At Boot Key Harbor

We left Marco Island at 8:20 AM April 18 with a forecast for wind from the NE at 15 kts.-perfect for our 54 nautical mile passage to Little Shark River . Our route took us around Cape Ramano Shoals. View our track at the Spot site. The promised wind held for a few hours, died away, clocked to the southeast and increased to 27! Slow, slow was our final leg into Little Shark River where we anchored at 7:20 PM, eleven long hours after our departure. Richard & Joanne fared well; Sherwood suffered through it getting sick once. Lots of attention was required to avoid the CT mine fields! CT = crab trap.

We left Little Shark River with a forecast for a SE wind at 15; we experienced 20+ all across Florida Bay sailing with the main only reefed once. We kept the genoa furled so that we could keep a good lookout for the crab traps. Joanne proved to an excellent CT spotter dogging and weaving through the many lines of crab traps stretching across the bay.

Out of the vast expanse of blue water, we spied Marathon's bridge in the distance. Marathon is one of the bigger islands in the middle of the chain of the Keys. It is known for its hospitality to boat cruisers and for its great facilities. We went under the huge bridge, headed for port (left) and wound in the channel where we picked up a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor. Boot Key looks like a sea of bobbing sailboats. We figured it took us 9 hours after leaving Little Shark River to go about 44 nm (nm=nautical miles) from the north. We hope everyone is following our SPOT trail (website below). We made contact with our friends, Maureen and Tom, from sailboat "Can't Agree" who decided to come back to the harbor after receiving a bad weather forecast for crossing the Gulf Stream. We are looking forward to spending time with them here in Marathon while we wait for ideal weather for crossing the Gulf Stream.

At Marco Island April 16-17

We motorsailed for 6 hours along the coast gazing at blue green water, occasional dolphins and gorgeous coastline until we entered the harbor into Marco Island. We were greeted by JB and Mickey Walton, the uncle and aunt of my sister-in-law, Nita. They let us use their dock and invited us to a yummy Texas dinner of chili, rice, salad and ice-cream for dessert. They were so hospitable to us - what a wonderful time!

Tomorrow we have a long sail along a more remote coast of Florida called the 10,000 Island Area. We hope to anchor at Little Shark River overnight and then proceed to Marathon in the Keys.

Eagle's Wings Underway

April 15 - We were finally ready to leave on Tuesday after Richard's minor surgery followed a check-out appt Monday afternoon. We put our cars in storage and my cousin Constance drove down to Burnt Store after treating us to a chicken dinner at the Elks.

We waited a day for a cold front that brought lots of rain, thunder, lightning and even hail to pass before departing on Wednesday morning.

We went down the ICW and picked up a mooring ball at Fort Myers Beach where we spied Charlie's Angel of the Punta Gorda Sailing Club. We had dinner with about six couples from the club at the Matanzas Inn.

On the way down, Joanne got a call from her doctor recommending another test. So we plan to hold up at Marco Island while we rent a car to drive bck to Punta Gorda before proceeding further down the coast.

Richard

Waiting at Burnt Store

Our new outboard engine was diagnosed with a seal leak. While we wait for the dealer to order parts for the repair, we completed some more boat projects. Friday night we attended the fish fry at Sacred Heart with friends Tom & Maureen and David & Patti and later played “Pegs & Jokers” a neat board game. Tom & Maureen leave tomorrow for the Exumas; David & Patti plan to leave early next week. I‘m getting anxious to leave; Joanne has been more than ready for a few weeks now!

While we’re waiting, we decided to tour the Ringling Brothers Museum in Sarasota. John Ringling built Cà d’Zan, the last of the Gilded Age mansions in America. Designed in a Venetian Gothic style, it really reminded us of Venice . We took a guided tour; you can read about at http://www.ringling.org/ We also saw the model circus, learned a little circus history and toured the art museum. On the way back from this fun trip, we drove along Siesta Key. The sand is very fine and white – just one of the most beautiful Florida beaches that Joanne has seen.

Eagle's Wings in the SPOTlight

When I read Sam's email alerting TMCAers that a SPOT could be had for free if one signed up for one year of service, I ordered one on March 23. Although it was shipped UPS ground from California (the only shipping option), I received my SPOT on March 27th! The promotion ended today, but maybe they will extend it

Here is the link to my SPOT page: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0ACbbdUTA0slUr8FX6euNUF5rEkynPKAX

If you followed Eagle's Wings from Clear Lake to Clearwater, you know about tracking with SPOT. If not you can learn about SPOT at http://findmespot.com/en/.

The promotion ended today, but maybe they will extend it if you are interested:http://findmespot.com/robby/

Marie Attends Retiree Luncheon

March 21st, we drove Joanne's mom, Marie, to a Lipton retiree luncheon in Bradenton. Joanne introduced her mom as the woman who broke the glass ceiling at Lipton Tea because she was one of the first women managers at their Corporate Headquarters. Her mother was manager of Lipton's customer service group for over fourteen years.

There were many remembrances of good times by many in the group. Her mom recalled that during her career most amusing was her corespondence with cats! When Lipton marketed Tabby cat food, cats would write Lipton sometimes complaining about the product. One such letter signed with a paw print included a picture of the feline writer. The cat it seems didn't like the chicken flavor. Marie wrote back complementing the picky feline on her good looks and she included a coupon for the tuna flavor. Always a diplomat! Marie really enjoyed her career with Lipton and has many more fond memories.

Later in the day Joanne was surprised when two wonderful friends, Ann & Walter, visited to help her celebrate her 60th birthday. Everyone enjoyed Marie's special angel food cake with homemade chocolate butter cream frosting with vanilla bean ice cream! It was a birthday to remember.

Lee & Patrice On Board

We were so happy when our friends and TMCA members, Lee & Patrice, visited in March . We had a super time with them for 3 days when we took them out on a long weekend cruise with the Punta Gorda Sailing Club to Englewood Beach and Stump Pass. We had wonderful long conversations about the fun we had in Crotia with John and Peggy Allison on a TMCA cruise and toasted more fun times to come! As an added bonus to us, they brought over our CQR anchor, Magma grill and a short length of chain from our garage in Dickinson. These items will help us in our upcoming adventure down the Florida coast and hopefully onto the Bahamas.

Richard swapped the CQR for the Fortress for a second anchor on the bow and stored the Fortress in the cockpit locker; the CQR fits better with the primary Supreme anchor. Richard used the chain for a dinghy anchor, a small Danforth with 50 ft of line and now 15 ft of chain. We used the grill right away when Lee cooked some delicious chicken on the grill.

Richard used part of the short chain that had been attached to the dinghy anchor, a piece of used wire reenforced hose, some snaps and a mushroom anchor to make a "kellet." If you don't know what a kellet is, here are some interesting links about them: http://www.johnsboatstuff.com/Articles/anchor.htm ,
http://www.petersmith.net.nz/boat-anchors/kellets.php , http://www.anchorbuddy.co.nz/ and
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f55/home-made-anchor-kellet-3754.html .


Here's some great pictures of us with Lee & Patrice on the cruise to Englewood Beach. Double click on the second one to enlarge the beautiful sunset! The first one shows the 23 boats anchored in Peekins Ranch Cover off the Intercoastal Waterway where we anchored for the first night with the club.

This turned out to be another good checkout cruise because our battery charger decided to fry itself. Better here than the Bahamas! We also found out that one 4D battery wouldn't last 24 hours with our poorly insulated freezer/refrigerator sucking up the amps. You 350 cruisers know what I am talking about.