Thursday, 14 January 2016 - Picking up where I left off yesterday in last week's episode, this morning I decided to proceed to project number two, then finish project number one. Project number two, tightening the belts on the alternator down in the engine room went just as planned and took about 30 minutes. It seems that is very unusual. I've learned that most projects I delve into take at least 5 times as long as I think they should, if not considerably more; like project number one. After closing up the engine room, I returned to the forepeak to finish job number one, which I started yesterday, thinking it would take about an hour or two. I finished today at 4:30 and had most of the stuff on the boat back to their normal locations about 6pm. I have lots of tools onboard, but I sure could have used a right angle attachment for a drill today. That's one I don't have. I had to drill several holes in tight quarters with a drill bit held by a chuck and turned by a ratchet. Slow, but sure. Thank God it was wood I was drilling, not metal.
                  That sad-eyed pelican was on my bow pulpit this morning and I marveled at his ability to balance on a one inch piece of tubing with his webbed feet, so I left him alone. Tomorrow, he won't be as welcome. I don't know if he was there all night, or arrived early morning, but he sure made and left a smelly mess. In fact, I'd better go check right now to see if he's back for the night. Nope. Not there. Good!

Friday, 15 January - To say that today was interesting and exciting would be an understatement. It started off rainy, with about 15 knots of wind from the south. That's the one direction that I'm not protected from the sea swell, but having found something very red in my bilge last night just as I was headed to sleep, I was afraid to start the engine to move across the bay to a more protected area. I, again, thought it might be transmission fluid, and I certainly don't want to ruin a new transmission. So I decided, after breakfast, to simply ride it out right here where I've been the last two evenings. The wind had picked up a bit, so I decided I'd better shut off the wind generator before it self destructed. Usually, when I turn it off, it slows down and stops. Not today, so I went to the stern and physically turned it to perpendicular to the wind and tied it there. The boat was really rockin' and rollin', so I decided to go lay down for a bit. I was abruptly awakened about an hour later by my phone making a loud sound a lot like the battle stations horn you always hear in the movies about submarines, followed by some saying, "Dive, dive". Wide awake, but not sure what the alarm was all about, I looked at a couple of my sailing apps and discovered that they had just put out a tornado and severe storm warning. Tornado! Holy Mackerel! I went to the cockpit, turned on the wind gauge, and read 35 knots. This is not good! I don't have enough chain out! But at 35 kts. going out to the bow isn't the safest thing to do. I hesitated a moment, then decided quickly when the wind picked up even more. I've gotta go. I put on a rain suit, safety vest, and was clicking into my safety line when I heard a loud crack, looked forward and saw my anchor chain running out at high speed. The wind meter read 49.9 kts. I glanced away for a moment and the anchor chain seemed gone. I ran to the side of the boat, looked, and discovered that somehow, it was still attached. I clipped in, moved to the bow and realized that there was still about 5 feet of chain still at the bow, held on by about 4 ft. of line. When I had previously pulled the chain out to inspect and measure it, I had found that the previous owner had tied it to the bulkhead in the chain locker, as he should have, with about 15 ft. of 7/16" line. I had thought that that would never hold, plus, it would put the end of the chain 12' off the bow even if it did hold, so I had quadrupled the line. Four strands instead of one, and making it stop the chain about one foot from the anchor winch when it hit the end; still onboard. Well, that saved the day. The wind had veered very quickly from Southeast to Northwest, making the boat change direction and, probably letting some slack come into the chain. When it hit the end, I think the shock caused one shackle and my bow cleat to give way. I still wasn't out of trouble. I new that if a shackle and cleat had failed, the line wouldn't hold long. I needed more hands. I went to the cockpit to start the engine and check the depth finder. The depth finder would spit out a reading. I don't know if I'm aground or safe for the moment, but I did know that if I didn't get that chain back soon, I was in deep trouble. I centered the wheel, put it in auto pilot, then in gear and ran to the bow to pull in the chain as the boat moved forward. I got it in just enough to get it back onto the winch wildcat, pulled in about 20 feet of chain and attached the snubber, which is a line to absorb shock as the chain tightens. Now, all I had to do was let the snubber tighten and relax. I hate doing that; there are lines and chains and legs all too close to each other as you straddle the winch and avoid the foot switches that control it all. Finally, done. Whew! Another disaster averted.
                  An interesting thing about 50 knot driven rain. It will make you realize you have lots of leaky spots of a boat, but it won't wash away the mess made by one little pelican. Smells like fish and oily as can be.
                  The winds soon died down, but the swell coming from the gulf into the bay stayed at 3 to 6 feet for several hours. Lots more rock and roll. Well, actually pitch and roll. Pretty uncomfortable. I waited awhile, then got into the engine room to see what's leaking. The transmission still has plenty of pink transmission fluid and I couldn't find anything on it that looked like it was leaking, then I realized that diesel fuel is pink, too. I checked out the port side of the engine for fuel leaks, but found none. I'll check out the starboard side tomorrow. There has to be a leak somewhere.
                  I was pleased that the seas calmed down shortly after sunset. Maybe I will get some sleep after all.

Saturday, 16 January - To say today didn't go as planned would be an understatement. Not bad, just not as planned. The weatherman says to expect fairly strong winds late tonight and tomorrow out of the southwest, then switching to northwest, so I decided to move to an area of the bay that will protect me better from the west. I was ready to raise anchor by about 9am, but the anchor just didn't want to come up. Evidently really buried deep in mud or sand from the blow yesterday. It took me the better part of an hour to raise it without damaging the boat, even after I was right above it. Luckily, there was virtually no wind, only swells coming in. They actually help break the anchor loose by making it bob up and down while the anchor line is held tight. Patience finally paid off and I still arrived at my new destination near Sanibel Island again by about noon. I dropped anchor in 21 feet of water and let out about 150 feet of chain when it got bound up in the anchor locker. That can happen when, as it is dropped in, the chain piles up in one spot, then slides deeper into the locker, reversing the order of the chain, new deeper than old. That meant I had to go below, open the chain locker and untangle it by hand. That took about an hour.
                  A beautiful day and next on the agenda was to take the dinghy into the nearby marina and see what they have to offer, find out how deep their channel is, and maybe go to the bank or just see some of the town. I'm again anchored in front of multi-million dollar homes. Beautiful. It's easy to see they don't expect any hurricanes here anytime soon. The homes are right on the water, maybe six to ten feet above sea level. I guess the government will bail out the poor millionaires when it happens. In this case, the government will be you and me, the taxpayers, as usual. Anyway, I lowered the dinghy, put the outboard motor on it, started it, and...it ran about a minute to warm up...then died. I pulled and pulled on the starter rope 'til I got blisters, then pulled off the cowling, removed the plugs, cleaned them, put it all back together again, and pulled and pulled on the starter rope. It started, then died. I took off the cowling, removed the fuel filter, discovered that it was very clean, put it all back together again, pulled and pulled on the starter rope...and it started...and died. I now think the problem is the gas connector at the motor. I have two spares onboard...but after two hours of looking for them, I gave up. At least I'm not at work.
                  This location should be much better as an anchorage. Tarpon Bay, just north looks like it would be perfect to sit out a hurricane in, but it's only about 1 to 4 feet deep. It will be very busy here in the morning, as I am close to a channel and a marina, but I shouldn't have the swell. Even a two foot swell really rocks the boat. The frequency of the swell is what does it. A boats wake comes quicker, so the boat usually just rises on one wake and as it drops, it drops onto the top of the next one, but with swell, the slower frequency is harmonic, the boat rises, then drops into the trough and as it rises out of the trough, the next swell amplifies the rise, and each following swell amplifies the rocking motion, until one's frequency is slightly off, then the boat stops rocking almost instantly and totally...but the next set is on its way.
                  My internet connection is on the fritz here. I'm surprised. I would have thought that this very expensive island would have excellent coverage and I'm only about one or two hundred yards off shore. I can't research things to do onshore tomorrow. Oops! Not tomorrow. It's supposed to rain tomorrow. I'll probably spend some time in the engine room tracking down that diesel leak.

Sunday, 17 January - If you'd told me one year ago today when I left Salt Lake City, that by now I'd have only sailed about 100 miles, I certainly would have said "No Way", but that's the way it is. A whole year gone by and I'm not even close to the Caribbean yet. But I am closer.
                  The rain came last night along with more very strong winds, around 35kts., I think. I'm not sure, I didn't get up to look. With as much anchor chain as I had out, I wasn't concerned about dragging anchor. The wind blew at around 20 kts. most of the day, all out of the north, and I had up to about 5 ft. waves coming at me. I'd rather be in a different location, but I think I'd have one heck of a time getting the anchor up, so I'll wait it out. I did accomplish, or rather think I accomplished, a couple of things today. I think I found where the fuel was leaking. I spent considerable time in the engine room tracking down all the fuel lines and could only find one little drop of fuel. It was right on top at one of the high pressure fuel injectors, so I'm going to assume for the time being that it only leaks when the engine is running, and that that was the problem spot. I tightened the connection and, again, time will tell. Much of the rest of the day was spent looking for a fuel connector for the outboard motor for the dinghy. I was sure I had seen a spare onboard somewhere. I thought I had looked everywhere, and, in fact, probably had. I think I found it in the first place I looked and that I had searched the same spot at least twice more. I think I was overlooking it because it was labeled "Honda generator parts." The generator being the small portable unit that I'll be using to run the air compressor for diving to clean the hull. I finally discovered it about 4:30 this afternoon after looking in everything on the boat for hours. This connector looks identical to the connector on the dinghy. I sure hope it works! Without an engine, it would be a long row to shore in 15 mph winds. I think I'm going to take my friend Gary Powers advise and get some "real oars" for the dinghy as soon as I can.
                  One good thing about all this wind is I certainly don't have to worry about my batteries going dead. The wind generator keeps them really topped up, although I've tied it pointed way off the wind so it won't run so fast. I was afraid it would self-destruct it was spinning so fast.
                  Although I'm sitting right outside a marina and right next to a boat channel, I don't think even one vessel of any kind passed by me today. A little too breezy, I guess.

Monday, 18 January - I did try the new fuel connector for the outboard motor on the dinghy, but it seems to only be part of the problem. I could get it started, but it ran very rough. I can't imagine what I might have done since I used it last that would cause this problem. I cleaned the spark plugs again and better, but to no avail.
                  In the late afternoon, I decided that this is not a good anchorage for the next few days that are predicted to have northeast breezes, and decided to return to my previous site across the bay near Ft. Myers Beach. It was pretty late to get started, but things went well as I removed the outboard motor and mounted it on the aft rail of Island Time, raised the dinghy on the davits, and weighed anchor to cross the bay. I'm pretty sure I set new record times for each event. I was really surprised when the anchor came up so easy. I started out motoring, but realized that the wind angle was perfect for sailing, and since I was in a bit of a hurry, I raised sail and arrived with plenty of sunlight left in the day to throw down my anchor into the mud that took me so long to extract it three days ago. I certainly hope that doesn't happen again.
                  Just before sunset, a small daysailer with four men aboard came into the bay and anchored about two hundred yards from me. It looked so easy with four people and an anchor that looked like it weighs about 20 lb. Mine's 70, plus whatever mud it brings up with it. The other day, I was afraid I was going to rip the winch off the deck trying to get up.

Tuesday, 19 January - I got up this morning intending to move over into another anchorage near or at a marina. Unfortunately, the only one that I can get into near here is fairly high priced and not near any other businesses I need to visit, like a grocery store or chandlery. I need to have the dinghy outboard engine looked at by a pro and that can be done at the marina. I can't figure out what's wrong with it. It seems to be a lot like my first motorcycle; there's absolutely nothing wrong with it except it won't run right.
                  While having breakfast, however, I realized that I'd better figure out where that fuel leak is first, so I gathered a few tools, a mirror, and a light, and dove into the engine room around 10 am. While down there, I realized that without knowing exactly where all the lines run, I'm wasting time, so I decided to map them all out. Now I'll have the schematic for future reference, too. I learned a lot about my fuel system today, just not where the leak is.
                  It sounds a little boring, I suppose, but I did have a bit of excitement. Since I couldn't find any leaks with the engine not running, I thought I'd better start her up. I did so, and started looking again. No leaks at idle, so I gave it more throttle. After a few minutes, I sensed the boat moving, but thought some other boat had probably just passed close by and that I was just being rocked by their wake. I did, however, think I ought to take a look anyway. When I crawled out of the engine room and looked about, I saw that Island Time was making circles around the anchor. I knew that I had made sure the transmission was out of gear before I started the engine, but realized that, since the transmission is put into and out of gear with a button below the throttle lever, I must have bumped it and pushed it in with my shoulder as I climbed back down into the engine room. No harm done, but I was sure glad that there were no other boats near. Than could have been a disaster in a busy mooring field. Another lesson learned.

Wednesday, 20 January - My folks anniversary. I sure miss them and they would have loved this boat and the adventure and travel. I decided to head for another anchorage near the only marina I seem to be able to get into, Glover Bight near Tarpon Point Marina. Getting under a bridge and down the Intracoastal Canal was easier than I thought it might be, but it was a bit busy and congested at moments. I was watching my chart and depth very closely, but, once again the chart was wrong. I hugged the right side going into Glover Bight and hit bottom. A power boater came up beside me, so I asked him if he knew where the deepest part of the channel was and he told me the same as the chart, so I called TowBoat US for instructions. All he need to say was, "Stay in the middle of the marked channel." and I could have done that, but he got in his boat and led me through after about a ten minute wait. There was plenty of depth in the center.
                  The afternoon was spent taking one motor off the dinghy and putting the other on. Again, thank God the water was very calm. This wouldn't be easy with any chop or swell, and even a bit dangerous. Actually, I guess the biggest problem would be either letting the motor hit the boat or dropping one of the engines into Davey Jones Locker. The Evinrude wouldn't run either. I did clean the spark plugs, check out the fuel filter, put a little oil in the cylinders and get it started, but it also seems to only run out the gas that is in the carburetor, then die. I'm starting to sense a commonality between it and the Yamaha. One thing they have in common is the very leaky connector from the gas line. Maybe it is sucking air so badly that they run out of gas. I put a newer looking one on, but it leaks even worse than the original. I'll try to get a new connector tomorrow at the marina. I can row over there; it's only about 200 yards. I was actually surprised the Evinrude was in seemingly such good shape. Rick George said that he didn't even know if it ran or not, so it must have been quite a while since he used it.
                  I'm hobnobbing with the hoi palloi again. I'm so close to the Westin Cape Coral that I can easily hear the music and beautiful singer at their outdoor bar and restaurant. I can't see her, but she sure sounds good. Another beautiful evening with the moon already reflected on the smooth waters. Hey! They're playing that old hit from 1959, "Take Five" from the Dave Brubeck album "Time Out". We used to have that album. Since I'm sitting here waiting for the images to load to "The Cloud", I looked it up. I didn't realize that "Take Five" is still the all-time best selling Jazz single ever and the first jazz instrumental to sell a million copies.
                  I was going to try to quickly get this posted, but my internet connection here is surprisingly, and extremely slow, again, so the up and downloads of the photos and maps are taking forever. In fact, I think the connection has been dropped. I'll have to get this out another day, when I have better phone, and thus, data service.

Thursday, 21 January - After breakfast this morning, I went to the marina to see the facilities, inquire about their rates and get rid of some trash. They wanted $10 just for me to tie up to their dock with the dinghy, so I declined and returned to the boat. I went to the foredeck to let out 30 feet of more anchor chain because a nearby boat had left and winds are supposed to change direction and pick up a bit. Another boater was on the deck of his boat, and since the dinghy still in the water, I went over to introduce myself and ask a few questions. He's another single hander, down from up north. He invited me aboard and gave me a tour of his boat. I mentioned the $10 fee and he said he was paying it and would take my trash over on his next trip. Great. I may not go back. They don't seem to offer anything I need, especially since I had asked this fellow if there was any other place to dock a dinghy so I could go into town and get some things done. He said there was a dock at a park about a quarter mile up the sound here, so I returned to the boat, loaded the bicycle onto the dinghy and rowed to that dock. Thank goodness there were light headwinds. I headed into the city using my phone for directions and visited West Marine, Wells Fargo Bank, an auto parts store, and a grocery store, then returned just before sunset. I got to the dinghy and rowed about half way back, then thought, "What the heck am I rowing for? I just bought the part that should fix the engine." I installed the part, pulled the starter cord a couple of times and happily motored the rest of the way back to Island Time. A great day with lots accomplished and plenty of good exercise, too!

Friday, 22 January - An interesting weather day. It started off rainy and windless, then the rain came and went. I couldn't use the computer much because its battery was low and the night had been windless, so I couldn't charge the battery on it from the main house battery bank, which never got charged above 75%. Then the wind came, but not for very long. Then, just in the last hour of daylight, the skies cleared and a beautiful, almost full moon rose. Now it's dark and the winds are picking up again, but very gusty. I should have plenty of battery power tomorrow. The weather prognostication is for 25 to 35 mph winds starting around midnight tonight and sticking around all day tomorrow, even climbing into the gale force category in the mid to upper 30 knot range. I was very glad to get the rain today. The boat had become very salt encrusted. Even the stainless steel suffers from the salt, and my bike, especially, is rusting quickly in spite of all the anti-corrosion spray I have applied.
                  I still don't have a strong enough phone signal to get this message sent out, and it doesn't look like I will until I change locations, which won't be 'til the winds die off. I'm very protected from the wind here, so I'm not going anywhere for awhile.

Saturday, 23 January - Today was a great learning day, and I'm glad most of the learning went on on someone else's boat. As I came up from the saloon after breakfast, I noticed the fellow on the boat next to me trying to raise one of his anchors and could also see that if he succeeded, he would immediately be blown aground. The winds had been strong and gusty all night and he had awakened about 3am because he felt his rudder hitting bottom. After that, he said he woke up and went on deck about every 15 minutes because he was afraid that his boat might blow into mine. When I saw him, I knew he'd really have trouble by himself, so I yelled and asked if he needed or wanted help. I don't know if he could hear me, but I couldn't hear his reply. Then he motioned with both hands to come over. I quickly lowered the dinghy and went over to help. He had had two anchors out, but had already pulled one most of the way in and by the time I got aboard his boat, he was, indeed, aground. We tried pulling him off the bottom with his remaining anchor and using the engine, but, of course, if the anchor had been holding well, he wouldn't be aground. We finally pulled the first anchor, a rather large Danforth style anchor, all the way in and the shank was bent about 45°. I didn't know that he had a third anchor, so I suggested that we load the bent Danforth onto my dinghy, take it out into deep water, hope it would reset, and try to pull him off with it, so we did...try. The boat wouldn't budge.
                  About that time, I heard the third fellow in the bight whistling to get our attention. I went and got him off his boat and the three of us then worked on getting the boat off the bottom. The man had a third, larger anchor, and I went back to my boat and got 100 ft. of anchor line and 50 feet of chain, and the second fellow and I took the larger anchor further out in the dinghy than the first, dropped it overboard, and returned to try to winch to it. We really didn't seem to be making much headway, but by pulling on one then the other, we finally freed the boat...after about 4 hours. I was glad it was his light little boat, not my 20 ton behemoth for more reasons than one.
                  After returning to my boat and having a late lunch, I decided that, since the high and very gusty winds were supposed to continue through the night, because my boat kept yawing back and forth in the wind, and thus had the potential to break its anchor loose, and since there was help near, I'd go over to the third boat and see if he'd help me move my boat into the wind a bit and set two anchors, which I had not done before. He willingly agreed and we had the boat moved and two anchors set in about 30 minutes. Of course, as soon as we did that, the wind seemed to back way off, but it is still very gusty, with gale force winds dying off after midnight. Having two anchors out will let me sleep much better tonight, I'm sure. Speaking of sleeping, it's supposed to get down near or into the 30s tonight, so I've decided to pull out one of those items that I brought along, but wasn't sure I'd really ever have an opportunity to use, my propane gas catalytic heater. I'll be snug and warm under just a sheet all night, and also can say that I didn't drag the heater all the way from Utah for nothing. And while on the subject of sleep, we did a lot of tugging on anchor chain and lines, cranking on winches, lifting anchors, etc., today, so I'm going to bed. Good night.

Sunday, 24 January - I got in the dinghy and headed to town after breakfast this morning to get more groceries, and visit West Marine again, go to a hardware store, and try to return the marine oil that I purchased the other day. I had gotten type TC-W III, and the book says use TC-W II, so I took it back, only to find that no one stocks the type II, so I returned with the same thing I started out with.
                  A big, beautiful round of cheese just rose over the calm waters of the bay here this evening.

Monday, 25 January - I feel like today was virtually wasted. I intended to go to another marine hardware in search of a cleat that I need, then move the boat back over to Ft. Myers Beach, so I headed out on my bike determined to get my shopping done quickly. Unfortunately, Apple Maps and Google Maps disagreed on where the store was, so I decided to go to the closest location first. It was a wild goose chase. I ended up in a residential area and time was running out, so I returned to the boat, but too late to get my anchor up and head over to Ft. Myers.

Tuesday, 26 January - Had a quick breakfast this morning, then started trying to raise the anchor. A real muddy mess, and my chain piled up in the chain locker and jammed up the winch, so it took a long time to get it all aboard. I finally left around noon and arrived right as high tide filled the sound, just as I'd hoped. There really isn't much space in here and I'm precariously close to the channel and shallow water. I think the tides are going to affect the boat here more than the wind, however. I hope we do get some moderate wind. My batteries were low this morning and they didn't get but about 70% charged coming over here today. The fellow that we got ungrounded at the other anchorage is here and may be some help with his knowledge of the area, or I probably wouldn't have chosen this spot to anchor.
                  The good news is, I have pretty good phone reception here, so I can finally get this episode out. I hope you think it was worth the wait.