Death by Dinghy

It was dead calm smooth this morning so I went out fishing (an annual tradition on this date.)  Since Pam didn't go, I was able to fly out to the islands. Got there in less than 15 minutes.  Right away, I caught a lot of very nice trout.  Probably about 66 of them.

Then, another boat came by.  I usually don't see many boats out there.  This one had 3 or 4  women and 3 or 4 men.  They stopped not too far away for about 15 minutes, then they left.  I thought they weren't very patient fishermen.  Soon, the fish stopped biting, so I had lunch.

As I was enjoying lunch, I saw some flowers drift by my dinghy.  Nice red and white tropical flowers.  The islands here are all mangroves, so I didn't think the flowers fell from trees on the islands.  I tried fishing again, but the bite was off.  Don't know what happened--the fish were really biting before that other boat stopped nearby.  Finally, it hit me.  The people on the other boat were scattering someone's ashes and threw those flowers out on the water.   I always thought that when the time comes, that was what I wanted for my remains.  But now, I'm not so sure--I wouldn't want to ruin someone else's fishing day.

Later, I moved to another spot, and caught a ton of Jacks about 14 or 15 inches long.  If you don't know Jack about salt water fishing, I can tell you that ounce for ounce, not many fish fight harder than Jacks.  I must have caught 66 Jacks.

Then it was time to head back.  I hadn't noticed while I was behind the islands that the wind had picked up.  It was blowing 15 to 20 and as usual, right on the nose.  My 15 minute trip out there turned into almost an hour coming back.  The dinghy was bouncing so much that I couldn't stay on the seat, so I sat down on the floor.  This shallow bay has got to be the choppiest place on the planet.  I was pounding into the waves so hard, that I started thinking about the headlines when I washed up somewhere. "Old Man from Indiana Beaten to Death by his Own Dinghy."

Key West

So yesterday, we drove down to Key West to visit with Beth & Tracy. I was suspect of his stories about topless women in the pool at his hotel.  The flag out front was a clue as to what to expect.  B & T's room was on the third floor just to the right of the single window.

 

I think there's more space on our boat than there is in their room. I had to stand out in the hall to take this photo.

Pearl's is a "gay friendly" resort.  In fact, gay women are their main business.  Tracy did swear that there had been several topless women couples in the pool.  I guess it's all the same equipment--as long as we're just looking at them.  So, Tracy and I put on our speedo's and sat by the pool holding hands waiting for a show.  I even practiced talking photos with my cell phone while pretending to be talking.  Unfortunately, all for naught.



We walked around the usual spots in Key West, and had lunch at Pepe's.

That painting on the wall in Pepe's is the only "clothing optional" I saw while in Key West. 



After lunch, we walked around Fort Zachery Taylor.  Here's a photo of Tracy trying to get a photo of this large iguana.  I think the iguana had thoughts of having Tracy for lunch. 

Warp Speed

Tried to get an early start this morning, and I was at the bait shop by 8 am.  They had already sold out of shrimp.  So I drive on down the way to a bait shop right next door to the Pelican Cove Resort.  Nice guy there, and the shrimp were bigger than the first place. (When they have them.)  The only shortage I might encounter at the new bait shop is when the guests at the Pelican Cove order shrimp for dinner. 


So, we went out in the dinghy this morning with my shrimp.  The wind was blowing from the south, so the trip out there was great.  (Not so great on the return trip--pretty bumpy.) 
We went around behind one of the islands--mostly to get out of the wind.  I told Pam that there probably wouldn't be any fish there.  I only caught Jacks, Ladyfish, Mackerel, Catfish, Sharks, Lizardfish, and about a dozen really nice trout like these two.

 

The new motor is really fast.  I took the GPS back out again to see what the top speed might be, but I always black out over 20 mph.

Looks like some guy out the dock from us had a little more serious problem this afternoon.  There were 10 paramedics taking him out on the gurney.

Tracy keeps sending me emails from the "clothing optional" place where they're staying in Key West. I guess his camera is broken, because he only describes in words what he's seeing in the pool.  I'll be driving down there tomorrow to see for myself.

New motor

Our new motor arrived today. 
Thanks to Beth and Tracy for delivering it.
And thanks to Wayne for selling it to us. 
It started right up, and runs great.  It makes less noise at idle than our 2 hp does.
The 2 hp motor would propel us along at about 6 mph.  I took the GPS out with me today, and got up over 20 mph with the new motor.  I think Pam and I are going to take the dinghy up to Ft Myers for lunch tomorrow.

Today, we took Beth and Tracy to the Island Grill for lunch.  We started out with their world famous Tuna Nachos.   Good stuff.

Beth and Tracy went on down to Key West for few days.  They're staying at a place called Pearl's Key West Hotel.  I looked it up online, and it says it's a "clothing optional" resort.  I'm guessing Tracy booked that place.  We're going to drive down to KW on Thursday to hang out with them for the day. (I mean that in the "visiting" way--not the "clothing optional" way of "hanging out".)

More truck

After thinking about my wonderful Ford truck all night, I decided to pull out the EGR valve this morning.  It was new in March, the turbo was new in July.  I found a couple of pieces of crud about the size of a pea inside the EGR.  Hopefully, the crud was holding the EGR open when it should have been closed.  If that doesn't solve the problem, I've got the phone number of the guy who works on diesel engines in boats.  "Diesel Dan"  Most people who work on boats in Florida have names like that......"Rigger Rick"  "Canvas Cathie"   "Diver Dave"  One of the best, was the diver guy who we had clean the bottom of our sailboat in Burnt Store Marina.  His name is Bill Fell.  His business card read "Bill Fell in the water."

There was a free concert here in the park yesterday.

The marina is really filling up.  I'm sure there's more boats here this year than last year.  There's so many bigger boats here, that the only way to see out is go up on the observation deck.

Always something

We rode our bikes for about an hour yesterday.  We toured the Venetian Shores neighborhood on Snake Creek.  Most homes in there are for sale--same as last year.  The "cheap" houses are about $750,000, with a lot of multi-million dollar homes. After so much exercise, we stopped for ice cream on the way back just to make sure our systems didn't get out of balance. 


We've been watching a lot of IU basketball games. (I'm not sure why)   I found some sites where we can watch them streaming on the laptop.  (ESPN3 and some other pirate sites--thanks Richman.)   I have a Virgin Mobile MiFi. When I got it, it was $40 per month with unlimited usage, with no annual contract.  Well, that no contract sword cuts both ways.  They changed their side of the contract and said I still had unlimited usage, but anything over 5 GB per month would be at a slower speed.  Streaming basketball must use a lot of data.  I reached the 5 GB in less than 2 weeks.
I thought I could pay Virgin for another month (2 weeks) or maybe check with Comcast--since we already have cable TV.  Internet service from them is $29 per month on an introductory offer.  So I drove up to their office in Key Largo to get a self install kit.  The line at Comcast was out the door full of angry customers.  Seems they had cut off TV service to everyone on the Keys who has more than the standard TV package.  I finally got my kit, and went back to the boat to install it.  It's about ten times faster than my DSL at home, but it's not wifi.  It connects to the laptop with a cable, which is fine, but I had just set up a Google Voice phone number to make calls over wifi on my limited minutes cell phone.  Now I no longer have wifi, so if I sent you that number--ignore it for now.
But the bad news is IU looks just as slow on high speed internet service.

And plumbing is a never ending challenge.  Now I see why my pal Wayne makes so much money in the plumbing supply business.  Every 2 or 3 days, Pam lets me know that the carpet is wet.  Which means we have another leak.  Wednesday, it was the accumulator tank leaking from the top.  Don't know why I need it, so I bi-passed it and took it out.  She just told me that she stepped in water on the floor again today.  I think I might buy her a pair of boots.

But the worst news is that today, our wonderful, made in Kentucky, Ford diesel truck started blowing clouds of black smoke again, and lost power while hauling groceries back from Winn-Dixie.  It towed our boat down here, but I guess the groceries were just too much for it.  Not sure how we might get it repaired.  The closest Ford dealer is in Miami.  Of course we've had it towed to Ford dealers in Georgia, West Virginia, and had a new turbo installed in Noblesville, Indiana.  All in all, we've spent over $4000 in repairs on that truck in the past year.  If you're looking for a diesel truck, I suggest you DO NOT BUY A FORD !

Dogfishing

After my comments about catfishing, I received this email from my pal Bruce Berner suggesting I try dogfishing.................

Tom,
I have a slightly used Honda 225 sitting in the garage that I would be willing to part with. That should get you a little more speed. I could arrange for the Skycrane helicopter to deliver it. By the way, try teacup poodles or yorkies for bait. They are easier to catch, don't have sharp claws and give great rod action in the water. I'm leaving Monday for New Mexico to go elk fishing. Not sure what you use for bait there.
Have Fun, Bruce

As luck would have it, today I saw this sign on a shop down the road.

Speaking of bait, I've always heard that if you want to catch big fish--use big bait.  If I could just get this thing on a hook.............................

While out fishing yesterday afternoon, I saw some dolphins doing the backstroke.

 

The little lumps in the following photo are the islands where I go fishing. 

It usually takes me 45 minutes or so to get there with the 2 hp outboard on my dinghy.  I considered Bruce's 225, but I think a 9.8 hp will probably take me Mach 2 with my hair on fire.  (And since I haven't had my hair cut in over a year, that should be quite a blaze.)

My pal Wayne in North Vernon, Indiana has graciously agree to sell me his 9.8 Nissan outboard.  Beth and Tracy are driving from Indiana to Key West next week, and they have graciously agreed to pick up Waynes motor, and drop it off here.  (Don't worry Wayne--the check's in the mail.)

Catfishing

It's not as easy as you might think.  First you've got to catch one--unless you can convince the people at the humane society that you just want a pet.  Claws in the inflatable are another problem.  And of course, sharks are bottom feeders.  If you attach enough weight to hold the bait on the bottom (ie concrete block) you can't cast it out very far.

We went up into the Everglades National Park to fish today.  Shortly after arriving, I got to speak with a Park Ranger.  Fortunately, my fishing license, boat registration, life jackets, etc, etc were all in order.

The water is not too deep where we first anchored, and we were able to see a sting ray swim under the dinghy.

Pam only comes along so she can watch dolphins, and she wasn't disappointed today.

We moved to a little deeper channel, and after a while, I hooked a fish that took off like a rocket.  

 

I fought it for quite a while, and finally got it to the boat.  I think it's a Pompano (maybe a Permit.)

Contrary to popular belief, my dinghy is big enough.  And I really like my little 2 hp Suzuki outboard.  But it's just too slow.  If you or someone you know has a larger outboard that they'd like to sell and ship to the Keys, please contact me.  An ideal motor would be one of the 9.8 hp Tohatsu or Nissan 2-strokes. They're lighter weight than the newer 4-strokes.

Shark !!

Pam says there's something wrong with fishing for sharks from a rubber blow up boat.
And I still have a scar from a shark bite that happened when I brought a shark inside my boat. 

So, today, I went fishing for sharks.

 

 

I used  shrimp to catch pinfish, and then used the pinfish for shark bait.

I mentioned earlier that there are some feral cats here at the marina.  Pam took a photo of these two today.

 

If I can get Pam to catch them, I wouldn't need to use shrimp and pinfish tomorrow.

Regatta

What a great day for a regatta.  Sunny, perfect wind, makes me wish I were a sailor.

 

Last year, we met a couple here who were looking to downsize to a trailerable boat.  They went out with Phil and Cathie on Buddy.  I guess Phil's sales effort fell short.  The Sass's bought a Tom Cat.

We didn't see many iguanas in Islamorada last year, however, there seems to be quite a few this time.

We're in the "houseboats" area in the marina.  The two boats to the right of us are sitting on the bottom at low tide.

It's been so windy the last few nights that it's been difficult to sleep.  We had a sun shade over the v-berth hatch, and when the wind increased to about 20 one night, it flapped so loud that I had to go out at 2 am to take it down.  The next night, the wind shifted around, and as the boat rocked, the dock lines made a squeaking noise that woke me up.  I changed the expensive double braided lines to cheap triple braid with more streach.  So far, no squeaks.  At least the houseboats beside us don't rock much when they're sitting on the bottom.

Hoosiers

The sailing regatta continues today just outside the marina.  The wind is blowing over 20 this morning, and it's chilly with a chance of rain.  So they switch modes from drifting boredom to white knuckle survival.  Why would someone drive hunderts of miles and spend hunderts of dollars coming down here just to capsize, dunk his pals into the water, and tear up hunderts of dollars of gear?  Hard for me to imagine.

In order to stay away from traffic, we usually ride our bikes on the old highway.  Click on this link to see the area where we ride.

It's warmed up a little this afternoon (74)  Earlier, when it was 60 all the dogs around us had on their doggie sweaters.  I guess I shouldn't make fun of them...........we drove up to K-Mart in Key Largo this afternoon.  Pam bought Christmas socks. 

Drift Away

I bought some live shrimp for bait yesterday.  (Everything in the ocean eats shrimp.)  There were still a few shrimp in the bucket, so I left it in the water next to the boat. A baby barracuda has been hanging around trying to figure how to get a shrimp out of the bucket.

 

We went just outside the marina to fish a little this afternoon.  There were a hundert sailboats out on the water just drifting in place.  The glassy water is a good indication of the lack of wind.

 

Makes you wonder what kind of a person would drive hunderts of miles and spend hunderts of dollars (and probably drag along some of his pals) to just sit there and drift???  Hard for me to imagine.

Buddy's Back

We had a little rain and wind Wednesday night.  Thursday was calm, but overcast.  I heard some thunder early, but decided to take the dinghy north to some islands where I had fished last year.   About 45 minutes with my trusty Suzi 2 at full throttle. Pam stayed home.   It was hard to tell the sea from the sky today.

I caught a variety of fish...............snapper, mackerel, bluefish, and some of the largest lady fish ever.  I was sure I had a tarpon.    The first lady fish jumped several times and pulled line off the drag--entangling my anchor line, the shrimp bucket line, and my second pole.  Quite a circus.

Phil and Cathie in "BUDDY"  arrived Thursday.  We first met them 2 years ago at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon.  They had a sailboat then, but were interested in looking at our Rosborough.  After returning home to Wisconsin, they sold their sailboat, and bought a Rosborough.  They were here last year in Islamorada the same time as us.

They're still flying that Green Bay Packers flag from last year.  Our Colts flag seems to have disappeared.


We saw this green guy here in the park.  Our son had something like this as a pet when he was at IU.

 

I've owned some boats that claim to have built-in floatation. I've even installed some floatation air bags in some small sailboats.  But this guy must really be worried about sinking.

There's a beach cat regatta here this weekend.  They've been having practice races all week.

Trumpy

I enjoy looking at older, classic boats.  I've owned several, and it's far more fun looking at other peoples classic boats than owning and maintaining them yourself.  I saw this boat in our marina, and knew right away it is special.  It's a 1963 Trumpy.  Instead of inserting my small photo, click on the link to one of the several websites about "TIRELESS."  (Which, if you don't figure it out on your own, is what you need to be to maintain a 68' wooden boat.   I spoke with her captain as he was sanding the deck, and he said he's been at it for 15 years.  So Dawg, if you'd like to come and visit us, but don't want to sleep on our little back porch enclosed with tarps, there's a stateroom available in TIRELESS.  They're prices are just a little higher than ours ($1250.00 per night,) but their menu is more complete --although I didn't see stale bologna sandwiches on it.

This is a "dog friendly" marina located in a "dog friendly" city park.  Almost every other boat in the marina has a dog.  Some have two.  We're surrounded by dogs.  I'm surprised they let us in here without a dog.  Don't get me wrong--I like dogs.  I still get choked up when I think of our wonderful old pal Genny.  Gone but not forgotten.  However, at 7 am, I'm not thinking about Genny when the neighbor dogs start barking.
Of course, the cat lovers are well represented here also.  One boat has three cats.  They started out with "Mooch."  But Mooch was lonely, so the owners went to a shelter to find a companion.  In an all too familiar story, they came home with two additional cats, because they didn't want to separate sister cats.  So now along with Mooch, they have #1 and #2.  The only way to tell #1 and #2 apart is that #2 wears a collar.  There's also several feral cats here in the park, and someone has set up a feeding station for them at the shore end of our dock.  Close enough that when there's a disagreement among cats at 2 am, we can hear the screeching.  I'm not complaining--just explaining my heavy use of sleeping pills.

After three trips to the hardware store, I finally have the water leaks down to a manageable trickle.  I have begun shutting off the water at the dock when we leave the boat.

The weather forcasters are warning us that a cold front will be coming through in the next few days.  Instead of the usual high of 80 degrees, we should expect a high temp of only 75.

Conch shells

We took out the dinghy fishing today, and we're having fish for dinner tonight!  Lucky for me we brought some frozen salmon from home.  I did catch some barracudas today, but I'm not sure who eats who in that food chain.
We watched a dolphin swimming close by the dinghy, and then it put on a show for us by jumping clear of the water about 20 times.

Back when we were in the boat business, we would always enjoy the "whistle gophers" that came to the boat shows.  You know the ones.................they walk up, look at your boat, whistle, and say "What's she go fer?"  Now I'm encountering a similar animal--not exactly the same species, but most likely from the same genus.  They walk up, look at our twin 50 hp outboards, and ask "What'll she do with those twins?"  My reply is "We usually cruise at 70 miles per hour." (Like the "p" in pneumonia, the "when it's on the trailer" is silent.)

When we were in Marathon two years ago, we heard a lot of people blowing conch shells at sunset.  Heard it again here in Islamorada last year.  I finally asked a guy down the dock where he got his conch shell.  He said any of the local tourist shops would have them.  So, I looked around, and found conch shells that had been modified to blow like a horn.  However, they were all $20 or more.  Since I'm so cheap, I thought of the old conch shell that had been laying around back home for probably a hundert years.  When we got back  I got the old conch shell out of the dirt, and using my dremmel tool, cut a hole in the appropriate end of it, and voila-- I am now a menace to my boat neighbors every sunset.

SALY

S.A.L.Y. (Same As Last Year)

Hooked up the electric, cable tv, and water hose.  We're tethered to the dock, and more like campers than cruisers - again.  When we turned on the water, all the hose clamps on the water lines leaked, and the carpet got wet - again.  Don't know if traveling makes them come loose or maybe winterizing.  The white water hose that we connect the boat to the shore water system blew up in the night and was spraying water all over the docks.  Fortunately, someone shut it off for us.  I guess there was enough water left in it that it froze in the cold weather at home, and leaving pressure on it made it blow out.  A trip to West Marine and about $40 fixed that problem.

Got the dinghy together yesterday.  It gets  harder to pump up every time I do it. Went out to fish just outside the marina and caught some snapper - again.

Put the folding bicycles together, and rode up through the park.  Saw a group of Hobie Cats setting up and getting ready for a regatta - again.

So many things are the same as last year, that we thought maybe we should do something to differentiate this year from last.  Something that would really turn things around.  So I made a daring move, and took the boat out, turned it around, and parked it in our slip pointy end first.

 

We spent the entire time last year backed into our slip.  It's easier to get on and off the boat, but we don't have much of a view off the back porch when we're backed in.  

The view out our back door is much better this year.

Islamorada again

We left home early Tuesday morning, and drove to Gainesville, FL.  Then Wednesday, we finished the trip and arrived in Islamorada about 3pm.  Launched the boat, and didn't do much else.  A long trip.
 
We made the journey with no truck issues.  The new turbo I had installed in my truck was grand.  (Actually it was more like $2.3 grand.)   Anyway, it was good to have no issues.

We saw people walking around this morning with their winter coats, gloves etc.  Checked the temp, to find it was a brisk 60 degrees.  The locals acted like it might sNOw.

Since we're in the same marina as last year, and will probably be doing the same stuff as last year,  I suggest you simply look back at last years blog, and read one a day.