Naples

Monday, April 18

Naples Yacht Club

We left St. Charles YC early so we would have plenty of time in case any “adventures” happened along the way.  As we pulled out and were motoring out of the club’s channel, the boat that had left just before us called us on the radio.  They were stuck in the channel, and were hoping we could get by them without getting stuck ourselves.  Luckily we had almost a foot less draft than they did, so we squeezed by okay.  They said there was nothing we could do to help, but I still felt bad leaving them.  They were calling TowBoat US though, so they got pulled out eventually.

We had to go back through the “miserable mile”, but once again Sam did a great job and got us through it just fine.  Then, we headed out to sea and set the autopilot for Gordon Pass near Naples.  The autopilot worked wonderfully, so it was an easy trip except for having to dodge crab traps the entire way.

We came up the channel and easily docked at Naples Yacht Club.  What an incredibly beautiful place, both the club building and the marina itself.  There were REALLY big boats at this club; they made our boat look like a dingy!

Tuesday, April 18

Naples Sail and Yacht Club

We spent the morning at Naples where I caught up on my computer work.  Then, we moved on up the bay to another yacht club, the Naples Sail and Yacht Club.  We really like this one!  It’s beautiful, but a lot more comfortable than the other Naples club. The dock master, Marilyn, is absolutely wonderful.  She helped us over and over again to resolve various questions.  She’s just terrific!

Wednesday, April 20

We borrowed bikes from the club and spent the day exploring the old part of town.  It’s really pretty, and we had lots of fun.  We went to the old pier, where we got to watch dolphins and pelicans.  We got to see two dolphins making arching leaps out of the water.  Everyone on pier went “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!”  It was beautiful!  We rode all around and saw beautiful old houses, gorgeous plants, and wonderful birds.  What a pretty town.

After our tour we came back and went to dinner at the club.  On Wednesday they have Surf and Turf, and it was terrific.  They had the best crab cakes I’ve ever eaten.  The chef even gave me the recipe for them!

Thursday, April 21

The starter button we’d been waiting for finally came in, so we worked on replacing it.  We got the job done, but that turned out NOT to be the problem.  So, then we thought it was the fuse, so Sam hitched a ride down to West Marine and got a new one.  THAT wasn’t the problem either. A guy on a neighboring boat came over to help test the wiring, but he wasn’t able to find the problem.  Sam got on the phone and called mechanic after mechanic trying to find someone who could come and work on it, but didn’t have any luck.  Poor Sam, about all he’s done this whole trip is work on broken stuff!

Friday, April 22

What a champion Marilyn was!  She got in touch with a mechanic for us, and he came out and fixed us right up!  It turned out to be a corroded wire way down in by the engine.  He fixed it, then looked the rest of the engine over and declared it to be in great shape.  So, once again we’re in business.  Sure hope we stay that way!

Naples Yacht Club.  VERY posh!

SS Minnow next to the QE2

Naples Sail and Yacht Club.

 

Naples beach - looks just like a postcard

Cute boat!

Old Naples Pier

Downtown Historic Naples

Saturday, April 16

St. Charles Yacht Club, Ft. Meyers

Well, we had a peaceful night – the anchor held firm.  Of course, we didn’t get much sleep because we kept jumping up to check that our anchor was holding, but each time all was well with the boat.

After breakfast we climbed into the dingy and took off for the island.  We motored along the shore for awhile.  We saw a huge nest, and in it was a bald eagle!  We motored along until we came to a small inlet and followed it into a little bay.  A power boat was anchored over by a small dock, and there were two guys on the stern transom.  They were both bent way over, with their feet and hands down in the water.  We called over and asked what they were doing; they were petting a manatee!!!  We turned off our motor and Sam rowed around the bay.  I patted the water and made splashing sounds.  Guess what?  A great big SHAPE came toward us, and drifted right next to the boat.  It was another manatee!  She poked her face up in the air and let us pet her head.  Then she moved alongside the boat and we stroked along her back.  As we were petting her, she rolled over.  She wanted us to rub her belly!  We rowed around the bay for another half hour or so, and got to pet two or three more manatees.  It was one of the most wonderful experiences of my whole life!

We left the bay and motored over to the island’s state park boat dock.  We tied up and walked along the foot path to the Gulf shore on the other side of the island.  I took a dip in the water and it was wonderful.

We motored back to the boat, and hoisted the motor back up onto the motor mount and the dingy up onto the davits.  Then we took a bath in the bay.  We soap up in the salt water, then climb up on the transom and rinse off with our freshwater shower.  I sat in an upside-down life preserver and tied myself to a line, then proceeded to wash.  Sam just jumped in – he didn’t need anything to prop himself up.  But, as I was getting ready to climb back into the boat, SOMETHING grabbed the end of the line and tugged it really hard!  Man, did I scramble up the ladder!

Then it was time to get going.  I steered the boat out of the bay, and we didn’t run aground!  Then we motored south along the Intercoastal Waterway.  The channel was twisty, so it took concentration. As we were moving along, our chart plotter, critical to finding our way, turned blank!  We freaked!  Finally, however, Sam figured out that we just needed to change computer chips.  Once we did everything was fine.  Whew! 

When we were, finally, getting close to the yacht club, we still had to go through part of the channel the locals call the “Miserable Mile”.  It’s so narrow, and the sides are so shallow, that boats get stuck constantly.  Sam did a wonderful job of navigating it, however, and we made it through safely.

 All day Sam made phone call after phone call, talking to different stores, marinas, and insurance agents trying to track down a new starter button.  He eventually found a store that had the part, but how to get it to us?  The insurance company was wonderful, though.  They arranged a boat to bring it out to us as we were motoring along!  Hooray!

Bad news – the depth sounder started flashing off-on again.  Rats!!!

We got safely into the yacht club, tucked in, and had a nice adult beverage.  As we were sitting in the cockpit looking out over the water, two eyes slowly surfaced near us.  They stared at us for several minutes, and then sank into the water.  It was a crocodile!!!!

Sunday, April 17

We got up late and then went and had a nice lunch at the club.

After that, Sam tried to replace the starter button, but it turned out to be the wrong part.  We couldn’t do anything about it, though, since it’s Sunday, so tomorrow….

The rest of the day was chore day.  A super nice guy who has a boat at the club offered to take us to the grocery store.  That was wonderful.  We were able to stock up on all the stuff that’s too heavy to carry on our bikes.  Boy, it feels good to be restocked.

The rest of the day Sam spent on the phone trying to get ideas for the starter, and I did the laundry.  It had been so long that we had mountains of it.  Thankfully, the club had a free washer and dryer.  The dryer was really slow, though, so I didn’t get done until 8:00 that night.  At least it got done!

We stayed anchored all night!

Entering the little cove

What are those guys bending over into the water for?

  A large SHAPE approaches.  Sure hope it doesn't tip over the dingy!

Wow!  It's getting closer!

There, there.  Nice manatee!

 The boat dock at the state park.



Safely tucked into the St. Charles Yacht Club.....what....crocodiles?

They're flying our club burgee!

Friday, April 15

Pelican Bay, Cayo Costa Island

The Day From Heaven:

We decided to go on the “outside” this time so we could avoid the bridges.  The wind was right on our nose, so we had to motor the whole way.  We put our new autopilot on a “goto waypoint” setting, and it did wonderfully!  We had to disengage it fairly often because of all the crab pots floating everywhere, but it was still terrific.   It made the day go so much easier. 

It's amazing to me what a gorgeous color the water is.  It's a wonderful aquamarine color; it's so vivid it doesn't even look real.

 It was a wonderful trip!

The Evening From Hell:

We had decided to spend the night anchored out at Pelican Bay rather than to go to a marina.  Many people had told us about this wonderful bay next to an island that is a state park right on the Gulf.  They did say it was really tricky to get into because of all the shallows, but we felt sure we’d do fine since we had three sets of approach directions. 

It took longer to get to Cayo Costa than we thought, so we were getting a little concerned about the approaching darkness.  Still, we got to the entrance of Pelican Bay around 5:00 pm, which should have given us plenty of time.  We got out our approach directions.  The unfortunate thing about them, we discovered, was that they were conflicting.  We finally picked one set and proceeded into the bay – and got stuck.  Sam tried to motor us off the sand bar but it didn’t work.  Just then a large power boat came over to us.  I thought they were going to help pull us off, but NO, all they wanted was directions to some marina.  So, we went to our tried and true backup plan – the dingy.  We lowered the dingy and Sam got in.  He motored along to the bow where I lowered our anchor into the dingy, along with almost 250 feet of line.  He tried to motor out to the deeper part of the channel, but the wind and current kept turning him around and getting him all tangled up in the line.   Finally, he got where he wanted to go and lowered the anchor.  He came back, handed me the dingy line, and went to the bow to start the windlass.  I tied off the dingy and went up to help him.  He was “windlassing” away when he happened to look back.  “The dingy’s getting away!” he yelled.  We ran to the stern but it was already out of reach.  So, poor Sam torn off his shirt, grabbed a life jacket, and jumped in.  He had to swim a long way because the wind was blowing the dingy out farther and farther, but he eventually caught it.  The bad news is, he couldn’t climb up into it, so he had to tow it back!  That was incredibly hard.  I got really concerned that he wasn’t going to make it, so I tried to hail the power boat to ask them to tow him back.  They never responded – they just cruised on by him.  I tried to throw the life sling out to him, but the stern was slippery from spilled gas and there was so much “superstructure” in the way that I was only able to get it out there about 15 feet.  At least I got to tow him in for a little way.  This time I double-tied the dingy, and Sam went back to winching.  Hooray, we pulled free!

I had been watching where other boats went as they came into the channel, so I steered us safely into the bay.  Then we motored around looking for a place to anchor.  We found what we thought looked like a good spot and headed over.  Oops, we got stuck again!  Once again Sam tried to motor us off, and once again we didn’t move.  He turned off the motor and tried to think what to do next.  Suddenly we felt the tide lifting us a little, so he rushed over to start the engine.  No go – it wouldn’t start!  The starter button was shot. 

Sam went below to the engine and arced it with a screwdriver.  Very scary, but it worked.  He came back up and motored us right off that sand bar.  We headed for another anchoring spot, and this time were lucky enough to stay afloat and actually get the anchor set.

By this time it was dark and we could barely see.  We didn’t even eat dinner; we just had several drinks and went to bed.                                                                                                           

Sam swimming like crazy to catch the dingy.

Sam slowly dragging the dingy back.  He was exhausted!

Sarasota

Wednesday, April 13

Field Club, Sarasota

We left Bradenton for Sarasota.  We had a nice motor along the ditch.  We saw more mansions and boats (they’re getting bigger), and went under more bridges.  Most of these bridges open only on a set schedule.  You have to get there at just the right time or you end up waiting; up to twenty or thirty minutes.  We timed most of them well, but a couple of them we ended up waiting almost the whole time interval.  That wasn’t so bad, but one of the bridges had a REALLY crabby tender.  He wouldn’t answer a radio call half the time, and was crabby whenever he had to talk.  When he started the siren (the opening signal), Sam hurried us up to the bridge because a lot of boats were waiting to go through by then and Sam didn’t want to hold anyone up.  Well, the bridge didn’t open.  Instead, the tender snapped at us to move away from the fenders.  We didn’t even know what that meant.   Still the bridge didn’t open.  The tender snapped at us again, and then we figured out that he wanted us to move away from the bridge out past the retaining walls.    We did, and he finally opened.   What a jerk!

We motored on down the ICW and finally arrived at the Field House.  What a beautiful place!  It was originally Marshall Field’s Florida home, and what a home!  It was absolutely stunning.  They’ve done a wonderful job of converting it into a country, tennis, swimming, and boating club.  Everyone there was so nice.

We met a really nice couple from the Isles Yacht Club, and we ended up having dinner with them.  What a nice evening.

Thursday, April 14

We got out our bikes and took our laundry to a Laundromat.  Since we couldn’t carry very much, we only took our absolutely “crisis” laundry.  Then we took the folded clothes back to the boat and set out for the grocery store.  We managed to pack quite a lot into our backpacks and carry bags.  It was a relief to get those chores done!

the Field Club

The interior patio

The back of the club.  The middle of the building has an arch and the bay water flows through the house.

A duck family

Sunday, April 10

Bradenton Yacht Club

Since the Tyes will be stuck in TI for quite awhile waiting for an engine, we decided to move on down the road.  We’re hoping they’ll get fixed and can catch up with us soon.

We motored down the ICW.  It is really interesting to look at all the houses, mansions, and boats along the way.  Boy, the money just piles up higher and deeper the further south we go.  It’s really amazing.  Where does all that money come from?

We got to the Bradenton Club fairly early, and Linda and Denis were there to meet us.  It was wonderful to see them!  They helped us tie up, and then we all went to the Tiki bar.  It was a really hot afternoon, so the Tiki stop was very refreshing.  After awhile, we had dinner over on Victoria (their boat).  It was really fun.  We each told stories of our various adventures, and L&D gave us tons of tips, advice, and materials to help with the rest of our trip.

Monday, April 11

Victoria pulled out the next morning.  They’re headed for Treasure Island, where they’ll hook up with Pat and David.  We’ll miss them!

Ray Marine came over (finally) and got to work on our boat.  He spent all day with us, first replacing the depth finder transducer, and then replacing our autopilot with an updated, beefier one.  He moved the fluxgate compass from its bad spot by the binnacle to a good spot inside the head cabinet.  He did such a good job!  He found big piles of old wiring all “spaghettied” around inside the panels, so he cleaned them all up.  He bundled all the new wiring up nice and tidy.  He set all the settings so things would work better for us.  He answered millions of questions.  He was great!

Tuesday, April 12

Since the Ray Marine guy ran out of time the day before, he had to come back to do the sea trial and compass calibration.  We did that, and everything went great.  Yeah, two things fixed!

After the RM guy left, the refrigerator guy came.  He checked everything out, and found out the module was bad, just as Sam suspected.  The guy plugged in a new module, then off he went.  The refrigerator came on and worked great.  A third thing fixed!

We had been planning to ride bikes out along the island to explore the nature preserve, but we were two hot and tired.  So, we spent an hour in the pool and then went to the club for a nice dinner. 

Denis and Linda meet us.  Check out the new beard!!

Enjoying the Tiki bar

The Bradenton Yacht Club

The club has a gorgeous lobby

Sam at the club

Crossing under a bridge

Docked at The Club Treasure Island

The Club Treasure Island

Olympic-sized pool

Sam, David and I on a bridge

Myself, Pat, and David at the disc golf park

Sam at the beach

A LARGE sand castle

A beautiful purple tree

Our "pod" of bikes

The Treasure Island clock tower

Wednesday, April 6

Treasure Island

Since it looked like it was going to be a couple more days before Ray Marine could fix our depth finder and autopilot, we called and asked them if they could fix us at Treasure Island instead of Clearwater.  That way we could be with the Tyes.  Don said it would be just as easy at TI, so we headed on out into the Intercoastal Waterway. 

It was only about thirteen miles away and took us about four hours.  It was cold, so we bundled up in coats, gloves, and hats.  The water on both sides of the channel was very shallow, so we had to be really, really careful to stay in the very narrow channel.  Since we didn’t have a depth finder this was a little tricky, but we did fine.  No groundings!

It was a really great trip.  We passed all kinds of ritzy houses mixed in with “old Florida” bungalows.  We saw some neat boats and lots of happy, wavy boaters. One of the coolest things was the bridges.  We passed under four bascule bridges (bridges that can open up), and I got to radio to the bridge tender and arrange for the openings.  That was really fun.  One tender left it so late that I was afraid our mast was going to smack into the bridge, but we just made it through the crack!

 I saw another drama of nature.  I looked up and a little bird was frantically chasing and dive-bombing a large hawk that was flying along.  I looked closer, and the hawk had another little bird in its claws.  Poor little guy!

We pulled into the Treasure Island Club in the early afternoon.  The Tyes were there to meet us and help us tie up.

Linda Wright called and she and Denis are on their way North.  We think we can meet up with them in Bradenton in a few days.  Sure hope so!

That night we watched a DVD in our boat.  It was a goofy movie, but it was still fun.

Thursday, April 7

We all got on our fold-up bikes and wheeled off into town for breakfast.  We went to Foxy’s and had an old-fashioned meal.  It was good!

Don at Ray Marine called and wasn’t able to get the crew together to fix our boat until Friday, so Sam and I got back on our bikes and rode through town and down to the beach.  We biked all around, took pictures, and had a beer at a beach bar that had a band.  I really felt like we were in “vacation” mode.  It was fun!

Then we rode back to the club and went to the pool.  It’s Olympic sized and the water temperature was perfect.  I even fumbled around until I was actually swimming, and swam four laps.  Good for me (because I can’t hardly swim at all).

Again, we saw another neat nature thing.  This time it was only sad for a fish. While we were all sitting in our cockpit having happy hour, we looked over at this large water bird swimming by.  He had a big round fish in his beak.  It was so big he was having trouble swallowing it.  He finally got it turned the right way, and started gulping it down.  With each gulp it went a little further down his long, long neck.  It was amazing to see the lump slowly moving down, down, down.  After he got it down, he climbed up on the dock and spent over half an hour with his wings spread out sunning himself.  He probably was too heavy to lift off!

In the evening we watched another DVD (this one about Texas for Pat), and she was able to fill in all the historical background for us.  Very fun!

Friday, April 8

Sam and David borrowed the club van and went to pick up propane, while I started moving stuff out of the cockpit so Don and his crew would have room to work.  Soon after that, however, Don called and had a boat emergency, so he would be a couple of hours late.  A couple of hours later he called again and told us that the emergency had turned into a huge issue, so he won’t be able to get to us until Monday.

We were ready to move on to Bradenton, and so we decided to leave here Sunday in spite of our mechanical issues.  That way we could meet up with Linda and Denis.  Don said he and his crew would be able to work on us there, so hopefully that will proceed as planned!  The Tyes have decided to replace their engine with a new one, so they are waiting to hear how long it will take to locate one.  If it won’t be long, they’ll stay in Treasure Island and join us later.

Then, more troubles.  Our refrigerator quit working!  Sam and David did some trouble-shooting but couldn’t fix it – whatever is wrong probably requires some new parts.  I cooked up our thawed meat, and we the four of us had a consolation dinner on Mariah.

Saturday, April 9

We decided to declare another moratorium on working on boats.  The four of us set off on our folding bikes, and rode downtown to the Copper Kettle, where we had a wonderful breakfast.  Then we rode along a great bike path until we came to Azalea Park, which just happens to have a disc golf course.  We played nine holes and it was a lot of fun.  Then we got back on the bikes and rode to Home Depot, where Pat found some sun screening for their boat.  After that we rode around some gorgeous neighborhoods on our way back and saw some awesome homes.

Once we got back, we all put on our suits and went to the pool for a nice refreshing swim and relaxation time.  Later, David busied himself making screens for Sanctuary, Sam went to the club and watched golf, Pat worked on the computer, and I took a nap. 

In the evening we again climbed back on the bikes and went into town for dinner.  We went to a wonderful place, Middle Ground.  It’s been locally owned by one family for over 35 years, and it was terrific!  Don’t miss it if you’re ever in town.

After dinner we walked to the beach and watched a wonderful sunset.  Then we biked back to the club and tucked in for the night.

Map of Trip

If you want to see a map of our trip, click on the link below.  You can see the whole trip at a glance, or follow it stop by stop.  Also, you can zoom in to the map to see more details.  OBTW, when the line goes over solid land, don't be thrilled by our ability to skate over solid matter.  It's just the way the map draws it.

http://www.tripline.net/trip/Keys_Trip-7330340163541003A7FBE0D36BF3B4EB

Sunday, April 3

I spent the morning doing laundry while the guys spent the time working on the various mechanical problems.  Craig was so nice; he came over and spent hours trying to figure out the depth meter issues!  They didn’t find the problem but they eliminated a lot of possibilities.  David dove under his boat and found a huge clump of sea grass wound up around his prop.  That appeared to resolve the engine’s speed problem, although not his long-term smoke problem. 

I say something really cool!  As I was walking along the dock, a manatee surfaced, and then rolled over into a dive and was gone.  That was so neat!

 In the afternoon we declared a moratorium on work and to the pool.  We even had some adult beverages.   We deserved it!   We splashed around and floated on our noodles.  The water was a perfect temperature.  It was wonderful! 

 After that we hit the hay very early as we were still exhausted from the trip.

Monday, April 4

Pat and I spent the morning grocery shopping.  This was quite involved since we have no car.  We put on backpacks and walked down to the trolley stop.  One came along and we were off to Publix, we thought.  Unfortunately we had gotten on a city bus instead of a trolley (how would we know?), so we ended up downtown at the bus station.  We then got on another bus (with the same crabby driver) and eventually got to the store.  It’s quite different picking out groceries with the constant thought in mind of “how much can I carry?”  Since I had to get two quarts of milk (and two bottles of wine), I was pretty limited on the rest of my purchases.  Thank goodness for the backpack!  On the way home we were fortunate enough to get on a trolley right away, and the driver was wonderful.  He brought us right to the Yacht Club!

The guys spent the day trying to contact various mechanics about our various problems.  It was very frustrating; it took the entire day to get any help.  Finally, however, both of them got in touch with someone who was knowledgeable about the problems.  Sam made an appointment with the Ray Marine rep to come check out the depth meter tomorrow, and David made arrangements to sail to Treasure Island tomorrow so he could work with the Yanmar people there. 

Tuesday, April 5

In the morning we were hit with a ferocious storm.  I had left the hatches open when I went to the club, and had to race back when the torrent started.  I was drenched by the time I got there, and so was the galley and our bed!  I shut everything up and hung up all the dripping clothing, towels, bug nets, etc.; hoping the bed would be habitable by evening.

We spent the morning tucked in, reading and taking naps.  I'm making two afgans for the boat, so I got a chance to do some knitting.  It was lovely!  

 Around noon the Tyes pulled out on their way to Treasure Island.  The Ray Marine man, Don, came and worked on the depth meter and the autopilot.  It’s SO NICE to work with an expert!  We feel like a ton of bricks have been taken off our shoulders.  Yes, there’s a lot wrong and yes, it’s going to cost a lot of money, but it will be fixed on Thursday.  Hooray!!!!!!!

To celebrate, we went to the yacht club and had a great dinner!  Clearwater is a beautiful place, and we really enjoyed being here.

Clearwater Yacht Club

The CYC patio and pool

The pool!  We had so much fun in it!

Having dinner at the club.  Yum!

Friday, April 1                                    

THE CROSSING!!!

The captains decided that this would be our best weather window to make the Gulf crossing, so we set about getting ready.  We attached the jack lines along the length of the boat, and set out the blue-water harnesses, tether lines, and strobe lights we had borrowed.  I got out a huge pile of warm clothing, including our foul weather gear and my rubber boots, and laid them all close by for quick access. We put the ditch bag up next to the binnacle where we could grab it quickly.  I cooked up a pot of black beans and rice, and made a pile of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After tranquing up on a double dose of Bonine, we were ready!

We sailed out of Carrabelle at 9:20 in the morning.  The seas were 3 to 5 feet, which is a little high, but a brisk wind was blowing from the West so the sailing would be good.  The depth meter was working, as were all the other instruments.  We steered through the channel behind Dog Island and out into the Gulf.  We were off!

Sam spotted a giant sea turtle swimming along.  Later, when we were way out into the Gulf, we had two swallows light on the boat.  They appeared to be exhausted from their migration trip.  They didn’t stay long, but it was thrilling.  The Tyes had one come inside their cockpit and spend hours with them.  It sat on Pat for a long time, and then perched for the night.  They had so much fun with it, but unfortunately it was too exhausted and died during the night.

The sea was a little high and “corkscrewy”, but nothing unmanageable.  Soon, however, we had a major setback.  Our autopilot kept shutting down!  This was a big problem because that meant we had to steer by hand through the corkscrew waves and gusting winds.  I had to brace both feet on the deck to have enough strength to hang on and crank the wheel while it constantly shifted.  My feet got so sore and swollen I switched to my huge rubber boots.  Both of us felt like our arms were pulled out of the sockets, and our arthritic hands turned into aching claws.  It got colder and colder, so we ended up wearing five layers of jackets, our gloves, our watch caps, and our foul weather gear.  We took two-hour watches all night long, but Sam couldn’t sleep at all and I got very little.  He had to do double-duty when I missed one of my watches, so he was really, really tired.

We were feeling stoic until we looked over at our partners in this adventure.  They were tucked in nice and warm behind their wind/rain curtains, sitting back sipping drinks and reading while their autopilot steered them along a nice smooth, straight course.  What bums!!!

The good news was that the winds were really good, so we made terrific time, hitting the seven and sometimes eight knot range repeatedly.

The bad news was that, even though I stoked up on more Bonine, Linda Wright’s nose drops, and soda crackers, it was all to no avail.  I lost it all in the early evening, and from then on anointed the bucket frequently.  I was so miserable!  I wanted to get off NOW!!!

Saturday, April 2

Clearwater

Early Saturday morning the Tyes developed serious engine trouble.  Their engine slowed way, way down and started smoking terribly.  We were all really worried.  Our depth meter, which had been working when we were in eighty feet of water, started going off and on as we approached shallower water.  How do it know???

 It was a relief when we spotted land.  We limped along for several hours until we finally got to Clearwater. Unfortunately for me, the trip took twenty-seven hours.  Thankfully, that was about six hours faster than normal.

A nice surprise!  Craig and Cece happened to be in Clearwater.  They took pictures of us going under the bridge, met us at the Clearwater Yacht Club, and got us off the boats to take us out to lunch.  They are my heros!!!

When we got back after lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping.  We got up to take showers and clean the boat, and then went back to bed.

House on Dog Island; last human habitation!

Blazing along on the Gulf

Entering the channel at Clearwater

Going under the Clearwater Bridge

Dry land!!!!!!  :)