January Fun

Celebration Cruise  



Our Peace River Neighbor

Yesterday, we traveled up the Peace River aboard the Kingfisher, Punta Gorda's sightseeing boat, because we were a winner in the Civic Association's Holiday Light Contest.  Check out the gator sunning himself on the banks!     

The new year has been full of activities here - In the first 3 weeks we've attended a fun "Change of Watch" Party in our boating club, The PGIslanders.  One hundred seventy members strong attended the event  - and Richard was installed as Vice Commodore.  Also, 18 PGIslander boats of every description anchored off Gilchrist Park, right here, on our 3rd Annual Cruise to Punta Gorda.  It was a treat to enjoy our own home town from a tourist's perspective.  We enjoyed walking the bridge with the gang and the brunch at Dean's.

We are also members of the Isles Yacht Club and we enjoyed Trivia Night, biking along the New Bike Path and   Kayaking at Manatee Park. 

Check out our Photos - (just double click).  

Never a dull moment here!

Holidays

The Year of the Snowman - Joanne decided this year we would participate in the PGI Boat Parade. A snowman in lights would rise above our sailboat. It has risen!  Friends, Chuck and Trudy helped attach hundreds of LED lights to a mesh netting that we could raise with the main halyard. Neighbors stopped by as we worked on the driveway to offer advice. Our neighbor Brian provided line and other stuff.  Richard wired a traffic light sequencer to add movement: the snowman tips his hat changing from blue to red to green. Icecycle lights adorne the life lines.  All the lights including the rope lights that line the canal and the yard lights reflect in the canal. 

Thursday, the snowman moves to the Yacht Club to participate in the Lighting of the Fleet.  Joanne has invited about fifty people to stop by for food and drink.  Fifty people on a thirty-five foot boat may be just a little tight! 

Last night fifty people did show up, coming and going and coming back again. Everyone enjoyed the snowman, good food and good fellowship.   Our neighbor, Brian,  photographed the fleet lighting for us. Great job Brian!

Holiday Photos

 

CharleyShoe Lighting of the Fleet Photos

PGI Boat Parade December 22 - Eagle's Wings appears at 16:20 and at 19:40 minutes into this Utube Video - PGI Boat Parade

Joanne's sister Claire visited us for Christmas week from Oregon.  We all attended Christmas mass with Joanne's mom;  the music was sensational!  We found time to take Claire kayaking through the mangroves at Placida.

The New Year came a little earlier than the traditional Punta Gorda Midnight. The party on Pelican Bay broke up at 8:40 PM with everyone raising champaign glasses and singing Auld Lang Syne at the late hour of 8:40 PM. Islanders, scattered about Pelican Bay on twenty-five boats, tucked themselves in for a relatively warm and tranquil night. All asleep, quite possibly, before the magical midnight hour, 9 PM.

We hosted the Merritts, Jim & Connie, on Eagle's Wings.  Bleu went to Camp Angela while we were out on the boat.

After a very good breakfast pot luck on the first day of the New Year, we shared lots of laughs watching and participating in the merry blind dinghy race.

We were able to sail down to Marker Five and sail all the way back to Punta Gorda to start the New Year in style!

Harbor Happening

A is for Awesome. We formed up and called out our letters: “p”, “G”, “C”, “i”, try again “I” and “A.” Islanders formed the “A” and we were awesome. Chuck and Trudy danced to the music at the top of our “A” while we waited for the plane and helicopter to take our picture, a human “PGCIA” sculpture to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Punta Gorda Isles Civic Association. Islanders went wild to YMCA.

Our Friday remained overcast, chilly and damp upon our return from Solomon's Castle. Our neighbors from Chicago thought we were crazy as we loaded Eagle's Wings for an overnight adventure anchoring in the Peace River with a predicted 15 kt NE wind and dozens of other sailboats for company. I thought so too but Joanne insisted that we join the Harbor Happening! 

We anchored off Fisherman's Village where the US 41 bridges knocked down the waves to provide us a very pleasant if chilly evening. Chuck & Trudy, bundled in sweaters and jeans, gave us ride in their dinghy to the Friday night dock party at Lashley's community room filled with folks from all the boat clubs. Saturday morning warmed up with sunbeams when we dinghied in to join the letter “A.” A photo of our letter “A” made the Sunday paper but the aerial photo didn't. . Hopefully, I can get a copies of the aerial shots someday as most of my photos turned out awful.  See UTube Video.

About six Islander boats anchored out. Most of the power boats canceled as the mooring field east of the bridges was rougher than the sailboat anchorage. What a dumb move installing that mooring field was! But both Dave and eighty year old Harold took moorings Friday night! Harold actually got a ride in and spent the night at home while Dave and Carolyn rode it out all night!

The Saturday's newspaper reported about one hundred and fifty boats anchored out on Friday but I counted only about fifty or sixty. More boats joined us Saturday morning for a memorable Harbor Happening.

 

Photos

Solomon's Castle

Friday awakened chilly and damp, our day for a trip with the Power Squadron to Solomon's Castle located Northeast of Arcadia in a Manatee County Swamp. The castle as is all the treasure it holds is constructed from recycled material, mostly recovered from junk yards. A tour for tourists filled with puns shows what one man, Harold Solomon, can craft combining imagination and junk with a welder. I dare say the transformed junk that fill the first floor gallery rival anything that New York or San Francisco's beatnik art scene has to offer. I found his work interesting. A friend called it hideous.

Photos

Eagle's Wings Fall Cruise North

It's finally cooled off in Punta Gorda - so that means it's "Fall Cruise Time" on our sailboat, Eagle's Wings!  We pulled away from our dock on November 1st, our route being to Venice to join our boat club, the PGIslanders, for the Venice Art Festival and other destinations north.  We loved looking at the spectacular art and Joanne even won a purse in a free drawing.  Lots of club members attended - we had fun "docktails" and a nice dinner at the Crow's Nest.

We then traveled to Sarosota via the intercoastal waterway and spent 3 days there listening to the election results and enjoying the town.  On the way home, we anchored off of Cape Haze and in Pelican Bay.  Check out the picture of Richard.  He founded a rare arrowhead sanddollar.

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving.  My sister, Mary, and brother-in-law, Al, will visit from Indiana.  We are also hosing people from the Ukraine as part of a inbound exchange of the Friendship Force, our traveling club.


Pictures

Lin and Larry Pardey

Before PGI, think BR (Before Retirement) we were Texans. We sailed on Galveston Bay with the TMCA (Texas Mariners Cruising Association), the largest boating organization on the Gulf Coast.

One wonderful day while walking down the dock our commodore's cell phone rang - Lin Pardey called to arrange hosting by TMCA a seminar to be given in our area. So impressed with receiving a call from a famous person, John walked around for weeks with his hand against his ear saying I'm walking down the dock talking to Lin Pardey on my cell phone!

Upon handing me the Publicity function for TMCA, John advised me: if I don't have anything to say, I just make stuff up. Soon after receiving this advice, stories of tsunamis rolling through Offats Bayou, pirate ships ghosting along in moonlight and fair winds that blew us both up and down the bay appeared in local marine publications. Making up stuff works for politicians and it worked for me. People showed up at our monthly meetings just to see who we were!

Now, years after Lin and Larry honored the TMCA with their visit, I was honored to introduce them at the Punta Gorda Civic Center where Lin talked about The Compelling Power of Adventure. Rather than ramble on and on listing all of their accomplishments, I opted to relate the story of John with his cellphone and his advice to me and then said that for Lin and Larry, I didn't have to make anything up!




Bull Canyon, Lin's latest book remembers her relationships while building a wooden boat in the mountains. I recommend it to sailors and nonsailors alike.

Outland Hatch Covers

Outland Hatch Covers on Eagle's Wings

Our old hatch covers were falling apart. The sharp looking  navy covers with white piping matched the navy blue bimini but appeared to be expensive to repair or replace.  So when I saw an ad in Cruising World for these Outland Hatch Covers, I decided to give them a try.  So far so good -  Easy to install; easy to remove.  To order, the website provides detailed insructions for measuring your hatch dimensions, but James at Outland has many hatch patterns already so just tell him what hatch you have before you bother to make exact measurments.