Bottoms Up

January 10-February 6   Eagle's Wings sailed to jack stands at the All American Boat Yard.  With only light sanding and bottom paint plus replacement of the cutlass bearing and shaft seal bellows, we expected to be back in the water in a week. One month later, bottom sanded, barrier coated, painted, minor gelcoat repair, shaft replacement, PSS seal face polish and davit installation, in addtion the bearing and bellows replacement we were back in the water much lighter in the wallet.

To reach All American we motor sailed with  Hide Away up the Myakka River and through a lock to the Gulf Cove fresh water lake and canal system.  We anchored in the lake overnight with one millon mosquitoes to await our morning haulout.  Our haulout went smoothly enough but later our 4 year old bottom paint started to flake off in a few places.  So we decided to have the bottom sanded.   Bottom sanded, we decided to have a barrier coat added before painting the bottom with Micron CSC ablative paint.  I chose red for the first bottom coat followed by blue for the later coats. When we see red we will know it's time to repaint.

To replace the cutlass bearingshaft, we need to remove the shaft. To remove the shaft, the rudder had to come off.  We found that the shaft was corroded so it needed to be replaced as well. Of course one needs to pay for the labor to disassemble and then reassemble everthing.

We had ordered Kato davits that I planned to install but since we had all this other stuff going on we had them installed as well which was just as well as Daniel Lambert the certified marine techincian who either performed or coordinated all the work did a great job.  His phone number is 941626 1684.

Double Cruise Credit

December 31, 2010 - January 1, 2011 - The New Year found us anchored in Pelican Bay.  Two Manata catarmans served as a party platform  for New Year's Eve and of course, my birthday celebration. Our resident foksinger, Paul Elliott, sang one of my favorite Gordon Lightfoot songs, Christian Island on request.  Thanks Paul.  See the cruise report at New Year's Eve Cruise.

Double Cruise Credit ?  Since the cruise crosses 2010 to 2011, cruisers get credit for a cruise in 2010 and a cruise in 2011, hence the double cruise credit! See PGI Membership Requirements (17).

Christmastime - Florida and Texas Style!

Christmastime!  What a wonderful time of year.  We're so lucky to be here in our new home in Punta Gorda.  We've been enjoying lots of holiday parties with our clubs - The PGIslanders, the Isles Yacht Club, the Punta Gorda Sailing Club, etc. 

Marie sits on Santa's lap

Dec 23 - IYC Eggnog in the afternoon followed by dinner at Sue's house in the evening.

Dec 24 - Constance and Bill for Christmas Eve dinner

Dec 25 - Time to find out what Santa placed under the tree!

Dec 20 - Last night we watched the PGI Boat Parade at Chuck & Trudy's house, one block over from our house as the parade does not come down our canal. Joanne brought turkey soap; Trudy prepared stuffed mushrooms, avocado dip and vegetable pizza. Chuck spiked the hot chocolate with brandy. Pictures     Friday, Rob & Sue drove us around PGI to look at some amazing  lighted decorations. After the land tour, we piled into Chuck's fishing boat on a chilly but clear and almost windless night for canal side viewing of Christmas the lights. What a delight!

Dec 13 - Last weekend we took advantage of a $59 Southwest Airline Flight from Tampa to Hobby Airport in Houston.  Our friends, Betty & Richard, swooped us up at the airport and lent us their car.  We really enjoyed seeing our New Life and Boating friends.  The weekend started with a quick trip to our favorite restaurant, Top Water Grill, in sunny San Leon.  We met Karen & Alan and Kat & Doug for a fun-filled lunch - lots of laughs and great fried shrimp!   Then, we dashed over to Betty & Richard's for a ring-side seat of the Clear Lake Boat Parade.  It's wonderful to see that the parade back with lots of entries and colorful lighted vessels shining on the night water. Pictures Top Water Grill 

Sunday flew on by - our main event was the annual New Life Christmas Party at Barb's.  Lots of fun singing Christmas Carols and playing the Gift Exchange.  Check out our photos by double-clicking our link and then click on "slideshow."  Happy Holidays to everyone!!

Pictures New Life Party 

Marie's 90th Birthday

Marie celebrated her 90th birthday at the Isles Yacht Club with twenty-six children, grandchildren, spouses and friends.

Highlights included a video slideshow of  historical family photos with music.  Good job, to my brother-in-law, Al!   Marie recounted the changes she has witnessed in her life from the horse-drawn ice wagon to space travel. Granddaughter Annie, a competitive Irish stepdancer demonstrated her quick footwork.   Our friend, Sue, gave Marie a beautiful hand-crafted shell wreath.
Over the Thanksgiving holidays, guests also sailed on Charoltte Harbor, toasted themselves in the sun on Englewood Beach, watched lots of football and, of course,  gobbled up lots of  holiday food.

The Driveway, a short film written & directed by Marie's youngest son, also entertained us.  The film drew on Kevin's growing-up days in Bergenfield, New Jersey.  Good job, Kevin!

See my pictures at   Marie's 90th Birthday Party.

Early November, Early Winter

Harry Potter at the IMAX - Nov  19 - Saw the new Harry Potter film with friends at the IMAX in Fort Myers.

Tunnel of Love - Nov13

The  dinghy squeezed through the narrow Tunnel of Love as we jockeyed around sawed-off mangrove branches using our paddles to paddle, pole or fend off.   Once completely covered, the tunnel is now mostly open to the sky.  It leads one from the East side of Cayo Costa Island to a lagoon near the gulf side. See the Google Earth photos on the right.

The tunnel lies WSW of Cabbage Key about two nm South from Pelican Bay where we anchored Eagle's Wings for the weekend. We pushed through on a rising tide with sometimes only a few inches of water under the dinghy's keel.  An osprey flew overhead clutching a fish dinner while ibises watched us from the mangroves.  As we approached the lagoon still hidden by twists and turns of the shallow stream, the sounds of waves washing ashore filled our ears.  We landed on the lagoon shore and walked across the dunes to the beach to walk with pelicans and shore birds about. 

Tunnel of Love from Google Earth

 




Dorrit and Joanne




Longboat Key Bike Ride - Nov 8

Monday's activities included a pleasant seven mile ride along Longboat Key to Joan Durante Community Park and back with the IYC bike group, small talk at the PGIslander's bimonthly social and listening to Team Punta Gorda's annual State of the City address at the Civic Center.   

Nov 7th - MLLW -  We are still afloat at low tide after North winds blew the water away for the first time since we moved to Lido Drive .  We expect periodic bouts of low water and chilly below 70 F weather till next spring. 

Nov 6th - Venice Art Festival 

We drove 20+ miles up to the Crows Nest Marina Friday to sleep overnight on Rob & Sue's catamaran, Catalyst.  How people with no money can buy fine art, I don't know but we did.  We now have three metal pieces from Garner Metal Art hanging in our foyer.

Paper Castings
John Galbo Impressionistic Photography
Red Bird Photo

AndrewBoromPhotography

Touch of the Islands

Twilight Spoobill Twilight Flamingo

Squirrely Wood

Dimensional Copper



















Fall Leaves

With great anticipation to visit our dear friends, Betty & Richard, we traveled across the states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina to Asheville. As we rounded the state border of North Carolina, the mountains appeared in their Fall glory of deep golds, oranges, pink and rose hues!

It's been more years that we can count that we've gazed upon this wonderful sight and felt the crunch of the leaves under our feet.  Check out our pictures below by clicking once under the underlined word - Photos and then click Slideshow. 

Blue Ridge Parkway

From Fall Leaves

Asheville

Arboretum

Dupont State Forest

Transylvania

Blue Ridge Parkway

The Sight

Photos

From Fall Leaves

South Seas

October 15th - North Wind, Sailing South!  Today, we actually tacked down Charlotte Harbor on broad reaches to round Marker 5 and head for the ICW. Although the light wind allowed us only 4 - 5 kts, we enjoyed some time on the water sans motor.   South Seas  lies on the north end of Captiva Island.  This was  Boater Appreciation Weekend;  the rate for slips, normally $3.50/ft for a sailboat like ours was only $1.50/ ft. Saturday evening the marina manager hosted a free dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs and grilled chicken. Free always gets our attention and we enjoyed the spread.  The marina was packed with boaters, especially from Punta Gorda.  Our clubs were well represented and we had fun talking about our sailing adventures.

Before Saturday's sunrise, I walked out to Redfish Pass.  See my pictures at Sunrise at South Seas.