High and Dry

Well, those blowing winds out of the east last night and a low low tide this morning left me high and dry.
back into the water went the kayak, down the stern ladder went I, and paddling to the dinghy dock we go.
kayaking is enjoyable and all... but, this isn't the reason I pay to be at the big boy dock!
most certainly didn't feel like kayaking back to the boat after arriving back home from work late at 9pm... particularly with tide back in and the ability to step onto the boat from the dock. but, can't risk not being able to get to work tomorrow morning, so, it's into the kayak we go...
It's been a long few weeks at the "new" dock. and, unfortunately, a live-aboard life with work mixed in makes things a little trickier.
Seems it's definitely time for sun to set on this short chapter as well...
pic is sunset view looking northeast over northern rip rap breakwater.
Weather permitting, plan is to depart Punta Gorda Saturday for a week long sailing adventure... and returning to a new berth...

Sea Knots

Wind is blowing blowing blowing out of the east tonight after the most recent cold front.
At least it's out of the east. I can enjoy the sounds of the winds and not worry so much about being plastered to the wood piling when the winds are out of the east... We are getting rocked a tiny bit, but dock lines seem in good position for now.
Which makes it that much more relaxing for catching up on some internet nestled in the cabin with peppermint patty-cakes.
While I was surfing around, I realized I have not yet mentioned another sailing site I've been enjoying lately. If you're a sailor, and not already on the site, you might be interested in checking it out too. The site is Sea Knots. The link below takes you to my page on the site. From there, you can check out what it's like to have a page and explore more...
www.seaknots.ning.com/profile/Jen

No water Nowhere Everywhere Else

It seems there's not much water for sailing in Florida.
Been having difficulty finding a nice wet boat slip with some water in it relatively close to work.
Left the Venice area in hopes of finding more water.
Still, no true success.
Woke up this morning with the keel probably a good 1 to 2 feet into the silt... there was definitely no turning of the rudder, which is kinda not a great thing as I wonder about the silt getting into the lower rudder bearing.
Looking east to the 41S bridge, there were mud flats showing that don't normally show... even at low low tide, and, of course, it's the worst the yacht basin staff have seen it in years this morning....
Well, it has been quite the winter so far this year, and, it's not even officially winter yet!
There was no "easy" step off the boat this morning. Instead I used the stern ladder and the kayak. Dinghied to the dinghy dock. Kinda weird to dinghy to the dinghy dock when the big boat is already at the dock...
5 hours after low tide... I was still aground, though, I was at least out of the mud enough to hoist myself up onto the dock the usual way by hugging the large wood piling I'm usually trying to keep Athena off of, and stepping onto the nondescrip step that can be seen in the photo on the left.
For "fun" I've included the look to the south at the neighbors aground. You can definitely see the rudder of the sailboat two boats over, and the fixed dock high above the boat decks.
It's been all I can about deal with worrying about the SV Athena in the new home...
Spent most of the day cleaning the boat and napping, since I was kinda stuck on her most of the day.
Needed the sleep though... been working hard yes, but also having been woken up at least two nights this week, and three within the last less than two, with the wind like a freight train coming through the yacht basin out of the northwest, and having to get up at 2 AM to adjust the lines to save poor Athena from smashing up against the large wood piling on the south side. Makes for a stressful fitful sleep, oh wait, I'm not sure I really fell back to sleep on those nights... Particularly since the winds from the fronts were so strong, it was difficult to pull her tight enough to another piling to get off of the piling she was dangerously close to.
Imagine stepping out into the dark cold windy night and wondering if when you undo the dock line to tighten it, you might actually loose her closer to the piling because the wind is blowing so hard... After attempting to tighten her, I'd crawl back down below, listen to the winds, the creaks, the banging of the halyards on the mast (no fixing of which did anything in these winds), and wonder if a tornado was coming... or, if we'd just be smashed up against the piling.
I've been reading Steven King's "Duma Key" and his books are pretty scary, but, I'm not sure which is scarier... nightmares from scary story book, or nightmares during fitful sleep worried about sailboat...

Now, I'm sure you're all thinking... surely there are other boats in the marina... yes, yes, there are. Most of them hire someone to take care of their dock lines, or they have this elaborate contraption of dock lines going, which is what I was trying to avoid...

The other thing I've discovered about this particular yacht basin is the nice dock hands go around loosening everyone's dock lines when they get tight when the tide goes out... but, they never loosen back up again! then, wouldn't you know, the tide rises, and the cold fronts come through, and the boat is free to bang the pilings. The problem herein is that, my life doesn't currently revolve around being at the boat continuously to follow behind everyone that undoes everything. I need to be able to tie her and go...

So, I've been thinking about moving again... torn with what to do.
I moved here hoping to get out and sail more. of course, this weekend was a no go for sailing with the keel in the mud more hours than not... but, that's not every weekend. and, cold fronts don't come through every night... but, there are still 8 dock lines to contend with. It's just not an easy dock to singlehand in/out to/of.
Not to mention that one evening this week coming home late from work I actually threw my back out getting onto the boat in an apparently bad way because she was difficult to reach since I've been trying to set the lines to keep her off the piling... urgh. can't seem to win on this one.
I guess these are some of the trials of living a daily working life from a sailboat.

Hardly ever a dull moment..

Second full day at new marina and I'm off to work, but my mind is on Athena and her drip drip dripping stuffing box. wondering if the batteries will last with the almost constant running of the bilge pump. I return home from work to tighten her up as previously done earlier this year as instructed by Russell and documented in May 11, 2008 blog entry... I printed out the blog pics and instructions and went to work. It's a little "scary" as one cleans up the stuffing box parts with corrosion blocker, and starts "banging" on the tools to get the parts to turn... water now streaming into the boat and setting off the bilge pump once more... hidden down in the engine "room" with darkness surrounding the boat...
But, we got 'er done. and, so far the rest of this evening, no constant bilge...

First Morning - New Home Dock

Up early first morning at new home dock.
The remainder of the day was not quite as peaceful...
Upon returning later in the morning the strong front blew through and was swinging SV Athena to and fro in her very narrow slip, her hull banging against one of the wood pilings and scratching her up.... according to the neighbors that retied her... and yes, I found the scratch marks :(
Well, I'm not too fond of others retying the boat... however, it's better than having her smash apart! I spoke to the dock-master to try and get a wider slip. We'll be moving into a slightly larger slip in a couple weeks, and working on a new bumper board. Hopefully after season, we can get an even wider slip... Spent the most of the rest of the day watching Athena and her lines, formulating a better plan of attack for dock lines and bumpers, and securing the banging halyards more better ;)
Meanwhile the stuff box keeps drip drip drip dripping... a drip that has been rather quick since a couple weeks before departure from Nokomis...

ICW Anchorage

Pic on the top left: Sunset over Punta Blanca and hidden cove looking west from new anchorage to the east of the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW).

Pic on the right: Sunrise looking southeast.


Pic on the bottom left: Sunrise looking southwest at SV Blue Highway.

Waters worked up a bit more in the morning as the winds from the south started to pick up during the night with an oncoming strong front...
Time to say early morning good-byes to Lynne & Russell and head separate ways. They back to Naples, and we onward to new spot in Punta Gorda!

Cabbage Key Water Tower Views

More views of my new "backyard."
These pics are from the old wood water tower on Cabbage Key.
If you click to enlarge the pic on the right and look very very very carefully, you may just see a bunch of sailboat masts peaking out from the hidden cove... Don't mistake old white mangrove branches for masts though ;)
The mast of SV Blue Highway stands above them all...

To the right of the far island in the pic on the right is the area of water outside the cove where we anchored for the second night of the trip.

Cayo Costa

From our hidden cove we explored. the waters were beautifully clear. "dry snorkeling" as Russell says...
In addition to Cabbage Key, we visited the northern portion of Cayo Costa.
Pic on the left is looking north towards the Boca Grande inlet we had passed through beneath the dark of night.
Pic on the right is looking south.
Russell and Lynne showing me around my new backyard ;)