[Most recent entry is at end.] [Previous log file is http://www.geocities.com/bill_dietrich/Magnolia/MagnoliaLog2003.txt ] 12/5/2003 (Friday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Did library and groceries in the morning, walked on the beach in the afternoon. Talked to Mel from Manana, who remembered me six months ago saying that I still haven't learned how to slow down into the relaxed cruising life. Found problem with FM radio's power cord; have radio again ! Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 12/6/2003 (Saturday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Did library. Cold and blowing NW 20 in the afternoon. Laptop revived long enough to update the log. Went to Richard's boat and he made a wonderful chili dinner for Karen, Harry and me. Everyone else smoking like chimneys. Very cold weather expected overnight. 12/7/2003 (Sunday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Cold, but not terribly so. Stayed on board all day. 12/8/2003 (Monday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Ashore to library and supermarket in the morning. Ashore again and took trolley to West Marine. Bought fresh water pump ($60) and hose-clamps ($9). Why are girls attracted to bad boys ? On the bus back from West Marine, a pretty girl and a guy got on. Almost immediately, another couple raced up in a car, jumped out, and started pounding on the side of the bus, yelling at the guy to come out and fight. He wanted to, but the girl reminded him he was on probation, and would go back to jail. They traded insults for a while, then the car left and bus left. The guy told us all about people he'd beat up. What a loser ! I hope they met him at the end of the route, had their fight, and all went to jail. Helped Mel try to get the cowling off his outboard, and then lent my impact driver to him. He got the motor working later. Took a quick walk on the beach, and scrounged some lumber out of a garbage can. Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner. Installed new fresh water pump. 12/9/2003 (Tuesday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Woke up with a sinus headache. Ashore to library and supermarket in the morning. Wind opposing current in the anchorage when I got back, and some boats sailing wildly at anchor. Started cleaning engine compartment near genset muffler, so I can paint there, and it's more of a mess than I expected. Did a bucket of laundry. Felt lousy all afternoon; had to stay in bed, during the best beach afternoon in a while. 12/10/2003 (Wednesday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Sinus headache worse. Raining. Ashore to library, then felt so bad that I came back and went right to bed. Miserable all afternoon. 12/11/2003 (Thursday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Sinus headache better, but not gone. Ashore to library, then supermarket. Such an extreme low tide that I had to wade ashore through deep soft mud at the dinghy landing; guy ahead of me sank in over the tops of his boots and got them full of mud. Back to boat. More cleaning in engine compartment, and took belt and setscrew off autpilot pump. After lunch, dinghied ashore and went to NAPA Auto; bought new belt for autopilot ($6). Met a guy named Ed from trimaran with orange roof; he said the seawater quality here is the 3rd-worst in all of Florida. Dinghied ashore on other side, scrounged some lumber, walked on the beach, bought setscrew and toilet plunger ($3). Talked to Dieter; he never did the trip to Cuba he was hoping to do this summer. Installed belt and setscrew on autopilot. Enjoyed watching a nice-looking woman in a bikini top cleaning the topsides of a neighboring sailboat. At the end of the afternoon, she got in her dinghy and the motor wouldn't start. I was on the verge of going over to offer her a tow, when someone else on the boat came out and got the motor started for her. Dang ! Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 12/12/2003 (Friday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Sinus headache better, but not gone. Did a bucket of laundry. Ashore to library. Had some excitement about 1 PM: was coming on deck when I heard a "clunk" noise. Looked out to see a sailboat had bumped Richard's sailboat, 100+ feet ahead of me. Jumped in the dinghy and went over to help. The aluminum sailboat "Marica" had snagged his rope anchor rode with their rudder as they went past (the rode was out to port at a very shallow angle). The current slid them right up the anchor rode, to rest again his boat. Couldn't free them by hand; had to carry out a stern anchor for them. They pulled back on it, then I held Richard's anchor rode clear of them as they picked up their anchor and maneuvered clear. I dinghied over to the restaurant and left a message for Richard with Harry. Don't think there was any damage to his boat. Harry told me some guy in a brand-new 25-foot motorboat hit his boat a week or so ago. The guy was cruising through the harbor, taking pictures, and ran right into Harry's boat, knocking it back 10 feet and jarring Harry right out of his berth. Put a couple-square-inch hole in the fiberglass of Harry's boat. Painted a big section of the engine compartment, behind the genset. Looks much cleaner and brighter with white instead of dark grey. Took the laptop floppy drive apart, in hopes it would just be full of dust or something. But the magnetic head is just about ripped off; must have snagged on the floppy disk cutout. Tempted to try a transplant from the new incompatible drive I bought, but it's all tiny ribbon-wires and press-fit connectors; unlikely to succeed. May do it after Chirstmas anyway; nothing to lose. Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner. 12/13/2003 (Saturday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Sinus headache gone ! Did a bucket of laundry. Ashore to library. Painted more of engine compartment. Dinghied ashore, bought gasoline for dinghy ($5), walked on the beach. Stopped to chat with Mel on "Manana" for an hour or so. He's worried that he might have to stop boating; his emphysema has been making him out of breath after the slightest exertion. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. Christmas boat parade tonight. Started out in the outer harbor, then circled my area about 7:30. Pretty good showing: 40 or 50 boats, and a marina and several anchored boats well lit too. Nice. 12/14/2003 (Sunday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Sinus headache is back. Rained all morning, and blew hard for a while. Afternoon grey and damp and still. Felt better after lunch. Loafed all afternoon. Fuel level 10.0 inches at engine hour 3306.5 Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries. Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner. 12/15/2003 (Monday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Did library in the morning, taking the laptop and CD-burner in so I could burn a CD, for backup and so I could upload the latest log file to my web site. Walk on the beach in the afternoon; saw one thong bikini ! Salad and grilled pork chop and grilled chicken for dinner. Starting to empty out my refrigerator so I can leave it off while I'm gone. 12/16/2003 (Tuesday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Dinghied ashore and did library. In the afternoon, put on my wet-suit (seems to be shrinking; I couldn't be expanding!) and snorkeled under the boat. Water felt cold, although it probably was in the upper 60's. Hull is remarkably clean. I was expecting to have to put on a new shaft zinc, but the old one was still there, although not tight. No signs of corrosion. Salad and chili for dinner. Rained hard from 6 PM to 8 AM the next morning. Have a deck leak from starboard-aft corner of pilothouse down into aft head. 12/17/2003 (Wednesday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Windy. Dinghied ashore and did library. Blowing 20-25 and rough as I went back out to the boat. Found float switch on primary bilge pump isn't working properly: after water rises, have to jiggle switch to get pump to turn on, then after water is down, have to jiggle switch again to get pump to go off. Decided to leave pump disabled while I'm gone. Second bilge pump works fine. Went ashore and met Don, who drove down from Punta Gorda to see me. Had a coffee in Hooters, enjoying the pretty waitresses but not the coffee. Had a nice chat, talking mostly about boating. But he decided not to do the dinghy ride out to Magnolia and back; the harbor is really rough today. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 12/18/2003 (Thursday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Woke up with a start just 5 minutes before Richard was coming over to give me a dinghy ride to shore. Fortunately, I didn't have much left to do. Dressed, brushed teeth, closed up the boat, and left. Cold morning. Richard's complaining about the cold, but I'm dressed for NJ and it doesn't seem cold to me. The low in Fort Myers Beach today will be higher than the high in NJ today ! Richard tells me that Hooters now has an airline; I should have flown them today ! Bummer. Taxi to Summerlin Square ($10), since the trolley would get there 10 minutes after the bus leaves. Catch the bus, then find out they make a 15-minute loop in the wrong direction and then come right back past the Square again ! Could have taken the trolley and saved $10. To the airport, through 4 or 5 humongous shopping malls. The retirees and snowbirds must really like to shop ! Security and flight uneventful, except that I had a window seat as we flew up the East Coast, and it was fun to look down at the ICW and rivers and say "yup, I anchored there and there, and I remember that turn and that inlet and that town". But it was shocking how fast we flew past territory that took me days or weeks to cover in a boat. Calculated the plane was going about 150 times as fast as my boat, in a straight line with no bridges and in constant daylight. Pilot kept announcing towns and sights as we flew over, and the passengers seemed most interested when he said Disneyland was off to the left ! Cold in Philly and NJ. My brother picked me up, and I told him the Florida weather was back and forth, 2 days of sun and then 2 days of ugly cold weather, alternating. He said "well, you won't have to worry about that up here: it's ALL ugly cold weather !" Got to Mom's place and took a shower, and told them the cold weather had made me go without a shower for a couple of days. Soon this had been repeated to my sister as "5 days", and she said "glad I wasn't the person sitting next to you in the airplane !" 12/19/2003 - 1/5/2004 I'm in New Jersey; boat is at anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Had 3 months worth of mail delivered to me; missed a jury-duty summons, and a CD rolled over when I didn't want it to. Amazingly mild weather for Christmas in NJ, and very cold weather was forecast to arrive a day after I went back to FL ! Some New Year's resolutions: - say hi to women on the beach - call my Mom more often 1/6/2004 (Tuesday) Flew from NJ to FL, acquiring a headache on the flight. Bus and trolley to dinghy dock. Walked onto the dock just as someone was casting off, and he gave me a lift to my boat. Two of us and my suitcase almost swamped his small dinghy (Walker Bay 8, I think), but we made it. Boat is fine; some birds crapped on it a lot, but nothing else wrong. Gulped some food and pills and went to bed. 1/7/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Cool, grey, windy. Removed cables to genset battery, checked water in main batteries. Started up the refrigerator. Unpacked, and filed bank statements and such. Scrubbed bird-crap off decks. Outboard started after a shot of starting fluid. Dinghied ashore, did library and groceries. Back to boat, and ran engine for 20 minutes to exercise it. A bit rough starting, but then okay. To Richard's boat for dinner. Don was there too. Nice dinner and dessert and conversation, but came away reeking of cigarette smoke, as usual. 1/8/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Spun the boat three times with the dinghy to untwist the anchor rodes a bit. Dinghied ashore and did library and groceries. Ordered genset muffler ($151, which is a rip-off, but it's a special-order item). Saw a big old raccoon stroll across the entrance to the dinghy-landing beach, in broad daylight. Saw a bird floating and diving in the canal; he went down 15 feet in front of me, so I put it in neutral when I got there, not wanting to hit him. Just about then, he surfaced more than 100 feet ahead of me ! Back to boat, had lunch, then spun it twice more with the dinghy. Went ashore, bought gas ($5), walked on beach (quite nice). Back to boat, spun it twice more, then went over and had a chat with Mel. He had planned to leave today (I'm planning to leave tomorrow), but he lost initiative and didn't go. Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner. 1/9/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Fort Myers Beach. Up at 7 AM, started to raise anchors. Secondary came up fine, and then I found I'd gotten the rope rode of the primary into my propeller ! Quickly dropped the secondary again, ending up a little close to Richard's boat. Launched the dinghy, investigated a little, decided I had to snorkel under the boat. Went over to Richard's boat to warn him we might get close, but he wasn't up. Back aboard, put on swimsuit, got gear, lowered swim platform. Back to Richard's boat, and told him what was going on. Got into the water at about 8 AM. Jeez, it felt cold ! Made me gasp and made my heart pound. Dove underneath and found 5 or 6 turns around the prop and a long turn around the top of the rudder. Got the loop off the rudder, and some off the prop, but couldn't get some overruns off. And there's a lot of pressure on the rope, since the tide is still going out a bit, and the light wind is coming from the same direction. Back aboard, toweled off and dressed, but still shivering. Have to wait for slack tide, which is less than an hour away. Ate some breakfast, and eventually got rid of most of the shivering. But I really got cold, and I got some nice scratches and scrapes too. Back into the water about 9 AM, and got the rope off. Out of the water, dried and dressed, not as chilled as before. Brought in the secondary anchor and then the primary's rope, ending up on the primary with chain. Hoisted swim platform and dinghy, cleaned up a little, started engine, hoisted primary anchor. Started leaving harbor about 10 AM. What an ordeal ! Calm, sunny day with no wind. Could have waited a couple of days to get wind, but it's going to be a cold N 15-20 on Sunday, and I wanted to get started on this trip. So I'm motoring. Uneventful trip. Scrubbed the deck a little, did the dishes, made yet another to-do list. Into Marco Island harbor and anchored by 5:10. Right after I anchored, another boat came in and put their anchor probably 50 feet from mine. After the couple on board discussed it, they picked it up and moved 100 feet further away. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Tried to turn on the anchor light, and it doesn't work; guess the bulb is burnt out. 1/10/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Marco Island, in Factory Bay. Grey and windy; got sunny later, but stayed cool. Dinghied ashore to marina, called a couple of people I know here. Back to boat. Anchor slowly dragging, so re-anchored at about 10 AM. Not too hard despite the cold wind, but made tricky and messy by tons of mud on part of the rode. Dinghied ashore at 1 and picked up Gerry. Showed him the boat and had a nice chat, but he couldn't stay long. Took him back ashore. On the way back, stopped by the Morgan Out Island 41 "Sun Dancer" and chatted with "Spaghetti Eddie". He's from Detroit, wife from Nebraska, has a hotel in Highland NC. Hoisted the dinghy; gave up on seeing Gary. Climbed up on top of pilothouse and cleaned bird-crap off the solar panels. A little before 4, startled to hear anchor chain clattering nearby. Sailboat "A Far Side" was anchoring, and they started pretty close to my stern, but ended up a reasonable distance away. Salad and noodles-and-soup for dinner. 1/11/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Marco Island, in Factory Bay. Cool and windy. Raised anchor about 9:30 and headed out. A bit rough in the inlet, but then I turned and the wind and swells are on my stern, as I expected. Motor-sailing with the main up. Turned the corner around Cape Romano shoals and headed upwind and up-swell, but still did well. Anchored inside Indian Key Pass about 3 PM. Still windy. Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner. Can see lots of stars, for first time in a while. 1/12/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Indian Key Pass in Thousand Islands. Sunny but a bit cool. Raised anchor at 8, motored out of the pass, then raised main and jib and sailed for 3 hours. Did almost 4 knots for a couple of hours, mostly on a beam reach. Then wind backed to a broad reach, and slowly slacked until I was doing around 3 knots. When speed dropped to 2.5 and less around 11 AM, took down the jib and started motoring. Saw a big, brown manatee swimming, a couple of miles offshore. About 1 PM, wind picked up from different direction. Raised jib again, put engine in neutral, started sailing with jib and main. Did 3.5 knots close-hauled. Put engine in gear and nudged it up to a fast idle, and speed jumped to 5.5 knots. Kept motor-sailing, doing 5 to 6 knots as wind slacked and firmed. When I eventually took the sails down, motoring gave me 3.9 knots. Now, I've been musing about getting a folding or feathering propeller. They're expensive, so I'm not in a hurry to do it. But I wonder if this "jump" of 2 knots when I put the engine in gear (it happens pretty consistently) is a sign that my propeller gives a lot of drag when sailing ? Maybe I'd get a big improvement from a folding or feathering prop. And I was wondering if my prop was under-pitched for motoring, since I don't get the higher speeds other people claim to motor at (although my tach is mis-calibrated, so I really can't be sure). Getting a higher-pitched fixed prop would make the sailing drag even worse. Into Little Shark River and anchored about 3:45 in strong tidal current. 5 or 6 other boats here. Dolphins jumping in the entrance and later inside the river. I've seen lots of dolphins around the boat before, but some of these were jumping almost completely out of the water, making a loud slap when they landed on their sides. Sometimes smacking their tails on the top of the water as they swimmed, too. Salad and chili and a beer for dinner. 1/13/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Little Shark River. Sunny and going to be warm. Headache from the beer. Raised anchor at 7:50; something snagging the chain. Almost no wind. Saw a couple of dolphins jump out of the water, in unison, off the starboard bow. Raised the main about 9:30, but still not much wind. Soon took it down. Lots of motoring through a beautiful day, dodging through hundreds and hundreds of crab-trap floats. Couldn't get rid of my headache. Finally got to Marathon. Through the Boot Key bridge at 4:35, then snaked through all the anchored boats looking for a spot. Harbor is packed, and new city moorings have taken one of the areas where I used to anchor. Lots of fun wiggling through all of the tight-packed boats, watching out for shallow-angled rope rodes from some of them. Tricky when heading into the sun and hard to see. Finally found a spot about 150 yards further away from the city marina than I used to be. Put down two anchors, and finished anchoring at 5:20. Tired and headachey. Hope my secondary anchor holds; if it doesn't, a south wind will put me onto a rock seawall. Salad and peanut-butter crackers for dinner. 1/14/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Sunny and warm day. Have a headache. Bike into the dinghy, and dinghied in to city marina. Lots of changes: all of the boats along the sea-wall are different, and a couple of the spaces are taken up by city boats. Several couples that lived there for a couple of years are gone. Didn't see a single person I recognized. Paid $60 for a month's dinghy-dockage, then biked off to the car-storage place. Someone spray-painted something on the trunk of my car, and the storage place doesn't have any way to jump-start the car. Biked to library (not open yet), West Marine (pump I wanted not in stock), back to library. Did internet. Back to car place, got a jump-start, car runs fine. Bike into car, back to marina, dumped bike into dinghy. Went to Boater's World, picked up mail, got a preliminary estimate on car paint repair. Back to marina, talked to John who works there; first familiar face. Saw another familiar face while dinghying back to boat: Dave something. The city is planning to put in a lot more moorings (total of 230) and outlaw anchoring, except for a small temporary/emergency area near the bridge. Probably will happen by end of the year. The main reason they cite is water quality, but a surprising angle on it: instead of talking about waste discharge, the article I saw from the city manager talked about anchors digging furrows in the bottom and anchor chains scraping the bottom, preventing the growth of sea-grass. It said the harbor used to have sea-grass everywhere, with water clear enough to see down 15 feet, and now the water is full of algae and sediment and there is little grass. Lunch on boat, then back ashore. Got in the car, and the battery's dead. Got a jump from a marina worker, headed for NAPA Auto, but didn't make it. Stalled on the main highway, but angled for an opening onto a side road, and almost made it. Got out and started pushing the car back so I could push it into the road, and a couple of guys came running from a cafe to help me. Soon had it safely parked, and walked to a muffler shop 50 yards away. They got me jumped, drove to their shop, installed a new battery for $91. Probably a slight rip-off, but what could I do ? Mailed some letters to activate auto insurance, transfer a bank account, etc. Drove to another repair shop and got an estimate for fixing the paint damage: $410. They say each damaged panel needs to be repainted, since there are scratches through the paint. Not sure they'll get an exact color-match, either. Took the estimate to the manager of the storage yard, who has been unable to reach the yard owner, and pointed out that the contract says they're not liable for any damage. But they want to do the right thing, and they're pretty sure the kids of some bad tenants they're evicting did it. If they won't pay, I'll probably have some cheaper, less-thorough repair done. Now I've pretty much decided to sell my car. It made some sense to keep it if I was going to be in Marathon a couple months per year. But with storage damaging the car, my plans to be out of the country a lot in the coming years, the city about to outlaw anchoring, and other factors making Fort Myers Beach more attractive (beach, radio reception, TV reception, better library, free dinghy dockage), I think I may not be coming back to Marathon again. A bit awkward that my Mailboxes Etc box is here. And selling the car will be painful, I'm sure. I could move the car to Fort Myers Beach, but parking there is tight and I'd end up in the same storage situation. Got groceries, and dinghied back to the boat; from a distance saw Don who lives on a houseboat. He's been trying to sell it for a year, and I wonder what guys like him will do when the city outlaws anchoring. I guess some will pay $150/month for the moorings (plus $60 for dinghy dockage and $30 for showers). But some will end up abandoning their boats, I bet. A lot of boats aren't seaworthy, and many have anchors buried so deep that they won't be able to get them up. Felt a bit stressed-out, and still a bit headachey. But, hey, it's just some money, and life is good: I live on a boat ! When I feel stressed out, I think of that song lyric: "this is no social crisis, just another tricky day for you !" Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. 1/15/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Nice day, but still a bit of a headache nagging at me. Fixed primary bilge pump, mostly by throwing away the switch-mounting I made a while ago. Put new lines on the davits; used one of the old lines as a new painter. Climbed the main mast to investigate the anchor light. Turns out it was still working (but I soon put an end to that; tried to get the bulb out, and it came apart). Something, probably a bird, has destroyed the plastic cover over it, so I couldn't see the light from deck any more. The cover may have disintegrated naturally: the remains of it look 30 years old. Brought the remains down so I can go buy new (I hope). Spritzed all of the mast-top sheaves with silicone lube. Had lunch, then dinghied ashore. Saw Duane and had a nice chat with him. He's been to Luperon DR (I want to go there) and showed me lots of pictures. I was shocked to hear that his girlfriend Lee died suddenly, of some kind of acute anemia. Storage place still doesn't know it they're going to pay anything for the damage to my car. Went to West Marine, found my anchor light was undersized even more than I thought (a 7.5-watt bulb!) and there's little hope of getting a new lense, so I bought a nice Davis Mega-Light ($52). Should be legal, visible to 2 NM, has photo-cell to automatically turn on and off. The trick will be mounting it at the top of the mast. To the courthouse, to try to get jury duty rescheduled. Had to write a letter to a judge; we'll see what comes of it. To welding shops, and first one refused to work in steel, because it will rust. But aluminum will be too big, stainless too expensive. He kind of comically talked down every material, and then sent me along to the second shop, Hot Arc. It was the one I'd actually been trying to find. Left the drawing and they should have the first security grate done next Wednesday. Probably going to be around $350 for all 4 grates and pieces. Will be done in 3/8 steel rod. Materials cost probably about $40; stainless materials would have been about 8 times as much. To the library, and did newspapers and internet. Ordered USB floppy for laptop ($40). Got a bunch of free magazines, to add to the pile of books I'm getting from the marina exchange shelves. Back to marina, and soldered power cord for FM/shortwave radio. Another nice chat with Duane, and also talked to John (old guy from Georgia). So some of the old faces are still here. I hear the hated Harry, the harbormaster, is still here, and has been cruising around with a sheriff checking out boat registrations and such. The city is still pulling out derelicts and disposing of them. They're even paying to dispose of one boat that someone offered to buy from them. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. It's been a good day: got a lot done, and had some nice chats. Spoiled it by testing the primary bilge pump; switch is still sticking. 1/16/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Tried to loosen rope gipsy on anchor windlass; it's frozen to the shaft, and I'd like to find out what it would take to replace it with a chain gipsy. Probably hasn't been off in 30 years. Put my pulley-puller on it, and the pressure started breaking the puller. Opened new anchor light, but they carefully don't say which bulb is the "bright" one and which is the "low energy" one, and I can't tell the difference. I powered them up, and they look equally bright to me. Was on top of the pilothouse, replacing pins on the solar panel hinges, when Jim from a Morgan 33 stopped by. I invited him aboard, and he'd come over to check out my roller-furling, since he's about to get some. Gave him a tour, and had a nice chat. He says I'll never get that rope gipsy off the windlass; he's tried the same thing on other windlasses. He says two turns of chain around the rope gipsy will grab well enough to bring the anchor up; I'll have to try it. Pulled primary bilge pump up and repositioned it a bit. Took engine intake strainer apart. Dinghied ashore. Nice chat with Duane. Took some pictures of derelict boats they've pulled out onto the marina property, and got warned by the dockmaster: apparently, I went into a temporary impound area, and if the sheriff saw me, they would have arrested me. I just walked past one no-trespassing sign; no fences or anything. Went to West Marine and figured out the anchor light bulbs after a little detective work. Did library. Went to medical clinic to check out prices of vaccinations (about $65/shot, and some require 3 shots). Went to several stores, but struck out on getting a new gasket/O-ring for the strainer. Bought a gallon of outboard premix oil ($8). Got my mail. Back to marina, and chatted with Diver Dave and his German girlfriend. He's doing okay, lots of business diving and sailing, although he complained about the cold water. Back to the boat. Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner. Put the engine intake strainer back together. Tested the primary bilge pump: still fails. Guess I should buy a new switch. Read something in Cruising World today: Bill Lee's three "Go-Slow Factors": - furling main - fixed prop, especially 3-blade - shoal keel I have all three of those ! 1/17/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Crimped connectors onto the Mega-Light and climbed the mast. The usual situation: couldn't get the old light off because the screws are frozen. Sprayed penetrating oil on it a couple of times, then came down. Rested and worked on other stuff for a little while, then climbed the mast again, with wind picking up a bit, taking a hammer and an impact driver with me. But couldn't use them much at the top; needed 3 hands. Can wiggle the light fixture, but the screws are frozen into the mast. Came back down. Some alternatives: 1- hire a rigger, or 2- cut away the old fixture and try to get the screws out with pliers (if that fails, cut off the screws and tap new holes), or 3- cut off the top of the old fixture and bolt the new one to the old one. Over lunch, wind shifted to south and kicked up a little. My secondary anchor seems to be holding. A nearby catamaran dragged, raised and lowered anchor a few times, then raised it and did a big circle, passing very closely behind me, then back to their original spot and put it down again. Dinghied ashore. Bought O-rings for intake strainer ($4), high-temp engine paint ($5), spark plugs ($4), alligator clips ($3). Did library. Chatted with Don; he's still trying to sell his houseboat, and has a powerboat he's going to trailer north behind his motorhome. He went on and on about the 6-speaker sound system he finally got working in his houseboat. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 1/18/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Climbed the stupid mast again, and failed again. Tied myself to the mast-top with a rope and banged on the screws with an impact driver, but no luck. Installed new O-ring on engine intake strainer. Changed outboard spark plugs. Did engine oil change; 9 quarts out, 10 quarts in. Oil came out slowly; took all day to get it done. Engine hour 3336. Took 3 tries to get filter seated. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Forward water tank ran dry. Had idea for the anchor light: I'll U-bolt the new fixture to the old one ! I'm not proud. Evil clouds came past at 5, followed by fairly steady rain. Rained off and on all night. 1/19/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Rained much of the morning, and stayed totally grey and threatening and damp until late afternoon. Scrubbed the outside of the pilothouse. Measured and scraped the window-sills inside the pilothouse. Dinghied ashore, pausing to spin the boat around once to untwist the anchor rodes. Disposed of used engine oil. Chatted with owner of nice Bristol at the marina. Shopped for U-bolts and other stuff, but got nothing. Got groceries. Back at the boat, invited Dave from Columbia 36 "Barbara Mae" over to see the boat and see my mast-climbing equipment. Had a nice chat. He has two ex-wives and now a girlfriend who wants to become his third ex-wife, is retired from GM, is an avid Ham and tried to talk me into getting some equipment and doing email from the boat. He's been running his engine a lot because his refrigerator has a Freon leak and is running a lot. Salad and grilled pork chop for dinner. Nice, mostly-clear evening. Ran the engine for 45 minutes to charge batteries. 1/20/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Beautiful day, but slept late with a bit of a headache. Did a bucket of laundry. Started draining engine coolant. Dinghied ashore, taking laptop with me. Burnt a CD, took it to an internet cafe ($10), and uploaded to web site and log file. Ah, the things I do for my fans ! Disposed of a gallon of used coolant. Bought intake strainer O-rings ($8), U-bolts for anchor light ($8), antifreeze ($8), electric oil-change pump ($21), gas for dinghy ($5). As expected, storage place is refusing to pay for any of the damage to my car, after stalling me for a week. Did library. Drained more coolant and put in new; 2.75 gallons of coolant out, 1.25 gallons of anti-freeze and 1.5 gallons of water in. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 1/21/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Did a bucket of laundry. Replaced galley cold-water filter. Started to patch a chafed spot on the dinghy tube, but found I couldn't peel the backing off the patches, and the tube of glue had congealed into rubber a few years ago. Later found out what I suspected: the patches don't have any backing on them. Pumped some water out of the dinghy keel. Dinghied ashore. Disposed of used coolant. Bought dinghy patch kit ($33), SS U-bolts ($13), radiator cap ($6), returned other U-bolts, did library. Tried to call Mom and got her answering machine. Almost got rear-ended by some idiot in an SUV, who decided to swerve halfway at the last second, despite my turn-signal and brake lights well ahead of time. It was close. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 1/22/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Decided to put new O-rings on genset intake strainer, and opened a can of worms. Top of one of the long bolts snapped off when I put a wrench on the nut. Mashed a fingernail getting the plastic body off. Same bolt sheared off the base when I tried to unscrew it from there. The bronze has turned coppery. Hand-drilled the hole out and tapped it. Bottom of engine intake strainer is still leaking, so took that apart too; plastic body hard to get off. Cleaned it up, put new O-rings in it, reinstalled it, and it seems to work (no more leak). Drilled and cut and painted a small piece of wood for the anchor light mounting. Put a patch on the chafed spot on the port dinghy tube. After lunch, climbed the mast. Attached new light to old fixture with U-bolts and piece of wood and lock-washers and nut, putting on anti-seize. Cut and stripped the wire coming out of the mast, measured the polarity with my voltmeter, crimped connectors onto the wires, then plugged the new light in. Everything went smoothly for a change. And the light even works ! Not happy with the way water can get into the connectors; might climb again with some kind of electrical tape, but I think I need something sturdier than regular electrical tape. Dinghied ashore and picked up the first of my hatch security grates ($85). They put more time into it than they estimated, because they made it a little more complicated than I expected. But it fits almost perfectly in the aft hatch; I'll have to file the corners a little. Spent a long time in the auto-parts store as they tried to figure out how I could put a filter on my engine air intake. Left without finding anything. Did library. Bought gallon of polyurethane paint ($35), threaded rod and nuts for strainer ($2). Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner. 1/23/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Cool and breezy. Cut threaded rod, reassembled genset intake strainer with new O-ring, and reinstalled it. Fit security grate into aft hatch and decided it's a bit too big. Tried hand-filing the edges, but it's going to take a grinder. Checked the genset impeller; looks fine. Sprayed some silicone lube into it and closed it up. Opened the engine pump cover, and impeller looks fine, but the gasket is trashed. I think it had been leaking and caused rust down the side of the engine. I saw the rust a while ago, but never connected the dots and investigated where it was coming from. Lubed it up, installed new gasket. Had hoped to use my new impeller-extractor, but then remembered how much of a pain it is to get the impellers back into place; you have to fold all the vanes in the right directions while pressing the whole thing in. Did transmission oil change. Got a little messy when the "out" tube of the electric pump got away from me ! After lunch, dinghied ashore. Disposed of transmission fluid. Took grate back to welding shop to have it trimmed and left instructions for 4th grate. Did library. Tried to call Mom and got her answering machine. Checked on my voter registration. Picked up mail: my USB floppy and genset muffler both arrived ! Got groceries. Back to boat, put away food, then went over to Dave's boat for a chat. Friend of his staying up Sister Creek just replaced their old Ford engine with a rebuilt, installed it themselves, and it doesn't run. Dave is getting a small motorbike, and just found out that Key West has outlawed small gas motorbikes. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. USB floppy works on my laptop ! 1/24/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Cleaned the bilge a bit. Loosened the shaft-retention collar just inboard of the stuffing box, just to see if I could, and to see what the shaft under it looked like. Cleaned and anti-seized it and put it back on. Opened the genset muffler package and it looks good, but lacked the energy to install it. Checked the engine zinc; it will need replacement soon. Dinghied ashore. Did library, and shopped hard in several stores, but didn't buy anything. Salad and fruit and cheese-and-crackers and a grilled pork chop for dinner. 1/25/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Installed the new genset muffler, and fixed leaks in the genset intake strainer. Had to jump house batteries to genset battery. Started the genset and it ran about as well as it usually does. Ran it for 15 minutes. Ran fore/aft air conditioners, but didn't see water coming out from them, and had to poke forward fan to get it to spin. Later, realized I forgot to open the outlet through-hull for the air-conditioner. Ran engine for a couple of minutes to circulate transmission fluid, then stopped it and topped off the fluid. Found several hose-clamps on cockpit scupper hoses had rusted completely through. Dinghied ashore. Attended heavy-weather tactics talk at West Marine: mainly, showed 30 minutes of a video by the Pardeys. But I learned a couple of interesting things about heaving-to, mainly that the water-turbulence created by slipping sideways prevents a breaking wave from hitting you from windward. Bought hose clamps ($16) and liquid electrical tape ($5). Had a chat with Dave at his boat; now he's trying to talk me into buying WiFi equipment. This harbor has coverage, and he says harbors in the Bahamas do too. Salad and fruit and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Blew 15-20 all night, and I was nervous all night about the rock seawall just downwind of me. 1/26/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Installed hose clamps on cockpit drain hoses. Climbed the mast (Dave came over to watch), put liquid electrical tape on anchor light connections, tried to loosen a screw up there. Fixed starboard bow running light. Still windy and trying to blow me onto that seawall. Dinghied ashore about 1, hoping my anchor would hold. Did internet cafe and library, then back to boat about 3. All fine, and wind started easing a bit just after I got back. Painted about half of the engine compartment ceiling. My back hurts. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 1/27/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Warm and damp morning. Scattered rain. Scraped some rust off port side of engine. Cleaned stern grill; it was filthy ! Dinghied ashore. Did internet cafe and library, ordered pump gaskets at auto parts store, got groceries, got bolts ($2) at hardware store, welding shop office was closed. Back to boat. Found the bolts are the wrong size. Salad and fruit and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Rained a bit arond 5:45, then started blowing later. Blew N 20 with gusts near 30 all night. A nervous night, since the holding here isn't so good. 1/28/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Cool and windy, but my anchor is holding. Loafed in bed late, then did more painting in the engine compartment. Dinghied ashore. Scored a garden hose from the dumpster. Returned the bolts and all I could get instead was SS seizing wire ($4). Welding shop is waiting for materials to come in. Stopped at prop shop and iflatable dinghy shop. Did library. Ordered a USB-powered scanner for my laptop; $21 including shipping ! Back to boat, and used dinghy to raise 2nd anchor and move it 40 feet further from shore. Ran engine briefly to move boat enough to get the chain cleated again. Saw Dave come back with his new motorbike in the dinghy, and I suspect he's trying to figure out how to hoist it onto his boat. He left it in the dinghy all night. Chicken-and-rice for dinner. 1/29/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. A bit headachey. Fuel level 7.0 inches at engine hour 3337.8 Removed exhaust riser/elbow from engine and inspected it; looks good. Cut a section from the garden hose I scrounged and slid it inside the chafed section of dinghy rubrail to reinforce it and protect the tube: fits perfectly. Dinghied ashore, taking exhaust pipe with me. Bought sheet of doorskin wood ($8) and gallon of phosphoric acid ($15). To fit the wood into my car, got out my razor-knife in the parking lot of Home Depot, scored the wood sheet lengthwise, and snapped it in half ! Paid $2 to use shop space at marina. Spent about 3 hours stripping and painting the exhaust pipe and cutting the wood into strips for the window sills inside my pilothouse. Did library, and got groceries. Chatted with a few people at the marina. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Reinstalled the exhaust pipe on the engine, but I've misplaced a small strap. Tired. 1/30/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. A bit headachey. Started raining at 7:30, then rained hard from 8:30 to 9:30. Going to rain much of the next three days. I loafed, fiddling with the binnacle a bit and test-gluing on a piece of rubrail that I might glue to the dinghy. Sunny, hot, fairly still and very humid by noon. Dinghied ashore. Did library, checked auto-parts store and welding shop. Called Mom on her birthday, and reached her instead of her machine ! She's still 39, I believe. All of my relatives up north (NJ and IN) are freezing their butts off. I'm not gloating; I'm just glad I'm not there. Found and reinstalled strap on exhaust pipe. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Still and stifling until 10, then started blowing hard and pouring rain. Rained off and on all night. 1/31/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Grey, damp day. About 10, fired up the genset and used the orbital sander to sand the inside of the pilothouse. Respirator made my glasses fog up every 60 seconds or so. Messy job. Ran air conditioner briefly, but still no cooling water coming out; maybe I fried the pump. Dinghied ashore. Saw Marti at the dinghy dock, and asked her if my recollection of the radio license fees was correct (she's written a book on marine radio). I was right; $275 for licenses just to take a VHF radio to foreign countries. Guess I'll have to do that some time this year. She tried to talk me into buying an HF radio. In the confusion of talking to her and helping her cast off, forgot to tie off my dinghy properly; when I came back a couple of hours later, it was hanging on by a half-hitch and didn't have the required 5-foot painter they want. Did library, and nothing else. Rained off and on. Salad and odds and ends for dinner. More rain. 2/1/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Grey, rainy day. Hand-sanded and dry-fit half of the wood pieces I cut for the inside of the pilothouse. Managed to wear a nice hole in the side of my thumb, too. Ran engine for 1 hour to charge batteries. Temperature rose quickly, much more than usual when just fast-idling. But there's water coming out the exhaust, and the seawater-end of the heat exchanger is cool. Rose to just less than 180 and stayed there. Will have to check coolant after it cools down. Maybe it's low. Hope it doesn't have an air-bubble trapped somewhere, or a pump problem. Speaking of which, the seawater pump is leaking down the side of the engine; guess the problem wasn't (just) the impeller plate gasket. Looks like leak is from shaft end of the pump, not impeller end. Wonder if I need another seawater pump rebuild (had one done August of 2002; maybe they didn't do it so well). Sun came out after noon ! Opened all the hatches and ports. Start to dry everything out. More sanding and dry-fitting wood in the pilothouse. Only got one piece wrong out of 28: measured 19, wrote down 16, cut to 16. Tried to use a hole-saw attachment with the hand-drill to cut ventilator holes in 4 of the pieces, but I'll have to use the power-drill to do it. Got a nasty pinch in the tip of one of my fingers using the hand-drill; that's a frequent occurrence when using that thing: lots of exposed gears. Salad and grilled pork chop for dinner. Still and humid all night. 2/2/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Humid and cloudy. Loafed most of the morning. Checked engine coolant; level is fine. Cut ventilator holes in 4 of the wood pieces for the pilothouse. A real pain, because the hole-saw attachment for the drill doesn't work well. Dinghied ashore. Stopped by the welding shop, did library. Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner. 2/3/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Gorgeous day: sunny and going up to 80. Did a bucket of laundry. Painted and installed the bottom piece of wood in each windowsill in the pilothouse. I'm hoping the paint will hold them in place; hope I don't have to epoxy or something. Will be an adventure getting the top pieces to stay in place while they dry. Dinghied ashore. Did library, internet cafe. Bought paint ($8), blue tape ($4), groceries. Back to boat. Inserted another length of garden hose to reinforce 2nd chafed spot in dinghy rubrail. Re-inked registration numbers on starboard side of dinghy. Salad and grilled kielbasa sandwiches for dinner. 2/4/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Another gorgeous day: sunny and going up to 80. Checked the windowsill wood I installed in the pilothouse, and the paint is not going to be enough to hold the wood in place. Have to let the bottom pieces dry another day to be sure, but I think I'll have to use some kind of adhesive on the rest of the pieces. A bit discouraged, so I spent the rest of the morning researching HF radio. Several people are encouraging me to get one, especially since I already have my Ham General license. Started blowing E 15-20 around noon. Epoxied the broken mount on my solar panels, but the hardener has evaporated a bit and I'm not sure it's potent any more. Dinghied ashore, and got engine raw water pump gaskets ($4) and security grates for main companionway hatch ($150). Did library. Security grates fit, but I have to decide if I want to cut notches into the wood so I can close the hatchboards over the grates. And then I have to design a way to lock the metal grates. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 2/5/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Blowing ESE 15-20+, alternating bright sun and rain sprinkles. Fit the new security grates to the main hatch, and I need to have them altered a bit. It's a real jigsaw puzzle, figuring out how they'll go in, still letting the hatchboards close, and how to lock them so they can't be ripped out easily. Found that the paint inside the pilothouse had dried and the boards seem to be holding, so did the four top boards and two more, propping them in place with pieces of wood. Have to wait a couple of days for them to dry. Found my paint rollers. Knew I had some; they were stashed in the aft cabin. Dinghied ashore. Tilted the motor and removed the anode at the dinghy dock; bought new anode ($16). Chatted with Duane, and found that one of the derelict boats they hauled out and are going to demolish is the one that Richard lived on ! He kept it nicely, but then had some mental issues and stripped and abandoned it, skipping out on a bank loan. Now they're going to destroy it. Used to be quite a well-kept boat. Duane says someone wanted to buy it from the city for $8000, but they'd rather demolish it. Probably too much paperwork to sell it. Bought paint rollers ($6) and water filters ($11). Stopped in at auto-body shop, then bought O-rings for orbital sander ($1). Took grates to welding shop and gave instructions for modifications. Did library, and heard that BellSouth is removing all of their payphones (from the Keys, or Florida, or everywhere ?) because they were losing money in that business. A hardship for us boaters until someone else provides payphones. Also, sent a letter to editor of Southwinds; they had an article praising many of the things the city is doing to the harbor, and I responded about a couple of the points. Back to boat, and decided to keep using old outboard anode (still has some life left). Filed it cleaner, hoisted the dinghy, shut the hatches, took a quick shower, and got done just ahead of the rain ! Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Rained off and on all night, just enough that I had to keep the ports and hatches closed. Headachey and didn't sleep well. 2/6/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Loafed all morning. Dinghied ashore. Went to auto-body shop, then welding shop. They finished the 4th piece, altered another one correctly, and cut the wrong side off another piece. So I picked up 3 pieces and left the 4th to be fixed. Bought solar shower ($8 plus coupon). Did library. Scanner arrived in the mail. Stopped by Dave's boat and chatted with him for a while. Re-inked the registration numbers on port side of dinghy, and found the registration sticker fell off somewhere; have to get a new one. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 2/7/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Painted and installed some more wood in the windowsills in the pilothouse. Sweaty work: it's a hot morning. Strong front going to come through about noon, with gusty winds afterward. Listened to the new cruiser's net, and was hailed by "Lady Marie", who say they came aboard my boat in Fort Myers Beach. Fitted the 3 security grates, and filed one of them a bit. They all look good. Next step is to carve some notches into the wood frame of my companionway hatch; hate to do it, but need to. Want to be able to close the wood hatch and the security grates independently: either or both closed at same time. Front came through, but not too much wind behind it. Dinghied ashore, chatted with Duane, did library, internet cafe was closed. Back to boat, and it's cooler and blowing a little harder. Salad and chicken-vegs-rice for dinner. Got cooler and cooler and blew NW 15-20 with gusts to 30+ all night and the next morning. 2/8/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Cool, sunny and very windy all day. Glued new rubrail piece onto dinghy; will see how well it works before gluing the other, bigger piece on. Carved notches into vertical part of companionway hatch wood and fitted security grate to it. Did most of it by hand; thought later that I should have used the Dremel. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Blew 15-20 with gusts to 25 all night. 2/9/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Warmer, and wind starting to ease a bit. Painted and installed more wood pieces on the pilothouse windowsills. Fired up the Dremel and made short work of the last carving of vertical wood on the companionway hatch. Applied some wood filler. Dinghied ashore. Auto-body shop buffed the white paint off my car's trunk ($20), but I'll have to see if I can do anything to the scratches and dings with touch-up paint. Got 4th security grate from welding shop ($95). Got replacement registration sticker for dinghy ($4). Bought a BBQ lighter ($2); it's taken weeks to find a refillable one anywhere. Did internet cafe and library and groceries. Salad and kielbasa sandwiches for dinner. 2/10/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Gorgeous day, warm and sunny. Fit the 4th security grate to the top of the companionway hatch, which took a lot of hand-filing of metal and then lots of messy drilling and Dremel-ing of wood. Sawdust all over me. Also cut and drilled a small wood piece to mount the dinghy registration sticker. Dinghied ashore. Heard that the marina fired John, the friendliest guy who worked there. Another step downhill for Marathon. Voted in my first Florida election ! I've always been out cruising during other elections. This was a local city council election, and a couple of the candidates were out waving to cars at the main stoplight in town. I miss the nice California elections, where we got to vote on all kinds of interesting issues such as medical marijuana, immigration law, public money for sports stadiums, etc. Did library, starting to research what guides and charts I'll buy for my first Caribbean trip. Back to boat, stopping to chat with Pete on Pura Vida, next to me. Turns out to be a 1975 Gulfstar 41. They're from Michigan, the boat home port says Delaware, and their boat card says Florida. Nice boat, and nice guy. He's owned about 8 previous boats, mostly racers on Lake Michigan. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 2/11/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Gorgeous day, warm and sunny. Got going early. Used the dinghy to spin the boat around three times to untwist the anchor rodes. Dinghied ashore, paid for workshop space and water ($3). Acid-washed the rust off the security grates and painted them with Rustoleum; took all morning. Acid drips onto the workshop concrete floor made it cleaner than it's been in decades. Funny how different people have different experiences of the same place. Was talking to Pete and another guy when they mentioned West Palm Beach. Asked them about theft there, and Pete said two outboards were stolen while he was there; in one case the thieves sawed the transom right off a dinghy to get the motor. I said someone told me long ago, before I went to the Bahamas, that I shouldn't worry too much about theft in Nassau: things were much worse in West Palm Beach ! Just then, some other cruiser walked by, and very authoritatively said that wasn't true, Nassau was a pit and West Palm had no theft problem. So Pete repeated his story, and I said again I'd heard of no problems during the times I was in Nassau, and the guy soon left a little less authoritatively. Back to boat for lunch, loading 10 gallons of water. Then painted more pieces of wood into pilothouse, and painted little piece for dinghy registration sticker. Back ashore. Another coat of paint on the security grates. Got some fiberglass dust on me from someone's previous project, and it made my legs itch. Talked to the other guys who'd been working in there all day. In the morning, he said he was working on his rudder (I'd guessed it was a centerboard). And I heard him tell someone he was trying to fix a "weather helm" problem with his boat. So in the afternoon, I asked him how you can fix weather helm with a rudder change (didn't make sense to me). He started explaining how he was changing his rudder from completely unbalanced to a bit balanced, explaining a little condescendingly, I thought. When he finished, I said "well, so you'll still have weather helm, you'll just be able to steer against it more easily", and I think that set him back a little. Turns out he built his own trimaran. Took seven years (about 5 years of steady work). And this was their maiden voyage, from above Tampa to Marathon. And they found steering was a two-handed, throw your whole weight against the helm, effort. I think he said the back end of the rudder separated from the forces, too. He said the worst part of building was the hull-fairing. With everything else, you can see daily accomplishment. But with the fairing, it seems you're just putting filler on and sanding it off forever, just making expensive dust. And it's a hard, toxic job. Did library, internet cafe, back to marina. Put mostly-dry grates in trunk of car, which will dry them like a kiln tomorrow when it gets to be 110 in there. Loaded another 10 gallons of water and back to boat. Saw a radio-controlled sailboat on the way back: 3-foot-long black think, very spiffy looking, stiff plastic mainsail and jib, sailing around quite sharply. Couldn't see who was controlling it. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. One of the lights in the cockpit is burnt out. 2/12/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Another gorgeous day, probably going to upper 80's. Did a bucket of laundry. Occured to me that I've never seen any other boat festooned with laundry the way I do mine. Sometimes I see a boat with several towels drying on the lifelines, but never a whole load of laundry like mine. Maybe I'm weird. And lately, every time I go into the city marina, there's a whole flock of older couples using the machines. Although a bucket doesn't get the clothes as clean, it's cheaper, easier, takes less of my time, and will work when I'm cruising in the boonies. 5 or 6 dolphins feeding noisily around the boat about 10:30. Several of us cruisers popped up to watch, and some vacationers ashore with kids got really excited by the show. Tried spraying some phosphoric acid on my hull stains, and it works great on much of them ! Also etches into my bottom-paint a bit. Dinghied over to Pete's boat, and he gave me a tour. Then took him to my boat and gave him a tour. Since they're both Gulfstar of similar vintage, we were interested to see the similarities and differences. We have same furlers, some of the same cabinetry. but much of the rest is different. His boat was severely modified by the previous owner, and he says Gulfstars have lots of variations among them anyway. He's using an alcohol stove/oven. Nice varnished wood, where I'm letting my exterior wood go natural. After lunch, dinghied ashore. Went to some stores, got mail, did library, went to internet cafe. Feeling really tired; I guess the heat is taking the energy out of me. Back to boat, taking the security grates with me, and not too tired to give them another coat of paint. Want to cover up the chipped spots before they get a chance to rust. Hot painting in the pilothouse. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 2/13/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Another gorgeous but hot day. More painting, pilothouse and security grates. Final pieces of wood installed into the pilothouse; next will be filler and sanding and more painting ! Attached dinghy registration plate to dinghy. Dinghied ashore and did stores and library and groceries and internet cafe. Bought more internet time ($10). Heard the marine police are requiring dinghies to carry flares and a throwable PFD. Two stores completely sold out of flares. Back to boat, and went to Pete's boat for a long chat with him. He and his wife are looking for a town up the west coast of FL to settle in for a while, so I lent him my guidebook and gave him my impressions of lots of places. Chicken-onion-beans-rice for dinner. Couldn't sleep in the early morning, so got up and worked on the batteries. Added water, cleaned corrosion on one terminal. 2/14/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Ran engine for an hour to exercise it and test the cooling. Still has a problem: at fast-idle, goes to 180 fairly quickly (10 minutes) and stays there. Then when put back to idle, barely cools to 175 or so. Then I shut it down. Used to be: at fast-idle, never went above 150 or so. And if at 180, when I put it back to idle, would cool to 165 within several minutes. Seawater end of heat exchanger is cool, and there's water out the exhaust, so the seawater path is okay. The behavior changed after I changed the coolant. So maybe I have an air-pocket in the coolant loop ? Or the heat-exchanger suddenly clogged ? I also changed the coolant tank cap; could that affect it ? Confused. Fitted the security grates, filed corners of one of them, and put more paint on them. About noon, Dave raised anchors and left; he's putting his boat on the hard, I think, and flying back to Michigan to deal with his house sale that went wrong. Afterward, Pete raised anchors and moved up to where Dave had been. I dinghied up and said hi to the couple in front of me, Johann and wife on "Serendipity X". Then I went over and helped Pete put out his second anchor. Starting to blow hard. (Pete ALSO has a house in Michigan; he's having tenant problems with it.) Dinghied ashore. Called my Mom's answering machine and wished it a Happy Valentine's Day. Went to library, found internet was down again. Read books (!) and newspaper. Back to boat. Glued big new rubrail piece onto dinghy. Salad and grilled kielbasa sandwiches for dinner. 2/15/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Totally grey day. Front came through about 8:30 with NW 25 wind and steady rain behind it. Hand-sanded edges of some of the windowsill wood in the pilothouse; hard work. Checked engine zinc; still has some life left in it. Heat-exchanger tubes look a little goopy; should rod them out next time I change coolant. Coolant was low; added maybe 1/3 gallon of water to it. Put some liquid electrical tape on starter cables. Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries and test the cooling. Raw water pump is leaking from shaft, not impeller cover; I need to rebuild it. Engine temperature still behaving oddly. Guess it must be heat-exchanger or fresh water pump problem ? But then why does the temp top out at 180, as it should ? Coincidence ? Tested the aft-cabin fluorescent while charging, and it works. Thought it was burnt out. I knew it worked only with well-charged batteries, but must require even higher voltage than I thought. Dreary afternoon. Loafed and read a book. Rained off and on and slowly got cooler. Pete helped the guy on catamaran "SunBum" re-anchor. All 3 boats I've seen raise anchor yesterday and today really rammed forward with the engine to yank the anchor out; not good technique. Corned beef and noodles for dinner. 2/16/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Grey and cool, with sun starting to break through a bit by noon. More hand-sanding in the pilothouse. Dinghied ashore. Thought things would be quiet on President's Day, but traffic was thick and there were long lines at two auto-parts stores I went to. Bought touch-up paint for the car, dielectric grease ($7) for the boat, fan ($18) to add to the refrigerator. Did internet cafe and got groceries. Back to boat, and epoxied fiberglass cloth onto cracked corner of swim platform. Did some more touch-up painting to the security grates. Cleaned the barbeque grill. Having troubles with floppies again; may have messed up my new USB floppy drive already. Salad and grilled kielbasa sandwiches for dinner. 2/17/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Grey and cool. Hand-sanding in the pilothouse, then applying wood filler. Dinghied ashore. Traffic is outrageous again today; can't see why. Did library and internet cafe. Applied some touch-up paint to my car, but the paint is too gunky; will try thinning it with solvent from inflatable patch kit. Back to boat. Epoxied another layer of fiberglass cloth to the swim platform corner. Got dinghy hoisted and buttoned everything up in time for it to start raining at 5:30. Rained off and on during the early evening, then started blowing harder and colder. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Blew 20-25 with gusts to 35+ all night; an anxious, cold night. 2/18/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Sunny, cold and still blowing hard. Did some touch-up sanding in the pilothouse, but ran out of time to paint today. New floppies and a cleaner-disk on my floppy drive seem to have fixed the problems. Finally got installer working for my new scanner. Will try scanner itself soon. Dinghied ashore. Went to informal cruiser's seminar on refrigeration, but bad acoustics and disorganized talk drove me away after 15 minutes. Did internet cafe, got dinghy gas ($6), did library. Wind died down by time I went back out to boat. Painted corner of swim platform. Gave myself a haircut. Salad and chicken-onion-beans for dinner. 2/19/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Beautiful day, slightly cool and breezy. Did a bucket of laundry. Put first coat of paint on inside of pilothouse, painting the moldings and edges by hand and then doing the rest by roller. Got some life out of my new scanner ! Was getting blank images until I happened to find and push the "Calibrate prescan image area auto-detection" button. Good thing I have two computer science degrees; wonder how normal people ever get this stuff to work. Dinghied ashore. Went to informal seminar about anchorages, but it was going so slowly that I skipped out. Did library, store, groceries. Back to boat, and put another coat of paint on the swim platform corner, and touched-up spots I missed inside the pilothouse. Salad and fruit and grilled pork-chop for dinner. 2/20/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Got going early and sanded and put a second coat of paint on inside of pilothouse. Dinghied over and picked up Pete, stopped by Fred on "Legacy", then went ashore, keeping away from Law Enforcement boat that was cruising around stopping dinghies. Drove up to nautical flea market in Islamorada; traffic was okay until last several miles, then it was bumper-to-bumper at 10 MPH. Flea market was nice; saw some pretty women, bought cotter pins ($3), bought webbing for Fred, Pete bought a knife. Nice conversation with Pete there and back. Did library, then back to boat. Put new cotter pins in solar panel mounts. Looked over Fred's boat a bit; it looks pretty rough, at least cosmeticly. He made a swim platform out of 1-inch-thick StarBoard; I didn't think that stuff was strong enough for that, especially for shearing loads, and with some long water-drain slots cut through it. He's making a RADAR mount out of toilet fittings and a length of PVC pipe; doesn't look too sturdy, and it's low on deck if he's putting it where he has it now. He's also installing a watermaker ! Salad and fruit and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 2/21/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Did a little sanding and then a third coat of paint on parts of inside of pilothouse. Guy going by in a dinghy said he's been watching my progress and it's looking good ! Bill and Jeanette from Gulfstar 37 "Sea Lion" stopped by. They were supposed to go to the flea market yesterday, but cancelled at the last minute. We just said hi and exchanged boat cards; my boat was in too much of a mess to invite them aboard. Dinghied ashore. Did library, and ordered padlocks (set of 6 keyed-alike weather-resistant heavy-duty for $60). On the way back to the boat, stopped at Pete's boat and had a long chat with him. Lots of boats moving in and out of the harbor. Salad and corned-beef-and-noodles for dinner. 2/22/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Started post-painting cleanup inside pilothouse. Dolphin feeding around the boat about noon. Worked on measurements for locking pieces for security grates; pretty complicated for the main hatch. Cleaned some rust spots in the cockpit. Added some glue to the rubrail patch on the dinghy. 2/23/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Painted inside pilothouse. Steve from "GoodLife" came over briefly. It's a steel Radford 45 he built himself; took 5 years. This is their shakedown cruise; heading for Bahamas. Lost all their nice ground-tackle in the Dry Tortugas through failure to secure the bitter end; he looked for it in 20 feet of clear water with SCUBA gear and couldn't find it ! My laptop is dead. Power LED doesn't light when power cable is connected. No reaction to reset button. Dinghied ashore (saw a stingray jump out of the water, making a big "thwack" as he belly-flopped back in), and gave Peter from a trawler a ride to the supermarket. Did library. Ordered two raw water-pump rebuild kits ($162). Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 2/24/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Painted outside of pilothouse. Did a bucket of laundry. Dinghied ashore. Gave welding shop order for more security grate parts. Ordered a new laptop. Paid $65 for dinghy dockage, but city marina is in such disarray that I probably shouldn't have bothered. Loaded water. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 2/25/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Cleaned up in pilothouse. Worked on laptop, trying to revive it. Dinghied ashore, did library, got mail, went to stores, got groceries, patched some dings on car body. Nasty front came through about 6 PM. Suddenly dark clouds and 35+ wind, sudden spin from SW to NE. Waterspout reported W of harbor. Several boats dragged, and one big sailboat circled and circled, franticly trying to anchor again and again. Another boat apparently came off a mooring and went aground; another dragged over a small semi-derelict boat and got stuck against it. Rained and blew hard all night. Salad and chili for dinner. 2/26/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Went to add second fan to refrigerator, and found that the first one had conked out. Replaced it with new one. Worked on laptop, and got it running ! Connector from a CMOS battery onto motherboard is all corroded; got it cleaned enough to make the laptop boot, but it's not long for this world. Dinghied ashore, did library, scheduled vaccinations, bought distress-flag ($5). Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 2/27/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Didn't sleep well, and woke with a headache. Sanded and painted ventilators for outside of pilothouse. Dinghied ashore, did library. Received pump rebuild kits, and free WiFi card from a friend, in the mail. Loaded water. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Painted one more ventilator that had been hiding behind something. Blowing fairly hard tonight. 2/28/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Added water to batteries. Ran engine for 30 minutes to exercise it; hard to start (cool weather and a week without running it). Installed ventilators on outside of pilothouse; the pilothouse-repainting project is done ! Worked at removing raw-water pump from engine. Really fought me, but I got it out. Only drew blood once. Dinghied ashore, did library. Salad and grilled sausage sandwich for dinner. 2/29/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Disassembled engine raw water pump, and it's a rusty mess on the outside. Bearing definitely is toast, and impeller has tears in a couple of vanes. Tried to get mounting bracket off engine block so I could clean and paint better, but the bolts won't budge. Scraped rust on side of engine a bit. Dinghied ashore (saw a manatee on the way) and took pump to NAPA Auto, expecting to have them press bearing on/off. They looked at it and said it probably would slide off once the retaining clips were removed. Had a nice chat with Duane, then back to the boat, borrowing a retaining-clip tool from Pete on the way. A real struggle to get the clips off (the holes were all full of gunk). Drew a little more blood. Had to hammer a bit to get the the shaft and bearing out of the housing, then the bearing wouldn't come off the shaft. Used a mechanical puller, but it wasn't strong enough. Painted the outside of the pump; will take it back to NAPA tomorrow. Hate to be sitting here with a non-functional engine; it's blowing E 20 for several days. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Blew E 20-30 all night. 3/1/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Got started early, and scraped and acid-washed and painted the side of the engine. Then dinghied ashore through stiff wind, and took pump shaft to Island Auto store. Bought retaining clip pliers ($13), and the guy there put the shaft on top of a vise and gently hammered the bearing off. I should have thought of that ! Bought gas for dinghy ($5), and then back to boat. Got out my vise, and carefully hammered new bearing onto shaft. Put retaining clips on (kit was short one clip), reassembled pump. Had to chop out carbon bushing in chunks, and carefully tapped a new one in. Another coat of paint on pump. Took Pete's pliers back to him. Chatted on radio with some people who have cruised the NW Caribbean; some good information. Sounds like I should spend almost a year there. Had lunch, then starting installing the water pump onto the engine. A real pain, like a jigsaw puzzle, holding 3 things together while hammering the pump forward, trying not to damage the new bearing. The whole pump mounting is just not very well-designed. Eventually got the pump in, then took about 10 tries to get the impeller in without having the key for it fall out of the shaft. Not 100% sure I got it right, but the key isn't out anywhere I can see or feel. Then got stuck putting the hoses back on, since this time I seated the pump 1/4" further aft so the weep holes aren't blocked. But the outlet pipes met with zero spare clearance, so I'll have to cut 1/2" off a pipe. Hot and sweaty and tired and frustrated, gave up at 3 PM. Dinghied ashore, and picked up new pieces at the welding shop ($160, gulp, for 3 fairly simple pieces. Starting to realize I should have figured out a cheaper way to do this job). Did library. An old face is back at the marina: Mike, a real nice guy who was here when my girlfriend and I were here two years ago. He's on the Atkin's diet, his weight has gone from 197 to 152, and he feels great, chest pains are gone. Still smokes, though. Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner. Still blowing hard, all night. 3/2/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. More work on raw water pump. Hacksawed 3/4" off end of water pipe. In the middle of the night, thought of a way to test if the impeller key is in properly: stick a stiff wire down the keyway slot in the impeller. So took the cover off, did the test, and sure enough the key isn't there. Took hose off and impeller out, and got it in right in one try ! Put cover, hoses, pipe on, tightened everything, one more look around, checked oil and coolant. Then held my breath and started the engine. No problems, exhaust looks good, no water spurting in engine compartment, sounds pretty normal. After 15 minutes, still good, heat-exchanger hot at one end and cold at other. Ran it for 30 minutes to exercise it. Got to 150 degrees at fast-idle; guess the pump wasn't working very well before with a big leak along the shaft and two torn vanes. New security grate pieces fit perfectly ! I'm feeling a lot better today than I did yesterday ! Dinghied ashore. Did internet cafe, dropped off security grate piece at welding shop, did library. Dell has found my laptop order after losing it for a week. Ordered power converter to run new laptop off house batteries. Got mail (including a CARE package from one of my wonderful, beautiful, thoughtful sisters!), got groceries. Chatted with Pete on way back to boat, and he and others are getting a bit antsy waiting for the weather to clear. We've had a week of strong wind, but otherwise the weather's been quite nice. But some of the newbie cruisers especially are wondering if they want to cruise if it's going to be like this a lot. They're eager to get to the Bahamas and such. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Homemade chocolate cookies from my sister for dessert; yum ! 3/3/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Still blowing hard, occasional sprinkles of rain, but otherwise nice weather. Cleaned the bilge a bit; primary bilge pump switch still sticking. Emptied the cockpit lockers, cleaned and painted them. Dinghied ashore. Dockmaster and sheriff were walking the dinghy docks looking at dinghies as I came in. Got clearcoat for car at NAPA, went to welding shop and explained final job to the welder (they call me "Grate-man" there, he said!). Scrounged 4 plastic Coca-Cola crates from dumpster. Did library, got groceries. Back to boat, still blowing hard in harbor. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 3/4/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Still blowing hard; it's just not letting up. Put stuff back into newly painted cockpit lockers, using plastic boxes to organize it logically; looks much better. A couple dinghied by and yelled "found your web site this morning; very nice !" Started straightening up my food hoard in the V-berth, using more plastic crates there. The authorities have been patrolling the harbor often, usually stopping dinghies and checking registrations and equipment. Now, as soon as they appear, people get on the radio and announce "dinghy Nazis are in the harbor". A cruiser objected to that this morning, and got rejoinders from several other cruisers. I piped up saying that the cops ticketing someone $60 for a rip in their life-jacket (happened the other day) seemed ridiculous to me. Dinghied ashore through stiff wind. Got vaccinations (hepatitis A first shot and tetanus, $104). Picked up last piece of security grates ($75) from welding shop. Did library. Scrounged some more plastic crates. Back to boat, stopping to chat with Pete. He says it blew up to 35 knots last night. He looked at the welding I just had done; the shop says their guy took 2 hours to do it, and Pete says it looks like a 20-minute job to him (looks like 30-45 to me). Tried it on the boat and it almost fits; need one little adjustment. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 3/5/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Still blowing hard. Dinghied ashore and took piece back to welding shop for slight adjustment. Got groceries and looked for more crates. Wow: saw 4 or 5 beautiful women this morning, about the average for a whole week here ! Boat came through the harbor with a woman in a bikini standing up high; it's plenty warm here but still windy. Straightened up the food storage some more, and started cleaning under the main settee. Cans had rolled around under there and gotten lost and rusty. I have a lifetime supply of canned potatoes. Dinghied ashore through moderating wind. Got last piece from welding shop. Did library. Back to boat, and last piece of security grate fits. Salad and corned-beef-onion-potatoes for dinner. 3/6/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. It's a jailbreak ! Wind has changed from the ESE 25 it's been blowing for over a week, to S 10-15. More than 15 boats left the harbor early this morning, and maybe 5-10 more from the marinas on the other side of the bridge. Lots of fun to watch them go past. But listening to the weather forecast, they don't have much of a window. Going to be S 10-15 this morning (perfect), then variable 5-10 for 24-30 hours (bad for sailing but fine for motoring), then NW 15-25 for a couple of days. Filed the new security grate piece a bit. Did a bucket of laundry. After listening to the cruiser's net, dinghied ashore and went to flea market at Dockside to try to sell a few things (pet PFD's, wetsuit, impeller-puller, river charts). As I expected, I lounged there for an hour and a half, had a few nice conversations, saw a few nice-looking women, and sold nothing. Bought paint-rollers ($6) at Home Depot. Hot afternoon. Painted inside of main aft settee. Peter from a trawler stopped by to say hello 10 seconds after I got the paint can open. He's having engine trouble: it choked to a stop as he was running it. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Very still in the middle of the night. 3/7/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Did a bucket of laundry. Dinghied ashore and used marina workshop ($2) to acid-wash and paint my spare anchor and the last three pieces of security grates. Called my Mom and actually got her instead of her answering machine ! Back to boat, and Peter from the trawler came by to say he'd gotten his engine going; air in the fuel lines. It's trying to rain, while I'm trying to dry my laundry. Dark clouds came by for an hour, then it was sunny and clear again. Checked battery water. Dinghied ashore late. Couple of nice chats with Duane. Got my stuff out of the workshop and put it in the trunk of the car to heat-dry. Called up and found my jury-duty is canceled; they've settled all of the cases. So I don't have to dress up and dinghy ashore early tomorrow. Loaded water, and back to boat. Hot and fairly still in the harbor. Rub-rail additions on the dinghy are peeling off; will have to attach them more firmly somehow. Salad and chicken-onion-potatoes for dinner. 3/8/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Front was supposed to come through at midnight, but it came 6 or 8 hours later and was very gentle. Beautiful sunny day, nicely cooler, N 10-15 wind. Loafed most of the morning, then dinghied ashore after lunch. Did library, looked at carpeting in Home Debit, got mail (padlocks and laptop power adapter arrived!), bought paintbrushes ($4), did internet cafe. Back to boat, bringing spare anchor and security grate pieces with me. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 3/9/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Nicely cooler night and morning. Ran engine for 30 minutes to exercise it. Painted pieces of security grates. Opened goodies I received in the mail yesterday; padlocks and power adapter look fine. Dinghied ashore, seeing a couple of big fish (probably tarpon) right near my boat. Voted, did library. Salad and cornedbeef-onion-potato for dinner. 3/10/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Painted pieces of security grates. Aft head toilet is leaking around handle; time to rebuild it. Took up all the carpeting, loaded it into the dinghy, and went ashore. Bought new carpeting ($92) and used marina workshop ($2) to cut pieces. Out to the boat, had lunch, then installed the new carpeting. Add carpet-layer to the long list of occupations no one would ever hire me for. Doesn't look too bad, for a job where no edges are square, and there are no moldings to cover the edges. Got a little ugly in the V-berth and galley, where I had thrown away the old pieces years ago, and had to free-hand cut the new pieces. Hired Diver Dave for $20 to install a new zinc on my shaft and scrape the propeller. Worth paying for because I don't want to snorkel in this harbor, and I don't think I did such a good job putting on zincs myself the last couple of times; it's hard to do without SCUBA equipment. But some of the previous zinc was still there. Lots of sea-lice on him when he came up. Dinghied ashore again, did library, retrieved leftover carpeting from workshop. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. 3/11/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Cool and breezy. Painted pieces of security grates. Painted in two lockers inside the boat. Dinghied ashore, did library. Sent wetsuit off to Robert in LA. New laptop arrived in the mail ! Got groceries. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 3/12/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Put stuff back into painted lockers. Set up new laptop; it's nice ! But the touch-pad will take some getting used to. Dinghied ashore, taking old laptop and CD-burner. Tried to burn CD's from it, but just made two coasters. Did library. Chatted with Duane, and he has a battery behavior that doesn't make sense to me. He has unregulated solar panels, so his flooded (golf cart) batteries often charge up to 15+ volts. But even after a night with running interior lights for a while, the voltage never goes below 14 or so. He never sees a 12.8 voltage or anything near that. Doesn't make sense. I said the only way that made sense is if he has three 6-volt batteries in series ! [Found out later he has an old analog voltage meter, and it was off by a couple of volts. The way he kept saying "14 point this" and "14 point that", I assumed he had a digital meter.] Got scanner working on new laptop, and fixed touch-pad settings a bit. Uninstalled lots of free garbage that came on it. Installed WiFi card, but no networks found. Salad and cheese-herbsalami-and-crackers for dinner. 3/13/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Straightened up, cleaned up, cleared out forward head so I can disassemble aft head toilet. Finally buckled down and started working on the toilet. Removed it completely, and found another unused set of mounting holes under it. I'll let them dry out and then fill them with epoxy. Took the toilet up into the cockpit and started taking it apart and cleaning corrosion off it. Blowing hard, E25 or so, by noon. Couldn't go ashore because a boat near me, "Dividend", kept dragging and re-anchoring and dragging again. They must have done it 6 or 7 times before they got it right, and then after a while they put out a second anchor. Small setback: the padlocks I bought don't quite work on the main hatch security grate: the span of the padlock shackle is a little too small. Will have to use a small length of chain. Dinghied ashore, through stiff wind and chop. Successfully burned a CD from the old laptop. Bought hose clamps and washers ($19). Did library. Loaded water. Headed back to boat, but Peter on "Kari II" hailed me. I went aboard for a chat, and ended up staying for a nice spaghetti dinner and wonderful conversation with Peter, and Jerry from "Persephone". Jerry has been everywhere up and down the east side of the Caribbean, and knows tons about boats, and will pontificate at the drop of a hat. Lots of fun. Peter has some badly mashed fingers; an anchor chain got away from him and he got his fingers caught in the windlass, I think. He was lucky to get away with some cuts and bad bruising, I think. 3/14/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Blowing hard again, and some sprinkles of rain in mid-morning. Woke up with a headache from the single beer I had last night; spent most of the morning in bed. Felt better after late lunch, but it's raining. Took toilet pump apart further. Peter came by to give me his autopilot manual; I'm going to help him with it tomorrow. He's dyslexic, and finds it hard to follow detailed instruction manuals. Lent my toilet plunger to him. Salad and cheese-herbsalami-and-crackers for dinner. 3/15/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Blowing hard again, and some sprinkles of rain. Worked on the toilet a little more, scraping paint. Peter came by early, and I went over to his boat to help reset his auto-pilot. Turned into almost a 4-hour job, investigating his problem. I had to do all the hard stuff, wiggling into the rudder area and under the instrument panel, because he's not too spry. Talked to Simrad support a couple of times. Finally decided the rudder feedback unit was bad. Watched Jerry on "Persephone" leave. His anchor brought up an old 200-pound Fisherman anchor with it ! He dropped the old anchor down on the bottom again. I've heard there are refrigerators, 55-gallon drums and other things on the bottom in this harbor. Bummer: the DC-DC power converter I bought to run the new laptop has died. Guess it really wasn't capable of its rated wattage. Will have to run AC adapter through my inverter, which I think is pretty inefficient. Dinghied ashore. Did library, went several places looking for equivalents of toilet parts. Ordered actual toilet parts through hardware store. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 3/16/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. More work on toilet. Odie from "Julio" came over and will pay $50 for one of the kerosene lamps I'm selling. Peter stopped by briefly. Painted the base of the toilet. Dinghied ashore, and took Peter with me as I did errands. Home Depot, mail, groceries, hardware store, internet cafe. Got toilet parts ($47). Renewed PO box for another year ($210; ouch!). Did library. Salad and cheese/salami/crackers for dinner. 3/17/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Painted toilet some more. Filled extra holes in floor of aft head. Went over to Peter's boat and installed new auto-pilot feedback ram for him, and it seems to have fixed his problems. On the way back, stopped to visit with boat behind me, partly because they're from Fort Myers Beach. Soon wished I hadn't stopped; the guy is on a city committee up there to do in FMB exactly what they're doing in Marathon: fill the harbor with moorings and outlaw anchoring. He thinks it's okay because they won't charge quite as much as Marathon does. But I still went away depressed. Dnghied ashore, did library, put clear-coat on dings on car. Loaded water. Steve from "C-Note" came by the boat and we chatted and I gave him a tour. He's an interesting guy: he used to fly balloons in Africa, and has been to a lot of other interesting places. He's just learning his boat, and needs people to crew with him on day-sails, but I've been too busy. (Peter wants me to go out with him for a test-run on his auto-pilot, but I don't know if I have time for that either.) Salad and chili for dinner. Warm and still and some insects bugging me in the middle of the night. 3/18/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Slight breeze started at daybreak, then quickly accelerated to E 20-25. Didn't bother me; I'm putting the aft toilet back together. Like many other things, a real jigsaw puzzle, sliding hinged parts around corners and then putting a shaft through them, without letting the key slide out of position. Anti-seize, super-lube and marine grease all over my hands at times. But got it together. Sanded the holes I filled in the sole in the aft head. Installed the toilet, and water pours out just below the bowl. Took bowl off and removed O-ring I added; never had one before, but since there was one in the kit, I used it. Back together, and seems fine. Later found a slight leak at the inlet hose; think I need to get the hose on better. Blew hard all day. Dinghied ashore, chatted with Duane, did library and internet cafe. Bought gas for dinghy ($5). Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Found 12-volt outlet in main cabin is completely dead; maybe the laptop power adapter overloaded it ? 3/19/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Same weather again: dead calm in the early AM, then blowing hard in the morning. Not quite as hard as yesterday. Messed with main hatch security grate to figure out how to make a padlock fit it, and tested aft toilet a little more. Dinghied ashore, did library, bought water jugs ($12), got mail, got groceries. On way back, saw sailboat "Wildfire" power off backwards from being aground on the big seagrass area. Stopped by to chat with Peter, and we watched the same boat come downwind fast and suddenly ground on the small seagrass area next to him. They managed to power off backwards and upwind again. I think they gave up and left the harbor after that. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 3/20/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Blew very hard all night, and again today. Ran engine for 45 minutes to exercise it. Still comes up near full temperature faster than it used to, but otherwise okay. Loafed all morning. Started doing my income taxes. Dinghied ashore through very strong wind. Was going to take Peter to supermarket, but he didn't want to tag along for my other errands. Cleaned out the car a bit, did library, bought gate-hooks ($3) and polysulfide caulk ($11), scrounged some plastic crates. Loaded water. Salad and cheese-salami-crackers for dinner. 3/21/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Gorgeous weather; wind has eased a bit. Sold pet PFD for $10 to "Charlie Rose". Took off 12-volt outlet in main cabin and found the positive wire had pulled out of the butt-connector. Guess the laptop power adapter was innocent. Now have to try to get it back from the company I returned it to; they tested it and it was okay. Dinghied ashore, taking the bike. Lubed it up and took it to the bus stop at Publix and locked it there. Also hammered gate-hooks into better shape. Back to boat for lunch. Dinghied ashore. Took the alarm out of my car. Hammered gate-hooks some more. Took Peter and got groceries. Tried to have a nice conversation with Peter about politics, but we agree on everything ! Haven't had a good debate in a long time; everyone either agrees with me or is so immediately overwrought about the subject that I back away. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. Peter swung by to say that his engine had died again; probably air in the fuel lines. 3/22/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Dinghied ashore early, got in the car, and started driving north. Main mission: try to sell the car. Stopped at Key Largo library, then Walmart in Homestead. Bought lunch, which I think made me sick. By dinnertime, I had a raging headache, nausea, and actually vomited. Horrible traffic up in Hollywood, near Ft Lauderdale. Stopped at a dive shop, then bought a pole spear setup ($55) at Sailorman's. Went through a carwash. Dinner at my cousin's in Ft Laud, and slept over there. Headache making me feel like crap. 3/23/2004 (Tuesday) Boat at anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon; I'm in Ft Lauderdale. Still have headache and upset stomach. Drove down to Homestead, went to 6 or 7 used-car dealers. Several won't touch a car with a stickshift; they think I'm an idiot for having bought one. Got couple of offers in the low $5k's, and one at $3700. Last guy called up and found that there is a Florida title that I don't have in my possession; they must have refused to mail it to my PO box. So I need to fix that. Bought wetsuit ($85) and pressure-cooker ($20). Drove back to Marathon, stopping at library and car dealer in Key Largo. Back to boat, and everything's fine. Still windy. Salad and cheese-salami-crackers for dinner. Tired and headachey. 3/24/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Blowing like stink: E 25-30+ Suddenly realized that Peter's boat "Kari II" is gone; it was there last night. He can't be leaving in this weather; he must have gone to a slip to have a mechanic look at his engine. Catamaran that was anchored a little too close off my bow raised anchor, and promptly was replaced by a sailboat anchored a little too close off my bow. Mentioned my car for sale on the cruiser's radio net in the morning, and someone's interested ! Mike and Margery from "Brave Turtle". They're snowbirds from North Carolina. Dinghied ashore in the afternoon, and met Mike and Margery from "Brave Turtle". Showed them the car, and we took a long test-drive, stopping briefly at the internet cafe along the way. Then we all went to the tax office and tried to figure out how the paperwork would work. The tax people couldn't understand how I still had a CA title for the car, and they confiscated it. I agreed to sell the car for $5800, and Margery started transferring the money. We'll do all the paperwork tomorrow. Loaded water and back to boat. Peter's boat is back, but I couldn't contact him. Salad and pressure-cooked chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Will take a while to get used to pressure-cooking; not sure I like it. Seems to take longer, and be less flexible. 3/25/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Rain in the morning, then clear but blowing hard again; E 20-25+ Peter's boat is back; he went into a marina to have a mechanic look at his engine. Replaced a number of O-rings and washers and brass nuts in his fuel lines, and fixed the air-leak problem. Dinghied ashore and biked to a phone to see if the money for the car had come through. Biked to library, and money started appearing at 11:30. Dinghied out for lunch. Dinghied ashore again, and got my car sold ! We all spent about an hour in the tax office, as they tried to figure out how to deal with my CA/FL title and that the new owners were immediately taking the car to North Carolina. But we got it done. Lots of wind and rain at 4:30. Cheese-salami-crackers for dinner. Horizontal rain started about 7 PM. One hinge of opening port on port side of main cabin broke as I closed it; really should replace all those plastic ports with metal ones. Rain eased, then it started blowing harder and harder, and by 8 PM we had rain and wind gusting well up over 40 knots, I think (found out later, someone measured it at 44 knots). Pretty amazing, and it went on for quite a while, too. Started the engine in case my anchor dragged. Relieved when wind eased back to a mere 25 or so. All night, every hour or so, another squall would come through with winds 30-35 and lots of rain. Same in morning. 3/26/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Heard a hail at 7 AM: Steve was outside my boat in a hard dinghy with oars. His inflatable disappeared sometime last night, and he needed help. So I launched my dinghy and we motored down the harbor looking for his. Found another lost dinghy (too far in the shallows for us to retrieve), but not his. Back to my boat for binoculars, and to sit out some rain. While we were there, Steve spotted his dinghy tied to another boat nearby. When the rain stopped, we went over and got it. He was so relieved ! After lunch, epoxied the broken port in the main cabin, then dinghied ashore against stiff wind and chop. Swung by "Brave Turtle" to give them some car touchup paint. Chatted with Duane, met Bob from "Highlander" and talked about my Tenn-Tom trip. Biked downwind to library. Sent letter to insurance telling them I've sold the car, so stop charging me so much. Biked 30 blocks upwind to get mail and do internet cafe. Met Tripp from "Soiree" and had a nice chat. Then downwind to supermarket, liquor store for Peter, and then back to dinghy. Loaded water, dropped off liquor at Peter's boat, and home ! Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 3/27/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Took forward head apart. Aft-starboard mounting bolt wasn't gripping into anything. Someone left me a nasty problem: a sheared-off setscrew inside the pump, preventing me from disassembling it much of the way. Dinghied ashore. Biked to gas station and bought dinghy gas ($5). Biked to library. Then upwind to Home Depot, and bought new dish-towels (actually, painter's terry-cloth towels, 6 for $3), screw extractor ($3), plastic putty knife ($1). Back to boat, and used the extractor and a handle from my tap-and-die set to extract the setscrew from the toilet pump. Felt like Joe Pro until I realized it was an Allen-head setscrew; someone replaced the old bolt with this (which makes a lot of sense), but used a very short setscrew. So I didn't need the extractor after all (but it's good to have on board). Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches and fruit for dinner. 3/28/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Some rain in the morning, but wind showing signs of starting to ease a bit. There'll be a stampede out of here tomorrow, I think. Exchanged email yesterday with someone in Freeport Bahamas who says they're "all winded out" over there, too. It's been blowing hard for 2 weeks or so, and some more before that, so I expect boats all over south Florida and the Bahamas are pent up. Scraped paint off the forward toilet pump. After lunch, Bob from "Highlander" came over and we had a long visit. Showed him the boat, talked about the Tenn-Tom trip, various other things. He wants to do the Great Loop, but is vacillating. Lent him a CD-cleaner for his computer. Dinghied ashore to West Marine and got there just after they closed. Salad and chicken-onion-rice-gumbo for dinner; pressure-cooked it, and it didn't turn out too well. 3/29/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Gorgeous day, sunny with NE 10 wind, and about 15 boats left the harbor. Did a bucket of laundry. Scraped paint and corrosion off the toilet pump some more. Epoxied the port in the main cabin again. Launched the dinghy and spun the boat around once to untwist the anchor rodes. Then eased the primary rode and tried to raise the second anchor. Lots of scrubbing of grass and muck off the chain. Got the rode vertical, but the wind and boat motion were not enough to free the anchor. Finally had to start the engine and use it to gently free the anchor. Raised and cleaned and stowed it. Then pulled in some of the primary rode and scrubbed grass and muck off it, too. I'm tired, but glad I did this today instead of just before leaving tomorrow. Dinghied ashore. Bought epoxy hardener ($15), hose clamp ($4). Did library and internet cafe. Got mail (received new power adapter for my laptop, which is the thing that was keeping me from leaving). Got groceries. Loaded bike into dinghy and back to boat. Some threatening clouds appearing. Stowed anchor rode from deck (still need to improve reel-holder in chain locker), took in laundry, hoisted dinghy, measured fuel and checked battery water, started stowing things for trip. Fuel level 6.25 inches at engine hour 3344.5 Salad and fruit and cheese sandwiches for dinner. 3/30/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Did a bucket of laundry. Raised anchor about 8:15; no problems. Peter was surprised to see me go, although I told him several times over the last couple of days, and tried to reach him by radio yesterday evening. Had to do circles in tight channel near a couple of fuel docks before being able to get in to one. $1.55 plus tax for diesel, $2.14 including tax for gas ! Got 50 gallons of diesel ($84) and 2 gallons of gas ($4). Most importantly, I filled the water tanks and all of the jugs; now I'm set for a couple of months. Nice lady at the fuel dock didn't charge me for the water; probably got 120 gallons, which would have cost $6 at 5 cents/gallon. Engine hour 3345. Finished fueling at 10 AM. Motored out along Seven-Mile bridge, anxiously checking everything. Auto-pilot works, engine temp okay, stuffing box okay, bilge okay, engine room okay, etc. Got into Bahia Honda about noon. The entrance is unusual; you go through a span they've removed from the old railroad bridge. Anchored, and then reconsidered and moved and re-anchored. Lunched, loafed, then snorkeled under the boat. New wetsuit worked fine, and hull looks good. Lots of slime and sea-lice on the hull, and a sprinkling of small barnacles on the prop. Scraped the prop, and some of the hull. Exhaust flapper valve will need to be replaced soon. Dinghied ashore and looked around. Emptying out at 4 PM when I got there. Small beach, and nice swimming area on ocean side. Pleasant little place. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. Nice-looking girl in a red bikini on the beach. 3/31/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Bahia Honda state park. Calm morning; could see bottom clearly, 10 feet down. Scraped and painted the forward toilet pump. Epoxied the port in the main cabin. Epoxy-filled one of the mounting holes in the forward head. Added water to the batteries. Gave my hair a little trim. Raised anchor about 12:30 and motored out. A slightly lumpy trip down to Newfound Harbor Channel. Entered the channel, and had to laugh as a small boat with a couple of young guys and a big outboard passed across my bow. They were going pretty fast, went through a wake, then stopped so suddenly that their stern wave caught up to them and went right over the transom and got their butts and backs soaking wet. They're lucky they didn't swamp the boat. They went on slowly, standing up to try to dry off. Saw a bunch of boats anchored up one channel to the north (read later that you can dinghy ashore up there), but I split off from the herd and went where I planned to, to the west into Newfound Harbor, a spot better protected from the coming winds, and away from most of the powerboat wakes. Anchored about 3:15. "Polaris Jack" came in after me; they sailed much of the way up the channel. I was impressed, but their anchoring wasn't so good: they let the anchor go while heading directly downwind. Salad and chicken-onion-potatoes for dinner. 4/1/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Newfound Harbor. Weather a bit mixed: a front is overhead, and it's going to be W-NW 10+ this morning and W-NW 15 this afternoon; right on the nose for me. Decide to go for it, earlier is better, and raise anchor at 6:30. No other cruisers moving, at least at that hour. Pretty choppy out in the ocean, as expected, but it's not too bad since it's right on the nose. Saw 6 or 8 other cruising boats during the morning. Lumpy seas, lots of pitching, knocked my progress down by a knot or so. Entered Boca Chica channel and got into the Stock Island anchorage and anchored about 11:45. I was afraid it could be full, but there are openings. Lots of shoals, too. And lots of boats. Had lunch, then epoxied port in main cabin, Dremel'd the wood on the main hatch a bit, and painted the forward toilet pump again. Launched the dinghy and toured the Stock Island side of the harbor. Only ran aground once, which is pretty good for this place. Not many people stirring in the midday. Found some dinghies pulled up near a boat-ramp, but it looked like a good place to have stuff stolen. Finally found several dinghy-docks inside a marina, and then saw a well-endowed lady named Stacy coming in by dinghy. She confirmed my belief: about the only useful feature on Stock Island is the stop for the bus to Key West. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Found an NPR station ! Lovely after 10 weeks with no NPR in Marathon. 4/2/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Stock Island. My NPR station is gone again; boo-hoo. Raised anchor at 9 and motored out and around south side of Key West. Strong opposing current as I went up the west side of Key West, so I was making only 3.5 knots or so. Put anchor down on NE corner of Wisteria Island and found scoured coral bottom (also a bit deep, and strong current). Raised it, moved, found a better spot on SW corner of Fleming Key. Done about 11:30. Lots of wakes here; there are tour and ferry boats and lots of other traffic. I'd seen a small sailboat with a tan/red sail outside the entrance to Boca Chica Channel as I left, about 1/4 mile from me. I looked to see if they were in distress, but they weren't waving at me, and they were on the downwind edge of a reef area, so they could drift free. Later, I heard someone report them to the USCG as a raft, maybe from Cuba ! NPR station is back again; must be strange propagation. Loafed much of the afternoon. Then painted the toilet pump again, then launched the dinghy. Water is even rougher in the dinghy than it is in the bog boat ! Wakes and swells and chop everywhere. Stopped by sailboat "Despido" and had a nice chat. Got some local info from them, and turns out we were in Marathon together. Their friends came in, had trouble anchoring, and then got a line in their prop so hard that they couldn't get it out by snorkeling; they had to hire a diver. They're the boat I was looking at, anchored out smack in the middle of the channel junction. Dinghied under the low bridge to take a peek at Garrison Bight Channel, fighting several huge wakes as I went, then back to the boat. Wind opposing current, so boats are riding strangely. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 4/3/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Key West. Was feeling a bit down, mostly because the harbor is so rolly. But then I dinghied ashore, and, wow ! Pretty women everywhere ! Paid for a week of dinghy dockage ($22), biked around, browsed in West Marine, then did library. Nice town, and much more pleasant by bicycle than it is by car. And I think maybe I had a little cabin-fever on the boat; five days since I was on land in a real town. Back to boat for lunch, and loafed for a while. Dinghied ashore again, biked around town a bit: Mallory Square, Truman complex, East Quay park, Duval St. Called Mom. Bought a few groceries. Salad and fruit and yogurt and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Swinging a bit close to "Madison"; current and wind interacting to make us move strangely. Started engine briefly and dragged my anchor chain sideways a bit to give us more space. But soon we were close again, then when the tide changed, we were far apart. 4/4/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Key West. Started engine about 9:45 and moved anchor to get farther away from "Madison". Had to try twice before I was satisfied. Started reassembling the forward toilet a bit. Dinghied ashore, and right at the turn into the harbor, met Peter from "Kari II" coming out. Turns out he hopped down from Marathon on Friday in one big shot, stayed in some Navy-only marina overnight, and now is anchored out on the other side of Wisteria Island. Agreed to see him later. Biked out along the north edge of Key West, to the big shopping district on Roosevelt Blvd. Since I saw a real supermarket, got some groceries. Back to dinghy dock, and there was Peter. Had a nice wander and chat with him, admiring the boats in the marina and the pretty women everywhere. Back to boat, and had a heck of a time hoisting the dinghy as several large wakes came through, rolling the boat. Really nasty. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Brilliant full moon shining all night. 4/5/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Key West. Dinghied ashore, met Peter, and lent my bike to him while I did the library. Bought exhaust flapper valve ($24). Back to boat for lunch, loafed, then Peter came by in the dinghy, and then I went ashore after him. We chatted and wandered for a while, and he told me his anchor had dragged and his boat threatened to bump another. The owner of that boat had used a dinghy to fender between the boats, and when Peter got back, suggested Peter pay him $100 ! He moved to the other side of Wisteria Island, and said it is much calmer over there. But it's calmer in the main harbor too this afternoon. Took a bike ride across town to some of the beaches, and walked out on a couple of piers. Saw a strange school of foot-long fish slowly churning at the surface of the water. They weren't feeding. Saw more very pretty women on my ride; this place is getting a bit hard to take ! Guess I'm just terminally horny. Salad and fruit and yogurt and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Brilliant full moon shining all night. 4/6/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Key West. Peter called to say there are no wakes where he is, so I raised anchor a little after 9, motored down and through between Wisteria and Tank islands, and anchored again a bit before 9:30. Plenty of room, and seems nice. But I've been warned that there are some thieves out here. Dinghied over to Peter's boat, and we raised anchor and motored out to calibrate his auto-pilot. Did some big circles and pushed buttons and got it working. Then cruised off a bit to test it. Back to his spot and put down two anchors. A pleasant little jaunt, looking around at a part of the area we hadn't been to. Peter pointed to a nearby boat, and said he'd talked to the owner, and it was an wood boat that had been in such bad shape that they'd covered the hull with 5 to 6 inches of ferrocement to keep it from sinking. Never heard of such a thing. Fiberglass over wood, yes. This anchorage is a bit calmer than the other one, but still has some good-sized wakes coming through it. Dinghied ashore, and it was long, nasty trip. Picked the worst possible time, max tidal ebb, and stupidly let it sweep me down to where I had to go exactly up-current to get to the dock. Had to put the dinghy up on plane to make headway against the strong current ! Biked to the library, then took a little tour of Duval St, bought engine zincs ($4) and paintbrushes ($1), then settled on a bench to read and people-watch. Back to boat. Chatted over radio with Peter, and found that he's being harassed by the guy whose boat he almost hit; the guy is a low-life who is desperate to get money out of Peter. Peter went to the police to report the harassment. Salad and yogurt and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 4/7/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Key West. Nice calm night, but right at 6 AM lots of swells or wakes started rolling the boat, and kept going off and on for hours. So this anchorage isn't much better than the other one. Opened a very old can of sweetened condensed milk, and the contents were like oversweetened butterscotch pudding (not bad at all). Mixed in water and got decent milk. Worked on toilet again. The form-a-gasket stuff I used didn't set; cleaned it off and threw the tube away. Turned out I had the right gasket in the rebuild kit, so installed that. Added more epoxy to the mounting holes in the head sole. Dinghied ashore, a long ride but no problem with currents. Bought dinghy gas ($8; $2.44/gallon !). Biked to library, then walked the docks and read newspapers. Lots of fun to watch the charter guys clean fish and throw parts to the fish and pelicans. Saw a bunch of big tarpon and other fish hovering behind a docked boat; people were leaning over and taking pictures. Boat still rolling when I got back near 6 PM. Think I'm going to move back to the other anchorage tomorrow; it's a shorter dinghy ride to town. "Barbara Mae" has come in and anchored next to me; we were next to each other in Marathon. Called them and chatted with Dave for a while, telling him the local scoop. Chatted with Peter a little too; we'll probably go to the Dry Tortugas more or less together. Replaced engine zinc. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Rolly much of the night. 4/8/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Key West. Rolly again this morning; what a shame that such a nice town has such a bad harbor. Raised anchor at 7:30. motored over to the SW corner of Fleming Key, and anchored at 8 AM. Seems calmer here, but we'll see. Lots of activity at the USCG docks; they're bringing out a big freighter that's been there for a couple of days. Three tugs and two harbor-control boats in attendance. Even in 35 feet of water, and riding fairly high in the water, the freighter's prop-wash stirred up lots of mud from the bottom. Funny: I anchored slightly closer than I wanted to a boat "No Willpower" behind me, but I had the impression they were getting ready to leave. Sure enough, 15 minutes later they raised anchor and left. Reminded me of the Simpson's episode where they're put in the witness-protection program and go to live on a houseboat. As they get to the boat, Homer says "You know, the great thing about living on a boat is, if you don't like your neighbors, you can just leave !". They go on board and close the front door, and immediately every other boat leaves. Following my recommendation, Dave and his wife brought "Barbara Mae" over here and anchored next to me. Definitely calmer over here. Dinghied ashore in the afternoon, and it's hot. Everyone's wilting a bit. Did the library, biked around, loafed in the tourist areas for a while. A couple of huge cruise-ships in port; one had nine lines from its bow to the dock. Overheard a woman say she was on a two-week cruise, and the next stops were the Bahamas and then back to Jackonsville. Back to library for more air-conditioning and reading. Salad and a grilled sausage sandwich and a grilled pork chop for dinner. About 1 AM, a dinghy came past me (about 50 yards away) with a couple on it screaming at each other. I think I remember them from 4 or 5 days ago, doing the same thing. This time they stopped and I heard the guy yelling "you have to calm down; we're in a dangerous situation; you're going to knock us into the water". So I got on the VHF and called the Coast Guard. Meanwhile the dinghy kept going again, stopped again, more screaming, started going again. They were heading into town, and the USCG said they were notifying the local police. 4/9/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Key West. Hot and humid and a bit grey; going up to the high 80's today. Chatted with Dave on "Barbara Mae"; they spent all of yesterday ashore, I guess had a good time, but didn't pay for dinghy dockage, and found a note on the dinghy "fining" them $20 for not paying. Still can't raise Peter on "Kari II" by radio; I'm starting to worry that something might have happened to him. Washed a lot of bird-crap off one of the solar panels. More work on the forward toilet. The epoxy didn't set properly; guess I didn't use enough hardener. Not critical; I was trying to narrow the mounting holes a little to make the bolts bite better. More work on my 2003 income taxes. Mentioned it to Dave and he said he still has to finish 2002's taxes; apparently he's obtained a series of extensions. Never understood how people could do that; I may be last-minute, but I always take my best shot at it and file before the normal deadline. Finally raised Peter on the radio. He slept all morning, and was having "lunch" at almost 4 PM ! He thought I might have left for the Dry Tortugas without telling him. Dinghied ashore at 4, stopping by to chat with Dave and wife. Sat on the dock watching the women walk by, reading a book, and then having a nice chat with Peter. Odds and ends for dinner. 4/10/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Key West. Hot and humid again. Hoped to head south/west toward the Dry Tortugas tomorrow, but the weather's not going to cooperate. Will have to stay here several more days (not a problem). Heard the USCG station piping and playing the national anthem in the morning; I guess they were raising the flag. "Barbara Mae" has departed; I guess they're heading back to Marathon. They didn't stay long here. Heard Car Talk for the first time in a long while. Reinstalled forward toilet, and it seems okay (no water pouring out, so far). Dinghied ashore. Did library, then got groceries. Looked for a place to copy my tax forms, but no luck. Back to boat. Garrison Keillor said: when you file your taxes, put extra stamps on the envelope, because the money has to get all the way to Iraq ! Salad and fruit and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Nice sunset: sun was an orange ball, then a red ball, then down it went. USCG piped the flag down about the same time. Hot, humid, still night. Woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, so went up and sat in the cockpit about 3 AM. Was thinking "there's a lot of light in this part of the harbor, from the USCG station; wonder if I should bother running my anchor light?". Then all of a sudden, ker-chunk, the whole town went dark ! Power-failure. Heard a backup generator at the USCG station start up, and there were a few scattered lights in town. But it stayed that way for over an hour. I went below and back to sleep. 4/11/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Key West. Hot and humid again. Did little cleanup and housekeeping chores. Started blowing 15+ after noon. Peter and I were going to meet ashore, but we never made radio contact, and I didn't go ashore. Salad and chicken-onion-noodle-pesto for dinner. Wind blowing from sewage plant to me; not very pleasant. Heard Hilton dockmaster calling the Coast Guard; two people in kayaks were violating the security zone around the cruise ships (100 yards, I think), and were actually touching the hull of a cruise ship ! He was pretty outraged, but it looked like the USCG was going to take 10 minutes or more to get anybody over there. So much for Homeland Security. Reached Peter on the radio, and turns out he's reached his limit of hot and humid weather and Key West; he's going to head to Marathon tomorrow, and then up the east coast for New England. From 10 to midnight, blew 30-35 and rained. Swirling wind and current started blowing rain into the main hatch, so I had to close up completely ("submarine mode") for a while. 4/12/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Key West. Blowing and raining again, off and on. About 8:30, had 40+ wind and some rain. Kept blowing fairly hard for an hour or two. Talked to Peter on the radio; he's not going anywhere today ! Heard a boat on the radio calling a towing service, saying that their mooring had dragged and they had a line in their prop. Calmed a bit in the afternoon. Dinghied ashore after lunch, and spent most of the afternoon in the library. Mailed my tax return. Odds and ends for dinner. Ran the engine for 30 minutes to charge batteries. 4/13/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Key West. Started seeing lightning about 5 AM, and it was one of those big things I saw up in Alabama and Tennessee: huge front with constant cloud-to-cloud lightning. Soon came over, with some rain and wind, but mostly just constant lightning and rolling thunder. A few ground-strikes of lightning. About 6 AM, it started blowing and raining harder, and then harder, and then HARDER ! I think we had wind well over 50 knots for more than 5 minutes. It was scary. I stood in the pilothouse wearing undies and a foul-weather jacket, my glasses totally wet and fogged over until I could wipe them half-clean. Started the engine, which was tricky since I couldn't hear anything. Kept checking to see if I was dragging or anyone was dragging down on me; fortunately we all seemed to be holding. The wind and rain went on and on, but finally it went back down to the 20-to-30 range. The funny thing was that I didn't hear much radio traffic. Later there was traffic about a boat washed up on a beach somewhere. Ugly day: windy and rainy and grey and humid and warm and rolly. Dinghied ashore in the afternoon, and found the library jammed and all internet time taken. Managed to scrounge a little time when people left early. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Halfway through cooking it, my anchor started dragging ! Turned off the propane, raised anchor in 20-knot wind, and motored away from the semi-lee shore I'd been too close to anyway. Found a nice clear spot farther out in the middle, but the water is deeper than I'd like. Anchor skipped a few times before holding. Finished cooking and ate dinner. Made radio contact with Peter; he's still here. By 8, the wind was blowing NW 25 to 35+, with big whitecaps roaring past, and it kept doing that all night ! An anxious night, hard to sleep, popping up every half-hour or so to make sure my anchor was holding. It held okay, and so did everyone near me. 4/14/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Key West. Sunny and cooler and less humid and no rain, but still blowing like heck. For some reason, I pulled out some old spare toilet pumps from my rudder bilge and started working on them, seeing what was usable and what should be discarded, etc. Dinghied ashore, through large following seas in 25-knot wind. Did library and biked a bit, but too cool and windy to sit around much. Got groceries. Dinghy ride back was an adventure, straight into large chop and 25-knot wind, motoring off the tops of swells and smacking down into the troughs. Wet and wild and dangerous. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 4/15/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Key West. Sunny and cool and windy, but wind has eased maybe 5 to 10 knots since yesterday. But it's supposed to pick up again this weekend. Oatmeal for breakfast. Messed with spare toilet pumps some more. Stupid scanner has stopped working. That was quick ! Dinghied ashore, sat and chatted with Peter for a while, then we walked to the library. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Pretty calm evening. 4/16/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Key West. Woke with a headache. Wind started picking up soon after sunrise. Didn't do much; headache really bothering me. Dinghied ashore in afternoon and did library. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Talked by radio to Peter, and he's been in bed all day with some kind of stomach flu or something. Miserable night; headache bothered me all night. 4/17/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Key West. Headache still nasty; stayed in bed all morning. Started blowing hard about 9 AM. Thought of going ashore in the afternoon, but my head is killing me. And it's rough out. Peter took the water-taxi in. I spent most of the day in bed. Semi-salad and cheese sandwich for dinner. 4/18/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Key West. Headache better but not gone. Wind blew hard all day, then harder all night. Loafed all day; headache went back and forth. Bean salad and corned-beef-onion-noodle for dinner. 4/19/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Key West. Headache a little worse again. Still blowing fairly hard. Scraped corrosion off spare toilet pumps, just to be accomplishing something. Dinghied ashore, paid for a week of dinghy dock ($22), went to library. Had a nice chat there with Peter. Got groceries. Headache is gone. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 4/20/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Key West. Peter came by to look at my east coast charts and guides. We had a nice chat, and exchanged a bunch of paperback books and such. Dinghied ashore, did library, then a long bike ride to the big supermarket, to get things that are outrageously expensive at the in-town small markets: snacks and cereal. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Added water to batteries. 4/21/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Key West. Weather starting to get nice. Peter left this morning, heading north/east. Ran engine for 15 minutes to exercise it. Acid-washed corrosion off spare toilet pumps. Dinghied ashore, did library, loaded some water. Walked the docks and had a nice chat with Sue and George, an older couple from New Hampshire who have been taking 2 to 4-week vacations in Key West for over 20 years. They have a boat up north, have run and sold a couple of businesses, and he's just invented a better ice-fishing rig. He told me one of the sailing schooners reported making 14 knots under sail the other evening ! Salad and odds and ends for dinner. 4/22/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Key West. Did a bucket of laundry. More messing with the spare toilet pumps. Dinghied ashore, did library, went to hardware stores, sat on the dock for a while, loaded water. Salad and apaghetti for dinner. 4/23/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Key West. Did the usual: loafed all morning, dinghied ashore and did library and sat on the dock in the afternoon. A pleasant time. Loaded water. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 4/24/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Key West. Some clouds and a brief splash of rain. Did the usual: loafed all morning, dinghied ashore and did library and sat on the dock in the afternoon. Got groceries. Salad and corned-beef-onion-noodles for dinner. 4/25/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Key West. Loafed all morning. Dinghied ashore, got gasoline ($8), read a book on the docks for a while. Called Mom and got her answering machine. Back to boat. Started raising anchor about 7:15, got it up about 7:40. Had a 40-foot patch of mud and sea-lice on it. Motored out of the harbor, past a thousand people in Mallory Square watching the sunset over my boat. Disney cruise ship is at the dock, and it blasted its horn at sunset. The horn plays the first few notes of "It's a small, small, world", I think (found out later: it's "if you could wish upon a star"); whoever thought of that should be shot. Tricky at the SW corner: all the big sailing schooners and catamarans were out doing their evening sails, and they were all sailing, all faster than me, and all going different directions. Got into the southwest channel, and it's really rolly. An hour later, was able to turn mostly west and get an easier motion. Dark, empty night with lots of stars and lots of waves. Felt queasy at times, from the motion and lack of food and cool wind. Took lots of catnaps in my berth, popping up every 10 or 20 minutes to check on everything. 4/26/2004 (Monday) Underway from Key West to Dry Tortugas. Timed it perfectly: sky started getting light just as I approached the first markers outside Garden Key. 5 or 6 boats leaving as I'm coming in, and they're really pitching over the waves. Tomorrow should be much calmer, better for going east. Spiraled my way into Garden Key / Fort Jefferson and anchored about 8:15. More boats here than I expected, maybe 20 or so. A couple of seaplanes, too. Both of them left, taking off right next to me, about 50 yards away. Loafed in the morning, then dinghied ashore after lunch. Paid $5 for a 7-day stay; cheap, but you get almost no facilities for that, not even a dock for the dinghy. Nice place; the fort is HUGE, much bigger than I expected. Was supposed to have 420 cannon, but never had more than about 200 installed, because the whole fort started sinking even before construction was finished ("burned down, fell over, and THEN sank into the swamp"). Never fired a shot in anger. Seems daft to put a fort out here in the middle of nowhere, but apparently it mainly was a base for warships that patrolled the choke point of all shipping in and out of the Gulf. Took a nice wade in the water at a beach, a walk around the outside, then some of the inside. Fairly hot. Lots of people from the ferries swimming, snorkeling, etc. There are some interesting fish to look at right around the edges of the fort; will have to go snorkeling tomorrow. Place got quieter when the ferries left at 3. Went back to the boat. When I beached the dinghy, I had to tilt the outboard, which I don't usually do. Looks like a lot of greasy water came out of the outboard into the back of the dinghy; had to wipe it out. I think the outboard catches rainwater inside and there is no way for it to get out. Painted the spare toilet parts. Cleaned a battery terminal. Was sitting on the cool, shady foredeck reading a book (the pilothouse is very hot when the sun pours in and the wind is blocked). Glanced over the side and saw that the water was filled with thousands of little silver fish, not in a tight school, but evenly spread through a large area of water. A few minutes later, a large sea-turtle surfaced right next to the boat. His shell was about 2.5 feet in diameter, and his head was massive. "Tortuga" means "turtle". Salad and chili for dinner. 4/27/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas. Grey and drizzly at 6:30, then a strong front came through after 7. Lots of wind and rain; one boat dragged anchor. Felt sorry for the people camping in small tents ashore. Water was very still and clear afterwards. Everything very wet, and still cloudy. In the afternoon, snorkeled under the boat and scraped the hull for about 90 minutes. Lots of small barnacles down the port side; too many to get them all in one session. Propeller in good shape. The two sea-planes taxied through the middle of the anchorage, right past me, before taking off. The first plane taxied past with wingtip not more than 20 feet from me; the people inside and I waved to each other. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 4/28/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas. Blowing NE 15-20+. Got up and looked around at 7 AM. 5 minutes later, heard a horn, looked out, and saw a powerboat "Capt Andy" dragging anchor into the shallows. Everyone on board stayed asleep. Other boats dragging or adjusting anchors. About 8 AM, heard some noises, and realized MY anchor was starting to drag slowly. Started engine, raised anchor, moved up about 100 feet or so. Handle to one of the doors of the anchor chain locker snapped right off in my hand as I was opening it: one more thing to fix. Just after I got settled again, saw "Capt Andy" re-anchoring after powering off the shallows. A few minutes later, they were trying again. I think they're in a deep area, with an all-rope rode, close to the shallows behind them. They tried a couple more times, then moved somewhere else. Lots of activity all morning, with people taking out second anchors in dinghies, and so on. Holding is not so good here. Nice couple from "Blue Claw" stopped by; think the guy's name was Carl. They remember seeing my boat in Boot Key Harbor; I remember their boat. Some kid stole their dinghy in Boot Key Harbor, in daytime, but they got it back and the kid was caught. Gave them a couple of jugs of water, since they mentioned they were running low. They're going to be heading up to Ft Myers Beach too. Dinghied ashore and went snorkeling along the moat wall. A bit rough and bad visibility, and the fish are hiding. A nice experience anyway. On the way back, 15 or so cruisers asked me to take their group photo for them. They handed me 4 cameras, and I clicked away. Hope some of the photos come out. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 4/29/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas. Wind E 15-20. I'd like to plan to leave, but reception of weather forecasts is hard here. Heard "Dolphin" on the radio to NPS saying a big powerboat is dragging anchor down onto the ferry dock. He said it dragged 100 yards in the last 15 minutes, but the whole anchorage is only about 300 yards across. Got out the binocs, and I see a big boat, but not really close to the dock, and it doesn't seem to be moving. Found out later I was looking at the wrong boat. Dinghied ashore, wandered around the beach and moat wall a bit, chatted with the Park Service guy. Found a weather forecast they've posted; probably can't leave until Monday. Read my book, then went up to see 2nd and 3rd stories of the fort. Stunning views from that 3rd story, and that's where the cannon are too. Came down, chatted with a seaplane pilot for a while. He said the anchorage is as crowded as he's ever seen it: usually there are half a dozen boats, and now there must be 20. Interesting guy: he's done big powerboat deliveries in the northern Caribbean, flown seaplanes to Puerto Rico, etc. He's from New Jersey too, like me. The Park Service guy came by and pointed out the powerboat that dragged down onto the dock this morning. He says there were about 7 guys partying on it yesterday, then they all took off fishing in a 26-foot open boat last night, and haven't been seen since. He's starting to think of organizing a search. He boarded the boat to re-anchor it, and there were lots of empty whiskey bottles and such on it. And you're not supposed to leave a boat unattended overnight here. Painted the spare toilet pumps again. (I lead such an exciting life, don't I ?) Tried to hear NWS forecasts and other stations on shortwave, but got only Radio Canada, and mixed reception there. Really need to do better at this before heading to places such as Dominican Republic and Honduras. Maybe need better antenna, or maybe shortwave is just really hard to get ? Salad and odds and ends for dinner. Think I saw people on the powerboat that was dragging. 4/30/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas. Saw powerboat that was dragging leave the harbor, so I guess all is okay with that. 4 or 5 cruisers have left today, most heading east but at least one headed north. Dinghied ashore after lunch. Decided to leave for Key West tonight; the wind should be E15+. If I wait another 2 days, it'll be E10-15. I'm bored here; I've seen the place. Wandered around, read a book, went up on top of the fort, etc. Goodly number of pretty girls in bikinis today, actually. Coast Guard helicopter landed and took off. On the way back to the boat, saw a young couple drifting through the anchorage in their dinghy, sunbathing bottomless. Fuel level 7 to 7.5 inches at engine hour 3376.4 As I was getting the boat ready to move, found a dead bird on the back deck. Raised anchor about 6:15 and motored out. Ugly: it's rougher than I expected. I expected a stiff chop on the nose, but there are swells from the side too. Lots of pitching and rolling and corkscrewing. Wind on the nose as I expected. Got worse: 90 minutes out, the engine raced a couple of times. Had to decide whether to turn back (getting there after dark, and having to work on a maybe intermittent problem in a place with no resources) or keep going (through 65 miles of empty space; if engine quits, only option will be to sail back to Garden Key). Kept going. Long, stressful night. Boat is gyrating all over the place, and every hour or two the engine is racing alarmingly. Seems to be worse at higher RPM, so I have to slow down. I expected wind and chop would cut me down to 4.5 knots or so, but now I'm doing 3 to 3.5. This could be a long trip. Contents of cockpit ending up sliding around on the sole; I think the propane stove may have been damaged. Heard some cruisers on the radio, heading for Dry Tortugas, and one of the boats is taking on water. 5/1/2004 (Saturday) In transit from Dry Tortugas to Key West. Still rough, engine still racing occasionally, I'm tired and stressed and wondering if I'll make it. Engine raced worse at 7 AM. As I raised the mainsail, engine stalled completely. Sailed about 1 knot in a reasonable direction. Had to jury-rig topping-lift on mainsail; the block is coming apart. Then suddenly, the mainsail outhaul parted ! Clew of the sail went flying up, and sail is flogging in 20 knots of wind. Furled the sail and got it mostly bundled up. Jury-rigged the outhaul in case engine quits again. Long, rough, ugly slog up to Key West. At least I got to hear the weekend programs on NPR. Originally had hoped to get in about 10 AM, but engine problem made me get in and anchored by about 3 PM. As I went through the harbor, a couple in a dinghy hailed me. Turns out they sailed (partied) on Magnolia with the previous owners. They say the previous owner's wife still misses Magnolia. Straightened up the boat. Par for the course for an ugly trip: engine problem, rigging repairs needed, salt all over the boat, more chafe on everything including the dinghy, maybe propane stove broken. And I'm pretty wrung out. This last week has made me realize how little I like isolated places and rough open-water passages. I really like coastal or river cruising, interesting towns, with internet and newspapers and supermarkets. I'm starting to wonder how much I'll enjoy my Caribbean trip planned for next year. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Strong wind blasting through the pilothouse and blowing my stove out. But the stove survived the pounding it took on the trip. 5/2/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Key West. Did a bucket of laundry. Took broken block off mainsail topping lift, and I don't see why the topping lift needs two blocks and a cleat; it doesn't need to be adjusted very often. Think I'll just use knots at the end of the rope section. Dinghied ashore, taking lots of garbage. Strolled the dock, sat and read a book, biked to supermarket and got groceries. Hot afternoon. Loaded water. When I got back to the boat, noticed the flapper finally tore off the exhaust flapper valve. Salad and fruit and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. Wind really strong. 5/3/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Key West. Replaced rope section of mainsail topping lift. Dinghied ashore. Bought a week of dinghy dockage ($22). Went to library and read a week's worth of newspapers, and did internet. Nice air-conditioning on a warm afternoon. Weather very threatening when I came out, but only sprinkled a little rain after I got back to the boat. Loaded water. Added water to batteries; they needed a lot. Salad and yoghurt and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 5/4/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Key West. Today is the 3-year anniversary of my ownership of Magnolia ! It's been quite an adventure. It's still a mixed bag: lots of inconveniences and work and hassles, but I've changed my life, learned lots of things, seen lots of places. Well worth doing. But I still feel like a beginner. Fuel level 4.5 inches at engine hour 3397.2 Bled primary fuel filters; some black particles, but not many, and no water; looks okay. Opened up fuel lift pump and checked strainer; looks fine. Dinghied ashore. Outboard motor has started choking and stalling occasionally. Took cowling off to use some starting fluid, and saw that accumulated water has rusted part of the cowling-lock. Did library, read a book while lounging on the dock. Nice conversation with a delightful little old lady. She's here with various nephews and daughters, staying on her nephew's powerboat "Positive Carry", 147 feet long with a crew of 11. He got it about 3 weeks ago, trading up from his previous 100-foot boat. He also has a Gulfstream jet. She's a bit disapproving of all the possessions. He got rich as a stockbroker or dealmaker or something, at age 33, and now she wonders what he's going to do with the rest of his life. She thought my living on a boat and traveling is wonderful. Her family swirled around in bemusement as she had this animated conversation with me. Loaded water, back to boat, and replaced exhaust flapper valve. Chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 5/5/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Key West. Dinghied ashore early and biked about 6 miles round-trip to the big supermarket. One good thing about this lifestyle: just about any strange behavior is explained by saying "I live on a boat". Came to the checkout line with nothing but 20 boxes of crackers, and the checkout girl said "what's up with this ?", I said "I live on a boat", and she said "oh". I should probably see if I could use that line to get away with bank robbery or something. Back to boat. Dinghied ashore again in the afternoon, outboard stalling a few more times. Did library, got a few groceries at the local mini-supermarket. Salad and fruit and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 5/6/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Key West. Ran engine for 15 minutes to test it. Did a bucket of laundry. Dinghied ashore and did library. Outboard needed starting fluid to start, but then ran okay; I sprayed some carb-cleaner into it. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. 5/7/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Key West. Loafed all morning. Dinghied ashore in afternoon, did library and lounged on the dock. Loaded some water. Salad and chili for dinner. Life is empty now: finished the last of the homemade chocolate-chip cookies my sister sent me a while ago. 5/8/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Key West. Loafed all morning. Dinghied ashore in afternoon, did library and got groceries. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 5/9/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Key West. Loafed all morning. Dinghied ashore in afternoon, lounged on the dock. Talked to my sister, and left a message for my mom for Mother's Day. Salad and fruit and eggsalad-crackers for dinner. 5/10/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Key West. Starting to think of heading up to Marathon, but it's been blowing E15-20 for several days and is forecast to keep doing so for a while. Loafed all morning. Dinghied ashore in afternoon, paid for dinghy dockage ($22), did library, got a few groceries. Really blowing hard in the late afternoon. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 5/11/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Key West. Loafed all morning. Dinghied ashore in afternoon, did library (internet was down), lounged on the dock. Called my mom and talked to her for a while. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 5/12/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Key West. Loafed all morning. Dinghied ashore in afternoon, did library, biked around town a bit. Chicken-curry-onion-rice for dinner. I'm in a bit of a rut. The weather (wind had been howling from the east) is keeping me here, although it's not a bad place to be "stuck". I'm doing lots of reading, on board and in the library. But I don't seem to have the energy to do any maintenance tasks, and some are hard to do here because the harbor is so rough. I'm feeling a bit "down". 5/13/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Key West. Loafed all morning. Dinghied ashore in afternoon, did library. Outboard seems to be running okay, as long as I squeeze the fuel bulb occasionally. Fruit and eggsalad-crackers for dinner. 5/14/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Key West. Still blowing hard. Loafed all morning. Dinghied ashore in afternoon, did library, got groceries. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 5/15/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Key West. Still blowing hard. Loafed all morning. Messed with spare furler drum a bit, to see how to disassemble them. Dinghied ashore in afternoon, did library, lounged on the dock. Lounging on the dock mainly consists of sitting on a bench near the charter-fishing boats, reading and watching the pretty women walk by and the fisherman come in. The fisherman clean their fish and throw the scraps to a school of big tarpon that hover around. People stop to watch the tarpon. The last couple of days, the fisherman have had large catches to clean, and the crowds of people and tarpon have been large. The tarpon are impressive, 2 to 4 feet long and silver and heavy. There's a big flurry of activity as they lunge for each scrap thrown down to them. Salad and chicken-onion-saffron-rice for dinner. Was reading an Ellery Queen mystery, set in 1935. Had a good laugh when I read that the murderer drove into a gas station, got 5 gallons of gasoline, paid with a dollar bill, and left without waiting for the change ! 5/16/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Key West. Have a bit of a sinus headache. Raining off and on. First decent rain we've had in a couple of weeks; it's washed all the salt off the boat. Watched a couple of tugs bring a big tanker into the Coast Guard docks for inspection. Ended up staying aboard all day; didn't feel very well, and it's a cloudy damp day. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 5/17/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Key West. Gorgeous big ketch has come in and anchored near me: must be 60 feet long, green hull, pilothouse-decked, triple-spreader, maybe a $600k boat. Still have a sinus headache. Rained several times. Dinghied ashore, paid for a week of dinghy dockage ($22), did library and lounged on dock. Found a cockroach on the boat; only the 2nd one in 3 years aboard. Wasn't able to squash it, but sprayed where it went to. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 5/18/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Key West. Repaired main cabin port-side opening port with fiberglass cloth and epoxy. Headache all day. Dinghied ashore, did library, bought groceries and roach traps. Salad and eggsalad-crackers and fruit for dinner. 5/19/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Key West. Lots of rain at 8:30. Ran engine for 15 minutes to exercise it. Dinghied ashore, renewed boat registrations ($14), did library, lounged on dock, loaded water. Back to boat, to find a smallish green sailboat anchored a little too close to me; don't know why, there's plenty of space here. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 5/20/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Key West. Did a bucket of laundry. Epoxied opening port in main cabin again. Dinghied ashore, did library. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. A couple of catamarans came in and anchored. 5/21/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Key West. Occasional rain sprinkles. Several more catamarans and trimarans came in and anchored. Stitched bug-screen on main hatch. Dinghied ashore. As I got into the marina, saw a sailboat towing another in. After they dropped the towline, the other boat went out of control. Did my good deed for the day: I used the dinghy to nudge them in to the dock so they could get lines fast. Did library, lounged on dock. Salad and spaghetti and a beer for dinner. 5/22/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Key West. Dinghied ashore, did library. Went to "boating expo" in Mallory Square and went aboard the Coast Guard training ship "Eagle", a triple-masted barque. Interesting that none of the 200 sail-control lines were labeled; they rely on the crew memorizing the position of each line. Lounged on the dock for a while. Bought $5 worth of gasoline at $2.74/gallon ! Diesel is $1.89/gallon. Fuel level 4.3 inches at engine hour 3397.7 Salad and yoghurt and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 5/23/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Key West. Did a bucket of laundry. More boats coming in. Dinghied ashore, lounged on the dock, had a nice long chat with Tony. Got groceries, dumped bike into dinghy, went back to boat. Salad and chili for dinner. 5/24/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Key West. Raised anchor about 6:45; lots of muck to scrub off the anchor chain. Motored between Tank and Wisteria islands, then motor-sailed out the northwest channel. Lots of other sailboats moving: 5 or 6 ahead of me in the northwest channel, 4 or 5 others going out the south channel. Most boats heading north for Marco Island and beyond. Saw more sailboats coming out later. A bit rough just after I turned east (straight into wind and swells), but eased a little later in the morning. Took down the mainsail after an hour or so; wasn't doing anything useful. Making about 4 knots, not pushing the engine too hard. Worked on opening port in main cabin and managed to crack another part of it ! Really should just replace all the ports with metal ones; these plastic ones crack too easily. But seven ports at $200+ apiece is a lot of money. Into Big Spanish Channel, which really could use a few more markers. Down to Little Spanish Key and anchored at 5 PM. Was thinking of snorkeling under the boat to scrape the prop and hull, but wimped out. Pretty breezy, and there's a strong current running, and I'm a little tired. Some big flies bothering me, too. Salad and cheese/tomato sandwiches for dinner. 5/25/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor near Little Spanish Key. Fuel level 2.3 inches at engine hour 3408.4 Added 5 gallons from spare jug to tank; fuel is pretty low and I'm a little worried I might run out. Should have plenty (I'll be going 15 miles; tank should have enough for 50+), but I'm not sure the engine can get every last gallon out of the tank, and I seem to have gotten low fuel mileage on the way up from Key West. Added water to batteries. Cleaned seaweed out of engine intake strainer. Raised anchor about 8:15. Hot already, and it's going into the low 90's today. Motored down and along and under the Seven-Mile bridge, and into Boot Key Harbor. Immediately went to fuel dock. Bought 75 gallons of diesel at $1.63/gallon plus tax (effectively, $1.76/gallon), for a total of $132. Then found that I'd gone to the most expensive of the three fuel docks; two months ago, it was the cheapest of the three. Could have saved $6. Into the harbor, and was surprised to see that it's still pretty full. No problem finding an anchoring spot, but I thought more boats would have cleared out by now. Finished putting down two anchors about 12:30. "Tao" is still here. Surprising, since 3 months ago he was looking for charts for a circumnavigation, and some other stuff like a new anchor windlass. But then he had some or all of his crew leave, and he was looking for crew. Dinghied ashore after lunch, taking the bike and a ton of magazines to put in the marina lending library. Paid $22 for a week of dinghy dockage. Only people I recognized were Diver Dave and his girlfriend. Biked to the library, then to the UPS store to get my mail (about 10 pounds in the last 2 months). Got groceries. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Nice to be in a calm harbor; no wakes. 5/26/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Did a bucket of laundry. Fuel level 10.5 inches at engine hour 3411.9 Cut and painted wood for anchor chain locker. Dinghied ashore, biked to library, did errands at tax office and post office, bought BioBor ($18). Nice conversations with Marti and Duane. Examined rusted clasp on outboard cowling; looks like exhaust water tube is loose and leaking water inside the cowling. Put another coat of paint on wood for chain locker. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 5/27/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Put another coat of paint on wood for chain locker. Put a hose-clamp on the loose tube in the outboard. Dinghied ashore, did library. Installed wood piece in anchor chain locker. It will prop up another piece of wood, which holds the shaft for a reel of rope for the primary anchor rode. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Hot, still night. Had to run a fan several times. 5/28/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Finally remembered to listen to the cruiser's net at 9 AM. Heard that someone stole an inflatable dinghy last night, rode it to the end of the harbor, and slashed it up to sink it. But someone saw them do it, and the police are after them. It was some low-life liveaboard guy. Dinghied ashore and did library. Heard that the victim of the stolen-and-slashed-dinghy was that loudmouthed jerk who lives on a red motorboat and always roars through the anchorage in his dinghy, offering to fight anyone who tells him to slow down. But he still doesn't deserve to have his property destroyed. The thief didn't just slash his dinghy to mostly sink it, he also slashed up all the dive gear that was in the dinghy, which the guy uses to make some cash. The police arrested the thief. [Actually, heard later that the guy hasn't been arrested yet. Also heard the dinghy was owned by the jerk's girlfriend, and she's distraught; they're poor and this loss is a bit blow to them.] Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 5/29/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Loafed all morning, dinghied ashore in the afternoon, did library. Gave myself an early birthday present: went for dinner to Keys Fisheries restaurant. Had a lobster Reuben, which was terrific. I think it's the first time I've eaten in a restaurant since Christmas (hey, if I ate out a lot I wouldn't be able to stay retired for the rest of my life). Several gorgeous women in the restaurant. I guess they hang out in places I don't go to: restaurants, bars, clothing stores. Oh, well. 5/30/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Did a small bucket of laundry. Dinghied ashore and lounged around the city marina for several hours. Very nice conversations on the dock with Dan and Peter. Dan is a young guy from NC who just bought a MacGregor 26 "Chanson" four days ago and has it on the seawall in the city marina. He knows very little about his boat, but fortunately there's not much to know: all it has is a nice four-stroke outboard with battery, and a solar panel, battery and lights and VHF radio. No refrigerator, no battery charger, one anchor, a spare battery. I advised him to start by reading the outboard motor manual and learning all about the outboard, and also to parallel the spare battery to the house battery so it gets charged and he has more capacity. We had a lot of fun talking about boating and how we got into it. Peter is on a 23-foot motorboat, from Houston, 50-something Vietnamese guy. He and his wife trailered the boat to Clearwater and then cruised down from there. He used to work for an aerospace contractor to the NASA Shuttle program, ran his own company for 10 years or so, originally came to USA via a harrowing boat escape at the end of the Viet Nam war. We talked a bit about NASA, Iraq, etc. Rare to find someone who can converse intelligently about them; most people in this community don't read the papers, or don't care about the news. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Hot, still, buggy, sleepless night. Bit of a sinus headache. 5/31/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Slept most of the morning. Exercised valves on all through-hulls. Shook up fire extinguishers. Checked battery water. Woman whose dinghy was slashed a few days ago says her scooter was stolen last night. Dinghied ashore. Picked up Dan and dinghied him to my boat and gave him a tour (he said the same thing a cruiser at Staniel Cay said: "this is a SHIP!"). We sat and chatted for a while, and I showed him some charts and guidebooks (I don't think he's ever seen any before; and he groaned when I told him that a chartbook for the Keys cost $60, for example; shocked when I told him he'll have to pay $150 to enter the Bahamas). Then we took a dinghy-tour through the harbor, which was fun: lots of strange boats to look at. Dan had never really seen the harbor at all; I think he trailered his boat to the marina, launched it, and went right to the seawall and tied up. Saw "Barbara Mae" (boat of Dave from Michigan) stored on a city mooring; he must be up in Michigan for a while. Then back to the marina, and chatted a while longer on the cool, breezy seawall; it's the best spot in the harbor on these hot days. He came down here and bought a MacGregor 26, but he has little money, and car-payments to make, and put most of the boat purchase on his credit card. He has one part-time job here, and is trying to find another. Salad and peanut-butter-crackers for dinner. Another hot and buggy night. I'm anchored too close to the mangroves. 6/1/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Loafed in the morning, then dinghied ashore. Did library. Was biking up to get my mail and groceries, when I cut into a driveway a little too fast, ended up a bit on the wrong side, couldn't see around a tree, and of course another bicyclist appeared at just the wrong moment. She swerved, I braked, and I hit her back tire. She lost her balance and fell over and scraped herself a bit. It turned out to be "Bicycle Joanie", a local character I'd heard about but never met, a lady maybe in her 60's. Fortunately she wasn't really hurt except for a couple of small scrapes. Turns out she just had a cast removed from her left arm, and her first thought was that it would be broken again. This was her first day back on the bike in a month or two. Unfortunately, her back wheel was bent enough to be unusable. So we piled into a taxi and went off to the only bike shop in town, which luckily was able to install a new wheel right away. I said I was sorry many times, and she was quite nice about it after her initial shock. The damages to my wallet: $12 for taxis, $10 to her for wear and tear, $52 to repair her bike. I also bought a new seat for my bike ($16). A bit chastened, went to get my mail and get groceries. Hauled everything into the dinghy, said goodbye to a couple of people, and headed out to the boat. Loaded everything aboard and hoisted the dinghy. Started raising anchors about 4:15, and it took a solid hour to get them up. Thought I was going to have heatstroke; had to chug a lot of water and rest in the shade a few times. Plus I didn't have much of a lunch today: just a salad. Constantly toweling the sweat off. Both anchors were well planted in thick mud, and the secondary was very close to a small sailboat. Even getting it nearly vertical and trying to back up and yank it out with the engine, it didn't want to let go. Meanwhile the sailboat and its dinghy were swinging practically under my bow. Finally the anchor came out, and it had 40 pounds of mud on it, so I had to heave that up and dump water on it to wash most of it off. Then started bringing the primary anchor up. Gasping and sweating and overheated by the time I got everything up and got moving. Motored out through the bridge, out of the harbor, out and through Seven Mile bridge, and over to Gulf side. Anchored off Knights Key Channel. Had been hoping to snorkel and clean the prop, but the bicycle delay and the anchor-related exhaustion prevent that. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Tidal current is holding me sideways to the wind, so the wind is blasting through the cockpit and making it hard to cook. Nice night: no bugs, enough breeze to keep from getting too warm. Slept well. 6/2/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor on the Gulf side of Marathon. Raised anchor about 7, raised all the sails, and sailed for a while. Very pleasant broad reach and then beam reach. Speed varied from 3 to 4 knots; down around 3.5 early in 5-10 knots of wind, then more around 4+ as wind edged more into 10-15 range. Balanced the sails and the boat steered itself. Nice day: sunny, but enough breeze to keep from being too hot. I'm lounging the cockpit in my undies, reading and listening to radio. Just a few miles from land, several good radio stations came back; there really must be quite a bit of radio interference ashor. Happy birthday to me ! I'm 46 years old today. Read a nice birthday card from my Mom. Listened to a mayday call about 10 AM: someone on the ocean side, near Sombrero Light, 18-foot motorboat taking on water with a cracked hull. Around 11, wind eased to 8 knots or so, and I had more of a broad reach, so doing 2.6 to 3 knots and boat not steering itself so well any more. After noon, broad-reaching in 6 knots of wind and making less than 2 knots, but boat steering itself okay if I don't head too close to a run. Put new seat on my bicycle. About 2 PM, jibed the boat to clear East Cape Sable. But soon afterward, the wind sank to 3-4 knots, and the boat was making 1 knot or less, and about 70 degrees from the course I wanted. Put up with it until about 2:45, then took all the sails down and started the engine. Now doing 5+ knots in exactly the right direction. Anchored about 6:15, a mile or two outside the entrance to Little Shark River. Didn't want to go in: the bugs would be ferocious, and would drive me inside to sit sweltering in a hot boat with the screens up. Enough flies in the cockpit even out here to keep me busy swatting them. Another boat went inside, and another boat anchored out about a mile from me. Bet they weren't planning to do that until they saw me do it. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Front came through right at sunset. Lots of dark clouds and some moderate wind, but no rain. Nice night. Some chop making the boat sway and creak, but generally good sleeping. 6/3/2004 (Thursday) At anchor off Little Shark River in the Everglades. Raised all sails and anchor about 7:30. Sailing about 3 knots in 10 knots of wind, beam-reaching in exactly the right direction. Nice. Raising all sail takes a lot of work (even though they're all roller-furled), mainly because they're all tied down to keep them from flopping and chafing at anchor. Unwind line around mainsail and mast and stow it, unhank the furling lines, to cockpit to ease the sheet, back to mast to unfurl the sail, to cockpit to trim the sheet. To bow to remove bungee cord from jib, to mast to unhank the sheets, run each sheet through blocks, add snatch block on side that will be used, and then tie a stopper-knot in each end, close forward hatch so sheets don't snag on it, to cockpit to haul on unfurling line while easing sheets, then trim sheet. To mizzen-mast, unwind line around sail and mast, ease sheet, unhank furling lines, unfurl sail, trim sheet. Then get on course and trim the sails properly. At the end of sailing, reverse the whole process to get back into "anchored" mode. Catamaran raised anchor after me and soon passed me a mile or so away, then eventually went out of sight. I'm doing about 2 knots and they must be doing 5 or more. Dolphins swimming along next to the boat about 8:30. By 9:30, wind was down to 5-6 knots and I'm making 1.4 knots. Started the engine and motor-sailed. Engine "stumbling" briefly every now and then. Definitely need to get injectors serviced, and I think I'll have the injector pump done too. Will be $800 or more, but it's been about 8 years since the injectors were done and more than that (maybe MUCH more) since the pump was done. Throttle up a bit higher, and engine running better. Wind totally gone by 11; furled the jib and mizzen. Motor-sailing with the main not doing anything. Wind came up from W and SW in mid-afternoon, but I didn't feel like turning off the engine. Into Indian Key Pass, and went up a mile or so to try to get away from swells blowing right up the pass. Anchored at 4:30. No other cruisers here. Salad and chili for dinner. As I was cooking dinner, a huge squall/storm line passed over. Really amazing sight, huge curved line of dark clouds about 1000 feet up. Reminded me of scenes of alien spacecraft passing overhead in "Independence Day". About 40 knots of wind for a minute or two, then eased, then more gusts. Behind the main line, patches of grey and less grey, then a little rain. Looked like it was going to pour, but held off. After the rain, sky was strange: different in every direction. Clear in spots, cumulus clouds in others, the front off to the SW, very solid dark to NE, small patch of rainbow to E. Strange. Air cooler but very still after a while. 6/4/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Indian Key Pass in Ten Thousand Islands. Added water to batteries. Raised anchor about 7 AM, motored out of the pass. Almost no wind. About 8:30, wind rose to about 8 knots. But by the time I'd raised all sails, wind had dropped to 3 knots. Furled all sails again. Beam swells rolling the boat, until I turned the corner around the Cape Romano shoals. Into Marco Island and anchored at about 1:45 in Factory Bay. 4 or 5 other boats anchored here. Dinghied ashore to marina, phoned my friends in the area. Reached Gerry, and he came to the marina and took me to the bar for a drink and chat. He's become a yacht broker, and we had a nice chat about various boating things. They're hoping to cruise up to Ft Myers Beach soon, so I'll keep an eye out for them. He invited me to come to his house for a pizza dinner, and I was very tempted, but it's starting to rain and I don't want to be dinghying around in rain and dark (especially illegally, since I don;t have lights on the dinghy). So I declined his invitation, and regretted that a bit later, when the brief rain passed through and the weather turned much nicer, and it would have been really nice to be at his house. I've been hankering for a pizza for a while, too. He also invited me to dock my boat behind his house, and it was nice of him to invite, but I don't want to go down a narrow canal and hope everything works out well. I'm happier at anchor here. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Was lounging in the cockpit in my undies, trying to stay cool, when a big sightseeing boat came right past my boat, with people lounging at all the rails. I jumped up and went down inside the boat, hiding from them. I don't think they had me in mind when they paid for "sightseeing". 6/5/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Factory Bay at Marcos Island. Heard the marina calling someone who left the fuel dock without paying for their fuel. They didn't even know the boat name, just a description. Dinghied ashore and called Gary and Sheary, then dinghied over to their house. Spent most of the day with them, talking about boating, politics, life, etc. They took me out to a barbeque place for lunch. They've put their 1978 Morgan Out Island 41 "Eileen" up for sale in St. Petersburg, and spent all day yesterday working on the boat to make it sell better, so they're pretty bushed. They're selling their small boats, and their house, and moving to near Reno Nevada. It's a very emotional thing for them to sell their boat; they've had it for 11 years, and had another cruising boat before that. They gave me some leftover boat supplies: a couple of gallons of outboard oil, and a couple of gallons of bilge cleaner, some hydraulic fluid, an old TV antenna. I probably could have had 50 pounds of other stuff if I'd asked. Had a really nice time talking to them. We told lots of boating stories. Right after they took possession of "Eileen", the head gasket blew. On one of their first cruises on "Eileen", a water pipe broke and emptied the water tanks into the bilge, flooding the refrigerator wiring and killing it, and the food spoiled and they got food poisoning from some meat. Sheary said "that wasn't a very good cruise". Salad and peanut-butter-crackers for dinner. 6/6/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Factory Bay at Marcos Island. Dinghied in to the marina, bought gasoline ($3; at $2.70/gallon) just because they've been so nice about letting me make local phone calls. Dinghied over to Gary and Sheary's house. Offered to help haul boxes and stuff, but they said they're not ready to do that yet. They gave me five bottles of propane, and sold me three gallons of bottom-paint for $100 (Petit Trinidad 1675 Red, full price about $450 plus tax, but he worked at a marine store so he didn't pay that much for it). Back to boat, seeing a manatee along the way, and raised anchor about 11 AM. Long slog out the pass against the incoming tidal current. Almost no wind. Motored up toward Naples. Into Gordon Pass, left turn into a canal, and anchored at about 1:45. I've anchored here before; very sheltered, and surrounded by million-dollar-plus houses and a few million-dollar boats. Salad and chili-and-noodles for dinner. 6/7/2004 (Monday) At anchor inside Gordon Pass south of Naples. Raised anchor at 7 AM; lots of gooey muck all over the chain. Out through the pass, found 5-6 knots of wind in calm sea. Raised all sails and motor-sailed north. Able to sail at 2.7 knots, but can motor-sail at 4.8 with engine not working hard. By 11, wind was down to 3 knots or so; took down sails and motored. Got into Estero Bay / Ft Myers Beach about 12:45, with a big thunderstorm threatening, but the storm went elsewhere. Saw several guys in dinghies trying to move some boats as I went past: a large powerboat with motorboat rafted to it had dragged anchor onto a sailboat, I think. Anchorage is not too crowded; found a good spot in the middle. Barely got one anchor down before Richard was yelling hi to me, and Fred was coming by in his dinghy to tell me he'd bought a sistership to mine, 1971 Gulfstar 44 ketch "Shaggy Dog III". Then Richard came by to chat from his dinghy; his restaurant deal is dead along with the money he put into it, and his casino-ship-chef job STILL hasn't started. Finished anchoring about 1:15. Dinghied ashore and did a long session at the library. Weather closed in and started raining while I was there, and I stupidly didn't bring my foul-weather gear. Picked a lull and left. As soon as I set foot in the dinghy, it started pouring. Pulled under a big boat-shed halfway down the canal and tried to wait it out, but it kept raining harder and harder. After 20 minutes, it eased slightly, so I pulled the dinghy-cover over me and motored out to the boat, getting fairly wet in the process. Five minutes later, the rain became very light. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Mel stopped by in the evening. Gave him a tour of the boat and had a nice long chat with him. He has bad emphysema, and realizes that the handwriting is on the wall for him to give up boating. He was hoping to go back to Marathon about the time I left in January, but the winter cold kept him from feeling like moving, then it was the good TV season (!), then he couldn't get a diver to clean his hull, now it's hot. He gets out of breath so easily that even little tasks like pumping the head can exhaust him. He's on a small sailboat with no refrigeration; he used to eat out of boxes and cans a lot, but now eats ashore much of the time. His boat is deteriorating: when he tried to raise anchor in Little Shark River a year ago in rough weather, the anchor wouldn't come up and then the swell made his chain rip the bow roller and stainless mount for it right off the bow. He had to drop the whole anchor, chain, roller, mount and lose them. I think it was the same trip when his Dahon folding bike, held on deck by just a bungee cord, fell over the side and was lost. He also told me about losing a steel sailboat on the coast of Colombia 20 or more years ago, through a simple lack of alertness: the wind-vane sailed it right onto a lee shore in a strong wind, engine wouldn't start, and eventually the surf swamped it. Wonderfully cool evening: good sleeping. 6/8/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Estero Bay at Fort Myers Beach. Did a bucket of laundry. Rebedded the furling-line eyelets and unused eyelets down the port side. Saw the Coasties board a sailboat next to me, "View Finder", and then stand there asking people who went by if they knew where the owners were. Maybe they wanted them to move because they were in the channel ? But they didn't board several other boats in the same situation. They stood around helplessly for a while and then left. The "channel" here isn't really marked anyway. About 1 PM, several swimmers guided (too closely) by boats came through the harbor. I'll bet they were swimming clear around Estero Island. Dinghied over to Richard's boat and had a brief chat with him, Harry and Karen. They confirmed some things Mel told me: there was a fierce storm with some 70-knot wind through the anchorage back in Feb/March, and many boats dragged. And there have been police boardings of boats, with drug dogs. I mentioned the ketch that sunk since I was last here, and they said it belonged to "Tiki Tim" and that's the fifth boat he's let sunk; he didn't even make an effort to save it. At one point, Harry told Karen to look the other way, then he stood up in his dinghy and took a pee over the side, in broad daylight ! Pretty uncouth. In to shore; did library and got groceries. Lots of rain around 6 PM, but I had remembered to take my foul-weather gear this time, so I didn't get wet. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 6/9/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Estero Bay at Fort Myers Beach. Woke up with a sinus headache. Started rebedding long teak trim strip on port forward quarter. Took a couple of hours of sweaty work to get it off, using a hammer and putty knife to break all the caulk free; put screws back in just to keep the holes covered. Dinghied ashore, stopping by to say hi to Richard and then Fred. Fred bought the 1971 Gulfstar 44 "Shaggy Dog III". I thought he said he paid $55,000 for it, but now I think he meant $5500, because he says the engine is totally seized. [Later, Mel told me that boat had been mostly derelict and blown onto the sandbar before Fred bought it, so it must be $5500.] Did library and got groceries. The evil dark clouds that were nearby must have missed us; don't see evidence of rain. Must have hit Cape Coral; they had a small tornado there yesterday ! Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 6/10/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Estero Bay at Fort Myers Beach. Finally got smart: as soon as I woke up, about 6:45, went up on deck and scraped caulk in the cool of the morning, before the sun got hot. Spent a couple of hours scraping old caulk off fiberglass and teak trim. Did a small bucket of laundry. Suddenly remembered where I met Fred before: he's on "Legacy", and I met him in Marathon. Thought he said he was going to New Orleans. It's so hard to keep track of people in this lifestyle. Tried the TV, since this area has some stations, but couldn't get it to turn on. DC section went dead a year ago, but AC part used to work. May be totally dead now. Dinghied ashore, did library, got groceries. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. 6/11/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Estero Bay at Fort Myers Beach. Scraped caulk off the port forward cabinside from 7 AM to 9:45. Started the "rebedding the stanchions" project, which will be long and painful. The hard part of the job is getting through the interior woodwork to get at the back side of the mounting for each stanchion. Got a good taste of it with the very first small piece of molding I took off: one screw-head was stripped (got it out with the impact driver), another was stubborn, and someone had GLUED a corner of the molding to another piece of molding ! Dinghied ashore and did library. Scraped a little more caulk. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. A bit buggy this evening; doesn't usually get buggy here. In the evening, Fred came over to take a look at my boat, comparing it to his 1971 GS 44. There are lots of differences: his is a walk-over with galley amidships, mine is a walk-through with galley-forward. He has a Ford Lehman engine and I have a Perkins, and the engine spaces are quite different. The cockpits are quite different, mast heights different, mizzen boom lengths different. His boat needs lots of other work: it has lots of deck rot, is very dirty inside, etc. And we agree that my interior layout is better. He had a few misconceptions: he thought the displacement was 22 tons, but it's 22,000 pounds. And the previous owner told him it sails 11 to 12 knots downwind; I don't think these boats would do 12 knots off a cliff. I could be wrong. I thought his engine had been seized for a while (I was told it had been high and dry on the sandbar and heeled far over, and might have exhaust water run into the cylinders). But he says after he bought it and got it off the sandbar, he was able to turn the flywheel/crankshaft by hand each day. Then, one day, it suddenly wouldn't budge even a bit. He's been putting penetrating oil in the cylinders and so on, but getting nowhere. Now he's going to disconnect it from the transmission, lift the engine and drop the oil pan, and go at the bearings. I think I'd take the head off first. By the time he left, I was a bit bummed that I've been paying retail price for everything. He buys stuff used from other cruisers, or factory-second, so he bought RADAR, watermaker, solar panels very cheaply. And if he can get the engine un-seized, he'll have a boat similar to mine for about $8K plus lots of hard work; I paid more like $70K. Even if he needs a new engine, he'll have the boat for $15K to $20K. Oh, well, I should enjoy my own good fortune and learn from him, instead of envying his situation. 6/12/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Estero Bay at Fort Myers Beach. Patched gelcoat chips on the port forward cabinside. Worked on molding in port V-berth some more, so I can get to the first stanchion. Another stubborn screw, not yielding to screwdriver or impact driver or screw extractor. Did a bucket of laundry. I'm starting to worry about the anchoring situation here. They're going to put in moorings, which I knew before I came here. But it's going to start happening any day now, and once they're all in we'll all probably have to leave: I think they're going to outlaw anchoring, and they just decided to require liability insurance in order to use the moorings (I don't have insurance, and I'll bet almost no one else here does either). I'm trying to plan a vacation from the boat for a month and a half from now, and now I'm unsure where I can leave the boat anchored while I'm gone. I guess I could use the local airport, and if I can't leave the boat here, I can anchor in the river up by Fort Myers. Or I could get on a mooring up there. Dinghied ashore and did library, got groceries. Back to boat, then ashore to beach. Lots of pretty women, and two thong bikinis. Went to hardware store, then bought gasoline ($2.27/gallon; $7), then loaded water. Very hot walking the streets; nice breeze out on the boat. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 6/13/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Loafed much of the day. Dinghied ashore in the afternoon and took a walk on the beach. Very nice; three thong bikinis. Removed port cabin handrail. Salad and eggsalad-crackers for dinner. Lots of rain at 8:15; less rain for a couple of hours afterward. 6/14/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Removed starboard cabin handrail. Went fine until the head snapped off the very last screw, leaving the handrail still attached to the fiberglass. Worked on it with a screw-extractor to no avail, then managed to work it out by twisting the handrail back and forth. Dinghied ashore, bought new screws at hardware store. Walked on beach; no thong bikinis today. Loaded water. Very hot. Reinstalled handrails and port cabinside trim. Very hot work in the hot midday sun. Dinghied ashore and did library. Lots of rain while I was inside, then drizzled for a couple of hours. Got groceries. As I dinghied out of the narrow canal, found a small sailboat hard aground in the mouth of the canal, with some patient people aboard. It was just about low tide, and they weren't going anywhere. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Really got sunburnt today; third day walking on the beach, and then work in the midday sun. 6/15/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Another day where it's going up into the low 90's, with a "heat index" over 100. Think I'll loaf and stay inside today, giving my skin a chance to recover from all the sun. Worked on moldings in V-berth some more, to get at back side of stanchion mount. One stubborn screw, in a very awkward place: have to lean over a cabinet and reach full arms-length into a corner to get at it. Worked on it with drill and screw-extractor, impact driver, hammer in turns. Finally had to yank at the piece of molding until it broke, took out the pieces and glued them together, and then used pump pliers to turn the screw out of the bulkhead. Didn't look much like a screw by the time I was finished with it, but I got it out. Only a dozen more to go ! Dinghied ashore and did library. The usual early-evening rain appeared, with lightning. The weather has been very regular for the last week or so: sunny and very hot until late afternoon, then thunderstorms. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Watched a small sailboat swinging very close to a bigger sailboat; neither had anyone on board. Didn't feel like going out into the rain and launching the dinghy and trying to do something about it. Can't imagine how the smaller boat dragged in these gentle conditions; must have been a very poor anchoring job that couldn't handle even the tidal current. 6/16/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Worked on moldings in V-berth some more. Dinghied ashore and did library. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 6/17/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Went over to Fred's boats at 9 AM to see the boats and help him remove the transmission from "Shaggy Dog III". Decided he should build a frame to raise the transmission; it's a Paragon that feels like it weighs well over 100 pounds, and there's only a cramped space for us to get at it to lift it. I'll come back tomorrow to help lift it. "Shaggy Dog III" is a 1971 GS 44; mine is a 1973 GS 44. Lots of differences: he has a plastic/fiberglass inner liner, I have teak veneer and plastic-fabric headliner boards. The layouts are completely different: his is a walk-over, mine is a walk-through, he has a huge empty space in the forward part of the main cabin, with a fold-down sofa that opens into it. Toilets are different, engine is different, engine spaces are totally different (mine is cubical; his is much lower and much wider and longer), rigging is fairly different, many details on deck are different. He has a bowsprit; I don't. He has rope halyards; I have wire halyards. Same genset. When he bought the boat, it was infested with cockroaches and the hull and engine compartment were about 1/4 full of oily water, including submerged batteries and auto-pilot. His wiring is a rats-nest, some of the deck is cracked and rotted, most of the sails are missing, and some friend of the previous owner hacked out some of the electronics before it was sold. He does have a doghouse/pilothouse too. He and Betty have been cleaning for 2 months now, and they have lots of work to do. But getting the engine running is a major priority. Back to my boat, and finally got the headliner off in the port-aft corner of the V-berth ! One of the nuts supposed to be fastening the stanchion was completely sheared off and lying on top of the headliner, with a small section of the bolt frozen inside it. Large water-stain here, too. Took the stanchion bolts out, cleaned off caulk and rust on deck. Fiberglass and stanchion look good, but the deck is cored and not reinforced under the stanchion. Dinghied ashore and bought new bolts, nuts and washers, then rebedded the stanchion. Messy, hot, frustrating job threading nuts onto squirmy bolts from inside the boat; would have been good to have someone on deck holding the bolts down. But I got it done. Dinghied ashore and did library. Bought plane tickets for a vacation from the boat, to see my family in NJ. Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 6/18/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Did a bucket of laundry. Tightened the rebedded stanchion a bit more. Reinstalled headliner (some hammering required) and moldings under the stanchion. Ended up with one extra molding (always seems to happen when you do-it-yourself), but then figured out where it went. One stanchion done; about 13 more to go ! Only took about a week to do this one. This is the only one that had a loose bolt, but I don't see caulk under any of them. There was a little caulk on the holes under this one, but not a lot. Started right in at the starboard forward stanchion on the other side of the V-berth. More of a challenge: someone installed an air-conditioner evaporator right under the stanchion. Took off a molding and got the evaporator enclosure loose, but looks like I'd have to cut Freon lines to really move the enclosure out of the way; not going to do that. Enough for today. Put the molding and evaporator enclosure back together. Dinghied ashore, did library, got groceries. Hot. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. Had a rum-and-coke (first in a couple of years) and got nicely wobbly. 6/19/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Dinghied ashore and did library. Back for lunch, then dinghied ashore again for a walk on the beach; saw two thong bikinis. Chatted with Richard on the way back. Started working on second stanchion on port side, moving stuff out of the way and taking moldings off. Had to use impact driver on one screw. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Hot, still, humid, sleepless night. 6/20/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Woke up feeling tired, achey, dull. Loafed just about all day. Too hot and sunny to take a walk on the beach; my skin would hate me for it later. Fred came by about 6:30 and asked me to come help lift his transmission off the engine. So we went and spent a sweaty half-hour. Hard work, in a sweaty, oily engine compartment that makes you sit or crouch because the ceiling is so low. The transmission is a cast-iron Paragon that had to weigh 150 pounds, and was oily and hard to grip. But we used an A-frame jig to swing it free of the engine and wrestled it up onto the engine compartment sole, and then up a foot into the aft cabin. Fred wants to lift it up into the cockpit; I tried to talk him out of it. But he's going to rig a block-and-tackle, and we'll do it. He was able to rotate the transmission shaft by hand, so the transmission isn't seized. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. My legs are so tired from crouching in Fred's engine compartment that they feel weak and trembly. Another hot, humid, muggy night. Slept in cockpit for an hour or so, but it's noisy and uncomfortable up there. 6/21/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Still feeling hot and achey and tired. Finished taking apart the interior to get at the next stanchion on the port side. The usual builder's stupidities: a piece of molding was held in by two visible screws and then a tiny invisible finishing nail, and the light fixture was installed so the wiring prevented getting the headliner off. And then the barometer is mounted so it prevents getting the headliner all the way out, but I can do the job with it slid halfway out. Boats are like jigsaw puzzles ! Rebedded the stanchion, and started putting the interior wood back together. I'm trying to wean myself off soda, switching to tea instead. Should be cheaper, easier to get in Caribbean, less sugar in my diet. Turns out to be easy to make: just put a Mason jar of water with a teabag in the refrigerator, and wait 12 to 24 hours. Dinghied ashore, did library, got groceries. Chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Hot evening, but enough breeze to let me sleep well. 6/22/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Fuel level 7.5 inches at engine hour 3441.6 Ran the genset for 30 minutes to exercise it. Dinghied ashore, did library. Salad and eggsalad-crackers for dinner. Found that rum-and-tea doesn't work too well; guess I'll still use soda with rum. 6/23/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Finished putting woodwork and lighting fixture back together in main cabin; started work over navigation table area to get at next set of stanchions. Did a bucket of laundry. Started working on Florida Intangible Property tax return. The heat is unrelenting: even at 9:30 AM, I had to take a break to cool off after driving each screw into the molding. 85 and humid inside the boat, and the "heat index" will be going up to 105 to 110 today. Dinghied ashore and did library. Fred stopped by to return the genset manuals I lent to him. He's taken the flywheel bell housing off his engine, and there was lots of rust in it, but the engine still is seized. I think he's going to take the head off next, and get my help to lift it off. There was saltwater in at least one cylinder, and he's been pouring penetrating oil into all of them. He found a cracked "timing cover" (valve cover) on his genset that was leaking oil; I should try again to find the oil leak on my genset. He tried to talk me out of sending my injector pump and injectors out for servicing; if the engine runs okay, don't mess with it. But I think I'll still have the injectors serviced; it's been 8 years, and I think my engine is running slightly rough. I guess I won't bother having the injector pump rebuilt. Salad and fruit and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. Brief rain and cool wind about 10 PM. 6/24/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Supposed to get to record high temperatures today. The water temperature off Naples is 88 ! Took apart more moldings over the navigation table. Was sitting in my undies in the pilothouse, eating lunch, when a big trawler came by and the couple on board hailed me. Pulled on some shorts and went out to chat with them. Jim and Toni (I think) on "Carabelle", come down from Pittsburgh, and they're readers of my web site. We didn't have much time to chat; they're just passing through. Their boat has a big satellite dome and two wind-generators on top. Dinghied ashore, did library and groceries. Salad and fruit and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Occasional sprinkles of rain, and nicely cooler breeze. 6/25/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Finished doing my Florida intangible property tax return. Did a small bucket of laundry. Got headliner off under next 4 stanchions on port side, and took the stanchion bolts out. A couple of the stanchions had a lot of moisture under them. Dinghied ashore and did library. Pulled the spark plugs out of the outboard; it was starting to "pop" a little when starting. Usually they're fairly oily; this time the top one was dry and the bottom one was incredibly oily, with chunks of oily crud. Cleaned it and the motor runs better. I'm also getting an occasional whine/scraping noise as I motor along; think it's coming from the powerhead area, but not sure. Fred came by to borrow a crowbar, and told me the marine police gave Harry a $251 ticket for having his head Y-valve set wrong. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Lots of threatening clouds and lightning, but no rain. 6/26/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Did a small bucket of laundry. Dinghied ashore to get stanchion bolts ($1) and dinghy gas ($7), and loaded water. Worked on stanchions, then dinghied ashore and did library and got groceries. Rebedded four stanchions (two gate stanchions) on port side. Metal and deck so hot that the caulk started drying quickly. Just started relaxing and cooling off from doing the stanchions, when Fred arrived and asked me to help him lift the head off his engine. So we went to his boat and did it, a quick but oily and sweaty job. He said there were 28 bolts holding the head on, with varying degrees of tightness and looseness, and one of them broke off in the block when he took it out. But the head itself looks good. Probably weighed 80 pounds or so. Then sat around chatting with Fred and Betty and Harry for a couple of hours; mostly gossip about neighbors and talk about food and such. Harry gave me about 20 fresh-frozen shrimp that someone just gave him off one of the fishing boats. Some cool wind and dark clouds around 6, but no rain. Salad and boiled shrimp for dinner; dee-lish ! I've eaten very little seafood in my 3 years aboard. I half-heartedly tried fishing a couple of times in the Bahamas but never caught anything. And now in Florida there are so many regulations about fishing that I'm scared to try it, for fear of catching the wrong thing and getting a huge fine. And in harborfront stores, fish is so expensive that I don't buy it. 6/27/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Loafed all morning. Dinghied ashore and walked on the beach; 2 or 3 thong bikinis, but a very hot day. I don't know how people spend hours on the beach, and some obviously shouldn't. Loaded some water. Worked on wiring under headliner on port side. Started blowing hard (up to 50 at one point, I think) and raining hard about 7 PM. A couple of boats dragged, and Mel ended up stern-to-stern with another boat for a while. Rained off and on much of the evening, but not windy. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. 6/28/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Woke up with a headache. Grey and humid weather. Ran engine for 30 minutes to exercise it; oil pressure a little low at first, but then firmed up. Put the nav-table headliner back in; a real pain to get the lights connected and reassembled. Dinghied ashore and did library. Looked like a huge thunderstorm was going to hit, but I think it mostly missed us. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 6/29/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Woke up with a headache. Removed and rebedded last stanchion on port side; was easy because no interior woodwork covering it. Dinghied ashore and did library. Big thunderstorm while I was there. Salad and crackers and hardboiled eggs for dinner. Splitting headache all evening and night. Really miserable. 6/30/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Headache a bit better. Removed and rebedded last stanchion on starboard side. Bolts were very wet and one was very bent. Dinghied ashore in threatening weather, did library, got groceries. Fred came by and returned my crowbar. No progress to report on getting his engine un-seized. Added water to the batteries. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Arggh ! Anchor light isn't working. Must be a burnt-out bulb. 7/1/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Started digging into back shelves in engine compartment, to find spare fuel injector nozzles and also to clear space to get at stanchions. Sorted through spares I was dimly aware of; found a ton of spare toilet parts, no less than 5 impellers for the engine raw water pump, and a 2nd spare alternator I didn't know I had. Dinghied ashore and did library. Fred stopped by and borrowed a small sledgehammer from me; he's banging on pistons to try to un-seize his engine. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. 7/2/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Removed two stanchions (aft part of gate) on starboard side, having to climb over genset in engine compartment to get at them. Very wet, goopy core under them, and the core has been crushed a little and the gelcoat cracked. There were 5 extra holes, and only 4 of them were sealed (with caulk, not epoxy). Dug out the wet core as much as I could, then filled all the holes with epoxy-and-filler. Mixed a bit too much epoxy at first, and it went nuclear on me: suddenly formed big steaming chunks of hard epoxy, throwing off tons of heat. Mixed a second, smaller batch and applied it. Dinghied ashore, did library. Salad and fruit and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Jim and Jamie from nearby green sailboat stopped by to say hi and ask about my pilothouse; they're thinking about a pilothouse or hard dodger for their boat. They're from Ft Walton Beach FL. They were heading for Trinidad this year, but had repeated serious transmission failures in Florida, and had to give up on that plan. Now they're heading back up to FWB. They've been to the Dominican Republic, and loved it. 7/3/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Drilled stanchion holes through the epoxy filler I put down yesterday; looks good. Removed two more stanchions (forward half of gate on starboard side). Dinghied ashore and did library. Dinghied ashore after lunch, went to hardware store, walked on the beach. Beach really hopping today, lots of pretty women, two thong bikinis. Kind of a slow-motion thunderstorm this afternoon: clouds moved past very slowly, and every couple of minutes there'd be a huge, evil lightning bolt. Nothing directly into the harbor, fortunately. But it was pretty unnerving anyway. The weather's been the same for several weeks, and probably will continue the same: temperature into the low 90's, "heat index" over 100, then clouds and maybe a thunderstorm in the early evening. Then still or light breeze all night. Salad and ham-potato-mushroomsoup concoction for dinner. 7/4/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Reinstalled four stanchions (gate) on starboard side. Sealed gelcoat cracks, waxed rust off stanchion bases, then put caulk down and bolts in. Had problems because I hadn't fully dry-fitted the bolts ahead of time, and one of them was very hard to get in. Hot, sweaty work, dashing between deck and farthest recesses of engine compartment, behind the genset to get everything on and tightened before the caulk hardened. Had to pull out a bolt and file it to get it to accept a nut, and had problems because the epoxy had run down and blocked things a bit. But got it done. Did a small bucket of laundry. Loafed all afternoon. Salad and yogurt and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Sat on the boat watching fireworks from 5 or 6 directions just after sunset; surprised they started so early. Many of the beach resorts must have their own displays. But the big one was the municipal display from the pier, about two miles away. Long and loud and very nice ! 7/5/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. At work soon after sunrise. Painted inside the cabinet in the aft head, where I'd rebedded a stanchion. And painted in the farthest recess of the engine compartment, where I rebedded 4 stanchions yesterday. Finally had the common sense to keep a fan running on me the whole time I worked; why did it take me 3 years to learn this ? Worked on a frozen fitting in the lifelines, but couldn't get it loose. Tough to work on it, since it's two smooth sleeves, one threading into the other, with almost no way to get a good purchase on them with pliers. Finally gave up (for now). Loafed all afternoon, and saw a boat coming in and thought "I wonder if that's Don from Key West" (I've never met him, but we've been exchanging email for a long time). Sure enough, it was him ! Watched him anchor nearby, then dinghied over and took out a second anchor for him. Then went aboard his boat "First Born", and ended up staying for about 6 hours ! Wonderful long conversations about all kinds of things. I felt a little bad; he'd asked me before for GPS coordinates for my boat, and my GPS wouldn't sync up so I couldn't give them to him. Turns out he came up here using only a chart, no guidebooks. So he had no idea where the anchorages were, and anchored outside in the Gulf instead of going into any of the passes. If I'd realized that, I would have given him directions. He's been staying in marinas, and he's a little spooked at being anchored near these other boats and in such an enclosed harbor. He may leave and go anchor out in Pine Island Sound. Cheese-and-crackers at 11:30 for dinner. 7/6/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Out of bed and started right in on rebedding the port and starboard 3/4 cleats. Got them out and cleaned up. Don came over, and we chatted for a while, then he helped me rebed the cleats, by holding a screwdriver on the outside while I tightened from the inside. I managed to drop one nut down into an inaccessible part of the cabinetry, but found a replacement for it. We chatted some more, I gave him a tour of the boat, showed him some west-Florida guidebooks. After lunch, I dinghied ashore and loaded some water, then went over to Don's boat. His outboard isn't working, so I took him in my dinghy and we went to the library and then the supermarket. On the way in, I noticed that the big converted fishing-boat "Gulf Pak II" is listing and half-sunk; that must have happened recently. They were trying to convert it into a floating B&B. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. 7/7/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Put stuff back into aft head cabinets, now that paint has dried. Discarded a lot of old toiletries and medicines. Put stuff back into top shelf at back of engine compartment, cleared out next shelf, and painted it. Found a few more spares I'd forgotten I have, including a bilge pump float switch, which I need now. Removed 2/4 starboard cleat, and when Richard came by, got him to hold screwdriver while I tightened nuts from inside, rebedding it. Fred stopped by to say hi. He got nowhere by banging on the pistons of his seized engine, so now he's jacked it up another 8 inches, taken off the oil pan, unbolted connector rods, and is about to start taking off crankshaft bearings. He says he's done this many times before with other engines; I'm totally impressed. Replaced galley water filter. Did a small bucket of laundry. Dinghied ashore, stopping by to look in on Don and Don, who are working on Don's outboard motor. Apparently the carb was full of water and particles. Walked on the beach; no thong bikinis today. Dinghied ashore later and did library. Salad and ham-onion-garlic-potato-mushroom thing for dinner. 7/8/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Don came by and said the sheriff and Coast Guard boarded him last night, and fined him $63 for having an unregistered dinghy. And they told him to light his anchor light; I'd better climb the mast and put a new bulb in mine. Painted last shelf at back of engine compartment. Dinghied ashore with Don and we took the trolley to Summerlin Square. Bought a couple of Caframo fans ($80), outboard de-carbonizer ($13), and lots of snacks at the supermarket. Got some free bread at Bonita Bill's on the way back. We saw Harry, and he said they got him for another fine, $60 on top of the $250 they got him for a couple of weeks ago. This time I think it was some dinghy violation. Harry told us the story on that half-sunk converted fishing boat I noticed the other day, the one being converted into a B&B. Apparently, they took it to the dock to have the engine lifted out by crane. The crane started lifting, and the engine wasn't coming up. So the guy running the crane cranked the throttle and TORE the engine out, and the boat started sinking ! The guy running the crane fled, and the owners of the boat towed it out into the far end of the harbor, where it sunk in a few feet of water. Dinghied ashore with Don and did library and groceries. Saw a SeaTow boat with divers working to raise the sunken ketch that belonged to "Tiki Tim". Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 7/9/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Up at 6:30 and up the mast by 7. Anchor light bulb tests okay, but I replaced it anyway. Wiring looks good, socket looks good. Put some wire loops up there to keep birds from perching on there; I've been plagued by them in the last week or two. Dinghied ashore with Don, briefly went onto the beach, then went to hardware store. Loaded water. Got Don to hold screwdriver while I rebedded port 3/4 cleat. Dinghied ashore in the afternoon and did the library. Salad and tuna-salad sandwich for dinner. Don rowed over and we sat on the foredeck in the cool breeze and chatted. A big wildfire that closed I-75 for a while put a huge layer of smoke over the sky, and dropped ash on the boat. Anchor light still doesn't work. And the wire I put at the top of the mast is somewhat of a deterrent to the birds, but isn't stopping them completely. 7/10/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Now that paint is dry, put stuff back into the engine compartment. Straightened up and cleaned up the boat. My cousin Sue is coming to stay for several days, so I want to have things in good order. Dinghied ashore with Don and did library and groceries. After lunch, dinghied ashore with Don and walked on the beach. Very nice, and a nice reggae band at the Lani Kai, but no thong bikinis. Sudden hard rain at 5:30, in a sunny sky. Eased, then the real deal came about 6:15: howling wind and more rain. Probably blew 50+ knots. Lasted until about 7. Salad and chili for dinner. Could not sleep; not really too hot, but just could not get a wink of sleep all night. 7/11/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Loafed and slept much of the morning. Did a small bucket of laundry. Fred and Betty stopped by to return my sledgehammer. Betty can't take the heat any more; she's leaving to go spend the summer in a relative's house. And there've actually been some pretty nice breezes in the last week or so; it could be much worse. Tested the anchor light switch on the binnacle, and it's okay. So I'll have to climb the mast again and bring the light fixture down. Bummer. Dinghied ashore and walked on the beach; saw four thong bikinis. Lots of people today; really hopping. Heard a Coast Guard announcement on the radio: "Severe thunderstorm warning. There is a severe storm moving west across Florida. Mariners are advised to go below." Saw someone hail sailboat "Southern Cross" near me, and the guy on "Southern Cross" said something about he left his engine running while he went ashore, and the water pump failed, and now the engine is so hot he can't touch it. Ugly ! I've suspected he left it running before: I've gone past his boat and the engine's running but there's no dinghy present. Not a good idea. Especially since there are plastic bags and such drifting through the harbor sometimes. Added water to batteries. Found I'd left the caps off one of the batteries last time; oops. Ferocious storm from 5 to 7 or so. Howling wind and horizontal rain, visibility 100 feet at times, lots of lightning. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 7/12/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Dinghied ashore with Don and took trolley to Summerlin Square. Bought cigarette-plug hardware ($8), hose clamps ($2), flag ($4), snacks. On way back to boat, found throttle cable on outboard is loose; had to run throttle directly on carburetor. Service manual doesn't show how to replace it. Took it apart enough to see it doesn't seem to be broken, just loose. And replacing it looks like a fairly ugly job. Dinghied ashore, did library, got groceries. Started to have salad and fruit for dinner, but then my cousin Sue called up to stay the night on my boat. So I dinghied ashore and met her, and she treated me to dinner at Bonita Bill's. Then out to the boat. Nice conversation; she's lots of fun. They lived on a 28-foot sailboat for 7 or 8 years, then crewed a big powerboat for rich people for 5 years or so, now live in Ft Lauderdale with the old 28-foot sailboat lying sadly neglected at a dock. They're moving to LaBelle; she's a blacksmith, and just came back from a blacksmith's convention in Kentucky. Her husband ran a small sailing school, and runs a small metals business. Of course it was a hot, still, buggy night. But I rigged up an extension cord using the parts I bought this morning, and one of the spare fans I bought a couple of days ago, so she had a fan in the V-berth and I had one in the aft cabin. 7/13/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Dinghied Sue ashore a little after 7 AM; she has tons of stuff to do for the house they're buying. Climbed the mast about 8 AM. Went 15 feet up and came back down to get more tools. Then all the way up, and tough work at top with sun in my eyes. Struggled to get anchor light connectors loose. Tested with voltmeter, and there's power, so the wiring is okay. Unbolted the fixture and brought it down. Tired and sweaty. Dinghied over to Don at 9:30 to see if he wanted to go to KMart, but no answer to my hails; he must be asleep, the slacker. Dinghied ashore with Don after lunch, and did library and groceries. Hot day. Worked on anchor light fixture, tried bypassing the photocell, but can't get it to light. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 7/14/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Woke up sweaty and headachey. Dinghied ashore with Don and took trolley down to KMart in Bonita Springs. Bought two solar showers ($22), two pillows, extension cord, sandpaper, tape, padlocks ($8), tea jar. Made 12-volt extension cord. Worked on anchor light; looked like maybe corrosion on the connectors was the problem, but fixed that and the light still is dead. In the afternoon, dinghied ashore with Don and did library. Salad and fruit and grilled pork chop for dinner. 7/15/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Loafed most of the morning. Dinghied ashore and spent entire afternoon at library. Saw that SeaTow has successfully removed that sunken ketch; they had divers on it for about 3 days, got it mostly afloat and moving, then it partly sank again as they were moving it. Back to boat, then dinghied ashore to different dock, bought gasoline ($7), loaded water. Stopped for a long chat with Mel on the way back; he was delighted to have some company. He wants to go day-sailing, to get his boat moving a bit, but keeps failing to raise anchor and go each day. Salad and eggsalad-sandwiches for dinner. Used tortillas instead of bread; I'm trying to see if I can reduce my dependence on bread and subsitute something easier to store and longer-lived. But so far, tortillas aren't very exciting eating. 7/16/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Rain sprinkles at 9 AM. Did a bucket of laundry. Don came over and I gave him some snap-fasteners for his canvas, and we looked at charts. Put padlocks on my dock-lockers. Started to investigate recaulking the opening at the base of the mainmast; seems to be a permanent one-piece molding attached to the headliner inside the boat; strange. Looked at anchor light again, but I'm just not up for messing with it. Mel suggested returning it to West Marine for a new one, and I think I'll do that. Dinghied ashore with Don and did library. On way back, stopped to chat with Harry and Fred. Fred has the crankshaft off his engine, and the bearings all look good, but 5 out of 6 pistons are seized in the cylinders. Salad and fruit and chili for dinner. 7/17/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Did a bucket of laundry. But then the dark clouds came over, and it blew and poured rain at 10:15. Still raining moderately at 11 when I dinghied ashore and did the library. Back to boat, and pumped water out of the inner keel of the dinghy. Then loafed most of the day. Saw Mel's boat sailing wildly at anchor, and another boat next to him also sailing wildly. They came very close several times, and I couldn't quite tell if they were colliding. Just after the other owner got back aboard, they definitely did collide bow-to-bow. He raised anchor and moved away. When Mel came past an hour later, I told him about it. He looked for damage, but that side of his boat already had a lot of cosmetic damage anyway. Saw "Southern Cross" running his engine again; he's the one who might have damaged his engine when his water pump failed. So: - his engine seems to be okay, and - he didn't learn his lesson: he's still going ashore and leaving the engine running unattended. Ham-onion-rice for dinner. 7/18/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Blew and rained at 4:30 AM. More wind and rain at 8:45. Put down the swim platform, wriggled my way down and under the dinghy, and changed the gear oil on the outboard. It was completely chalky grey (contaminated with water). Suddenly occurred to me that the drain plugs probably should have O-rings on them. Later looked at the service manual and found I was right. Dinghied over to Don's boat at 2, and we chatted for several hours. Rained on us a few times. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches (using tortillas) for dinner. 7/19/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Started raining about 2 AM, and rained off and on all day. Read books and loafed. Dinghied ashore about 2, between rainstorms, and did library. Got groceries, and got back to boat just ahead of a big rainshower; I could see a wall of grey approaching the boat from one direction as I approached from the opposite direction. That turned out to be the last rain of the day; it was a pleasant evening. Someone has sprayed-painted "Welcome to Fort Myers Beach" in large orange letters on the side of that recently-sunk converted fishing boat. Wish my camera worked. Salad and fruit and grilled kielbasa (eaten with tortilla wrapping instead of bread) for dinner. Ran engine for 30 minutes to charge batteries. 7/20/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Sudden hard rain at 7 AM, with no warning wind beforehand. Had to scramble to close hatches and ports. Another hard rain after 8. Really loud and close lightning storm in the mid-afternoon. Rained off and on all day, until 7 PM. Everything grey and damp. Dinghied ashore at 2, getting caught by rain halfway, and did library. Salad and chicken-rice for dinner. Ran engine for 45 minutes to charge batteries. 7/21/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Sunny, humid morning; no rain ! Dinghied ashore with Don and took trolley to Summerlin Square. Took failed anchor light to West Marine, and they investigated it. They blamed me for not sealing the wire ends properly, saying corrosion has traveled the length of the wire. I'm not sure I agree, since the voltmeter shows continuity through the wires. Anyway, they're willing to replace it with new, but have to order it, so I can't do it right now. Bought 12-volt plug ($3). Dinghied ashore in afternoon with Don and did library. Lots of clouds, but no rain all day ! Very nice. Fruit and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. 7/22/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. At about 9:30. Fred suddenly appeared and asked me to help him turn his engine block down on its side. So we went to his boat, into the low engine room, and did it. He has the engine (6-cylinder Ford Lehman 120) down to a bare block plus 4 frozen pistons (with their connecting rods), and it STILL weighed a ton. But we managed to lay it over without hurting ourselves. Then I looked over the crankshaft and bearings and bottom end of the block, and one piston he had completely out. To get the other pistons out, he had a machine shop make a couple of 1/2" steel plates that bolt onto the four head bolts nearest each cylinder. He torques the bolts to apply pressure (through a wood block) to the top of the piston, then bangs on the top of the steel plate with a small sledgehammer. Gain a fraction of an inch, tighten bolts a little, bang again. The only complaint I have is that he has the whole boat littered with tools and parts; you can hardly walk anywhere. Okay, he's in the middle of a big job, but he could keep the cabin and cockpit soles clear and everything would be more comfortable. We still can't figure out why he was able to rotate the engine by hand, every day for a week or more, then he skipped one day and the pistons froze solid. I don't know if he was already squirting oil into the cylinders when he was hand-rotating the engine; I think he was. Fred said a houseboat near the shoal started sinking the other day; he and some others went over and rescued it; the owner is in the hospital. Dinghied ashore with Don, walked on the beach (one thong bikini), went to hardware store, loaded water. Bought 12-volt plug ($3), connector for anchor light, ring for boathook, O-rings for outboard gear oil drain plugs. Harry had a motorboat rafted to him all day, with wires across to charge his batteries. I guess his engine isn't running yet, or they should have been able to jump him just long enough to start the engine. He keeps saying he's leaving in a week or two, but Richard says Harry's been saying that for a year or more. Dinghied ashore in afternoon, did library. Left a key to my boat with Richard. Don was there, and I asked where he'll go when the mooring field kicks us out, and he says he needs a rudder on his boat first. Apparently he has a rudder, but it's not mounted, and maybe the mountings are bad. I think he (and many of us) will just try moving farther down the harbor, to anchor outside the city's jurisdiction. Spaghetti for dinner. A nice rum-and-Diet-Coke, too. Mel stopped by, and told me a couple of interesting things. There's a public notice in the newspaper, saying boats have to be out of the east end of the harbor by Aug 16, and out of the west end (me) by Sept 9. He also told me an unoccupied sailboat in the east end was hit by lightning and sunk the other day, in that storm mid-afternoon Tuesday ! He says the next day, the Coast Guard and Sheriff came by, pumped it out enough to float it so the Sheriff could stick a "get your boat out of here" sticker on it, then let it sink again. He said they let it sink even though they found a burst hose had sunk it, and they could have turned off a through-hull and saved it from the second sinking. Not sure I believe that part. He said another boater filmed them doing it and is giving the photos to newspapers and a lawyer. 7/23/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Don came by at 9, and we chatted and then changed the gear oil on my outboard again, sitting in his dinghy to do it. A little trouble keeping the dinghy in position, so it ended up being not much easier than sitting on the swim platform and doing it by myself. Installed the O-rings I bought yesterday. The old oil, only 5 days old, was already milky with seawater contamination. Hope the O-rings will stop that. Dinghied ashore with Don, and did library. Saw Mel there; he had just come from City Hall, asking questions about the mooring field. He was told they won't allow anchoring within 1000 feet of either the city land or the city leased waters (not sure which). Also, I called NOAA to ask questions about EPIRB registration. Grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. Don came over to chat; a little awkward since I was cleaning out the refrig, and needed to pack and shower and so on. 7/24/2004 (Saturday) Dinghied ashore by Don at 7:30. Flew to New Jersey for a vacation from the boat. [Spent a couple of weeks in NJ, staying with my Mom, seeing most of my brothers and sisters. Did some chores for Mom: replaced attic fan motor, trimmed bushes, painted wall in garage and installed a shelf, taking junk to Goodwill, etc. Lots of eating and visiting. The weather was great; 75-85 ! Bought flag-making paint for $20.] 8/10/2004 (Tuesday) Flew back from NJ; saw harbor and boat as plane was making descent into Ft Myers area. Took another 3.5 hours to get onto the boat: had to wait almost 2 hours at Bonita Bill's before I could bum a dinghy-ride out to the boat. Kurt gave me a ride out; he has a white sailboat with the mast down, near Bob's dinghy dock. He says he's been rebuilding that boat from practically a bare hull. He's signed up for one of the 8 liveaboard moorings. I gave him some gasoline when we got to the boat; he was low. The boat is fine, other than some bird-crap and bones on deck. Fred stopped by to see who was on my boat; very nice of him. He says Harry left yesterday. Fred had to help Harry get his engine running, and Harry was very upset to see it ran badly and had very low oil pressure, since he had a $6K rebuild done only a couple of hundred hours ago, if that. He threatened homicide on the guy who did his rebuild (in Texas or LA, I think). Harry raised anchor and motored out, heading first up the Caloosahatchee River to Glades Boatyard, then to North Carolina. On top of that, Harry has recently been diagnosed with cancer. Fred got his pistons all free, so now he's getting things machined and waiting for new rings to come in, and then he'll have to put it all back together. Fred says Karen (and probably some others) are saying they'll stay here until the city tows away their boats out from under them. On the other hand, later I saw someone climbing Karen's mast to work on the rigging. One or two other boats have left, and a new boat "Grace" is anchored fairly close to me, but other than that, things haven't changed much. There are two tropical storms / hurricanes in or near the Gulf, but it looks like neither will come here. Added water to the batteries; they were very low. Found water on top of the fuel tank and on the engine compartment sole next to the batteries. Not sure where it came from. Peanut-butter crackers for dinner. Hot, still night. 8/11/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Using new hose, pumped water off fuel tank and engine compartment sole, and dried the bilge quite a bit. I hope to keep a dry bilge soon ! Ran engine for 40 minutes to exercise it and cool refrigerator. Started on 2nd try. Ran fine, except for stumbling a little at about the 10-minute mark. Maybe air bubbles in the fuel line ? Tropical storm Bonnie definitely will miss us, but Charley may come this way Friday or Saturday. Got outboard started with one shot of starting fluid. Went over and chatted with Don; he's planning to stay put if Charley comes our way. He's a long-time Floridian, and he's fairly casual about hurricanes. Used the dinghy to spin the boat 8 times, to untwist the anchor chains. Don and I dinghied over to Salty Sam's to get fuel and water. $7 for gasoline at $2.13/gallon. East end of harbor has been cleared out a bit, but 3 derelicts still there, including the converted fishing boat. Fred stopped by, and he's planning to leave the harbor tomorrow morning and head up the Caloosahatchee River. I may do the same if hurricane Charley looks bad. Dinghied ashore to library with Don. Charley's predicted path will hit me dead-center, and it's supposed to strenghten to 85 MPH. It's supposed to keep going right across the state, which will take it straight up the Caloosahatchee River, so I don't think I want to go there. Got lots of groceries. On the way back to the boat, started bouncing around between Mel and Dieter and Don, trying to have several short conversations and getting caught in longer ones. Finally made it to boat and put groceries away. Offered my 4th anchor (a Fisherman) to Mel, since his ground tackle is very weak. Looked out to see how close "Grace" is anchored, and it's gone ! Went to Fred's boat at 5. He'd already done the nasty job, sliding the engine block over and maybe tilting it up. I helped him move the head, and then helped him gasket some big lines on deck. He's not coming back to the harbor, going first to Ft Myers and then eventually to Tampa, to sell his old boat after the new one is running. Stopped by to see Richard, and ended up in a 3-dinghy convoy toward the east end of the bay. They wanted to find a hurricane hole; I just wanted to see what things looked like in that direction. Long dinghy ride, and I only went halfway. Possible tiny anchorage just past R14. I came back early, under dark rain-clouds. They came back much later and said they found a hurricane hole big enough for 4 or 5 boats; they're moving first thing in the morning. Chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Couple of guys came by at 8 and anchored a small sailboat near me. I told them I was unhappy about that, and they ignored me. Two anchors, no chafe gear, and they're not going to be aboard during the hurricane. 8/12/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. As of 7 AM: Well, they still don't know exactly where Charlie will hit. It's rounding Cuba soon, and we'll start feeling the wind in the middle of the night tonight, with the main hit tomorrow. My alternatives: - move to Richard's hurricane hole - stay put - move up the Caloosahatchee River - move to Pine Island Sound near Tarpon Basin The only advantage of moving would be to get away from all the questionably-anchored boats in this harbor. But moving would isolate me from friends and other help, and the river or the Sound would be less sheltered. And I know my two anchors here are very well set, and water is nicely shallow. Time to decide: I'm staying put. The next question: do I stay aboard ? If I left, I'd have nowhere to leave the dinghy, and I don't know where the shelter is (but I'm sure I could get busses to it). Decision: I'm staying aboard unless the wind-speed is supposed to get to the 110+ range. Of course, by the time I hear about that, it'll probably be too late to leave. Dinghied over and talked to Don. He's going to take his bimini off, but leave his roller-furled jib up; I told him to take that down too. Saw Fred leave, the two boats rafted together, and come right back in 5 minutes later and anchor near Mel. Found out later that his transmission linkage broke; he fixed it and left later. He's going up the river, but it looks to me like the hurricane might go right up the river. Took down all of my sails and stowed them in the main cabin. Dinghied ashore and did library. Various boats leaving the marinas and canals; don't know where they're going. As of 11:30: Back out to harbor, and Don says it's looking better and better: the hurricane's landfall may be above Tampa, and he thinks we won't get more than 50-60 knots of wind. But the VHF WX is still announcing mandatory evacuations for all the coast. Talked to Mel, and he'd like to have my spare CQR 35 instead of the Fisherman 35 I offered to him, but I want to use the CQR myself. Yesterday, Richard said he was going to move into his hurricane hole at first light today, but his boat still hasn't moved. Saw one of his buddies motor past about noon. Got Don to help me put out a third anchor, to the south. Wanted more SW, but that boat that got dumped off last night is in that direction from me. That boat is my biggest worry; it has a single anchor, rope rode, no chafe gear. About 2:30, Don and I dinghied ashore and tried to catch the trolley, but missed it by 2 minutes. Had a soda and fries in Bonita Bills until the next one came. We watched a houseboat come out of the anchorage, into a canal, start a nice U-turn to snug up against a seawall, then just T-bone right into the wall ! A pretty sharp crash, and we couldn't figure out why he blew it at the last second. Trolley to Summerlin Square. Exchanged my anchor light at West Marine, did a little shopping. Main task: more cigarettes for Don. Back to boat, seeing that Richard has left. Harbor is starting to look emptier; we like it this way. Most of the fishing boats have left, but the small cruise ship is still here. Stopped to check on Mel. He's moved into a better, shallower place, where Richard used to be, and I'll help him put more anchors down later. As of 4:30: hurricane is predicted to stay a bit away from us, and make landfall up at Tarpon Springs, north of Tampa. Not sure I believe it, since I think it hasn't even rounded Cuba yet. I think it's cat 2, 95 MPH or more. Would be nice if Charley stays 50 miles or more away from us as it goes up the coast. Tried to convince Don to put out a third anchor, and he just kept looking at me like I was a complete ninny. Maybe he doesn't have a third anchor, but he didn't say so. He doesn't seem to be taking this very seriously: he's still on his original two anchors, and took down the bimini but not the roller-furled jib. He is close to the shore that is going to shelter us from the strong winds, so he's more sheltered than anyone else. Salad and ham-onion-noodle for dinner. Cleared just about everything off the decks. Bicycle, dock-boxes, full water and fuel jugs, sail poles are all that's left. Didn't take solar panels off, or my stern grill and propane tank. Dinghy is on davits. A little worried about my pilothouse windows if a pebble hits them at 110 MPH. Helped Mel put out two more anchors, lending him my Fisherman 35 to use as a weight after his CQR 25. Both anchors we put out had huge scope, but he insisted on having all three anchors pretty much on the same side of the boat, saying "it's supposed to blow from the SW". But it probably will blow from other angles too, and he may move 100 feet or more if it does. Heard the police in the streets with loudspeakers, announcing the mandatory evacuation, which started this morning, I think. After dark, picked up Don number 2 in the dinghy and we raised anchor on that small sailboat that's anchored too close to us. We took it over to the shoal and anchored it there, partly aground. That way it shouldn't drag into anyone. Hot, still night. Hard to sleep, and someone's running a very loud generator. 8/13/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. About 1:15 AM, saw an evil storm front approaching from the south; lots of lightning. One last trip around the deck, tightening loose lines, cleaning up the cockpit. Storm arrived about 2 AM, with wind 35-45+ knots and lots of horizontal rain, and lightning. Blew hard for a half-hour or so, then kept raining until 4 AM. At dawn, a few rain sprinkles and very grey, but not very windy. Went on deck and scrubbed off bird-crap, and dirt that had accumulated under the various clutter I removed from the deck yesterday. The VHF weather channel is fairly useless: they don't tell you the predicted track of the hurricane. But you can infer some of it from the differences between the inland, coastal, and 20-to-60-mile forecasts. Talked to Don about 9:45. Key West got only 35 knots of wind from the hurricane; sounds like it hit the Dry Tortugas dead center. Predicted to miss us by 50 to 70 miles, so we might get 50 knots of wind with gusts to 70+, which would be fine. Should go by us in mid-afternoon, and make landfall above Tampa tonight. But if they're wrong, and it comes 40 miles closer as it goes by, we could get 110 MPH winds. Some wood floating in the harbor: pieces of docks, 4x4's, palm branches. Just before noon: the hurricane is "wobbling", and now may make landfall further south, and come closer to us; bad news. Suddenly realized my boat had rotated and was tripping over the rope rode of the third anchor. Afraid it had gotten into rudder or propeller. Let out slack, launched the dinghy, tried fishing for the line near the stern. It seemed to be along or through the rudder, and I had trouble getting slack because the current was pulling the long length of line. Finally pulled it along the port side of the boat, and it came clear. Propped sections up along the toerail, went inside and untied the bitter end from the reel, and ran the rope through so it was tied to a stern cleat and running straight astern, with a big heap of rope on deck. Got fairly wet in the rainy, rough conditions. Hoisted the dinghy. Minutes later, boat did a half-spin, so I handed the rope along the starboard side and cleated it at the bow again. I'll have to keep a close watch on it. As of 1 PM: Charley is category 3, with 120 MPH winds. Could make landfall in Bradenton / Sarasota, which is 70+ miles north of here. Right now, hurricane center is 70 miles SSW of Fort Myers. After blowing from the south most of the night and morning, now it's blowing from the east. Radio announced that EMS is not going out on the streets any more. Yikes ! At 1:45, the radio said it's up to category 4, and at 1:50 Don called to say it's turned and is heading straight for us ! Blowing E and SE 40+ here, with gusts over 50. Looks to me like "Windswept" has dragged a bit toward Don, but he doesn't think so. Wind started howling from ESE about 2 PM; probably getting up to 70-80 knots. A fairly long fetch down the harbor from that direction, so we're getting some big swells. Everyone's pitching wildly, and the smaller boats are practically leaping out of the water sometimes. Every now and then, can see a wave of white mist coming: a blast of high wind. About 2:15, small boat parallel to me started dragging, and hooked anchors with "Crazy Mary's" boat a bit further back. They're doing some damage to each other. Started engine at 2:20, to charge batteries. Strongest wind yet at 2:45; almost a complete white-out, and I'm not even going to estimate the speed. Nothing to be done now but be thankful that I have good ground-tackle, and hope that boats around me don't drag onto me. The eye is supposed to hit land at Sanibel, about 10-20 miles from here, around 4-5 PM. Puts us in the maximum-wind area. By then, wind should be from SW, and we have some protection from that direction. 3 PM: wind shifting a little to the south (which is good) and getting stronger (not so good). Had to climb out on aft deck to tie down dinghy better. Rain felt like hailstones. 3:30 Huddling down below; painful rain even in the cockpit. Boats being held pointing W (by storm surge current, I guess) and wind blowing hard from S, so everyone's being blown over sideways. Barometer down to 29.0. Radio says eye is hitting Captiva, which is 15 miles north of here. [Found out later: it cut a new channel right through the island.] 3:40 Dashed into cockpit and shut off the engine. Looks like Don's jib is starting to unfurl. 4:10 Wind still howling from SW and we're facing W because of the current. Barometer edging up very slightly. Lots of stuff floating by in the water. Don's jib is shredding, sounding like a helicopter; if it opens up fully, he could lose the mast or even the boat. "Windswept" is heeling over so far that she's putting a rail in the water. Small blue sailboat has dragged down to hit front of white trimaran. Chuck's boat has rafted up sideways to a pontoon boat. Don number two is upwind of me now, but his anchors seem solid. The wind is lifting up the nose of my dinghy in the davits, but I think it won't be torn away. 4:35 Wind still howling, and edging around very slowly toward the WSW. Should start easing soon, I hope. The eye is supposed to be starting up Charlotte Harbor about now. Looks like the lawns at the edge of the harbor have about a couple of feet of water on them, although the tide is falling, so probably about a 6- to 8-foot storm surge right now. Barometer up to 29.3 Don number two's dinghy has sunk, I think with the motor on it. The other Don's jib is still flapping. This storm has staying-power. The center must be 40 miles past us now, and it's still blowing and raining hard (actually, I guess that makes sense). Don is dragging in my direction. We're facing SE and wind is from SW. My aft toilet intake is mostly jammed; must have sucked something into it. 6:30 Every now and then the wind and rain die down for a minute, but then gust up again. Strong current running out of the harbor to the west, wind opposing current, and some of us are drifting close to each other. Big house-fire broke out ashore a few minutes ago, smoke drifting across the harbor. High water from storm surge making anchors slide a little, I think. Salad and tuna sandwich and fruit for dinner. 7:00 Wind down to 25-30, strong current running out of the harbor. Took them a solid half-hour to control that house-fire; flames were shooting up over the tree-tops. Talked to Mel; he lost his dinghy (Walker Bay 8 with small outboard). Dark blue sailboat that was stuck on bow of trimaran ended up stuck against a couple of docked shrimp-boats. Storm surge water is just about gone; water level is that of a very high tide. Don's damaged jib is still making a lot of noise. 7:30 Rain dropped enough to allow a tour of the deck. The only damage to my boat: when I went out to re-tie the dinghy, I stumbled and put a hand on the stern grill, and bent the rod that holds it up. Amazing ! I was sure the rope rode on my third anchor would have tons of chafe, since it crossed one of the chains sometimes, but I don't see any chafe. It does have a wad of tree-branches on it about 50 feet out, so the current is tugging the rode into a big curve. Looking around the harbor, in addition to the nearby boats: several shredded jibs on boats in the marinas, Dixie Fish Co and The Bridge have lost sections of their roofs, the false-roof / sign on Ballard's diesel has been crumpled inward, a boat went smashing against a building, a small catamaran half-sank at one of the docks. And the house fire has re-ignited; saw a whole convoy of EMS vehicles crossing the bridge to come fight it. Looks like it was mostly out five minutes later. Wind gusts up a bit now and then, and it's still wet and a bit rough with strong current. Was going to launch the dinghy and go to Don's boat to call my Mom on his cell-phone, but it's too rough. I'm fairly wrung out from being nervous and stressed all day. 8/14/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Up at first light, opened the ports and hatches, got some nice air through. Launched the dinghy, and went out to retrieve my third anchor. Found an entire small palm tree hanging on it, and couldn't get the rode free. Went back out with a knife, and sawed branches off until the weight was reduced. Finally managed to get the rope free. Raising the anchor was very easy, once I got right over it. Went to Don, commiserated about his destroyed jib. He also fell and injured his bad shoulder, and hasn't slept in two days; he looks exhausted. Used his cell-phone to call my mom and leave an "I'm alive" message on her answering machine. Took Don in the dinghy to Don number two's boat, and we righted his flipped and sunken dinghy. Then the three of us toured the harbor in my dinghy, looking at damage and looking for Mel's lost dinghy. Talked to a guy who ran a line ashore from his boat to someone's dock pier (without permission). Sailboat sunk right next to one of the bridge piers. Large sailboat outside the bridge with mainmast bent in half. Small boat that dragged parallel to me was tied up to a dock outside the bridge. Several shredded jibs in the marina under the bridge. A big garbage dumpster floating in the water, and moving fairly briskly, too. The small sailboat that Don number two and I relocated the other day survived just fine. The worst damage: big powerboat "Classy Lady" and the sailboat it was rafted to dragged down to "The Bridge" restaurant and were smashed into chunks. Talked to someone who saw it go, and he said they went even before the peak of the hurricane hit; someone was standing on the bow with another anchor in hand as they slid across the harbor. A couple more sunken boats near where they crashed, too. Down past the shrimp boats and cruise boat to Salty Sam's; they all did fine. Saw several lost dinghies, but none were Mel's. Converted fishing boat that was aground at east end of the harbor is completely gone; no sign of it. Derelict steel boat they'd raised down there has sunk again. Gave a guy a lift from Salty Sam's across the harbor to his house on the island. Marina on the island did fine, except for the half-sunk large houseboat in it, the marina manager's house. Big fire took two houses up the street from there. Dropped off Don number two, and he started working on his outboard that was submerged with his dinghy. Went to Don's boat, and called my mom again, and she was relieved to hear from me; she said the TV coverage was pretty frightening. Helped Don with his shredded jib. It fought us a bit, and then we couldn't see how to get it to slide out of the foil at the bottom. I took a break, went to my boat for sunscreen and hat and water, then went looking for Mel's dinghy. Don number two had seen a possibility when we were touring; I hadn't known that. So I went there, and sure enough, it was Mel's dinghy, upside down under a pier against shore. I righted it and towed it to Mel's boat, and he was delighted. By then Don had figured out the foil on his roller-furler, and he got the rest of his jib down by himself. It's a total loss. But he has another sail. Saw three helicopters go over; figured out later it was the governor being given a tour of the area. From the radio, it sounds like everyone is staying in the shelters again today. Power, water, phones, internet are out in many places, debris everywhere, etc. Punta Gorda got hit hard: all three hospitals are closed, half the fire and police stations closed, trailer parks demolished, some people killed, etc. Sanibel hit hard too. Don number two heard there were two feet of water across the main street (only a block from the beach) in Ft Myers Beach, and left a foot of sand on it. No one here agrees how strong the wind got. Mel thinks no more than 70 or 80 knots; Don thinks we got the whole 145 MPH the hurricane plane measured. I'd guess 100 to 110 knots. Radio said Punta Gorda had gusts up to 125 (MPH?); I think they got it harder than we did. [Later, I read that weather instruments at the south end of Estero Island, about 5 miles from here, read a maximum of 95 MPH during the storm. So we probably got 100 to 105 MPH, less than I thought.] Loafed for a couple of hours, then went to Don's boat and chatted with him for an hour or two. I wanted to go ashore and look around, but he said the authorities won't think kindly of that, so I didn't do it. He pointed out a huge chimney that got blown off an A-frame house. Moved one of his anchors for him. Law enforcement is starting to patrol the harbor, looking for looters, I guess. Saw another convoy of tree-removal and power-line trucks cross the bridge about 4:15; they must be working hard to clear the mess on the island. There's a curfew tonight. But I have seen some homeowners on shore, cleaning up their properties. Cleaned up my foredeck, stowing the rope rode I used for my third anchor. Took a long time to pack it back onto the reel. Vacuumed a lot of dirt, and picked up an 18-inch-long eyebolt, from the nearly inaccessible space below the chain locker. Law-enforcement boat is flying up and down the harbor, intercepting anyone heading for Ft Myers Beach island by boat. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Nice dark night in the harbor; almost all lights still out on island side, many lights out on mainland side. Can see stars. 8/15/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. 8 AM from the radio: - Ft Myers Beach is still off-limits; they might let residents back in sometime today. - Sanibel residents likely will be kept out until at least Wednesday. - Schools will not open until Thursday. - Somewhere, maybe Sanibel or elsewhere in Charlotte county, some roads were "peeled" by the wind. - President is supposed to take a tour today; I'll have to indicate what I think of his policies as he flies by. - Charlotte county got really devastated; we were luckier here. Switched to forward toilet, and started cleaning out aft toilet, so I can work on the clogged intake. Don came over and I gave him some water. We sat and had a nice chat for an hour or two, and I gave him a tour of the boat. Saw a dolphin jump completely out of the water about 100 feet from the boat; first time I've seen that in the wild. Put mizzen and jib up. Started cutting a couple of feet off the end of the main halyard and swaging a new thimble onto it. Found the winch for it is binding; I thought the sheave at the top of the mast was sticking. Good news; the winch is a lot more accessible than the sheave. Noon from the radio: - Ft Myers Beach is still off-limits; they don't have power, water, sewer. Building inspectors are inspecting everything. - The president is in Punta Gorda but didn't fly over here, so I didn't get a chance to "wave" to him. - People in their houses are complaining about lack of air-conditioning, and suffering from "television withdrawal". No power, no cable, no internet. The guys who went 5 miles further east up the harbor came back after noon. Richard's boat "My Brother's Keeper" had a lot of damage to the starboard bow. After they all anchored, I went over and talked to him. While he was anchoring before the hurricane, an anchor line slipped through his fingers and he lost two of his three anchors ! So he rode out the storm on one anchor; fortunately it was an 87-pound Danforth. Sounds like none of the three or four boats ran lines into the mangroves. He wants me to dinghy him back there tomorrow to see if we can find and bring up his missing anchors. His outboard isn't running. I'm low on gas, but he has some. As the wind rose, he took dinner over to his friends, and then couldn't get back to his boat. They had two boats rafted together, and they started bashing together so badly that they cut one loose. Then that boat's anchor dragged and the boat slid down to spend a lot of time with its port side bashing against Richard's starboard bow. Tore about 5 feet of his nice aluminum toerail off, lots of scraped fiberglass. His windspeed indicator showed 107 knots at one point. And he was a couple of miles further from the center than we were. But later, the radio said this hurricane was very focused, "like a ten-mile-wide tornado". Richard still is all stressed out, especially hearing about ANOTHER hurricane, Earl, which could be heading for the Gulf, arriving next weekend. But forecasters say it won't come near us. Richard says Fred didn't go up the Caloosahatchee, he went deeper into the harbor and back into a cove. By the time he got his transmission linkage fixed, it was too late to go, and he was worried that the Sanibel Causeway bridge would be closed. Richard says the converted fishing boat that vanished is around the corner outside the harbor, blown onto a shoal. He's fairly amazed at that, since the boat was sunken and half full of water. 3 PM from radio: - Power may be off in Fort Myers until Thursday ! I'd guess Ft Myers Beach probably longer than that. Finished putting the main halyard together and hoisting the sail. Heard on the radio that the local supermarket is giving away produce and bread. Got in the dinghy, picked up Don number two, and headed ashore. I don't need the food so much, but I'm dying to see what the island looks like after the storm. Down the canal, some houses had their screen-houses totally destroyed, others hardly damaged. Some awnings and porch roofs and fences were torn down. Lots of broken trees. The main street was clear, maybe an inch or two of sand on the sidewalks. No destroyed buildings or even severely damaged roofs. Some carport roofs destroyed. Looks like the water got about 2 feet deep on the buildings. Didn't look at the beach; looked like a nasty tangle of debris at the beach end of the side street. Into the darkened supermarket, where they were giving away produce and some bread. I wasn't thinking straight; I took grapes and grapefruit and bread. Don took blueberries and strawberries and watermelon and other good stuff. Salad and fruit and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Got a lot of sun today; I'm a bit burnt. And I didn't get to a lot of the maintenance chores I wanted to. 8/16/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Still quiet. Ft Myers Beach is still off-limits; they won't let residents back until water and sewer are up again. Cleaned the outboard spark plugs and washed out the cylinders with de-carbonizer. Throttle cables are stretching more and more; need to replace them ASAP. Adjusted them as far I could. Went to Don's boat and helped him put another jib into his roller-furler. Took a lot of messing around to get everything right, and turned outhis furling line is too short for his bigger jib (bigger sail == more turns around the furler drum). Chatted a bit, then we re-arranged his anchor rodes so his keel would stop tripping over them (we hope). Pumped water out of bilge and engine compartment sole and dinghy keel. Cleaned some dirt out of anchor chain locker. Brought jib down, installed fitting I forgot to put back, then raised it again. I'ma little irritated with Mel: I'd like to get back the Fisherman anchor I lent him, but he's sleeping all day and coming out at night, when I'm sleeping, so we never connect. As of 5 PM: city still not allowing residents back onto Estero Island (Ft Myers Beach) because water and sewer are out. Town manager is getting threatening calls from residents. I could have killed the radio people: right in the middle of the town manager's news conference, when a councilman stood up and said the council felt frozen out by the town manager, people were mobbing them and they had no info and no input into what the town manager was doing, the radio station cut out to go to the governor's news conference ! All he said was how wonderfully all levels of government are working together with each other. Salad and ham-onion-mushroomsoup-noodles for dinner. Don called across the still waters to say there'd been a mini-riot at the police checkpoint at the mainland end of the bridge. Residents frustrated at being kept off the island tried to push past the checkpoint. After dark, I could see that the bridge and north end of the island have working electricity now. Potent thunderstorm came through about 9 PM. Tons of rain, maybe 35 knots of wind, some scary lightning very close by. 8/17/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. 9 AM from the radio: residents will be let back onto the island tomorrow morning. Police at the checkpoint last night had to Taser one guy to subdue him. On the radio, the vice-mayor chewed out the town manager about shutting out the town council and media from what was going on. A reporter asked the vice-mayor "do you think the voters are going to vote all you guys out at the next election ?" I'm sure a lot of residents are saying they will. Seems to me the town manager is doing the right things, but not communicating well with the council and residents. Worked on clogged intake on aft toilet. Getting cabinet doors off was tough; they've swelled or something, and had to be yanked out, at risk of breaking them. Got them out, and sanded them so they'll go in and out better. Cycling the through-hull valve seemed to fix most of the clog, which is nice; thought I'd have to take off the hose. About 5 PM, saw Mel yanking on his anchor that was going under a small sailboat, and went over to help him. Soon regretted it; his rode was twisted together with a big tree-branch and two rodes from the other boat, and the current was running strongly. I broke off chunks of tree and untwisted rodes until the tree was gone. Still a tangle. So Mel untied the bow anchor of the other boat, pulled it through, and retied it (easier said than done). Still twisted. So I cut the stern rode of the other boat and tied a float to that rode. Boats floated free; starting to look good. Then I clumsily drifted down and got my prop tangled in the other boat's bow rode, which was multiple lines and a fender. And the usual thunderstorm was approaching fast. Yelled for help to Mel, but we couldn't get it free. Finally Mel went and called Don, and Don and I managed to saw my prop free without cutting the other boat's anchor rode, although Don cut a finger and I got barnacle-scraped on my shin. High-tailed it back to my boat, got everything closed up before the rain, hoisted the dinghy. Sweaty and tired while it thundered and rained. Salad and tuna sandwiches for dinner. 8/18/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Residents were allowed back onto Ft Myers Beach starting at 9 AM; traffic was backed up onto the bridge by 9:25, but it cleared up fairly quickly. News helicopter was circling to film the event. Tried to get some life out of my TV, but it's dead. Probably should get rid of it. Dinghied over to Mel and helped him with his anchors some more. Untwisted a couple of tree-branches out of the tangle of anchor rodes, and got him free of the small sailboat. One of his rodes still seems to be snagged on something. Went to Don's boat and chatted with him for a couple of hours. Didn't realize he feels he can't use his dinghy, since the bow tube isn't holding air. I think he could use it carefully. Anyway, he feels stuck on the boat, not that there's been anywhere to go the last few days. Still a surprising amount of wood and garbage floating through the harbor. Dinghied ashore with Don. On the way in, a big stingray jumped out the water about 20 feet in front of us and splashed in about 10 feet in front of us, startling us. Tried to walk onto the beach, but there was too much debris at the end of the road. Looked like about half the beach was gone. Walked down to the library, which was closed but looked intact. Payphones outside supermarket were dead. Supermarket was open but missing much of the produce section, and the freezer aisle was completely cleared out except for some bags of ice; very strange-looking. Got groceries. In the evening, went to Don's boat and chatted for an hour or so. Mel came over and told us he saw a list of condemned/unsafe Ft Myers Beach properties that was 1.5 legal-sized pages long. He also said Richard might try applying to FEMA for money to fix his boat; doubt that will work. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Several Coast Guard and FWC boats prowling through the harbor after dark, looking for curfew violators. 8/19/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Did a bucket of laundry. Investigated the situation with the mainmast compression post: water is leaking down it. Picked salt out of the rope weave on it. Still can't see how the wood trim above it comes off; seems to be one piece. Pulled the priomary bilge pump up and started thinking about how to mount a new switch on it. At slack water, launched the dinghy and went to help Mel with his anchors again. With Don number two's help, got his secondary anchor up and found he'd snagged an old concrete mooring. Cut that loose, then pulled in about 150 feet of line on his primary anchor, moving him away from Don and I. Couldn't get my Fisherman anchor up; seems to be snagged on something, so we let it go until tomorrow. I put that small sailboat on two rodes to his bow, retrieving my gascan that I had put on his second rode as a float. After lunch, picked up Don and dinghied up under the bridge to a fuel dock. The pumps were on, and someone said we'd have to wait until the staff came back from lunch. So we wandered around. Payphone worked but volume was very low, and someone was running a generator nearby, so I couldn't call Mom. Walked up to the main road, and they're not even running a checkpoint any more. Damage didn't look too bad; even the mobile homes and RVs looked okay. Back to the fuel dock, and someone said they have a fuel leak, so no fueling. As we walked around, we talked about damage to houses and so on. I told Don that I'd heard the radio talking about how code for garage doors was changed after hurricane Andrew, because they found that the wind would blow the garage door off, funnel in, and lift the roof right off the house. Don told me an amazing story: Years ago, he bought a new house. He was doing something to the garage door, adding something and torquing it down, when a 2x4 shattered and the main springs of the garage door flew free. Something (maybe a cable) flew through the air, cut through the bill of his baseball cap, cut through the handle of the socket wrench he was using, and cut through his right forearm, completely cutting his hand off ! To the hospital for microsurgery, three months of rehab, and he regained about 95% use of his hand. Other than a few scars on the inside of his forearm, his arm and hand look normal. Back to the boat ahead of a threatening thunderstorm. Some incredibly loud thunder from a few miles away. Took in my laundry and buttoned everything up, and then the storm weakened and edged around us without more than a few drops of rain. Loafed for the rest of the afternoon. Felt a little guilty about not launching the dinghy and going to chat with Don; he's feeling down and isolated on his boat. I'm getting a bit antsy: a whole week with no internet, no newspapers, no magazines, no phone. I don't have TV, and radio only goes so far. I need to update my log file to the web site, reassure people that I've survived. And start ordering stuff for my coming trip. I wanted to send the fuel injectors out for servicing. Etc. Mel came by and said Salty Sam's fuel dock is running; they had their radio turned too low (I tried to reach them several times this morning; my outboard is running on fumes). Salad and fruit and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. A light storm around 8 PM. 8/20/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Did a bucket of laundry. Picked up Don and dinghied over to Salty Sam's marina. Bought gasoline ($10). They tried to charge us 15 cents/gallon for water, even when buying fuel, so we passed on that. Went across harbor. Library still closed, although they are clearing branches out of the parking lot. Walked onto the beach, and it really doesn't look too bad. Maybe they lost 10% of the sand. Got groceries. Cop pulled us over on the way back to the boat, wanting to see if we were looters. Dinghied up to Bonita Bill's with Don and caught the trolley to the inflatable boat store, because Don's dinghy still has a deflated bow tube. Turns out the dinghy-repair guy is named Don, too ! Had to hitchhike halfway back from the store. Back to Don's boat, towed his dinghy ashore, and carried it up the dock and onto the repair guy's pickup truck. Don went with him. I stopped to chat with Richard on the way back, had lunch, loaded water, then went back ashore to wait for Don to come back. Ordered new throttle cables for my outboard. Don and dinghy appeared after an hour or more, and the guy did a good repair for $60, so Don's happy. Towed his dinghy back to the boat. Fruit and ham-onion-noodle-mushroomsoup for dinner. 8/21/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Launched the dinghy and went to Richard's boat at 8 AM, as we'd arranged, to go retrieve the two anchors he'd lost before the hurricane. As I expected, he'd been drinking until 2 AM and forgot all about our plans. Agreed to try again tomorrow. Don launched his dinghy and motored around, very happy to have it working again. Loafed much of the morning. Did a little work trying to fix the bent rod on the stern grill. Don picked me up and we dinghied in to the liquor store. Many of the houses along the canal still haven't been cleaned up; I guess the owners are out of town. Town slowly getting back to normal; no signs of emergency vehicles and such, and liquor store and supermarket are back to full operation. Back out, and Don and Don and Mel and I gathered on Don's boat for a party. Don needs to do some drinking and partying to exorcise the ghost of the hurricane from his mind. So we drank tequila and talked and joked and listened to music and played checkers and backgammon and poker and dominoes, and had a fine time for 6 hours or so. Very nice. Tried to remember jokes the dinghy-repair guy told us: "Why is it so hard to solve murders in West Virginia ? Because everyone has the same DNA, and ..." but we can't remember the second part of the punchline. And another one about family trees in West Virginia being easy to remember because they're so straight up and down. [ Thanks to Becky D: the joke goes: Why can't cops in West Virginia solve any murders? Because everyone has the same DNA and there are no dental records. ] Mel had news about a couple of people: Harry on "Great Escape" made it up the river almost to the first lock before his engine failed (he'd had a bad rebuild and left with only 5 lbs of oil pressure). He was heading for Glades boatyard; hope someone towed him up there before the hurricane hit. I'd guess he's probably ruined the engine completely now. Later, Richard said "that's what he gets for trying to get away with a cheap rebuild", but I thought someone said Harry had paid $6500 for that rebuild. And Mel said Fred (the guy who bought a sistership to mine and was un-seizing the engine) did indeed go around the corner into the mangroves for the storm, instead of up the river. He has some problems with his rafted-together boats being hard aground at low tide. Worse, he was struck by lightning and may have lost all electronics (on both boats ?). Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 8/22/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Launched the dinghy and went to Richard's boat at 8 AM, as we'd arranged, to go retrieve the two anchors he'd lost before the hurricane. He told me he'd decided to go some other time with someone's sailboat, so they could use the anchor windlass to raise the anchors. Fine with me, but I wish he'd told me yesterday so I could have avoided getting up and launching the dinghy this morning. He said the buoy he left on his anchors is gone, so maybe someone has stolen his anchors anyway. Richard's feeling very down, about the damage to his boat, and about fighting with his brothers over their inheritance. Before the hurricane, he and several others left the harbor and went to a cove in the mangroves, so no boats would drag into them. And there, one of their boats dragged into his and chewed 5 feet of aluminum toerail off and opened the hull-deck joint, and rain soaked much of the interior of the boat. The end of the toerail also pierced his bagged jib and damaged it. (I don't know why he left a bagged sail on deck during a hurricane.) He has no money for repairs, so he's applied to FEMA. Richard confirmed that Fred's boats were hit by lightning. Also, he told me there was a couple who lived out here off and on, and the other day, the woman stabbed the man to death. I didn't really know them, but lots of people out here did. Dinghied over to Don, and we went ashore and walked down to the town square area. Looks like most of the damage was from flooding: lots of places have no visible damage, but all the furniture and carpeting is in a big heap out by the curb. Lots of sand scoured off the beach and put in the streets, but the beach is still perfectly usable. Many stores are open for business. The hardware store looked fine at first glance, but we went inside to buy a few things, and they said they lost 2/3 of their roof; every parts drawer I opened had water in or behind it. Lots of telephone workers on the streets. Back to the boat, and we saw Fred coming back into the anchorage with his two rafted boats. An hour later, he came to my boat for a visit. As I'd heard, he started out and realized he didn't have time to get up the river, then had a transmission linkage problem (stuck in reverse) on the way back in. He fixed that and then went back into the mangroves, at high tide. Soon he was aground, and the two boats threatened to damage each other. At the next high tide, he separated them. Then they dinghied ashore somewhere, lifted the dinghy and motor out and into their truck, and started driving east. They went a long way before finding a motel that was open. The boats rode out the storm okay, but something zapped a lot of his electronics or electrical systems. As he was talking to me, he mentioned that he started the engine right after the hurricane to make sure all the rolling and air pressure hadn't forced water into the cylinders. I suddenly had a sinking feeling: I hadn't done that. So right away I jumped up and started my engine, and fortunately it seems fine. I'll have to run the genset soon to check it too. Ran engine for 30 minutes to exercise it. Fred confirmed that Harry got up the river almost to Franklin Lock and then his engine seized. Ugly. He should have known better than to run the engine with extremely low oil pressure. Loafed most of the afternoon, as rain clouds gathered from all directions. Went to Don's boat to chat, and to call my Mom's answering machine on Don's cell-phone. Don was complaining about the stock market and being short of money, as he often does. He wants to try switching from cigarettes to a pipe; he says he's spending $100/month on cigarettes ! About 6:30, the clouds came down to sea level and we had lots of wind and rain for an hour, then rain for another hour or two. Salad and fruit and peanut-butter-crackers for dinner. 8/23/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Put down the swim platform, wormed my way down under the dinghy, and changed the outboard gear oil yet again. Oil was totally milky with seawater contamination again; replaced the rubber washers on the drain plugs with fiber washers, which I think will work much better. Dinghied over to Don's boat, and found him in pain. He's having a kidney stone, he thinks. The pain started in the middle of the night. Went back to my boat and brought him some leftover pain medication I had from 5 years ago. I had kidney stones years ago, and I don't ever want to have them again. When I got back to the boat later, I started chugging water. Went to Fred's boat and returned the baseball cap he accidentally left on my boat yesterday. He thought his boats were hit by lightning, but now he doesn't think so: he found one of the inverters had been doused with water, and he's still investigating other problems. Ashore, loaded water, found a working payphone and called my Mom's answering machine to say hello. Went to hardware store again. Forgot to look for the main thing I need: set of tiny screwdrivers to use on new connector for anchor light. Got some more bolts and washers for the outboard ($2). They didn't have the gear oil and seizing wire I need. (I just KNOW I have some SS seizing wire on board somewhere, but it's not where it should be !) Back on the boat, a small tugboat came through the harbor towing a mostly-sunken motorboat; the only thing keeping it afloat was their forward motion, and obviously they had raised it from being totally sunk. They towed it down to the shallows in the east end of the harbor and let it sink there. Another derelict ! Some of us are hoping the city won't be able to install the mooring field because the budgeted money will be spent on hurricane recovery. But at the rate new derelicts are appearing, they may never be able to remove them all. After lunch, dinghied over to Don's boat. The pain pills I gave him worked well, and put him to sleep too. We chatted for a while, and Don number two came over to see if Don was okay. He said if it was appendicitis, he had a scalpel on board; I told Don number one it was okay: it probably came from a CLEAN dumpster. Dinghied ashore, through a very low tide; chewed up mud for about half the length of the canal, and had to wade ashore through 6 inches of grey mud. The library was open ! (Turned out they were open for a half-day on Saturday, the one day I didn't bother to go ashore and check.) Spent about 4 hours on the internet. Had 328 spams/viruses and 178 real emails. About 25 messages from people wondering if I'd survived; nice to know that people care about me. Sent an updated log file to my brother, but it looks like he may not be at work today, so everyone will have to wait to see the log. Got groceries, including cranberry juice for Don's kidney stone. Took it to him, then loaded water from shore. As it did yesterday, the weather is strange: evil dark clouds with rain and lightning spinning around us, surrounding us in almost all directions, but nothing hitting us for a while. Finally started raining about 9 PM, rained for a couple of hours, then was still and humid and hot all night; didn't sleep well. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Was lying in bed unable to sleep, when I suddenly figured out where the SS seizing wire was: I left it in a pocket of the bosun's chair. Got up and looked, and sure enough, there it was. 8/24/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Hot and still in the early morning. Slept late. Loafed most of the morning. Dinghied over to check on Don; the sharp pain is gone, and he hasn't had to take any more pills. Went ashore, loaded water, bought jeweler's screwdrivers ($5). Back to boat for lunch, looking at dark clouds circling. After lunch, picked up Don and went to the library. Very low tide; Don was not happy at having to wade through icky mud at the dinghy "dock". Had another long internet session. Arranged to have my accumulated mail delivered to me here. Don talked to some FEMA guy, who just could not understand the concept of living on a boat and not having a land address. Got groceries, and got back to boat about 5 PM, about 20 minutes ahead of the rain. Tons of rain and some huge booming thunder. Salad and fruit and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Added water to the batteries. 8/25/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Rain at 8 AM. Dinghied over to Don, then ashore to check on my throttle-cable order, and order oil drain plug seals for the outboard. Still lots of mess in the marina; surprised they haven't cleaned things up yet. Loaded water. Chatted with Richard; he's sealed his split-open hull-deck joint with silicone as a temporary way to stop leaks, and it isn't working well. Bad choice; silicone is really intended for compression gaskets, and poisons the surface so you can't use other sealants later. Worked on wiring new switch to primary bilge pump; mounting it so it sits as low as possible in the bilge is always a problem; they're all designed to sit on top of a board, and I don't want to do that. After lunch, dinghied ashore to the library; Don didn't want to brave the mud again. Back to boat, then went to help Mel with his anchor (still cleaning up after the hurricane). Found his friend Clark had helped him pull in another 30 feet, having to chop a tree off the chain. I helped get another 20 feet in, having to chop tree-branches and fishing line out of a tangle with my Fisherman anchor that I lent to him. Got it done, and got my anchor back. Went to Don's boat and chatted with him for an hour or two. Salad and fruit and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Had trouble sleeping, and got headachey. 8/26/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Put the primary bilge pump back in, and now both switch and pump have problems ! What a pain. Saw that sunken steel boat has been removed from east end of harbor. But yesterday, a fishing boat was anchored out there, aground at low tide. Dinghied ashore and did library, got groceries. Dinghy was seriously aground at low tide; had to wade through muck almost up to my knees to get it free. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Big propane tank is empty; time to use some of my small cans. Guy on "Southern Cross" was pulling up an anchor and taking tree-branches off it. Wonder if anything like that is on my anchor rodes ? Someone's flying a radio-controlled model floatplane around the harbor; saw it land on the water. 8/27/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Dinghied ashore with Fred and Don, and Fred drove us around to a couple of Walmart's, and then a shopping mall where we had an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet lunch. Bought gear oil ($7), fabric paint ($2). Dinghied ashore and did library. Two weeks since the hurricane, and still big piles of garbage along the streets. Many houses still not cleaned up; must be seasonal owners. Fruit and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Fishing boat that was anchored aground at east of harbor dragged in the current and ended up close to Salty Sam's marina. Mel stopped by for a brief chat, and as we were talking, saw a boat near Fred's suddenly erupt in fire from the stern. Turned out to be a big fireball from their stern grill, but for a minute I really thought of calling the marine police to report a boat on fire. It was really roaring for a while. A little rain after dark. 8/28/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Did a bucket of laundry. Cleaned up the boat. Dinghied ashore and did library. Back to boat, grabbed lunch, then ashore to Bonita Bill's. Picked up outboard throttle cables and drain plug seals ($29). Met Bill and his daughter Jennifer as planned, and took them out to my boat, stopping at Fred's to see his boat on the way. Bill is thinking of buying a 1972 Gulfstar 44, sistership to my 1973 boat and Fred's 1971 boat. Had a very nice visit with Bill and Jennifer, talking about boats and the harbor and the hurricane and so on. They enjoyed looking around at all the strange boats, and I pointed out some of the hurricane damage. Bill is still recovering from an accident a few years ago where the companionway ladder on a boat came loose, and he fell and broke a bone in his neck, almost leaving him paralyzed. Driving here, they saw some mobile home parks that didn't look too bad, once you realized that ALL the mobile homes were gone; nothing left but the concrete slabs and a few screen doors lying around. The fishing boat that dragged near to Salty Sam's marina is still there, close to the marina and aground and listing at low tide. Went to Fred's boat for drinks and dinner (hot dogs, beans, tater tots) and some nice conversation. Turns out the dismasted yellow catamaran next to him has "Chainsaw Charlie" on board, not "Tiki Tim" as someone had guessed. The boat has lots of carved statues all over it, and a big fabric roll-up electronic sign on top. Warm, still night. 8/29/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Warm, still morning. Loafed much of the morning, then changed the oil on my outboard yet again. Made some progress this time: found old washers embedded in the seats of the drain plugs, so dark and crusted that I didn't see them before. Pried them out, cleaned up the seats, installed new seals I got the other day. Changed the oil, and hope it stays water-free. Also noticed a small machined hole in the side of the gear unit, near the top, that was clogged up with gunk and barnacle stuff. Unclogged it, but don't have any idea what it's for (and of course the service manual diagram doesn't show it). The fishing boat grounded near Salty Sam's marina is listing even at high tide; it may be sinking. Went ashore, loaded water, and got a big splinter in my heel on the dock. Back to boat, pulled out the splinter, which took a lot of effort. Picked up Don and we went for a walk on the beach. He's been depressed about money and minor problems with his boat, and I figured a nice walk on a beach full of pretty girls might cheer him up. Saw 4 thong bikinis. Fair number of people on the beach, and lots of boats anchored in the surf, but lots of sand missing, and the beach is cut in two at the town pier; water too deep there to walk any further down the beach. Salad and fruit and peanut-butter crackers for dinner. Dinghied over to Don's boat just before sunset, and chatted with him for several hours. 8/30/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Dinghied ashore at 8 AM and went with Fred to a marine surplus store in North Fort Myers. On the way, stopped to see Richard, docked at a shrimp boat dock. He's taken his entire 30+-foot starboard toerail off; someone quoted him $3000 for a replacement rail. He's going to cut off the damaged 5 feet and see about replacing that section. He's fiberglassed the entire hull-deck joint on that side to close it. Bought outboard fuel hose ($4), four spark plugs ($8), paintbrushes ($1). Ft Myers city mooring field is almost empty: one boat moored, and another anchored nearby which we're pretty sure is "Black Out", which used to be in Ft Myers Beach. Dinghied ashore to do library. There was a drunk guy sleeping on the mucky edge of the mangroves where we come ashore; he was about half in the water. I think he fell asleep at low tide, and now it was high tide. I had to look carefully to see that he was alive; his chest was moving a little as he breathed. Did library, got groceries. Sun so strong that I feel it burning my shoulders right through my shirt. Quick lunch, then dinghied ashore. On the way, I went by Don's boat to say hi to him. As I approached, he suddenly yelled "he hit it !". A 30-foot sailboat going up the channel past the shrimp boat fleet had strayed too close to them and hit a fishing outrigger that was sticking out too far. The sailboat was going fairly fast, and Don said the impact made the sailboat's bow rise, then made the whole boat turn hard to port. I looked over, and saw a "dent" in the boat's roller-furled jib / forestay about 2/3 of the way up. They paused, made a U-turn and headed back in, then a few minutes later made another U-turn and continued back out of the harbor. Went ashore, loaded water, and picked up my accumulated mail ($11), sent up from Marathon. Replaced the outboard throttle cables, with Don supervising and Don number two helping. The old cables were in horrible shape, not stretched as I'd guessed, but with the casings worn through and broken in several places, all rusted and chafed and ugly. A tricky, greasy, jigsaw-puzzle-like job. First try: couldn't move throttle handle at all. Second try: everything fine except forward and reverse switched. Third try: got it right ! In the process, found another problem: the neutral-start interlock finger (I guess that's what it's called) is broken off. Also found that the occasional oil drop it sheds is coming down from the bottom of the powerhead, not up from the gearcase. I think grease on the powerhead is getting washed off by rainwater, and the mixture is pooling at the back of the powerhead and dripping out. Fruit and salad and spaghetti for dinner. Tired and hot, but dinner and a shower revived me a bit. 8/31/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Heavy equipment is taking out that houseboat that sunk in the nearby marina. Taking it out in chunks. Put new spark plugs in outboard, and greased the throttle cables some more. Dinghied ashore with Don and ordered neutral-start interlock finger part for the outboard. Chatted with Don for a while aboard his boat. After lunch, dinghied ashore with Don and did library. I'm going through my paper mail and trying to get lots of the senders to take me off their mailing lists, because having my mail forwarded costs me money. Back just before stormy weather, which turned out to be a nasty, persistent thunderstorm with tons of rain, lots of wind, and plenty of scary lightning very close by. Stormed for over an hour before easing off, but then light rain picked up again later. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 9/1/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Inspected engine raw water pump impeller, and one vane was torn, so I replaced it. Putting an impeller in is a tough job: have to kneel to see what's happening, but stand to push on it, so I'm constantly shifting position. Have to bend thick vanes on top to get impeller started in. Impeller is gooey and slippery with lubricant. Start pushing it in, try to get it lined up with the key on the shaft, then hear a little "clink" as the key falls or gets pushed out of the slot. Use impeller-puller to pull impeller back out. Feel inside pump body for key, being careful not to drop it into the bilge. Put it back into the slot. Wipe off sweat, then try again. Did it about 10 times before it worked. Lots of swearing and sweating. Started to work on anchor light, and found they gave me the wrong one at West Marine: the one we all couldn't figure out how you'd ever get it open to replace the bulb. I'm not going to install that at the top of the mast. Doesn't seem to light, either. Took end off heat exchanger; zinc looks good. Dinghied ashore with Don and bought dowel ($1), loaded water. Back to boat, and rodded out the lower tubes of the heat exchanger. Did upper tubes a bit, but they're a different diameter and I didn't have quite the right tool for them. Hurricane Frances is approaching the east coast of Florida. Didn't think I'd have to worry about it, but then everyone here pointed out it can come across the land and hit us; they're worried. Guess I'll have to start paying attention to it. With Don, dinghied ashore and took trolley to Summerlin Square and West Marine. Have to come back Friday to get new anchor light. Got groceries. Back to boat, dropped offgroceries, then we immediately went ashore and did library. Lots of dark clouds, but the rain never did quite hit us. Back to boat, and had some rain in the evening. Small white sailboat is rafted to Don number two's boat; he says it dragged down onto him. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 9/2/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Ran engine for 1/2 hour, and got bad news: impeller must not be right, because heat exchanger is not cooling properly. I think I'm getting no water out the exhaust. Interestingly, the exhaust looks good but sounds louder and may be a little smokier than usual. Also, boat seems to move in reverse gear but not forward; prop must be very dirty. Don came over about 8:15 and tried to talk me into leaving for the Dry Tortugas with him, stopping in Marco Island on the way, to get out of the way of hurricane Frances. He hears we're going to get 2+ days of tropical-storm-force winds, and he just can't take that after hurricane Charley. If my engine was working fine, I might consider going to Key West. But he was pretty disappointed when I told him I'd probably stay here. I'm going to try to fix the impeller, and then re-think my decision in a few hours. The hurricane is predicted to hit Melbourne or so (about 120 miles WNW of here), heading NW. It's a little stronger than hurricane Charley, but is moving slowly (11 knots) so it probably will strengthen more. It's far wider than Charley, so strong winds probably will cover the entire width of Florida, hitting us. But we'll be on the "better" side of the center (forward motion will subtract from circular wind speed). Supposed to make landfall Friday about midnight. My main thinking is we were on the "worse" side of Charley and 15 miles across water from the center, but we'll be on the "better" side of Frances and 120 miles across land from the center. But things could change. Dinghied over to Don's boat, to take a book to him and offer to help with his anchors if he's leaving or adjusting. Got my pain pills and Caribbean book back from him. He's trying to arrange to have his prop cleaned, get fuel and water and groceries, all before leaving. Hurricane may be about 40 hours away. Back to my boat, and started working on engine cooling system again. Opened up raw water pump, saw that the key indeed was loose, not in it's slot. Pulled out impeller and key, and immediately lost the key into the bilge ! Was very careful yesterday to prevent that, but today it slid off my hand and around the newspaper I'd put down to catch parts, and into the bilge. Got flashlight and retriever-thing and looked in bilge, but couldn't see the key. Pulled out an old clip-ring and a nut from down there, but no key. Pumped water out for a while, still couldn't see the key. Finally saw it all the way on the far side, hiding in some muck. Snagged it. Took about 8 tries to get key and impeller in. Remembered trick to make sure key is in properly: stick a wire in the slot, and it should hit the key about 1/4" in. Started engine, and cooling is fine ! A little water drip from the pump faceplate; I'll tighten it later. Strange: the low-oil-pressure alarm didn't sound as it usually does when I started and stopped the engine; maybe it just broke ? Ran engine for 15 minutes to test it. Started to dinghy to library, and met Don rowing his dinghy back; he ran out of gas. Towed him to his boat, and found he's decided to leave now. I fetched water for him and then chatted to Don number two while Don snorkeled to clean off his prop. Then just as I started to help Don raise anchor, Mel came over and wanted to talk. Raised Don's second anchor for him, then headed ashore. Checked on the outboard part I have on order, bought gasoline ($6), then helped Don land at the fuel dock. Back to the boat with my gasoline, stopping to chat briefly with Fred. Turns out he has a claim in to FEMA for everything that stopped working around the time of the hurricane: genset, air-conditioner, lost anchor, etc. Ashore to the library, then got groceries. A bit breezy in the harbor today. Mel stopped by, and I offered to help him with his anchors tomorrow. Salad and ham-onion-noodle for dinner. 9/3/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. As of 7 AM: Hurricane Frances seems to have slowed down; now it won't make landfall until Saturday morning, I think. The VHF WX channel info is useless. The FM radio is better, but still says landfall will be "somewhere on the Florida peninsula". Went on deck, moved third anchor to the bow and put chain on it. Took down mizzen and mainsail. About 8:15: Heard anchor chain clattering nearby, and looked out to see Don is back in the harbor ! Launched my dinghy and went to see him. Turns out he headed out for the Dry Tortugas, got about 15-20 miles from the harbor, and was getting pasted so badly (chop from several directions, building from 3-4 to 5-6, and wind frequently shifting), and making such mediocre progress, and being unable to sail, that he turned back. Progress coming back was even slower, and he couldn't get in before dark, so he anchored outside the harbor and had an uncomfortable night. So now he's back, and he's really irritated. He's tired, the boat is dirty, he used up half his fuel for nothing, and he just wants off the boat to stay in a hotel for several days. But we're pretty sure there are no hotel rooms to be had, and Frances may take so long to pass that he'd have to pay for 3 or 4 nights. Dinghied ashore and did library. Back to boat, then dinghied over to help Mel raise anchor and re-anchor. Lots of work: there was a tree-trunk or something on his chain, then we got him set on someone's mooring with his primary anchor out near Don, then the someone showed up and said he didn't want anyone using his mooring. So we put out Mel's second anchor instead, and now Don is unhappy that Mel may swing too close to him. I told him to talk to Mel about it. Both of these guys have only two anchors, which is part of the problem. They want both anchors mostly in the strongest-expected wind direction, leaving nothing to keep them from swinging widely before and after the hurricane. Had lunch, took down jib, then dinghied ashore. Stopped by Don on the way, and he's moaning that he wants to go ashore to check out hotels, but he doesn't want to launch his dinghy, which is hoisted with the motor off. I'm not going his way, but he was trying to figure out some way I could ferry him ashore and pick him up; I'm not impressed. Caught the trolley to Summerlin Square, and exchanged my anchor light at West Marine. Talked to a pretty blond woman taking a cigarette-break outside a hairdresser's (I think); she had a marvelous Long Island accent. Had to wait a long time for the next bus, and it's a hot day. As of 4 PM: Hurricane Frances has slowed down and weakened, but still is enormous. Slower means more rain, and that it may strengthen again. Still no good reading on where it will make landfall; lots of rumors of more north (good for us) or more west (bad for us). Outlying rain-bands are hitting West Palm Beach now, so maybe they'll hit us after midnight. Saw a guy in the boat rafted to Don number two's boat; the rightful owner. At about 5, he unrafted, then raised anchor, then started the engine. First he started to anchor near Don, then he anchored close in front of me, exactly in the direction I was planning to put out my third anchor. I went out to complain that he was too close and only had one anchor, but a guy on his other side beat me to it, saying "You only have one anchor ? You should go tie off to the mangroves." The guy was undecided for a while, often looking up at my looming bow. Then he raised anchor and anchored back up toward the bridge. At about 6, put out my third anchor. Formed the rope rode into a huge figure-8 stack on deck, then got in the dinghy, lowered the anchor and chain down, then wrested the rope stack over the side into the dinghy. Then reversed away from the boat, paying out rope as I went. Dropped chain and then anchor. Put it to the north of the boat. Then went to Don's boat and we took down his roller-furled 170 jib. Tricky, in 15-20 knots of wind. I held the sheets as he tried to pull the bolt-rope down the foil and out at the bottom. The roller-furler drum got sticky from too much line before the sail was all the way out, the sail kept catching plenty of wind, and the halyard stuck several times. But we got it down, and rolled it up into the biggest, ugliest bundle you can imagine; our sailing-school instructors are spinning in their graves. Don went ashore and was unable to find any hotel room. Salad and yogurt and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. I'm tired. Had a nice drink to relax. Mel came by, saying he might want to use my Fisherman anchor after all. Offered to give it to him right away, but I think he really wants me to come over and do the work for him. Told him I might be free tomorrow at 1; I expect that will be too late to do anything. He's not taking down his soft dodger or satellite dish or roller-furled jib again. He made it through Charley okay, so he'll probably make it through Frances. Blew 15-25 most of the night, until after very light sprinkles of rain at 4:30. Didn't sleep very well. 9/4/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. As of 5 AM: Hurricane Frances now moving at either 4 MPH or 8 MPH, depending on which radio announcer you believe. SE of Freeport Bahamas, no idea where landfall will be, should land this afternoon, may dump 15 inches of rain on east coast. As of 8 AM: Hurricane is 125 miles E of West Palm Beach, which probably means the center will pass far to the northeast of us. Moving about 6 MPH, with winds of about 105 MPH. Blowing 15-20+ here. About 8:45, got out my wetsuit and snorkel gear, closed up the boat (since dark clouds were approaching), launched the dinghy and put down the swim platform, and went under the boat to clean the prop. Strong current running, dirty water with limited visibility, dark clouds, a bit of rain, and an extremely barnacled-covered boat and prop. Barnacles 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches thick on both sides of the prop and sticking in clumps off the edges. Took 45 minutes to get the prop reasonably clean. Scary that I went through hurricane Charley with the prop in this state. Out of the water, into a cold rain that helped me wash off. Sky is a mixture of big, threatening clouds, and sunny areas. At 10 AM, wind forecast is for gusts up to 60 later today, up to 70 after midnight, up to 60 tomorrow. After listening to Car Talk, at 11 I dinghied over to Don's boat on the way to the library. Helped lift his outboard off his dinghy, into my dinghy, and then up onto his stern rail. He thinks I'm crazy to head for the library; he says I'm addicted to the Internet (some truth to that). As I left his boat, it started pouring rain, and I went back to my boat and hoisted the dinghy. Soon I realized he was absolutely right: after a few lulls, it started blowing 25-30 and pouring rain. Guess I'm on the boat for the duration now. At noon: Center of Frances is hovering over Freeport Bahamas. 87 MPH winds at Jupiter. Pouring rain here. Rain stopped about 1 PM. Windy but sunny until 4 PM, when it rained sharply and then blew 50+ a few times. Windsurfer came through at 2:30, jet-skis at 3:30, some dinghy traffic at various times. At 4 PM: hurricane is stalled over Bahamas. Seems to be expected to cross the state, maybe on a West Palm Beach - Tampa - Panama City path. Chili for dinner. At 7, I was astonished to see Don rowing his dinghy downwind to my boat, in about 25-30 knots of wind. [Turns out he'd been trying to contact me for half an hour, via radio and yelling and waving and shining a light; maybe a horn would have worked.] He says a friend found him a hotel room, and would I drop him off ashore ? We tied his dinghy to the side of my boat, I launched my dinghy, and took him ashore. He'll try to get back on Monday. He's absolutely delighted to be off the boat. Back to the boat, and realized I really didn't like having a dinghy tied to the side of my boat. What if it fills with water ? Am I going out there to bail it out in the middle of a hurricane ? What if it tears away and is lost; will Don be upset with me ? At 7:45, the hurricane is centered 50 miles ENE of West Palm Beach; the fact that it's a bit north is good for us here. Of course they didn't say if it's moving. Dry, cloudy, blowing 20-30+ here. Blew 30-40 all night, gusts to 50-60, with very little rain. Couldn't understand the direction: it's blowing WNW or even W; assumed it would be N. 9/5/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Got up every now and then to check the situation. At 1 AM, couldn't see small sailboat that had been off my starboard bow; must have dragged away, although I don't see how it could have avoided my third anchor rode. At 5:30 AM, found Don's dinghy was completely swamped and trying to saw itself free. Tried to mess with its painter, but there's nothing to be done about it. Wind and gravity pulled my glasses off and I almost lost them overboard; snatched at them and heard them hit fiberglass, and after groping around on deck, found them just inside the toerail a bit further back. Will try again after dawn. At daybreak, of course, it started raining. Put on swimsuit and dive mask and went out to look at Don's dinghy. Hopeless; can't do anything from deck, and I'm not going to launch my dinghy in this weather. If it was blowing 25, yes; but it's blowing 30-35 with gusts well into the 40's, I think. The small sailboat that was near me yesterday has lodged against Don's boat, banging into him a bit. Don't see any serious damage yet. Too bad he didn't think of putting out fenders before he left the boat. At 8 AM: Radio is totally useless; all they said was that the hurricane is moving at 8 MPH; nothing about where the center is, where landfall is going to occur or has occurred, where it's going to emerge on the west coast ! It has weakened to category 1. Wind has strengthened. I think I've dragged 10 feet or so in the last 12-16 hours. Put on swimsuit and dive mask and got on the foredeck, in some rain, and struggled to pull in slack on my third anchor; the primary anchor has been doing all the work. At first, felt like something was dragging on the third anchor's rode. Went out a few minutes later and pulled rode in without too much trouble. Hard to get the last few feet in, to swing me a little to starboard, to try to clear "Southern Cross" behind me if my primary drags more. At 9 AM: Eye is near Lake Okeechobee, about 60 miles ENE of here, moving W or WNW. Some horizontal rain here. Gusts to 60 knots, I think. Now radio says eye came onto land near Stuart last night as category 2. Effects being felt all the way down to the Keys. Expected to emerge at Tampa Bay. Eye probably going within 50 miles of us. I guess the worst should be over by mid-afternoon, but rain and wind will continue well into Monday. Started engine about 9:15 to charge batteries; ran it for about 30 minutes. No oil-pressure buzzer at startup, and oil pressure gauge is dead (below zero). But I checked oil level before starting, there's no oil in the bilge, and engine sounds normal. I think something has died in the oil-pressure-sender circuit. There are a couple of "mystery boxes" inside the binnacle; guess it's time to figure them out and replace one of them. I needed to dig in there and splice more slack into the wiring to recalibrate the tachometer anyway, so I guess I'll have to start a big binnacle project. Hmmm, temperature gauge seems to have stopped working too. Do all of these things go through one "ignition relay" box ? [Whoops: when I went to stop the engine, I found the key was already in the "off" position. That probably explains the non-working gauges. Will test tomorrow.] Other than the small sailboat banging into Don's boat, I don't see any other damage or dragging in the harbor. And power is still on ashore. Barometer has fallen to 28.9 inches, lower than I saw with hurricane Charley. Went to the foredeck and took in some more slack on third anchor rode. Swinging well away from "Southern Cross" now. At 11: Some horizontal rain. Small sailboat has pulled off about half of Don's port rubrail, and bent his bow pulpit. Now I think the small sailboat is NOT the one that was near me; don't know where that one went. "Slippery Jack" seems to be dragging a little toward a small sailboat, and then toward Mel, and has a sunken dinghy tied to it. At 2: Still blowing hard and raining; wind a little more from the W. I've been napping, mostly; I didn't sleep well last night, and there's not much else to do today. Smelled smoke outside; must be a fire ashore. At 3: Storm still raging. Found a better radio station, which says the storm is stretching from south Georgia to the Keys, and the Abacoes are still getting rain and wind while the eye is approaching Tampa. Guess it's going to blow like this until tomorrow. Whenever there's a lull and I see Don number two standing up in the companionway of his little boat and looking around, I catch his eye and we wave to each other. Nice to have a little human contact. Happens only twice a day or so. Salad and fruit and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. From 8 to midnight: Howling wind and horizontal rain, from SW and S, probably the strongest of the whole storm. About 9, standing inside with all hatches closed, warm and damp and close and smelly inside the boat, unable to sleep for a while, said "ah, this is the life !". Fighting a lot of leaking down the compression post under the mainmast. My fault: I saw this happening during the last hurricane, and didn't get around to fixing it. 9/6/2004 (Monday; Labor Day) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. At 7 AM: No rain; wind blowing SE 20-25 with gusts to 35+. Sky mostly grey, but trying to be blue in a few spots. Radio is still stupid; saying the storm will hit the Panhandle, but carefully not saying where or when or how fast it's moving or where the center is. Water level in harbor is very high: about 6-12 inches higher and it would flood the yards ashore. I'm tired, but looks like Magnolia and I made it okay ! Didn't drag into anyone, and no one dragged into us. Several small deck leaks into the interior, but no damage. I think my primary anchor may have dragged 20 feet or so. About 8 AM: Some bright thing appeared in the sky. I think it's called ... the SUN ! Saw my shadow; does that mean four more weeks of hurricanes ? [Actually, they're starting to talk about hurricane Ivan already !] Moved the third anchor rode around to the stern; it was threatening to get into the prop and rudder. Still a bit too windy to launch the dinghy, work on Don's boats, and bring up my third anchor. At about 9, Don number two put his motor on the dinghy and went ashore. He came over 30 minutes later, having gotten coffee ashore. He came aboard and we had a nice chat, both being starved for conversation by being isolated for 2-1/2 days. Turns out he didn't realize that boat being damaged was Don's boat; he didn't know Don had come back in after leaving for the Dry Tortugas. Don number two just took a look at the beach, and he says it's bad (but maybe that's because it still has storm surge on it). About 10, we saw Don standing on the dock, looking for a ride out to his boat. So I launched my dinghy and picked him up. He says the hotel was wonderful; I think it's the first little "vacation" he's had from his boat in over a year. He was very bummed to see the damage to his boat. It was better and worse than I thought from looking through the binoculars. No damage to bow pulpit or stanchions or rigging, but bow navigation light is destroyed, port rubrail completely torn off, long plastic rubrail-mount that goes over hull/deck joint is shattered on forward half of port side, and a couple dozen very deep gouges in the fiberglass topsides on the forward quarter. But no water got inside; the hull/deck joint wasn't damaged. He always took pride in how clean and pretty his boat was, and this is wrenching. The other boat (Karen's) is still stuck to him, their anchor rodes crossed, and the wind and tidal current still are too strong to do anything about it. We put some fenders out to prevent further damage. His batteries are dead, and the food in his refrigerator probably is spoiled, since he has to run the engine once or twice a day to keep up with demand. Now he has to turn off the fridge and let the solar panel charge the batteries all day until he can start the engine again. He's pretty dispirited. I bailed out his dinghy, still tied to my boat, and towed it over to his boat. The bow tube is a bit deflated, maybe leaking, but I'm amazed the painter didn't chafe right through the bow tube, since the dinghy had 500 pounds of water in it and was surging strongly all through the storm. I was afraid it might have chafed the fiberglass of my hull a bit, but I think it just rubbed off some bottom paint slightly above the waterline. Raised my third anchor (CQR 35) and piled it and the rode on deck; will be a chore to get it all stowed again. After lunch, pumped some water off the sole in the engine compartment, checked fluids, and then started the engine. Gauges work fine; low-oil-pressure buzzer is broken. Has become a reasonably nice day: lots of clouds and very breezy, but sunny and good for airing out the boat. After 3, the tidal current had slacked, so I dinghied over to help Don get Karen's boat off his. I ended up doing almost all the work, raising the anchors, putting one down far away, then towing the boat over and dropping the other anchor. The Coast Guard showed up to watch just as I finished the job; Don had called them earlier and been irritated when they didn't seem interested in helping him. Got a few barnacle-cuts on my leg. Don thanked me for doing the work, then as I dinghied away and chatted with Mel, Don tried to call me back to move his second anchor for him. I'd had enough, and said he should use his own dinghy and do it himself. Went back to my boat and applied some Bactine (the main element of my First Aid kit). Saw Don pump up his dinghy and then hoist it onto the davits, without moving his anchor. Mel's friend Clark came by, and said a blue sailboat blew into Salty Sam's marina, went right down a channel between rows of slips, and "parked" itself neatly against the dock at the end of the channel. I'd seen people messing with that yesterday, but couldn't see anything that looked wrong, so I thought they were just retying lines or something. Chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 9/7/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Clouds and rain sprinkles at 7; still getting bands from tropical storm Frances. Little wind. Jumpered the genset battery in preparation for trying to start it later today. Tested new anchor light, and after some head-scratching, found a blown fuse in my test-connector was making it supply 2.8 volts instead of 12 volts. Very cloudy, breezy, threatening rain later in the morning. Launched the dinghy and swung by Don's boat. He looks like hell; turns out he had another kidney stone attack last night, and he's been sleeping most of the morning. Lent him a copy of "Good Old Boat" so he can read about repairing the gouges in his hull. As I feared, the bow tube of his dinghy was chafed in the storm and won't hold air any more. He's really depressed: boat damage, dinghy damage, kidney stone, another hurricane feared. He said "I'm not sure I have the strength to keep doing this by myself". I tried to cheer him up a bit, but it was hard. Dinghied ashore and did library, then got groceries. Tried to put connector on anchor light, but wires are too small. Opened mast access plate to see about caulking the leak at the base, but it needs to dry a little more. Dinghied over to Don after 4, and found him feeling a lot better. Lent him my pain pills again. Chatted with him for a couple of hours, telling him all the stuff that happened in the harbor while he was gone. Wanted to have grilled sausages for dinner, but couldn't get stern grill to light. May be time to buy a new one. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 9/8/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Lots of clouds and rain from 7 to 8; still getting bands from tropical storm Frances ? Wish it would clear up so I can do laundry and caulking. Today's the day they're supposed to kick us out of the harbor, but they haven't even started installing moorings on the east end, which was supposed to be done 3 weeks ahead of our end. They haven't even cleared all the boats out of the east end, much less started installing moorings. I thought they might kick us out of the west end on schedule anyway, but Mel said they wanted to do it in two stages so we had an opportunity to move onto the new moorings, moving from one end of the harbor to the other. If that's true, they won't be kicking us out any time soon, which is great. Ran genset for an hour to exercise it and charge batteries. Lots of dark clouds today. Genset output voltage only 100 volts; will have to adjust governor, I guess. And should investigate exhaust elbow to see if clogging is making it run rough, as Fred suggested. Plus it leaks oil, plus the starting battery is mostly dead, plus ... Worked on anchor light. They put such fiddly small wires on it that it's very hard to connect up. After lunch, through some rain sprinkles, picked up Don and dinghied ashore to library and supermarket. Fruit and spaghetti for dinner. 9/9/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Did a bucket of laundry at long last; first mostly-sunny day in quite a while. Dinghied ashore with Don, and went to several boatyards, looking for someone to fix his hull gouges. Everyone who does it has a 2-month backlog, from the hurricanes. Bought gas ($8). I think my outboard must have a fuel leak; I've been going through a lot of gas. Picked up the neutral-start-interlock part for my outboard ($22 !). Loaded water. Don and I have tentatively decided to head up the Caloosahatchee River tomorrow, to get some distance from hurricane Ivan. I have a bad feeling about this one; I've pressed my luck staying here through two hurricanes. Don's hoping to get into a marina, and maybe even fly out of the area; his nerves are shot. I'm going to anchor on the river somewhere. At 11: Ivan is category 5. Should be in our area on Sunday / Monday. Dinghied ashore with Don and did library and groceries. Current storm predictions have a wide variation, but the centerline of the "cone" goes right over this harbor. The center of the storm is predicted to get here Monday evening, so I think I'll leave on Saturday, not Friday. Don's panicking: he decided to take up a friend's offer and fly out to Iowa to avoid the hurricane. First he wanted to leave his boat up the river near mine, but I was unwilling to wait 5 days after the storm, in the middle of nowhere, to pick him up from shore somewhere in my dinghy. So then he bought tickets to fly out from here, so he's going to just leave his boat in the harbor ! Bad move. Dinghied ashore with Don later, loading water, and getting hit up for $3 donations to pay for water and use of the dock. Did hardware store. All the businesses ashore are putting up plywood over the windows again. Dieter has a friend who has a dock where maybe Don can leave his boat; not sure yet. Raised 20 or 30 feet of primary anchor chain and brushed and chopped barnacles off, using an old screwdriver. The two chains are twisted around each other pretty far down; I bet it happened in hurricane Charley, and that explains why I dragged a little in hurricane Frances. Long, nasty work cleaning the chain. Took a break, then started on the secondary chain. Fred and Betty came by; they had no damage in Frances, and were happy about a $2200 FEMA check they're getting for damage in Charley (genset, aircon, inverters, battery charger, anchor). After finishing the secondary chain, I had a large heap of dying barnacles on the foredeck, and washing down the deck took a while. Took a shower, had salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. Then a nasty thunderstorm washed the deck from 7:15 to 7:45, with light rain afterward. I HATE lightning ! Some struck VERY close by a couple of times. Rain was so hard that I had to button up the boat totally. 9/10/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Beautiful, sunny morning. At 8: no change in hurricane forecast. Local weatherperson says there's one good sign: Gulf water temperature was 87-88 for Charley, but will be 81-82 for Ivan. The previous hurricanes churned the waters and brought cooler water up from below. Did several buckets of laundry. I'm planning to go up the Caloosahatchee River tomorrow, hoping to anchor above the Beautiful Island RR bridge. Dinghied over to Don's boat, and found one of his anchor rodes wrapped around his keel; freed it. His mental state is pretty bad; he slept badly, worrying about everything. And he's paralyzed: he's worried about the boats near him, but won't take my suggestion to move to the less-crowded east end of the harbor. He wonders how best to anchor the boat, but won't take my suggestion to buy another anchor or at least some line (for tying off to mangroves). He doesn't know if he should wait 2 months until a local boatyard can repair his hull gouges, and doesn't seem inclined to do what I suggest: repair it himself and then have a professional fix the cosmetics afterward. He feels hamstrung because his dinghy's bow tube is deflated, but doesn't take my suggestion to buy a repair kit at West Marine and fix it himself; he'll wait a week for the local repair guy to come back into town. Ashore to load water, then back to the boat. Clouds have held off long enough to dry my laundry. Opened the mainmast access plate and caulked the hole where the wires go down through the deck; hard to see or reach anything, and I doubt it will work very well. At 1 PM: Hurricane Ivan info still unchanged. Moving 13 MPH, category 4, may hit us, may move further out into the Gulf. Keys are being evacuated, but with gasoline and hotel room shortages and some shelters damaged, and the track of the hurricane still unknown, it's unclear where those people are going to go. Fuel level 7.0 inches at engine hour 3447.2 Dinghied over to Don's, and took him ashore to library and supermarket. Hurricane prediction still very vague, but the line in the center of the prediction "cone" passes about 10 miles west of here; not good. 9/11/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Up at first light, getting the boat ready to move. Started raising anchors at 7:15, and found another 4 twists I didn't know about, which complicated things. Guy on "Southern Cross" dinghied by, I told him I was going up the river, and he told me he was thinking of going west out into the Gulf. I told him the same thing I told Don when he suggested it a couple of hurricanes ago: if the hurricane takes a left turn and hits you out there, you'll vanish without a trace. Finally got free and moving about 8:15, very sweaty. Waved good-bye to Don and Don as I left. On pins and needles as I motored out; it's been 3 months since I ran the engine at cruising speed, and my bottom is pretty fouled. But everything worked like a champ. 3 powerboats and two sailboats anchored outside the harbor, in a very exposed place. Wonder what they're doing there. Next hurdle was the Sanibel Causeway bridge. I was afraid they'd be on a restricted schedule because of the hurricane evacuation, but no problem (except 3 powerboats that appeared at the last minute). Through bridge at 9:15. 9:30: hurricane has slowed down to 8-10 MPH and turned a little westward, near Jamaica. Chugged up the Caloosahatchee River, wind-generated chop slowing me, even through the tide should be in my favor. Every time I've been on this river, it's been windy and choppy. Twice overtaken by strings of 4 or 5 big powerboats planing up the river. Overtaken by 4 shrimp boats; pulled aside to let them pass. I was afraid they'd all be going to the oxbow anchorage I was heading for, which is really the only one between the end of the wide-open river and the start of very-narrow waterway. GPS seems to be very intermittent; wonder if my antenna wire has failed. Got to the oxbow about 1:30, crept into it at about 1 knot because I wasn't sure of the depths, and found it spacious and empty. Then the fun started: I did probably the least-competent anchoring job of my life. Put two anchors down, then realized the water was too shallow and the anchors were too far apart to have both on all-chain. And I'd managed to get them twisted; took almost an hour to put them down and get them back up. Blowing 15+ knots, which didn't help. Moved and put them down again, then decided I was too close to a post, and the chains still didn't meet. A third time, and now they're a little TOO close together; more slack than I like in the lazy rode. Decided it was good enough; done at 3:50 ! The deck and cockpit and I are muddy, I'm exhausted, and my temper fled long ago. But: I made it here, no breakdowns, good anchorage, and I'm 15 miles or so inland. Tomorrow I'll move one anchor (maybe) and put out a third anchor (definitely). Then it's down to waiting. "Southern Cross" pulled in just after I finished. Took him quite a while to anchor, too, trying several spots. About 45 minutes, putting down only one anchor. Fruit and salad and ham-onion-mushroomsoup for dinner. Another sailboat came in after dark. Long, hot, buggy, sleepless night. 9/12/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in the Okeechobee Waterway just upstream of Beautiful Island, at about lat N 26.42.3 long W 81.47.2 At 9: hurricane prediction is moving west (good); will miss east coast of FL, might miss the Keys, probably will hit the Panhandle. That might mean it will pass 20-30 miles offshore here, or 35-45 miles west of me. But I'll be on the "worse" side, with the strongest winds. To my surprise, "Southern Cross" raised anchor and headed out, and headed downstream ! Maybe he's going just around the corner, or trying up the Orange River (which is just a glorified creek). Launched the dinghy. Raised and repositioned the primary anchor. I'm closer to shallow water than I thought, but the bottom is soft mud, so that doesn't worry me too much. Put out third anchor, with 15 feet of chain and 150+ feet of rope rode. Raised and repositioned it once. Dinghy and me incredibly filthy with goopy mud. Did a bucket of laundry. I'm toying with the idea of putting out a fourth anchor: I have the dinghy anchor (5 lb Danforth) and 35 lb Fisherman, lengths of chain, and 150+ feet of line. Not sure what direction I'd do, and where to cleat it, and whether it would just be another complication as the boat spins as the wind changes direction. Today is the day to do it, if I'm going to do it. As of 11: Hurricane will hit Cuba tomorrow. Some chance it won't hit Florida at all, which would be wonderful. 11:30: blowing E 20-25. Glad I went up the river yesterday instead of today; it must be rough out there ! Fuel level 6.1 inches at engine hour 3455.3 Taped and sewed the screen on the port over my berth, to try to keep the mosquitoes out. Sewed the forward hatch screen too. Caulked some splits in the pilothouse wood on the starboard side; wonder if they happened during Charley. A couple of airboats came through the anchorage, then were out on the river later. First time I've seen airboats while on my boat. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Slept well; no bugs. 9/13/2004 (Monday) At anchor in the Okeechobee Waterway just upstream of Beautiful Island. A bit headachey; slept late. At 10: Good news: the evacuation for the Keys has been cancelled, and the landfall predictions have moved further west, now saying Apalachicola to New Orleans. But the storm is category 5 again, and has widened: hurricane-force winds out to 105 miles from the center. Still only one other boat, sailboat "Morning Star", in the anchorage with me. Storm is 100 miles SE of west end of Cuba, and sounds like it will pass here Wednesday morning. Loafed most of the day, and felt totally out of energy. Took a nap in the afternoon. Then caulked a seam on the port side of the pilothouse. Also pulled the primary bilge pump up out of the bilge and took its switch mounting apart; will try a new approach. At 4: Confusing picture of the storm. It's not going to hit us, it's going to pass Cuba tonight, but it's not going to be past us until Thursday ? Maybe that's right, since it seems to be moving at 8 knots now. Still category 5, with tropical-storm-force winds reaching out 205 miles from the center. But coastal counties here are returning to normal, opening schools again and so on. I don't think I dare return to the coast yet, and the Sanibel bridge will be closed if sustained wind is 35 or higher. Couple from "Morning Star" dinghied by in the distance, and waved to me. First mate is a pretty blond wearing a very nice light yellow bikini. I need a first mate like that ! Salad and chili for dinner. 9/14/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in the Okeechobee Waterway just upstream of Beautiful Island. Totally grey day, some rain sprinkles, supposed to blow E 20-30 later. At 10: hurricane moving slowly, will hit anywhere along north coast of Gulf. Ran engine for 45 minutes to charge batteries. At 12: Ivan's landfall expected tomorrow at Pensacola. Wind strength down to 140 MPH, from 160 yesterday. At 4: I think I heard Ivan is 450 miles south of Pensacola. If it heads straight north (I think it actually has some NW in its motion) from there, it will pass 300 miles to the west of me. Tropical-storm-force winds extend out 260 miles from the center. Cut some scrap metal to make a new mounting for the primary bilge pump and its switch, and put it back into the bilge. Will test tomorrow; don't want to drain the batteries today. At 5: Will be a coastal flood watch tomorrow. I'm thinking I might be able to head back to the coast on Thursday. I'm itching to leave; it's boring here, with nothing to do but read and eat and listen to the radio, and maybe do some boat work I feel like putting off. Still only one other boat in the anchorage here, and I've seen very little traffic on the waterway. Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 9/15/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in the Okeechobee Waterway just upstream of Beautiful Island. At 7: Listened to the marine weather and the FM radio, and decided to go back to Ft Myers Beach today. Hurricane is 220 miles SSE of mouth of Mississippi River. Coastal flood watch for our county has been cancelled. Might be some nasty surf as I go through the exposed stretch from Sanibel bridge to Matanzas Pass, but otherwise should be fine. Launched the dinghy, gathered in the third anchor, and found that the primary anchor was practically under the bow: my secondary must have dragged (it was taking the load all the time). Raised third and primary anchors, hoisted dinghy, started engine, raised secondary anchor, got moving about 8:30. Out of the anchorage and down the river. Stuck at the railroad bridge for 10 minutes: saw some workmen inspecting it. Finally they opened it for me; they never did respond to my radio calls. A long, boring slog down the river. Through the Sanibel bridge at 1:30, and I'm sure the bridge-tender was pulling his hair out because I kept the bridge open so long. I was slightly late, he opened on time, and the tidal current and wind slowed me down to 2-3 knots. On the other side, conditions were as rough as I feared, pitching and rolling the boat strongly. Lots of loose things flung onto the cabin sole down below. Finally made it into the harbor, and anchored about 3 PM in the same spot I left from. Everything looks the same, and "Southern Cross" is back where she was too. So, the net result of my "hurricane avoidance" adventure: three boring days spent in the middle of nowhere, a bunch of diesel burned, and a very dirty deck. After a rest, dinghied ashore and did library. On the way back, stopped and chatted with Richard. He's about to haul out his boat to re-attach the toerail damaged in Charley, paint the bottom, and do several other things. He says the nearby fishing boat (which is sunk) has been raised and sunk several times now, and the owners have been fined $50k for fuel spills. He thought Don's boat had dragged into Karen's in Frances; I told him it was the other way around. Spaghetti for dinner. 9/16/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Did a bucket of laundry. Cleaned around the engine fuel injectors and loosened and tightened all of their mounting bolts, in preparation for removing them and sending them out for servicing. Launched dinghy and repositioned primary anchor, because I was swinging slightly close to Don number two. Stowed third anchor and its chain. Cleaned top layer of dirt off dinghy tubes. After lunch, dinghied ashore, did library and groceries. Talked to the guy from "Southern Cross", and asked him why he left the hurricane anchorage after one night. Turns out he had a slip reservation in the marina, but didn't even go there: he came right back down here. He heard the first inklings that the hurricane was turning west to miss us, and made a very quick decision. Re-inked registration numbers on dinghy. Salad and fruit and peanut-butter crackers for dinner. Investigated fuel leak inside outboard, and quickly found a broken hose spitting fuel underneath the carburetor. It doesn't attach to the carburetor, and I had to read the service manual carefully to find out it's part of the "fuel bleed / recirculation system"; never heard of such a thing. So I need a new little hose. 9/17/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Removed fuel injectors from engine. Tough job: had to hammer and pry to get them loose. The tips are all very bad, all covered with carbon, and the holes have lots of carbon and rust in them; did my best to clean the holes without letting anything fall into the cylinders. Took a couple of hours of sweaty labor to get them out. Mel left the harbor about 10:15, headed north. But before he left, he told me his engine is still overheating. Dinghied ashore, loaded water, sent out fuel injectors ($11), went to hardware store, bought fuel hose ($1) for outboard. After lunch, dinghied ashore and did library. Took carburetor off outboard motor and examined the "fuel bleed / recirculation" hoses. There are two, and both are completely sheared off. The hose I bought at the hardware store is exactly the right size, except for being the wrong inside diameter, wrong outside diameter, and too short. Managed to cut the existing hoses a little shorter and fasten them on, mostly fixing the problem. But one still leaks slightly, and both need to be replaced. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 9/18/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Listened to Car Talk on NPR, then dinghied ashore and did library. Tested the primary bilge pump, and the #&^%&^$ thing STILL doesn't work ! Will have to haul it up out of the bilge again. Probably time to buy a new one. In the afternoon, dinghied over and chatted with Don number two. He said Richard got an $11k check from FEMA for hurricane damage to his boat ! He had the damaged toerail, hull/deck joint split open, lots of water inside the boat (ruining all the upholstery and such), a damaged jib sail. Still seems a very high amount for a boat that probably is worth $30k total (actually less, because he has an Atomic 4 engine that doesn't work well). Guess I should have left my sails up for hurricane Charley: I need new sails. Dinghied ashore, loaded water, walked on the beach. Some pretty women, but no thong bikinis. Beach has lost a lot of sand from the storms, and looked very bad today because it's a very high tide. Went to hardware store briefly. Fruit and salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Listened to Prairie Home Companion on NPR. (That's my usual Saturday routine: Car Talk in the morning, library right afterwards, then Prairie Home Companion later.) 9/19/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Installed shift interlock lever on outboard. Had to tap a tiny pin out of the side of a shaft, and it took a while to think of something equally tiny I could hammer on to tap it out: used an Allen wrench. Tried some more to get copper washer out of aft-most fuel injector hole on engine. Don't really have to get it out, since I'm planning to reuse all the washers anyway, but would be nice to be thorough. Stowed secondary anchor rode, winding it back onto reel under V-berth. When a cloud came over and rained on us, got on deck and scrubbed it a bit, getting the top layer of dirt off. Fred and Betty stopped by, to see my boat and show off their new dinghy which they got a great bargain on. Very cloudy all afternoon; batteries getting a little low, and I can't run the engine to charge them. Salad and beef-stew-and-rice for dinner. At 8 PM, dinghied ashore and picked up Don, returning from Iowa and the airport. He had a great time in Iowa, and feels refreshed. Chatted with him on his boat for a couple of hours; nice cool, breezy evening. 9/20/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Woke up with a bit of a headache. At 9, launched dinghy, picked up Don, went ashore, and Dieter took us for an excursion in his car. Drove to his storage unit, to BoatU.S., then up to Glades Boatyard up the Okeechobee Waterway above LaBelle, where Dieter has his boat stored. Started raining as we got there, and Dieter and Don got pretty wet as we took the anchor chains off his boat; he's going to have them regalvanized. Moved a lot of boxes of stuff onto his boat as the weather cleared up a bit. Hundreds of boats in the storage area, of all different makes and sizes and shapes. Would be fun to prowl around for a couple of hours, looking at everything. Saw Harry's boat Irwin 35 "Great Escape" in the work area of the boatyard, and heard that he's trading it in for a 27-foot sailboat. I'd heard that the engine on "Great Escape" was seized, but someone at the yard said he'd drifted onto rocks below Franlin Lock. Maybe both are true. Anyway, he was out doing a sea trial of his new boat, so we didn't see him. Extremely cheap lunch at a Mexican restaurant in LaBelle; best burrito I've had since leaving California. Toured the waterfront at LaBelle, then drove back to Ft Myers. Went to Walmart, and Don and I both bought TV/CD-player-AM/FM boomboxes, battery/AC/12voltDC, for $39 each ! I wasn't planning to buy one, but I couldn't resist the price. 5-inch black-and-white TV screen; we'll see how well it works. Back to the boat about 3:30, through more rain sprinkles. Dinghied ashore with Don, and did library and groceries. Fruit and peanut-butter crackers for dinner. Still headachey. Nice cool night: good sleeping. 9/21/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Breezy, totally grey day. Hard for solar panels to keep the batteries charged. Dinghied ashore and bought outboard fuel hose ($5) at NAPA Auto. Tried to pick up Don along the way, but he was sleeping late. Brought the primary bilge pump up, and the switch is dead. Forget whether I checked it before I installed it. It was a spare switch I found on board, so who knows what the provenance is ? And I think I may have wired it backwards last time; easy to do, since the connector has red and yellow wires, and it turns out red is negative. Then the pump has brown and black wires, which look almost identical in low light. Windy, very grey, rain-sprinkly day. Don't feel very motivated to do anything. After lunch, picked up Don, dinghied ashore, did library and groceries. We decided to have dinner together on his boat. Back on my boat, made brownies from mix, in a frying pan. Not very successful from a cosmetic standpoint. Then it started raining just as I was ready to go to Don's boat. Tried to wait it out, but finally gave up and dinghied over through the rain, carrying a pan full of warm brownie goo. He'd given up on me and eaten already, but had hamburgers ready for me. And the brownies turned out to be fine, eaten with a fork. Nice conversation for several hours. Evening turned very nice, clear and breezy. 9/22/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Dinghied over to Don's boat, and took him and his damaged dinghy in to be repaired. The dinghy guy looked at the damage and said "ah, you could have repaired this yourself !" Blowing hard and strong tidal current running; long slog upwind and upcurrent to get back to the boat. Picked up Don and dinghy a couple of hours later; repair cost him $80. Dinghied ashore with Don. Went to dentist to price a routine teeth-cleaning: $98 ! Did library and groceries. Salad and fruit and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 9/23/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Turning clear and hot, after the nice cool weather we've had for several days (from hurricane Ivan, supposedly). Put new fuel bleed hoses on outboard motor, and it went very easily. I was expecting a struggle, since the new hoses are much thicker than the old ones. Don rowed over, his newly-repaired dinghy fine but out of gas, and I took him off to the marina to buy gas. Turns out he had more kidney stone pain last night. After lunch, we dinghied ashore and drove Dieter to the airport, in his car. On the way back, stopped at a dentist ($82 for cleaning) and West Marine (ordered new bilge pump switch). Then did library. Salad and fruit and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 9/24/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Hurricane Jeanne is approaching the SE coast of FL; we may feel effects here late Sunday. I still have sails down and decks clear from previous hurricanes, so the most I'd have to do is put out a third anchor. Did a small bucket of laundry. Started replacing primary bilge pump wire; the insulation is brittle and breaks anywhere it is flexed. Also started working on better TV antenna. Got to the tough part of the bilge pump wire: working on electrical panel and dropping screw down behind batteries when I tried to attach three ground wires to one screw. Then Don appeared, with his outboard still not working, and told me one of his anchor rodes has chafed through. So after getting the electrical panel back to semi-sanity, launched my dinghy and Don and I spent a couple of hours dragging for his missing anchor and chain. Snagged Karen's anchor, and moved it further away. Then snagged a Danforth 55+ with chain and rope (weird pod-things growing on the rope). Don put the rope and chain on his boat, and wants to store the anchor on my boat until he can trade it for smaller anchors, but I don't think I want to store it aboard. Dropped Don off ashore so he could buy outboard fuel hose at NAPA. Back to boat to hang up laundry, grab lunch, do some more work. New TV antenna doesn't improve reception. Ashore again to pick up Don. The marine shop gave him a small length of fuel hose for free, and we ran into Fred and they agreed to trade the 55-lb anchor for two 25's. Don is delighted. I'm glad I won't have to store the big anchor. Back to boat, and I finished off the bilge pump wiring. Saw Don motoring around in his dinghy, so he got his fuel hose in and motor working. Dark-hulled sailboat nearby raised anchor and went for a sail. Hope he doesn't come back: he was anchored a little close, on one anchor, with a hurricane possibly in the area. Fred came by and did the anchor-swap, so my dinghy is freed up, and Don got a Danforth 20 and a Danforth 30. Dinghied ashore and did library. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Looks like hurricane Jeanne is going to side-swipe us, passing within 40-80 miles. Should start getting rainy and windy tomorrow night. 9/25/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Hurricane Jeanne approaching east coast; probably going to make landfall near West Palm Beach after midnight tonight. If it doesn't make the predicted right turn, it could come close to us. Even if it does turn, we'll get plenty of wind from it. Will be category 3, maybe even 4. Looks like same path as Frances, but stronger. Put out my third anchor, to the E. Dinghied ashore with Don and did library and groceries. 11 AM prediction is that we'll be 50-60 miles from center of Jeanne, but could be less if it doesn't turn north. Called my Mom, who's back from a trip to Prague and Budapest. Suggested that Don put out a third anchor, and he doesn't want to. He feels more anchor rodes mean more chances for some other boat to drag across one and snag you. I said I'd put a buoy on the line and let it loose if that happened. He said he didn't have a shackle, and I said we could go to the hardware store and buy one. Then he got ticked off at me and I let the subject drop. We had the same discussion before the last couple of hurricanes. I'd put out a fourth anchor if I had one that would do much good. And yesterday he was complaining that he hadn't gotten his second anchor quite where he wanted it, but then he didn't go out in the dinghy to move it. Blowing 20-25+ after lunch. Clouded over, and I can't run my engine to charge batteries, so I'm going to conserve power from now on, running only refrigerator and radio. 3 PM: Blowing NW 25-35. Saw Don number two put out a third anchor: a sign of the Apocalypse. Removed old TV from its mounting; time to throw it out. 4 PM: Landafall to be West Palm Beach to Melbourne around midnight; expected to strengthen to category 4; some drift to N, but mainly W at 14 MPH; hurricane-force winds to 70 miles from center, and we'll be about 70 miles away. Lots of dark clouds and rain sprinkles here. Added water to the batteries. 6:15 PM: Clark dinghied by, and said he got Mel on "Manana" to north of St Pete okay; took them 47 hours at average speed of 1.8 knots ! Of course, now the hurricane is heading for him. 7 PM: Wind forecast NW for next 1.5 days; I have only one anchor (CQR 45) in that direction, and "Southern Cross" is directly behind when I point NW. Worrisome. 10:30 PM: Someone (maybe Kirt) in a hard dinghy drifted past, having problems with the motor. Got it started, and had a tough time motoring upwind, bow slewing wildly from side to side as waves and then wind caught it. Midnight: landfall occurred at Ft Pierce, just about where Frances landed. Blowing NW 30-50+ here. 9/26/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. 2 AM: Radio says landfall was at Stuart, 20 miles N of Ft Pierce. Wind here W 30-50+, which is good for me: I'm hanging equally on my two best anchors (CQR 45 and Danforth 43, each on 100 feet of 3/8" BBB chain), and no one is directly ahead of or behind me. 4 AM: Blowing 30-60. I'm catching sleep in 15-45 minute chunks, occasionally reading or listening to radio. Often checking position, looking to see if anyone is dragging near me. Still very little rain, just occasional brief squalls. 7:15 AM: Dawn. Blowing W 30-55, totally grey, some rain. Small sailboat that was near marina has blown down to the east. Captain Mike is gone, but he probably moved before the storm. Something small is sunk past canal to supermarket. No other damage seen anywhere. Still have the leak down the mainmast compression post. 9 AM: Storm in center of state, with winds coast to coast; heading just N of Tampa. Blowing W 30-55 here. 11 AM: Storm moving 12 MPH toward Tampa. 2 PM: Blowing W 25-35, but huge storm tide ebb current, so we're pointing S and being rocked by swells and wind. A bit worried that my third anchor rode might foul on my propeller or rudder. 2:30 PM: Actual sunlight for a few minutes ! Soon more, through gaps in the clouds. Solar panels putting out 12-14 amps at times ! 2:50: Guy going upwind in inflatable dinghy, into 35 knots or so; almost airborne a few times. 5 PM: Storm strength down to 70 MPH. Flooding locally. Small gaps of blue and sunlight, but still grey and very gusty. Wind against current, so rain driving up from astern, forcing me to close all hatches and stay inside, which is hot and humid. 8 PM: Wind suddenly eased greatly, to normal levels. Small squalls all night, mostly of misty rain and light wind, but occasionally harder. So, hurricane Jeanne missed us by 70 miles or more, giving us a day and a half of winds up to 60 knots, and really not much rain. Almost no damage in the harbor. 9/27/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. 7 AM: Mostly cloudy, plenty of rain showers, occasional wind, but mostly normal. Dinghied ashore about 8:30. Peeked at the beach, which is tiny at a very high tide, with rough surf pounding it. Fuel injectors still haven't arrived at postal shop; will have to trace them. On way back, chatted with Don and Don. Skies clearing and becoming a very sunny day. Raised my third anchor. Delicious to open all the hatches and ports and let the sunshine and air in. Dinghied ashore with Don and did library. Back to his boat, and chatted with him for several hours. Got an email response from the fuel-injector people. The good news is the price tag will be less than I expected: about $200 for new nozzles, clean and adjust, and shipping. The bad news is they haven't done them yet ! I guess they were waiting for me to contact them, which is bogus. I think they boast 3-day turnaround on their web site, but it's going to be 2-week service for me. Fruit and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 9/28/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Headache all morning. Took a nap from 11 to 12 and felt a bit better. Climbed down underneath the dinghy, onto the swim platform, and checked the outboard gear oil again. It's totally milky: the new drain-plug seals didn't fix the problem. Looked in the service manual, and there's no way I can disassemble or remove the entire lower unit while the dinghy is in the water; it's just too big a job. And I can't lift the 112-pound motor up onto deck. So it's going to have to be a service shop ashore. Added more caulk to place inside bottom of mainmast where wires go through the deck, trying to stop the leak. Also drilled the drain-hole a couple of sizes bigger. Dinghied ashore with Don and did the library. Back to his boat, and chatted for several hours over a drink. He's planning to put his boat on the hard for a couple of months and go stay with this woman he stayed with in Iowa; they're going to see how serious their relationship will get. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Warm and totally still night. Couldn't sleep at all until after midnight. Lots of dolphins feeding. 9/29/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Warm and totally still morning. Climbed the mainmast, and installed the new anchor light. Was up there a long time, more than 45 minutes, and got everything done. Clipped the old connectors off the wires, stripped the ends, used the voltmeter to figure out which was positive, screwed the new connector on, sealed it with liquid electrical tape, bolted the light fixture on, and installed a bent wire clotheshanger to keep birds off. Light breeze by the time I was done, but a very tiring and sweaty job. Dinghied ashore and left the dinghy at the service shop to fix the outboard. Probably going to be a $300 bill; their labor rate is $80/hour, and I'm going to have them do the water pump and grease the sticky tilt-axle as well as whatever it takes to fix the seawater-into-gear-oil problem. Wondered if it's worth putting $300 into a 10-year-old 20 HP motor worth about $700, but a new long-shaft 9.9 HP would cost me $2200 (including tax, at West Marine). And this motor is in good shape; it could go another 10 years. And I just put $60 of other parts into it. Don came ashore, we walked to a convenience store, then he ferried me back to my boat. After lunch, we dinghied ashore to hardware store and shipping store. Bought screws and replaced rusting screws on outside of pilothouse with stainless steel screws. Worked on TV antenna. Made a wire loop at end of coax, and eventually got a few more stations, with bad picture but acceptable sound. No programs worth watching, of course. Glued TV onto mounting board. Salad and chili for dinner. Feels weird to be sitting aboard with no dinghy, and a non-working engine. 9/30/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Stowed third anchor and its rode; foredeck clear. That usually means it's time for another hurricane. Don picked me up and we dinghied ashore to hardware store and shipping store. Then over to outboard service place. They found corroded seals and bearings in the shaft coming up from the gearbox, and had to use heat to get some parts out. They've ordered parts, but labor costs will be high. May turn into a $400 job. Had soda/food in Bonita Bill's, then dinghied back to the shipping store. Back to boat. Replaced solar cable mounting screws with stainless steel screws. Mounted new TV onto swiveling mount, and the old power cord fits the new TV. Started disassembling the stern grill. Eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 10/1/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Did a bucket of laundry. Took the stern grill apart completely, and ran some penetrating oil through the regulator and blew through it. Tested it, and propane comes through it. Put it all back together. In afternoon, Don came by, picked me up and we went ashore to library and supermarket. Fuel-injector service has charged $190 to my credit card; less than I expected. Back to boat briefly, then ashore to postal store. Fuel injectors haven't arrived yet. Aft head isn't pumping properly; maybe the intake is clogged with barnacles. Tried to light the stern grill for dinner, and no-go. Will try again when it's less windy. Or maybe I'll have to take it apart again. Salad and ham-onion-mushroomsoup for dinner. 10/2/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Slept late and loafed all morning. Caulked around the outside edges of the pilothouse windows: there have been a few leaks. Really should dig out all the old caulk first, but that would be a big job, and also I don't have that much of the caulk on board, so I just touched up over it. Briefly messed with GPS; it's acting as if antenna is dead. Loafed most of the afternoon. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 10/3/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Loafed most of the day. Frustrating, not having a dinghy. In the afternoon, Don picked me up and we went ashore, since he had a hankering for McDonald's. But he didn't want to walk on the beach, so we just walked on the main road. Tested the GPS some more and tried to take it's antenna apart, but it doesn't seem to come apart. Not sure how to test it, or the cable, which doesn't detach from the antenna. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 10/4/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Loafing much of the day again. Took stern grill apart, tested it piece-by-piece, and decided the regulator is shot. No way to disassemble it that I can see. Looked for spare regulator, and found the old engine fuel injector nozzles I couldn't find a month ago. Found spare regulator, and it looks old. Has no knob, but it seems to work, so I installed it. Saw Don raise one anchor, and now his boat is sailing back and forth at anchor. Don came by, and dropped me off ashore. Walked to the library. Ordered blank flags ($59 for 13). Sent mail to GPS people. No response from fuel-injector people. Walked to shipping store, and fuel injectors have not arrived. Salad and PBJ sandwiches for dinner. 10/5/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Up at 7:15 and closed up my boat. Don picked me up about 7:30 and took me to his boat. We raised anchor and got to the fuel dock around 8. Loaded some diesel, then motored out of the harbor. Don and I are taking his boat "First Born" up to Glades Boatyard, to store it for 3 months while he flies off to stay with his friend Susan in Iowa. When he comes back, he'll have the yard fix the gouged fiberglass on the port side of his boat while he fixes the torn-off rubrail. Should make it to LaBelle today, then the yard tomorrow noon. Through the Sanibel Causeway bridge at 9:30, then motored, motored, motored up the river. Past Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Beautiful Island, Franklin Lock, Alva and up to LaBelle, arriving about 6:30. Saw many very expensive houses, including one with two Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari in the garage. A long day of tedious motoring and hand-steering (he has an autopilot somewhere, but removed it a while ago), but things are going well. Some yahoos water-skiing and making huge wakes in the river at LaBelle, even water-skiing at full speed right through the main bridge span, which must drive the bridge-tender wild. A fisherman launched his boat and also went full-speed through the main bridge span. We dinghied ashore at about 7:15 and walked to a small Mexican restaurant to have burritos for dinner. Very still night, and a little warm, so not the best sleeping. But it was okay. 10/6/2004 (Wednesday) My boat is at anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach, but I'm on Don's boat up the Okeechobee Waterway at LaBelle. Got started a little late, on our expected easy 3-hour motor up to Glade Boatyard. Moving at about 9:45, heading for the LaBelle bridge. Immediately ran into a serious problem: as soon as Don throttled up to head for the bridge, there was a big knocking and vibration from the propeller area, and the boat didn't move too well. Got through the bridge slowly, with apologies to the bridge tender. Then tried cycling between forward and reverse several times, to see if maybe the folding 2-blade prop had a blade stuck closed, or something jammed in the hinge. No improvement. Looked down in the bilge at the shaft and cutless bearing, to make sure everything looked good and water wasn't pouring in: looks fine. So we anchored and Don snorkeled under the boat to investigate. Water was black and cool. As I feared, we've lost one blade off our two-blade prop. Don didn't know such a thing could happen. So now we have a problem. We'd expected an easy 3-hour motor up to the boatyard, haul-out about 1 PM, boat into storage and then meet Fred to drive Don to hotel and me back to my boat. Don's flight out to Iowa is 7 AM tomorrow morning. Now we'll be lucky to get to the yard today. Fortunately, Don and Fred have cell-phones, so Don was in touch with Fred and the boatyard all day. I've always been down on cell-phones: when I had a cell-phone, it sucked up my money. But today, Don's cell-phone is worth it's weight in gold. We slowly motor up the river, able to make about 3 knots over water, against current of .7 to .8 knots. We have about 14 miles to the yard, through a lock and an opening bridge. Lots of knocking and vibration from the prop; we're probably damaging the cutless bearing; hope we're not damaging the transmission. We have lots of time to chew over all the options and dwell on how slowly we're going and worry about what else could go wrong: the world is going by VERY slowly. We think about pulling over into the only available marina, retreating back to LaBelle, putting on the spare prop (but Don's never taken the existing one off, and the water is opaque), pushing with the dinghy (but it's a 3.3 HP with a limited gasoline supply, and we'd lose 30 minutes launching and hoisting it), raising sail (but the wind is on the nose and the waterway is very narrow), etc. Bad news as we get further up the river: the current is increasing, and so is the headwind. Everything is conspiring against us. Often we're slowed down to less than 2 knots over ground, meaning we won't get to the yard until 7 or 8 PM. And we keep getting bad news from the boatyard: Don has to sign a contract and have his credit card run, has to be there in person to do it, and the office closes at 4:30. Later they say he has to be there in person when they haul out his boat, which couldn't happen until tomorrow morning, but his non-refundable plane tickets are for tomorrow at 7 AM. Don is totally stressed out, despairing, weak from not eating. We're trying to get out of the current by hugging the banks, but it's dangerous because we don't have a working depth-sounder. We touch briefly twice, and then go hard aground once a mile or so downstream from Ortona Lock. For a couple of anxious minutes we power forward and back, shifting our weight, getting a little movement. Finally the boat is worked free. We get within sight of Ortona Lock, and there's white water in the river ! They're drawing down water levels in Lake Okeechobee, which is full from all the hurricanes, and the draw-down is going to keep going for several more weeks. We call the lock tender, and he can't tell us how strong the current is, just flow in thousands of gallons per minute. It's our judgement call to decide if our boat can make it up into the lock. We go for it, and it's scary. The water is churning, we're making about 1/2 knot over ground, and the eddies start shoving the boat around, sometimes threatening to push us into the rocky bank. We have to hug the bank closely to avoid the main current, but that puts us in a curve with more rocky stuff behind us. Who knows if the other blade will decide to fall off the prop ? Then the current would push us onto the rocks before we could get the anchor down. We finally make it into the lock. Then the lock-tender starts flooding the chamber quickly, and we have a tough job holding the boat in place. The current rocks it back and forth as we strain to keep it from grinding against the concrete walls, while taking in lines as we rise. But we make it undamaged, although with tempers frayed a bit, and motor on upstream. Dark clouds, headwinds over 20 knots, and occasional rain harass us as we slowly, painfully make progress up the river. After a lot of pleading, the office manager at the boatyard agrees to keep the office open until we get there. We keep refining our estimates of when we'll arrive, but the guide and the yard disagree about how far it is from the lock to the yard. Is it 3 miles or 5 miles ? Finally, we cheer as the boatyard comes into sight, and we make it to the dock at 4:31 ! Fred and Bruce and several lift-workers greet us and we tell them what a struggle it was as we secure lines, then Don runs to the office and signs his life away. We take down the bimini, then Don clears the interior to ready the boat for several months of hard storage, producing several bags of garbage, and a couple of pieces of luggage. Lots of things to clear on deck and in the cockpit, then we leave, wondering if we've forgotten anything. Not good, having to rush and leave the boat for unattended hauling and then storage, but it can't be helped. And Don just wants off this boat right now: he's sick of it for a while. We stuff ourselves uncomfortably into Fred's pickup truck, and do the long drive down to Ft Myers. Get gasoline, drop Don and luggage at hotel, to Home Depot (bought spray-paint for $4), then home to the harbor. On the way down, Fred told us the story of what happened to Harry on "Great Escape". As we knew, he left Fort Myers Beach in mid-August in his Irwin 37 with only 5 PSI of oil pressure on the engine (he'd had the engine rebuilt, maybe on the cheap, the year before, and not run it much since then). He stopped briefly in Fort Myers, and some fool towing company was offering an unlimited towing contract for $25, so he bought it (he told me once that he had a towing contract cancelled because he used it so much). He motored up to just below Franklin Lock, and then the engine seized, and he anchored. A day or two later, hurricane Charley came, coming within 15 miles or so. His boat dragged onto rocks, destroying the rudder and much of the rudder skeg, holing the hull or maybe just ruining the stern tube and shaft. Water flooded in, flooding the engine and half-filling the aft cabin. Over the next day or two, he stopped the leak and pumped out much of the water. Then he got towed up the river to the boatyard. The yard wouldn't let him in without a $1500 deposit, which he didn't have. Then he did a deal with someone in the yard to trade his Irwin 37 for a 30-foot sailboat with a new Yanmar engine, new bottom, new sails (I think), etc. I'm amazed; what a trade ! The guy paid the $1500 deposit for Harry, the yard hauled "Great Escape", and eventually they splashed the other boat and did the deal. Harry got some money from FEMA and paid back the deposit and yard charges, with some left over. Last week, he continued east in his new boat, heading for his daughter's place in North Carolina. Whew ! Got back to the harbor, and it's good to be back. Argh: my dinghy is still in the service yard with no lower unit on the outboard ! Thought it would be done by now. Now I'm going to be stuck out on my boat again, but with one fewer friend nearby to help me. Fred dropped Bruce at his boat and then me at my boat. Harbor is rough and the ride is wet. Back onto my boat about 7:15; everything is fine. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. In the middle of the night, occured to me that I should have told Don to check the bilge and cutless bearing before we left the yard, to make sure his boat wasn't slowly sinking at the dock overnight. I also wonder about the battery switch: he left it with solar keeping the battery charged, but I wonder if it's charging both batteries or just one. Oh, well. 10/7/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. About 9:30, tried to flag down Fred as he dinghied by, to geta lift to shore, but he was motoring next to another dinghy, they were both yakking and trying to pass a towline across, and they didn't see or hear me. After some back-and-forth, finally got through to the outboard service place on the radio, and they're still waiting for a part to come in; the motor might not be done until Tuesday ! A whole week more than their first estimate. Sucks. A boring day; it's blowing 15-25, so not much dinghy traffic, and I'm stuck aboard. I'm keep a watch to see if Don number two gets in his dinghy, so I can try to get a lift. But he's only poked his head up once all day, by 2:30. Fred came by at 2:45, heading back out to his boat. He said he talked to the shop my outboard is in, and they say the part should arrive tomorrow morning, and they hope to have the motor done tomorrow afternoon. That would be great, but I'll have to arrange a ride in late tomorrow. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Nice, cool night; added a blanket to my bed. Hope the slightly cooler weather is signalling the end of hurricane season. 10/8/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Tried to get Don number two's attention a few times, each time he popped his head up out of his boat. But finally he flashed a mirror to get MY attention, and called over to ask if I wanted to go ashore. He picked me up and took me ashore, as I told him what happened on the trip upriver with Don, and also about Harry and his boat trade. Good stories are like currency; I was glad to be able to entertain him. Still blowing hard today; thought it was supposed to be calmer. Yes ! Fuel injectors arrived at the postal store yesterday, and I picked them up. Walked to library and did internet and newspaper. Got a couple of groceries, walked back to dock, and Don came right over and ferried me back to my boat. Success ! After lunch, starting putting the fuel injectors in. Worried that dirt is in the high-pressure fuel line connectors. Then realized I left the little copper "banjo" washers for the fuel return lines on the injectors when I sent them off, and they weren't returned. So I can't put the return lines on. About 2:30, called outboard shop on radio, and the motor is done. Don gave me a ride ashore, after someone came by and accused him of stealing their boat bimini (he's had that scrap of canvas forever; they're loony). As I expected, the bill for the motor work is $331. Parts about $100, the rest is labor, and they say they really put another 1.5 hours of labor into it, but gave me a break; that would have brought the total to $450. The interior of the case around some weird sleeve (around the main bearing of the vertical drive shaft) was badly corroded and eaten into, and they had to spend a lot of time drilling and hammering and heating to get the sleeve out, then repair the corrosion with JB Weld. I have the remains of the sleeve; it's a weird thick anodized-aluminum thing with a bearing stuck inside it, all torn up on one end where they had to tear it to chunks to get it out. Amazing that a replacement part cost only $15 or so. They did a water-pump rebuild too; that kit was $65. Asked at outboard place, then walked to NAPA, GC Marine, and Olsen's looking for copper washers, but no luck. Tons of traffic, backed up over the bridge, and was very busy on the island this morning too. The snowbirds must be returning. Back to boat, stopping for a long chat with Don, and to show him the old outboard sleeve part. Dolphins mating in the water, churning up lots of white water. Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 10/9/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Did a small bucket of laundry. Dinghied ashore, got water, looked in hardware store for copper washers. Back to boat to listen to Car Talk. Dinghied ashore again. Did library, and ordered charts and guides for Caribbean trip: - Maptech PR+VI chartkit for $67 - Pavlidis PR guide and Scott VI guide for $55 - Lethbridge Jamaica guide and Rauscher Belize etc for $79 Called diesel place but they're closed for weekend. Got groceries. After lunch, dinghied ashore AGAIN and caught trolley to Summerlin Square. Bought bilge pump switch ($25), fuel filter/funnel ($20), groceries. Loaded water on the way back. Salad and chili-sandwiches and rum-and-Diet-Coke for dinner. 10/10/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Totally grey, damp morning. Guy from "Southern Cross" stopped by for a brief chat, and happened to mention Fantasy Fest in Key West is coming up. Suddenly occured to me that I should go there for the festival. I'd have to leave here in a week or so. Dinghied ashore in the afternoon. Got water, bought gasoline ($6), and had a nice walk on the beach. Surprisingly well-populated for a grey day, and saw one thong bikini. Mounted new switch on primary bilge pump and did all the wiring. Took fuel lines off a couple of injectors and cleaned out the connectors; I'd been worried I got dirt into them when I installed them. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 10/11/2004 (Monday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Totally cloudy and damp again. Have a bit of a headache. Dinghied ashore early and tried to find any marine shop that could order the fuel injector washers for me, and struck out. Very frustrating: no one has them, payphone took my money, harbor is rough, running low on gasoline. Back to boat for gasoline and various things I forgot, then ashore again to other side of harbor. Called a diesel place, and the guy has the washers and will mail them today; should have them Wednesday ! Called my mom and talked to her; she's doing fine. On the way back to the boat, was hailed by Paul and Mary on Gemini 105 catamaran "AngelHeart". We chatted for a while; I gave them lots of local knowledge. They fled hurricane Frances, coming from the Abacoes and up the St Lucie and down the Caloosahatchee to stay here. They ended up in the Moss Marine marina, and had hard work to keep the dock from chewing the side of their boat in the waves. They had 8 fenders out along the dock, but the waves kept popping the fenders up above the dock. Today is the day when the east mooring field installation was supposed to start, but I don't see anything happening. Started raining fairly steadily about 11:30. Rained most of the afternoon. Dinghied ashore, did library and groceries. Batteries very low (12.25 under load) and can't run the engine. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Rained most of the night, off and on. 10/12/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Sunny day; solar panels charging batteries well, and a chance to dry everything after all the damp and rain. Launched the dinghy and spun the boat a couple of times to untwist the anchor rodes. But did it too late: current too strong to get all twists out. Did a bucket of laundry. Put the sails back up; that'll probably bring another hurricane. Good to have the cabin sole clear again; walking around below was awkward. Lubricated one part of all the roller-furling drums. Dinghied ashore, got water, and checked for arrival of copper washers. Put the primary bilge pump back into the bilge, and it sort of works. Sometimes it doesn't shut off; I'll have to remount the switch a little higher. After lunch, dinghied ashore and did library. Pretty amazing: the solar panels are just pouring energy into the batteries: a steady 10 amps or so much of the day. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 10/13/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Lubricated the roller-furling drums, then unfurled and refurled the sails, to make sure all was well after taking them down for hurricanes. Had to adjust jib furling line and a block on the main outhaul. Put down the swim platform and checked the outboard's gear oil; looks good ! Cut, drilled and painted a small piece of wood for the primary bilge pump switch. Drifted through the anchorage in my dinghy with a grappel dragging the bottom, to see if I can find any abandoned anchors. I know Don abandoned one, and Don number two said someone else left two new anchors also. But I didn't find anything. Saw Sheriff's boat coming through again, with a couple of official-type people aboard; third day in a row I've seen them. Fred says they're "staking out" the new east mooring field. Later saw a "PumpOut USA" boat in the west end; Fred says that's the mooring field contractor's boat. So they're getting started on the mooring field. Yes ! Dinghied ashore to postal store, got my fuel line washers, back to boat, installed them, inspected engine to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything, and cranked it. Some anxious minutes, as it didn't fire up. Bled fuel system past fuel filter. Took another several cranks before it finally fired up; guess I should have bled it all the way to the injectors. But it fired up, and ran fine ! Ran it for 30 minutes to exercise it. Doesn't really sound any better than it used to, but now the injectors should be good for another 8 years. Dinghied ashore, did library and groceries. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Running out of daylight these days: gets light at 7:30 and dark at 7. 10/14/2004 (Thursday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Fuel level 4.6 inches at engine hour 3463.5 Assembled primary bilge pump switch and tested the pump; works okay but seems to draw slowly; maybe there's a clog. Ran engine for 30 minutes to exercise it. Aha ! Found dangling wire from one of the sensors on the engine block; bet that explains the low-oil buzzer not working. While engine was running, shorted out other sensors one at a time, to figure out which gauges they went to. Saw a jellyfish floating by; must be the first of the season. Figures it would appear on the day I plan to snorkel under the boat and clean the prop. Dinghied ashore and did library. After lunch, snorkeled under the boat for almost two and a half hours, scraping the prop and rudder and much of the hull. Incredibly thick growths of barnacles on the hull. A long, tough job. Small work-barge in the harbor driving pilings everywhere ! Guess they're putting up signs marking the edge of the so-called "seagrass area". The posts they're putting in are full dock-piling size. Some are close to anchored boats; I'm glad they didn't put one near me. [Saw later: they have signs saying "Caution: Shallow Shoal".] Dinghied ashore and loaded water, mainly to wash off the dive gear. Dinghied ashore, taking bike, and set the bike up in the road and lubricated and cleaned it. Lots of rust. Suddenly occured to me that my through-hull intakes probably are clogged with barnacles. I cleaned barnacles out of the through-hulls at the waterline, but couldn't even find the intakes (further underneath the curve of the hull) to clean them. Bet that explains the primary bilge pump not drawing well, the engine being slow to cool off, and the aft head not pumping well. But I don't have the heart to snorkel under the boat again any time soon. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Warm, still night; hard to sleep. 10/15/2004 (Friday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Dinghied ashore and took the trolley to Summerlin Square to get groceries. Crackers and cereal and snacks are much cheaper there than at the beach supermarket, so it's worth a trolley trip to stock up. Bought gasoline for dinghy ($16 at $2.25/gallon for mid-grade). Chatted with Don and borrowed a couple of hull-scrapers from. Doesn't look like he's used them on his own hull any time recently ! Tested the primary bilge pump, and sure enough, it works fine now that I've cleaned the outlet through-hull. Dinghied ashore after lunch, did library, got groceries. Checked diesel price at Ballard's on the way in: $1.769/gallon, but they're closed tomorrow. So I'll pay $1.819 at FMBMarina. Blowing hard and very choppy when I got back to the harbor: strong winds after the front came through this morning. Floated around the boat, leaning over the side of the dinghy and scraping the hull with scrapers I borrowed from Don. Hard work in rough weather, but I got some more fields of barnacles off. Still should snorkel under and clean through-hulls. Returned the scrapers to Don, and chatted with him for a while, then said good-bye. Went to Richard's boat and chatted with him and said good-bye. He's jealous that I'm going to the Keys; he's wanted to get out of here for a while, but things keep conspiring against him. He's helping Abner gut and rebuild Abner's steel-hulled sailboat. And I didn't realize Richard had a new engine in storage ashore, waiting until he can put it in. His boat has an Atomic 4 in bad shape, so bought a Yanmar 3-cylinder diesel. He hoped to put it in during his recent haulout, but things got screwed up because he couldn't get the scaffolding he needed to work on the toerail, so they splashed him and he worked on the toerail in a slip. So he missed doing the engine. Sounds like he's had it in storage for a while. More boats coming into the harbor; annual migration must be starting. Added water to the batteries. Was the last item on my "get out of FMB" checklist. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Cool night in the aftermath of the cold front coming through, so good sleeping. 10/16/2004 (Saturday) At anchor in Matanzas Pass at Fort Myers Beach. Up at 6:45, getting boat ready to go. Started working on anchors at 7, hacking barnacles off the secondary anchor chain with a screwdriver. Hard, tedious, dirty work. Got secondary most of the way up and found a strange anchor rode lying across it. Raised the secondary, then raised the new anchor, and found myself in possession of a nice Danforth-type 30-35 and some chain and shackles ! Took a break for breakfast, then back to work. Raised and cleaned the primary chain and anchor, and got moving about 9 AM, waving to Don as I left. To the fuel dock, and loaded 61.6 gallons of diesel ($112, at $1.819/gallon). Tried using my new fuel-filter-funnel, and it works so incredibly slowly that I can't see using it except for very dubious fuel. Off the fuel dock at 9:50, and out the inlet into the Gulf. Raised the mainsail and motor-sailed. Wind is about 35 degrees off the nose. A little nervous because my primary GPS is down, and my compass hasn't been "swung", so sometimes it's off by 10-15 degrees. And the GPS would tell me how fast I'm going, so I can tell if I'm going to arrive before dark. Finally figured out what buttons to push to get the backup GPS working. Engine RPM wandering slightly. Tightened fitting on fuel injector return line; it was leaking. Think I loosened it part way, then decided I didn't need to take it off after all, then left it loose. Lumpy seas: swells from two directions. But they're small, and it's a pretty calm day. 1:30 before I finally finished stowing the secondary anchor rode, disassembling, cleaning and stowing the new anchor and its chain and shackles, then cleaning the decks and cockpit (with breaks for lunch and a few other things). Too tired to unfurl the jib and try sailing, and the wind is 5-10 almost on the nose anyway. Into Marco Island and put the anchor down at 5:30 in Factory Bay. Anchorage almost empty; one sailboat and one motorboat. Salad and sausage-onion-noodle (not very good) for dinner. Very quiet night; none of the generators and dinghies that make noise in Fort Myers Beach. 10/17/2004 (Sunday) At anchor in Factory Bay at Marco Island. Raised anchor before 9 and motored out. Raised all sails and turned engine off about 9:45. Doing about 2.5 knots in 5-7 knots of wind on a beam reach. 11 AM: Doing 1.5-1.8 knots in 4-7 knots of wind. Noon: Doing 1.5 knots in 3-5 knots of wind. Actually, speed varying 1.5-2.5 as wind varies. 1 PM: Doing 2.5 knots in 5-7 knots of wind. Was doing over 3 knots for a while. 2 PM: Doing 2.6 knots in 5-8 knots of wind. Around 2:30, the wind went to 1-2 knots and variable direction; sat listening to the sails slat around as the boat slowly rolled and went nowhere. After 3, furled the jib and started then engine, and started motoring with main and mizzen still up but doing nothing. I think I had been towing a lobster pot or two: the prop sounded a little funny, so I put it in reverse for a little while, and a trap-float appeared behind the boat, spinning wildly. Did forward and reverse a few more times, and several chunks of styrofoam appeared. 6 PM: Last condo tower of Marco Island finally sank over the horizon; only water in sight in all directions. 6:30 PM: Still almost no wind at all; motoring on. 7:30 PM: Still no wind. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Ran RADAR for a while to exercise it. 8:30 PM: Something went thump on the hull, and the boat slowed down. Throttle down and went between forward and reverse a few times, then throttled up again, and speed was back to normal. Taking it easy; motoring about 4.5 knots. 9 PM: Felt some wind, raised all sails, turned off the engine, and started night-sailing. Odd to work on deck in the dark, but there's a sliver of moon and some other glow in the sky, and I could do most thing blindfolded anyway at this point. Started sailing 1.5 to 1.7 knots in 5 to 7 knots of wind. 10:45 PM: Doing 2.5 to 2.7 knots in 6 to 10 knots of wind. 11:50 PM: Doing 3.4 to 3.7 knots in 10 to 13 knots of wind. 12:30: Doing 4+ knots in 12 to 15 knots of wind. Jib sounds funny, as if it's luffing a bit, but the shape looks okay. Looks like the edges are fluttering. Wind is from the beam, which is great, but now a strong chop/swell is coming from the beam, making the trip very rolly. With sails and rudder balanced, boat is mostly sailing itself, but I'm not confident it will stay that way, so I'm checking the heading every minute or two. Sailing with nav lights and instrument lights out, since they were putting a significant load on the batteries. Probably should change wiring so I can have just the compass light on and the rest of the instrument lights off. 4:15 AM: Started engine and started motor-sailing, with auto-pilot on, so I can go below and try to get some rest. Should have taken a nap or two during the day, I guess. 10/18/2004 (Monday) In transit from Marco Island to Key West. 7:15 AM: Got up to start the new day. Still a rough chop/swell from the beam. 8 AM: Took jib and mizzen down; can see Key West northwest channel entrance buoy in the distance. FOund out why the jib sounded strange: the brake has slipped on the halyard winch and the halyard slipped down a couple of feet. So the luff wire is slack and the sail had a lot of draft in it. 8:45 AM: Passed Key West entrance buoy. Was a bit of a puzzle figuring out which of the multiple marks was the right one; there's a submerged jetty nearby, so getting it right was important. 9:15 AM: Engine surging at higher RPMs; maybe fuel filters need changing ? Horrible tidal current against me; must have arrived at precisely the worst possible time. Making only about 2 knots against tidal current and wind. And there are dark rainclouds ahead. Sun in my eyes is making it hard to see the channel markers, and they're far apart. 9:25 AM: Furled the mainsail, and found that the topping lift is broken (in a way easy to fix). Fortunately, the boom wasn't over the solar panels when I released the outhaul, so the heavy boom plopped down onto the pilothouse roof instead of onto a solar panel. Took forever to get up the channel to the harbor; making less than 2 knots over ground. Should have taken 2 hours at most; took nearly 4 hours instead. I'm tired and want to arrive, and I hate putting on all these engine hours after doing that nice sailing yesterday. Probably should have anchored and waited for the tide to change. Had a few sprinkles of rain. A 3-decker megayacht anchored west of Christmas Tree island, at the edge of all the small old boats; looks out of place. As I went through the anchored boats east of Christmas Tree island, I heard a "bang" near my propeller, a crab-trap float appeared behind me, and my boat sped up ! I'm sure I didn't run over someone's mooring float; that crab-trap float must have been lodged in or near my prop for a while. Anchor down, let engine cool off for 5 minutes, then done at 1:10 PM. Blecch ! I'm tired and sweaty and the boat has jib lying on deck, main topping lift broken, engine RPM surging, clogged through-hulls, probably stuff wrapped around the prop, some loose stuff dumped on the cabin sole inside. But I made it to Key West, and did some night-sailing and learned some things along the way. I'm a little concerned, thinking ahead to some 500-mile segments I'll have to do on my Caribbean trip. Maybe I need wind-vane auto-steering, or crew. Looked up at the masthead, and saw half a fish tangled in the wires up there ! A bird in Fort Myers Beach must have left it. One day there I found the back half of a medium-sized fish on my side deck. Cleaned up and rested a little, then put the bike in the dinghy and went ashore. Lots of empty slips, waiting for boats coming in for Fantasy Fest. Paid $48 for two weeks of dinghy dockage. Did library. Realized I can vote early here instead of having to rush up to Marathon by Election Day; Key West is in the same county as Marathon. Rained a little while I was in the library, and again in the evening. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. There's a dredging operation going on, dredging down on the old Navy docks and dumping on Fleming Key near me, so tugs and barges are passing fairly close to my boat at all hours. 10/19/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Key West. Rain at 7 AM. Got up, did a few things, then back to bed until 11 or so. Up onto top of pilothouse and cleaned bird-crap off solar panels; rain had done much of the job for me. Fixed main topping-lift; just a matter of unwinding the wire from the rest of the rigging, and tying knots in the rope part that connects it to the boom. An old block that was in the path had disintegrated, but really wasn't needed. Saw a couple of 18-inch-long sharks swimming next to the boat, then a 4-ffot shark near the dinghy dock as I went in. They must know I need to snorkel under the boat in the next day or two. Went ashore, did library, then sat on the dock and read and people-watched for a while. Raised jib, unfurled and furled it again, straightening it up. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 10/20/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Key West. Did a small bucket of laundry. Snorkeled under the boat and scraped barnacles off the hull. Prop looked fine; nothing caught on it. Unfortunately, the through-hulls weren't clogged; I'd hoped that explained the engine being slow to cool off. Scraped for about 45 minutes. No sign of sharks, but a couple of jellyfish drifted by. Nice water; visibility 10 to 20 feet. Dinghied ashore. Early-voted (for Kerry). Very nice to be able to vote anywhere in the county, not just at my home precinct in Marathon. Did library. Loaded water. Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 10/21/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Key West. Changed the engine primary fuel filters. I'm ashamed to say it's the first time I've changed them in the 3.5 years I've owned Magnolia (I have cleaned the lift pump strainer and replaced the secondary filter). I kept bleeding them and getting no water and only a little crud out, but that was misleading. The filters themselves were pretty dirty, and the first one had a big pile of black crud in the bottom of the housing. First one also had two O-rings in it. Hard to get new O-rings seated properly. Ran engine for 10 minutes to test it. Dinghied ashore, did library, and sat on the dock for a while. Looks like tourism business is down; the hurricanes scared a lot of people away. The charter-fishing boats are hurting, and hotel occupancy rates for Fantasy Fest are down. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 10/22/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Key West. Opened up the fuel lift pump and checked the fuel strainer: clean as a whistle. Ran engine for 5 minutes to test it, and also raised anchor and moved 100 feet further from the tugboat path. Dinghied ashore. Biked a couple of miles to NAPA Auto. Bought 6 gallons of engine oil ($52) and 7 engine fuel filters ($58), and got a ride back to the dinghy-dock in their truck. Did library, biked around Mallory Square a little, and got a few groceries. Grocery prices are even higher than I remembered them being; glad I stocked up in Fort Myers Beach. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 10/23/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Key West. Messed with genset a little; its voltage has been low. Stowed oil and filters. Dinghied ashore. Did library, then checked out a street fair (just a lot of food booths). Got groceries, started home, and outboard quit after 30 seconds. It's been doing that occasionally, and sometimes restarts easily. But this time it wouldn't restart, and I ran out of starting fluid a couple of days ago. Dashed to West Marine, but they don't carry starting fluid. They sold me some spray WD40 at an extortionate price, but that didn't work. Biked half a mile to the big hardware store, which fortunately was open at 5:30 on a Saturday, and bought starting fluid. Two shots of that and the motor was fine. Made it back to the boat before all my refrigerated groceries could spoil. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 10/24/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Key West. Loafed most of the day. Tried to trace the GPS antenna wire, without much luck. Dinghied ashore, took a nice bike-ride around town, then sat on the dock and read and chatted with some guy. Fruit and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 10/25/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Key West. Woke with a headache. Loafed most of the day, again. I hate that; I like to accomplish at least one maintenance-type thing each day. Dinghied ashore, did library, sat and read on the dock. Salad and peanut-butter-on-celery for dinner. Powerboat swinging close to me in the middle of the night. 10/26/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Key West. Did a bucket of laundry. Opened up the binnacle and worked on the wiring inside. Moved the compass light onto a separate switch, and lengthened some wires to tachometer. Powerboat that was too close raised anchor and moved further away. Caulked the underneath of the edge of the pilothouse roof. In extremely hard rain, I've had water coming OUT of the top port corner of the underside of the roof; trying to figure out how it could get there. Dinghied ashore. Took out spark plugs at the dinghy dock and cleaned them, but they looked okay. Outboard choked again when I was leaving; must be carb problem. Chatted briefly with couple from "Saba" next to me; they paid $2.35/gallon for diesel here yesterday. Did library, biked a little, sat and read on the dock. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Several powerboats came in at dinnertime and anchored nearby, one a bit close to me. 10/27/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Key West. Woke with a slight headache. Very breezy day. Fuel level 8.8 inches at engine hour 3488.6 Dinghied ashore. Did library, and read on the dock. Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. Saw the lunar eclipse; not very impressive. 10/28/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Key West. Very breezy day again. Straightened up unused berth in aft cabin, which has collected all the junk. This stuff (mostly books and magazines and boxes and clothes and bedding) seems to oscillate between V-berth/forward-head and aft-cabin/starboard-berth. Every month or two I dig into the pile and throw some away and clean up and organize. But more (books and magazines) keeps getting added, so it's a struggle. While I was there, did some other things in the vicinity. Exercised the aft head discharge valve (hard to get to). Confirmed holding tank is 3/4 full (I accidentally pumped a lot of laundry water into it the other day). Started cleaning the cabinet behind the berth, and ran vinegar through the holding tank vent (I think it's clogged). Saw dampness, and decided to rebed aft pulpit stanchion whose mount penetrates near there. As I expected, a nasty job; that stanchion has a weird side-mount into the toerail, and water pools there. The mounting bolt threads were mashed, the nuts are rusty, the Allen-screws holding the stanchion into the base are rusted and collapsed when I tried to remove them. The wood mounting pad is wet and moldy and split, and sticks down too far, so it prevents water from draining past. The mounting bolts rotate in place, and there's no way to get at their heads or replace them. Used screw-extractors on the Allen-screws, and dies on the mashed mounting bolt threads, but no luck with either. Dinghied ashore. Bought odds and ends at hardware store ($8). Loaded water. Did library. Got a few groceries. Back to boat. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. More boats coming in. Woman very nicely wearing a thong bikini on a nearby powerboat. 10/29/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Key West. Very breezy day again; it's been blowing NE 15-20+ for several days now. Settles a little in the afternoon and evening, but then blows again each night and morning. More boats coming in. One is a trimaran with a strange "aero foil" type of sail system: a short boom with a couple of vertical rigid foils, and the whole boom pivots in the middle. Removed another side-mounted stanchion, on the port side. Sanded the two mounting blocks I have off, to try to let water drain past them better, and keep them from getting soaked so much. Would like to replace them with StarBoard or something similar. After lunch, dinghied ashore. Loaded water. As I expected, dinghy dock so crowded that I had to wait a couple of minutes for someone to leave; could have just rafted on 3 deep, but by waiting I got a good spot. Biked over to Duval street several times; the whole street was closed for a street fair. Saw a couple of dozen half-naked women, with bare or painted breasts. Some quite pretty, and one who was about a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10. People stopped in their tracks and exclaimed in admiration when they saw her. She was wearing a thong and some paint, and was very beautiful. Saw a booth where a guy was spray-painting women's chests for free; that was a popular attraction for lots of people. Did library, and bought odds and ends at hardware store ($7), while going back to the street fair several times. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 10/30/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Key West. Work-boat came around at 9, telling various boats they had to move, because they were blocking the path for the tugs with dredge barges. Fortunately I'm in the second row on the good side of the limit. Touched up some gelcoat chips and then remounted the two side-mounted stanchions I removed. Started to remove two more side-mounted stanchions, and as I expected, most of the nuts are frozen. They're cap-nuts, and the bolt heads are hidden inside fiberglass and spinning in place, so it's going to be nearly impossible to get them off. About 2 PM, dinghied ashore. Loaded water. Surprisingly, got a spot right at the dinghy dock; guess I've come in earlier than other people. Tonight is the night of the big Fantasy Fest parade. Did library, down to Duval street for a while, back to library. Then down to Duval for the evening. Lots of very pretty women, clothed and unclothed. Crowds getting thicker and thicker as evening approached; soon it wasn't worth the hassle to try to walk down the sidewalks. Had a decent pork gyro for an exorbitant price. More and more very beautiful women wearing almost nothing, usually a small thong and some chest-paint. Parade started late, and it was a bit too dark to see well. But the floats were amusing, including a Godzilla float, a "Premature Evacuator" float (they evacuated the Keys a couple of times this hurricane season, and no hurricanes hit), and lots of floats full of people dancing and throwing beads to the crowd. Lots of good music. Lots of beautiful women. Reached my limit after seeing most of the parade on Whitehead street, but couldn't get across the second leg of it up Duval street, so had to wait another 45 minutes or so until the parade finished passing. Then people scattered everywhere, most trying to beat the traffic-jam heading out of town. Biked and walked and made it to the dinghy dock without much problem. Dinghied out through the harbor with no lights on my dinghy (stupid) to my boat that had no anchor light on (stupid). But didn't get caught by the police, and made it home okay. One step of the swim ladder cracked as I stood on it and lifted a full jug of water aboard; that swim ladder has been repaired once, and must need it again. Got to bed about 11 PM. 10/31/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Key West. Aft head toilet leaking; should take it apart. Cloudy morning. Tugboat nosing around more boats that anchored in the path it wants to use for barges. Boats starting to leave, now that Fantasy Fest is over. Messed with stanchion cap-nuts some more, but no go. Will have to fire up the generator and cut them off with the Dremel. Dinghied ashore, biked up and down Duval street, and sat reading on the dock. Got groceries. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 11/1/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Key West. Planning to leave tomorrow morning. Dinghied ashore and did library. Got rained on a bit biking and dinghying back. Brought bike back in dinghy and stowed it on deck. Added water to the batteries. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Long, rolly, warm, sleepless, headachey night. Looked at clock once, hoping it was 5 AM, and it wasn't even 11 PM yet. 11/2/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Key West. Up at 6, anchor up by 6:40. Put up the mainsail and motor-sailed out of the harbor. Conditions outside as horrible as I feared: wind on the nose, stiff chop just enough off the nose to make the boat corkscrew heavily. Making about 3.5 knots over ground, and the sail is doing nothing. But I wanted to get going up the Keys, and looks like it may blow from the E for the next 6 months as it did last year, so I might as well get started. Did a bucket of laundry. Pulled into Boca Chica channel next to Stock Island, and anchored about 9:30. Enough pounding for today. Good enough: got out of the harbor and made 10 miles or so. The next anchorage is 22 miles further, or 7 hours at the rate I was going. I must have been fighting a 1.5-knot current; as soon as I turned off into the channel, I started doing 5.5 knots. After I stopped the engine, heard a "rushing" noise in the engine compartment. Frantically looked for coolant or fluid boiling over, then realized it was the primary bilge pump running mostly-dry. Probably had been running that way for a while. Shut it off. Seems like every time I go out in open water, it's a rough experience. Maybe because it's always fairly shallow water ? Or maybe my boat is just too rolly, because of the shallow draft ? I guess I've had some comfortable trips downwind or in no-wind, but other than that ... Fired up the Dremel (off the inverter) and used a screwdriver as a chisel, and cut and split the four cap-nuts off the two side-mounted stanchions. Long, slow work since I didn't want to overheat the Dremel or the inverter. But got them all off and started cleaning up everything. Snorkeled under the boat and scraped the hull for over an hour. No new growth, but the stuff from Fort Myers Beach is going to take another session or two to remove completely. Big clusters and sheets of barnacles. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 11/3/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Stock Island. Up at 6, boat moving by 6:30. As I expected, rough and uncomfortable out in the ocean, but there's no help for it. As I also expected, everything I voted for in the election lost. Four more years of bigger government. Motorsailing with mainsail up through rough conditions about 7:30 when suddenly there was a bang and some commotion and the mainsail fell down onto the pilothouse and port side deck. The wire halyard had chafed through at the masthead (it's shown chafe before, and I cut it shorter not too long ago to get rid of a bad patch). Fortunately nothing went overboard and into the water or the prop. Hard work to lash the sail down safely while the boat was pitching and rolling. Motored on, sometimes making only 2.5 to 3 knots through rough patches. If I headed straight into the swells, the boat often had more up-and-down motion than forward motion. Up, down, up, then down kablam into the next wave, sending big sheets of water in all directions and slowing to one knot or so. Then slowly getting back up to speed before soon doing it again. A little better when I headed slightly across the swells, but more rolling. Did 3+ knots in the bad patches, 4+ in the good ones. Lots of salt spray across the deck and onto the pilothouse windows. Bow going up and down 6 to 7 feet at times. Very rolly when I had to turn almost sideways to the swells to enter Newfound Harbor. A big relief to get in. Motored up between Little Torch Key and Big Pine Key and anchored about 12:20. After lunch, started working on stanchion mount bolts. Guy anchored behind me came by to say hello and ask about conditions outside the harbor. He's heading for Mexico. Gave me some info on how to get ashore here, but I'm not going to bother. He says in Marathon, there's an injunction to prevent them from expanding the mooring fields any further. [Found out later that he's wrong; they're just waiting for more permits from the state; Marathon mooring field installation probably will be completed in spring of 2005.] I feel like an idiot (not the first time): the heads of the mounting bolts for the side-mounted stanchions ARE visible; they're on the outside of the toerail. I assumed they would be inside the toerail, and looked there for them. So I was able to get to the heads, and use dies to fix the threads on the bolts, and I should go back and redo the two stanchions I did before. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 11/4/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Newfound Harbor. Lots of water near rudder shaft; packing must be loose. Anchor up at 8:30. Outside the harbor, just as rough as yesterday. But I should have to do only 2 hours of it today. Did a small bucket of laundry. Rough, rough, rough until I get into Bahia Honda and anchor a little after 11. Nice in here. Not entirely still; a slight roll much of the time. Very hot sun today. Redid starboard aft side-mounted stanchion base, and tightened the port one. Done with the side-mounted stanchions. Snorkeled under the boat and scraped the hull some more. Fairly strong current, and lots of grass going by. Every now and then a big nasty pink jellyfish going by, and soon one hits me on the mask and stings a big patch of my forehead. Just have to keep going, trying to keep an eye out for more jellyfish. Hard to see them: they're coming fast, and visibility is not great. See 6 or 8 more before I'm done for the day. Snorkeling under the boat is quite a project. I have to get out wetsuit, fins, snorkel+mask, gloves. Launch the dinghy and put down the swim platform. Get scraper and screwdriver. Get out shampoo and towel for showering afterward. Then often I shave, put on my gear, and jump into the water to wash off the shaving cream. Snorkel and scrape. Then come out, shower myself under the solar shower, fill it again and hose off all the snorkeling gear. Refill the solar shower for tomorrow, put the gear aside to dry. Dry myself and get dressed, then raise swim platform and hoist dinghy. Dry and oil and put away the scraper and screwdriver. Collapse. Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. Two boats zipped in and dropped anchor just before dark. So four of us staying the night. Calm, still night. 11/5/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Bahia Honda. Tightened the rudder stuffing box nuts; the lock-nut had slipped down quite far, so I moved it back up, and tightened the main nut too. Raised anchor before 7 and motored out. Calm morning, as forecast; supposed to start blowing NE 15+ this afternoon. But the boat still is rolling a bit in the small SE swell as I go E. I guess I just have a "rolly" boat, because of the shallow draft, wide beam, and high freeboard. Just have to accept it. But I'm worried about how I'll be able to tolerate some long open-water passages on my Caribbean trip. Into Boot Key Harbor, and put two anchors down a little before 9:30, in just about the same spot I anchored in the last couple of times I was here. Noticed fuel prices at Marathon Marina as I came in: $1.93/gallon for diesel and $2.38/gallon for gas. Saw a couple of boats I recognized: "Tao", who nine months ago was trying to leave on a circumnavigation. "Black Out", which I think has a really nasty woman who was in Fort Myers Beach; thought we saw it anchored in Fort Myers. Rudder shaft stuffing still leaking. Dinghied ashore, taking the bicycle. Biked to library and stopped at medical clinic to schedule a vaccination. Talked to John from Georgia. Biked up to Home Depot, bought caulk ($11). To KMart, bought brake pads for bicycle ($6 for two !). Picked up my mail, and half of the packages. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 11/6/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Listened to the cruiser's net on VHF 68. Started opening my mail, and the tax man wants money from me. Took my primary GPS over to "Nature's Way", and found the GPS works fine there; my antenna must be dead, as I suspected. Nice chat with Steve and Kim; they do charters out of Bayside Marina in Miami, and were anchored near me in Key West last week although we never saw each other there. Chatted by radio with "Tao"; he has crew arriving soon, and will leave in a few weeks to start his circumnavigation. They're taking an odd route: Key West, around Cuba to Cayman's or Jamaica, straight across to Caribbean to Curacao or thereabouts, down Brazil, across the South Atlantic and over to the Indian Ocean. Seems odd to me for two reasons (although I'm no expert on it): across the Caribbean they'll be straight into the teeth of the tradewinds, and then they'll be going "the wrong way around" through the southern oceans. Removed GPS antenna from port aft railing. Nasty job, since whoever installed it got cute and ran the antenna wire INSIDE several of the stern raiing tubes, and of course the wire wouldn't pull through. Had to disassemble the tubing, and one of the setscrews was frozen. Drilled and demolished it and got everything out. Put it back together and caulked the hole through the toerail. Took forever. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the things I have to do. Have to slow down and relax. Dinghied ashore after lunch. Paid for a week of dinghy dockage ($22); they wrote the date and TIME on the dinghy sticker; not a good sign. Put new brake pads on the bike. Did library, picked up remaining packages at mail store, got some groceries. Miss having my car here. But all the bicycling is giving me some exercise. On the way back to the boat, said hello to Don on "Star Ship", yellow trimaran, and he invited me over for a drink. Took groceries to my boat, then came back and had a nice chat for an hour or two with Don and Dave from "Wind Dancer", a 1969 Charlie Morgan 33. Don bought his trimaran for a song since the previous owner, an electrical engineer, totally messed up the electrical system (12 DC, 24 DC and 120 AC mixed) to the point where there was a major disaster and huge bundles of wires melted into solid lumps. He pointed at another trimaran, said their propeller shaft is sheared, and the only place they can find in the Keys that can haul them out (with a crane) is in Key West; they're trying to figure out how to get down there. Dave just came back from about 4 years in the Dominican Republic, so I have lots of questions for him. Salad and peanut-butter crackers for dinner. 11/7/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. More work pulling the GPS antenna wire out. Snakes under the hallway, into the engine compartment, then up into the cockpit coaming. Trying to sell my Tenn-Tom charts and a kerosene lantern, trade some bottom paint, and buy a propane tank on the cruiser's net in the morning. Got most of the GPS antenna wire out. Removed antenna from stern rail and disassembled it with a hammer. Looks fine inside, wire is okay, but it's dead. Time to buy a new one. Dinghied ashore. Bought two gallons of paint ($59). Got groceries. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 11/8/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Finished opening the stuff I ordered. Got Sta-Lok spare parts ($15), guides to Puerto Rice, VI's, Jamaica, NW Carib. Got charts for Puerto Rico and VI's. Still need charts for Dominican Republic soon. Charts for NW Carib can wait. Fuel level 6.7 inches at engine hour 3503.3 Dinghied ashore. Biked 25 blocks to propane place to price aluminum cylinders. Stopped at West Marine, and optical shop (the dulled lenses on my prescription sunglasses can't be fixed, and new lenses would cost $189). Sat down at the computer in the library and power went out throughout the building (and throughout almost all of the Keys), and they gleefully kicked us all out. Scrounged a couple of plastic milk-crates and dinghied back to the boat for lunch. Dinghied ashore again. Did library, ordered GPS antenna ($89). To West Marine again, where I found they'd match the propane tank price (their list is $230, but matching the other store's price of $128 still was above their cost !), but they didn't have the tank in stock. Went to the propane store, and found they can fill tanks only at 8 AM. (Realized later I should have bought the tank then and left it overnight to be filled.) Salad and fruit and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 11/9/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Launched the dinghy at 7:45 and went ashore at a seawall in Faro Blanco marina. On the way in, saw about 500 hawks circling in several bunches over Boot Key, trying to catch the first thermals of the day, I guess. Walked to the propane store with my little wheeled cart. Bought 20-lb aluminum propane tank ($128) and filled it (4.6 gals for $16). Trundled it back to the dinghy, and back to the boat. On the cruiser's net, they told a joke: Question: What's difference between the Vietnam War and the Iraq War ? Answer: George W. Bush had a plan to get out of the Vietnam War. Dinghied over to "Second Wind" and spent about 3 hours chatting with Frankie and Terry. We're both going to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, so we talked about charts and guides and info we'd heard. They have about 500 watts of solar panels and 8 golf-cart batteries and still have to run their engine now and then to keep up with the load from their refrigerator and freezer, even in the relatively cool conditions we have now. They're installing a watermaker, and when they get to summer in the Tropics, their electrical needs are going to be high. They've heard that new inflatable dinghies are very cheap in the DR. I hoped to see the charts they had for the DR, but it turns out they really don't have much: one small-scale area chart, and a chartplotter that didn't show much info for the DR. After a late lunch, removed old propane tank and cleaned propane tank platform a bit. Dinghied ashore. Got second shot of Hepatitis A vaccine ($68) at the medical clinic, and took opportunity to weigh myself (214 lbs). Did library, ordered propane regulator for stern grill ($25). Left old rusty propane tank at Home Depot. On way back to boat, stopped at Don's boat for drinks and conversation. Salad and peanut-butter crackers for dinner. Blew E 25 most of the night and next morning. 11/10/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Grey, rainy, windy morning. Washing some of the salt off the boat. Got sunny but windier later. Lots of debate on the cruiser's net about international license for the VHF radio. Costs $250+ from the FCC. Always has been required, but no Caribbean country ever asked for it; now there are reports that Bahamas and Mexico are asking for it. Loafed all morning. Cleaned propane tank mount some more and mounted new tank on it. Pumped up dinghy tubes. Dinghied ashore into teeth of 25-knot wind and chop. Did library, then got my exercise biking back 6 blocks straight into the wind. Chicken-onion-rice for dinner. Wind blew hard all night. 11/11/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Tried pumping out holding tank from deck, but it didn't work. Took up upholstery around main table and stowed old hoses in locker, making space in aft cabin to get at rudder shaft area. Added water to batteries. Sold old kerosene lantern to guy from "Alyra" for $15. Dinghied ashore. Went to Sea Wiz and did internet and looked at all their boat catalogs. Library is closed for Veterans Day. Biked upwind to Home Depot, bought paint ($15) and grommet kit ($8). Biked further upwind to mail store, got GPS antenna. Got groceries. Went to Don's boat and had a drink and chatted for a while. Saw 15 to 20 skydivers come down in steerable chutes; probably landed on the west end of the golf course. Surprised to find Don has had this boat (he also still owns a Peterson 44) for a year, and hasn't yet fixed basics such as drinking water pump and refrigeration. He has a lot of crushed stanchions, and it turns out they happened when he was towing Dave's boat (which didn't have a working engine) into the mangroves for one of the hurricane scares; they got out of control and he mashed into the mangroves. [Later, Dave told me a different version: the steering on Don's boat came apart just about every time he turned the wheel, and they crashed into the mangroves. And they stayed up the mangrove creek for more than a month during hurricane season !] Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 11/12/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Was thinking of climbing the mast first thing this morning, but woke up headachey and tired. Wind easing a bit, and has been from SE for a day or two, so several boats left this morning. Tried new antenna on GPS, and it works ! Dinghy with a woman in a thong bikini went by. Had holding tank pumped out ($5). Cut and painted a block of wood for mounting the GPS antenna. Dinghied ashore. Did library, bought gas for outboard ($7), got water. Chili for dinner. 11/13/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. A bit headachey again. Rain at 7:30, then another gorgeous, sunny day. Feel like I should be getting out of town, but halyard is still down, and I'm not feeling 100%. Weather says I should have left yesterday; will start blowing hard again tomorrow. Put another coat of paint on the wood for the GPS antenna. Climbed the mainmast and rove the halyard through, then swaged a thimble onto the end. Dave stopped by for a chat and to see the boat. We're thinking of buddy-boating northward in a few days. I'll have to see about weather; he seems to think it's okay to motor up in the Gulf Stream against E 20 wind, and I don't think I agree. He also gave me a couple of ideas for the boat: make a wind-scoop that attaches to the side door of the pilothouse and funnels air through it, and make a bar from the davits to the dinghy floor to hold the dinghy away from the davits and stop the chafing. Later, Dave swung by again, and took me in his dinghy to his boat, where we hoisted his jib into the roller-furling foil and then furled it. I gave him a lot of static when he stood up on top of the very shaky bow pulpit rails to tie on the second jib sheet; it was a very dangerous thing to do. Lots of boats coming in and out, and many repositioning themselves in the anchorage, all day. Dinghied ashore, did library, then biked up to mail store, got groceries. Fruit and salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 11/14/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. At first light, ran engine for 30 minutes to exercise it. Dinghied ashore at 8:30 and biked off to KMart. Wanted to do it early because it's an upwind bike ride, and it's supposed to start blowing 30+ for a couple of days, starting today. Had a sudden urge to buy some more fishing gear; I want to get serious about fishing on this Caribbean trip. Bought a gaff ($22), some line and leader and several lures and a whistle for the dinghy ($11). Should have been $8 more, but somehow the cash register was accidentally set to "employee discount" mode ! Back to the boat, then over to "Second Wind" to get my Carib book back, and chat with Frankie and Terry for a while. Several police boats active, and found out they were pulling a drowning victim out of the water, some guy in a black shirt. Don't know his identity yet, or how it happened. Maybe drunk and fell off a dock or a boat in the middle of the night ? A boat on a mooring saw the body and reported it. On the way back from "Second Wind", stopped and met Ross on a unique boat; Dave and I had seen it come in yesterday and wondered what the heck it was. Turns out to be a Bolger-designed 38-foot canalboat. Very flat bottom, high straight sides, flush bow, catboat mast in a tabernacle. Very strange boat. Chatted with Ross for quite a while. We were watching the police, and Ross said there are a lot of drownings in the harbor at Sarasota, where he stayed for a few years. Back to boat. Put another coat of paint on the wood for the GPS antenna. Big, nice sloop "Serengeti" came in and anchored near me. As I dinghied in to the potluck in the city marina, I stopped by and told them about the potluck. I recognized their boat name; they write articles for Sailnet. Turns out a lightning strike took out almost all of their electronics, including two autopilots. They're headed in to haul out. Had several nice conversations at the potluck, including one with "Purrfection", who will be going to DR or PR about the same time as I will. Had a little free food. On the way out of the potluck, saw a bunch of EMS vehicles in the parking lot, and a guy strapped to a back-board. Salad and ham-onion-noodles for dinner. Blew 20-35 all night, and I had a sinus headache all night, so it was a long, anxious night. 11/15/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Still have sinus headache. Feel lousy. Wind still blowing hard. On the cruiser's net, got a summary of what happened yesterday. The guy who drowned was a guy who liked to drink all night at the bench near the dinghy dock with some buddies. A couple of them lived on a small boat and used a bucket in the dinghy as a toilet. Belief is that he was drunk and going between boat and dinghy in the middle of the night when he fell and hit his head on the prop of the boat's outboard, and drowned. During the potluck, some guys who knew the guy who drowned were in their usual spot at the bench near the dinghy dock, maybe drinking, and two them started seriously beating the guy who lived aboard with the drowned guy. The two of them were arrested, and the beaten guy carted off to the hospital. And the city marina is going to take away the bench and stop the midnight drinking there. Don't know why they beat him up. Tao's crew for circumnavigating didn't work out, so he's looking for crew again. Headache all day, worse in the afternoon. Did almost nothing, just trying to sleep or read, nibbling some food, taking pills. Did one piece of laundry. Put bolts in two open holes in the mast. Felt a little better in the evening, but then bad again at night. 11/16/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Still have sinus headache. Feel lousy. Wind starting to ease, blowing 15-20. Felt terrible all day; slept and read and wished I could cut my head off to stop the pain. Rained off and on all night. 11/17/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Headache gone; a little tired, but recovering. Weather grey with occasional rain sprinkles. Wind 15-20. Planning to leave the harbor tomorrow morning, and head up the Gulf side of the Keys to Miami. Wind supposed to be E or NE 10-15. Dinghied over to Dave's boat "Wind Dancer" to see if we'll buddy-boat. He probably wants to wait one more day, and I'm willing. Dragged the harbor for a while to try to find an anchor he lost, but no luck. Headed ashore. Chatted with Duane, did book exchange, did library (bummer: Christmas airline flights have gone from $130 four days ago to $200 now), did quick internet at Sea Wiz, then long upwind bike ride to mail store and groceries (and restocking all the medicine I've taken the last few days). Good to get some exercise. Put bike in the dinghy and hauled it to the boat. Probably should have left it ashore one more day, but I've stayed past my dinghy-dockage limit already, and I want to be ready to go tomorrow morning if Dave is. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 11/18/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Took apart starboard navigation light and sanded bulb and contacts, which keep getting wet and corroded. Tested it, worked fine, put fixture back together with lots of messy caulk, cleaned hands and tools, tested light one last time, and it didn't work ! Took it apart, twiddled the bulb, it worked, and put it back together. Did a bucket of laundry. On the cruiser's net, they said the guy who got beaten up was airlifted to Miami, has a lacerated liver and is on a ventilator, so he's in bad shape. Dave stopped by, and definitely wants to leave tomorrow, and wants to head out to the Gulf Stream. Should be blowing E 10 against the Stream, so we'll have to see what conditions are like when we get out there. But I've never done it before, so it'll be a learning experience. Epoxied a wood block onto the pilothouse roof to mount the GPS antenna on. Turned into a bigger job than I expected: two of the solar-panel mounts were loose, so I added a thin piece of wood to one and epoxied them also. As I was working, Dave stopped by with bad news: the oil-cooler on his engine is leaking salt water. This is a new-to-his-boat engine, so I'm not surprised. He's going ashore to buy some underwater epoxy to patch it. Found a couple of chips out of the deck on the port side, probably from when the mainsail came down. Dinghied ashore. Did book exchange. Chatted briefly with Don and Dave, who both have cars full of stuff that they're trundling out to their boats. Don's stuff is from a motor-home he's trying to sell; Dave's is from living ashore for a year at his girlfriend's house. Walked to Home Depot, bought two kinds of glue ($8) and drinking water filters ($17). Loaded water, and back to boat. Snorkeled under the boat for 30 minutes and scraped the prop and hull. Not too bad: only grass has grown since I've been here. Still lots of barnacles from FMB to scrape off. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Dave stopped by at sunset, and as I expected, he won't be ready to go tomorrow. So I'm going to leave by myself. He did patch his engine leak, and it seems to be working. So I'm going to leave late in the morning so he has one last chance to go with me. Not that he really needs to have company, but he's never really run this "new" engine much, so this will be a stress-test for it. 11/19/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Started getting ready to leave, taking my time, waiting to see if Dave would come by, waiting for low tide to pass at 9 AM. Started raising anchors before 9, listened to the cruiser's net, slowly raised anchors and finally got moving about 10:15. Had to scrub lots of grass and mud off the chains, and fix a twist. Just as I floated free, a sailboat came out of a canal and passed very close to me as I was drifting. And then as soon as I got into Sister Creek, a powerboat came up behind and wanted me to go faster. Held my breath at several spots as I went out Sister Creek into the ocean. Had less than 4.5 feet of water at each end, as I expected, but never touched, and I was on a rising tide. Ocean rough, as I expected. Put up the mainsail and motored sailed ENE, with 15 knots of wind and swells from E. Think I'll go inside tomorrow. Looks lumpy on the horizon: Gulf Stream is rough. Got smoother and rough again in various spots; not too bad a day. Kept the mainsail up the whole way. Nice to hear NPR news a couple of times; not having any decent radio in Marathon was a real pain. Saw 8 or 9 offshore racing powerboats heading for Key West in the afternoon. Rudder shaft stuffing still leaks underway; didn't leak at anchor. Into Long Key Bight and anchored about 3:30. Lots of space, most of the chop cut down by shoal. Pleasant. I remember anchoring here once with my girlfriend and her Dad and her cats; good times. Wiped up the water and tightened the rudder stuffing nut some more. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 11/20/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Long Key Bight. Up at 6:15, moving by 6:30. I love being on one anchor ! Motorsailing with the main up. Under Long Key bridge onto the Gulf side, and it's nice and calm here. Lots of crab-pots to dodge, but I was doing a lot of that yesterday in the ocean, too. Started adjusting the compass, something I should have done long ago. Also caulked inside seams in pilothouse. Mission accomplished: have NPR reception again, and listened to Car Talk. Nice. A bit of fun in Dusenbury Creek: Coast Guard was helping someone, other boats rubbernecking, I'm approaching, and then a turbine-powered offshore racing boat zooms up behind me. They want to pass, there's no room, then they see the USCG, who flags them to slow down. So they end up running right next to me for half the length of the creek. They're at idle, I'm at cruising speed, and it sounds like I'm boarding an airliner. Finally the end of the creek nears, and they floor it and disappear. Half an hour later, I pass them at the fuel dock next to Jewfish Creek bridge. The bridge opens for me with only a minute or two of waiting, and a USCG zooms up and passes me right after the bridge, on the way to another call. Five minutes later, the turbine-boat zooms past me, on their way to the next fuel dock. Made a stencil so I can spray-paint name and number onto things likely to get stolen, mainly the outboard, dinghy fuel tank and paddles, propane tank. Up to Pumpkin Key and anchored about 3:45. A fine day, but I'm tired and a little headachey. But now I'm at the bottom of Biscayne Bay, and it should be an interesting day up into Miami tomorrow. Rudder stuffing still leaking. Salad and chili for dinner. Two powerboats and two sailboats anchored nearby. 11/21/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Pumpkin Key at south end of Biscayne Bay. Raised the mainsail and sailed off anchor at 7 AM. Raised the jib, and sailed 2 to 2.5 knots in the right direction in 5-7 knots of wind, close-hauled. At 7:45, ran engine for 45 minutes to get through narrow channel. Then raised all sail at 8:30 and sailed at 2.5 to 4 knots on direct course, on a close reach. It's really nice when I can balance the sails and let the boat sail itself like this. I check the course and sails every few minutes, but don't have to sit at the helm and hand-steer. No auto-pilot either. Did a bucket of laundry, so I can parade through Miami harbor with my undies hanging from the lifelines. About 10:45, wind faltered and speed went below the Mendoza line (2 knots). Started the engine, furled jib and mizzen, and motored through a narrow channel and then up into the northern 2/3 of Biscayne Bay. About 11:30, passed by a couple of offshore racing powerboats gong like bats out of hell. Saw a GoodYear blimp south of Cocoanut Grove. Lots of boats out today. Under Rickenbacker Causeway and into Miami Harbor. I love the Miami skyline: some of the buildings have nice pastel or green color, unlike other cities where everything is grey or black. Lots of boat traffic, including several with women wearing very nice thong bikinis. A few idiot drivers passing boats, going head-to-head with other traffic in narrow channels. Up to Venetian Causeway, then a hard right turn into a place I've never been before, the anchorages south of Venetian Causeway. Went past the Watson Island anchorage and all the way down to the Belle Island anchorage next to South Beach. Relieved to find plenty of room. 15 or so boats here, half looking like cruisers. Lots of wakes from passing motorboats on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Got two anchors down by 2:30. Lat 25.47.249 long 80.08.837 Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 11/22/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Fuel level 3.1 inches at engine hour 3523.9 Painted new GPS mount and solar panel mounts. Dinghied ashore. There's no dock, just a canal with concrete seawalls. Ran my locking cable through a hole in the concrete. Spray-painted boat number on the outboard, but not happy with the results. Biked away, found visitor's center, then did library. Got groceries, then back to boat. Lots of pretty women in this town. In mid-afternoon, dinghied around to various boats, trying to hail someone to ask for local info. I'm trying to make plane reservations for Christmas, but need to figure out how I can get to and from shore then. Finally found a nice German guy on a sloop near the canal. He said there's no water-taxi, but confirmed that lots of people go ashore every morning to work, and I should have no trouble bumming a ride from one of them. Dinghied ashore and biked to the beach. Nice walk in the surf; plenty of pretty women, including two thong bikinis and a topless sunbather. Biked a few blocks along the paved path, then through some pretty quiet neghborhoods on the way home. Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 11/23/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Installed new GPS antenna on top of pilothouse. Whole new tube of caulk seems to be no good: couldn't compress with caulk gun, but was able to scrape out enough caulk to do the job. Dinghied ashore, stopping to chat with Harold on "Siren". He's been aboard 2 months or so, has a car and condo in town, wants to move to the Cayman Islands. Told me lots of horror stories about theft here; he says guys swim out with SCUBA gear, cut painters on floating dinghies, and ship the outboards to Cuba. And guys on jet-skis prey on unlocked boats. Guess I'll be locking up every single time I leave the boat from now on. He recommended I anchor closer to him and some other people who can watch my boat while I'm gone for Christmas. Biked down west side of town, stopped at marine store, rode along the inlet (pretty but rough today). Did library at the 2nd library in town. Made Christmas airplane reservations. Tricky because I need to bum dinghy rides on each end, so can't leave too early or get back too late. Ended up with a great price, but getting back too late: 9 PM. Might get stranded on the dinghy dock for a night; we'll see. Back to boat for lunch. Then dinghied ashore, stopping to chat with Harold and get introduced to John. Ferried John ashore; his dinghy and outboard were stolen a few days ago. Biked to the beach and had a short walk; a bit windy, but still saw one nice thong bikini. To the library, then biked over to Harold's condo, where we talked boats and Caribbean for a while. Harold's had his boat only 3 months or so, and 6 weeks of that were in a yard. He bought it for $500 as it was starting to bash itself against a bridge or seawall at the start of one of the hurricanes, rescued it from destruction, and patched a big hole in the fiberglass on the port side of the hull. It has a nice 7 HP outboard on the stern that probably is worth what he paid for the whole boat. [Later I was told he spent $8K in the boatyard! For a nice paint job, replacing two through-hulls, fixing a rotted transom, fixing 2-foot hole in port side, etc. But it's a 25-foot boat with little inside: no refrigerator, a head with no holding tank, etc. Sails well. Has a centerboard.] He seems smart and capable, but wants to head right for the Cayman Islands to buy some hurricane-damaged properties there (he was a property wheeler-dealer in the NYC area). I told him what little I know of prevailing currents in the north Caribbean, and typical cruising routes, and risks of long passages, and he was a little disappointed to see that he probably can't just point the boat straight there and go. I'm going to show him some charts and guidebooks, so he can start to gather info. [Realized later he's not even living aboard yet; he's living in his condo.] Biked home in the dark, a dangerous journey. The streets here have no shoulders, and there's a lot of traffic, so biking is dangerous. And I was wearing a dark shirt and my sunglasses. Made it to the dinghy "dock" area, locked the bike, unlocked the dinghy, then out into the anchorage. No lights on my dinghy, no light on my boat, but got there and hoisted the dinghy and unlocked the boat. Salad and fruit and a PBJ sandwich for dinner. Ah, the glamorous cruising life ! 11/24/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. A few rain sprinkles early, but not enough to wash all the salt off the boat. Sunny early, then breezy and solid clouds by 9:30. Inspected all the standing rigging wire at deck level; I was thinking of replacing much of it, since it shows rust. But on closer inspection, it's just a rusty sheen on the surface, easily rubbed off. Only one mizzen shroud shows a nick that could develop into a broken strand. So I think I can wait on replacing the standing rigging. Finally got some decent rain at 10:20; boat is cleaner. Loafed all morning, then dinghied ashore after lunch. Stopped to see John's 1976 Gulfstar 50 sloop "True Companion". The interior is half torn apart, replacing some bulkheads and all of the wiring. Interesting: just about EVERYTHING in this boat differs from my 1973 Gulfstar 44 ! Woodwork, doorhandles, cabin sole, rigging, mast stepping, stanchions, opening ports, rubrail, electrical panel, anchor windlass, etc. The wire halyard winches are similar, and the fixed ports are similar, and we both have Perkins engines. Ferried John ashore, then stopped by Harold's boat to chat briefly with Harold and Ray and Renee. Ashore, and biked to library. Then over to check out Sunset Harbour Marina, and then to "new" Publix. Strange store: front has big modernistic multi-story sweeping glass, so I expected big, spacious interior. But the aisles were cramped (and it didn't help that everyone was doing their rush-hour before-Thanksgiving shopping), and I couldn't find simple things in their logical places (chili near kidney beans, for example). Back to dinghy, and put bike in it to move the bike from the main-street side of the canal to the (safer, I hope) south side of the canal. A bit of a struggle, hauling bike and groceries and dealing with lock and current and stern anchor. Then got my prop into someone's stern anchor rode on the other bank. I'm feeling a bit under siege here: everyone's telling me stories of stolen dinghies, guys coming out at midnight in SCUBA gear to steal dinghies from boats. I'm not too worried about my dinghy at night: I always hoist it on the davits, tie spring lines because of the wakes, and tonight I even padlocked it to the boat in addition. But I worry about my bike (locked ashore overnight), and my dinghy during the day (cable-locked to something ashore). Not a pleasant way to live, under threat all the time. Too bad: if not for the thievery and heavy traffic, this place would be great. Nice weather and tons of beautiful women. Back to the boat, and took a quick shower as the sun set. Then salad and chili for dinner. A huge military-type helicopter hovering over the water about a mile away, using a huge spotlight, and lowering a diver into the water several times. They hovered over there and worked along the shoreline for 45 minutes or so. No idea what they were looking for. 11/25/2004 (Thursday; Thanksgiving) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Grey, damp morning. Started raising anchors at 7:15, got them up and moved about 250 feet closer in, put anchors down again. Pretty tiring. But now I'm closer to the dinghy dock, farther from the wakes, and most importantly, closer to some guys who will keep an eye on my boat while I'm gone for Christmas. Finished washing deck by 8:15. Perfect timing: some rain-sprinkles at 8:45. Then rained seriously from 10 to 11:45. Then stopped in time for me to go ashore. Dinghied ashore at noon and met John and Barry (from marine store); Harold was a no-show. Walked down the Lincoln Rd pedestrian mall and had a Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant. Very nice: good conversation, and turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes. Barry says there's a chemical unique to turkey meat that puts you to sleep afterward; I've never heard of that. We talked about boats and cruising and South Beach and previous lives, politics, women, etc. They both disagree completely with me on Bush, the Iraq war, etc. And they believe the Mafia killed JFK. John lives on his boat and doesn't seem to do any cruising; he's a former actor, used to party wildly in Beverly Hills and all over, and now produces and directs films such as small documentaries about the elections. Barry has a steel 40-foot sailboat that is a South African design, and has crossed the Atlantic to cruise the Mediterranean at least once, and is going again next spring. After the meal, we sat outside on some chairs and admired the parade of beautiful women. It was warm and sunny and we were feeling great. John and Barry smoked cigars, then we went to Wild Oats market, a natural food supermarket. They bought a few things, then we sat at a table and admired the pretty women there. One problem: I forgot to bring my sister's phone number ashore with me, so I couldn't call my Mom on Thanksgiving. Back to the boat by 5, as it started turning cloudy again. Nearby boat is swinging a little close, and it's my fault since I was the last one to anchor. The guy on board, Alec, came over and said we might have a problem, so it was a nervous evening for a while. But we never got too close. He says he has 3 anchors down, but I don't see how that's possible, since his boat is wandering around quite a bit. I have two anchors down, and they're pinning my bow firmly in one spot. Maybe he has three down mostly in one place ? Salad for dinner. Cool night; front has passed, and now we're getting wind from north behind it. 11/26/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Cool morning. Sometimes grey, sometimes sunny. Repacked the rudder shaft stuffing box, but the new stuffing is too thick. Didn't do a good job: only got one ring of stuffing in, and had to force it in. Started scraping the rudder mounting box in preparation for repainting it. Cleaned engine intake strainer and tested the primary bilge pump: still doesn't shut off properly. Suddenly realized I was looking at a couple of hose-clamps on the engine exhaust (in the aft head) that I'd never checked. They feel okay, but they're old and they're the perforated type, and they're below the waterline. Time to replace them. After lunch, dinghied ashore. Biked to plumbing and electrical store to check it out, then to south end of town to Miami beach Marina. Saw John and Harold there. Did book exchange. The megayacht at the fuel dock had to be 200 feet long and four stories tall; it was a monolith ! Bought prop shaft stuffing ($12), hose clamps ($11), stuffing tool ($8). Biked over to the beach and took a short walk; at least half a dozen topless women, and a thong bikini or two, even on a somewhat cool day. Back to the boat, and then realized I forgot to call my Mom when I was ashore. Rudder shaft stuffing looks good. Installed new hose-clamps on the engine exhaust hose. Some huge wakes coming through the anchorage. Chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 11/27/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Worked on mounting for rudder position indicator, cutting and drilling a piece of wood to mount it next to the rudder shaft. Finally got it in place, but the meter doesn't budge. Maybe I disconnected the wires a while ago ? Developed a headache as I worked. Dinghied ashore. Biked to library. Left a message on Mom's answering machine. Took a nice stroll on the beach. Plenty of pretty women everywhere, as usual. Got groceries. Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner. 11/28/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Greyish morning, then sunny. Loafed for a while, then cleaned primary bilge pump and bent the switch upward a bit; now it shuts off properly. Saw Harold go by, taking his boat out for a day-sail with a friend at the helm. Dinghied ashore. Took a long bike ride, then a long walk on the beach, then walked through Lincoln pedestrian mall (some kind of art fair going on), then got some groceries. On the beach, there was some kind of festival going on, and they had huge banks of speakers suspended high over the beach from cranes. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 11/29/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Shifted the mound of books and linen and so on from the starboard berth to the aft berth in the aft cabin. Dove down to inspect the hose-clamps on the exhaust hose where it reaches the transom. The hose-clamps are okay, a little rust, but they're perforated-type and at the waterline, so I'm going to replace them. The bolts holding the exhaust fitting on the transom don't look so good; will have to replace them at next haul-out. Now that I had the area cleared out, looked for other problems, and found one. Some leakage into the cabinet, probably from the aft starboard scupper. So, started excavating to get at the scupper bolts from the inside. Lots of digging with screwdriver and needlenose pliers and diagonal cutters, since the nuts were partially fiberglassed-over, and there's lots of rubbery caulk on the inside. Finally got it fairly clear, although it probably needs a little more excavation. Too tired to finish the job today. Itchy from fiberglass dust. After lunch, dinghied ashore. Biked to hardware store, Radio Shack, marine (bought hose-clamps; $12). Did library, ordered US Customs decal ($25). Got groceries. Back on the boat, replaced the hose-clamps on the exhaust hose at the transom. Was going reasonably well until the socket I was using fell off and rolled into an inaccessible part of the boat. Couldn't get it back, and had to use a screwdriver to finish the job, which left me tired and dirty and irritated. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 11/30/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Woke up at 4 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. Loafed all morning. Felt pretty punk; realized later that I'd forgotten to eat any breakfast ! Dinghied ashore. Biked around, found a shop that will receive UPS packages for me, and found a water tap I can use to fill jugs. Biked to library, ordered Dominican Republic charts ($90). Got groceries. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 12/1/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Launched dinghy at 6:45 and spent 20 minutes or so spinning the boat around to get 5 twists out of the anchor chains. Totally grey morning. Feel a little blah and headachey. Worked on back-tax return. Definitely not an activity that improves your mood. Got filters and oil out of engine compartment. While I was in there, exercised all the through-hull valves, and greased the tach fitting on the engine. Ran engine to charge batteries and warm it up for an oil change. Was going to run it for 15 minutes, but batteries are low and there may not be much sun for a day or two, so ran it for an hour instead. Then it was too hot to do the oil change. An of course it got sunny in the afternoon, so I could have run it shorter after all. After lunch, dinghied ashore. Stopped at a boat and chatted with a nice couple who just came down from Vermont; they're about to head for the Exumas. Got water at a fish-cleaning station; two other dinghies arrived at the same time I did, all for water. So had brief chats with the other people. Biked to Radio Shack and bought BNC connectors ($7). Then to library, then got groceries. I'm stocking up on groceries for my trip, but have to haul everything on the bike. So I get $10 or $20 worth of groceries each day. Back on the boat, hoped the engine was warm enough to get oil out of, but it wasn't. Salad and chicken-onion-rice-soup for dinner. 12/2/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Did a bucket of laundry. Ran the engine for 15 minutes and then started doing the oil change, and it turned into an ordeal. Used an electric pump, but it didn't prime, then turned out to have a crack in the base of the outlet hose, spraying oil on my leg and the engine compartment sole. Was afraid to run the pump too often in case it might overheat. And it was hard to keep the inlet tube from sucking up air. Fussed with it all morning, off and on, adding tape and holding paper towels around it, and eventually got 7 quarts of oil out. Had lunch, cleaned up the mess in the engine compartment, then took the filter out, making another mess in a different area. Then tried to remove the filter housing (I want to replace it), and only succeeded in loosening the hose connections enough so that it probably will leak. Need another wrench. Cleaned up and then dinghied ashore. Got water. Biked to hardware store and bought second, bigger crescent wrench ($49). Got groceries. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. 12/3/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Did a bucket of laundry. Finally got the oil filter housing off. Had to put two crescent wrenches in opposing directions, one braced against fiberglass, and pound on the handle of the other with a hammer. But nothing broke. Dinghied ashore. Got water. Made the rounds of auto stores and chandlery to see if I could get a replacement for the oil filter housing; no luck. Bought a few things at the chandlery ($5). Back to boat for lunch, then dinghied ashore again. Biked to library, took a quick walk on the beach, saw a few art galleries which were part of the "Art Basel" convention, and got some groceries. Salad and chili for dinner. Watched a cruise ship heading down the main channel, a mile or two away, in the dark. Fun to watch: a lighted monolith with 8 or 10 decks, maybe 3000 people on board, slowly heading out. 12/4/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Did a bucket of laundry. Finally finished back-tax forms. Dinghied ashore, had them photocopied and mailed them. Biked to beach and took a walk, did library, walked on beach again, got groceries. Harold's boat is back; guess he went for a one-week cruise. Haven't talked to him in a while. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 12/5/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Did a bucket of laundry. Wired the GPS antenna up and it works. Replaced rusting ring on boat-hook mount. Dinghied ashore. Bought some parts at Radio Shack ($9). Walked on beach. Got groceries. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 12/6/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Ashore early and caught bus to mainland. After some scratching around, found stop for bus to NAPA Auto. But missed the first bus: it didn't look like the other busses, came flying around a curve and hit the light on green, and flashed past before I could even get up off the bench at the stop. Got to NAPA, and they don't have a new oil filter housing that would work for me, so I'm going to stay with the old canister-style filters. Ordered filters ($110; went a bit overboard). Busses back to dinghy dock went pretty quickly. Dinghied ashore in afternoon. Loaded water. Pointed out a sinking small sailboat to some Coast Guard guys. Biked to gas station and got gasoline ($5). Biked to library. Back to boat. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 12/7/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Started to put oil filter housing back on, and found a couple of O-rings that need to be replaced. Started sorting out the food I've been piling up in the V-berth. On the way ashore, was hailed by Stuart on "Union Jack". They've tried to leave for the Bahamas three times, aborting each time with loss of transmission fluid or water in it or something. He thought it was a leak in the oil cooler, but now a mechanic thinks it's a bad seal on the transmission. Lent my transmission service manual and a couple other manuals to him. Dinghied ashore. Got water. Found a nice hardware store I didn't know existed; bought tube for oil-change pump ($1) and O-rings for oil filter hoses ($1). Biked to beach, but it looked pretty empty. Did library, changing my mailing address on all my bank accounts and such; I'm going to use my brother's address. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 12/8/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Dinghied over to "Union Jack" at 9:30 to help Stuart get the transmission out. I was a little irritated to find that Stuart hadn't done any advance work: removing hoses, shift cable, loosening nuts and bolts, etc. Harold and Doug were there too, so for the first hour or so Harold and Stuart removed stuff while Doug and I supervised and fetched tools from my boat. By the time the job was done, I'd brought over my pipe wrench, big crescent wrench, crowbar, wrench set, various small wrenches, pump pliers, through-hull plugs, and a couple of 2x4's and 2x6's from my lumber stockpile. Stuart and Harold and I took the shaft coupling apart, with a few false starts. Then we lifted on the transmission, using the 2x4's and rope, but we could see the whole engine shifting, instead of the transmission separating from the engine. A quick call to a mechanic advised us to drive a screwdriver between them, and that did the trick. The transmission and reduction gear weren't as heavy as we feared, but they were heavy enough. Wrestled them up onto deck and down into a dinghy. The front end of the transmission has plenty of water and rust on it, so the mechanic is right that something probably is wrong with the front seal. But is the water coming out of the engine somehow ? Marilyn told me later that they've had a serious of drive-train troubles since getting a line in their prop: coupling came apart, stuffing box leak that couldn't be stopped, and now a loss of transmission fluid (I think). Then Harold and Doug and Stuart set off for an hour-long (each way) dinghy-ride to the transmission shop. I begged off, wanting lunch and rest and time to work on my engine. After lunch, reassembled my oil filter housing, installed new filter and oil, and fired up the engine. Oil spraying out (into newspaper I'd wrapped around the housing; I never seem to get it right first shot). Tried again and got it right the second time. Ran engine for 15 minutes to test it. Dinghied up the canal and docked right across the street from the supermarket. Bought lots of heavy canned and bottled goods. The guys came back with the transmission at 5 PM. The mechanic replaced front and rear seals for $113. Turns out the rust/water on the front came from a previous problem: the oil-cooler above the transmission had leaked water down onto it. So Stuart is very relieved that the repair is done and was cheap. Went over to "Union Jack" and we lifted the transmission into the engine compartment. Then Doug and Harold went to get some beer, and came over to my boat to see the boat and chat for a couple of hours. Turns out Doug met Harry (of "Great Escape", the guy whose engine seized and then traded his boat for another) in Vero Beach. Harry was having some kind of minor engine problem, but then continued on north from Vero. Salad and cheese-and-crackers. 12/9/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Over to "Union Jack" at 8:45 and we chatted a bit and then started reinstalling the transmission. Wrestled it down into place, and took two tries to get the shaft splines lined up so it would mate with the engine. Strained a muscle in my side doing the lifting. Then Stuart had to go over the side and push on the prop to slide the prop shaft forward so I could put the coupling back together. Then I watched, mostly, as the other three guys put all the additional stuff back together (exhaust hose, oil cooler, shift cable). Back to my boat once to pick up more tools. We lost a small nut or bolt into the bilge and couldn't find it, but it was easily replaced. Just after noon we were able to fire up the engine and everything looked okay. They ran it for only a minute or so; I would have let it run for 15. Tomorrow they're going to raise anchor and take a test-run to see if everything's really okay. Dinghied ashore. Bought used books at thrift shop, engine oil ($11) at auto-parts store. Biked to library. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 12/10/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Ashore early and caught busses to NAPA Auto. Missed a bus again: one I didn't want started to pull over, and as I waved it off, I saw the one I want swerving around it and flying past; the driver looked at me but didn't even slow down. I hate busses ! Got oil and fuel filters at NAPA, and the busses on the way back were very smooth; little waiting. Breezy and rough in the anchorage; a front is coming through. Stuart and Marilyn were supposed to come over this afternoon for a chat, but they're ashore somewhere. So I dinghied ashore, took used engine oil to a disposal at the auto-parts store, bought some more used books, and got my Dominican Republic charts from the mail store. Dinghied ashore again, up the canal to the supermarket, and got more heavy groceries. It's an interesting trip: the canal goes up into the city, next to a major road, under several low bridges carrying other roads over the canal. I wonder what the people in cars think about these dinghies moseying past. Also, workers are doing repairs to the low bridges, from underneath, so you have to dodge around their rafts and spill-booms. Restowed food stocks in the V-berth, moving heavy stuff lower, and cans into various drawers. So now I have a tuna-fish drawer, a canned vegetables drawer, and a chili drawer. The rest of the food is in plastic milk-crates. Salad and fruit and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Warm, very humid night. Slept solidly until midnight, then woke up thinking it was 6 AM, and groaned when I looked at the clock. Read a book and listened to the radio and tried to get to sleep. Finally, around 3 AM, the Midnight Mechanic struck ! Went in the engine compartment and took the engine heat-exchanger off. Took a little more than an hour. Pretty easy job; the heat-exchanger is on top right near the engine compartment door. Drained out about 3 gallons of coolant; almost ran out of jugs to catch it all. Had to loosen oil filter mounting to make room to slide heat-exchanger out of filler tank. Engine has been slow to cool recently, and I wanted to learn how the heat-exchanger goes together, and I'm thinking of buying a complete spare heat-exchanger. So I took it off. Found some seawater-type crud in the bottom of the fresh water coolant tank; maybe it's left over from the heat-exchanger failure I had right after I bought the boat ? 12/11/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Cloudy morning. Took heat-exchanger up into the cockpit and scraped corrosion off, took inside end cap off, took zinc out. Fair amount of seaweed restricting flow on inside end of seawater portion. More scraping and cleaning. Then took it out onto the stern deck and poured buckets of seawater through it from all directions to flush gunk out. Finished with a brief fresh-water flush through the fresh-water side. Don't think I want to do an acid-flush. Looks good: all tubes look clear except maybe a barnacle in one of them. Some pebbles in the fresh water side. But I can't see how to get the tube stack out of the housing; maybe it's all one piece ? [Did some research on the internet later, and yes, it's all one piece.] Stuart and Marilyn are ashore again; wonder when they're coming over here to see my boat, and when they're going to do their test-run of their fixed transmission. They want to meet people in Nassau for Christmas; they're cutting it close. Dinghied ashore, stopping to chat with Doug and Harold aboard Harold's boat. Biked to library. Breezy and getting cool; supposed to go down to 50 tonight. Dinghied down the canal to the supermarket to get groceries. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Christmas boat parade at about 7:30; saw about 20 boats go by; probably missed the first 10 or 20. Very nice; lots of pretty lights. 12/12/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Cool, sunny morning. Forgot to mention a story I was told a couple of days ago: Stuart and Marilyn on "Union Jack" were leaving the anchorage on one of their attempts to go to the Bahamas, later thwarted by transmission problems. They got the anchor up and started leaving. Turns out another anchored boat had a trip-line and float on their anchor, with 40 to 50 feet of trip-line floating horizontally on the surface, a major hazard to passing boats and dinghies. "Union Jack" ran over the floating line and caught it in the rudder, and no one noticed it. They kept going, lifting the other boat's anchor and towing the whole boat behind them. The other owner was sleeping down below, and eventually the water rushing past the hull woke him. The boat was towed more than a mile before he came on deck and they all realized what had happened ! No damage to anything, fortunately. Could have been far worse: I told them about a fatality in St Augustine earlier this year. A couple on a powerboat left the anchorage, and snagged a sailboat's anchor rode as they went past. This whipped the sailboat across into their boat before they could realize what was happening (all they saw was a sailboat mysteriously rushing toward them), and the woman on the powerboat was crushed between the two boats and killed. Scraped and acid-cleaned the outside of the heat-exchanger and associated parts and side of the engine, then put a coat of paint on them. Dinghied ashore, stopping to chat with John on his boat, then Stuart and Marilyn on "Union Jack". They did their test-run, and the transmission fluid pressure stayed okay; they haven't checked for leaks or fluid level yet. They gave me a little gift for helping with their transmission. I forgot to ask them to look for the pump-pliers I think I left on their boat. They're trying to decide if they can cross to the Bahamas; tomorrow looks marginal, then a strong front will come through the rest of this week. Biked auto-parts store; bought more spray-paint ($5) and some crimp-terminals ($3). To hardware store, then dinghied to supermarket and got two loads of groceries. Nice day when you're in the sun, but cool in the shade; I'm wearing a sweatshirt for the first time in 10 months or so. Got a line in the dinghy prop on the way to the supermarket. On the way back, prop didn't seem to be working right, and I thought I might have "spun" the prop, requiring a new rubber insert to be pressed into it. But when I hoisted the dinghy, I found a plastic supermarket-type bag covering much of the prop; must have picked it up in the canal. Salad and peanut-butter crackers for dinner. 12/13/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Looks like "Union Jack" has left for the Bahamas, taking my pump pliers with them. My fault: I saw them twice yesterday and forgot to mention the pliers each time. Sprayed another coat of paint on heat-exchanger and engine. Cleaned some oil off surface of coolant in the jugs; I think I'm going to put the old coolant back in, because it's not very old, new anti-freeze is expensive, and there's no place here to dispose of the old coolant. Dinghied ashore, stopping to chat with Harold and see his boat. Stopped at plumbing store, then went to Harold's condo to try to fix his computer; turns out it has a virus. Did library. Dinghied down canal to supermarket; tide was so low that the outboard skeg hit an underwater rock in the middle of the canal. Salad and ham-onion-mushroomsoup for dinner. 12/14/2004 (Tuesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Put heat-exchanger back together and back on engine. Have to wait 24 hours for some gasket gunk to cure. Inspected the old coolant and decided not to re-use it; it looks a little contaminated. Called Miami Beach Marina and found they will dispose of old coolant (for a fee, I'm sure). I'm trying to decide whether to buy a complete spare heat-exchanger to take on my multi-year Caribbean trip. New would cost $420 to $560 (depending on quality). Maybe I can get the old bad spare soldered at a radiator shop. Really should carry a working spare. Dinghied ashore after lunch, stopping to say hello to Peter and Elizabeth on "Good Hope" anchored next to me. They're about to hop to the Bahamas, like many people here. They told me a theft story: A week ago, a friend of theirs anchored about 200 yards from me was lounging on his foredeck at about 1 AM. He saw a small metal skiff go by, with 2 guys in it. A little later, it comes back, with 1 guy on board, maybe towing a dinghy. Then the dinghy is floating free, but he notices it's "floating" opposite to the wind and current. So he gets into his dinghy to rescue the floating dinghy. When he gets there, a guy climbs out of the water, or the metal skiff comes back (I'm not sure which). Anyway, one of the thieves pulls a gun, points it at him, and tells him to get lost. He does, although his outboard stalls a hundred feet away, and he ends up drifting in his dinghy, lying in the bottom of it in case the guys decide to open fire at him. They disappear, he gets back to his boat. He calls the USCG, they tell him to call Marine Police, the MP tell him to call the USCG, they try to pass him off to city police, no one's interested. Eventually a boat from some agency comes by to talk to him, but they're not very encouraging. Happens a lot this time of year, they say. Dinghied ashore, swinging by the fish-cleaning station to load water. Saw that the small sailboat that had been sinking, the one I pointed out to the Coast Guard, has in fact sunk. Biked to thrift store and bought used books. Did library. To auto parts store, bought two gallons of anti-freeze ($19). Peter came by to borrow my plumber's snake. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Cold (down into the mid-40's) and blowing 15-20 all night. 12/15/2004 (Wednesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Cold, breezy morning. Up early. Added water to the batteries. Finished filling and assembling engine heat-exchanger, and started the engine. Looks good: no leaks. Ran engine for 15 minutes to test it and warm up the boat a little. Then back to bed to avoid the cold. Cleaned oil out of the bilge. Dinghied ashore, did library. Dinghied up the canal and got two loads of groceries. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 12/16/2004 (Thursday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Another cold and blustery morning. Dinghied ashore and caught a 9 AM bus. Two more busses, and arrived in "Little Havana". Found a radiator-repair shop and left my old heat-exchanger to be soldered. Got a few groceries in a restaurant- supply type store. Saw little old Cuban men playing dominoes outdoors in a "domino park". Three busses and back to the boat a little after noon. Dinghied ashore, stopping to chat with Harold and Doug, and borrowing a key to Harold's dinghy: I might use it to get ashore for my NJ trip. To hardware store, and bought a big pair of pump pliers ($28). Did library, then to Harold's apartment, to try to fix his computer; no luck. Back to hardware store to get a duplicate dinghy key made. Met John there; he was getting a bunch of keys duplicated because he was on his boat the other day and his whole key-ring fell out of his shirt pocket and overboard; he lost his temper and stomped around his boat kicking things for a while. Dinghied up the canal and got groceries. Harold got a bit pissed at me: he invited me to a party on Saturday night, and later invited me to stay at his apartment for a while and watch TV and have dinner, and I declined both invitations. I don't like to be biking and dinghying around in the dark, especially with the wind and cold we've been having. And the party is 50 blocks away, so I'd have to wait until midnight or later to get a ride back from someone, and have my dinghy at an unsafe dock until then. Later, he found the party actually is Sunday night, even worse for me because I'll be leaving for the airport at 6 AM Monday. Anyway, he got pissed that I kept turning down every nice invitation he made. Guess I'm just not a very socially-convenient person. Salad and chili for dinner. 12/17/2004 (Friday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Warmer but totally grey day, with occasional rain sprinkles. Cleaned bilge a little. Loafed all morning, then dinghied ashore and took 3 busses to radiator shop. Despite leaving it overnight, the job still was not finished when I got there; had to wait half an hour. But the results look good, and it cost only $32. Lugged the heavy heat-exchanger back through the busses, including a side-trip to the main library. Stopped to chat with Doug on the way back, and then he brought his dead battery over to my boat. [Later he told me it was down to 8 volts !] Paralleled it to mine, moved the end-cap from the spare heat-exchanger to the main heat-exchanger, started the engine, and started charging all the batteries. Engine seems to be lugging a little under the load (found out later I had the RPMs too high, which made it sound strange). Ran engine for an hour to charge the batteries. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 12/18/2004 (Saturday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Doug's battery reading 12.05 volts this morning. Cleaned up the spare heat-exchanger a bit. Cleaned bilge a little. Dinghied ashore, stopping by John's boat. John and Doug and Harold were aboard, and it turned out John's boat was slowly dragging into Harold's, and they couldn't get his engine started. So we harnessed my dinghy bow-to-bow to his boat, and I towed him to safety, where they put down an anchor. Went ashore. Bought gasoline ($5), did library. Took a brief walk on the beach because it had been too long since I saw a woman in a bikini; mission accomplished. Dinghied up the canal and got two loads of groceries. Stopped to chat with Doug and Harold on the way back. Found my batteries a bit low (Doug's is still dragging them down, and there was plenty of cloud today). So ran engine for 30 minutes to charge them. Salad and chili for dinner. Tested the bilge pumps. 12/19/2004 (Sunday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Cold, breezy and grey morning. A bit of sun by noon. Doug's battery reading 12.32 volts this morning. He picked it up at 9:30, and was able to start his engine. On the way ashore, stopped at John's boat and found he and Doug trying to figure out why his engine won't start. It doesn't even crank. And I got a good lesson on how nice the engine compartment on my boat is: he has a 4-cylinder turbo Yanmar in his sailboat, and there is no access at all to the side with the starter on it. Went back to my boat and got my remote starter switch to lend to them. They're going to have to remove the alternator to even SEE the starter and it's solenoid, and they may have to take them out too to get any decent access to the wiring. Dinghied ashore and biked to used book store, and bought some books. Put the bike in the dinghy and took it out to the boat. Ashore again, to city dock, and walked to "new" Publix supermarket. Got a few groceries, but prices and selection are no better than in the "old" Publix. Added water to batteries. Salad and ham-noodle-mushroomsoup for dinner. Shut off the refrigerator and cleaned it out. 12/20/2004 (Monday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Doug picked me up at 6:30 AM and ferried me ashore with my suitcase. Took three busses to the airport. Flew through Atlanta to Philadelphia, arriving about 6 PM. 17 degrees and windy when I arrived; brrrrr ! 12/21/2004 (Tuesday) Boat's in South Beach, Miami; I'm in New Jersey. 12/27/2004 (Monday) Boat's in South Beach, Miami; I'm in New Jersey. Having a nice time, seeing all the family, and eating several billion-calorie meals. 12/29/2004 (Wednesday) Boat's in South Beach, Miami; I'm in New Jersey. Doug called me to say my boat's okay, despite some 45-knot wind on Monday, from the least-protected direction. Actually, I wasn't too worried about the anchors dragging; I'm more worried about the dinghy getting stolen. 1/3/2005 (Monday) Ordered Hypalon glue for dinghy ($28). Bought LED flashlight and hand-compass. Also went to dentist for an overdue teeth-cleaning. 1/5/2005 (Wednesday) Boat's in South Beach, Miami; I'm in New Jersey. Harold called me to say my boat's okay, and he and Doug will see that I don't get stranded at the dinghy dock in the middle of the night on my way back to the boat. 1/6/2005 (Thursday) Boat's in South Beach, Miami; I'm in New Jersey. Rainy and cold in New Jersey. Got to Philadelphia airport at noon, just as they cancelled my 2:30 PM flight, along with all the other afternoon flights to Atlanta. Weather is fine here and down to Miami, but I think bad weather further north has clogged up Atlanta with too many planes. Finally took off at 8 PM. Made connection in Atlanta with 5 minutes to spare; the airline had told me I'd miss it by an hour, and I'd been prepared to sleep overnight in the airport, but the next flight was delayed like all the others, so I made it. Arrived in Miami at midnight. Miraculously, my luggage made it too ! Took shuttle to the dinghy dock, since the busses stop running at midnight. Some false starts trying to call Doug and Harold, then finally got Doug at about 1:45. He walked over from his apartment and gave me a dinghy-ride out to my boat; he's a prince ! Got aboard at 2 AM, and everything looks fine. 1/7/2005 (Friday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Sunny and 80 degrees today. Up at 8. Added water to batteries, and then ran engine for 30 minutes to exercise it and start cooling down the refrigerator. Batteries good, engine started and ran fine. Back to bed for rest of morning. After lunch, unlocked everything, loaded bike into dinghy, and went ashore. Guy at the dinghy dock told me that while I was on vacation, police caught some kids pilfering small items from anchored boats, and arrested them. Promptly managed to take a spill off the bike on the way to the library. I turned onto a busy, narrow street, tried to move closer to the curb, and caught my wheel on a big joint between the asphalt and the concrete of the gutter. Fortunately I wasn't going fast, and managed to fall onto the sidewalk instead of out into the street. Bruised my legs a bit, but rolled and avoided any serious scrapes or cuts. Maybe the fat I built up over the holidays protected me ! (Found out later that I strained a ligament, I think, on the outside or back of my right knee. So I was in pain a bit for the next few days.) Broke the floppy-disk case inside my bag, but not the glasses that also were in there. Bent the front wheel of the bike a bit, but it's still usable. It wobbles a bit and the brakes rub a bit. Did library, then dinghied up to the supermarket and got groceries. Back to the boat, and the batteries are low; I think the refrigerator has been running all day. Always have this trouble when I turn it on after a vacation. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Ran engine for 30 minutes to charge batteries. Refrigerator wanted to run all night; had to keep getting up to turn it on and off, to avoid draining the batteries completely. 1/8/2005 (Saturday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Loafed all morning, then dinghied ashore. Biked to library, took a nice walk on the beach, then dinghied to supermarket. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Still struggling to get refrigerator working properly. Warm night; hard to sleep. 1/9/2005 (Sunday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Cleaned the bilge a little; loafed the rest of the morning. I'm having a hard time getting myself to plunge back into boat chores after Christmas vacation. Dinghied ashore taking my laptop, to see if I can get any WiFi signals. Found that I can connect to the internet at the dinghy dock ! Sat there for an hour doing internet, until the laptop battery ran out. Re-inked the registration numbers on the dinghy. Back to boat to drop off laptop, then back ashore. Biked down to 8th St beach and had a nice long walk on the beach. Lots of lovely women, and more than a few absolutely spectacular ones. Dinghied to supermarket and got groceries. The supermarket landing has been crowded the last few days; everyone's stocking up. Salad and fruit and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Batteries a bit low; ran engine for 30 minutes to charge them. 1/10/2005 (Monday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Dinghied ashore at 9, stopping to chat with Doug and then John. Took 3 busses to Walmart. Bought propane stove ($40), bike brake pads ($4), some snacks. 3 busses back to the boat, getting back at 1:45. After lunch, dinghied ashore taking the laptop, but couldn't get it to recognize my WiFi card. Installed new brake pads on bike. Finally got the WiFi going. Salad and chicken-onion-rice for dinner. 1/11/2005 (Tuesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Stowed food that has been accumulating in the V-berth. Used the dinghy to spin the boat around 3 times, to untwist the anchor rodes. Dinghied ashore. Stopped at nearby boat to meet Tom and Doris on 1973 Gulfstar 43 trawler "Lucky Key". Got a tour of their boat, and it's quite similar to mine, as I expected. Also stopped to chat with Harold and Doug. Then gave Tom and Doris a tow in to the dinghy dock: they have kayaks, and a strong current was running against them. Sat on dinghy dock with my laptop and did internet. Back to boat for lunch. Smelled a melting-plastic smell as the laptop battery was recharging. At first, I feared the DC-DC converter was overheating, but then I found that the cigarette-plug connector attached to it was melting. Apparently the current was too much for it, and the fuse in it didn't blow. I was lucky to get it back out of the socket; it melted so badly that it can't be plugged in again. Cut it off and installed a new connector. Doug and Harold came over and we tried to drill a big hole in Harold's new oar, but my hole-saw kit didn't work very well. Dinghied ashore and picked up packages in the mail (glue for the dinghy, zincs for the engine, and homemade chocolate-chip cookies from my sister!). Got groceries. Went over to "Lucky Key" and had dinner and a chat with Tom and Doris, then watched a DVD with them. He's had an interesting career history: structural steel worker and welder, locksmith, long-distance trucker, security troubleshooter for some kind of messenger service, etc. They've had the boat about 3 years, started cruising 6 or 8 months ago, and then he suddenly had 3 heart attacks. They had just let their health insurance expire, but were able to get it reinstated and it paid some of the bills. But they're still going to pay a couple of thousand dollars a month to some hospital for the rest of their lives, they say. Scary. Of course, he smokes like a chimney, but still, a heart attack can happen to anyone. 1/12/2005 (Wednesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Ashore early to do internet. Was supposed to climb mast for Harold at 9 AM, but he was up last night until 5 AM, so we'll do it some other time. Was going to hold safety line for Doug while he climbed HIS mast, but it's a little too breezy for his liking. Chatted with Doug, then stowed food some more, and cleaned up boat in general. Got laptop battery recharged by plugging it in for 5 minutes, then out for 5 minutes to let it cool, then in again, etc. Worked on outboard's tilt mechanism, which has always been extremely stiff; I think it's full of solidified grease. Made some progress, but it seems the axle is rotating with the powerhead, and it shouldn't. The surfaces that should stay mated are slipping, and the greased surfaces that should slip are staying fixed. Went ashore after lunch. Biked to Radio Shack and bought some parts ($10). Had a nice walk on the beach, although it was slightly windy. Did library, then got groceries. Dinghied ashore and did internet at the dinghy dock one more time. Downloaded all kinds of operating-system security updates. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Strange weather tonight: very cloudy, and wind usually 5-10 but then suddenly gusting to 25+. 1/13/2005 (Thursday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Very grey and cloudy; spitting rain occasionally all day. Dinghied ashore, trying the water-dock to see if I got better WiFi over there, but it was worse. Going between the two dinghy docks, was hailed by my friend John Viera who I haven't seen in 18 months or more. We've been keeping in touch through email, and hoped that we could converge here. Nice chat with him and his friend Don, then to dinghy dock. I gave John a map and then did internet while he went for lunch and to see the town a bit. Later he agreed with me that the women here are gorgeous. In the afternoon, brought Tom and Doris over to see my boat, and they were delighted to get off their boat: they don't have a motorized dinghy, just kayaks, and the weather is a little rough today, so they were stuck aboard. And they were interested to see my boat, and the differences between my 1973 Gulfstar 44 motor-sailer and their 1973 Gulfstar 43 trawler. John joined us as we were chatting. The four of us had a very nice conversation for a couple of hours. He's done a lot of Chesapeake cruising in the last year or so, but still hasn't done any upgrades to his boat: still uses engine to charge batteries, and has gone backwards on refrigeration, no longer even hauling ice for his icebox: he does without cold food. Sounds like he's often wondering if he should keep living aboard. He's heading down the Keys next. Chatting with John was a little strange: every time I started to relate some interesting story, he said "oh, yeah, I read about that in your log". Salad and Basmati rice for dinner. Ran engine for 30 minutes to charge batteries. 1/14/2005 (Friday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Breezy and rainy and totally grey. Dinghied ashore and did internet, sitting on a curb in the street with my laptop on my knees. I may be a bum, but at least I'm a HIGH-TECH bum ! After lunch, weather got greyer and greyer. Dinghied ashore and bought used books. When I came out, it was raining hard, with the street-gutters flooding. At least I was wearing my foul-weather jacket and had plastic bags with me. Went to auto store and bought feeler gauges ($4). Waited for the rain to ease a bit, watching various pedestrians and bikers getting soaked, then biked back to the dinghy dock. Bailed the dinghy out with left hand, steered with left foot and held the plastic bag of books in right hand as I headed back to the boat. Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. Ran engine for 45 minutes to charge batteries. 1/15/2005 (Saturday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Damp and totally grey. Ran engine for 60 minutes to charge batteries. I'm waiting for a couple of packages to come in the mail, have to do some more food-stocking-up, then I'll be ready to head for the Bahamas. Dinghied ashore at 8:45 and picked up Louis at the dinghy dock and took him out to the boat. Turned out he's president of the Westsail Owner's Association, and he gave me a T-shirt and newsletter. Had a nice chat while it rained, and gave him a tour of the boat. Like most people, he raved about how large and nice the engine compartment is. After lunch, dinghied ashore and did internet; only a few little drops of rain. Took laptop back to the boat and went ashore again to the supermarket. Started raining a bit as I headed back with the groceries. Salad and chicken-onion-chickensoup for dinner. Ran engine for 30 minutes to charge batteries. 1/16/2005 (Sunday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Yet another damp and totally grey day. After lunch, dinghied ashore and did internet. Back to boat, then ashore again to do supermarket; getting cooler and windier. Pretty rough by the time I got back with groceries. Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Ran engine for 60 minutes to charge batteries. 1/17/2005 (Monday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Windy and cold (below 50 overnight), but the clouds are gone and it's SUNNY ! Supposed to get colder. Took 2 busses to a supermarket that has better prices on snacks than the local one. Took all morning, but I think it was worth it. John stopped by on his way ashore. He's been hibernating on the boat for the last few days, and is out of food. Dinghied ashore and did internet. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. 1/18/2005 (Tuesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Cold and breezy and sunny again. Dinghied ashore early, did post-office and library and picked up packages at mailing store (my accumulated mail, including a new propane regulator, and a spare set of eyeglasses for $59 from WalMart). Tried to stop at Harold's apartment to run a virus-remover for him and give back his dinghy keys, but his entire apartment building is tented for fumigation ! Back to boat for lunch, then John came by and ran his laptop off my batteries for a little while. Then we both headed ashore, and I did internet. Sprinkled rain slightly once or twice, but not much. Salad and fruit and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Rained frequently all night. 1/19/2005 (Wednesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Cool and mostly-cloudy today. Dinghied ashore and did internet. Then biked to post office, and bought gasoline ($5). After lunch, took long dinghy ride to Miami Beach Marina to dispose of coolant. But they'd given me bad info over the radio; got there and they said they didn't have a disposal for it. Struck out at the marine store, too: got confused about what size zincs I wanted. At least I got some books at their book-exchange. Dinghied ashore and did internet. Salad and chili for dinner. 1/20/2005 (Thursday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Did a bucket of laundry. Raised primary anchor, scrubbing sticky seaweed off and prying barnacles off with a screwdriver. Couldn't get secondary up because neighboring boat is right over it. Dinghied ashore, did internet, got groceries. During lunch, raised secondary anchor, scrubbing chain. Moved boat about 100 yards and anchored on one anchor in a less congested spot. Now I'm ready to raise anchor and leave whenever the time is right. Dinghied ashore, did internet. John came out to the boat for a drink and a chat. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 1/21/2005 (Friday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Dinghied ashore early and took bus to cheaper supermarket, bought crackers and snacks. After lunch, dinghied ashore and did internet, then got groceries. Back to boat, and it's sunny and warm enough to wear shorts for the first time in a week. Hoisted dinghy, stowed secondary anchor rode, then started raising primary anchor. It's supposed to blow W 30 on Sunday, and I'm close to the E shore (bad). Just before I started the engine and got the anchor up, a trimaran came in and took the spot I had my eye on. But by the time I got going, they were raising anchor and moving elsewhere ! So I swung right in to the spot they'd vacated. Now I have much more breathing room in every direction. Of course, after I got settled, listened to weather forecast, and now it says W15-20 with gusts; not so alarming. Funny: soon two my neighboring boats left. Reminded me of the Simpson's episode where they move onto a houseboat, and as they arrive, Homer says "the great thing about living on a houseboat is that if you don't like your neighbors, you can LEAVE !" And as soon as the Simpson's go into their boat, every other boat leaves. By 5, the wind and current had stalled, and I was swinging too close to aa small neighboring boat, so I started the engine and raised anchor and moved again, a little closer to shore. Fruit and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 1/22/2005 (Saturday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Did a bucket of laundry. Dinghied ashore early and did internet. John came by, and after listening to Car Talk, we headed ashore. We walked across the island to the beach, down the beach to the inlet, over to the marina (bought 12V outlet for $5), back across to Ocean Ave and up to Lincoln again, then across to Alton and had a late lunch at a Mexican place. Probably walked about 4 miles. Beach was nice, a few thong bikinis, but not really as good as I expected for a nice Saturday. To hardware store and bought a socket ($3). Then to supermarket for groceries. Just after we docked in the narrow canal at the supermarket, two jet-ski's came roaring by at top speed, waking all the dinghies, spraying water everywhere, violating the no-wake/manatee-zone rules. If I'd had something to throw, I would have thrown it at them. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 1/23/2005 (Sunday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Totally grey day. Dinghied ashore early and did internet. As I was launching the dinghy, heard a huge set of rolling booms from the direction of downtown. At first, thought it was thunder. Then wondered if it was a terrorist attack. Then guessed it was a building demolition. Knew that was right when I saw a big cloud of cement dust rising. When leaving the dinghy dock, had a little chat with a couple of guys, and they told me the police arrested guys who were stealing dinghies. Not sure I believe every part of the story, but here it is: Over at Miami Yacht Club (on Watson Island, I think), some guy had Lo-Jak installed on his dinghy (that's the part I don't believe), and noticed his dinghy was on the move. He jumped in a dinghy with someone else and gave chase. They found his dinghy being towed by some go-fast boat with a couple of Cuban guys on board. A Cuban guy pointed a gun at them but it misfired, and then they started beating the Cuban guys with dinghy oars. Then the cops showed up and arrested the thieves. Got sunnier around lunchtime, but still cloudy. Dinghied ashore again, did internet, then groceries. Salad and spaghetti for dinner. Just as I was finishing dinner, Harold and Doug stopped by for a chat and a drink. Harold just got back from a trip to NYC, where he froze. We got pretty chilly after the sun went down; it's going to be cold tonight, down to 40's, I think. Harold heard the same dinghy-arrest story I did, without the Lo-Jak part of it. 1/24/2005 (Monday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Mostly clear, but cold. I was hoping to cross to the Bahamas on Thursday, but it looks like the weather window won't be big enough. It's supposed to blow W on Wednesday, but N every other day this week. I really need a couple of days where it doesn't blow N, and some S wind would be best. Dinghied ashore, did internet. Dinghied ashore again, did internet, then groceries. Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner. 1/25/2005 (Tuesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Clear and cold early, then a nice day. Dinghied ashore, did internet. Back to boat, and did some work on the outboard. Tightened the throttle cables, adjusted the idle, and cleaned the spark plugs, which were filthy. I've had to use starting fluid to start the outboard the first time each day for the last several days; hope this fixes it. John came by and went ashore, and I followed shortly. I biked to the marina and did the book-exchange and bought zincs ($6) and caulk ($19), then met John in Lincoln mall. We admired the girls going in and out of the modelling agency for a while, as John did his email. Then we headed over to a restaurant that had a $5 special: any entree for $5. Had a very nice seafood linguine, although the portion could have been slightly bigger. Then we took a walk on the beach, and saw an absolute goddess: a woman who was young, tall, beautiful, and wearing almost nothing (just a thong-bikini bottom). We just gazed in admiration, along with every other man on the beach, as she came out of the water and walked up onto the beach. John walked further up the beach, while I headed back to my bike and then to the library. Caught up on more then a week's worth of newspapers. 1/26/2005 (Wednesday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Clear and cool early, then a beautiful warm day. Listened to the weather forecast, and kicked myself a little for not heading for the Bahamas today/tonight; conditions are better than expected. But I have a couple more things to do here, and what's the hurry anyway ? Outboard still needs some starting fluid to get started the first time in the morning. Dinghied ashore at 9, picked up Lenny, and took him out to the boat for a tour and a chat. John joined us, and we talked all morning. Lenny had been driving around the country looking at boats to buy. John and I worked to get him to think cheaper; he's been looking at some pretty expensive boats. He really was impressed by the gorgeous weather today and the clear, calm water here, and he's starting to get excited about living aboard and cruising. The three of us went ashore and had lunch at a Mexican place, then drove to the mainland to a solar-power store. Back to South Beach, where I did some internet and then called it a day. Salad and fruit and a cheese sandwich for dinner. 1/27/2005 (Thursday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Gorgeous day. Loafed. Dinghied ashore, did internet, bought gasoline ($5). Installed new zinc on engine at engine hour 3536. Pumped up dinghy tubes. Got groceries. Salad and chili for dinner. Ran engine for 30 minutes to exercise it. 1/28/2005 (Friday) At anchor at Belle Isle at South Beach, Miami. Very cloudy and grey, and some rain sprinkles early. Then rained steadily for a while around 8. Weather forecast sounds like I might be able to cross the Gulf Stream on Tuesday night: it's going to blow S-SE 15-20 on Monday, then S-SW 10-15 on Tuesday. Dinghied ashore and did internet. Back to boat for lunch, and then the clouds opened up about 2:30 and it rained hard for the rest of the afternoon. In a lull, I went out to bail out and hoist the dinghy, and saw John in the distance, doing the long, wet ride back to his boat. The other day he told me it takes him 18 minutes to go from his boat to the dinghy dock ! Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner. Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries. Wind building higher and higher, and very gusty. Plenty of rain, too. Blew all night, generally around 20 knots but with gusts well over 40 knots. And the gusts seemed to vary in direction, slewing the boat around in a very unusual way. Usually my boat is very steady at anchor. [Next log file is http://www.geocities.com/bill_dietrich/Magnolia/MagnoliaLog2005.txt ]