!” (thanks Karma!) And I mean that in the literal sense also! We had a couple beers in the dockside bar and then I started a load of clothes and towels in the marina laundry. We had a great hot shower in the bath houses and then set off down the road to Mama Joes for a wood fired pizza. They had a Tuscan wood burning oven and baked the best pies you ever tasted at 800 degrees. As we toddled back to the boat for a good nights sleep, Rich reminded me that if I had to get up during the night, I had to use the bath house. Well, when I did get up, I found the boat had drifted back over 5 feet from the dock with the tide change, so I man-handled (or is it woman-handled?) our 30,000 pound boat, which is no easy task when you gotta go! But if that was the worst part, I would do it all over again to be back in Port St Joe. It definitely lives up to its description in the waterway guide as the friendliest marina on the gulf coast.
They’ll show you a pooper-dooper, I mean, super-dooper time!
Rich removed the offending part known as a vented loop which appeared to be obstructed by years of crud, and I commenced trying to clean it out to no avail. One of the other boaters at the marina gave us some muratic acid to soak it in and we set off to explore this newfound paradise.
We walked to a Mexican cantina called Peppers and had some margaritas on a sidewalk table where upon I spied a goodwill store across the street. I didn’t know if it would appease the sea gods, but thought perhaps karma would intervene on our behalf, so I went in and bought a pair of shorts since the extra 15 pounds I gained since last summer left me a little short-shorted.
After returning to the marina we inspected our loop after the de-crudding session. It revealed some holes pitted through the stainless pipe. The marina said they could have a new one delivered in the morning with their weekly supply order from Panama City. “Oh, darn!...forced to spend the night in this beautifully idyllic port!” (thanks Karma!) And I mean that in the literal sense also! We had a couple beers in the dockside bar and then I started a load of clothes and towels in the marina laundry. We had a great hot shower in the bath houses and then set off down the road to Mama Joes for a wood fired pizza. They had a Tuscan wood burning oven and baked the best pies you ever tasted at 800 degrees. As we toddled back to the boat for a good nights sleep, Rich reminded me that if I had to get up during the night, I had to use the bath house. Well, when I did get up, I found the boat had drifted back over 5 feet from the dock with the tide change, so I man-handled (or is it woman-handled?) our 30,000 pound boat, which is no easy task when you gotta go! But if that was the worst part, I would do it all over again to be back in Port St Joe. It definitely lives up to its description in the waterway guide as the friendliest marina on the gulf coast.
They’ll show you a pooper-dooper, I mean, super-dooper time!
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