Thurs, Dec 31, 2009 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

We were up early and in the dinghy at 7:30 am making our way to Snook Bight Marina and the Publix grocery store next to the marina. It was a lovely morning but with a Blue Moon tide the water level was very, very low. Along the way, we encountered a good-sized sailboat aground in the channel next to the mooring field. The sun was in our eyes but at the last minute, we noticed a line stretched from the channel marker post to the sailboat’s bow. Fortunately, we ducked under the line and smiled at the two guys out on the deck. After a brief conversation with these sailors about “no water,” we continued along the channel. We saw many boats that looked to be aground; however, most of them were anchored and not trying to get anywhere anyway.

On our way back to the mooring field, we could see the sailboat that had been aground had moved a few feet out of the channel and secured a line to a mooring ball. Back aboard the boat, Maureen spent the rest of the morning making key lime pie, putting groceries away and doing a little cleaning. Gale ran some errands and picked up wine and shrimp. While he and Lucy were at the shrimp boat docks, Gale stepped on a section of the dock making two sections bang together. Unfortunately, Lucy’s foot was between the sections and her toenail was torn out. She bled buckets! It looked like a murder had taken place in the dinghy! Before returning to Blue Heron, he stopped at a local restaurant to find out if they would be open for breakfast tomorrow morning. It was funny how people gave them such a wide berth – a man and his bleeding pit bull! Poor Lucy!



Between the chores, the errands, the injured toe and trying to get showers in before our guests’ arrival, we didn’t make it to the “Slurp and Burp.” Steve and Dawn’s flight into Tampa touched down shortly after 1 pm and they were in Ft Myers Beach about 5 pm. Gale picked them up in the dinghy and brought them out to Blue Heron. The first thing we did was pop open and share the bottle of champagne the Fords had given us at our Bon Voyage party last April. Steve had said that we were to save the champagne either until they could come to visit us or it could be consumed in the event of an “emergency”, whichever came first. We were glad that their visit came before any emergency! We boiled up the fresh shrimp Gale and Lucy had picked up earlier in the day and enjoyed it along with a sauce, crackers and cheese. But we forgot to have the pie!

After dinner the four of us took the dinghy to shore and strolled up to Times Square. We walked the beach and checked out the Lani Kai Hotel. We were told that this was quite a party place but it was only about 10 pm and, evidently, too early for the kids to be out yet. In the crowded elevator going up to the rooftop bar, a middle aged woman with a cigarette in her hand commented on what nice teeth Gale had! She made quite a “to do” and received everyone’s agreement of her assessment. She asked why he had such great teeth and he told her, “It’s because I don’t smoke!” He got a round of applause and a lot of laughs from everyone stuck in the elevator with the smoking woman!





It wasn’t long before we were back at Times Square where we listened to a great band. The music was so good, we were all surprised to find it quite easy to stay up for the “ball drop.” A spectacular fireworks display at midnight capped off a wonderful New Years Eve celebration.

Wed, Dec 30, 2009 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

It was cool and breezy again when we got up. Gale worked on the cockpit shower all morning trying to determine where and why the nozzle was leaking and how he could fix it. He finally decided that the hose unit was defective and needed to be replaced. If he could stop the leak without getting the parts today, we were going out for a ride. If not, he was going to West Marine. Happily, he was able to do the temporary fix and we prepared for our outing.

When we arrived at the Ft Myers Beach mooring field early last week, we had grabbed mooring ball #5 and paid for a week’s stay. Two days ago, when our week was up, Trace, from s/v Faith, stopped by to ask us if we’d be leaving that day. When we said, “No,” that we were planning to re-register, he told us that his wife, Diane, worked in the hotel office and had been promised the mooring ball we were on when the last boat left, but due to an oversight they had not been informed of the vacancy. Diane must row to shore to get to work and they were trying to get their sailboat closer to the dinghy dock. Nobody had mentioned anything to us before this, so we said we’d be happy to trade places with them on Mooring #14 when we got our boat started and repair work completed. Trace then invited us to the “Slurp and Burp” on the afternoon of New Years Eve. He had arranged to have 280 fresh Apalachicola oysters shipped to the hotel for the event.

Guests were asked to bring a knife (to open the oysters), their drink of choice and $5 to help defer the costs. We told them we’d love to attend, but we had quite a bit of running around to do tomorrow in preparation for our own guests, Steve and Dawn Ford, who were coming in from Cedar Falls tomorrow afternoon. If nothing else, we hoped to stop by for a few minutes.

As we left our mooring ball, Faith was there to pick up the line and take our spot. We began the 16-mile “Loop” around Estero Island at 12:30 pm. There wasn’t much wind – it was from the south at 6-10 knots – but the skies were sunny and the temperature near 80°F! Gale tried trolling for fish, but didn’t have any luck with that. As expected, we could see that the beaches were jampacked with bodies! On the way back, we stopped at Moss Marine for fuel and to fill the fresh water tanks. We secured ourselves on #14 Mooring Ball at 4:30 pm and did a little more “putzing around” before dinner. The grilled hamburgers tasted especially good tonight. We did a little reading, watched the sunset, the moonrise and went to bed.

Tue, Dec 29, 2009 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

It was 48°F this morning! We hadn’t expected so much of this cold weather in Florida. Of course, comparatively, it wasn’t anything like the poor folks back home in the Midwest were experiencing, but it still seemed cold to us.

Both of us spent time on the computer during the morning hours. Gale ordered a 2000 Honda Generator for the boat. Maureen ordered a pad to go under the mattress which was meant to help prevent condensation. With the cold temperatures and our warm body heat, we were starting to see a mildew problem. We sent some emails, checked our bank account, and took care of some other business over the internet. Maureen saw that Jess was on line and started a “Google chat.” Jess had discovered Google’s video chat feature, so we tried that out and it worked pretty well! It will be a nice alternative when ‘Skype’ won’t work.

The mechanic we’d been trying to get to the boat had made arrangements to come this morning. He called and said he was running late but finally asked Gale to meet him at the dinghy dock at Bonita Bill’s at 12:30 pm. Mark and Diane Holt had also called this morning and said they would be coming through Ft Myers Beach about 1 pm and wanted to meet us for lunch. Gale had gone over to Bonita Bill’s dinghy dock to meet the mechanic but instead found Mark and Diane and brought them back to our boat in the dinghy. The mechanic called about thirty minutes later so Gale took Maureen, Diane and Mark back to Bonita Bill’s where they could enjoy lunch and then he and the mechanic returned to Blue Heron to review the repairs. Sadly, Mark and Diane had to leave before Gale made it back since they had a 3:30 pm appointment in Naples to pick up parts for their boat.

While Maureen was waiting for Gale, she ended up visiting with Dan and Jan from Pennsylvania who had come to Ft Myers Beach to make final arrangements for her father who had recently passed away. Gale arrived back at the dock with the mechanic and then joined Maureen for a beer and some stone crab claws. We continued visiting with Dan and Jan and invited them to our boat for a drink. At 5 pm, we took them back to Bonita Bill’s and returned home to heat up the last of the lasagna for our dinner. We were in bed early, in fact, it was a little too early because we both felt the night was a bit too long and did not sleep well.

Mon, Dec 28, 2009 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

It was a beautiful, warm and sunny morning with very little wind -- A perfect day to replace the steering yolk that was damaged on December 19th. Gale and Maureen worked together on the project from 9 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon. There were a couple of glitches along the way, but with Gale’s experienced hand and a little help from Lloyd on Freddy Freddy, the problems were overcome and the repair job completed.

We showered, had a little dinner and fell into bed.

Sun, Dec 27, 2009 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

Even before breakfast, Gale rigged his poles and set out in the dinghy to try to retrieve the errant fishing pole from last night’s encounter. Success! After about 45 minutes of “fishing,” Gale was able to snag and reel in the pole -- and it was indeed worth about $150. Gale brought it back to the boat to show Maureen his find and then decided to return to the pier to see if he could fish any other poles out from under the bridge. While he was back at the fishing pier, a large 4-wheel drive truck pulled up. The driver was none other than the fisherman from last night. His attitude was much different from last evening – in fact, he introduced himself as ‘Ryan’ and apologized to Gale at least five times for his poor behavior. Gale gave Ryan his pole and offered him some money to replace the fishing line. Ryan refused to take any money – he was just glad to have his pole. We didn’t have the same good luck in locating John’s sunglasses. They were not on either the big boat or the dinghy – we even inquired at the restaurant we had dinner in last night, but no one had turned in any sunglasses.

During the afternoon, we took the “Island Trollee” to West Marine to pick up some containers for transporting water. In the mooring field, there is water available at the dinghy dock so it is necessary to haul it back and fill the fresh water tanks 5 gallons at a time. We also needed a bolt for tomorrow’s repair project and a few other small items. After completing our shopping at West Marine, we met the trolley and headed back towards the mooring field. We had thought we might take the round trip to see where else the route would take us, but the traffic was becoming bumper to bumper and we decided to try that on a day when it wasn’t so busy in town.

We were back on board Blue Heron before sunset. We boiled the shrimp we had purchased on Christmas Eve and had some of the key lime pie for dessert. A great way to end the day!

Sat, Dec 26, 2009 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

We were up early to shower and get ready for the day. Using ‘Skype’ at the mooring ball had been a little too frustrating lately, so we had told Dan & Julie and Jess & Joe that we would walk up to McDonalds and use their WiFi signal to call them this morning at their dad’s house in Clear Lake. We were eager to see everyone – especially our four grandsons! Today was JT’s 3rd Birthday and he was very happy to be the center of attention. We also got to see just how much Jake had grown in his first four (nearly five) months! Kevin and Justin rounded out the foursome and brought us up to date on what Santa had brought them.


After the ‘Skype’ call to Clear Lake, we talked to some of the Goransons: Casey, Mark, and Patti. We thought it was looking like rain, so Gale ran back to the boat to close the hatches while Maureen stayed at McDonalds to use the rest of the internet time we had purchased. Gale returned for Maureen and together we did a little shopping and picked up a small gift for Aaron. Back on the boat, we finished straightening things up for our company that would be arriving soon. Maureen’s younger brother, John, his wife, Aura and their son, Aaron, made the two hour drive from their home in Boca Raton and arrived about 1:30 pm to spend the afternoon with us. It was so nice to see them!

Gale, Aaron and John took Lucy back to the big boat and upon their return to shore, we all walked down to the beach.

We had some ice cream and took a long, leisurely walk on the beach on this beautiful afternoon joining the many people out in the sunshine and the water. We had been told that we could not take Lucy on the beach with us but, as it turned out, there were dogs all over the place (on leashes, of course). Next time out, Lucy will get a beach walk, too.

After our walk, we were all ready to head out to Blue Heron for some hors d’oeuvres and to share the bottle of champagne the Jacobsons had brought with them. We enjoyed our snack and decided it was time to go back to shore for dinner. Gale took Aura and Maureen in the dinghy on the first trip. As we neared the dinghy dock, Maureen realized that we were driving right under somebody’s fishing line. Several fishermen were at the public fishing pier and a couple of lines had been cast way out into the channel where the dinghies come through. On his way back to the boat to pick up John and Aaron, Gale tried to give the fishermen as wide a pass as possible and by so doing, ended up catching one of the lines with the motor and pulling a fishing pole over the rail and into the water. The “gentleman” whose pole had been snagged immediately began screaming obscenities, demanded $150 for the pole then pulled a knife and threatened Gale’s life and his dinghy. The guy put on quite a show for his parents, the little girl that was with him and all the rest of the fishermen. Gale declined to give the fisherman any cash, but he did give the young man’s dad his phone number and said he would return tomorrow to look for the pole. Gale continued on his way to pick up John and Aaron and brought them back to shore. Instead of parking the dinghy at the dinghy dock, however, Gale brought it around into the canal by the restaurant and left it where it would be in full view of the dining patrons.

Our dinner at the Matanzas Inn was okay, but not great. The best part was just being there with family. After dinner, John, Aura and Aaron had to leave for home. We took the dinghy back to our home on the water and chose to hoist the little boat and secure it rather than let it float behind as we had been. John called and said he thought he’d left sunglasses on the boat. We didn’t see any extra sunglasses, but we would look a little more closely tomorrow. Maureen had difficulty sleeping in light of the threats made earlier.

Fri, Dec 25, 2009 - Ft. Myers Beach, FL

It was a lovely 70°F when we got up Christmas morning, but mostly cloudy. The forecast called for a chance of showers and thunderstorms all day. We made a few more Christmas phone calls to family and then settled in for a relaxing day on the water. While Gale read up on the area, Maureen started cooking. She began with key lime pie using the key limes that had been handpicked for us from the tree at Bernie’s house in St. Petersburg. Because we didn’t have an electric mixer on board, we took turns whipping the meringue by hand. Next dish was the fresh cranberry sauce which was set aside to cool while she prepared the homemade lasagna.



Everything was ready at 3 pm when we sat down to enjoy the main course. As the lasagna was settling in our bellies, we exchanged gifts. We each unwrapped the gifts we had picked out for ourselves during the shopping trip in Clearwater: Gale got his deck shoes and Maureen, her polarized sunglasses. Gale also gave Maureen a small envelope with the note: “I hope you find this gift “a-luring” – which turned out to be a pair of shiny earrings shaped like fishing lures. She loved them! Gale had also written a poem,

“The Sailing Couples Creed”

May the winds never separate us and the rain never dampen our spirit.
May the sun always warm our hearts and the stars bless our souls.
May we always plan our sailing course and together sail our plan.
May our journey always be our destination and may we arrive
Forever In Love.


We went for a dinghy ride up a couple of nearby channels and took a short walk to Times Square between 4:45 and 6:15 pm. Then it was home for pie. Neither of us was tired so Gale stayed up until 11 pm and did some research on the internet related to the DSC capability of the marine radio. Maureen started a novel and read until after 1 am.

Thurs, Dec 24, 2009 - Ft. Myers Beach, FL

We woke to a sunny and breezy morning. Maureen was up at 5 am as she wanted to catch up on her blog entries. Gale got up a bit later and was very pleased when the boat started up like a charm. After breakfast, we spent a couple of hours cleaning. We had an early lunch and headed into shore for showers and to make a few Christmas phone calls. Then it was back to Blue Heron to pick up Lucy and take her to shore for a little walk. We wanted to check out the place on the beach where the Christmas Eve service we’d read about in the local paper was going to be held. Another trip back to Blue Heron to drop off Lucy, grab our lawn chairs and flashlights, and head back to “Times Square” and the beach. As we walked along the strip, we looked for a place to have a light dinner and chose Wahoo Willie’s.



After dinner, we made our way to the place on the beach where people were beginning to gather for the 7 pm service. During the service, we sang many of the favorite Christmas carols and listened to a few readings and a brief homily. It was very pleasant sitting by the water, hearing the waves, enjoying the fellowship and singing Christmas songs. Following the service, we gathered up our chairs and blankets and headed home for the night.

Simply Messing About in Boats from “The Wind In The Willows”, 1908, by Kenneth Grahame

Often quoted in a brief line or two, here is the actual passage from his children’s book:


“This has been a wonderful day!” said he, as the Rat shoved off and took to the sculls again. “Do you know, I’ve never been in a boat before in all my life.”

“What?” cried the Rat, open-mouthed: “Never been in a – you never – well I – what have you been doing, then?”

“Is it so nice as all that?” asked the Mole shyly, though he was quite prepared to believe it as he leant back in his seat and surveyed the cushions, the oars, the rowlocks, and all the fascinating fittings, and felt the boat sway lightly under him.

“Nice? It’s the only thing,” said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolute nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,” he went on dreamily:
“messing – about – in – boats; messing ----“

“Look ahead, Rat!” cried the Mole suddenly.

It was too late. The boat struck the bank full tilt. The dreamer, the joyous oarsman, lay on his back at the bottom of the boat, his heels in the air.

“ ---- about in boats ---- or with boats,” the Rat went on composedly, picking himself up with a pleasant laugh. “In or out of ‘em, it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don’t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you’re always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you’ve done it there’s always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you’d much better not.”

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

It was a very busy day. At 10 am we were at the restaurant dinghy dock at Snook Bight Marina where we were told we could tie up to go to the Publix grocery store. Gale stopped into the ship’s store to purchase marine batteries while Maureen did the grocery shopping. By 2 pm, the groceries were repackaged, most of the produce was cleaned, and everything was stowed. At 3 pm, Gale took Maureen to shore so she could do the laundry while Gale worked on gathering the replacement parts needed. He made some calls and then dinghied to the NAPA store to make some inquiries on parts. The guy at NAPA wasn’t sure whether the solenoid he had would work on our engine and said Gale should walk across the street to the Westerbeke dealer. It turned out that Roy, the man Gale had been talking to on the phone trying to get service scheduled, was located right there. He only had one service guy and he would not be available until Monday or Tuesday of next week. Gale told Roy that we could not even start our engine and asked if there was any possible way to get the repair done sooner. Evidently, during the conversation Roy became confident in Gale’s knowledge of the engine and his ability to make the repair so he gave Gale the parts and encouraged him to go ahead and try the installation himself. He would have his service guy stop by next week and complete the warranty paperwork.

Great news! When Gale installed the solenoid, he decided to test the glow plugs. He found that they were not even “finger tight” and when he tightened them down, the motor started right up! In fact, it had never started better! It would appear that the glow plugs had been that way since day one. With three new batteries and properly working glow plugs and solenoid, we were in business!!

Maureen put laundry put away, cleaned, cut and packaged the salad vegetables and made the bed while Gale took Lucy to shore for some exercise. We had a late dinner and were very happy with all the things we accomplished. Almost every day we ask ourselves – Where does the time go??

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

We were surprised to see our friends Rae and Steve of Barefoot Shoes as they came by in their dinghy first thing this morning. They’d been here for two weeks and told us we were very lucky to have this spot because we were so close to the dinghy dock. If others had known this site was open, there would have been a frenzied race to grab it first!

The Matanzas Inn oversees the mooring field so we took the dinghy in to the dinghy dock and checked in with Jerry at the Matanzas Inn office. Jerry wasn’t exactly “Mr. Personality” but we were able to pry enough information out of him to learn where to find the laundry and shower facilities and whether there was a password for the WiFi signal. We had brought our toiletries and towels to shore with us and walked over to the shower and laundry area. We stood outside and waited with a young woman and her 2-1/2 year old son. Before their son was born, they lived aboard their sailing vessel, Paradise, full time. Now they only sail half of the year and spend their summers at her parents’ home on Lake Michigan. Currently they are reevaluating their liveaboard options for the years when the boy needs to be in school. It was easy to tell which sailboat was Paradise – it was the one with the netting all the way around the deck keeping toddlers from falling off!

Gale was done with his shower first and walked back over to the office to use the computer set up for guests. When Maureen was done, she sat on the bench outside the office door and paid some bills via the internet on our own laptop. It was there that she met Mike Beacock of Imagine. Mike said he had been talking to Rae at the laundry and she had mentioned we were having trouble getting an internet signal on the boat. It turned out that Mike developed the antenna we had purchased from Al Francone in July. Mike and Al are friends and he gave the design to Al. They both sell their product over the internet. He offered to stop by the boat at 1 pm and see if he could help us with our reception problems. After a few tests and swapping out our antenna with one of his, he determined that the problem might be as simple as cleaning the outside connection and wiping the salt off the antenna on a regular basis. He also gave us some other tips and said he was going to call Al Francone and give him a hard time for helping one of his customers. We’re hoping we have the solution!


The afternoon warmed up into the lower 70’s. After Mike left, we took Lucy to shore and walked to Ft Myers Beach’s “Times Square.” This is the along the main drag by the beach and filled with shops, restaurants and street vendors. We took a walk out on the pier where we found several people enjoying the day. While at the end of the pier, a beautiful blue heron alighted on the dock and stood there with the rest of us. It was pretty amazing. One of the tourists with a camera got a little too close so he hopped up on the railing where he stayed long enough to have his photo taken several times. We visited with a couple of young men on the pier that were interested in Lucy. One of the guys was a local, Mike, who made his living as a musician and DJ. We made our way back to the dinghy and home for the night by 5:15 pm.

Monday, December 21, 2009

It was cold last night with temperatures in the upper 40’s and lower 50’s. The engine refused to start even by jump start. While Gale tried to figure out the mechanical problems Maureen decided to make bread.

By noon, the temperature had warmed up to 60°F and Gale tried once more to start the engine. This time it started and we made the decision to travel the 30 miles to Ft. Meyers Beach mooring field where we would be able to get the parts we needed and have the warranty work done. We were afraid this might be our only chance to get there with the engine running. Of course, Blue Heron is a sailboat, but the winds aren’t always in our favor which makes sailing difficult on the inland waterways. We pulled anchor at 1pm with the promise to return to this beautiful spot and check out the park on a warmer day.

The trip went smoothly – not many boaters were out and about on this chilly December afternoon. The winds were out of the NNE at 10 to 18 knots with mostly sunny skies. We put both sails up but were very glad we didn’t have to rely solely on wind power to get us there. This was the shortest day of the year and we knew it would be nearly dark by 6 pm.

Not long after passing under the Sanibel Bridge we made our way through the section of the intracoastal waterway that boaters, not so affectionately, call “The Miserable Mile.” It is an extremely narrow channel that usually has a great deal of boat traffic. Since we were coming in so late in the day and wind was not a factor, we did not experience anything close to a miserable passage. We approached the mooring field at 5:30 pm and made a call to the Harbormaster for a mooring assignment. She told us to grab any available site and give her a call back. This mooring field is very large; it is divided into two sections with a total of 70 sites. At 6 pm we were secured at the first mooring ball we saw and gave the Harbormaster a call back. When we told her it was Ball #5, she was surprised that it was even open. After making a call to the day guy, she found out that the boat that had been occupying that site had left that afternoon but he forgot to let her know. We were very glad we wouldn’t have to move because we didn’t think the engine would start again in the morning.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

We had to jump start the engine again. Gale suspected that the glow plugs weren’t heating up.

We left Sarasota 8:45 am with a NNE wind around 15 knots. It was a cool 60°F and partly cloudy. There were ten bridges that had to be opened for us along the route to Pelican Bay. We sailed most of the day but did have to start our engine every time we came to a bridge. We did not have any difficulty starting the engine after the initial jump this morning which seemed to confirm that the problem was related to the glow plugs.


Late in the afternoon, we discovered that the steering yolk supporting the drive leg was broken – surely from running into the shoal yesterday. We continued on our way and entered Pelican Bay after 5 pm. We sounded our way in and anchored near the dock at Cayo Costa State Park. We hadn’t expected to make it all the way to this anchorage in one day, but with the favorable winds and very little waiting time at the bridges, we traveled the entire 50 miles in one day.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Last night the northwest wind blew, and blew and blew! It was a pretty steady gale force (30 mph) with gusts up to 40 mph. Sometime before sunrise, the wind died down to a more manageable 15 mph and so we decided to haul up the anchor and move to a more protected location. We had a little difficulty starting the engine and Gale had to use his “jump start” technique. Shortly after 9 am we were on our way. The temperature was 62°F with partly cloudy skies.

Maureen drove most of the 15-mile trip to Sarasota navigating through some very narrow channels. At one point, she mistook a pair of small channel markers as marking a side channel and ignored them. That was when we ran over a sand shoal at a pretty good speed. We bumped over the shoal (ran aground) and found ourselves back in deeper water right away. It didn’t seem like there was any damage to the drive leg as it continued to propel us forward. A little further down the way, we slowed and put the engine in neutral and then reverse. Things appeared to be working properly.






It was turning into a lovely day as we came into the harbor at noon near Marina Jacks in Sarasota. Many boats were anchored there and we found a nice spot to drop our anchor very close to Island Park. We had a little lunch and while Maureen was cleaning up, Gale and Lucy went out in the dinghy to see if they could catch any fish. The fishermen returned empty-handed but ready for more adventures ashore. After a few phone calls, we set out in the dinghy and beached it at O’Leary’s Restaurant. We were told that if you ordered something at the bar, you could keep the dinghy there without a fee. We ordered a drink and had a nice visit with a couple of local sailors, Patrick and Ann Egan, who gave us some good information about the area. We were looking for a good WiFi signal in order to ‘Skype’ our kids and were told that Smokin’ Joes bar on the main street had WiFi. We walked up to the bar and sat outside where we were able to get a good signal but the noise from the bar was so loud, we couldn’t make any calls. We walked back to the beach and dinghied home.

Whenever we are at anchor and get up at night, we take a look out the window to make sure we are in the same spot we were when we went to bed. At some point during the night, our anchor drug and we found ourselves on the other side of the boat we were anchored near. Fortunately we didn’t get hung up on anything and the anchor set itself but it is always a little disconcerting to know that you have moved. The rest of the night was not very restful between the strong winds and wondering if the anchor was really set.

Friday, December 18, 2009

It was windy all night and started raining about 6 am. The forecast called for wind all day and storms late this afternoon and tonight. Yesterday the winds were out of the northeast changing to a strong south wind overnight. During the day, the wind was supposed to circle all the way around and be back out of the north northwest bringing colder temperatures with it.

Maureen talked to Jessica that morning and told her that we had decided to stay put for the day. The weather wasn’t good for traveling south so we were “hunkering down” and busying ourselves around the boat. Jess said it was “Kind of like a snow day!” Well, yes, kind of. Instead of hot chocolate, though, Gale made some fresh squeezed Florida orange juice for breakfast and it was heavenly! For most of the morning we had a good internet signal and Maureen was able to do a little posting to the blog while Gale read up on southern Florida and the Keys. Late in the afternoon, he and Lucy took the dinghy out to find somewhere to mail a card and to do some exploring around the area.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

At 8 am, we walked up to McDonalds for a little breakfast and the intention of using the WiFi connection for awhile again this morning. We were also meeting our friends Russ and Cindy of Ladybug, at 9 am for a short visit. Russ and Cindy live in the Tampa area and keep their boat at Maximo Marina, just a few hundred yards from our current location.

When our friends arrived, they suggested that we ride with them so they could show us around the St. Petersburg downtown area. We saw the municipal marina and the central park where many community events take place. They showed us where their friends had a nice Espresso Bar and took us to a new and used book store that claimed to have 300,000 titles in stock. It was a St. Petersburg “institution” in that it had been around since 1933. The book store did, indeed, appear to offer thousands of books. They also stopped at a liquor store and a WalMart so we could pick up a few items we needed. Before delivering us back to our boat, we stopped at the Maximo Marina and they showed us the setup they had at their dock. It was a very “homey” little neighborhood in itself with the covered slips, decorations, a Jenn-Air cooktop, a small bar with a couple of stools, and a large, maybe 27- or 30-plus-inch screen TV mounted high on a dock post so the neighboring boats could see whatever was on.


After Russ and Cindy left, we took a few moments to regroup and decided to have some lunch while we set our sights on Sarasota. Before casting off, we made sure we filled a shopping bag with oranges from Bernie’s tree. The oranges we had tried earlier were perfect and every bit of the taste sensation a Florida orange should be! Just before 1 pm we were away from the dock and headed out with partly sunny skies, 80°F, and NE winds between 14 and 20 knots. Soon we were sailing past the magnificent Sunshine Skyway Bridge and remarked on the many times we had crossed that same span in a car dreaming of the day when we would be on one of the boats cruising leisurely in the bay. The dreaming was fun – but the “doing” was even better!




As we traveled through the channel, we came upon the remains of an old shipwreck that the birds seemed to like very much. Tampa Bay is extremely shallow in places so it is important to stay in the channel and/or keep an eye on the charts.

The wind helped us to make today’s passage in short order. We were at the Cortez Bridge, located between Bradenton and Sarasota, in time for the 5 pm opening and anchored just to the other side of the bridge with several other boats. Many of the boats looked like they had been there for some time.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

We were up at 5 am and on the move at 6:15 am. It was a clear morning and the winds were now out of the north at about 6 to 10 knots. Since it didn’t get light before 7 am, we had to be very careful watching for channel markers and crab pots until then. We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise and a wonderful cruise to St Petersburg. The warranty and parts guy, Bernie, from St. Petersburg Yacht Power Products, had graciously offered to let us tie up to his dock for a night (or more, if we wanted) and have the service guy come down to the dock to look at our fuel pump. At 10 am, we called Bernie for directions to his place.

Bernie told us to look for the “big tree” with the rock yard and his house would be right next to it with a white cage over the swimming pool.
We were soon secured to a very nice dock with water and electricity in front of Bernie’s lovely home along the canal going into Maximo Marina. We were welcomed by Bernie’s brother-in-law, Mark, who had been living here with Bernie and his wife for a few months. Mark had been in the construction business and found himself without work when the economy fell apart. Mark brought us a bag full of key limes from the tree in the front yard and said they made terrific key lime pie. He also told us to help ourselves to as many oranges from the tree in the back yard as we cared to take.

Maureen and Lucy took off walking towards the shopping areas in search of the UPS Store, the Publix grocery and an internet café. Temperatures were already in the 80’s by noon so they made sure they brought plenty of water for both of them. The girls found everything they were looking for except the internet café and were back on the boat before 2 pm.

The mechanic had arrived about the same time Maureen and Lucy left on their mission. He confirmed Gale’s diagnosis that the fuel pump’s solenoid was faulty so he replaced that along with a switch on the instrument panel related to the same issue. While Gale was working with the mechanic, Bernie came home to introduce himself. He and his wife were hoping to do “The Loop” themselves in the very near future so he and Gale had a lot to talk about.

At 3 pm, Gale and Maureen grabbed both computers and walked up to McDonalds to use the internet. We finished our business about 4:30 pm and because it was getting late, decided to postpone the additional walk to the grocery store until tomorrow. We’d been told it wasn’t a good idea to be out walking around certain areas of the neighborhood after dark.

Back on Blue Heron, we dug out the lawn chairs and relaxed out on the foredeck as the sun was beginning to set. We had a nice conversation with the next door neighbors on the other side of Bernie (not the ones with the tree) who were also outside enjoying their backyard and the pleasant weather. Soon after the beautiful sunset, we were surprised by the sudden burst of Christmas lights going on along the canal. It was truly a wondrous sight!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

We spent a few hours on Christmas cards during the morning. Our hope for the afternoon was to motor over to Caladesi Island State Park which was two or three miles away from our anchoring location. The park is accessible only by boat and has twice been voted a National Gold Medal Winner as America’s Best Beach. Regrettably, the sea fog rolled in before lunch and made it impossible for us to navigate anywhere for a couple of hours. For now, this park will have to remain on our list of places we’d like to see.

Because we had an appointment for the boat in St. Petersburg tomorrow afternoon, we thought we’d better start heading that way. Our appointment was at noon and we had 25 miles to travel. We pulled anchor at 2:15 pm and made our first stop at the Clearwater Municipal Marina where we had still had keys to the showers. We anchored the boat in the harbor, dinghied over to the fuel dock, mailed our Christmas letters at the marina’s post office and used the shower facilities. By the time we finished, it was after 4 pm and Blue Heron had disappeared into the fog. We decided it would be best if we stayed put for the night and planned to get up very early tomorrow morning to make our trip. A cold front was supposed to come through which would help dry the air and clear out the fog.

Monday, December 14, 2009

We slept well and woke to a warm and foggy morning. The fog burned off and the sun came through shortly after 9 am. Gale went up to the marina office to settle our bill and at 10 am, we were leaving Dunedin Municipal Marina. We motored out into the bay and dropped the hook ten minutes later in four feet of water. It wasn’t long before our friend, Diver Bill, came by in his dinghy to say “hello” and commented that we were “showing off” to be able to anchor in such shallow areas.

After lunch, Gale and Lucy went fishing. He caught two sand perch, six sea trout and one ladyfish by fishing in four feet of water over grass beds. He commented on how much fun it was to fish in such clear water where it was easy to see the fish strike the bait and watch the fight as he retrieved it back to the boat.



Gale also spent some time cleaning the hull of the boat. We brought Blue Heron in to even shallower water by pushing her along with the dinghy. Gale donned his wetsuit and simply walked around the boat with his cleaning sponge. Afterwards, we moved the boat back out into deeper water where we spent a very peaceful night.