The Road Goes On Forever

The road does seem like it goes on forever as we drive back and forth to Texas. This time we trailed a big U-Haul trailer behnd us on our way back to Punta Gorda.

We drove back to Texas to begin packing up our house and fix a few inspection items before the closing scheduled for January 28th. Michele & her boyfriend stopped by for Christmas. We met old friends at TMCA's Commodore's Ball and a New Life brunch.

Listen to The Road Goes On Forever by Robert Earl Keen. Michele's girlfriend's husband is the drummer for the band.

Christmas Lights

December 14 - Colorful lights brighten the canals of Punta Gorda Iles each evening during the Christmas season. Shimmering lights reflecting in the water enchant passersby along the wide canal leading to Iles Yacht Club. Our lights, while not spectacular, at least shine out for the tour boats. Actually, our neighbor across the canal complemented us on our light display!

To see the Christmas lights, one really must be on the water. Tour boats pass by each night. Sometimes we wave to them and exchange "Merry Christmas" greetings with the passengers. Tonight was perfect for a dinghy tour of our section of the Iles: a warm and clear night with no wind. We left just before dusk for our very own tour. Many other private vessels were touring the canals as well.

Today was one of disappointment. We learned that a lot just down the street listed for sale at a reasonable price actually sold the first of December. Over the weekend we had talked to a builder and picked out a model and prepared a "wish list" of options. We are waiting for an estimate for the house - but reasonably price lots are rare. Oh well, we will keep our eyes open and our spirits bright!

New York City Dec 7 -10 2009

Joanne's Mom, Marie, witnessed the Rockettes debut on the Radio City Music Hall stage in 1932. Incredible, isn't it? This week she returned to NYC with us to see the Rockettes in the Christmas show. We flew in Monday afternoon in time to check into the Belvedere Hotel and walk a few blocks down to the Radio City Music Hall. The show was terrific! I especially liked the smooth coordination of a moving city bus with Rockettes on board with the background video of city streets. Very cool. Joanne enjoyed watching Santa navigating his sleigh over and through the streets of New York in 3D. We all enjoyed the Rockettes! Click Christmas Show. Click Rockettes.

After the show we walked up a few blocks to Rosy O'Grady's Saloon for dinner. Then on our way back to the hotel, we walked a long way around to Rockefeller Center to see the spectacular Christmas Tree and listen to the musical snowflakes on the wall of the Saks 5th Avenue Department store.

Tuesday - we walked down to Times Square to look around and then took a cab to Central Park for lunch at Tavern on the Green. When I looked at the check, Marie said, " Richard, we didn't come to New York to save money!" And, of course, she is right.

Before Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral (It was a Catholic Holy Day of Obligation.) we walked up & down Madison Avenue to view the window displays. After Mass, we took a short break before attending The Magic of Christmas Concert at Carnegie Hall. We enjoyed Eileen Ivers, star of Riverdance, play the Irish fiddle along with singers Andy Cooney, Crystal Gayle and the Fordham University Choir entertain us.

Wednesday - After breakfast at Pigalle, we took a cab to The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art for a tour. Photography of the exquisite Christmas Tree with handcrafted angels is forbidden - but I got a poor photograph before I was told "no." See the tree in person and engage a guide for a history lesson!

After the tour, a just-in-time taxi dropped us off at the Imperial Theatre for Billy Elliot, The Musical. Following an excellent dinner at La Masseria, we lined up on the street for a chance to get tickets to A Little Night Music starring Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta Jones. We did! It was great seeing their wonderful performances.

Thursday - We flew home. No one on the plane could believe Marie was eighty-nine! She certainly doesn't look a day over 70 and kept up with us 60-somethings. On Friday morning we drove back to Punta Gorda from New Port Richey and Marie went off to her volunteer job at her church. What a wonderful holiday experience - we highly recommend the Big Apple at Christmas Time. Check out our photos below...

New York City Pictures

A McDermott Thanksgiving

We crossed the Revenel Bridge connecting Charleston with Mt Pleasant to share Thanksgiving with Joanne's brother, Paul, and his family. We had picked up Joanne's mother, Marie, in New Port Richey, stopped to purchase a bag of "blood" oranges and visited old friends of Marie at Moose Haven along the way.

Joanne & I stayed at the Shem Creek Inn while Marie stayed in the FROG (Front Room Over Garage) at Paul's House. Before the big turkey dinner we walked around the War Memorial Park alongside the Revenel Bridge.

Links
Shem Creek
Revenel Bridge .
Mt Pleasant War Memorial
PatriotsPoint USS Yorktown

Our Thanksgiving Pictures






So what were we doing since we returned from our cruise "north" with the Punta Gorda Sailing Club? We moved out of our storage building and into our rental house! We have worked on many boat projects - The bimini was restiched. The UV cover on the genoa was restiched. We had Eagle's Wings bonded: the mast, forestay, backstays and upper shrouds were connected with electrical wire to the keel to mitigate damage any future lightning strikes. I finished installing a Link Pro battery monitor and a Blue Sky AC meter. I also added insulation to the top of the refrigerator, recaulked the instrument panel at the helm and adjusted the rudder angle indicator among other things. I still need to stand on my head to replace the water pump on the generator! Boat maintenance never ends!
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Zigin, Zagin, Salin & Aground

We awakened to a beautiful clear blue day at Cape Haze Anchorage to wave goodbye to Cavatina and then Sea Lark. We too weighed anchor for a breeze passage down the ICW and turned east into Charlotte Harbor. A 20+ ENE wind forced us to zig and zag our way east around Cape Haze and its eastern shoals before we could set a course for Punta Gorda. Zig-Zagging, of course, seems to take forever, but east of Marker 5, we turned north and sailed with a double reefed main, a spot of genoa unrolled. With apparent winds sometimes reaching 27 kts, we made quick time up the harbor and found our way in.v Just off our dock, we ran aground as we got to close to the far side of the canal to turn around and dock on our port side. We wiggled off eventually and docked with no problem.

Sherwood says he didn't sign up for this kind of sailing! Was he ever happy to be on land! He checked out the house right away and made himself at home. Hereally likes the lanai.


First order of business - wash clothes! We have a long list of boat repairs , none serious, to work on. More later.



















.............................................................................Zig-Zagging Around Cape Haze...............................................
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------Our rental house in Punta Gorda -----

Cape Haze Don Pedro State Park

Today we had a leisurely motorsail down the ICW through many bridges to Cape Haze, a neat little anchorage near Don Pedro State Park. We jumped into our dinghies and went exploring, swimming in the sparkling Gulf and collected some shells.

We then gathered at Sealark, where we discussed the highlights of our 3-week trip. We all agreed that Caladessi State Park was superb. I liked Gulfport a lot, while the others enjoyed St. Petes. Tomorrow, we are headed back to Punta Gorda to Crescent Drive, where we are renting a house while we wait for our house to sell.


Our cruise leaders, Sandi and Chuck, are going on to Matchala for a club event and Donna & Don are going over to anchor at Boca Grande Bayou. All in all, we couldn't have asked for nicer weather, great sailing, but most of all, a great bunch of people in Punta Gorda Sailing Club. Thanks so much to our cruise leaders, Sandi and Chuck, on Sealark and to Don and Donna on Cavatina. Can't wait for the next cruise!!

Higel Marine Park, Venice

Today we had a gorgeous motorsail down the ICW and tied our boats to a dock at Higel Park in the beautiful town of Venice.

We then walked to the downtown area to check out the shops and boutiques.

Check out the picture of Sandi and Chuck, who discovered ice cream happy hour - "2 for 1" - yummy treats.

We finished the day off by having dinner together at the Crow's Nest Restaurant and listening to some live entertainment - nice 2-piece band.

Tomorrow we are off to Cape Haze.

Sarasota and onto Venice

Yesterday we had a picture perfect sail from Long Boat Key into the Sarasota anchorage just off O'Leary's Tiki Hut. We dinghed to shore, walked around the town and hung out at the gorgeous white-columned library, where the crew of s/v Sealark caught up on reading their emails.

We all purchased some paperbacks at the library's store and headed over to the Tiki Hut for some libations.

Check out s/v Cavatina at sunset with the Ringling Bridge in the background. Wish you were here!

We are slowly making our way back to Punta Gorda and today's stop will be Venice.

Exploring Bahia Beach Anchorage

Hi, folks,

The last 2 days we've been exploring new anchorages - On Monday we anchored off the Veterans Hospital near Johns Pass off the ICW. It was fun motor sailing down the ICW - sunny, beautiful day with low humidity. What could be better?

Yesterday, we stopped at Treasure Island briefly to swap out our depth finder at the Nexus (brand of depth finder) dealer's place, then traveled across Tampa Bay to Bahia Beach. Our cruise leaders, Chuck and Sandi, heard that this was a great destination from cruisers in the St. Pete's Yacht Club. We found high tide depths of 11 - 14 ft all the way in to a canal type basin bordered by pretty mangroves and a few large homes. There is a Resort called Little Harbor (Bahia Beach) that has transient dockslips for $1.50 per ft per night (30 ft miniumum) and a reasonable restaurant. It might be a good stopover for the club or any cruiser who wants some luxury for a day or so. As for our group, we followed a meandering Crab Creek to a basin that was very pretty and quiet. Richard and I explored in our dinghy and later that night, played card games with our fellow cruisers aboard s/v Cavatina.

Today we are off to explore Anna Maria Island - looks like it will be a 4-hour motorsail from here. Pictures will be added later to this report when Captain Richard has time! -

Update - We had no depth problems exiting Bahia Beach at low tide, thank goodness - plenty of water all the way out to Tampa Bay. We watched Cavatina get stuck on the edge of the channel, but Sealark pulled them out. Anna Marie Island looked GORGEOUS going in the channel, but Sealark ran aground just inside Bimini Bay. Since Cavatina couldn't pull them off we decided to fore go going into Bimini Bay and went on to Long Boat Key. Eventually Sealark freed themselves using their sail and took advantage of a rising tide! They caught up with us and anchored near Moore's Restaurant at Long Boat Key. Eagle's Wings decided to tie up at the restaurant's dock (free). Will try their stone crab legs tonight. All in all an eventful day!

Tarpon Springs

October 31 - Halloween

Here I am posing on the sponge docks with my Halloween Costume. We arrived yesterday and my Mom met us for dinner. She lives only about 8 miles from here and drove over. We were able to borrow her car to reprovision some groceries and our cruise captain was able to fill his propane cylinder so that they can prepare dinner for the next week!

Tarpon Springs is a Greek community with lots of super restaurants, shops and bakeries. We feasted upon a lamb dinner while the others had Greek spinach and cheese pies. For dessert, of course baklava and my Mom and I couldn't pass up getting some custard creme eclairs. Will have to diet when we get back.

Check out our pictures below of our new friends Sandy posing with the sponges, Chuck in front of the sign advertising 2 for 1 drinks, Richard piloting our boat into Tarpon Springs and Sherwood, our almost 14-year old cat, hiding under my hat in the cockpit.

Tomorrow, we are expecting a cold front with North winds. Hopefully, they will help blow us back to Punta Gorda. We expect to go back slowly, visiing other destinations along the way hopefully arriving back in another week. Opa!

Caladesi Island State Park

Today we motorsailed to Caladesi Island State Park, the National Gold Medal Winner of state parks - and we now know why! It is only accessible via boat or ferry and if you have a boat, the 108 slip marina is just great - only $1 per foot per night on floating docks and electricity. Just a short walk from the marina is just a pristine beach, hiking trail with a gorgeous mangrove forest.

We spotted a huge gopher tortoise looking for food (see picture) and swam in the lovely ocean. I found a huge sand dollar shell in the surf along with a unique welk. Tonight the crews of Sea Lark, Cavatina and Eagle's Wings are collaborating on a pot luck dinner at the pavillion. Should be fun! We plan to stay here another night and then onto Tarpon Springs.

Clearwater

By Monday, many of our fellow sailboat cruisers had other commitments and decided to return home to Punta Gorda. However, the crews of Sea Lark, Cavatina and Eagle's Wings motorsailed approximately 4 hours to Clearwater Marina. After a memorable docking experience, we decided to check out the white sand beach and went for a swim. We even had time to watch a street show of great breakdancers on the pier.

On Tuesday, Richard and I rented a car so that my doctor could check me out post concussion. Fortunately, everything checked out well. The other boats went onto Caledesi State Park and tomorrow we will join them.

St Pete's and Gulfport

The next spot on our sailing journey was St. Pete's Municipal Marina. We motor sailed for 3 hours to get here and docked along the pier in the central basin. St. Pete's is such a great destination - we spent Friday and Saturday here. The Farmer's Market was really great - lots of yummy produce, spices, regional foodstuffs. We were able to get our autopilot control unit replaced by Dick Booth, the Nexus dealer. We also got the Nexus system interfaced to the new Garmin chartplotter. We even went out sailing to check that it was working properly. We also went on a trolley ride around the city and checked out an art show. Lots of fun and companionship.

We decided to visit a little spot, Gulfport with the club. The cruise leaders, Sandi and Chuck, arranged for dinner at LaCote Basque, a neat little French Restaurant. We must have had 20 people (2 tables). We also checked out the cute little shops in town and took a stroll back to our boat.

Longboat Pass and Emerson Point, Manatee River

We were blessed with gorgeous weather for the next few days and motored on the ICW through Longboat Pass. We had 17 sailboats at this point and dined at Moores Stone Crab Restaurant for a wonderful dinner celebrating the cruise captain's, Chuck Witzke's, birthday. Sandi even baked him a cake and the restaurant graciously served it to us all. It was fun getting to know so many nice people - what a great bunch of sailors!

It was fun dinghing through a residental canal to Whitney Bay, walking over to the beach, talking to the locals and having a soda at the little place in town.

The next day we traveled to Emerson Point on the Manatee River where we anchored for the night.

Marina Jack at Sarasota

Since the winds were not favorable for an outside passage on the Gulf, the club decided to "motor sail" up the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) to Sarasota. We encountered lots of bastule bridges along the way, which required us to call the bridge tendors on our Marine Radio Channel 9 for openings. Along the way we chatted with the skipper of Quebecca, a 20 ft red hulled sailboat that had just won a trophy at the Columbus Day Regatta at Key Biscayne. He was triumphantly returning home and invited us to visit him at the Sarasota Sailing Squadron docks.

Our friends, Marilyn & John Jorgensen, on Blue Goose caught up with us and we decided to splurge and go into the magnificent Sarasota Marina Jack Marina. There's a beautiful fountain with dophins framing the entranceway with very nice facilities. The rest of the club anchored outside the marina and joined us for dinner at the Tiki Hut Restaurant.

Upon return, I (Joanne) fell backwards going down the step ladder into the main salon. I don't remember falling, but Richard told me I was unconscious and unresponsive for 5 minutes! He ran over to get help from our friends and they got me up, called a cab and got me to Sarasota General Hospital Emergency Room. They did a CAT Scan and cautioned me that I had a concussion. Fortunately, I recovered well with just a few dizzy spells!

"North" Sailing Trip with Punta Gorda Sailing Club

Richard and I untied the lines and cast off from Eagle's Wings summer dockage at Burnt Store Marina to join the Punta Gorda Sailing Club (PGSC) on its northern cruising destinations. It was a cool Monday, October 19th, 11 am on Charlotte Harbor - just a fabulous broad reach sail with gusty winds averaging 15 knots. We left the harbor and motored down the Intercoastal Waterway to Cape Haze where we set an anchor at 3 pm. After a little nap we noticed two other boats from PGSC. Before we knew it, we had a dinner invitation and got to know Pat & Barry from CScape and Chris & Sam from Splendor. What a lovely evening!

Harvest Moon Regatta

A sudden blast of cool air followed by a 180 degree wind shift brought 30 kt gusts and pelting rain. Joanne, asleep below with a hatch open, was awakened suddenly by a large dose of salt water that washed over the side. We were aboard Ocean Star, a beautiful 50' Benetau, racing along the Texas coast from Galveston to Port Aransas.

Forunate enough to be invited by Steve & Alice, we hopped aboard Ocean Star docked behind their house in Lazy Bend early Thursday morning and headed down the Houston Ship Channel to Galveston with about 200 other sail boats to participate in the Harvest Moon Reggata, a race of 150 nm. With a front approaching the prevailing SE wind had shifted SSW making a reach along the rum line impossible for us. With steady shift to SW, we tacked back and forth all night making little progress until the storm hit. Then we eased our way down wind under the genoa alone, not racing, just easy sailing down to Port A. We finished about 11 PM Friday night and med moored in the City Marina next to Party Central. About fifty boats gave up either motoring down to Port A or turning back to Clear Lake.

Sharing the waterway We get a good start! Sunset on the Gulf

Saturday was the time share stories, take pictures, drink free rum (I didn't) , enjoy the big barbeque and attend the awards presentation (I didn't as I wanted to rest).

Sunday morning we sailed back on a reach. Winds picked up to 20 or so and then dropped to maybe six or so in the early morning. Ocean Star easily rode the waves that built to 6 ft with a few 8 footers. Sunrise found us at the Galveston jetties; fog settled on Bolivar Roads and the Houston Ship Channel. We were back home by noon on Monday.

Ken & Bill joined us for the race down to Port A and for the party!

Not everyone escaped the storm unscathed; an uncontrolled jibe bent this boom. We enjoy a great sail back home on Sunday!

We were extremely forunate to sail with Alice and Steve. Not many women take ownership for her boat like Alice does. Steve is a very lucky guy.

Fog settled on Galveston Bay Monday morning. A big ship appears out of the fog ahead of us in the Houston Ship Channel. We were over in the barge lane, of course.

richard