Charlotte Harbor

We got to Charlotte Harbor Monday afternoon. The forecast was for west winds at 20, so we anchored up close to the shore in Pelican Bay where we would be protected from west winds. Unfortunately, the wind blew 20 from the NOrth, and we were exposed. (Not the usual way I expose myself) Strong winds pounded us all night. Tuesday, the wind was blowing even harder. A steady 25 gusting to 35. We had to move, but didn't want to go far. I remembered a small hidey-hole on the south end of Punta Blanca Island. (Known to some of you as "pig island") Cavanaugh and I had fished in there a few years ago, and I knew it was deep enough for us to get into. So we went around the island, and got into the protected cove. We were able to watch the new president on our TV. (The wind kept blowing the antenna off the roof.)

The Dawg likes to follow us on Google Earth, so for you Dawg, here's our location.

26 degrees, 40.664 minutes North

082 degrees, 13.659 minutes West

Along with the strong winds we also got low temperatures. In the 30's last night and tonight. We're ok on the boat--although the temp inside was 40 degrees. We have a new "Travasak" shaped like a V-berth that keeps us warm, and I can run the heater on low from the generator.

Today, we're going to try to cross Charlotte Harbor and go over to Burnt Store to "HOOK" up with the pirate Argay.

SWF 6 Companion

Later, we had a travelling companion. This guy followed us for about 5 miles.

We're south of Venice, and continuing on to Charlotte Harbor.

SWF 5 ICW

South on the ICW

We came on a bridge today that even we couldn't get under--less than 9' clearance. It is a swing bridge--not a draw bridge. Since we had just passed a couple of sailboats, we waited until they got there to have the bridge open.

SWF 4 ICW

We felt like we were still in a sailboat when the drawbridge went up. (Not for us however)

We anchored for the night behind a small island in Roberts Bay.

I'm able to jump on unsecured wireless networks to send and receive emails. Especially near condos.

The weather is sunny and clear--about 70 degrees. Acceptable

Today, we're passing Venice, and hope to make it close to Charlotte Harbor.

Southwest Florida 2009 South from Gulfport

We met some people at Gulfport marina who were from Wickford, R. I. They were on a trawler, and said they were doing the "great loop". Been at it 9 years. I offered to give them better directions.

We washed the boat (still ice in the boat soap) and left about 11 am. Motored south past the Sunshine Skyway, and past Sarasota.

SWF Arrival

The good news is that we arrived safely today about 1:00 pm. We launched at Gulfport.

The bad news was that we didn't depart on time. My red Ford diesel pick-up truck would not continue running in my driveway. It would start and then die after about 2 minutes. I went into town and bought some ant-gel additive and tried it, but same result. Then I went into town and bought some kerosene and added it to the fuel. Same result. The truck has two fuel filters, and I had some extras at home, so I replaced the easy one on top the engine block. Same result. In order to replace the other filter, I had to jack up the truck and crawl underneath it. (Don't forget it was -15 degrees or so.) When I removed the old filter, it didn't take too long to see the problem. I knew diesel will "gel" at low temps, but I'd never seen it quite so bad. Here's a photo of the old and new filters.

Southwest Florida 2009 Departure

Heading south tomorrow. We plan to launch at Gulfport Marina (near St Petersburg) about 1:00 pm on Saturday.
It's getting down to minus 15 degrees tonight. Hope the truck starts tomorrow