Counting down

All the mature vitamins are gone, and there's only a few coffee packs left in the can.  Not too long before we get to enjoy rain, sleet, and snow up in the cloud belt.

Pam wanted to go to the beach yesterday, so we packed lunch and took the dinghy over to Don Pedro.  It was windy, and the waves were crashing in to the beach.  All that surf stirred up the red tide, and we immediately started coughing as soon as we hit the sand.  We couldn't stay on the beach very long, but Pam found a few sharks teeth before we had to leave.

We walked the nature trail at Don Pedro, and saw several piles of "scat."  I thought they were probably from panthers, but Pam said they were most likely from racoons.

The weather here today is cloudy, windy, and there are tornado warnings.  I guess I'll need to use a heavier lure while casting into a tornado.

Our floating camper hasn't left the dock since we arrived.  As usual, the dinghy has seen a lot of use.  And we've put over 1500 miles on our truck AFTER we arrived in Cape Haze.  (Naples and Tampa twice) The charges on our credit cards for gasoline will be quite high for this trip.

Already starting to think about where we might go next year.

electric chicken

Friday, we were going to have dinner with Frank & Pat, our pals from Venice.  Before they got here, I went out to fish for a short while.  I hooked what I thought was the biggest red fish I'd caught this year.  The fish was stripping line like mad, and while I was raising my anchor with one hand, and starting  the video camera with the other hand and fighting the fish with my third hand, the fish got off.  I cried.

We had a very pleasant dinner and visit with Frank and Pat, and that helped me get over the disappointment of loosing a big red fish.  However, when I told my fishing friends down here about loosing the big red, they weren't very kind.  They said  "Must have been a sting ray."  "Maybe a manatee." And my favorite....."Probably a scuba diving interior decorator."
 
So, the next day, I went back to the same spot, and using the same bait, I caught this biggest red ever.

Saturday evening, we were invited over to Argay's house for dinner.  We had a great time with them, and dinner was superb.   On the way to their house, I stopped in Port Charlotte at Fishin Frank's to buy some soft plastic baits that Shelly had recommended.  I asked Frank if he sold Z-Man baits, and he looked me over, and said "Sure do--the best color is electric chicken."  And he put a package in my hand.  Electric chicken is bright pink and green.  It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen in the water.

I tied on an electric chicken this morning and went out to try my luck.  I kept looking at that thing, and thinking about that pink colored bait.  It really shows up in the water, and it practically glows when you cast it.  So I'm thinking..................did Frank peg me as a tourist, and get me to buy this pink bait so I won't catch any fish, and the locals can see me casting that pink thing from a long distance, and know I'm a rookie?

It didn't take long to set aside those concerns.  The biggest red ever from yesterday is no longer the biggest red ever.   And electric chicken is now my favorite color bait.

A dolphin tale

Wednesday was departure day for the girls.  Their plane left the Tampa airport about 3:30.  Kiera had watched the "Dolphin Tale" movie back home, and wanted to go see "Winter" at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  So we got up early and went to Clearwater before the airport.

If you haven't seen the movie, it's a true story about a dolphin that's fitted with a prosthetic tail.  It was filmed at the Clearwater Aquarium, and the actual dolphin "Winter" is still there.

Here's the trainers putting Winter's tail on.

And Winter exercising with her tail attached.

 

 

We had a great time over the short time the girls were here.  The weather was a little cool, but that didn't slow us down. 

The fourth day at the beach

On Tuesday, we went to a fourth different beach with the girls.

 

We picked up lots of shells and sharks teeth.  

There was a blooming cactus on Don Pedro St Park Beach.

I love this photo of a kid who's having so much fun at the beach that she's not even touching the ground.

I wanted to take Kindra and Kiera fishing, so we drove down to Eldred's marina to get some shrimp.  While we were there, the bait guy took Kiera to the end of the dock and let her throw some shrimp in the water.  Some giant snook came out from under the dock to grab the shrimp as they hit the water.  The snook were so big that at first I thought they were tarpon--until I saw the line on their sides. 

Then as the guy dipped our shrimp, he pulled out a live seahorse for Kiera to pet.

Using her little pink pole, Kiera finaly hooked into some sheepshead.

All Kindra caught were rocks. (But they were big ones.)

Who?

Cold 39 degrees this morning.  But it warmed up to the mid 70's.
Another day at the beach.
We went to Stump Pass State Park Beach.

On the way out to the beach, we found a spot we might want to check out for bingo later in the month.

The beach has a nature trail, and along the way, we found this nest.

For those of you up NOrth in the cloud belt who haven't seen it in a long time, that blue stuff behind the owl is sky.

Out on the beach, bodies were washed up everywhere.  Must be the red tide again.

Kiera found a shell tree

I asked her to find me a dollar tree, and on the way home, she found one near Walmart.

Back in the sailboat racing days, we had several inanimate objects for crew. (Not including Dawg)
For a while, we had an alien on board, and later, we enjoyed the company of Lucy the Love Doll.  After one race in Kentucky, she just disappeared.  We never knew what happened to her.
Now, it looks like she's retired and moved to Florida.  I'm happy to know she's doing well.  I know Dawg misses her.

Here's the original Lucy on the back of my boat and the alien on the bow.

And here's a couple of guys who will probably show up for the bingo game out on the beach

Cold Weather

We went out in the dinghy to explore the area.  Kiera found a star fish.

It was cold and windy here yesterday.  What can you do in cold weather on a crowded small boat?  Roll up the carpet for a game of jacks of course.

The girls decided to go over to Boca Grande to "shop."  They also went down to the lighthouse and out on the beach at the pass.

 

Banyan tree

 

I thought I might be able to fish for a little while, so I donned two of my sweatshirts and a jacket to give it a try.  Didn't last long.  We had an extreme low tide, so the area I usually fish was only about 4" deep.  I drifted over the shallow water, and found a spot that had water that was 12" deep in an area that was a 20' circle.  I hooked a redfish in that small space, but didn't get him to the boat.  I only lasted an hour in the cold wind before I gave up.

Earlier, I mentioned the ferries just outside our marina that haul cars across to an island.  On the way out to fish, I saw something unusual.  I heard sirens coming down the street to the ferry ramp.  An ambulance, two police cars and two fire trucks, were stopped, waiting on the ferry with flashing lights and sirens going.  When the ferry got to their side, they loaded on--with their lights and sirens still going.  They couldn't all fit for one trip, so the fire trucks sat and waited while the others went across.  Again, with all lights and sirens going.  I hope there was not a life-threatening event on the island, because it was a somewhat funny sight. 

Visitors from the NOrth

Someone's been sleeping in my bed, and she's still here.

On Thursday, we drove up to the Tampa airport to pick up Kindra and Kiera, our daughter and grand daughter.  We stopped on the way to have lunch with Beth and Tracy.  (Pam's sister and brother-in-law.)

We have six days to do all the Florida stuff.  We started with the beach.

Then, Kiera had to get into the pool.  I tried to convince her the hot tub was the 'Kiddie pool" but she's a too smart for that.

Kiera made a new friend on one of the Ranger Tugs left here in the marina.  Char goes to McDonald's occasionally, and brought Kiera two toys from happy meals.  She also gave Kiera a piece of left over Valentines Day cake, which she shared with the other girls on the boat.