Wed 3-2-2011

 

Turned on the anchor light on and the circuit breaker would trip. A little investigation and I found the problem. Where the wire goes through the radar arch had rubbed the insulation off the wire letting it short out. I put some electrical tape around the wire and then filled the excess space in the hole with a small piece swimming pool noodle.

Did some house keeping while the Cobb grill did the cooking of some chicken. Fixed a salad to go with it. That made a fine dinner. Sitting in the cockpit watching the sunset.

Waited until 0900. Found a West Marine in Naples that has my chart chip. Got underway around 0915. Worked my way out of the harbor and back on course for the last few miles of the GIWW. At 1200 crossed the GIWW 5 mile marker. 331 miles from Carrabelle 50 hours travel time. Did I say it has been a real PITA having to go back to paper charts. That’s a lot of work.

1530 entered Gordon Pass at Naples. What a beautiful entrance if anything looks like Florida this is it. With the help of my Garmin I found that the West Marine is up Naples Bay and down a canal. I worked up way as close as I could. When I found a dock and ask the dock master the location of West Marine, he pointed across the parking lot. It was about 200 feet away. He said I could tie up to go to WM. I went in to get the chart. He didn’t have it. He said I must have called the other Naples store. He placed the call and sure enough they had it. It was only 2 miles away. I trucked off on foot to the other store to get there before they closed.

 

 

It was about 1860 by the time I got back to the boat. By then the marina was closed and everyone gone. Since is was now dark, looked to me like a good place to just stay the night.

Shortly after I got back to the boat Jim C-Brat (jennykatz) gave me a call on the phone. He lives about 15 miles form where I was. Since neither of us had eaten yet he said he would come pick me up and we’d go get a burger some place. He showed up in short and off we went. He gave me the tour of Naples and had a great visit. When we got back to the boat he pointed out some things on the charts.

3-3-2011

Jim had pointed out the best (cheapest) place to get fuel. I got to the America Marine Club around 0800 and topped off the tanks. I then motored down to the county dock by Gordon Pass. Jim didn’t have to work today so he met me again. We drove to an ACE hardware where I was able to get some butane for my Kenyon Stove. We then picked up a Cuban sandwich and went to his boat. We went to where my boat was and then he traveled with me partway to Marco. We stopped at a nice place to eat lunch. After lunch Jim headed back to Naples and I continued South.

I putted all the way to Goodland. This is the last inland place to hold up before going outside again. My late afternoon the winds were up again out of the East. I looked like I could be in Goodland for a few days. I checked out the area and ended up at the Calusa Island Marine. I didn’t even get tied up when the dock master showed up and said “that’s a C-Dory. Our Service manager has one of those.” I went to the office and found Susie Keirn. She and her husband Sam own 2002 CD 22. “MUSKRAT” Susie was full of local knowledge and weather interpreter. Like I had observed this morning was good but got bad in the afternoon. It is suppose to be worse tomorrow but if its calm I could make it to Everglades City. She said Everglades was a much better place to hang out. There are many places to walk, several restaurants and even a grocery store. There is none of this in Goodland. She also pointed out a very good anchorage. I went to the area and set the hook. Even back where I was the wind was whipping and my c-dory would swing 180 deg. By midnight the wind started lying down. Looks like I may be able to make a go of it in the morning. The only problem was where I was I could not pick up any WiFi and even the cell signal was very weak. I tried to call Mary Jo but dropped the call three times.

3-4-2011

0630 Moved the boat around the corner and was able to pickup a wifi. The wind was calm. Checked the weather on the internet. The morning looked good. Off to Everglades City. Nice cursing. I could see that on many of the islands people had set up tents and were camping for the week-end. I got to the outer marker for Everglades City and followed the well marked channel into town. Once again Garmin helped out it showed me a circle K that was close to a canal. I went to the location and topped off the tanks with 11 gal of gas. I walked the town for a couple of hours. Found the store and public library. I went in used their computer to check email and the weather. Once again the forecast is not good for tomorrow but Sun and Mon look good.

In walking the waterfront I found another C-Dory.

There are too jobs in the place. Commercial fisherman and Airboat tour operator. I have never seen so many in one place. They are everywhere, going along with from 4 to 6 tourists. I also can’t figure out where all the customers are coming from. They must have a central booking place somewhere. Every few min on the marine radio I hear some one calling out how many customers they have and someone answering back with the next departure time.