1/30/2017
As typical with anchoring overnight, Clark was up multiple times during the night to check on things. The anchor alarm sounded twice meaning we changed position sufficiently to drift out of the pre-defined comfort zone. Movement is expected anywhere with tidal change as the boat shifts position when the current changes direction. He verified we were still good and returned to bed.
Whether due to his night prowling or the cool temperatures outside the bed covers, Clark seemed in no hurry to get up and get going this morning. He finally got up around 0900. Then he tinkered with this and with that until I thought we would never get underway!
Part of Clark's tinkering included studying our amp hour usage. We had used somewhere over 220 hours out of the 400 or so available to consume. Clark decided to run the generator for a while to charge the house battery bank before starting our trip for the day to ensure a full charge for tonight's anchorage.
We finally departed our anchorage at Factory Bay near Marco Island at 1100 headed for the Everglades about 40 nm away. With our first time at anchor in this boat proving to be a success, we gained confidence in our plan to anchor two more times before arriving at Marathon.
With a small- craft advisory in place today, we did not have any company on the water as we headed out to the open waters of the Gulf. We had a little "rock and roll" as we left the anchorage, but OMG, the swells when we got to the Gulf waters! They appeared to be 6 footers at least!
Sunset Delight has stabilizers to control side- to- side movement but nothing to control bow- to- stern rocking. I am not as comfortable with the stairs to the flybridge on this boat as I was with Sea Moss. Consequently, I tried to avoid going down below as much as possible. When lunchtime arrived, I decided we should have snacks and wait for calmer waters before trying to make sandwiches.
On route, we traveled west then south then east. We had to go out, and then later come back in, to travel south in deep enough waters. Sometimes we had waves on our beam (hitting the side of the boat), and sometimes we had "following seas", i.e. seas pushing us from behind. Sunset Delight travels at 1600 RPM around 9 knots. With the following seas, while surfing on the waves, we saw as much as 10.5 kts.
Once again, our travels today included nothing to look at but water, sky, and a few clouds until we would enter a mine field of crab traps. The trip fluctuated between total boredom one minute and near panic the next. When not in panic mode, we had the boat on autopilot, so when the traps showed up, we, or truly I should say Clark, jumped into action to take over the helm.
Because of the heavy seas, the crab traps remained well- hidden behind the swells and only popped out rarely to make their presence known before we got up close to them. The good thing I can say about crab traps is that they did indeed relieve the boredom. I felt like I played some sort of game where I won a prize for every trap spotted!
We did get tricked a few times during our "spot the trap" exercise. Lots of dark seaweed floated by as well as some coconuts. The coconuts really fooled us being the same size as the trap floats and even bobbing in a similar fashion.
After passing beyond Romano Shoals, the seas calmed considerably. Later, we passed the area called Ten Thousand Islands. Looking at the chart, it is easy to see how it came by its name! The waters here became very calm and a number of dolphins romped in the waters. I was not fast enough with the camera to get a video or picture of the one who followed along beside our boat for a short distance.
I noticed that a tour boat had a number of paying customers onboard looking for dolphins. The captain of that boat wandered up and down and all around looking for dolphins. I wonder if they saw any. I think we saw more than our fair share.
We entered the Everglades via the Indian Key Pass and headed for Russell Pass to look for our anchorage. The Active Captain app shows five anchorages in Russell Pass. We chose #3. Since the ratings were all over the place in terms of holding, I hope we chose a good one.
We took a delightful sunset picture tonight from the stern of Sunset Delight, but with no WiFi and poor cell service, I decided not to post pictures tonight. I hope to have decent WiFi in Marathon in two-days' time, but the quality there will depend on the slip assignment as we have no WiFi booster onboard, so I won't know until I get there. Since where we are anchoring tomorrow is also in the Everglades and even more remote than tonight, I expect not to have any services whatsoever for my blog.
Monday, January 30, 2017
Anchoring near Marco Island FL
1/29/2017
We departed Naples, Florida at 1215 headed for Factory Bay to drop anchor by Marco Island. We had a lazy morning and left late in hopes that the weather would clear as predicted. Alas, we had cloudy skies with off- and- on rain (mostly on) yielding extremely poor visibility. With crab traps appearing at random times and in large quantities, we had to be extra diligent throughout the voyage watching the water through the rain-covered plastic enclosure.
As we approached our chosen anchorage, we could see the clouds lifting behind us on the horizon. The weather finally classed for us just as we dropped anchor at 1440 hours. We saw a few marinas along the way to our anchorage that we had called in the area, but none had been able to accommodate us for the night. It worked out well as we found our anchorage spot to be a quiet and calm place to spend the night.
We have stopped at or near Marco Island twice now and not yet toured the area. Last year, we tied up at a marina just long enough to bike to West Marine and back. This time, we did not even get off the boat! Maybe someday we can come be tourists here.
Dinner consisted mostly of leftovers, which made for an easy meal. Afterwards, I relaxed with my Kindle and Android card games while Clark read user guides for boat electronics. Before retiring for the night, we watched a little "Madam Secretary" and then "Elementary" on TV.
Since this was our first attempt at an overnight anchorage with this boat, we had no experience with amp hour usage, i.e. we did not know how much electricity we had available for our use. We minimized our power usage to be conservative. At some point after we have taken care of more critical items, Clark will replace some of the halogen bulbs with LED to save energy usage.
With overnight temperatures predicted to be in the 40s, we put extra blankets on our bed. I looked for thermal underwear, but did not find any in my closet. I guess I decided I would not need it in Florida! I anticipated a pretty cold night and wore socks to bed.
We departed Naples, Florida at 1215 headed for Factory Bay to drop anchor by Marco Island. We had a lazy morning and left late in hopes that the weather would clear as predicted. Alas, we had cloudy skies with off- and- on rain (mostly on) yielding extremely poor visibility. With crab traps appearing at random times and in large quantities, we had to be extra diligent throughout the voyage watching the water through the rain-covered plastic enclosure.
As we approached our chosen anchorage, we could see the clouds lifting behind us on the horizon. The weather finally classed for us just as we dropped anchor at 1440 hours. We saw a few marinas along the way to our anchorage that we had called in the area, but none had been able to accommodate us for the night. It worked out well as we found our anchorage spot to be a quiet and calm place to spend the night.
We have stopped at or near Marco Island twice now and not yet toured the area. Last year, we tied up at a marina just long enough to bike to West Marine and back. This time, we did not even get off the boat! Maybe someday we can come be tourists here.
Dinner consisted mostly of leftovers, which made for an easy meal. Afterwards, I relaxed with my Kindle and Android card games while Clark read user guides for boat electronics. Before retiring for the night, we watched a little "Madam Secretary" and then "Elementary" on TV.
Since this was our first attempt at an overnight anchorage with this boat, we had no experience with amp hour usage, i.e. we did not know how much electricity we had available for our use. We minimized our power usage to be conservative. At some point after we have taken care of more critical items, Clark will replace some of the halogen bulbs with LED to save energy usage.
With overnight temperatures predicted to be in the 40s, we put extra blankets on our bed. I looked for thermal underwear, but did not find any in my closet. I guess I decided I would not need it in Florida! I anticipated a pretty cold night and wore socks to bed.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Naples, Florida - Old Naples Seaport Marina
1/28/2017
We departed Fort Myers / Legacy Harbour at 0930. Looking at the weather and sea-heights reports in conjunction with marina availability, we decided on staying in Naples, Florida tonight. We arrived at Old Naples Seaport marina in Naples, Florida at 1445.
Clark steered the boat and I had look-for-the-marker duty until we left the Caloosahatche River. After we arrived at the last marker, Clark set a waypoint on the chart plotter to take us to Naples. He wanted to check the engine room and do a couple of tasks, so he handed the piloting over to me.
We never had AutoPilot on Sea Moss, so it is a new experience to have a boat that has one. It is nice not to have to use the compass to stay on course. Instead of trying to find something to aim for on the right course heading, I spent my time watching for crab-pot mine fields. They crab-pot buoys are small black balls floating wherever the owner felt like putting them. All would be clear sailing and then suddenly we would travel through a patch of them. Mostly we had to take the boat off auto and switch to manual pilot to navigate around them. Sometimes I got lucky and the boat would pass between them without having to change course.
Staring at the water looking for crab pots or other obstacles (we saw quite a few coconuts float by today) on the rocking boat, nearly sent me into a coma. After what felt like an eternity, I asked Clark to take over the helm and laid down on the bench seat behind him. We only had 5 nm to go to get to the Naples inlet, but I was done. As soon as my body got into a vertical position, I zonked out and slept until the engine slowed coming into Naples. It was not a long nap, but it was a much-appreciated one!
After docking in Naples, Clark washed the salt off the boat while I did some canvas repair. Sewing boat canvas by hand can be rather difficult and painful. After almost three hours of sewing, my fingers rebelled against doing any more today. Velcro closures had become worn out with age, so not only was I sewing through canvas, I was sewing through Velcro. Ouch! All I can say is, "Thank goodness for thimbles!"
Clark offered to take me out tonight for my belated birthday dinner. I jumped at the opportunity to avoid spending the night in the galley. We went to the Wharf Tavern Restaurant and Clam Bar that is located right next to the marina. The food came out of the kitchen in record time, and better yet, the crab and shrimp cakes that I ordered tasted delicious.
I hoped to sit back and relax for the remainder of the night, but Clark had other ideas. First, he had me help him look into a problem with the Cablemaster unit that brings the boat's power cord into the boat and stores the heavy cable below decks. Clark did not like the fact that the cable landed all over the bilge instead of in its designated place. He got down below and watched as I ran the mechanism to wind it in. It behaved itself, of course, because he was watching. We did discover that one of the remote controls for the unit failed to operate due to corroded contacts (a separate issue), which he addressed.
From there he dragged me forward to investigate a banging-pipe sound that occurs when the hot water is turned off. He puzzled over that one for quite a while crawling around the bilge with me turning water off and on to make the rather-loud bang. He could not identify the source of the noise. He did, however, find another problem for his punch list. We have another leaky sink - this time in the guest head.
After our two mostly-failed missions, Clark excused me from duty, so I could write up today's blog entry. Time, and a reasonable WiFi connection, allowing, I now plan to watch at least one episode of Lethal Weapon over the internet! I am three episodes behind and that is totally unacceptable!
We departed Fort Myers / Legacy Harbour at 0930. Looking at the weather and sea-heights reports in conjunction with marina availability, we decided on staying in Naples, Florida tonight. We arrived at Old Naples Seaport marina in Naples, Florida at 1445.
Clark steered the boat and I had look-for-the-marker duty until we left the Caloosahatche River. After we arrived at the last marker, Clark set a waypoint on the chart plotter to take us to Naples. He wanted to check the engine room and do a couple of tasks, so he handed the piloting over to me.
We never had AutoPilot on Sea Moss, so it is a new experience to have a boat that has one. It is nice not to have to use the compass to stay on course. Instead of trying to find something to aim for on the right course heading, I spent my time watching for crab-pot mine fields. They crab-pot buoys are small black balls floating wherever the owner felt like putting them. All would be clear sailing and then suddenly we would travel through a patch of them. Mostly we had to take the boat off auto and switch to manual pilot to navigate around them. Sometimes I got lucky and the boat would pass between them without having to change course.
Staring at the water looking for crab pots or other obstacles (we saw quite a few coconuts float by today) on the rocking boat, nearly sent me into a coma. After what felt like an eternity, I asked Clark to take over the helm and laid down on the bench seat behind him. We only had 5 nm to go to get to the Naples inlet, but I was done. As soon as my body got into a vertical position, I zonked out and slept until the engine slowed coming into Naples. It was not a long nap, but it was a much-appreciated one!
After docking in Naples, Clark washed the salt off the boat while I did some canvas repair. Sewing boat canvas by hand can be rather difficult and painful. After almost three hours of sewing, my fingers rebelled against doing any more today. Velcro closures had become worn out with age, so not only was I sewing through canvas, I was sewing through Velcro. Ouch! All I can say is, "Thank goodness for thimbles!"
Clark offered to take me out tonight for my belated birthday dinner. I jumped at the opportunity to avoid spending the night in the galley. We went to the Wharf Tavern Restaurant and Clam Bar that is located right next to the marina. The food came out of the kitchen in record time, and better yet, the crab and shrimp cakes that I ordered tasted delicious.
I hoped to sit back and relax for the remainder of the night, but Clark had other ideas. First, he had me help him look into a problem with the Cablemaster unit that brings the boat's power cord into the boat and stores the heavy cable below decks. Clark did not like the fact that the cable landed all over the bilge instead of in its designated place. He got down below and watched as I ran the mechanism to wind it in. It behaved itself, of course, because he was watching. We did discover that one of the remote controls for the unit failed to operate due to corroded contacts (a separate issue), which he addressed.
From there he dragged me forward to investigate a banging-pipe sound that occurs when the hot water is turned off. He puzzled over that one for quite a while crawling around the bilge with me turning water off and on to make the rather-loud bang. He could not identify the source of the noise. He did, however, find another problem for his punch list. We have another leaky sink - this time in the guest head.
After our two mostly-failed missions, Clark excused me from duty, so I could write up today's blog entry. Time, and a reasonable WiFi connection, allowing, I now plan to watch at least one episode of Lethal Weapon over the internet! I am three episodes behind and that is totally unacceptable!
Friday, January 27, 2017
Anchoring with friends in Fort Myers, Florida
1/27/2017
Clark prepped the boat for a short voyage while I made a quick run to the Publix food store for some last-minute provisions. By the time I got back, he had the boat ready to go. We set sail for the fuel dock at City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin at 10:30. I sent off an email to JoAnn and Jim on Namaste as soon as I had pulled in our lines as they planned to meet us at the fuel dock and join us for our little excursion around the harbor.
Of course I had all the lines and fenders on the port side, and the docking for fuel clearly called for a starboard tie. Clark let the boat drift while I repositioned everything. With the wind pushing us towards the dock, when I looked up from tying the last fender, I barely had time to grab a line before it was time to hand it to the dock hand. The timing worked out quite well. I am sure Clark cannot see me working on the lines, so I wonder how it timed it so well?!
Immediately after Jim and JoAnn came on board, we put them to work helping with lines and fenders. The dock hand at the fuel dock tied the bow line so tight to the dock that we could not bring in the stern. That wasn't so bad but before long I realized that the rub rail on the side of the boat was working overtime as it scraped up and down on the wooden piling of the dock. Since everything was tied so tightly, I could not even push the boat off the pole to get relief.
I finally got the dock hand's attention to give some slack on the bow line, and then Jim, JoAnn and I worked together to push the boat away from the pole long enough to get a boat fender tucked between the boat and the pole. Every time we thought we had the fender positioned properly the boat would shift. Finally I grabbed a spare line hanging from that offending pole and used it to hold the boat in place manually.
Eventually I got smart, however, and used that same line to tie the boat into a position that kept the fender from shifting out of line. After that I managed to sneak away for a few minutes to give JoAnn and Jim a bit of a boat tour. They oohed and aahed over our new boat in all the appropriate spots. When the boat fueling exercise completed, we had to get off the fuel dock. The wind pushing us in made landing easy. That same wind now held us in place.
One of the items on Clark's "punch list" of repair items is the stern thruster. It does not operate from the upper helm as the "joy stick" control needs to be replaced. While Jim and I handled the lines, Clark put JoAnn to work manning the stern thruster from the lower helm. On his word, Clark ran the bow thruster while JoAnn worked the stern thruster. Great teamwork, we pulled away from the dock slick as anything!
Later, JoAnn let me know she had been nervous doing her job. As someone who is doing the loop on a sailboat, she has not operated a stern thruster before. She said, "Clark told me no more than ten seconds, so I counted 1-1000, 2-1000, and so on to be sure I got it right". She did a great job!
JoAnn and Jim brought some food and drinks with them as we intended to find a spot to drop anchor for lunch. Using "Active Captain", Clark and Jim found a place to drop anchor for our bite to eat. Before eating, however, JoAnn captured a couple of pictures of the captain and crew. She sent me the pictures, and only when I went to write up the blog for today did I notice that she had managed to avoid being in any of the pictures herself!
We had a lovely afternoon on the water with them and, between what they brought and I provided food-wise, we had quite a banquet for our little luncheon on the water. After our relaxing meal, Jim and Clark went to get us underway.
JoAnn and I kept busy in the salon / galley area cleaning up after our meal while the guys brought up the anchor. As a result we missed most of the action. At some point I heard some discussion between the two guys that did not indicate smooth sailing. Later Clark told me that they discovered yet more issues with the boat. The anchor line / chain jammed several times as he tried to bring up the anchor. Thankfully Jim helped him get the anchor on board.
We pulled back into our slip at Legacy Harbour around 3:00. I greatly appreciated Jim and JoAnn's help with the lines as we pulled into our slip. Clark said the wind would be pushing him into our neighbor's boat, so the crew had to get the lines in place quickly to hold the boat to our dock. I gave JoAnn the midship position, but then I heard her call Jim and saw that she handed the job off to Jim.
I ran for the stern to get a line on back there as soon as possible. As we came in, I yelled to Clark to move closer to the dock. I had opened the side door before we came in, so when we came past the dock, I stepped off with a line in hand to help walk the boat in. It all went off without a hitch. I even got complimented on my handling of the lines by a passerby! So proud!!
Having spent several hours on our boat with us, Jim and JoAnn left shortly after we docked. They had to walk back to their marina to get back to their dog they left on their boat as well as meet up with a person who would be looking at their outboard motor that no longer starts. (With boats, there is always something that needs to be repaired!)
Clark and I had to return our rental car before 5:00, and while fueling, Clark discovered worn out seals on the deck caps for the fuel fills. Since water in the fuel is a very bad thing, he decided we needed to get to a store to buy new O-rings for the caps before turning in the car.
We both thought that the Marine Trading Post store would be more likely to have what we needed than West Marine, so we went there. As we approached the store looking for the entrance, Clark said, "Just look for the mural!"
Unfortunately, we made the wrong choice as they did not sell O-rings separately. Due to the lateness of the afternoon, we hit heavy traffic on the route to West Marine, and it felt like it took forever to get there. Fortunately, they did sell O-rings that appeared to be the right size, so we grabbed them and took off for the car rental place to return the car.
It seemed like rush hour everywhere. When we entered Enterprise, all three clerks were busy with customers picking up cars and yet more customers waited for service. The big selling point for Enterprise is their "We'll pick you up" motto. We took advantage of that and requested a ride back to the marina.
Through all of this late day activity, I nervously paid attention to the time. I had scheduled a Facetime get together with my younger son, Chris, and my granddaughter Lily for "5-ish" o'clock. As we stepped out of the car in the marina parking lot, Chris texted me to ask if I was ready to Facetime with them. What timing! We quickly ran back to the boat, picked up the iPad, and got online with them.
What a great birthday present for me - watching Lily keep my son on his toes as she played, climbed, and got into mischief all over the downstairs of their house. Every once in a while she would stare into Chris's phone at us with a "what are you doing in there waving at me" look on her face and then take off on her next adventure. What a fireball of energy! She is one next month and not yet walking, but she is crawling and "cruising" like a champ and gets where she wants to be with lightning speed. Heaven help her parents when she learns how to walk / run!
After dinner tonight, Clark spent a good long time on trip planning. We have four days to get to Marathon in the Keys, and we need three. We'll need to "double up" somewhere along the way as Faro Blanco's daily per-foot-of-boat rate is too expensive for us to entertain arriving there even one day early. He said we will check the weather in the morning as well as availability at marinas or moorings to decide where we are going. I am so glad he does the trip planning. I do not care where we go as long as I don't have to be the one to decide!
Clark prepped the boat for a short voyage while I made a quick run to the Publix food store for some last-minute provisions. By the time I got back, he had the boat ready to go. We set sail for the fuel dock at City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin at 10:30. I sent off an email to JoAnn and Jim on Namaste as soon as I had pulled in our lines as they planned to meet us at the fuel dock and join us for our little excursion around the harbor.
Of course I had all the lines and fenders on the port side, and the docking for fuel clearly called for a starboard tie. Clark let the boat drift while I repositioned everything. With the wind pushing us towards the dock, when I looked up from tying the last fender, I barely had time to grab a line before it was time to hand it to the dock hand. The timing worked out quite well. I am sure Clark cannot see me working on the lines, so I wonder how it timed it so well?!
Immediately after Jim and JoAnn came on board, we put them to work helping with lines and fenders. The dock hand at the fuel dock tied the bow line so tight to the dock that we could not bring in the stern. That wasn't so bad but before long I realized that the rub rail on the side of the boat was working overtime as it scraped up and down on the wooden piling of the dock. Since everything was tied so tightly, I could not even push the boat off the pole to get relief.
I finally got the dock hand's attention to give some slack on the bow line, and then Jim, JoAnn and I worked together to push the boat away from the pole long enough to get a boat fender tucked between the boat and the pole. Every time we thought we had the fender positioned properly the boat would shift. Finally I grabbed a spare line hanging from that offending pole and used it to hold the boat in place manually.
Eventually I got smart, however, and used that same line to tie the boat into a position that kept the fender from shifting out of line. After that I managed to sneak away for a few minutes to give JoAnn and Jim a bit of a boat tour. They oohed and aahed over our new boat in all the appropriate spots. When the boat fueling exercise completed, we had to get off the fuel dock. The wind pushing us in made landing easy. That same wind now held us in place.
One of the items on Clark's "punch list" of repair items is the stern thruster. It does not operate from the upper helm as the "joy stick" control needs to be replaced. While Jim and I handled the lines, Clark put JoAnn to work manning the stern thruster from the lower helm. On his word, Clark ran the bow thruster while JoAnn worked the stern thruster. Great teamwork, we pulled away from the dock slick as anything!
Later, JoAnn let me know she had been nervous doing her job. As someone who is doing the loop on a sailboat, she has not operated a stern thruster before. She said, "Clark told me no more than ten seconds, so I counted 1-1000, 2-1000, and so on to be sure I got it right". She did a great job!
JoAnn and Jim brought some food and drinks with them as we intended to find a spot to drop anchor for lunch. Using "Active Captain", Clark and Jim found a place to drop anchor for our bite to eat. Before eating, however, JoAnn captured a couple of pictures of the captain and crew. She sent me the pictures, and only when I went to write up the blog for today did I notice that she had managed to avoid being in any of the pictures herself!
 |
| Jim and Clark at the helm |
 |
| Clark and Ev at the helm |
We had a lovely afternoon on the water with them and, between what they brought and I provided food-wise, we had quite a banquet for our little luncheon on the water. After our relaxing meal, Jim and Clark went to get us underway.
JoAnn and I kept busy in the salon / galley area cleaning up after our meal while the guys brought up the anchor. As a result we missed most of the action. At some point I heard some discussion between the two guys that did not indicate smooth sailing. Later Clark told me that they discovered yet more issues with the boat. The anchor line / chain jammed several times as he tried to bring up the anchor. Thankfully Jim helped him get the anchor on board.
 |
| Jim "manning" the anchor and winch station |
We pulled back into our slip at Legacy Harbour around 3:00. I greatly appreciated Jim and JoAnn's help with the lines as we pulled into our slip. Clark said the wind would be pushing him into our neighbor's boat, so the crew had to get the lines in place quickly to hold the boat to our dock. I gave JoAnn the midship position, but then I heard her call Jim and saw that she handed the job off to Jim.
I ran for the stern to get a line on back there as soon as possible. As we came in, I yelled to Clark to move closer to the dock. I had opened the side door before we came in, so when we came past the dock, I stepped off with a line in hand to help walk the boat in. It all went off without a hitch. I even got complimented on my handling of the lines by a passerby! So proud!!
Having spent several hours on our boat with us, Jim and JoAnn left shortly after we docked. They had to walk back to their marina to get back to their dog they left on their boat as well as meet up with a person who would be looking at their outboard motor that no longer starts. (With boats, there is always something that needs to be repaired!)
Clark and I had to return our rental car before 5:00, and while fueling, Clark discovered worn out seals on the deck caps for the fuel fills. Since water in the fuel is a very bad thing, he decided we needed to get to a store to buy new O-rings for the caps before turning in the car.
We both thought that the Marine Trading Post store would be more likely to have what we needed than West Marine, so we went there. As we approached the store looking for the entrance, Clark said, "Just look for the mural!"
 |
| Mural at Marine Trading Post store |
Unfortunately, we made the wrong choice as they did not sell O-rings separately. Due to the lateness of the afternoon, we hit heavy traffic on the route to West Marine, and it felt like it took forever to get there. Fortunately, they did sell O-rings that appeared to be the right size, so we grabbed them and took off for the car rental place to return the car.
It seemed like rush hour everywhere. When we entered Enterprise, all three clerks were busy with customers picking up cars and yet more customers waited for service. The big selling point for Enterprise is their "We'll pick you up" motto. We took advantage of that and requested a ride back to the marina.
Through all of this late day activity, I nervously paid attention to the time. I had scheduled a Facetime get together with my younger son, Chris, and my granddaughter Lily for "5-ish" o'clock. As we stepped out of the car in the marina parking lot, Chris texted me to ask if I was ready to Facetime with them. What timing! We quickly ran back to the boat, picked up the iPad, and got online with them.
What a great birthday present for me - watching Lily keep my son on his toes as she played, climbed, and got into mischief all over the downstairs of their house. Every once in a while she would stare into Chris's phone at us with a "what are you doing in there waving at me" look on her face and then take off on her next adventure. What a fireball of energy! She is one next month and not yet walking, but she is crawling and "cruising" like a champ and gets where she wants to be with lightning speed. Heaven help her parents when she learns how to walk / run!
After dinner tonight, Clark spent a good long time on trip planning. We have four days to get to Marathon in the Keys, and we need three. We'll need to "double up" somewhere along the way as Faro Blanco's daily per-foot-of-boat rate is too expensive for us to entertain arriving there even one day early. He said we will check the weather in the morning as well as availability at marinas or moorings to decide where we are going. I am so glad he does the trip planning. I do not care where we go as long as I don't have to be the one to decide!
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Road Trip to Marathon, FL
1/26/2017
We have our own personal car here in Florida, so we keep pre-positioning the car to a place further down the way where we will be arriving later with our boat. We moved the car from Fort Pierce to Fort Myers before coming here, and today we moved the car from Fort Myers to Marathon, Florida. Round trip that calculates out to over 500 miles we drove! We left at 8:30 this morning and got back to the boat at 7:30. We rented a car and drove two to Marathon and one back. Long day!
After stopping into the office at the marina in Marathon to let them know we had arrived with the car, we looked around the docks a bit to stretch our legs before getting back in the car for another five hours. We saw a couple of Mainships including a 350, but none of them had names we recognized. Walking along the far dock, we got quite a pleasant surprise as I saw Third Degree at dock, and luckily, Faith and Jim were aboard.
We talked for a while and found out that we will both be at the marina for the month of February. I am so excited to know that they will be there when we get there via boat! It's been over a year since I saw Faith. We walked in a "Turkey Trot" 5K race together in November of 2015! After seeing them briefly on New Year's 2016 in St. Petersburg, we traveled our separate ways.
With a five-hour drive looming over us, we could not stay to chat very long, so reluctantly we said our au revoirs. At least on the way back, Clark and I could travel in the same car. Route 1 through the Keys has a lot of slow speed limits and traffic. Unfortunately, on our way back to Fort Myers, we hit school bus traffic in the Keys as well, which slowed us down quite a bit more. I thought we would have more delays when we got to I-75 and saw the red traffic line displayed on Google Maps. Luckily, most folks seemed to want to head towards Fort Lauderdale. The route to Naples and west became nearly empty after we passed the Fort Lauderdale exit.
The most excitement of the drive turned out to be the sunset we saw as we drove through the Florida Everglades. Surrounded by clouds, the sun looked more like planet Jupiter than the sun. Clark had me take a quick photo through the windshield so as not to miss the spectacle. As I took the pictures, the sun had already started to emerge from the clouds.
We have our own personal car here in Florida, so we keep pre-positioning the car to a place further down the way where we will be arriving later with our boat. We moved the car from Fort Pierce to Fort Myers before coming here, and today we moved the car from Fort Myers to Marathon, Florida. Round trip that calculates out to over 500 miles we drove! We left at 8:30 this morning and got back to the boat at 7:30. We rented a car and drove two to Marathon and one back. Long day!
After stopping into the office at the marina in Marathon to let them know we had arrived with the car, we looked around the docks a bit to stretch our legs before getting back in the car for another five hours. We saw a couple of Mainships including a 350, but none of them had names we recognized. Walking along the far dock, we got quite a pleasant surprise as I saw Third Degree at dock, and luckily, Faith and Jim were aboard.
We talked for a while and found out that we will both be at the marina for the month of February. I am so excited to know that they will be there when we get there via boat! It's been over a year since I saw Faith. We walked in a "Turkey Trot" 5K race together in November of 2015! After seeing them briefly on New Year's 2016 in St. Petersburg, we traveled our separate ways.
With a five-hour drive looming over us, we could not stay to chat very long, so reluctantly we said our au revoirs. At least on the way back, Clark and I could travel in the same car. Route 1 through the Keys has a lot of slow speed limits and traffic. Unfortunately, on our way back to Fort Myers, we hit school bus traffic in the Keys as well, which slowed us down quite a bit more. I thought we would have more delays when we got to I-75 and saw the red traffic line displayed on Google Maps. Luckily, most folks seemed to want to head towards Fort Lauderdale. The route to Naples and west became nearly empty after we passed the Fort Lauderdale exit.
The most excitement of the drive turned out to be the sunset we saw as we drove through the Florida Everglades. Surrounded by clouds, the sun looked more like planet Jupiter than the sun. Clark had me take a quick photo through the windshield so as not to miss the spectacle. As I took the pictures, the sun had already started to emerge from the clouds.
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| Sunset in the Florida Everglades |
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| Sunset in the Florida Everglades |
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Birthday in Fort Myers, FL
1/25/2017
We also got pictures of the four of us to commemorate our second annual get together.
First
thing today Clark and I made a quick trip to the Marine Trading Post boat
supplies store. We only needed one item - an anchor shackle. Clark
noticed that the one currently attaching the anchor to the anchor chain is
undersized for the size of this boat. Since, as they say, it’s only as strong
as the weakest link, he figured we better swap it out for a larger shackle. We
don’t want to leave our anchor at the bottom of the sea because the connector
broke!
Later
this morning, my college roommate, Ginny, and her husband, Matt, arrived as
planned to spend the afternoon visiting. We decided to walk into town to a
restaurant with a good menu and good reviews called Gwendolyn’s Café that I
found via Google. On the way there we walked past Ford’s Garage which was
packed with people and appeared to have a waiting line – obviously very popular
choice.
Arriving
at Gwendolyn’s Café, we found only a few other customers. We grabbed a booth
and sat reading our menus. As per usual, after a few minutes, the waitress
asked if we were ready to order. She seemed quite dismayed when we said we
needed a bit more time. Then she said, “Well, can I have your menus? I need
them for the customers at the next table.”
Taken
aback, we surrendered two of our menus to her. I suggested to Ginny that they
might want to consider printing a few more copies. After all, the restaurant
appeared mostly empty. Weird!
When
the waitress came back the next time, I ordered first and chose a sandwich that
came with a choice of sides: fries, sweet potato fries, potato salad, macroni
salad, and fruit. Before I could ask for the fries, she said, “We are out of
fries and sweet potato fries!” What American restaurant runs out of fries??!!
Of course that was my side of choice! She offered breakfast potatoes instead,
but I declined that option and opted for potato salad.
Ginny
ordered a pasta dish with a side salad. The guys ordered fish sandwiches. After
a rather long wait, the waitress came back and told Ginny that the restaurant
was out of pasta, so she would need to make an alternate choice. Really?? No
fries and no pasta. Ginny chose quesadillas instead.
After
another long wait, Ginny’s side salad showed up. The waitress said it did not
come with Ginny’s quesadillas but she was giving it to her anyway. That was
nice. Then, finally, after another long while, Ginny’s quesadillas showed up.
Now Ginny had two dishes and the rest of us had none. Eventually the rest of the meals appeared.
Even
though the place appeared empty, the waitress seemed rushed and I wondered what
was going on in the kitchen. The waitress said that they were extremely busy
earlier, and she mentioned something about catering in her explanation of
slowness and lack of food. Ultimately,
and without our asking, she gave us our drinks for free and did not charge for
a portion of the meal.
Ginny
summed up our feelings on the matter quite nicely when she said, “We’re
retired.” We had time to wait for the food, and we chose not to stress over the
lack of food choices. The fact that we could sit and talk without interruption and
without a lot of noisy other customers was a plus. Besides I really enjoyed my
sandwich, and I really don’t need to be eating French fries!
After
we left there, we decided to walk two blocks over to the ‘Scoops on First’ ice
cream shop for dessert. I cannot remember the name of the flavor I chose, but
it was vanilla with a mix of caramel, chocolate chips, peanut butter cup, heath
bar, and maybe more good stuff I have forgotten. It was scrumptious!
As
we strolled through downtown, we got some pictures of the area. These rusty statues are scattered around town.
We also got pictures of the four of us to commemorate our second annual get together.
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| Matt, Ginny, Ev |
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| Ginny, Ev, Clark |
Afterwards,
we walked back to the boat where Clark got a call that his $900 alternator was
in at the shop ready for pickup. Clark took Matt with him, and they went to
retrieve it while Ginny and I chatted on the boat. After the guys returned with
the alternator, Matt and Ginny could tell that Clark was anxious to get working
on it. As they had over an hour’s drive to get home, we said our farewells.
What a lovely day we had together!
In
less than an hour after they left, Clark had the new alternator installed. We
had to leave to pick up a rental car for tomorrow, so he had to wait to test
his work until we returned from that quick trip. Almost as soon as we set foot
back on the boat, my phone rang and it was my son, Jeff, calling to wish me
happy birthday. We talked and talked and talked while Clark tested his
alternator installation and put the engine cover in place, etc. Only a sea trial
will tell for sure, but so far, the tests indicate that the repair was a
success. Fingers crossed!!
Once
again we ended up with a late dinner. I cooked since we had lunch out
compliments of Ginny and Matt. Clark has promised me a nice dinner out for my
birthday; we’ll save that for another day.
After
dinner Clark had me download battery monitoring software on my laptop since his
is not Microsoft-based. The software connects to a USB cable on the boat and
provides data on the operation of the batteries. Nice except he took my laptop
to look at the displays which meant I could not use it. That made working on my
blog challenging to say the least.
Tomorrow
we take our car and the rental car and drive to Marathon in the Florida Keys.
We will leave our car there and return in the rental car so our car will be
waiting for us when we arrive by boat. It will be about 10 to 11 hours of
driving round trip. Yech! I am not looking forward to a full day sitting in a
car.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Road Trip to Clearwater, Florida
1/24/2017
Immediately after breakfast this morning, we got underway on our road trip
to Clearwater, Florida to get the raw water pump repaired. I drove so Clark
could make phone calls along the way. The drive turned out to be uneventful,
and I was pleasantly surprised that we could travel interstates at 60 -70 mph most
of the way.
We arrived just after 11:00 a.m. The clerk at the desk, Rob, was
the same one Clark talked to the day before, so he knew what we needed and that
we wanted to have the work done “while we waited”. As we left the shop to go
find an early lunch, we saw that he already had the pump apart and had begun
the repair work.
After fueling the car we found the local, combination Greek
restaurant pizzeria that Rob had recommended. The
waitress told us it was two-for-one Tuesday, so we chose two Greek dishes
from the select menu. I had a gyro and Clark had Greek lasagna. We both enjoyed
our choices very much even though the sandwich I got was not the one I ordered!
When I asked the waitress if the brown meat in my pita was chicken, she
immediately realized her error. I had ordered chicken! The lamb was delicious, however, so I told her she could not take it back!
On the phone yesterday, Rob told us that he would need two hours, but
when we dropped the pump off, he said one hour would be sufficient. We had
planned to visit Best Buy to kill the other hour, but instead we went directly
back to the shop after lunch. Other than waiting a few minutes for paint to
dry, the pump was ready, and from what Clark said, basically rebuilt with new
bearings, gaskets, … along with a new coat of paint. It looked great. $148 later, we were heading south on our way back to the
boat.
Since we drove right by Best Buy to get back to the highway,
we stopped in to buy a router for the boat. A few days ago I found I had neither a router nor a
printer cable when I went to use my printer. We ended up writing a business
letter by hand as we had no way to print it. As soon as Clark gets a minute
away from engine repair, I am looking forward to once again having a router on
board, so I can use my printer at will.
As we drove back to the boat, we reviewed what Clark refers
to as his “punch list”. We allocated chores / tasks for when we arrived back
at the boat. Clark headed straight for the engine room to get the pump
reinstalled. I decided that I really had to take time to wash the road salt off
the car from our drive down to Florida two weeks ago. I cannot believe that
Florida sun baking NJ road salt is a good combination for a car.
We had torrential downpours over two days, so I expected
most of the salt to be gone. I brought a quart-sized bucket of water to rinse
off the remaining salt and dirt. By the time I was done, however, I had filled
that bucket half a dozen times, and the charcoal-colored car had returned to its
original silver state after I washed all the road dirt off the
chassis.
Since I happened to be in a “wash it” frame of mind, I
started a load of laundry going and then set to washing down the boat. We still
had sea salt on the hull from our trip into Fort Myers. As I worked on cleaning
the boat, Clark tested his pump repair and reported it fixed. Everything
seems to be working properly, and water is no longer dripping into the bilge
attempting to sink the boat.
As we worked, Clark got a text message from our
Gold Looper friends Dan and Angie on Sea
Horse. Surprisingly, they had driven to Fort Myers for the day. Clark
texted back and they came to visit us!! We talked non-stop while together. Their visit
was way too short, unfortunately, as they were headed back to Sarasota for the
night. We were thrilled to get to see
them again, and we clearly did not want to let them go as we walked several blocks towards where their car was parked before we finally said our last farewells and headed back to our boat!
As we stowed the items we had out while washing and working
on the boat, our boat neighbors returned to their boat. Clark and I started
talking to them and got a tour of their one-year-old, custom-built Endeavor
Trawler Cat. Nice boat with tons of storage!
After our tour of their boat, we gave them a tour of ours. By the time
we finally said goodnight to each other, it was approaching 8:00 p.m., and I
had not even started to cook dinner yet! We finally ate dinner at 9:00.
Tomorrow is my birthday, and I am excited that Clark and I
are meeting my college roommate, Ginny, and her husband, Matt, for lunch. I am
glad that even though our calendar is full of boat repairs, we have still been
able to find time for friends both old and new!
Monday, January 23, 2017
Boat Repairs Continue
1/22/2017
The big news for the next two days is the weather with high winds
and tornado warnings throughout the southeast! Sleeping through the night
became a problem as I listened to all the noises generated on the boat by the
wind. I sent Clark out around midnight with a piece of clothes line the first
night to tie up our Gold Looper flag. I could hear it flapping like crazy, and
besides the noise, I was concerned that the flag would still be there and in
one piece the next morning. The other noise that I thought was the fenders
being squeezed to death turned out to be the lines being pulled taut as the
boat fought the wind.
When we emerged from the bowels of the boat in the morning,
we found someone had rescued our U.S. flag and placed it in our cockpit. The
previous owner used plastic ties to connect the flag to the flagpole. Apparently
they break in high winds. Only one broke, so we did not lose the flag into the
water. When the dockmaster saw Clark, he told him that our dinghy cover was
about to take flight, so Clark climbed up and retied that. We decided with all
the push and shove from the wind that we needed additional lines so we added
more all over the place to keep the boat secure.
After that, when we were preparing to go out shopping, we
got a visit from a couple we had met at the looper dinner the night before. Immediately
I realized that Clark had found a kindred spirit in Al. Al is a retired NYC cop
who spent the last 15 years of his career in harbor patrol. Not only did he
drive the boats on harbor patrol, he fixed them as well, so he had all sorts of
useful input for Clark on the probably causes of some of our engine problems. Knowing
that we would see neither Clark nor Al for some extended period of time, I made
myself comfortable with Al’s wife, Theresa, in the salon.
When our visitors left, we found it was already time for
lunch, so we grabbed a quick lunch before heading out to do our shopping. Clark
needed to visit West Marine, and I wanted to go to Jo Ann Fabrics and Publix
Food Store. Initially we planned to go to West Marine together, return to the
boat, and have me go alone to the other two stores, but we found it convenient
to stop at all three on our one outing instead of traveling back and forth.
As soon as we got back to the boat Clark disappeared on his
bicycle to go visit Al on his boat. Al has a Mainship model that Clark had not
seen before, so he was too curious to pass up the opportunity for a tour. I needed to store my groceries / perishables.
Afterwards I decided that, since it was piling up, I needed to get our laundry
done.
While shopping, we did not notice the winds. On the docks,
however, Clark nearly got blown away. I later saw on the weather report that
the winds were 30 mph sustained, gusting to 50 mph. Following the wind, the
rain came in with some thunder to go along with it. Of course that hit the area
right when Clark decided he wanted to take a shower. He wisely decided to wait
for a break in the storm beforehand.
All through the night we had a combination of wind and
torrential rain. We normally sleep with our portholes open, but we closed them
to prevent water entering the boat. The rain had a nasty habit of coming down
sideways with a lot of force behind it!
1/23/2017
Whether from exhaustion or better work tying up the boat, I
do not know, but even with the wind and rain, I slept reasonably well. I got my morning shower and asked
Clark for the day’s agenda. A plan to visit parts stores and work on the boat
repairs list did not come as much of a surprise.
On route to Fort Myers, a bilge pump switch accidentally got
turned off. When Clark went to the engine room to check on an alternate issue, he
found our bilge filling up with salt water. Clark turned on the switch and
pumped out the water. Later, when he sponged out the remaining water by hand,
he found he was fighting a never-ending battle. With some small amount of investigative
work, he discovered a steady drip, drip, drip from a pump associated with the
stabilizers.
Our first stop today was to a repair shop for pump parts.
Unfortunately, they did not have in stock the parts we needed. The clerk helped
us by looking up all sorts of information on his computer. I learned everything
I never wanted to know about pumps. An hour or more after we entered the store,
we departed with a bucket load of information and a lead on where to go to get the
pump rebuilt. Unfortunately that place is in Clearwater, Florida about 2.5 hours’
drive north of Fort Myers.
Since the time approached 2:00, my stomach said it was more
than ready for lunch, but we decided to stop at the Marine Traders store before
heading back to the boat. Although it was an interesting store, it did not have
much of what we needed except some rocker switches to replace the broken one on
the upper helm. At $1.00 a piece, we bought three – the one we needed and two
for the spares bucket.
I made lunch when we got back to the boat. Clark, however, took
two bites and then made a phone call. After spending two hours on the phone
learning all sorts of “good stuff” about the workings of the boat, he finally
ate his sandwiches.
I hung around “on the ready” figuring that as soon as Clark
got off the phone he would get back to work. That turned out to be the case as
he needed my help to turn things on and off while he did meter measurements,
etc. Tonight's project involved research into the alternator problem on the post engine. As a result, I learned how to start the boat and how to rev the engine without making
the boat go forward. I also learned which displays to use to check the RPM as I
revved the engines and which to use to check the voltage of the batteries.
We worked together for hours, and about 7:30 I realized I had a problem. Clark had eaten his
sandwiches around 4:00. I ate mine two hours earlier. I found myself starving
while Clark probably would not need to eat for a while longer. Eventually, we
got to a point where I could abandon him to find makings for dinner, and he
could continue on his own until it was time to eat. My original dinner plans got thrown
out the window as I decided that I only had time to reheat leftovers.
Tomorrow we drive to Clearwater, near Tampa, to get a pump rebuilt. Clark
found out when he called today that the pump can be rebuilt “while we wait”.
The person he talked to said we should drop off the pump, go get lunch, and
come back two hours later to pick it up. The good news then is that I get lunch
out!
Sadly we have removed very little from the “to repair” list
and more and more things get added every day. Even the speakers for the radio are
not cooperative as we discovered this evening that one intermittently shuts off
and on. I just shake my head in disbelief. How many things can possibly fail
before we start to see a turnaround towards a fully operational vessel!?
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Fort Myers, FL - AGLCA Looper-Palooza
1/21/2017
We had a full schedule for the AGLCA Gold Looper reunion
today with the first activity of the day being a tour of the Edison and Ford
Winter Estates in Fort Myers. The agenda indicated that it started at 9:00.
Looking it up on Google Maps we determined the estates were about .5 miles away
– a 15-minute walk according to Google. Since I did not know how fast Google
thought I could walk, I told Clark we needed 20 minutes to get there on time.
Unfortunately, when I told Clark what time we had to leave
to get to the estate tour, he said, “We have a problem”. Unbeknownst to me, he
had scheduled a USPS (US Power Squadron) boat inspection for 8:30. Knowing the
size of our boat and the way Clark likes to talk, I figured that could take an
hour. He emailed the inspector to reschedule, but the inspector never saw the
email and showed up at our boat early at 8:20.
We told him we had 20 minutes for an inspection. He said
that would do and we set to going over his checklist of requirements to pass
inspection. He was very helpful and completed the inspection in record time,
but when completed, Clark got talking and I finally had to pull him away to
start our walk to the estates. Instead of the 20 minutes I wanted, I got 10 to
get there! Walking at a rapid clip we managed to meet the tour group at 9:02.
The guide told us the combined Edison / Ford estates equated
to 20 acres of grounds to explore – all outdoors. I had on a long-sleeved
t-shirt in preparation for the air-conditioned event center. I hoped I would
not regret that decision being outdoors in the sun all morning. I was warm, but
on the bright side, it protected me from sunburn.
The Edison estate in Fort Myers is nothing like the Edison
museum in Menlo Park, NJ. He mostly used the Florida estate for his botanical
experiments in search of an alternate source of rubber. Many of the plants and
trees on the grounds are there specifically because they were part of his
research. As we strolled the grounds, we heard many interesting anecdotes.
At the entrance to the property stands a hero-sized statue
of Edison under the largest Banyan tree in the continental United States.
(Hero-sized means it is 25% larger than real life.) At one time it was the largest
Banyan tree in the US but had to be cut back because it started to interfere
with the gift shop. Thus, a Banyan tree in Hawaii is now the largest.
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| Thomas A Edison Statue and Largest Banyan tree in continental U.S. |
We started our tour by crossing McGregor Street to see the
Edison home. As we crossed the street, we learned that Edison planted numerous palm
trees down that street causing Fort Myers to become known as the “City of Palms”.
Edison paid for the trees and planted them but made the city agree that they
would maintain them.
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| Palm Trees lining McGregor Street making Fort Myers the "City of Palms" |
Edison only had 6 months of formal education. His teacher
thought he was addled and disruptive in class as he asked too many questions.
Later, it was determined that he had only 10% hearing in one ear and no hearing
in the other. Insulted, his mother took him out of school and home-schooled
him. Edison holds 1093 patents and the record for obtaining at least one patent
a year for more consecutive years than any other inventor in history.
He may have been a genius, but according to the guide, Edison’s
personal hygiene and habits left a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, he married
twice and had six children. His second wife managed the children and the estate
and allowed Edison the time he needed to work on his projects. Typically, he
worked 16 to 20 hours a day on his research.
His wife had a small office built for Edison on the same side of
McGregor Street as their home presumably to keep him nearby.
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| Edison Small Office |
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| Moonlight Garden behind Small Office |
Since our group consisted of boaters, the guide thought we
would appreciate a “fish story”. When Edison’s son was 14, Edison entertained a
group of guests by taking them fishing. He told his son he could not join them,
and his son was annoyed. Edison proudly returned from his fishing trip with a large-sized
fish. While he was showing off his catch, his son appeared dragging behind him a
110-pound tarpon that he had caught while his father was out fishing. Edison’s
son said, “That was the only time I ever beat my father at anything!”
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| Son's mounted 110-pound fish |
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| Edison's mounted fish |
Edison met Henry Ford at a conference in New York City. Both
were excited to meet the other. Ford wanted to meet the great inventor; Edison
wanted to meet the young car inventor. They became friends, and Edison took on
the role of Ford's mentor. Ford bought the estate next to Edison. When Ford came
outdoors in the morning, he would often find Edison sitting on his porch waiting for
him to start the day.
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| Ford Cars on Display |
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| Henry Ford Statue |
Since the estates are on the Caloosahatchee River, Ford bought himself a boat. Unfortunately, the boat was too large to come down the river to his estate, so he had to keep it elsewhere! A model of his boat sits on the mantle in their home on the estate.
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| Model of Ford's boat |
Ford must have had an issue with space planning. We heard on the tour that he built a car and then had to tear down the wall of his lab to get the car out to test drive it! The guide joked that it was the invention of the garage door.
After viewing the Edison and Ford homes, we crossed the street and saw Edison's lab where he worked with Ford and Firestone to find an alternate, natural source of rubber. Historians recreated their lab as it looked when they worked in it. Apparently Goldenrod plants were the closest he came to an easily-produced source of latex, but the idea never materialized into a product.
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| Edison, Ford, Firestone Lab |
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| Edison, Ford, Firestone Lab |
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| Ford Motto: "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." Edison Motto: "I have not failed. I've found 10,000 ways that don't work." Ford: 161 U.S. Patents Edison: 1093 U.S. Patents |
Coming from northern Pennsylvania and nearby Corning, New York, I was excited to see Corning Glass recognized in the museum as the provider of the glass for Edison's light bulbs. On the 75th anniversary of Edison's invention of the light bulb, huge bulbs were made to commemorate the event.
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| 75,000 watt commemorative light bulb |
The formal tour of the grounds lasted an hour and a half. We were told we could roam the grounds at will, but we had a bit of a walk to get back to the event center for the rest of the day's presentations, so we left just after 11:00.
The afternoon included lunch and three presentations - RVing after Looping, Traveling to Cuba, and Selling Your Looper Boat. We have no plans to buy an RV or travel to Cuba and was surprised to find all three talks much more interesting than I anticipated. After the presentations, we had a final looper dinner. We met some interesting couples during the course of the day - a few I wish I had met while doing the loop so we could have spent more time getting to know them!
Today was a nice respite, but tomorrow I fear it is back to the grind of working on the boat.
Boat Repairs in Fort Myers, FL
1/20/2017
With the Gold Looper Looper-Palooza reunion scheduled to
begin at 5:00 p.m., we found we had time on our hands to tackle some boat items
on our list of issues. Clark had scheduled a diver to come dive under the boat
to see if he could find anything with the port side prop that might be causing
a vibration / banging that we experience at low RPM. Given Clark was tied to
the boat waiting for the diver to show up, we decided that I would be the one
to go out in the car to run errands.
First, I had to get our car out of the compound where it sat
waiting for our arrival in Fort Myers. Once I had it outside the locked gates,
I set out to find the various items Clark needed for the boat and run
some other errands. Items on Clark's list included buying 1) contact cleaner for
electronics, 2) a two-gallon gas can, and 3) diesel fuel. Reviewing hardware
stores online, I found a nearby store where customer comments indicated they
stocked everything “they” could ever need. I decided to try there first and got
very lucky.
I was able to buy both the contact cleaner and the gas can
at the hardware store. From there I made a quick stop at the drug store to buy
some shampoo and soap and then went in search of diesel fuel. Clark had
suggested that I could get fuel from either a gas station or a fuel dock, so I
tried the gas station approach and it turned into a whopping great failure! I
bought a two-gallon gas can. Well,
the nozzle no more fit to put diesel in a gas can on purpose than it fit when I
tried to put diesel in my car by accident. I guess I better stay away from gas
stations since once again I had to go in to talk to the clerk since I had already
swiped my credit card. (At least this time I didn’t misplace my credit card in the process.) I
left there with my empty can to go find a fuel dock.
When I arrived at the Fort Myers Yacht Basin, every parking
space at the marina showed reserved with huge fines for illegal parking. Luckily,
I found street parking. I was concerned when I saw meters as I had not brought
a change purse with me, but just as I pulled into a space, a couple came up to
me and told me to wait until they pulled out and they would save me a quarter
by letting me use time off their meter. That was nice timing! The meter had 8
hours of time on it. I needed about 15 minutes!
I got the fuel and headed back to Sunset Delight happy to have completed my list of errands successfully.
By the time I got back to the boat, the diver had been under the boat, checked
everything, found nothing of concern, and left. At least we knew that we had no
props about to fall off or anything dire going on under the boat. We still did
not have a cause for the thumping at low RPM.
Since I had been successful in obtaining two gallons of
diesel fuel on my excursion into Fort Myers, Clark decided we could tackle the fuel
filters for the starboard engine to see what condition they were in. I made
Clark change into work clothes because I knew it would be a messy job. Thinking
I would not be doing anything too messy to assist, I took the chance of not changing
out of my nice clothes.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, everything is
bigger on this boat including the engines and, therefore, the fuel
filters as well. We used to use empty liter-sized coke bottles to hold the
filter when we removed it to capture the fuel that drained out. Well, we did
not bring any old coke bottles with us, and the new, mega-sized fuel filters
would not have fit if we had. While trying to figure out an alternate, I
remembered I had an empty water jug on board that turned out to be just the
right size. Sometimes it pays to be a hoarder!
We pulled out the fuel filter that we thought might be bad,
but it looked almost new – pink, not black. That probably means that a clogged
fuel filter was not the reason for the engine stalling. Since we had it out,
even though it did not look bad, we replaced it with new.
Installing a new filter means adding diesel fuel to prevent
air getting in the line. To avoid a spill Clark said we needed something
smaller than the gas can to pour the fuel into the filter. Luckily, I wash out
and keep old mayonnaise jars for just such jobs on the boat. Again, sometimes
it pays to be a hoarder! It worked very well. Clark had to fill that mayonnaise
jar 4 times to get the job done. He was amazed at the amount of fuel it absorbed. The job was extremely messy, but we both managed to keep our clothes clean in the process.
At 4:00, we called it a day on boat repairs and got
ourselves dressed for the Looper-Palooza reunion. We walked the short distance
to the Fort Myers Event Center. What a nice break from the stress of the boat
repairs to get out for an evening with dinner provided! When we arrived at the reunion, we found
several boating couples we knew from our days on the Great Loop. Boat names we
recognized included Sadie Too, Namaste
(from Michigan), Sea to See (from
Washington), and Nearly Perfect (from Texas).
Cocktail hour with an open bar ran from 5:00 to 6:00
followed by a dinner for Gold Loopers. As with other AGLCA-sponsored events, Gold Loopers were asked to get up and tell a little about themselves
and a highlight from their loop trip. Clark took the opportunity to let
everyone know that our Mainship 350 is now for sale. We learned during the
evening that a lot of Gold Loopers are selling their boats for one reason or
another, so I guess we have a lot of competition in finding a buyer!
After dinner, we walked back to the boat. Having had such a busy day, I decided I needed
to call it a night and headed for bed. Clark, however, decided he could work on
the stern thruster since, to him, it was still early. Just as I was climbing into
bed, he came and got me and asked me to work the stern thruster controls while
he checked voltages. Fortunately, that was a rather brainless activity that I
finished relatively quickly. As soon as I was excused from duty, I ran for bed, climbed in
and fell asleep almost instantly.
Clark woke me up when he came to bed at midnight. I think he
opened and closed every drawer on the boat looking for a clean pair of pajamas.
Unfortunately, the drawers make a lot of noise when slammed closed! Since I was awake, I asked Clark how the
repair went and found out that he was able to pinpoint the problem with the
stern thruster but he needs a part to fix it.
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Clewiston to Fort Myers, FL
1/19/2017
8 hours travel time
3 locks (14' drop)
After arriving in the dark last night at the Roland Martin Marina in Clewiston, we strove for a much earlier departure this morning. We were only moderately successful. We had a departure process on Sea Moss and well knew each step to be done prior to leaving port. Since it is all new on Sunset Delight, Clark has a written checklist for startup procedures. It takes time working through the list, which consists of more steps than we had with Sea Moss.
We needed to make an about face when leaving this morning as the boat was facing the wrong direction by 180 degrees. While pushing ourselves away from the dock at the marina this morning to make that turn, Clark engaged the stern thruster, or should I say attempted to engage the stern thruster. It failed to operate. No biggy! We pulled away from the dock without the power assist. Just another item to add to our "it's broke" list, or so I thought.
Shortly after entering the canal, however, our navigation system went haywire and kept rebooting itself. With upper and lower helm displays, we actually have three integrated screens that took turns rebooting over and over and over again. We lost about a half hour chasing that one. Finally, Clark and I came to the same solution together - hard reset. He told me to flip the circuit breaker to off, count to ten, and turn it back on. That solved the problem. Although as yet unproven, Clark believes that the failure of the stern thruster caused a power dip which screwed up the Nav system intelligence!
After we got that settled, we went on our merry way towards our first lock of the day - Moore Haven Lock with a 3-foot drop. In comparison, yesterday's only lock we worked (St. Lucie) had a 14-foot lift. Unlike yesterday's two-hour experience at the lock, this lock displayed a green light when we approached and we sailed right on in! With a 3-foot drop, we sailed out the other side in record time. The day was definitely looking better!
Then it happened! That starboard engine that failed for no apparent reason failed again, i.e. it shut down completely. With a twin engine boat, the two engines work together to keep the boat going straight or to make turns. When one engine shuts down unexpectedly, the boat suddenly turns direction pushed by the working engine, so the first step in this situation is to get the boat heading the right way.
Since the engine failed in a narrow canal, Clark had to correct our misdirection caused by the lost engine in a hurry. Then he threw both engines into neutral to go address the problem. Given yesterday's experience, he knew to try restarting the engine as the first step. He did; it started; it failed again (two more times). During the third stall, he was already on the phone with the broker asking for suggestions on how to troubleshoot this worrisome issue.
My first suggestion when the engine stalled yesterday was the fuel situation - did we run out of fuel to that engine? did we have a bad fuel filter? Clark said no to the first and went to check the latter. He came back saying that the Raycor's indicated no problem on the filter status. Okay, so not the fuel. I was out of ideas.
Today, when he talked to the broker, the broker also suggested the fuel filter, so Clark went to check it again. This time he came back with the comment that he thought the Raycor gauge on that engine was not functioning. Based on further input from the broker, he switched to the backup fuel filter, and we are hoping, since it did not stall for the rest of the trip, that the fuel filter was the culprit. "Will we make it to Fort Myers today?" I wondered. Add two more items to list - fix gauge and replace fuel filter!
With the starboard engine finally running without stalling, we continued on our way. As we traveled through the marshes, I noticed that egrets stood at the edge of the canal every few feet usually just five or six feet apart from each other and sometimes interspersed with bushes filled with cormorants or other birds I cannot name.
Besides lots of birds, we saw two alligators swimming in the canal. They each looked like logs floating in the water, but they were definitely alligators since last I checked logs do not change direction at will or swim. The first one we saw swam near shore. I managed to capture a picture albeit not a very good one.
The second time I saw an alligator, it was in the middle of the canal and Clark was heading straight for it. I wondered if the alligator would move, if Clark would swerve, or if we would damage our props on the alligator's hide. I took the helm to steer around the alligator while Clark went with the camera to get a photo.
As the boat got closer to the alligator, the gator quickly decided he did not really want to visit the far side of the canal after all and turned back the way he came. As we got closer still, he decided we were too much of a threat and dove underwater, or as Clark said "he went submarine". Of course this occurred before Clark could get a picture of him.
I wonder if alligators are no threat to cows since we saw more of them today idly standing at the edge of the canal as if they had no worries in the world.
After having exhausted the supply of Florida's wildlife along the canal, we got to play another game - "judge the bridge clearance". Before leaving Fort Pierce, we measured Sunset Delight, as best we could, to calculate the distance from the waterline to the topmost item on the boat. We came up with just under 22' in height. Based on that, we should fit under anything with a vertical clearance of 23' or more.
When we approached our first questionable bridge today, we could see (using our binoculars) that the ruler on the side of the bridge showed a center-span clearance of 24'. We asked ourselves two questions - 1) did we measure correctly? and 2) is the ruler accurate? We approached the bridge slowly with me standing as far back on the flybridge as possible, jumping up and down to get a visual comparison, and trying to guess if we would hit or not. With an unspoken agreement, Clark planned to keep going unless I yelled stop.
As we passed under the bridge, Clark said, "I assume we are okay", and I gurgled an answer of "uh-huh" as I saw how very close the top of our tallest point came to the bottom of the bridge. I concluded that we had about 6" to spare. So, instead of needing 22', we need 23.5'? Whoops!
We got to play the same game a second time. This time the ruler on the side of the bridge showed the vertical clearance to be 23' at the edge with an additional 3' in the center. Okay, so 26' for us then on this one. Looking up as we passed under the bridge, I could see we definitely had more space than the first one, but certainly no more than 2.5' -- perhaps even less than that. Looks like a 23.5' clearance requirement may be our minimum - better make that 24' so we don't scrape as we go under. In comparison, Sea Moss had a minimum requirement of 16'. Looks like we will be waiting for a lot more bridges to open.
Although we have not yet seen one, we have passed through a large number of Manatee Zones on our journey from the east coast to the west coast of Florida. Slow speed, no wake manatee zones are more plentiful from November 1st to March 31st. As we passed a construction zone today, we saw the signage there said "All project vessels must shut down when within 50 feet of a manatee." I must say that impressed me!
Today's trip included two more locks - the Ortona Lock (8' drop) and the W.P. Franklin Lock (1.5' drop). We got very lucky with locks today as each one we approached was open and ready for us - no waiting. With relatively short drops, we completed each lock rather quickly.
Even with the luck at the locks, we arrived a few miles outside Fort Myers slightly before 4:00 with the sun low in the sky. Just before sunset is the worst time to travel west which is what we were doing. Clark put on two pairs of sunglasses to reduce the glare while I pulled the brim of my hat down over my eyes.
Shortly before we got to Fort Myers, and while trying to see past the sun glare, we came to a multi-mile "slow speed, minimum wake manatee zone". We could see Fort Myers in the distance and wondered just how long at minimum speed it would take to arrive there - ah, so close, but yet so far from our destination!
Following a police boat, we watched the speed limit signs carefully. They became silhouettes in the sun glare and basically impossible to read from any distance whatsoever. Suddenly, after miles of excruciating slowness, the police boat took off like a bat out of hell. As expected, when we reached the sign where he sped up, we read "Speed Limit 25 mph". Hooray! Finally! We do not travel at 25 mph, but we could at least accelerate to our desired 11 mph! Through it all we did not see one manatee.
We finally docked just before 5:30 after over eight hours en route. I guess Clark was worried about dinner because as soon as he saw Joe's Crab House, he said, "I don't want to eat out." Confused, I asked what he was talking about, and he explained that he thought I would want to eat out again since it was another long day. The thought had not even crossed my mind. I cooked dinner on board while Clark went in search of boat manuals.
The list of issues with our "new" boat has become almost overwhelming. Clark can handle lots of problems one at a time, but he is struggling with the avalanche we are experiencing. Our first goal is to prioritize the punch list. Things we thought were top of the list have fallen down several notches in priority as we discover new, more serious issues. Once again tonight he has surrounded himself with, and is pouring over, a mountain of user manuals for the boat systems. As I type this blog entry, I can hear him in the GSR (guest state room) rummaging through the manuals and see him going back and forth through the boat as he works on the various problems.
"Are we having fun yet?" Well, we're trying! Tomorrow starts the AGLCA Looper Rendezvous that brought us to Fort Myers this week. We are hoping to see some folks we met along the way on our Great Loop Adventure!
8 hours travel time
3 locks (14' drop)
After arriving in the dark last night at the Roland Martin Marina in Clewiston, we strove for a much earlier departure this morning. We were only moderately successful. We had a departure process on Sea Moss and well knew each step to be done prior to leaving port. Since it is all new on Sunset Delight, Clark has a written checklist for startup procedures. It takes time working through the list, which consists of more steps than we had with Sea Moss.
We needed to make an about face when leaving this morning as the boat was facing the wrong direction by 180 degrees. While pushing ourselves away from the dock at the marina this morning to make that turn, Clark engaged the stern thruster, or should I say attempted to engage the stern thruster. It failed to operate. No biggy! We pulled away from the dock without the power assist. Just another item to add to our "it's broke" list, or so I thought.
Shortly after entering the canal, however, our navigation system went haywire and kept rebooting itself. With upper and lower helm displays, we actually have three integrated screens that took turns rebooting over and over and over again. We lost about a half hour chasing that one. Finally, Clark and I came to the same solution together - hard reset. He told me to flip the circuit breaker to off, count to ten, and turn it back on. That solved the problem. Although as yet unproven, Clark believes that the failure of the stern thruster caused a power dip which screwed up the Nav system intelligence!
After we got that settled, we went on our merry way towards our first lock of the day - Moore Haven Lock with a 3-foot drop. In comparison, yesterday's only lock we worked (St. Lucie) had a 14-foot lift. Unlike yesterday's two-hour experience at the lock, this lock displayed a green light when we approached and we sailed right on in! With a 3-foot drop, we sailed out the other side in record time. The day was definitely looking better!
Then it happened! That starboard engine that failed for no apparent reason failed again, i.e. it shut down completely. With a twin engine boat, the two engines work together to keep the boat going straight or to make turns. When one engine shuts down unexpectedly, the boat suddenly turns direction pushed by the working engine, so the first step in this situation is to get the boat heading the right way.
Since the engine failed in a narrow canal, Clark had to correct our misdirection caused by the lost engine in a hurry. Then he threw both engines into neutral to go address the problem. Given yesterday's experience, he knew to try restarting the engine as the first step. He did; it started; it failed again (two more times). During the third stall, he was already on the phone with the broker asking for suggestions on how to troubleshoot this worrisome issue.
My first suggestion when the engine stalled yesterday was the fuel situation - did we run out of fuel to that engine? did we have a bad fuel filter? Clark said no to the first and went to check the latter. He came back saying that the Raycor's indicated no problem on the filter status. Okay, so not the fuel. I was out of ideas.
Today, when he talked to the broker, the broker also suggested the fuel filter, so Clark went to check it again. This time he came back with the comment that he thought the Raycor gauge on that engine was not functioning. Based on further input from the broker, he switched to the backup fuel filter, and we are hoping, since it did not stall for the rest of the trip, that the fuel filter was the culprit. "Will we make it to Fort Myers today?" I wondered. Add two more items to list - fix gauge and replace fuel filter!
With the starboard engine finally running without stalling, we continued on our way. As we traveled through the marshes, I noticed that egrets stood at the edge of the canal every few feet usually just five or six feet apart from each other and sometimes interspersed with bushes filled with cormorants or other birds I cannot name.
 |
| Egret fishing the canal |
 |
| Birds gathered along the canal |
Besides lots of birds, we saw two alligators swimming in the canal. They each looked like logs floating in the water, but they were definitely alligators since last I checked logs do not change direction at will or swim. The first one we saw swam near shore. I managed to capture a picture albeit not a very good one.
 |
| That is an alligator in the water. I swear it! |
As the boat got closer to the alligator, the gator quickly decided he did not really want to visit the far side of the canal after all and turned back the way he came. As we got closer still, he decided we were too much of a threat and dove underwater, or as Clark said "he went submarine". Of course this occurred before Clark could get a picture of him.
I wonder if alligators are no threat to cows since we saw more of them today idly standing at the edge of the canal as if they had no worries in the world.
 |
| There is a cow in that bush. I swear it! |
After having exhausted the supply of Florida's wildlife along the canal, we got to play another game - "judge the bridge clearance". Before leaving Fort Pierce, we measured Sunset Delight, as best we could, to calculate the distance from the waterline to the topmost item on the boat. We came up with just under 22' in height. Based on that, we should fit under anything with a vertical clearance of 23' or more.
When we approached our first questionable bridge today, we could see (using our binoculars) that the ruler on the side of the bridge showed a center-span clearance of 24'. We asked ourselves two questions - 1) did we measure correctly? and 2) is the ruler accurate? We approached the bridge slowly with me standing as far back on the flybridge as possible, jumping up and down to get a visual comparison, and trying to guess if we would hit or not. With an unspoken agreement, Clark planned to keep going unless I yelled stop.
As we passed under the bridge, Clark said, "I assume we are okay", and I gurgled an answer of "uh-huh" as I saw how very close the top of our tallest point came to the bottom of the bridge. I concluded that we had about 6" to spare. So, instead of needing 22', we need 23.5'? Whoops!
We got to play the same game a second time. This time the ruler on the side of the bridge showed the vertical clearance to be 23' at the edge with an additional 3' in the center. Okay, so 26' for us then on this one. Looking up as we passed under the bridge, I could see we definitely had more space than the first one, but certainly no more than 2.5' -- perhaps even less than that. Looks like a 23.5' clearance requirement may be our minimum - better make that 24' so we don't scrape as we go under. In comparison, Sea Moss had a minimum requirement of 16'. Looks like we will be waiting for a lot more bridges to open.
Although we have not yet seen one, we have passed through a large number of Manatee Zones on our journey from the east coast to the west coast of Florida. Slow speed, no wake manatee zones are more plentiful from November 1st to March 31st. As we passed a construction zone today, we saw the signage there said "All project vessels must shut down when within 50 feet of a manatee." I must say that impressed me!
 |
| Project Vessels at construction site must shut down within 50 feet of a manatee. |
 |
| Construction Zone on the Canal |
Today's trip included two more locks - the Ortona Lock (8' drop) and the W.P. Franklin Lock (1.5' drop). We got very lucky with locks today as each one we approached was open and ready for us - no waiting. With relatively short drops, we completed each lock rather quickly.
Even with the luck at the locks, we arrived a few miles outside Fort Myers slightly before 4:00 with the sun low in the sky. Just before sunset is the worst time to travel west which is what we were doing. Clark put on two pairs of sunglasses to reduce the glare while I pulled the brim of my hat down over my eyes.
Shortly before we got to Fort Myers, and while trying to see past the sun glare, we came to a multi-mile "slow speed, minimum wake manatee zone". We could see Fort Myers in the distance and wondered just how long at minimum speed it would take to arrive there - ah, so close, but yet so far from our destination!
 |
| Sun glare with Fort Myers in the background. |
Following a police boat, we watched the speed limit signs carefully. They became silhouettes in the sun glare and basically impossible to read from any distance whatsoever. Suddenly, after miles of excruciating slowness, the police boat took off like a bat out of hell. As expected, when we reached the sign where he sped up, we read "Speed Limit 25 mph". Hooray! Finally! We do not travel at 25 mph, but we could at least accelerate to our desired 11 mph! Through it all we did not see one manatee.
 |
| Almost there ... Just 3 more bridges between us and Legacy Harbour in Fort Myers, FL |
We finally docked just before 5:30 after over eight hours en route. I guess Clark was worried about dinner because as soon as he saw Joe's Crab House, he said, "I don't want to eat out." Confused, I asked what he was talking about, and he explained that he thought I would want to eat out again since it was another long day. The thought had not even crossed my mind. I cooked dinner on board while Clark went in search of boat manuals.
The list of issues with our "new" boat has become almost overwhelming. Clark can handle lots of problems one at a time, but he is struggling with the avalanche we are experiencing. Our first goal is to prioritize the punch list. Things we thought were top of the list have fallen down several notches in priority as we discover new, more serious issues. Once again tonight he has surrounded himself with, and is pouring over, a mountain of user manuals for the boat systems. As I type this blog entry, I can hear him in the GSR (guest state room) rummaging through the manuals and see him going back and forth through the boat as he works on the various problems.
"Are we having fun yet?" Well, we're trying! Tomorrow starts the AGLCA Looper Rendezvous that brought us to Fort Myers this week. We are hoping to see some folks we met along the way on our Great Loop Adventure!
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Stuart, FL to Lake Okeechobee
1/19/2017
56 Statute Miles Traveled
1 Operating Lock (14' lift), 2 Pass-through Locks
7.5 Hours Travel Time
We got a late start today as Clark investigated the
battery-charging issue. That, in addition to his walk over to see Skip from Easy Water before leaving, gave us a
departure time of close to 11:00 a.m. While waiting for him to be ready to go,
I moved some lines around for better positioning on the boat. The previous
owners really liked red, white, and blue. I discovered through use that the
lines are all marked – blue = longest, red = medium length, and white =
shortest lines. I had short where I needed long and vice versa, so I shuffled
them around.
Shortly after we left the marina and started heading towards
the St. Lucie lock and Lake Okeechobee, we entered an area where the channel
was not clearly marked, i.e. it was very confusing. As a result we found
ourselves in low water, apparently outside the channel, and we grounded.
Thankfully Clark had seen the depth decreasing rapidly, so he was traveling at
idle speed. He said that if he had not had to dodge a crab pot, he would have
been able to turn before we hit bottom. I was worried we might be in trouble,
but with a little maneuvering, Clark was able to get us off the bottom and back
on our way.
We locked through our first lock in this boat – the St.
Lucie Lock – with no problems except that it took a long time to get
through. We had to wait while they
filled the lock, locked through eastbound traffic, and then let us enter. All
told it took almost two hours to complete this one lock.
 |
| Lock on the Okeechobee Canal through Florida |
In this lock they provided nice, dry lines that they dropped
down to us. Since they keep the lines at the top of the lock wall when not in
use, they were not slimy and disgusting to hold. On Sea Moss, when we locked through, I took the bow and Clark the
stern lines because it was easy for him to run up and down the steps to the
flybridge from the stern. On Sunset
Delight it is a long way from the stern to the flybridge, so I took the
stern lines and he took the bow. That seemed to work well.
Everything seemed to be going quite well. I asked Clark if
he was becoming more comfortable with the boat. He replied, “Ha! Not after
running aground earlier!” Even so we sat back and relaxed a bit and took in the
scenery. We did not see very many boats, but we did pass quite a few cows along the way!
 |
| Cows along the Okeechobee Canal |
We continued on our way, and then suddenly, for no apparent
reason, the starboard engine shut down. I was in the galley when it happened,
and I thought Clark slowed the boat on purpose as he often does for a variety
of reasons. When I poked my head up to the flybridge, he looked at me and said,
“I don’t know what happened.”
We lost yet more time on our trip today while Clark played
with controls and investigated the situation to try to determine what had occurred.
Finally, after I made a comment about the engine shutting down, Clark looked
into that. He thought that the starboard controls had stopped working. However,
as it turned out, the engine had stopped running altogether. The engines are
very quiet on this boat, so it is hard to know if they are, or in this case, are
not, running. He started the engine back up and she continued to run, but now
we have a new worry to add to the list. What made it fail at random!
We passed under multiple highway bridges ranging from 55 to
65 feet vertical clearance. One of the bridges that we had to pass through is a
railroad bridge that is normally open – it only closes when a train needs to
cross. As we approached the RR bridge, we could see that it was in the closed
position, and as we watched and listened, we saw and heard a freight train
coming. Oh great! Yet another delay!
From our vantage point, mostly due to brush, trees, etc., it
was impossible to see any of the train except where it crossed on the bridge in
front of us. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, we used to get stuck (in our
car) at railroad crossings all the time. I would count the cars as they went by
and frequently got up to as many as 100 railroad cars. I hoped the train
crossing the bridge in front of us at a very slow speed did not fall into that
100-car category. Fortunately, it did not last all that long, and we found
ourselves underway once the slowest ever bridge finally opened for us to pass.
 |
| Finally, we got the green light on the RR bridge |
At 4:00, we arrived at the entrance to Lake Okeechobee and
passed through the Mayaca lock that was in the continuously open position. Yay!
As we approached the lock, we asked the lock master there about the lock we needed
to get through in Clewiston to get to our marina for the night. We got a bit of
a scare, when he said he did not know the operating hours for that lock but knew
that the one in Moore Haven closes at 4:30. Yikes! We had 20 miles to go across
the lake to get to Clewiston. We reckoned we were looking at an arrival at the lock
there at 6:00 at best.
Clark decided to call that lock as soon as we passed through
the Mayaca lock. He got no answer, so he called the marina to find out their
hours. We breathed a sigh of relief when they told us the lock in Clewiston
remained open, and better yet, the dock master at the marina said he would stay
after normal business hours to greet us upon our arrival. That was the best
news we had received all day.
I had not noticed, but Clark pointed out that as we crossed
the lake, we picked up a following of sea gulls – just a few at first and then
more and more as we progressed across the lake. By the time we approached
Clewiston area we had way more than I could hope to count. Clearly they thought
we were a fishing boat and that we would be throwing scraps as we cleaned out
fish. Sorry!!!
 |
| Sea Gulls Looking for Dinner from Sunset Delight |
As we approached Clewiston, we watched the sun set lower and
lower in the sky. The colors played across the sky in varying shades of orange
and red. Without the worry of arriving at a strange port on a strange boat in
the dark, it would have been a pleasure to watch the show take place in front
of us. Unfortunately, the sun getting lower and lower only reminded us of the
time and that we would need to dock in the dark.
 |
| As the sun set on Lake Okeechobee |
 |
| After sunset on Lake Okeechobee |
We had told the dock master our best guess was 6:30. Just
before then we heard someone calling “Delight” on the VHF radio. Clark took a
chance they were calling us and responded. It turned out to be the dock master
calling us to find out our progress. He gave us final approach instructions and
helped us tie off for the night. We docked around 6:45 – fortunately with no
additional hangups!
After securing the lines and getting the boat settled for
the night, I was wiped out. I suggested we take advantage of the marina restaurant
since I had no energy for making dinner after the stress of the day. Clark
ordered a Bubba Burger which turned out to be three cheeseburgers on a single
bun. I ordered something I almost never order – fried fish. Lightly battered,
it was delectable!
After stuffing ourselves at the restaurant, we came back to
check out the travel plan for tomorrow. Today we traveled 56 statute miles –
tomorrow requires about 70 miles of travel plus more locking. We better get a much earlier start!
Who knows what adventures tomorrow will bring?!
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