Wednesday, 27 January 2016 - This is a very busy harbor with hundreds of private powerboats and sailboats, a topsail schooner, and the Ft. Myers to Key West Express ferry that runs daily at about 50 knots, and all coming right within a couple hundred feet of me. There must be about a hundred boats that pass every day. Thank goodness it's a "No Wake Zone." Some are out to show off their boats, some just out for a quiet cruise around the bay or down the beach. This side of the island is all docks and piers, some private and some commercial, and the other side of the island is all beach, very commercial and a big party town.
                  It was raining most of the day, but in spite of that, the fellow that I had helped get off the bottom recently over in the other cove, Stephen Luta, rowed over in his dinghy, took me to shore, and we joined a lady named LeeAnne that is the education officer on the wooden hulled topsail schooner that I had seen several times, and we all went, in her car, to a marine hardware store for my benefit, then out for pizza for lunch. I had been looking for a replacement for the cleat that I had damaged, and I got one at the hardware store. Pretty lucky to find an exact match. I hope to get to take the tour on the topsail schooner, too. It is run as a non-profit organization to educate the public about maritime history, but is having a hard time breaking even and paying the crew of eight or nine, and they don't pay them much. I think most of the crew work just because they love it.

Thursday, 28 January - It rained again all day, although at times, not much. I spent much of the day trying to figure out which sacrificial anodes I need for the two outboard motors I have. One is a Yamaha and the other an Evinrude. I thought by going online and knowing the make and model numbers, it would be easy. NOT! There are hundreds and without already knowing what they look like, I got conflicting results at different sites. The stores I've tried aren't sure which one I need, either, but they were anxious to sell me one or two, right or wrong. I could see part of the one on the Yamaha, but for the one on the Evinrude, I needed to launch the dinghy and remove the motor. I did that and put it in the bottom of the dinghy so I could remove the anode, but for the life of me, I couldn't remove it. It's deteriorated to the point that it is brittle and parts of it broke off, but I still couldn't get it out. Tomorrow is supposed to be better weather, so maybe I'll try again after putting some white vinegar on it to see if that will dissolve some of the crusty deposit that seems to be holding it in. Luckily, I think there is still enough life in it to use it just a little longer. At least now I have a better idea of what it looks like. Now I need to find one in a marine hardware store.
                  This evening, my good neighbor from across the street from my house in Salt Lake City called to see if I was alright because of all the bad weather going on down here and I assured her that I was. I'm not kidding, the moment that we hung up, in spite of the fact that the wind hadn't blown all day, the wind went from zero to about 25 knots within about 10 seconds. I had to go out and raise and secure the dinghy immediately, then start worrying if my anchor was going to hold me in place. I'm pretty close to a powerboat and would sure hate to drag my anchor in the middle of the night and start playing bumpum boats. The wind has really died off again, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way. It's interesting, all day I had been wishing for some wind to make my wind generator charge my batteries, which are still low even though I started and ran my engine for an hour and a half this afternoon. I was surprised to see that the batteries were still at only about 80% when I got up.

Friday, 29 January - Steve Luta and I went ashore in my dinghy and he showed me around town walking. He and I also visited the topsail schooner "Lynx" that LeeAnne teaches maritime history on. This is the same boat that I had seen shortly after I arrived at Ft. Myers Beach and thought was a pirate party boat. I have since learned that there is a different "pirate boat" named "Pieces of Eight" and that it isn't really a sailing vessel at all, just rigged up to represent one. It doesn't even have sails, just some very short "masts" and some ropes strung around, pretty cheesy. The Lynx is a 3/4 size replica of a vessel by the same name that used to be a privateer against the British. By the way, a privateer was not a pirate. A privateer was a ship that had a "Letter of Marque" from one government that authorized it to harass and capture the ships and cargo of another nation, in this case, the U.S. government and the British merchant ships. A "pirate ship" simply stole from anyone they thought they could, including, at times, invading towns. Pirates got to keep anything they won in battle; privateers had to turn a small part of their booty over to their sponsor, whichever government that was, but at least they didn't have their own government warships chasing them down. This Lynx is very authentic in looks, construction, and rigging, with beautiful woodwork aboard, and is used and sailed almost daily by a crew of nine as a teaching aid. Unfortunately, the "pirate ship" is making money and the Lynx is having a hard time of it.
                  My batteries were charged by the wind today. Hurray!

Saturday, 30 January - Today I went back into town in the dinghy and took the bike so I could go further and do it faster. Mostly, I went to confirm that there is, indeed, a U.S. Post Office in town so that I can get my mail forwarded to me and get a couple of items shipped to me General Delivery. I had found a post office on Google, but no one here seemed to know that it existed, so I was afraid that, perhaps, it had been shut down or moved. It's there, but not open on Saturday at all. I also revisited the hardware store, road to a park at the end of the island, and had a beer at an outdoor bar right before I returned to the boat. No wind today, so my batteries are a little low again.
                  It's 9:15pm and the big power catamaran Key West Express ferry just returned from its daily run to Key West and back. At night, even though it is just idling along, I can hear it coming from quite a ways off, and it approaches very dark. All I can see is one white light on top and a red light on her port side, but all three decks are lit up on the aft end. I'm sure the front of the boat is so dark so the pilot can see better. If he had bright lights in front, he wouldn't be able to see beyond them. It really amazes me how small her wake is as she idles by. At the speed she's idling by, my dinghy throws a much larger wake. I haven't seen it at full speed but Stephen says the eight huge water jet engines push her at about 50 knots when she's up to speed and I bet she throws quite a wake then.

Sunday, 31 January - I rode the bus across the bridge to the other side (mainland) side of town and spent quite a bit of time and money in an Ace Hardware Store and the Marine Trading Post. Of course, I only went in each one to buy a couple of things, but then, lo and behold, both had other stuff - I mean items - that I needed and will be much harder to come by the further south I go...so I bought them. I got some more bike riding in, too, because the bus didn't really get me to where I needed to be, and I had taken the bike with me just in case. The last hour has been spent looking through all the hundreds of bolts that I have on board for the one item I forgot to get at either hardware store, a 7/16" X 2" hex head bolt. I can't find one! Aaarrg! I had one in my hand at the marine store. Why didn't I buy it? Or did I buy it and lose it already? Either way, I don't have one. I also bought two large shackles that I needed, only to return to the boat and start searching for the bolt when I found about 10 of the shackles. Well, it never hurts to have a backup or ten.

Monday, 1 February - I got off the boat today and headed into town here on the island to buy a couple of those bolts. They had every size but the size I need. I also took my Yamaha outboard motor to shore and delivered it to a mechanic for repairs, but asked for an estimate first. Later, I decided to see a little more of the island, so I Googled "museums near me", found a couple and off I went on my bike. Both were close on Mondays, but the first had very nice grounds with many of the plants that the early owners had planted marked and labeled with interesting facts about them. Did you know that the multi-million dollar grapefruit industry grew out of an accidental cross-breeding of an orange an the pomelo or pummelo? The second museum also had several hiking trails through the mangrove swamp and out to the inland side of the island that is a nature preserve. Very peaceful and quiet. After that, I swung by the beach and took a few pictures.
                  About 4pm, after I had returned to the boat, Stephen Luta suggested we go over to one of the seaside bars near here. At 6pm, we got into my dinghy and headed over under the bridge and pulled right up to their dinghy dock. They had great entertainment for the evening, a bunch of old hippies that have a band and play the good stuff, rock and roll from the 60s and 70s. They played for about an hour then invited others to join them for a song or two and boy, some of the people were really talented. At times, there were over a dozen people playing or singing; guitars, drums, trumpet, harmonica, sax and more, I'm sure. A real jam session. I'm sure most have or do play or sing for a living. One fellow even did a helluva job on Johnny Cash songs. A lot of talent and a great evening.

Tuesday, 2 February - I never left the boat today, but, hopefully, sealed a leak near the back of the boat, rebalanced the three-bladed propeller on my wind generator, and I think I finally came up with a solution that will allow me to raise the anchor by myself when the wildcat jams or when rough seas want to really pound the bow of the boat when the anchor is really stuck to the bottom of the ocean. That seems to happen quite a bit in the muddy bottom around here. I won't really know about that last one until I have to try it in a real life situation. I've noticed that some things in life don't always work out as planned. Theory vs. reality, you know.
                  After sunset, I watched something I'd never observed before coming here. I am anchored a few hundred yards from a small uninhabited (by humans) island that serves as a rookery and overnight campground for pelicans, egrets, ibis, herons, grackles, and crows. Sometimes lots of grackles or crows come visit my shrouds before heading over to the island, but I've found that if I show them the front end of my pellet gun, they quickly move on. By landing on my wind indicators, they could cause significant and costly damage. What I thought was so unusual is the congregation of hundreds of crows here just after sunset, but before they land on the island to roost for the night. I have seen other birds form huge flocks that fly together, swerve and turn in synchronized formations, but never crows. Here, a hundred or two congregate on the roof of one of the marinas over by the bridge, then just after sunset, they start flying around the island. As they swerve and turn, others come from the surrounding area until there are several hundred swooping and banking, then, after about 20 minutes, parts of the flock start to land, and within just a minute or two, the sky is empty. As I say, I've never seen crows congregate like that, but then, I'm from Texas and Utah and these are Florida crows. I think I mentioned several months ago that they speak a totally different language than all the other crows I've ever seen and heard, too.
                  The last two days have been absolutely beautiful here, well into the 70 degree range and very clear skies. Beautiful sunsets, too.

Wednesday, 3 February - What a great day! I went over to the tall ship "Lynx" today to see if I could take my new friend LeeAnn Bruse up on an offer to sew up the cover for my lifeboat capsule and see a bit more of the boat. Instead, she got started on the cover, then offered to see if I could go out with them on their daily teaching cruise out of the bay. It was a wonderful experience. Because I have created my sailing page with many definitions of the nomenclature of the wooden ships, I know what many of the parts of a ship are, but to actually see how so many of them relate, discover where they are located on a ship, and what their functions are was fantastic; as well as seeing the teamwork that it takes to make it all happen. All the crew are full time professionals living aboard the ship, very knowledgeable, and answered every question I had. Two of their people, LeeAnn, their education officer, and Ellie?, their historian are great story tellers. I think that's the kind of teachers our society needs more of. They totally make history interesting and enjoyable. I think I'm running out of time to get this posted, so I'll have to cut this short, but I can't find enough words to say how much I enjoyed this trip out sailing on their topsail schooner today.