Everglades

Wednesday 1-28-09

A couple off one of the cruisers came over to say hi in their dinghy. They're from Connecticut. Said they were doing the great loop. Been at it a little over a year. I had hailed them on the VHF radio when they came in last night because they were heading for the cove we anchored in earlier. (Where it was only a foot deep at low tide.) They thanked us for warning them. He said he checked his tide tables, and found that we go from a -.7' to a plus 3.4' So it is a 4' tidal range. Their boat draws 4'. They are heading south. Next stop Shark River, then Marathon.

Everyone asks what our gas consumption is, so I finally looked back to check it. We burn just over 1 gallon an hour cruising at 7 mph. That may seem like a lot to you Prius (or Yaris) drivers, but some of the larger cruisers burn 30 gallons per hour.

I went fishing again, and caught about a hundert trout like this one.

In between tangles

The dinghy still leaks after several attempts to patch it. So I take the foot pump with me, and pump as I go. It also is leaking a lot of water in through the bottom somewhere, so I have to keep bailing it out. But it still beats shoveling snow. We only used SPF 30 today, and are suffering with sunburns. Clear skies and 82 degrees is dangerous weather.

The neighboring boats left this morning, so we are alone with the deafening silence and extreme darkness again tonight.

I've done a count, and discovered that they have a few extra billion stars down here.

We will be going into Everglades City tomorrow.