Thursday, 7 January 2016 - Today I finally headed into Gasparilla Marina after having waited in the sound for a couple of days waiting for the water to rise in the channel. I got there right at high tide and had no problem whatsoever. My appointment with the refrigeration repairman isn't until tomorrow, but there is plenty to do. First on the list was purchasing a new starter battery. I was surprised to get a reasonable price right at the marina. This is not a large marina. It only has slips for 160, but they store over 1000 boats in racks four boats high and launch your boat with large forklifts capable of lifting a 40,000 lb. boat, when you want to go boating. Sailboats not included, of course. Three things I intended to do here were buy diesel fuel, pump out the holding tanks, and top off my water tank. Since I had already tied up the boat in the slip, I decided it would be easier to use my jerry cans of diesel to top off the fuel tank than to untie and go to the fuel dock. That done, and considering the fact that I hadn't eaten much all day, I went to dinner at the marina's restaurant and had one of the best salads I've had in years; large and everything in it, green stuff, purple stuff, chicken, ham, eggs, and more...and a margarita on the side. After dinner, I went over to the Captain's Lounge and downloaded some digital charts from the NOAA website.

Friday, 8 January - I greeted the refrigeration repairman from Grande Aire at about 7:45am and he got started. He found the leaks in a fairly easy spot to repair, but it still took all morning to replace two leaking connectors and draw a vacuum on the lines and make sure there were no more leaks. He finished at about 1pm and high tide to get out of the marina was to be at 2:00. I immediately called the marina fuel dock and the fuel dock manager came and got me and the four five gallon diesel jerry cans at the boat to fill up. When we finished filling the tanks, I mentioned that I was running out of time and hadn't had time to go buy groceries and that I'd probably just go back to Boca Grande for them tomorrow. He gladly resolved my problem by saying, "Take my truck to the grocery store." He only had to say it once. That was great. This will probably be the last chance to buy groceries at "real world" prices for a long time, and by having his vehicle, I was able to buy lots more than if I'd been on my bike. He was actually the second person that had offered to help me out in respect to grocery shopping. Yesterday, when buying the battery, I asked the service manager about getting into town, and he said he couldn't do it then, but take me to the grocery store in his truck during his lunch hour today, drop me off, then return for me when I was through. With the repairman taking so long, I had missed that window. I got back from shopping at about 2:45 and the fuel manager took me back to the boat, helped me cast off, and out I went without a hitch. Never saw less than 9ft of water under my hull. Folks, that's service you won't get in the big city.
                  Today must be a very unusual day. According to my tide table, high tide was at 1:55pm and the next low tide was at 5pm, two inches higher. How does that work? I've moved back into the middle of Gasparilla Sound in about 9 ft. of water for the afternoon, put away gas cans, food, and coiled lines and can now relax and catch up on typing this. Tomorrow's weather looks rainy and the winds from the south, so I think I'll sit here and wait for better winds that are predicted Sunday, then strike out for Key West or the Dry Tortugas. I'd like to see Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas, if the winds favor sailing in that direction. Actually, Tortugas is 2 miles closer from here than Key West, but there is a lot of 100 ft. water between here and there that I couldn't anchor in, meaning I'd have to sail non-stop across it. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet. There are also lots of wrecks out in that deep water; not sure why. I probably don't want to find out, either.
                  Right now, as the sun sets at 5:49, there's not a breath of wind and the water is so calm I can see the reflections of clouds on it. Very nice. Immediately upon writing that last sentence, it dawned on me, that ought to make it very easy to spot dolphins as they breach, so I went up on deck and, sure enough, I hadn't been there more than ten seconds when I spotted a small pod headed south in the sound in front of the boat. I took a picture. You won't see porpoises, but the clouds after sunset, and the water, are beautiful. I took a picture, see the link below.
                  Later, it is so calm, I can see the reflections of the stars dancing on the water.

Saturday, 9 January - A little foggy this morning with light winds. For the first time, my refrigeration seems to be shutting down intermittently, as it should, and my batteries were 74% charged when I got up, which is pretty good, even though the wind barely blew last night. They've been being in the 60% range in the mornings lately. Perhaps the rather expensive repair job will prove its worth. Only time will tell, I'll know in about a month, assuming I don't have to recharge the fluid again by then. I really shouldn't have to recharge for a lot longer than that, but a month would be a good indication.

Sunday, 10 January - Still raining lightly when I got up. The conditions actually looked pretty good for heading further south this morning, except. It looks like if I took off this morning, I would run into a large thunderstorm cell just south of where I am. I think I'll wait one more day. Plenty of reading about the systems on the boat to do and otherwise moving things onboard so they won't come crashing down when I get into brisk winds and large swell and waves on the outside of the barrier islands.

Monday, 11 January - I couldn't have picked a much better day than today to start moving my adventure further south. I left Gasparilla Sound and passed out through Boca Grande Passage into the Gulf at around 10 am. Getting out through the pass was pretty choppy, about a 5 - 6 ft. swell on my beam with a frequency of about one every two seconds, but that only lasted about an hour, then I was out into the Gulf. Once there, I turned south and the wind and swell were both right on my stern almost all day, making for smooth, although rather tiring sailing. It's pretty hard to keep the boat on course when each swell that comes under you both lifts and turns the boat at the same time. It also happened that sailing down wind on that course also matched the coastline, so I sailed right down the coast, about 5 miles off, in an almost constant depth of 32 feet until I got to Sanibel Island. At that point, I realized that if I went back in, I could hook around the south end, anchor there, and be protected from most of the north swell for the night. I had sailed all day with just my jib and staysail, but as I came in closer to shore, the wind died off a bit, forcing me to raise the mainsail in order to anchor before dark. Unfortunately, as I came in, I entered miles of crab traps and had to drop anchor right among them. I hope I don't get the anchor or its line or my prop tangled in any lines overnight. I'll certainly find out in the morning.

Tuesday, 12 January - I was hoping to head off across the Gulf toward Tortola or Key West this morning, but with a large storm just south of me, I decided to simply move about 5 or 6 miles from Sanibel Island over to the Ft. Myers Beach area. My biggest concern was the forecast for the day I would have hoped to arrive. Pretty bad weather and high winds on Thursday down there. I'll stick around here for a few days and see what happens.
                  My thoughts about crab traps almost came true. As I was preparing to up anchor this morning, I noticed a crab trap float right against my hull back by the prop. I attended to other things first, hoping I might drift away from it, and a crab trapper came close, attending his pots, so I asked if it was his. "No," he said, "not mine. If I was you, I'd just cut the line. I don't like that other guy very much." Well, when the time came, a good hard tug pulled it loose and I tossed it clear, started the engine, upped anchor and made a break for it and got clear, then picked my way through the rest of the field. Lots of brown pelicans follow the crabbers and get tidbits thrown from the traps. When I got to my destination, one must have thought I looked like an easy mark, even though I told him several times I didn't have any treats for him. I'm now over in San Carlos Bay near Ft. Myers, fairly well protected from wind from any direction but the south. Lots of places for other boats to go, but not me. I'm too deep and too tall for any of the bridges. My mast is just short of 60 feet and my draft is 6.5 feet.
                  Just after I set my anchor, a beautiful topsail schooner (fore and aft rigged with a square rigged fore topsail and two masts) exited the bay, set 7 sails and sailed around for awhile in front of the beach. Then they fired some cannons and returned to wherever they came from. By the time he set sails, he turned away from me and got too far away for more pictures. I'll bet they're pirates. I did get another unusual shot though. These Floridians build high rise offices and apartments right out in the ocean. I got a picture of that! No land to be seen! Right out in the water!
                  I haven't quite decided what to do tomorrow. There's lots to do on the boat, but I might go ashore in the dinghy and explore, too.

Wednesday, 13 January - Today didn't quite work out as expected. I had two small projects I thought I jump into. I started on the first one and never stopped. I think I even forgot to eat lunch. Well, I'll take it back, I did stop just before dark and will finish the first project tomorrow, then do the other. Today's weather was a bit cool and overcast, so having a project kept my mind focused. I had also really intended to get this sent out, but totally about forgot it.