Looking for Sharks Teeth at Englewood

Our next adventure March 22, 2009 took us to Englewood Beach. It was another wonderful well protected anchorage. Again, one of the things we found was the water along the coast of the GIWW (Gulf Intracoastal Waterway) was shallow. You have to be very careful and follow the channel or else you'll be in mud. Well, we found the anchorage and dropped the hook and headed into shore for more exploration.

Englewood Beach is a small strip of land, maybe two large city blocks wide that divide the Gulf from the Intracoastal. This place reminded us of Key West, many of the cottages were very colorful and decorative. Unfortunately, almost every house had either a 'for rent' or 'for sale' or both signs posted. It was definitely a sign of bad economic times.

A fellow cruiser had told us there were shark teeth to be found all over Englewood beach. So, we headed out with our baggies on a mission. It was kind of cute because we both turned to one another and asked, ' do you know what shark teeth look like?' Neither one of us could find any shark teeth. Well, lo and behold, along comes a man walking on the beach and starts up a conversation which included, 'Did you find any shark teeth?' Upon telling him "no" he produced three of them and said to Elle, "Enjoy" as he slipped them into her hand.

Continuing on the beach we found it was loaded with all kinds of shells. Hopefully Elle will be producing something with the many we gathered.

Back on the Summer Wind we enjoyed the evening and left the next morning for Sarasota which we will continue the next time.

Cayo Costa State Park,Fl Pelican Bay

Our first stop heading north up the west coast of Florida was an anchorage called Pelican Bay right in Cayo Costa State Park. We were really looking forward to this anchorage because it was recommended by many cruisers. One of the really wonderful things about this area, is that as we were travelling up the coast the water became the aqua color, such as what you think when you say Florida. It was amazingly crystal clear, you could see plant life and the fish swimming.

It was a little tricky getting into the anchorage because there is a sand bar that crosses the entrance. Thanks to several MTOA ers with great directions we had no problem finding our spot to anchor. So, after settling in, we took the dinghy down and ventured into shore to explore.

Couldn't believe how many people were on this island for we found that they camp out in both tents and one room cabins. No vehicles are on the island except for the rangers and the only way visitors can get there is by boat. There is a ferry that comes in or as we did on your own boat.

Cayo Costa is about 9 miles long and 1 mile wide. The roads are white sand packed down. No houses except for the ranger station and dense foliage of Oak and Palm and they are replanting a few Australian Pine that were lost during hurricane Charlie.We walked the mile across to the Gulf of Mexico and enjoyed the beach and shelling. Elle is getting quite the collection. There are wild animals which we never saw, and an array of birds, which we did see. No houses except for the ranger stations, and lots of dense foliage. It is nature at its best.

The winds kind of increased making our crossing the Boca Grande Outlet not so nice, so we stayed a few extra nights because we were very well protected. Suffice it to say, we enjoyed our stay there.One morning even Dick put on his chef' hat and made a wonderful breakfast. We made several excursions to shore and would recommend Coya Costa as an excellent anchorage and interesting place to visit.Our next stop is another anchorage and beach which we will tell you about in our next entry.

The Okeechobee Waterway

Last year we weren't able to cross Lake Okeechobee because there was no water and to go the long way around Florida's coast didn't prove fruitful either because of high winds.
We left Fort Lauderdale on March 13,2009 our repairs were complete and we were ready! Our first night we anchored out at Lake Worth. Our experience there this time was much different, there were only a few boats anchored with us.
Early the next morning we left for Stuart. Many people recommended trying the Sunset Bay Marina and we had, it was a wonderful experience. The marina has moorings and sometime later this year they will have slips available. Our first day we dinghied into shore and it was just a short walk to the center of old downtown. There are several wonderful quaint shops, restaurants and of course great ice cream! The next day we met our friends Eileen and E.Don, they picked us up and we went to lunch. Later that day they gave us a tour at the Harborage Yacht Club they were staying at, and truly it was a great spot to spend some time. We had a great time with our friends at Stuart.
So, now we begin our journey cutting through Florida through the OWW,known as the Okeechobee waterway along the St. Lucie canal into Lake Okeechobee and then out the Caloosahatchee River. The OWW is approximately 150 miles long, has 5 locks to go through, so we decided to make the crossing in 2 stops.The next morning we left for Indiantown which is about 10 miles short of Lake Okeechobee. Decided to stay there for a night since the lake crossing is another 30 miles and another 15 miles to Moore Haven our next stop.We came across our first alligator, and we were grateful that he didn't know how to climb steps to come aboard the boat. From Indiantown we went through the Port Mayaca Lock and out into Lake Okeechobee.Right now Florida is having red flag warnings which means dry season and high risk of fire. Although there are several controlled burns of the sugar cane, we had spotted several fires while crossing the lake.Upon reaching Clewiston, the other side of Lake Okeechobee, we had to traverse the canal, along the lake's rim. This area we were amazed at the number of alligators and bird life we had spotted.The eeriness of the dead forest was totally different than the serenest of the canal the day before. One of things we had learned was that last year Lake O had made the newspapers for being on fire.There were several areas where all that remained were stumps of dead trees. That evening we pulled up to Moore Haven town dock. It's runs along the canal and you pay at city hall, which is just across the street.
The final day of crossing the OWW we reached Fort Myers and stayed at the City Marina which is an easy walk into town. Paul and Joanne Zucker picked us up for lunch the next day and cousin Nancy and Joe picked us up for a lushes dinner.
More to follow.

Repairs on the Summer Wind

A trawler is very much like a house, more then likely there will be a time when things wear down, fall apart and need repair, no matter how much you practice good maintenance. Believe me, Dick practices regular maintenance and repairs things without delay. Recently we found another annoying leak underneath starboard side dresser in the back cabin. This leak is something we thought we had repaired. One of the interesting things about a trawler, is that its designed so that , things are accessible. The only way we can explain is by showing pictures. Inside the bottom of the dresser are floor boards that lift, where waterlines and wiring channels and hydraulic lines for the power steering run through. Well we found the leak after lifting the floor boards, and realized that the shelving units would also have to come out.After some grunting and groaning and being a contortionist we managed to find the leak on the back hull. It was the city water intake pressure valve, which we never use because we like to refresh our water tanks. Dick went outside on the swim platform, removed the old valve. We discovered that whoever installed it, cross threaded the valve and all the threads were warped, hence the leak.We rode our bikes a few miles each way to purchase a new city water intake pressure valve. It was very simple to install the new valve and in a matter of minutes, the shelves were re assembled. Like we started saying at the beginning , boats are built with unique storage areas, and designed so that if needed you can disassemble.It has been several days and several water tanks refilled and LO and Behold NO LEAK!!! Yeah!!!

A little Detour

Well, we last left you on the day we arrived back in Delray. Needless to say we were pleased to be back in sunny warm weather. That evening we had time to freshen up when we received the phone call Mike and Janet would be picking us up around six that evening. Mario and Marsha invited us all over for a dinner, to renew friendships and catch up on one another. It was a delightful evening. We had a wonderful meal, great conversation and we're hoping that we'll all keep in touch.
The next few days we did some final preparations for the next leg of our trip. Dick replaced the air filter on his engine, checked all the strainers, his Racor filters, and replaced the pressure switch on the saltwater washdown. the Summer Wind was good to go,,, hmmmmm.
The next day the temps went up to about 86 degrees and started to rain. So, we closed the doors and turned on the air conditioner. Lo and behold, trouble! It was not working properly and shut itself off within a matter of minutes. Suffice it to say, Dick was a littled p***ed! So we left a message for the air conditioning guy that replaced the air condenser in Fort Lauderdale and he was out the next day. Sure enough he found another leak, not in the new condenser but in the evaporator itself. Big decision now, so here we are sitting a little south of Delray Beach heading back to Fort Lauderdale and waiting for a new evaporator to come from the factory. We were supposed to leave today for the westcoast of Florida but now we'll be delayed for approximately two weeks. Guess what folks, it's a BOAT and things go wrong. "Yes we can" overcome this too!