Thur, Jan 7, 2010 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

The wind was now out of the south and it was a nice morning. Gale went to shore and mailed some letters, exchanged an LP tank at the nearby 7-11 and brought water back to the boat. Upon his return, he patched up the dinghy, got the generator running and did some rearranging of lockers to make storage space for the generator.



We called Nick and Jane and made a plan to meet up with them on Friday at 3:30 pm. We were going to do a little shopping and then go out for a nice Italian dinner. They once again invited us to stay at their condo since it had been so unseasonably cold.

Wed, Jan 6, 2010 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

Who would have predicted that the coldest morning in eight months on the water would occur in southern Florida? It was 34°F when we got up! We were nice and warm under the down comforter, but stepping out onto the cold floor was something we put off as long as we could!

Once again, Maureen and Lucy stayed on the boat while Gale ventured out and made the trip to West Marine – the trip he started out to do yesterday but ended up traveling to the Mermaid factory. He walked up to the Island Trollee stop and waited there for some time before he gave up and started walking. The traffic was so congested that the Trollees were backed up and running on more of a two-hour schedule instead of their normal one-hour route. At West Marine, he picked up oil for the generator, a strong adhesive to make the dink repair and looked at the ceramic space heater they had on the shelf for $79. He decided he didn’t really want to pay that much for a little heater, so he continued walking until he came to the Target store where he inquired about heaters and fans. The clerk at Target checked in the back warehouse for heaters, but discovered all 15 or 20 of them that they’d had in stock at a price of $15 had been sold out. They didn’t have any fans either. Gale found a similar story at the Ace Hardware store – all 30 of the heaters that had been on the shelf for $25 were gone and he couldn’t find a suitable fan. So, it was back to West Marine where he snatched up the one remaining ceramic heater at a cool $79 (at least it came with a 3-year warranty), and a fan that would operate on AC, DC, two D batteries, or a rechargeable battery. Nicer than what we were looking for, but the alternative power sources may prove useful. After making his purchases, he walked across the street to the Trollee stop. While he was waiting there, a taxi came by to pick up a guy that had been drinking. It turned out that the drunk was a friend of the cab driver’s. Gale asked how much it would cost to get a ride back to the island and when the cabbie told him $5, he didn’t hesitate to share the ride home since he had already walked more than five miles and it was getting late.

While Gale was out on his travels, Nick and Jane Ong called. They were back at their condo in Sanibel and eager to get together. They offered to pick us up and take us back to their place where we would have our own bedroom and bathroom for as long as we cared to stay. Maureen told them we would call later tonight or sometime tomorrow and make a plan to meet up.

Tues, Jan 5, 2010 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

How could it be so cold for so long?? Maureen stayed on the boat all day just so she didn’t have to venture out into the wind. Gale did go to shore and took the Island Trollee to its northernmost stop near West Marine by Summerlin Square. In his conversation with the Trollee driver, he asked about connecting city buses and how to get downtown close to the hospitals. The driver called ahead to the city bus driver headed downtown who said he would wait for Gale Instead of going to West Marine, he hopped on the city bus and continued on to the city of Ft Myers, about 15 miles from Ft Myers Beach where we were currently moored. Gale stopped by the Mermaid marine air conditioning factory to pick up a part needed for our unit aboard Blue Heron. The blower on the a/c is so strong that it pulls moisture from the condensator and spews it all over the floor beneath the unit and on anything directly in front of it. When the new part is installed, it should prevent the excess moisture problem from happening and we will no longer worry about slipping on a wet floor. The bus trip took Gale through some very interesting locations where it was not uncommon for security guards to be stationed at various bus stops along the route. Apparently, Ft Myers has had ongoing gang problems related to the large influx of migrant workers and other minorities to the area. Fortunately, he was able to make the entire trip to the factory and back in one long afternoon and arrived home safely just before dark.

When Gale returned to the dinghy dock, he noticed that the bow portion of the dink (dinghy) was deflated. After further inspection, he observed a 3-inch gash along the forward starboard bow. The dink is made of a very durable material however a sharp barnacle can damage it if contact is made. The inflatable dinghy is composed of three separate chambers; one chamber on the port, one on the starboard and one on the bow. Any one of the three chambers can be completely deflated and the boat will still float. With a flattened bow, Gale made his way back to Blue Heron and there proceeded with preparations to repair the tear. Fortunately, we keep a pump on board the dink to inflate the chambers as needed, as well as plenty of material to patch any tears or punctures that may occur. Because this was a tear and not a puncture, Gale called the Sea Eagle factory to speak to a technician to determine the best way to make the necessary repairs. The repair itself will wait for a day to come.

Mon, Jan 4, 2010 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

We spent the morning cleaning up around the boat and getting ready for guests. The Langharts (Karl and Jennifer, Chase and his girlfriend, Alyssa) arrived at 1 pm but it was 2 pm before we were settled in and ready to set sail. As mentioned in yesterday’s entry, Karl and Jennifer bought our Catalina sailboat in Clear Lake. They reported that it was put to very good use again this past season by making more than 40 cruises!!

It was on the chilly side today with temperatures in the high 50’s and a north wind at 10 to 15 knots, but it was nice and sunny and certainly better than the below zero temperatures back in north Iowa. We sailed out through Matanzas Pass and on the beach (Gulf) side of Estero Island using the headsail. Since we had anticipated a cold day, we had installed the isinglass this morning which kept the cockpit and the rest of the boat nice and warm. Karl and Jennifer brought sandwiches and snacks along with a nice bottle of red and a nice bottle of white wine to share. They also gave us a keepsake – a silver plated bottle opener in the shape of a dolphin that looks very nice on our small display shelf.

We had a great excursion and were back on the mooring ball by 5 pm. We said our goodbyes and Gale ferried the Langhart family to shore so they could return to Naples where they were staying in a friends’ condo.

Sun, Jan 3, 2010 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

Sometimes boat projects are big; sometimes they’re small. Sometimes they’re planned; sometimes they’re not. So, this morning included a small unplanned project and a larger planned one. When Maureen got up to start the engine and turn on the inverter to make coffee, the alarm on the inverter sounded telling us that it was not receiving enough power. That was Gale’s signal to get out of bed and investigate. After reviewing a few possible causes, he ended up pulling the inverter out of the cabinet and checking the connections. It was another case of things coming “undone.” We’re always discovering places where stuff “jiggles” loose due to the boat vibrations and today added another item to the list of connections, screws, fittings, etc., that need to be checked and tightened periodically.

Our larger planned project was to pull the mattress out of the master stateroom and fit our new condensation preventer to that space before replacing the mattress. Well, you know how remodeling projects generally go . . . one thing begets another and another – that’s a little like how we felt with the mattress project. Lately we had been noticing that the fitted mattress pad and sheet were becoming quite wet along the wall. We hadn’t had any rain, so the only other possibility was condensation. Back in June when our friends from Toronto, Ken and Nancy, visited us in Peterborough, Ontario, Maureen asked Nancy about preventing moisture and mildew problems on the boat. Among other things, Nancy suggested the condensation mat for under the mattress and sent us a link to the site where they purchased theirs. Today when we pulled the mattress out, we set it on its side in the companion way. It wasn’t long before we were noticing small puddles on the floor! Gravity was pulling the moisture out of the foam pad in a big way! We ended up unzipping the mattress cover over the foam pad so we could remove it and hang it out to dry. The foam pad had to be aired out as well. In addition, we could see that there were a few spots on the bottom side of the pad where mildew was beginning to form. That had to be cleaned and left to dry outside. Of course, the sheets and mattress pad had to be laundered. And since Lucy had snuck up on the bed while we were out the night of her “accident,” the summer quilt on the bed had a lot of blood on it and needed laundering, as well.

Maureen spent the afternoon doing laundry. Gale ran errands all day out in the cold weather. He did a lot of walking but didn’t feel like he got much done. Towards evening, we called Karl and Jennifer Langhart, our friends from Mason City who purchased our old Catalina sailboat in 2008. We had been keeping in touch and knew that they were vacationing with their children in Naples. We had offered to take them sailing whenever they found themselves near our location so we hoped to be able to get them out on Blue Heron this week. As it turned out, Monday was going to be the best day for them so we told them how to find us and looked forward to meeting up with them at 1 pm tomorrow.

Sat, Jan 2, 2010 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

Around 10:30 am, we picked up Steve and Dawn and headed out for a sail around Estero Island. Locally, this trip is referred to as “The Loop” so, for us, this was “The Little Loop” inside the “Great Loop.” We had a nice sail on the Gulf side with a north wind at 10-20 knots. The sky was sunny and clear and the temperature was in the lower to mid 60’s. The beaches were busy and everyone was out enjoying the day.

Before passing through the Big Carlos Pass bascule bridge, we dropped the sail and motored our way under the bridge and through some very shallow channels to find Mound Key. Gale was interested in seeing the Indian mounds on this key left by the Calusa Indians. For hundreds of years the southern tip of Florida was the hunting and fishing ground of the Calusa Indians. That the Calusas inhabited many of the Florida west coast islands is evidenced by the shell mounds left by them. Of the three such mounds originally on Estero Island, only one remains today. This one on the bay at the end of Connecticut Street, known, naturally enough, as “The Shell Mound,” is the highest point on the Island. Several shell mounds still exist on Dog Key and on Mound Key. The latter key, now part of the Koreshan State Park, has the largest ones in this area.

We dropped the anchor just outside the channel near Mound Key and made some lunch. As we were getting ready to sit down and have our meal, Steve noticed that the boat was drifting closer to the channel marker.
We were dragging anchor, but fortunately, we did not run aground and were able to set it securely and enjoy our lunch. We remembered to bring out the key lime pie for dessert this time! While Maureen and Dawn did the dishes and cleaned up the galley, Gale and Steve set out in the dinghy to find the park and the mounds. The keys were covered in dense mangroves and it looked rather “jungle-y” to the girls who were happy to stay on board. Steve and Gale found some mounds but neither of them had a camera with them to record the sights.

High tide was around 3:30 pm today which was a good time to finish the shallowest part of “The Loop” and head back to our mooring. It was a little after 4 pm when we started back. At one point we found ourselves outside of the channel and scraping bottom. Not to worry, the tide and the wind worked in our favor this time and we simply floated back into deep enough water where we could motor out of trouble. We were secured once again on Mooring #14 at 5:45 pm just as the sun was setting. We dinghied to shore and the four of us had a nice dinner at the Matanzas Inn. We said our goodbyes and wished The Fords fair sailing and warm weather on their Mexican cruise with their kids.

Fri, Jan 1, 2010 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

Happy New Year!

We picked up Dawn and Steve in the dinghy shortly after 9 am and drove across the harbor to Bonita Bill’s. Everyone was eager for some coffee and breakfast to help cure the slight hangovers we seemed to be experiencing. We had a nice breakfast at an outside table and commented on how quiet things were this morning. After our meal we went on a little dinghy ride up some of the nearby channels. We took some photos of a bird that, so far, we have been unable to identify. We need to get a bird book that is more geared to Florida and the Bahamas.

The forecast for the remainder of the day called for rain and we could see the cold front line getting closer. We decided that it was good day to explore the area by car. We piled into Steve and Dawn’s rental vehicle just before noon and set out to see Sanibel and Captiva Islands. Before leaving Ft Myers Beach, we made a stop at the Red Coconut RV Park to have one of our fiberglass propane tanks refilled. On the way to Sanibel, we called Nick and Jane Ong, more summer neighbors from our condominium complex in Clear Lake, to find out the address of their condo on Sanibel so we could see where they spend their winters. Nick and Jane were in Iowa for the holidays and hoping to be back in Florida sometime during the first week of January. We planned to visit them by boat soon and this little trip would help to orient us to their location.



Leaving Ft Myers Beach, it started to rain very hard but by the time we crossed the bridge to Sanibel and found a place for lunch, it began to let up. The Blue Giraffe was our choice for lunch and it was located in a nice outside shopping mall with many interesting stores. Afterwards, we continued down the road and found Nick and Jane’s condominium complex on West Gulf Drive. We checked out the complex and walked through to find the beach on the Gulf side. The shells on the beach were amazing! Nick and Jane had told us about the shelling here and we had also read about the fabulous Sanibel shells in our cruising guides, but we hadn’t imagined just how special this beach was. Had it been warmer, drier and less windy, we certainly would have spent more time walking the beach. We’ll save that adventure for another day.

On our way to Captiva, we checked out a state park and a swimming beach. A big sign on the path to the beach made it very clear that this was not a “clothing optional” beach!


After returning to Ft Myers Beach and the Matanzas Inn, Steve and Dawn went back to their room and Gale and Maureen went back to the boat for short naps. We met up again for dinner and walked downtown to eat at the Beach Pierside Grille. After dinner, we called it a night and made a plan for a boat ride tomorrow.