TC's Sailing Adventure

Day 6 was a pretty relaxing day. We knew we weren’t going anywhere so no need to prepare to set sail. So we used this day to work on some more projects. We are attempting to get our 3G router working so we can stream live video from the outside of the boat when we’re in range of 3G/WiFi. Looks like we might be short a few parts.

Speaking of, we are seriously gonna need to do laundry soon! Though there are means to do it on the boat, it isn’t as easy and convenient as a regular washer/dryer. Even the small things like emptying the trash, going grocery shopping, taking a shower, etc are hard to pull off on the boat.

We decided in the early afternoon that we needed to go to shore to get some groceries. We wanted to get all the ingredients needed to make tacos. Think of it as our Christmas dinner! But, when Chad went to shore he couldn’t find anything more than sandwich meat. Apparently this island is pretty isolated.

But, while Chad was on the island and poking around, he discovered a few bars. So after the sunset, we decided to step off the boat for a couple drinks. Especially important since the boat lacks rum!

We showered up, jumped in the dingy, and headed to shore. Let me say that being in that dingy is probably the scariest thing I’ve had to do so far. It isn’t exactly designed for a big bay. Canals are one thing, but open water with a flimsy boat can be scary!

After running around temporarily in the dingy (yes I know, we have terrible luck with running aground), we were finally in the channels. We zipped our way up to the end of the main channel, docked up, and walked to the bars.

Obviously the bars weren’t anything like what you’d expect from Gainesville or Tampa. More like the bars you’d see in a smaller town. Full of interesting characters. This bar was no exception. Within minutes of being there, we met Sailor Jim. This guy has been all up and down the eastern seaboard from Maryland all the way down to the Keys and then all the way down to South America. He delivers boats for customers as his main source of income. This guy sails boats by himself. He told us how he trusts sails over motors, and that having no motor really isn’t a big deal. Of course, he has a tri-hull boat, that draws like a foot of water. So you don’t have to worry about running that thing aground! Anyway, we listened to his stories for hours. He definitely had some great incite into sailing, and venturing out of the country. I’m much wiser for listening to him.

We left the bar right as the other drunks started to get rowdy. We didn’t want to get too wasted considering we had to drive a small dingy back to the boat. So we got a lift from Sailor Jim back to where our dingy was at, then we headed back to the sailboat. The wind definitely kicked up since we left! It was extremely nerve-racking trying to get back, but we made it. Made some spicy roman noodles and called it a night.

This was certainly the most interesting day yet. Thank you to everyone who has been reading about our trip and wishing us good luck along our journey.

So day 5 we woke up in the inner inlet of the Boca Grande pass. Still unsure about the motor and why it was billowing white smoke we decided to call a local Yanmar repair shop located on Pine Island in St James City. They advised us to be towed closer to their location, about 16 nautical miles, so they could come look at the boat.

Lucky for us, Chad bought a membership to TowBoatUS which covers up to $2,500 towards a towing incident. So we decided to call right away since traveling 16 NM in the inter-coastal could take a while. The tow boat showed up early around 9am and started pulling us towards the shop. Two hours later, and $900 later (don’t worry, we were covered), we arrived in San Carlos Bay between Pine Island and Sanibel Island. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go directly to where the shop is located cause the depth of our keel.

Once we arrived and said our goodbye to the tow boat we waited on the shop. They finally arrived by boat, started taking the engine apart and found water in 1 of the cylinders. Mind you this is a 3-cylinder engine. So that’s not good at all. They took some engine parts to go be tested and left right before sunset.

We thought they’d be open Friday (Christmas Eve) to perhaps diagnose and fix us up. But they called us after they left and said Monday is the next time they’ll be open. So, with engine parts in their hands, we’re spending Christmas in San Carlos Bay, outside Ft Myers. We have plenty of electricity between the bank of batteries, solar, wind generators, and a 3500W backup generator. And we have plenty of food and fresh water. But with the only way to move now being the sails, we’re unlikely to move. Though this cold front might justify another tow into a more sheltered mooring. We do have a dingy with a motor if we need to go on land. But during the night, the winds topped out the 2 wind power props at 50 mph. So we’re still mulling over driving a dingy in those kind of waters!

The good news is we’ll have plenty of time to get some things done. I always have client work and Chad has many little projects he’s been wanting to start. In my boredom last night, I made a webpage that can detect my iPhone or iPads GPS position, and post the result on the blog without manually updating like I was before. So now we can check in anytime very easily. Though you know where we’ll be until Monday!

Day 4 was another full day of travel. We left the Venice Inlet bright and early. Motored out a couple miles into deeper water before we turned south. It was a beautiful day, full of glossy water. Unfortunately, glossy water and wind don’t go together. So, it looked like another day full of motoring. And what little wind there was came directly from the south! We even saw another sailboat traveling parallel to us doing the same thing.

No worries, that’s what the diesel motor is for. So we set up the lounge chairs, turned up the Sirius satellite radio, and dodged more crab pots. And seriously, if I ever meet a crab fisherman, I might punch him in the face on principal that they lay traps EVERYWHERE! Anyway, we got down to around Englewood, a fishing destination I used to go to with my ex-girlfriend and her family. Great place to go. Right as we are passing the city, Chad realizes the boat is taking in water, a fair amount, via the propeller shaft. We stop the motor so Chad can fix the leak, which takes about an hour and a half. While he fixed that, he noticed water coming from the air intake of the boat. Not good! The engine, when underway, began to billow out white smoke. Unfortunately, we weren’t in a position to sail and we couldn’t just chill a couple miles off the coast for the rest of the day/night. So, we kept motoring while monitoring the engine.

We tried to gain access to Stump Pass, really the only inlet we could get into for the night before the sun went down. This was around 3:30p so we thought we had plenty of time. Unfortunately, the boat wasn’t having it. The few attempts we made to get in there were foiled by the depth gauge that said we would ground if we tried to enter. We even had a nice gentleman in a flats boat try and check the depths and unfortunately it was a no-go. When we asked him what the next inlet might be, he said Little Gasparilla pass, but there were so many shoals there that we wouldn’t want to try it. Our only option was Boca Grande pass. After charting it, we knew we had around 16 km to get there. And you have to start entering the pass from at least 3 miles out to avoid the breakers and shallow waters.

We finally arrived at the markers to turn in around sunset. The water was eerily smooth. You couldn’t pay me to take a swim in that water! We watched the sunset right as we turned into the channel. We still had very limited daylight so we motored our way in, took about 45 minutes to an hour. By that time, it was dark. Unlike the first day, we had all the tech gear out to assist us in finding a place to anchor. And, we didn’t have to deal with huge waves and freezing conditions. So we turned just north from inside the bay, went up a few hundred yards, and there was the the other sailboat we traveled with earlier in the day. We knew this was the spot for us. We anchored down, turned the engine off.

Today’s agenda includes diagnosing the engine problem. Perhaps ringing up TowboatUS, unfortunately. And getting things set back up for sailing again. In the mean time, while Chad works on the boat, it gives me plenty of time to work on client stuff. So I guess day 5 won’t be the tropical paradise just yet! Soon though!

Day 3 was a good day. I woke up bright and early to catch the sunrise. I posted my adventures about day 2 and we slowly got everything together to get underway. We left Sarasota around 11am and headed south. Unfortunately the wind wasn’t playing nice so we pretty much had to motorsail the majority of the time on the water. We did go further out this time to avoid the ridiculous amounts of crab pots. We ventured about 7 miles off shore and tried to tack but the wind just want having it.

We picked our final destination of Venice, Florida. A city I’ve never been to and don’t know much about. We went into the bay area, looking for a spot to anchor down. Unfortunately the mooring field was full. So we headed down a little more to a marina/restaurant.

We docked and met some nice folks at the restaurant Marker 4. We had an opportunity to take a nice hot shower, eat, and have a few drinks while we watched the UL/SM bowl game at the Trop. We then took it to the boat and called it a night.

We got a pretty good amount of miles in considering the no wind. Today we plan on covering at least that distance, if not more!

So day 2 was certainly better than day 1. It was also more of the things I pictured doing.

We didn’t sail on day 2. We pretty much woke up, started fixing stuff on the boat and put things away that we didn’t have a chance to before. We then took the opportunity to relax. A requirement on this trip obviously.

Knowing we had to get fuel, we went around Bird Key to the main harbor of Sarasota. Docked and fueled up, and went for a bite to eat.

We met up with my long time friend Bekah and had dinner overlooking the water. It was pretty much exactly what we were looking for. Good food with good people in a good location.

Afterward we went back to the boat, headed to the moaring field, and passed out! It’s amazing how early we want to go to bed now. By 10pm I can barely keep my eyes open! Day 3 we plan on sailing down as far as we can go. I’m thinking Sanibel/Ft Myers area, but we’ll see!