Wednesday Evening, 2 November 2016 - Immediately after I had sent out last week's update, my Canadian friend, Clive Sharp, whom I had planned on helping move his boat that has been out of the water while they went back to Canada for the summer, called and said that they won't be returning to here this winter. I had really looked forward to seeing Clive and his wife Kathy and perhaps, traveling south along with them.What a shame. This changes my plans a bit. Since I had been planning for that time, I had just ordered some items over the internet that I now have to wait for. Everything should be here by the 14th however, and I think I'll be departing here soon after that for adventures and harbors further south.

Thursday, 3 November - It's been quite a while since I cleaned the hull, so today I went out into the broader part of the harbor, dropped anchor near another, smaller CSY. I was in almost the exact same spot that I was when I first arrived here and a storm ripped the cleat off the bow of the boat and I almost lost my anchor and chain. This time everything went as planned and, I think the water was even clearer than the last time, but a bit cooler. In fact, when I had only been in for a few minutes I realized that I'd need to work faster to stay warm long enough to finish the whole hull. Cleaning the hull was a bit easier this time because there weren't nearly as many barnacles which are pretty hard to get off. There was plenty of other growth, however, and of course, the whole surface needs to be scraped. A forty four foot boat that is six and a half feed deep has a lot of surface and all I'm using is a scraper four inches wide. That, and the fact that almost every inch takes at least two strokes. By the time I was almost finished, I my arms were exhausted, I was a bit chilled, and I was certainly ready to quit, but there was no sense not finishing and having to come back tomorrow, so I stuck it out. I'm certainly glad my boat's not even one foot longer. One more foot in the middle would add a lot more surface.
                  When finished, I showered to get the crabs out of my beard and the plankton off my body and warm up a bit, then got out my binoculars to see who the other CSY is. It's a 37' boat that I had seen when I awoke one morning down at Marco Island and discovered two other CSY's anchored close to me. It's a small ocean. Just last week, the owner of the third CSY, a 33 footer stopped by my boat and talked with me.
                  I'm going to spend the night anchored here, then sail tomorrow before going back into the harbor for the weekend. The wind is coming off the shore so the bay is protected from that direction, but it is open to the south, so there is a little swell coming in which will make the boat roll a bit, but not bad. I don't know where that swell is coming from, the wind hasn't been out of the south anywhere near here all week.
                  When I called my brother, Mike, to thank him for the wonderful barbecued brisket the other day, he said, "Brisket? It was supposed to be ribs." He called Angelo's BBQ in Ft. Worth to let them know and they said they'll make it right, so I'm expecting ribs to arrive tomorrow. I was perfectly happy with the brisket and still have about 8 meals worth left, but ribs are great, too. Between the brisket and the ribs, this will probably be as much good meat as I've eaten all year! Yahoo!

Friday, 4 November - Right after breakfast I raised my mainsail, sailed up to my anchor, raised the anchor to the cat and turned downwind and sailed out of the bay. I left the anchor dangling in the water to wash the mud off. I spent until about 4:00pm sailing, practicing my downwind jibes and upwind tacks. I learned a lot about the boat, as I usually do. One thing I learned was that the chart plotter won't stay showing my course up (toward the top of the chart) when another set of charts on it is set to a different setting, for instance North Up. I had to call Raymarine, the maker of the chart plotter to find out why. Something else I learned that the birds landing on my wind indicator at the top of my mast have bent it. Either that or I own one of the best sailing boats on the water. Some of my best sailing was just 30° off the eye of the wind today according to the indicator. I also tried heaving to for the first time today. It's kinda like parking your boat with your sails still up and without dropping the anchor. I did pretty well, I thought. I managed to bring my speed down to less that 4/10th of a knot, mostly sideways, in a 12 knot breeze. I did that so I could have lunch today. Another thing I learned is that the boat performs much better with the anchor totally out of the water, not dangling at the bow. I intended to wash off the mud for about 100 yards or so, then raise it to the deck, but forgot that last part. The boat wouldn't hold a course with or without the autopilot on, seemed slow, and really wandered all over the place as the anchor apparently swung to one side then the other, acting as a bow thruster. I couldn't imagine what the heck was wrong. It took me way too long to realize what the problem was. I hope I remember the symptoms and the solution the next time I forget.

Saturday, 5 November - When I had called my brother Mike to thank him for the BBQ brisket last week he said, "Brisket? I ordered ribs." He called Angelo's, the restaurant it Fort Worth, to tell them they'd made a mistake. They immediately sent out another package, this time with wonderful ribs, and they arrived in plenty of time to have another BBQ party today. Mmmmm, mmmmm good. So good that there wasn't much left over. Enough for one meal that I'm sure I'll finish of this week. I still have plenty of brisket left for about 4 meals. I made baked beans again. I don't really know if they were any good. A bunch of hungry guys will eat just about anything they don't have to cook themselves and rave about how good it was regardless.

Sunday, 6 November - I cleaned up and put away dishes from last nights get together, emptied water jugs that I had filled yesterday into the boat's water tank, and, admittedly, took it pretty easy today.

Monday, 7 November - Much of today was spent trying to figure out which spare fuel and water filters I need to get while the getting is easy. I spent quite a bit of time on the internet and looking in the manuals I have for the boat, but finally just gave up on one and opened up the engine room hatch and crawled down in to see what the number was for one of the fuel filters, then looked online to see what others can be substituted if I can't find the exact match in stores. While down in the engine room I also located labeled some switches, senders, and wires. After that, I showered and shaved, then headed over to Bonita Bill's for dinner and music.

Tuesday, 8 November - I inventoried the diesel engine oil, 4 cycle oil, 2 cycle oil, the transmission fluids, and other lubricants and fuel additives today, then went to the post office. I was expecting three packages. They told me I had two and that any other must be coming later. "No", I said. "They are all three here now. I've already checked the tracking on them." I insisted and the man went in back and found the other, misfiled. This, or something similar, seems to happen to me every time down here. In the three packages I got three festoon light bulbs, a photoelectric switch, and a new case for my iPhone. When I got the phone, none of the cases were waterproof so I had to insert it into a bag when I thought there was a good chance of getting wet. Now I'll have protection down to 6 feet, which will cover rain and any chance that I might get tossed from the dinghy. I'd sure hate to lose a $1000 phone just because I got careless. I also made two trips to the dinghy dock to get water for the boat.

Wednesday, 9 November - I pumped some diesel fuel from the bottom of my tank today, expecting to pump a gallon or two, or even more, gunk out with the fuel. Everybody has told me that I'll be getting condensation on the walls of the tank that will run down the sides, sink to the bottom, and encourage bacteria to grow. That's why I put a biocide in the tank a month ago, and because I did, I expected to see that all that algae that died had sunk to the bottom and might cause problems going through my system and clogging my fuel filters. Well, I don't know what went wrong, or right, but I pumped almost nothing bad off the bottom of my tank. Just a speck. So little that I though maybe I hadn't gotten the tube I used clear to the bottom of the tank, so I opened the engine room to make sure that directly below where I inserted the tube would be the right spot. It was, so I went back to the cockpit and remeasured the depth of the tank and the length of the tube. I even tried again. Same result. I don't know whether to shout "Yahoo" or cry. Did I miss something that is going to bite me in the butt by clogging my engine up just when I need it to keep me out of danger? Only time will tell I suppose.
                  Twice today an osprey has landed on the spreaders of Island Time. I hope he doesn't make a habit of that. He weighs much more than the crows and grackles that have already bent my wind indicator, and although he won't hurt the spreaders, he'd crush the windex. I'm hoping I can straighten it.
                  For the first time in a couple of weeks, the winds didn't charge my batteries today, so I'd better go start my generator and do so.