The Little Things

When you're cruising on a sailboat--it's the little things that matter. For instance, because we spent the night in a marina, I had the opportunity to take a hot shower in their lady's room and leave the water running as long as I wanted. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but for sailors this is fabulous! We have on-board showers, but to conserve water and energy, we never leave the water running! The other 'little' things would be the way the moon looks every night; the stars; the flavor of coffee in the morning; and the deep way I breathe in the fresh air while sitting on the deck of our boat.
We're off for the area known as Ten Thousand Islands--where we hope to find an anchorage off of Indian Key.

New Moon Rising

Well, we started the day with being 'flashed' by an old guy in a bright yellow g-strap!!! It was about 8am, when a small fishing boat went by.  Barry and I were busy sanding the boot stripe, in preparation for painting. I thought "Is that guy naked???" No, thank God, he wasn't...but he made sure that I saw that he only had on a g-strap. Just an FYI, this guy was at least 65 and he had a beer gut as well. Barry and I laughed out loud--hopefully he heard us. What a way to start the day!


Linda--early morning





Our alternative modes of transportation



Barry spent most of the day painting the black boot stripe a nice green color that matches our canvas. The boat looks new! I started a new book and enjoyed the beach. Tomorrow, we head further south.


Barry working--paradise isn't all about having fun



Our new green trim stripe--gorgeous!



Little Marco Island





Little Marco Island sunset

Sunset Little Marco Island



Our home for a couple of days



Path to the Gulf

  What a great day! We set sail around 8:00 this morning and arrived in this lovely body of water called Little Marco Pass around 3:00p.m. (25 degrees, 59.656, W 81 degrees 45.080 )  We have anchored in some quiet water close to a beach that has a pathway to  the Gulf. On the way over today, we saw frigate birds (a first for me--they're huge birds with scissor tails); we had several dolphins escort us into the pass; and Barry did some fishing from the back of the boat. He caught a ......seagull! The poor gull was attached to the lure. Barry reeled the bird in, just like a kite, and managed to release the hook so the gull could fly away unharmed. I couldn't watch. I walked the beach on the Gulf side and collected shells for our grandson--some good finds, nothing exotic. Then the two of us watched the sunset together. Looking forward to a simple dinner and some spectacular stars. What a wonderful day in paradise! We'll stay here tomorrow while Barry works on the boat and I sit on the beach.

Setting Sail

Tuesday, January 17th

Suzy and Ann on the way to Sanibel

Ann at the wheel



Beaded on the dock



Suzy at the wheel



Suzy at the bow

Greetings from Naples, FL, where we are anchored off of a lovely, small beach. We set sail yesterday from our snug, friendly harbor to start our trip to the Keys. Prior to leaving, we took an afternoon sail on Sunday with our new friends Suzy and Ann--both vacationers from the Quad Cities are of Illinois/Iowa. Suzy and I met while doing biking and kayaking at a local state park. She's an adventurous soul and was interested in sailing, so we took her and Ann over to Sanibel Island for a walk on the beach. Barry encouraged both of them to take a turn at the wheel--which they found exhilerating!

Good News, Bad News

The good news is I got to kayak with MANATEES today at Lover's Key State Park!! The bad news is my camera went overboard while I was rushing to get my binoculars to see a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron (a rare sight). Luckily, it was only my cheap camera. So...no photos of our fun sail and visit yesterday with Barry's brother Tom, his wife Carol, and our friend Georgie and no photo of the manatee:(
We are enjoying mild temperatures here and are thinking of all of you in snowy, frigid St. Louis! Tomorrow we may join in a sailboat race in nearby San Carlos Bay--I'll take pictures with Barry's old, reliable camera.

Fort Myers Beach, FL

We're back in Fort Myers Beach at Bonita Bill's Harbor....where there's music every night and cheap eats and drinks. Barry has been here since Dec. 27th--working on the boat and making new friends (both specialities of his). I just arrived last Friday and have cleaned and scrubbed and organized things while having fun too. On Sunday, we took a sailboat cruise to Sanibel

Beach on Lover's Key



Sue and Linda





Barry and Jerry



Simone

 Island with our dock neighbors from Newfoundland--Simone and Jerry. After anchoring out, we took the dinghy in to shore and walked the beach for a while--unfortunately the beach was littered with many dead fish from a recent'red tide'. yuk Yesterday, I had a wonderful time at a state park called Lover's Key (named for two pirates who honeymooned here in the late 1700s). I took a bike tour with an extremely knowledgeable guide and was lucky enough to see a large alligator, an eagle, osprey, tortoises, and numerous butterflies unknown in St. Louis. Fantastic day for a nature nerd like me!! Today is my birthday, so my great friend Sue Stock came down to visit from Tampa. We got all caught up on kids and husbands and grandbabies and enjoyed a lunch waterside. I've also enjoyed a walk on the beach at sunset with Barry and I'm looking forward to a light dinner later tonight at a highly recommended, casual seafood place nearby. Take a look at our pictures!

The Hunt for "Reds" October



Barry and Lou



Linda and Barry--chilling out at Cabbage Key



Cabbage Key

 


Barry, Dale, and Deni at Cabbage Key

 

Mardi Gras at anchor--Cabbage Key



Dale, Deni, and Barry at Sarasota

 


Sarasota sunset




Barry, Dale, and Linda Bradenton





The Cardinals are in the World Series (!) and we're in Florida with our friends Dale Rice and Deni O'Rourke for a couple of weeks. They are huge fans of the Cards--but we have no TV on the boat so we tried our best to find a place to watch the games as we hopscotched down the coast from Gulfport to Fort Myers. This was not as easy as you might think since no one in Florida cares about teams from TX and MO playing for a championship. We ended up watching games in local pubs--sometimes begging them to turn on the sound for us. Because Florida is populated by an older crowd, the pubs closed at 10:00--when the games were about half over. So we ended up sitting on the boat listening to the games on the BBC of all things. Imagine listening to the call of the game with a British accent--"I say, old chap, cheers to the Cards for a brilliant effort."
Besides hunting for games, we visited beautiful cities like Cortez, Sarasota, and Bradenton--discovering farmers' markets and places like Cabbage Key, an old world Florida resort. Take a look at our pictures and enjoy the 'hunt' with us!


Deni and Dale