Wednesday Evening, 24 February 2016 - What we got out of today's storm wasn't too bad here in the anchorage and my boat may wander all over the place tonight with opposing tidal current and winds, but I won't be staying up all night like I did last time that happened here; there's no one anchored near me to run into. There were some indications that things were a little tougher on the outside today though. The topsail schooner "Lynx" came in late this afternoon. They had left the Tampa area yesterday to return and I'll bet sailing her back was no easy task this time. They had to spend all night out in this storm coming back. When she came by me today it looked like the topsail was pretty twisted up and one of the staysails hadn't been furled properly. I'm sure they were waiting till the winds died down and made it a little safer to access before they put them away.
                  Another sign was the "Key West Express" which arrived about 30 minutes late coming back from Key West this evening. I'll bet even that big jet boat had a pretty rough run home. I suspect both had 10 to 12 foot seas or more out in the Gulf. I'll find out this week when I go over to the "Lynx" to take them some photos I shot while out on her a couple of weeks ago.

Thursday, 25 February - A windy night was had by all here in Matanzas Pass and today was windy as well. In fact, the fellow on the catamaran Sea Rose II had left his boat this morning, assuming that the worst was had overnight, and it was, but his boat still managed to break its hold on the bottom and drifted over to in front of one of the homes here, just a few hundred feet from me. The moment I noticed it, it was just being boarded by the Coast Guard and taken in tow over to their docks. I'll bet it was a real surprise when he tried to return to the boat and it wasn't there. They moved it again and I'm not sure where it went this time. I hope it didn't sustain much damage. The Coast Guard was johnny on the spot because we are anchored only a few hundred yards from four or five of their boats, including a cutter.
                  I went over to buy my brother a present for his 70th birthday coming up this weekend, to the post office to mail it and pick up a coil for my Yamaha outboard that had already arrived, then over to the topsail schooner "Lynx" to deliver the photographs that I had taken a week or two ago. I hadn't realized they were going to leave for a week to go to Tampa. Apparently they had a very good visit there. Over 600 people came aboard to get their educational program in one day, and they had kids from several schools too, including a nautical academy that has kids from elementary to high school ages. They were also invited back for a monthlong stay next year. As soon as I got back to my boat, I got a call from Stephen asking for a tow back to his boat. He rows his dinghy and the strong winds and very strong current would have made it all but impossible for him to get back to his boat before late tonight or tomorrow. Winds are supposed to die down in an hour or so, but they have been stronger all day than predicted. The wind generator finally topped off my house batteries today for the first time in several days. I was actually beginning to think it wasn't working properly.

Friday, 26 February - Much of today was spent getting the Yamaha outboard motor off the railing and down to the dinghy where I could work on it without worrying about dropping parts in the ocean, then putting the new coil on it and starting it up to test it. The engine has two coils and the first time I replaced one, there seemed to be no improvement, so I took the other off and put the one that I had just removed back in its place and started it again. I guess I now have three good coils, less money, and the same problem, a very rough running engine. Next, I'll try a new CDI (Capacitive Discharge Ignition) unit, but that will have to be another day. I started out this morning with very little wind and a relatively motionless platform to work on, the bottom of the dinghy, but the wind kicked in quickly around noon and is now blowing about 22kts. out of the northwest. My workspace got very unsteady, to say the least. It looks like it will stay this way for awhile, but we're not scheduled to have very high tides tonight, so maybe I won't be zooming all around my anchor as bad as before. For the moment, I still don't have anyone anchored near me either. I hope it stays that way.
                  Ha! Immediately after typing that last sentence, I went on deck and discovered that another boat had pulled in. He may be a little close to me, but certainly way too close to the catamaran that got loose yesterday and has now returned. I went and warned them that my boat gets very mobile when the current and winds are opposing, as did the catamaran owner, so I suspect they'll be leaving. They only have 4 feet of draft, so I suggested another anchorage up past the bridge in Hurricane Bay where I had scouted a couple of days ago. In fact, I may wish I had moved there myself. The winds were predicted to die off, not pick up like they have.

Saturday, 27 February - Since I'm hoping to leave here this week, I decided I'd better top off the diesel tank, gas cans and water cans. After emptying toping off the 100 gallon diesel tank with the contents of three jerry jugs, I went and filled three five gallon diesel jugs, three gasoline jugs and three water jugs, then returned and lashed them all back on deck after emptying the water into my 200 gallon water tank. That brought the water tank back up to 100 gallons. I may make more trips to shore for water, but that will last awhile, even if I don't.

Sunday, 28 February - My brother's birthday, so I waited about 4 hours after I got up, then called him in San Diego, a three hour time differential. I had also hoped to contact the Customs and Border Protection office today to get some questions answered, but they didn't return my call. I was assured yesterday that they would be open today and answer all my questions. Around 3:00pm, Stephen returned from Glover Bight where he picked up some solar panels that he had ordered. As soon as he returned, we went over to Bonita Bill's, met some of his dancing machine girl friends, and danced the afternoon away to some more great music. How a guy from Budapest, Hungary could ever end up in Ft. Myers Beach, Florida singing great country and rock music, I'll never know, but he sure did a great job. Not the absolute best voice, but he sure knows how to pick songs and a guitar. I'm sure we'll be back there for "open mic night" tomorrow evening.

Monday, 29 February 2016 - Leap Day - I finally got around to getting out the soapy water and locating a small leak in the dinghy that has required me to top off the pressure in one of the three compartments each morning. I was very surprised to discover that the spot that was leaking was what appeared to me to be a very small, shallow scratch where either someone getting into or out of the dinghy scratched the top of the front tube, or at some point, the bow of the dinghy ran up under something to cut it. It's easy to see that this boat would not be good for running rivers. I've seen river rafts scrape the all along the side of sharp rock cliffs going down a rapid and come away unscathed. This dinghy would fare very poorly on a rocky river.
                  At 5:30, Stephen and I headed back over to Bonita Bill's for another great evening of "open jam night" entertainment. We wanted to get good seats for the jam session at 6:00. The place was already packed, but we managed to get a couple of stools with a great view. (See the photo link below.) Some more great music, especially a stand-in on the keyboards. Outstanding!

Tuesday, 1 March 2016 - Yikes! Two months of the new year already gone. I decided that the hull needed some attention today, so I got out a scrub brush and piece of old carpet about 4" x 8", mounted the brush on a long handle and maneuvered the dinghy around the boat, scrubbing the waterline and down as far as I could reach with the brush, cleaning off the scum, moss, a few barnacles. etc. The waterline gets the dirtiest quickest. I'm sure the rest of the hull needs cleaning, too, but it will have to wait. Actually, I'm surprised it's not dirtier than it is. The brackish water in the bays here is renowned for breeding everything that can grow on a hull. After that, I called the post office to see if the laptop charger that I ordered last Wednesday had arrived. I paid extra to get three day shipping and it finally arrived today, so I went and picked it up, then Stephen and I did a little people watching over at Times Square at the end of the fishing wharf it Ft. Myers Beach, then had a rum and coke, oysters and conch fritters at the SOB - Smoking' Oyster Brewery, just off the beach. Very good. After that, a quick visit to the topsail schooner Lynx, then back to the boat.
                  Light winds are predicted for the rest of the week and Ft. Myers Shrimp Festival is starting this weekend, so maybe I'll stick around for at least part of the weeklong celebration to see what it's like. I do like shrimp!
                  I'm taking the great advise of my great long-time friend and Arlington Heights High School ROTC Rifle Team Captain - 1965, "You may not be in the Caribbean yet, but slow down, you're already living the life. Enjoy."

Wednesday, 2 March - Another beautiful, sunny, warm day in Florida. When I awoke at about 7:30, it was already in the 60s. Today was the day for another grocery run. I headed out in the dinghy, caught the bus to Walmart on the mainland and was back by about noon. I had lunch on Stephen's boat, then another Steve from "Slippin Away", a 50' Gulf Star sloop came over in his dinghy to visit. Another very experienced and knowledgeable sailor. Of course, everybody knows more than I do about sailing. I'm glad they all share or help.