Back to Texas

I must admit I am writing my last blog entry from my own computer right here in Corpus Christi!  Nope, I am not out on the water sailing along !  The last few days of our three month vacation in Florida became VERY busy, so I just didn't get to it!  Then once we got home last week, our home needed our attention after three months of our being gone!  So, today is the day to finish the blog I started way back in April.

June 14th was our day to leave Ft. Meyers, and a beautiful day it was.  Sunny, hot and bright!  We had decided to make the trip to Bradenton in two days.  The seas were realatively calm and yet we had wind and were able to motor sail most of the way to Venice, FL .  We had stayed at the Crowsnest Marina before in 2014 and were pleased it was an "easy off" from the Gulf.  On top of that, they have a wonderful restaurant, the Crowsnest" on property, so we were hungry for a good meal.  Everything remained the same from the year before, so we were happy that we made the stop.

Leaving Venice for the Gulf

Next morning, we were ready to shove off for our very last day at sea in the Gulf.  Spring/summer in Florida usually involves at least one shower per day, as well as hot, hot, hot temperatures.  We actually dodged the rain showers each day of this trip to Bradenton!  Snead Island Boatworks was our destination, and we arrived mid-afternoon.  This particular marina/boatworks is very protected, and can be used as a "hurricane hole" in case of BAD weather.  So on these HOT days, there isn't a breeze gently moving through this marina! (will explain why this was NOT good in the next paragraph!!!!)

Monday afternoon and Tuesday, we spent the time setting up the work that was going to be done on the boat, ordering a rental car and securing a POD that would hold all of our "things" from the boat.

At 7:00 AM on Wednesday morning, the POD arrived and we were ready to start the process of removing sails (we have three) and packing ALL of our things.  Down below on the boat it is air conditioned but not up top!!!!  I believe it was 90+ degrees with HIGH humidity and we were up and down and back and forth to the POD with all of these bundles!  I wish I had better descriptive words to explain just how hot it was, but perhaps those words are better left unsaid ###@@@****!  Let's just leave it that I am not a fan of high humidity and physical labor!  WAA WAA WAA!  We finished by 1:00 Thursday afternoon, and pulled out of the marina headed north on I-75.
We were exhausted by six that evening, so we checked into our hotel and after a nice meal, just fell asleep rather easily!  We were in the panhandle of Florida and thought we would make it to the Louisiana/Texas boarder that night.  Well, we were in Houston by 4:30, so Steve decided he could do the 3 1/2 hr drive from Houston to Corpus and then we would be home!  So, that is exactly what we did!  Our own bed never looked so good that night!  As I mentioned earlier, after being gone for several months, MUCH needs to be taken care of at home and we have been doing just that!
This part of the blog is the END for me.  AHHHHH!  Steve plans to return to Florida in August to sail Kathryn home across the Gulf.  Let's pray for NO hurricanes!!!!  He will finish this adventure then and give you a "blow by blow" account after he returns to Texas.  So, this is it....it's been a lovely cruise!

Our Full Pod

Our Empty Boat

Last Days in Ft. Meyers....Thanks For The Memories!

We were lucky enough to be able to spend a whole month at the Pink Shell Marina.  I have shared pictures of the great facilities we enjoyed while we were in Ft. Meyers.  If you like the beach, pools, food, drinks...this might just be your kind of place!  Then on top of that, we were lucky enough to have friends close by to entertain us.  Plus, those friends had wheels which made commuting much more pleasurable!  I must say, though, we made good use of the trolley system.  IF you wanted to ride with senior citizen status, you had to produce your Medicaid card....nope, a driver's license would not do!!!  For flashing that little piece of info, you could ride for 35 cents anywhere you wanted to on the trolley line!  There is nothing cheap about me!!!

During the last week in town, we visited a few of our favorite restaurants, again, and spent some time with our friends RJ and Elaine Smith, again....hopefully they didn't get too tired of us and toting us around the area.  Below you will see us at the Mucky Duck on Captiva Island which is suppose to have fantastic sunsets.  We, of course, were there during the day but we'll take their word for it!
BUT, all good things must end and you do have to return home, so we got ready to head North to Bradenton.  Steve had made arrangements to leave the boat at Snead Island Boat Works to have some major maintenance work done on Kathryn.  So, "Good - Bye Ft. Meyers Beach"....you were GREAT FUN!

Company

When you are traveling on a boat, you are usually the "company" of someone in port or at the marina.  We were lucky enough to have company on Kathryn and entertain here at the marina a few weeks ago.  Perhaps not everyone knows that I attended college at Midland University (back in the day it was Midland Lutheran College) in Fremont, NE.  Small but mighty is the way I remember Midland and it offered an excellent education to many young adults from the mid-west states and a few other locations. It is there that I met many wonderful life long friends.
 
With that explanation, three friends from my era, now live in Florida.  Pat, my college roommate, lives in Palm Court and Sharon and Ron Larsen were here from West Palm Beach.  The Larsens were in Ft. Meyers for a family reunion, so this little get together worked perfectly for them.  Pat drove down and stayed on the boat with us for a few days.  Pat and her husband Bill were the couple that allowed us to visit them on their sailboat in Belize and Roatan a number of years ago.  So, she is not a stranger to living on a sailboat.

To sum up the time we spent together, two words come to mind....talking and laughing!  Pat, Sharon and I were all members of the same sorority, so we had to catch up on the friends we have kept in touch with over the years.  We decided Face Book has been such a blessing for keeping those friendships up to date.   Ron and Steve managed to tolerate our "girl talk" and found many things to discuss themselves.  Now Pat and Sharon are in the process of trying to plan a "reunion" for our sorority sisters from our era to take place possibly in Florida within the next years.  We all have our fingers crossed.

So, here's to old friendships and good friends....45 years later!!!!

Sharon, Nancy, and Pat

Good Bye, Dear Friend

                                 
It has taken me two weeks to write this blog....almost too painful to write the words but it is part of our three month journey.  We received word from Corpus Christi that my dear friend, Jackie, had passed away very suddenly.  Steve and I both felt we needed to fly home to say good bye and be there to support her husband, Rick, her children and grandchildren.  In less than three years, Jackie and her family had become our dear friend.

Jackie was my 1st friend when I moved to the Island!  She was in charge of membership at our Yacht Club, and our "Iowa bond" soon was the beginning of a friendship.  The day she called me and asked me to go to lunch in Port A, I knew I had arrived and had that "girl friend" I knew I would need in Texas.  There were many wonderful tributes to Jackie at her wake and funeral, but that didn't even say it all.  Jackie was a wonderful wife, mother, nurse, and friend to all.  If there was anyone in need, Jackie was there with a visit, food or just a call.  She loved the beach and her "turtles" that called Padre Island home.  We walked for an hour almost everyday of the week on the beach.  If it was rainy or just too cold, we headed for the German Bakery on the Island for coffee and a "goodie"!  Even though our friendship was cut way too short, we bonded on our walks.  Our joke was that we solved many a problem in those hours....if anyone had a problem, give it to us and by the end of the walk we would have a solution for them!

Jackie loved to party.  No one's birthday passed without a lunch at a restaurant or at her home with her "secret" chicken pecan quiche!  There were always sparkler candles or a birthday beanie...that was Jackie!  She loved to send postcards (not many folks do that now of days, but Jackie did), buy cute little gifts that were just right for you and just invite you over for some iced tea!  That was Jackie....she loved life, her family, angels and her beach.  My heart is sad, but what a blessing to have had this wonderful lady to call friend (even if that was a short three years)!  RIP dear, dear friend!

Hale Me A Cab

The great thing about being in Ft. Meyers, is the fact that we have some long time friends that live in this area.  Our past dockmaster from Corpus Christi is in Punta Gorda.  Augie and Rena Wagner drove down to take us out for lunch one afternoon!  Since we are "walkers", friends with cars can be very helpful.  We spent a long time at Pinchers eating and talking about the latest happenings in Corpus!

Another couple, RJ and Elaine Smith, go way back to our days in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  They are the BEST entertainers and "foodies" you could ever meet.  We've dined at their home and came home with left overs to last a long time, plus hitting the local restaurants that have served some tasty morsels.  BUT, their latest adventure has been wine making.

We arrived when their batch of wine was ready to be bottled, so they asked us  to join them and learn "the ropes" of wine making.  We did everything from washing the bottles, filling the bottles, corking the wine, wrapping the neck of the bottles and finally putting on the labesl.  The end results were thirty bottles of cabernet.  The best part is the naming of the wine.  This particular batch received the name "Hail Me A Cab"!  I think that is extremely funny/cute!!  Oh, I forgot to mention that we had to taste it, too!  After all of that work was completed, it was time to begin a new batch which I believe takes about three months to get to the bottling stage that we had just completed.  The company they work with to make the wine has all of the different kinds of grapes and ingredients that go into wine making.  So, it was an interesting day and I realized a lot goes into that bottle of wine you might pick up at your local liquor store!

Bottling The Wine "Hale Me A Cab"

Making a New Batch of Wine

We have had super weather here in Ft. Meyers....sunny and hot, sunny and hot,  mixed in with a few late afternoon rain showers.  That's Florida, right?  The rest of the time we have been busy with a few boat projects, walking the beach, laying at the pool or the beach and checking out some of the local restaurants.  It's a hard life, but we are just the people to do it!

So Long Key West.....Hello Ft. Meyers Beach

Having a Drink at Captain Tony's Bar

Last Day In Key West

Our trips on the water are usually determined by wind speed, temperature and weather conditions.  We were getting anxious to head north to Ft Meyers, so all the "conditions" were in place for us to leave Stock Island Marina in Key West on Wednesday, May 9th.  It was bright and sunny (as usual...:) but with just a bit of wind.  I mention the wind, because that can be a tricky problem if you are getting a large sailboat out of a slip.  I am not the captain, but maneuvering it out of the slip without hitting the dock, another boat or a combination of the two is always something you DON"T want to happen.  So, before leaving on Wed., Steve had one of the marina employees come down to our slip to help us off.  (for non boaters, we are on the boat, there is a line holding us and at the right moment you have to cast off....this process goes much more smoothly if someone is on the dock and helps with this process)  Well, we were all set and Chris (the employee of the marina) was there to help us off.  As we backed out of the slip with everything going just perfectly, Chris tossed us the line at the back of the boat and we were suppose to be clear and on our way.  BUT, I was at the front of the boat, Steve was driving and by the time I ran back to pull the line in, it sank into the water and got tangled in our prop on the engine.  When that happens you go no where!!!!!!  We drifted around and good ole Chris got us back in the slip without hitting anyone.  As hard as we pulled, we could not get that line unstuck.  So, Chris asked Steve if we had a diving mask on board.  Well, yes we do!  Chris is the local diver in the marina, too.  Such luck.  On went the mask, off came his shirt and  shoes and into the water under our boat goes Chris.  In a matter of minutes, he had it untangled and was on the dock dripping wet.  All in a days work, I guess.  Well, we gave it another "shot" and were off and motoring out of the marina and out towards the Atlantic.

Our marina was on the south side of Key West, so we had to sail into the Atlantic, around the end of Key West and then head north into the Gulf to go to Ft. Meyers.  Interestingly enough, if you look at a map, Key West is quite a bit west of the Florida mainland.  If you would draw a straight line north, you would be in line with Ft. Meyers.  So, we were off for a 24 hr. sail which would put us in Ft. Meyers the next morning at 9:15!

A lot of this trip, until you are close to Marco Island and Naples, is out in open water and you do not see any land.  There really isn't anything to take a photo of other than water.  There were a few boats and fisherman we encountered, but that was about it.  We did have excellent sailing all that day and were sailing with all three sails up and NO motor.  The captain had a big smile on his face....his kind of sailing!

As I have mentioned many times, I am not the sailor on the boat.  I just take orders :)  When you do an "overnight sail" you do have to take turns doing "watch".  Hopefully, the other person on board can go down below and get a few hours of sleep.  Well, just as the sun started to go down and night was falling a large band of storms started to appear in the distance and on our radar.  So, the captain was in charge and we tried "dodging" some of the storms, but eventually we had to "bite the bullet" and sail on through.  On a sailboat, you have a tall mast and you really don't want to get hit by lightening on the water.  I was a little tense for awhile, but the storms lasted about three hours.  Finally, Steve suggested I go down below and try and get some sleep while he maneuvered through the storm.  About three hours later, I relieved him at the helm and did my shift.  He always tells me, "if you see something you don't understand or need help, WAKE ME UP"!  He doesn't have to worry!  Later we switched again and I slept for a few hours.  When I came up to do my next watch, the minute I stepped into the cockpit, I smelled smoke.  Not just a "whiff" but campfire smoke and it was in the air!!!!  I guess I am a bit paranoid on the boat at night, but I had Steve checking every inch of our boat....I was sure we would have to abandon ship.  If Steve were writing this blog, he would tell you he was never worried about the boat having a fire, because burning wires or fiberglass would NOT smell like the smoke we were smelling.  Long story short, we were off shore of the Everglades National Park and they were and still are having an uncontained forest fire started by lightening.  As of yesterday, they had only 20% of it under control.  I'll bet we smelled that smoke for a good hour and a half!

Steve & Dave, The Best Dockmaster in Florida

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and we got into our slip here at the Pink Shell Hotel and Marina at 9:15 AM exactly 24 hours after our departure.  We are on the north tip of Ft Meyers Beach and it is a lovely place to "land".  We stayed here a year and a half ago when we sailed around the Gulf.  We have the pools, the beach on the Gulf and a number of friends close by in the area, so we are set for the next few weeks of adventure.

Back Having Fun in Ft. Meyers Beach - Live is Good!

The Dry Tortugas....May 6th through May 9th

Our first BIG adventure since we have been in Key West, was a trip to the Dry Tortugas!  If you are anything like me, I was familiar with the name but that was about it!  So, not to sound too much like a teacher, I will give you a brief overview of the "lay of the land"!  Almost 70 miles west of Key West lies a group of seven islands, composed mostly of coral reefs and sand.  Originally they were named Las Tortuga (the turtles) by Ponce de Leon in 1513.  This was changed on the mariners' charts to Dry Tortugas to indicate there was no fresh water on the islands. In 1825, the first lighthouse was built to warn sailors about the rocky shoals that surround these islands.  Thus, this is the final resting place of many vessels.

By 1829, the United States knew it could control navigation to the Gulf of Mexico and protect the Atlantic-bound Mississippi River trade if they could fortify the Tortugas.  Fort Jefferson's  (named after our third president) construction started on Garden Key (the largest of the islands) in 1846.  Construction continued for 30 years but was never finished.  During the Civil War, it was a Union military prison for captured deserters.  It housed four men convicted of complicity in Abraham Lincoln's assassination.  This included Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was the Dr. who helped and set the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth.  By the 1880's, the Fort was abandoned by the Army and then became a wildlife refuge.  Fort Jefferson was proclaimed a National Monument in 1935 and was designated Dry Tortuga National Park in 1992.This would protect its scenic, cultural and marine wildlife (most notable are the birds and the loggerhead and green turtles that call this area home).  So, there you have it folks, a thumbnail sketch of the Dry Tortugas.

 The Tortugas can only be reached by sea or by air (sea planes).  Thus, you must bring your own provisions and water with you, if you sail there, as we did.  The National Parks Dept. here on Key West run a ferry to the Islands daily and give two guided tours of the Fort per day. If you want to be in the Tortugas, you are on your own to plan for your food, water and necessary things you might need (restroom facilities :) So with that information, we made a trip to Publix before we departed Key West.  We were set!!!!  My only "fear" was the fact there is NO communication on the Island.  No phone, no internet, no TV....basically it is rather primitive!

Our trip started on Wed. May 6th.  We planned to make it a two day trip over to the Tortugas,  with a stop over at the Marquesas Islands, which are about 23 miles from Key West.  These, too, are not inhabited, but you can take your dingy to shore if you so choose.  It was a very peaceful anchorage and we made a nice dinner on the boat and watched and captured on camera a beautiful sunset.  After coffee and breakfast the next AM, we were off to our destination.

It was another eight hour sail to the Tortugas from the Marquesas.  Not too much happens on a sailboat in open water as you sail mile after mile...but we did have some visitors.  (This is a de je vous kind of a tale!!!)  All of a sudden, a very small bird (perhaps the size of a wren) flew into the cockpit of our boat and landed very close to Steve.  In fact, he even climbed on Steve's finger!  Cute, right???  Well, he continued to fly around the cockpit and land every so often and then he was off.  Pretty soon he was back and I guess he had told a "friend" that this sure beat flying and come on over!  They flew around, landed, etc. until one decided to fly down into the lower level of our boat.  At first, I thought this was cute to have these tiny guys on board, but NOT fly in our kitchen and bedroom.  So, I sent Steve to chase them out....once again, I am not the animal/bird girl.  Once that was accomplished, we put the door in the opening.  Finally, I'm watching our new little friends, when one starts to fly to the other side of the boat BUT didn't quite make it and landed in my hair!  Okay, that's it!  I am not enjoying this anymore!  End of story, a few miles from our destination they both flew off.  Probably to be at home on the huge bird sanctuary on the Island.

Fort Jefferson is a huge structure and takes up most of Garden Key.  You can start to see it in the horizon many miles before you arrive.  The water is the beautiful aqua color of the Caribbean and is rather shallow considering you are in Gulf.  It made a magnificent sight as we sailed in to where we were going to anchor next to the Fort.  The only other Island that tourists can visit is Loggerhead Island, which is named after the loggerhead turtles that call it "home".  They and the green turtles are protected in this area.  It is the season for them to come on shore and lay their eggs, so the Park Rangers are always on the look out for turtle nests. They have approximately 250 nests yielding 15,00 hatchlings each summer.  We sailed past Loggerhead as we approached Fort Jefferson.  Both islands are  what I call "postcard material".  I'm no photographer, but the pictures I took of the lighthouse and surrounding water I just love!

We spent two nights anchored off of Garden Key surrounded by about 8 to 10 other boats.  At night on the sand outside the Fort, there is room for 8 campsites.  They must bring all of their provisions on the Ferry (tents, kayaks, food, etc)  Our first day there, we took a dingy ride (three miles) over to Loggerhead Island.  This is where the old lighthouse still stands.  The last light was removed a few years ago and is now on display at the National Aids to Navigation School in Yorktown, VA.  It states that this light could be observed at a distance of 53 miles.  This area can be a dangerous place, as more than 250 shipwrecks have been documented in these waters.  When we landed on the island, we noted four kayaks on the shore.  Soon we met the owners who were from Texas...yee haw!  They had paddled their kayaks over and were spending the day snorkeling and viewing one of the wrecks off shore.  We were, also, met by the Park Rankger.  She was very informative and gave us some facts about the Island.  She and her husband (a retired Park Ranger) were working for one month on the Island.  Their so called base is Rocky Mountain National Park and she will return to that job the end of this month.  They, too, must bring provisions for a month with them and do not leave  the Island in that months time.  The ferry will bring them milk or a few other items if they should run out, but they are there for a month.  Solitude!!!!!  Steve did some snorkeling and I just soaked in the sunshine and beauty.  It was quite beautiful.

Beginning of a Palm Tree

A Frigate Bird

That late afternoon, we took the dingy over to the Fort.  There is a large moat around the outside and you walk across a  bridge to enter.  Of course, it is very old and is always being repaired.  Once inside, it is massive but quite stark!  All the way around the facility are the places for the cannons that were used to fortify the fort.  They have  tried to rebuild and renovate the officer's quarters but we could not go inside.   It is one of the nation's largest 1800s masonary forts.
On the same Island, is the bird sanctuary which can only be viewed by water from January through October.  Many songbirds and other migrants fly over or nest in the Dry Tortugas.  The islands lie across a principal flyway between North America and South America. Many  gulls, terns and migratory shore birds winter here.   Our favorite bird to watch was the frigate bird.  It is large with a seven foot wingspan and a v-shaped tail.

Saturday morning, Steve listened to the marine weather report which is headed by a weatherman named Chris Parker.  Steve has used his services when he has crossed the Gulf.  As I mentioned, I am a fair weather sailor so any reports of higher winds or seas is not to my liking.  Bottom line, when Steve called Chris on the marine radio, his suggestion was to set sail on Saturday morning (as he spoke) and head back to Key West. OR, we could wait until Sunday, as we had planned, and have a "bumpy ride" for 12 hours.  That answered our question....pack up and let's go!  We did have a beautiful sail home, but didn't arrive in our marina  until 10:00 PM.  It had been quite an adventure and we were able to see many beautiful sights!  If you ever have the chance to go there, we highly recommend the trip!