PIRATES!!!!! Fort Myers Beach!

Seems that it's Pirate week in these parts!

 Pieces of Eight was front and center in the whole thing!

 The Black Pearl!

There were all kind of boats hangin out watchin the show!

Cuban Oregano!

My neighbor hooked me up with one of his extra Cuban oregano plants! 

Tasty stuff! 

Thanks Daniel!

Kentucky Chucky

Always a good time when Kentucky Chucky is playin at Bonita Bills !

Hmmm

This isn't the kind of thing that I like to see after a dive session.....

This fella had a ruddy brownish color to it .
If anyone can ID it please leave a comment!
This is in salt water, West coast Florida.

Bacon Bloody Mary

I jokingly asked for bacon in a Bloody Mary at Bonita Bills and like magic .....

                      POOF!

There it was! 

Vistors!

I had a good visit with my family last week .
I always find my mom's thirst for sailing amazingly refreshing but found my brother had little to no interest after half an afternoon and didn't get the chance to find out if my brothers girlfriend , Brenda,  even liked to sail unfortunately .
So my Mom and I got to go sailing a couple o days during their brief visit.
First time out we had a great day sail to Sanibel where Grand Ma Dot's restaurant is located and was our target for the day besides catching a breeze!
Upon our return under the bridge at Matanza pass, I spied a familiar skiff sporting a well known brown canine, Renegade!
As we slowly moved along the channel with just enough wind to fill the genoa in a run position , we hear Scott haranguing Ren as we passed while he snapped a few pix of DAWGFISH ghosting along!

  Thanks Scott ! I have always wondered what DAWGFISH looked like under sail!


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The following day we set sail for Cabbage Key.
Getting a late start , we arrived there mid afternoon!
I felt good about that due to the bow wind the whole way there ...... the ol iron genny got a workout !
I should mention that the heat index was around 102 degrees, VERY sunny but with the wind like it was we felt alright .......until we stopped at dock....... yeah I've been less wet swimming.....

 The entrance to Cabbage Key is shallow and narrow but very well marked from the ICW!

 Self preservation is rarely pretty. Those who thoughtlessly sneered at the sight will probably never understand.

 Dockage is limited so our skinny draft got us a shallow slip!

 For my brother though I doubt he will see this or why it is for him...

 On my way to the bathroom , you can imagine my stunned amazement upon entering the bar area , where started the mementos.....dollar bills with writing on them taped up EVERYWHERE!

 I just HAD to !

 Mom noticed that they were multiple layers deep!

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We were kind of excited as we exited the channel to cabbage Key because since we had a bow wind all the way up , that meant we would get to sail back ....right????
ok ok we got to sail for a couple hours before the wind died , turned and came at our bow at about 20-25 mph!!!!
glad I saw it coming at us and got the sail doused!
Now we had already used 1 tank of gas getting to Cabbage Key, and sailing a third of the way back meant we should have plenty to return.... for some reason the tank felt light when I checked it at the halfway point so I drained what little was left in the "empty" tank into what felt like a "half empty" tank , only to find out that it was now practically full! Being night at the time this was a relieving revelation that let us pick up the pace a bit.
After successfully navigating the shoals and really narrow channels on the south east side of St. James City we cross the bay to arrive safe and sound (and exhausted) at Matanza Inn at dock at around 12:30 AM.

Brenda thoughtfully got me a bobble head turtle! Thank you!
Thanks mom for the visit and the great food experiences!!
Thanks to my brother for forcing my hand at making DAWGFISH a dry boat.

An ool !! Yeah no P either!!

It's been a reeeeaaaaly long time since I swam in a pool! 

Will be at the dock at Matanza bay side for a week , right    Next.   To.  The.   Pool ! 

I actually got in today and I must admit that I could get used to this!

Did I mention the hot tub? Yeah .... It's a bit hot outside as it is , heat index of 101 ... Ill stick with the pool ....

Hopefully ill have some pix n flix this week !

Roller coaster of of a day!

Last night I finally found a reasonably priced outboard motor on Craigslist ! 

Making the call and setting a time to go look and probably buy was fairly straightforward .

Arranging a ride to shore was relatively easy too! 

Waking up before dawn ( to make the appointment ) while isn't normal ,was a piece of cake due to the prospect of no more rowing potential . 

Starting the bike , now that didn't go so well . 

Gear set , shirt on phone ready and already sweating, I arc the contacts via screw driver .... And it turns over once .....

Great....

Ok , a push start it is!

Yeah ok..... Not with a slippery clutch....

With the help of a previously argumentative couple and a chef with jumper cables , I get the ride goin and immediately stop to air up the tires.....

Air paid for via debit card(surprise!)

I find the air chuck wasn't compatible.....

Hmmmm .....

3 gas station stops later I find a different style air machine ! 

Ok!! On my way !

Across the toll bridge ( luckily I had exact change!) to Cape Coral ! 

Without missing a turn I arrive early and upon sight of this beautiful little outboard ( that had a golden glow surrounding it , complete with angelic choir ringing ) I reached for the asked price while being asked " would you like me to start it?" " it's only got 2 hours on it" 

I knew it was operational and said so . ("Mint" is a better word!)

Mind reeling from my extreme luck , I pay the nice folks ,help drain the gas, and go to the bike , fiercely determined to get this jewel back and installed ASAP!

Using my backpack straps and some additional straps , I manage to get the motor strapped to me and rested in my lap. 

With a thank you and a wave I take off around the corner and took my only wrong turn!!! 

Well that clear out the choir noise quickly enough! 

Chuckling I make the correction and head back to Dawgfish amid stares and pointing the whole way !( just glad I didn't cause an accident !)

Getting off the bike at Topps , I realized that I carried the motor wrong and had oil on me because of it.

Oh well got a selfi before extracting myself off the bike !

Bumming yet another ride back and some oil to fix my mistake , make coffee and mount the motor on Kitty's Wake! 

And away we go!!!

Since poor Kitty has been ship bound for several months I headed to the sand bar via scenic route .

It didn't take her long to tire out. 

We went out to help a friend after her nap. 

1/2 hour wait on bilge pump activity.

Nothing happened. 

So dodging hornets, stepping into 120 degree cabin, fiddling with dysfunctional pump, back out past now swooping hornets , check thru-hull, silence kitty's bottlerocket noise she does , back past the irritated bees into oven/cabin down to bilge fiddle with pump (again), finally disconnecting it to save battery. 

Grabbing wasp spray on the way out and spraying them on the way to silence kitty (now screaming in a yodeling manner) and back to Dawgfish dodging the shoals  /coast guard/skeeters/noseeums 

Aaaaaannnd 

Home sweet home....

To notice how really sunburnt I am....

And spent some time to write this down....

I do really like having an out board , paddling in the heat is suicidal, 

Motoring? 

Now that's the way to go! 

Hoping the local looters that hit the house boat around the corner leave Kitty's   Wake alone . 

Chillin out

Hangin out at Bonita Bills ! 

In bed with the enemy!

For whatever reason , Kitty decided to lay down with her archnemesis , THE VACUME!!!

Will wonders never cease?!?!? ;)

Cool shirt !

I got my neighbor Scott to pose with his cool shirt! 

Tater breading!

One of my most recent discoveries , is using dried taters for breading fish!

Recently caught Gafftopsail catfish ! fried in sesame oil!!

Technical gremlins located!

After nearly a year of random loss of gps signal (usually at the worst possible moment) I finally discovered the culprit!

It seems the "all one piece plug " is really 2 seperate pieces and has some corrosion problems inside.


Stay tuned till next time, when you'll here me say " You want how much !?!?!?!?!?"

Garden update

After transferring my trusty sage plant (started in Illinois ), and doubting its survival , it had proved its value in tropical environment by thriving once again !!!

The Basil (started in carrabelle ) finally gave up and I have eaten all but one of the green onion (also started in carrabelle ).

Currently my garden harbors the following plants:

Sage

Green onion

Garlic (grown from store bought cloves )

Purple Basil ( thanks to seeds from Daniel!!)

It's been a while , but I now am actively harvesting when the heat will allow me to cook!!

Saline issues

I discovered a bit of an over heat issue this morning after sailing yesterday and dealing with a quickly overheating outboard till a mid nite anchorage provided a much needed sleep. 

Upon removing the thermostat cover for an inspection I saw salt..... LOTS of too. 

Removing the thermostat from its salt seal, I proceeded to dig out more than a heaping tablespoon of salt from the housing. 

Looking at a thermostat with this appearance

was convincing enough to consider it "out of action", and RTV'd the cover back in place. 

Since there was barely enough wind to move, I was very relieved to not hear the hot alarm squeal after a minute.!!

"Technical difficulties" remedied (hopefully)

I apologize for the error recently with viewing the pix. I think I have remedied the problem.
Please let me know how things work for ya!

Pseudo sunset

Below is a photo I shot while looking Northeast during sunset.

Impressed

My first Independence Day here in FMB was stunning......The sheer amount of arial displays had me speechless. I did get some photos but there is absolutely no justice to what I saw in what I captured.
I have seen some phenominal fireworks displays throughout the years, everthing from Disney World/Epcot center through Lincoln Fest back in Springfield, Il to the boys out in Greenview,Il to Lake Petersburg, IL to New Orleans Superbowl .......
None of which held a candle to last night....
My vantage point here in Matanza pass/Hurricane pass allowed us to see ALL of Estero Islands displays. Practically every resort had their own show! Then there was Sannibel , Cape Coral and Bonita Beach also shooting them off!
Flat out more fireworks than I have seen in the last 5 years all within sight!
I wasn't surprised when I woke this morning with a stiff neck from looking everywhere at once!

Odds n ends

In June I was able to get Dawgfish and her skiff soon to be named Kitty's Wake, registered and titled in Florida!

I also added  a sticker just to be fair!

Me: "look Kitty! whadaya think?"

Kitty: " We got a dog??!?!?!?"

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Neighbor lady trying to convince 80 lb Ren (Rottweiler), that its OK and to pleeeeaase hold still!

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Daniel's garden defense crew(1 of 2). 

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Spadefish!

This lil guy seems to be fairly tame. Been a few times I thought we would run over it while it was fishing for minnows on our approach!

AAAnnnddd there's the news folks! 

I hope everyone has a great Independence Day!