Cape Coral

For the next six weeks or so we'll stay at dock in Cape Coral.  It's a convenient location, just an hour down river from all our buddies at Fort Myers, and a great place to get some maintenance work done on the boat.  Gran Vida, as much as we love her, is a little needy.  Like all boats, she needs constant maintenance and upgrades and especially in this harsher salt air and strong sun, you have to keep up on it.

The list of jobs to be completed include:

• firm up and tidy electrical contacts to the flybridge. 
• figure out if/where our water supply is slowly leaking and put a stop to that
• give a complete buff and wax to the topsides of the boat (we did the hull while on shore)
• fix the isinglass windows on the canvas, which have shrunk an no longer close
• make chaps to cover our pvc dinghy to protect it from the damaging uv rays
• complete some necessary repairs on the car while we're parked there.

On and on.  We've been working pretty hard in the heat to get it all done.  Not that I'm complaining.  We're also pretty careful to keep in mind that we're down here to cruise and have fun too, so we always make time to squeeze in a little golfing, pool time and socializing.  Balance.

Here's our view from the boat just after sunset.  
Just behind those palm threes is a small beach on the river and a great tiki bar.
The pool is just to the left.

 

GV in her slip all lit up for Christmas.  A little hard to see in the bright sun.
Unfortunately Jeff "inadvertently" knocked the solar charger for my brand new
solar Christmas lights into the water.  She looked good for a few days!

  

Beatles tribute band in downtown Fort Myers

We still visit our friends in Fort Myers regularly.  This weekend there was a Beetles tribute band.  Every weekend they close off the main street in Fort Myers for special events.  It's a pretty hopping town.  A quick scan of the crowd and one can see we fit the demographic.  It's almost entirely made up of white baby boomers.  A surprisingly homogeneous group.  Where are all the people of colour? Millennials? Families?  If we're the target market they had in mind for downtown, it's certainly working.

Lunch with Dan and Maggie 

We got in a few visits with Dan and Maggie on their way through town.  Dan is my daughter's father-in-law, so we share grandchildren. They are cruising on a remodeled downeast lobster boat that they've all been working on for the past several years.  It was great to see them finally on the go and having so much fun with it.

To celebrate Christmas we moseyed up the river to Fort Myers and took a dock for the night.  There, we enjoyed a pot luck dinner on the dock with fellow boaters.

Cooking Christmas dinner in the cockpit.

The feast

Blowing the Conch.  Time for docktails!!

We'll be here in Cape Coral until mid January.  I'll go home for a quick visit while Jeff stays and watches the boat.  Then we be cruising.  Where?  Well, we'll see which way the wind is blowing.

Dighny Chaps

We splurged when we left Canada in 2014 and purchased a brand new pvc dinghy and motor.  It's a beaut, double aluminium bottom, good-sized inflatable tubes.  It's our "go-fast" boat and easily gets up on plane.

A pvc inflatable is common in Canada, but in the strong southern sun the uv quickly damages the material.  We try to keep it covered but every summer while we are in storage it seems the cover either blows off or disintegrates.  It's also a bit of a pain to constantly cover and uncover the dinghy every time we want to use it. We very much wanted to prolong the life of our dinghy.

The vision

Then we discovered dinghy chaps.  Dinghy chaps are covers that are constructed of uv protective sunbrella and are designed to cover the tubes of the dinghy only, leaving access to all the handles, bench supports etc. It very conveniently stays in place as the dinghy is used. Perfect.  That's just what we needed.  The only problem was that the canvas businesses down here were far too busy to take on the work as they are still catching up from hurricane Irma damage, and the one we did find was quoting a pretty big price tag.  Here's a picture I found on the internet.

So, having sewn not much more than a few curtains years ago, I decided to take on the project. Heck, I took home-ec in grade seven.  It couldn't be THAT hard, could it??

I got out my credit card (gulp) and ordered an inexpensive heavy duty Singer sewing machine, eight yards of sunbrella, UV thread and a few other supplies from Sailrite (online store).  As I was waiting for my supplies to arrive I began to get a little obsessive about it, constantly talking about it to any unfortunate person I could corner, getting up in the night to sketch little diagrams or watch YouTube instructional videos, worried I had bitten off more than I could chew (again).  Here's how it went:

I purchased dollar store shower curtain liners and climbing back and forth from the boat to the dinghy to make a pattern.  I used painters tape to hold the plastic down in the breeze, which was tricky sometimes.  The painter's tape worked the best as it made it easy to make minor adjustments to the position.

laying out a pattern using a dollar store shower curtain

 Cape Coral Yacht Basin has a very cool workshop which we had access to.  It was blistering hot out, so with a fan pointed directly on me, I laid everything out on long tables and taped it down, measured, then measured again, and very nervously cut.

Super work area at this marina

A bunch of folks pitched in to help us pull the dinghy from the water, which made the chore so much easier than climbing over the gunnels of the boat or off the dock for every little measurement.  Thanks guys!!

Here's the fabric in place with all the handles and everything cut out. Alleluia! It fits!  It is actually in three pieces, one for the bow and one for each side.

Now the hard part.  Sewing.  It was enormously difficult to sew around each little cut-out as each one required that I tightly roll up yards of stiff fabric to squish it into the little gap in the sewing machine between the needle and edge of the machine.  It was painstakingly slow.  It took three or four short workdays in the heat to first figure out how to use the sewing machine and then to get it all sewed up.

And here's the final product.  It's not as perfectly tailored as the professionals might do, and some of the seams may not be as strong, but so far it's stayed in place and it's doing it's job, keeping that dreaded uv off our dinghy...  even if it is a little fugly.

Final product.  It's not a thing of beauty,
but it does stay on while underway
and will hopefully prolong the life of our dinghy.

Glades Boat Yard

It took some gentle persuasion
to get this guy off the road
so I could pass.

Glades Boat Storage Yard is an interesting place.  It's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere with a couple mile drive off the highway down a very bumpy dirt road. It is basically a field on the edge of the Okeechobee river, with hundreds of boats parked in rows on stands -- many of which look like they've been there for an, um, extended period of time.  Surrounding the boat yard are pastures with cattle and horses grazing so while you're working on your boat you're serenated by the sounds of moos and neighs.  It's a pretty "rustic" place with a few shower stalls and flush toilets but with water that smells strongly of sulphur.  You'd never fill your boat with the water from Glades.  But it's cheap and convenient and one of the most protected places from hurricanes in the State of Florida.  Amazingly, there are some people who have lived at Glades for years, working on old boats up on stands in the dusty work yard.  We prefer to limit our time in the work yard and get launched as soon as possible.

It is not at all unusual
to have cows saunter
through the boat yard.
Watch you step!

Gran Vida. Only accessible by ladder

So, we got right to work.  First job was a thorough enough cleaning to make the boat semi-liveable.  Living on a boat on the hard is a little like camping.  The boat is up on stands, necessitating a ladder to get up and down.  We were plugged in, so we had basic electricity, but with the water not being potable everything for cooking or drinking had to be carted in.  It's dusty, dirty, often noisy and occasionally we get the company of a run away cow wandering through the yard or a paddy left to watch out for when walking at night.

New anchor pulpit

Oooo I see a reflection

The list of projects:  Jeff finished and installed a bee-utiful new anchor pulpit, and worked on getting the bow thruster repaired.  I worked on patching and waterproofing the canvas, cleaning out dirty old cupboards and tool lockers that hadn't fared well in the hurricane, and a whole lot of "go-ferring" for Jeff.  We took turns buffing and waxing the hull and while we did get a lot of work done, we also made a conscious effort to relax a bit, socialize and keep things low stress and fun.


All in all, we spent ten days at Glades.  By then we had had it up to the wazoo with dust and tracking dirt into the boat.  We launched, turned the key and the boat fired right up.  Atta girl.  With friends waving us off we went down the river but were dismayed when the newly repaired bow thruster quit again.  Harumph.  

Friends waving us off

We spent a couple of days at dock at Franklin Lock to fill our water tanks with clean, fresh water and give the boat and dinghy a good scrub.  Once presentable, we putt-putted on down the river to Fort Myers Yacht Basin.


There, we were determined to get that bow thruster going.  For those readers who don't know, a bow thruster is a little propeller in the bow of the boat.  You can use it to push the bow from one side to the other which makes docking MUCH easier.  A mechanic came on board and finally, between Jeff and the mechanic, they figured out and repaired the minor electrical glitch.  Awesome.  I love that thruster!


 We enjoyed visits with friends and after a couple of days pushed off to Cape Coral.  Our home dock for the next six weeks or so.

Season Four 2017/18

New picture window

Time for a catch up.  A busy summer at home left us yearning for our annual escape to the South.  The big news from the summer:  we sold our Northern boat (Wewena) and moved back into our "dirt house".  It had been rented out for the past several years but this spring the tenants gave their notice to vacate, which forced the decision:  do we sell? rent it out again? or move back in?  None of the options fit the bill perfectly, so we came up with a compromise.

The mission:  to create an apartment on the second story of our good old house, leaving the main floor for us.  We didn't need all the space and that way the house wouldn't be empty while we're away for the winters.  As well, a secondary suite would bring in a little extra income.  Perfect...  but a heck of a lot of work and a great big mess.  It kept us busy all summer.

But alas, the mission was accomplished, the tenants settled in upstairs and a house sitter established in our half of the house...  and we were off, on our way to enjoy winter number four on Gran Vida.

Jeff cut a hole through the bricks to make
a new entrance for the upstairs apartment.

It actually turned out to
be a really cute little apartment

Heading South

Virginia Skyway offered great views!

top down/heat on

We decided to take a scenic route this time, which became even more scenic as we inadvertently had the GPS set to "no tolls".  We drove through many back roads, cow paths and state forests before we realized our mistake. Sure was "scenic" though!

As per our plan, we drove along Virginia's Skyline Drive, a scenic route that is actually a state park which winds through the top of the Appalachian mountains.  There were just enough fallen leaves to open up great panoramic views and just enough of them left to provide some colour.  Perfect!  With jackets on and the car heater cranked we enjoyed a top down drive in the fall sunshine.

 We continued on our drive, stopping overnight to visit friends Mike and Marian (Midas Touch) at their home in Georgia, and then on to St. Augustine to spend a night with Connie and Joe on their boat (Chesapeake).  

After five days of travel, sight seeing and visiting with friends we arrived at Glades boat storage to find Gran Vida moved into the work yard as requested, dirty, but mostly undamaged from Hurricane Irma which had passed by and damaged several other boats in the yard.  Lucky.

Bobeo & Juliett visit - then Home again!

Our third winter on Gran Vida in the South has wound down.  She's all tucked in for her summer's nap and we're safely home again.  We took a three day road trip on our way back to Canada, stopping in West Virginia and Ohio to take in some scenery and a bit of gentle hiking.  "Gentle" due to four bad knees, which, very thankfully, are currently mended enough to allow us to get out there a bit.  "Forest bathing"  .....so necessary for us.

March was spent at Legacy Marina in Fort Myers where we enjoyed the spectacular sunset views and the frequent passing of dolphins and manatees.

Mid-month we were delighted to get a visit from my brother, Bob and his wife, Juliette.  LOVE having company!!  We enjoyed giving them a little taste of our boating life and showing them the sites.

Highlights of the Month:

• Bobeo and Juliett visit
• We enjoyed a boat trip on buddy Erin's boat
• St Patty's Day in downtown Fort Myers again
• Spring Training

And FIRE!!  There were many forest fires in the area this dry season.
Some of them quite serious with evacuations and homes lost.
This one, seen from the boater's lounge in the marina, was actually in the next county.

  

The trail at Six Mile Cyprus Slough is a raised boardwalk, a mile or two in length, through forests and swamps, giving

wonderful wildlife viewing opportunities.  Jeff's camera was snapping!  We saw alligators, turtles, fish, wild boar, lots of birds (owls, woodpeckers, cardinals, herons and several we couldn't identify), snakes (one particularly nasty looking copper mouth looked like he/she had just had someone for lunch!).  We loved it there.

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Cabbage Key Restaurant

The season was ended with a few blissful days at anchor at Cayo Costa, a beautiful State Park accessible only by boat. Hiking and long walks on the very natural beach were enjoyed.

One day we took a rather thrilling dinghy ride in rough water over to another island, Cabbage Key, for cheeseburgers.  The legend is that Jimmy Buffet wrote the song, Cheeseburger in Paradise about this place.  We went mid-afternoon hoping it would be quiet and it was.  The waitress had time to tell us the story.  Apparently, Jimmy Buffet DID hang out there a lot, often strumming his guitar on the dock, and he got to know the owners.  He gave them complimentary tickets to one of his concerts.  Not realizing that he was famous, they were very surprised to see the concert was at an arena, wondering how this dude could possible fill the space.  He, of course, did, and during the concert called them out and dedicated the song to them.  No one is sure if he actually got the inspiration from Cabbage Key Restaurant, or from somewhere else or even several places combined.  But that's the story as told by our waitress.  Oh, and the cheesburgers were great!

Now, the dollars on the wall...  Back in the day this was a fishing village and just a small pub.  If they had a good day the fishermen would come in to celebrate by buying a beer.  They'd write their name on a dollar bill and tack it on the wall so that if the next day wasn't so good, they could still afford to come in and buy a beer.  The idea caught on and now the place has expanded and is covered in dollar bills with people's names on them.

We are now back in Canada staying on our Northern boat. Jeff has started working for the summer at Harbour West Marina in Penetanguishene.  Like always, and as they say....  our plans our written in sand at low tide.  Next winter we're thinking about the Bahamas.  We'll see.....  stay tuned.

Cape Coral

March 3, 2017

Continuing with our very different (for us) winter, we spent the months of January and February tied to a dock at the municipal marina in Cape Coral.  The difference being that we usually spend much more time while we're in the South cruising and at anchor, often in State Parks or quiet bays off the beaten track.  It's been fine though.  We've made new friends, spent time with old ones and got a few projects done on the boat.

Here are a few highlights:

• A superbowl dock party, hosted and attended by all Canadians.
• A Chubb PGA Champion's golf tour.
• Lot's of dock parties and gatherings of friends
• 
  

The Thistlethwaites, Jack and his son Andrew, are from our home town.  Jack played pool in a league with Jeff and eagerly followed our blog while we were on our loop trip.  By the time we arrived home, Jack had decided to take the plunge.  He bought a boat and was about to embark on his own loop with his son, Andrew.  Now it's been our turn to follow along their adventure as Andrew posts on Facebook. 

 What a pleasant surprise it was when they, by chance, pulled in to the Cape Coral Marina, not realizing that we were also there, and docked three boats down from us.  It is a small world indeed!  We enjoyed their company for the month, enjoying many dockside chats, afternoons at an air conditioned billiards club and the very welcomed chance to puppysit Tiggy the Adventure Dog on a few occasions.  She's a GREAT cuddler!

It's been a quiet but pleasant winter, with pretty regular golf, occasional hot afternoons spent at a local (air conditioned) billiard's club, lots of fun social time and boat projects completed.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my lap swims at the marina pool, surrounded by palm trees and under a cerulean blue sky.  My daily fix.  Twenty-five yards long and heated to the perfect temperature.  I'm up to a kilometer and a half.

We have now moved the boat back to Fort Myers, to Legacy Marina for the month.  Legacy has a nice little Inn on site, which is just perfect for accommodating a family visit.  Yay!!!  My brother and his wife are scheduled to visit later in the month.  Can hardly wait!

We're docked right on the outside of the marina which affords fantastic sunset views.  And as I type, a dolphin just crested not ten feet away.  Our gran vida continues.