City of Palms

Fort Myers calls itself the "The City of Palms". It is true. It seems like you can never get more than ten feet away from one. The marina is on the riverfront in the downtown historic district. A lot of money has been spent on brick sidewalks, brick streets, old-style street lights, building facades, and of course, more palm trees. It is about 90% done and is a beautiful downtown.
Downtown Ft. Myers:


The marina is full of trawlers trying to cover their insurance requirements by moving north out of the main hurricane zone. Watching them dock is not nearly as much fun as watching sailboats dock. With two engines and a bow thruster they can turn 360's in their own length. A beautiful North Harbor N37 pulled in next to us tonight and had some trouble docking. They were embarrassed, but we assured them that we had done worse more than once. The marina dock hand had to jump aboard several times to fix the lines and lost his VHF radio overboard. When it surfaced De Anne and I kept an eye on it until he got the marina boat to fish it out.

And speaking of fishing... Our first full day here I pumped out our holding tank. We have been in a couple marinas that claimed to have dockside pumpout. This is the first that has it working. I opened the box, leaving the lid up where the instructions were printed, took out the hose, connected both ends, and turned it on (waiting for the punch line?.... hang on!). It worked great! I turned it off, dipped the hose in the water and back on to rinse it out, shut everything off, when a gust of wind caught the open lid of the empty hose storage box and tipped it into the water. I watched horrified for a few seconds as it sank out of sight. I reported it at the office and they sent a dockhand out to stare into the water. I got out a couple boat hooks and we both laid on the concrete dock fishing for the box. After a few minutes I snagged the lid and we were able to rescue it. No CPR required.

We have doubled our dock lines (a marina requirement) and put up the sun shade (dorky looking). It has been in the ninetys; however, on the waterfront, in the shade, with the breezes coming up river, we have not suffered yet. First time I break a real sweat I will take a bus to Walmart for a hundred dollar air conditioner, mount it in the main hatch, and tarp it over. The dorky sunshade will hide the dorky air conditioner.

Ft. Myers City marina:

Back to Civilization

We arrived in Ft.Myers a couple hours ago and I have internet for the first time in almost two weeks. Below is a compilation of the time "away".

Sunday 5/17

We left Sarasota on Friday with hopes of a marina berth in Venice. The marina told me over the phone that they were full. Plan B was to dock at a free slip at a Venice city park with 3 slips that allowed one overnight stay. We arrived at 2:00 pm but the slips were taken. Plan C was to anchor just off the slips. Pulling in beside another sailboat we went aground. Trying to motor off didn't work so I ran back and forth rocking the boat - to no avail. We launched the dingy and I tried pushing and pulling but only succeeded in turning us 90 degrees. A week and a half earlier in Clearwater I had upgraded my towing insurance to the Gold package for another $78. That saved me $490 when TowUS came out to pull us off. We moved 100 yards back down the channel and tucked in behind a marker, got stuck again, got off ourselves, and rigged front and stern anchors to hold us squarely in the little bit of water deep enough for us. Other cruisers came in and packed the small anchorage tight. The last few boats came in one channel, saw there was no room, and went out the other channel.

The tight little anchorage in Venice:


We left the next morning in light east winds that were predicted to switch northeast. NOAA (once again) was wrong exactly 100%. The wind switched to the southwest, not the predicted northeast. We tacked a 55 mile course to cover the 32 miles to Boca Grande, anchoring about 6:30 pm. A man in a speedboat stopped by, said he was once a sailor, and recommended we move to a more sheltered anchorage about 2 miles north. I had read about the anchorage he was referring to in the cruising guide so we decided to move. A very bad decision.

As we entered the Boca Grande yacht basin, just after sunset, a massive thunderstorm came roaring in. We were 200 yards from the anchorage when we went aground again, in the middle of the narrow channel. The wind pivoted the boat almost into an enclosed boat garage attached to a waterfront home. With De Anne at the helm giving full throttle in reverse and me at the bow pushing off the corner of the garage the boat spun with the wind and lay parallel to a sea wall. The wind drove the boat further toward the seawall and the list increased to 20 degrees. The keel and rudder pounded with every gust and wave. The noise of the storm and the sounds from the boat were a horrible grinding, big slams, all with the background of howling wind. De Anne broke out life vests and prepared waterproof bags of our few important things. I called the Coast Guard and told them our situation, and that no lives were in jepordy. We could have waded to shore if necessary. They called TowUS for us. This time it took quite a while to get us off. The tow captain had to zig-zag back and forth for at least a half hour to inch us off.

Because of the rudder damage we were towed to the nearest marina that does boat repair in the area, Gasparilla. We arrived at the marina about midnight. Total cost of the tow was $1,149 - my cost $0. My $78 investment saved us over $1,600 in the past 2 days. My hope is to never increase my savings like that again.

Of course errors in judgement led to the need for "Unlimited Gold Card" towing. We knew there was only one small anchorage in Venice if the one deep-draft marina was full. We left Sarasota on Friday knowing the weekend and huge amounts of boat traffic were aganist us. We will now move on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday only in open water - never in the intercoastal. Boat traffic from Clearwater south is enormously greater than central or northern Florida. Second lesson - If the anchor is down with lots of clear room around us we will stay put for the night. I had 100 feet of chain out in 10 feet of water so we were quite likely secure. In the future, I will smile, and say thanks to folks with well-intentioned advice, but that is all.

I'm getting tired of going aground but it seems that's not unusual on the Florida gulf coast. Skinny water is everywhere and the NOAA charts are only a bit more reliable than their weather predictions. As a slight modifer I do understand that shoaling and silting are constant here. The TowUS guy said his work is steady and some days he'll pull the same boat twice in one day. Misery loves company.

The good news! We got real showers today. A quart of water and a damp washcloth only go so far during 10 days of anchoring. De Anne washed clothes too although we are not going through many now in warmer weather. Shorts and tank tops or tees don't make a big pile, especially when you wear the same set for three days. Gentle Reader, don't be squemish - this is the "dirty" secret of all cruisers - except the ones that go a week between changes. Just as you can tell a cruising boat by the junk on deck, you can spot the "refined slob" look of the cruisers. The uniform shirt of male cruisers is the "old men rule" tee-shirt.


Update Tuesday 5/19

We met Steve and Mark on Periwinkle, a Pearson 39, when they pulled in with engine problems and docked next to us. They left today headed south with a goal of Miami in a week. With gale force winds predicted tonight and tomorrow I'll be thinking of them tonight as we sit safe in a protected marina tied to a floating dock.

Periwinkle at the dock with Rising Star:


De Anne and I took a long walk this afternoon between rain showers (actually, huge gully-washers) and discovered we were in the middle of nowhere, unless we wanted a bait shop or to charter a fishing boat. After we returned she struck out on her own in a different direction and learned a new Florida lesson - watch for gators. She almost stepped on a 6 foot gator. The rest of her walk was on red alert.

We await a pull to assess the damage from the storm grounding. The almost constant storms have set the marina travellift schedule back. After repairs our next destination is North Captiva 18 miles south, then to Ft. Myers city marina which we will use as a base during huricane season.

Update Wednesday 5/20

The Gasparilla Marina folks have been very good to us. The office manager printed out my insurance form and faxed it for me. The Ship's Store manager discounted my dockage for the week by $200 and is driving us to Publix tomorrow to stock up on food.

Update Sunday 5/24

The Marina pulled us on Friday.The rudder damage was not near as bad as I had feared. They glassed the ragged bottom, checked it inside and out, epoxied it and bottom coated. The bill was $670 and my deductable on insurance is $640, so no sense in turning it in. I also took advantage of being out of the water to have them put on a bigger, fixed blade, bronze prop and committed my Kiwi composite folding prop to backup. De Anne is fearful of a loss in sailing speed, but after 4 months understands because of how much motoring we do - despite our best efforts.

The rudder repairs:


We launched Saturday and promptly broke one of our rules (no weekend travel)and set out down the intercoastal. It was thick with big and small boats - all with big wakes. The new prop seemed to help with a bit more speed. We arrived in North Captiva and anchored across the channel behind Cayo Costa island. Then we broke another rule (leaving a decent anchorage for no compelling reason) and decided to anchor behind North Captiva and be closer. We did not run aground (chart says 9 feet of water), but at 5 feet on the depth meter I tossed out the anchor. De Anne went ashore to visit her sister. Turned out to be a bad spot when the keel started hitting bottom about midnight. We raised anchor and moved 100 yards to 12 feet of water and re-anchored. After a night on anchor watch we (me!) raised the anchor yet again at 7:00am and headed back to the original spot.

Update Monday 5/25

We spent the morning ashore on Cayo Costa. It was a shell collectors paradise! There was even a 7 foot dead nurse shark washed ashore. Back on the boat we watched huge sea turtles, dolphins, and lots of big manta rays- some in groups.

The view of Captiva Pass from Lisa and DeLinda's porch:


The view of Captiva Pass from Rising Star:

In Sarasota

Sarasota is a wonderful town under 3 conditions: 1) you like to eat in restaurants. 2) you are crazy about shopping at small boutiques for expensive nic-nacks that your heirs will sell for pennies on the dollar. 3) you have a boatload of money. Since we only fulfill item number 1 we are getting bored fast. However, under item 1 we did have a great lunch at a little Thai restaurant today. We feel lucky in that there were 50 other restaurants to choose from in 2 blocks and we picked so well.

It's also a great place for getting your hair done. There is a barber shop and beauty parlor/spa on every block. In fact, on one block there was a beauty shop with a barber shop on each side. There is also a dry cleaners every where you turn. The winner though is coffee with 2 shops per corner and if that is too far to travel there are always a couple in the middle of every block. I have resisted a $5.00 cup of coffee even for the free wireless. I am using the Library internet, which unlike all other Florida towns who give you a free hour, only allows two 15 minute sessions per day. To make it worse the system pops up messages every couple minutes warning you your time is about to expire. You have to click out to get back to what you are frantically trying to finish. Finally, to end this rant - the only grocery store is Whole Foods, a rather expensive place.

We bought bus day passes to go to Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island. Upon our return De Anne, wanting to get full value for the two $3 passes, suggested we take the bus down to Venice (our possible next stop). The buses to the beach and island were mostly empty and the few of us on them were tourist types. The bus to Venice was populated by .... ahem... more general population types. One man was proclaiming his faith to another and it might have been more believeable had he used only one cuss word per sentence instead of 3 or 4. The driver had to wake a drunk and that caused a mentally disturbed man to freak out. Back on the boat we pondered the world we left behind - over the favorite sailor sundowner, with a slice of lime, of course. De Anne noted she had married me so she would not have to ride buses anymore and has now, 28 years later, come full circle. In the interest of full disclosure I married her so I would not have to do laundry anymore. My side of marital bliss is intact.

On a more somber note - our one and only beach towel took flight in a freak wind shift. Two boats dragged anchor during the brief storm and distracted us from securing all items. The towel sleeps with the fishes.

On to Sarasota

We took the Gulf route south from Clearwater to Tampa Bay and anchored behind Egmont Key on Thursday night with a few other cruising boats. The island is a bird sanctuary - I don't know how the birds know it but millions of them seem to. I thought they would quiet down after dark, but that was quite a wrong estimate on my part. Lucky for me I can sleep through anything and proved it once again.

We waited until 8:30 am to leave since we wanted to miss rush hour traffic. To explain: we needed two low bridges to open in order to use the Intercostal and felt we stood a better chance of a quick opening if we got to them after rush hour. At our very first bridge we turned on the VHF and hailed the bridge tender for the time of his next opening. He told us in a slightly irritated voice that he had been trying to hail us. He was holding another boat on the other side waiting for us "so hurry up!". We went through, but the other boat did not wave when I waved to them. I didn't think the VHF radio was the place to declare our bridge virginity and explain our low power because of the electric motor. I did, however; leave the VHF on the bridge channel (9 in Florida) and was ready to make a better account of ourselves on the next bridge 2 miles on.

Those were our only 2 low bridges for the day. As we passed Longboat Key the scenery was spectacular. I took the helm while De Anne marveled at how beautiful the setting was. When we got to Sarasota Bay we raised sail and De Anne helmed the boat at 5.5 to 6.1 knots straight up the Bay. When we got to the marker in front of the Ringling bridge (history note: This was the winter quarters for the circus) De Anne could not stand for the sailing, in such ideal conditions, to end so she tacked and we ran the bay again.

We anchored amid 50 other cruisers and liveaboards with Island Park and the city to the north, gazillion dollars home to the south and Lido Key across the bay to the west. Some of the boats in the anchorage are in such disrepair and/or so odd looking that I can almost have some sympathy for city wanting to get rid of them. A few don't have masts and others have shredded sails hanging off booms, and most are rusted or stained hulls with a foot of growth waving gently in the swells. The common denominator is the appearance of the folks - aging hippie chic.

We paid the $2 dingy parking fee for a safe place to lock up the dingy Saturday morning and walked into town. Past Marina Jack's on the other side of the park Main St. was blocks of coffee houses and exclusive little shops. We dressed up for the walk and it was a good thing. Very upscale. We toured the farmers market and spotted the bus station. After checking schedules and routes we plotted our own tour of Sarasota by bus for Monday. De Anne had a hankering for pizza, something missing from our diet for the past 4 months, so we had lunch in a little place on Main St. By this time it was getting hot in the city and we retreated back to the cooler bay.

We went ashore again in the evening and 2 hobos approched us while we were sitting on a park bench gazing out over the bay. They were talking weird and likely drunk so I told De Anne "let's move on". The hobos seemed offended and later De Anne said they were likely our "neighbors". She was probably right.

I had taken De Anne to a seafood/prime rib buffet in Clearwater with Gary and Lisa for Mother's Day, but as an extra treat I took her ashore Sunday morning and dropped her off for a few hours of solo time and window shopping while I did boat chores and ran the generator to charge up our various devices. It's amazing the number of cordless things we have. Drill, cell phone, spotlight, 2 handheld VHFs, and of course my laptop. Except when motoring the intercoastal waterway the 200 watt solar panel does a good job keeping the 2 banks of motor batteries topped off. I even have excess amps which I use on the refrigeration and freezing my main necessity - ice cubes. Yes, I am reckless and have the power make my own ice and I am not ashamed to admit it.

Sunday afternoon De Anne spotted a woman in a dingy floating by and alternating between pulling on the motor start cord on her outboard and some ineffective rowing. In the brisk breeze the dingy was floating by. De Anne called out to offer a tow but she refused. After she drifted another 1/4 mile she waved for help. I dingied out to her and towed her to the boat west of us. A three-year-old child was there to greet us. The little boy looked as if he had not bathed or changed clothes during the past month. Just after I got back to our boat De Anne spotted the same woman drifting back again. De Anne was astonished and I vowed no more rescues for that woman. She was now trying to row back to her boat when a man came on deck and shouted words of encouragement like "row faster" and "use your left oar more". She covered the 100 yards in about 1/2 hour.

We look forward to Monday and the absence of the weekend crowd.

In the Tampa Bay Shipping channel - as close as you would want to get to a big ship!

Sunrise over Tampa, behind Egmont Key


Sarasota Bay looking northeast


Sarasota Bay looking southeast


Marina Jack's (yes, we passed up a marina!)


Can you find us? - hint look to the right of the pass in the background.


De Anne and egret on beach (egret is white dot to her left)


Longboat Pass

Last Day in Clearwater....(maybe)

The weather window looks good for tomorrow. We spent the morning on chores in preparation to leave, then a last trip to the beach.

We now have a line around the far windward piling to help us pull out of the slip thanks to Lisa and Gary. They went for a dingy ride and stopped by to run the line for us. I took pictures as they approched and lest someone misunderstand the picture below that is not Lisa waving to me - she is threating me. It took a couple libations to secure her model release to post one photo.

Lisa in dingy:

De Anne in the surf:

Fun in the sun

Saturday morning we walked to the bridge over the pass from Clearwater bay to the Gulf. On the way back we took the beach walk and saw a volleyball tournament starting. Tall girls in bikinis! How could I resist watching! We double-timed back to the boat, cleared the camera, grabbed a cold drink and back to the beach. De Anne went swimming for a while but rejoined me at the tournament site later. I was relieved to have her with me so I looked less like a dirty old man. She had on her string bikini and looked very much like all the other girls around. She did however veto the picture I took of her for the blog.

Sunday we were going to take our boat out for a day sail with Skip. While we were waiting a couple with a decided european accent was walking the dock and asked if there were any boats for sale. It finally came out that they wanted to buy our boat. I let them look around and De Anne approved an interior tour. While his wife was still below he came back on deck and offered me $30K. I then realized he was serious. I told him I really couldn't sell our home. He then asked how much did I want. I told him I was sorry - no sale. If he comes back tomorrow I'll say $55K and see how hard he gulps.

Skip arrived and the wind increased. I was reluctant to go out, but decided with his help we might get out of the slip without leaving too many boat pieces on the pilings. Since he is the company captain for Regal Yachts and has about 1,000 times my experience I told him my plan and asked for his advice. Once we had a plan we sprung into action. Mother Nature had a plan too - turn the boat sideways in the slip. After several trys I called a halt. Skip then invited us back to his house to sail on his Oday. They keep their cruising boat (32 Westsail) in New England and use the Oday in Clearwater. He has restored it to better than new condition and keeps it on a lift in the canal behind their condo. De Anne, Rose, and I played railmeat as Skip tacked fearlessly back and forth in the crowded Intercostal Waterway. He then took us on a brisk broad reach north almost to Caladise Island. With cocktail hour fast approching we made good time back to their slip and had gin & tonics poolside before firing up the grill for burgers. Unfortunately the evening ended abruptly when I remembered I did not have my marina gate key and we had to hurry back before lockdown. A great day and weekend!

Looking out on the gulf:

South side of the pass:

Pelican doing an eagle impression:

Beach volleyball:

De Anne gazing into the bay (approved picture):