Cruising, companionships and good Irish coffee

Something I learned soon after we bought the boat and were enroute back to Pensacola from Miami is that the boating world is a small one, even more so among cruisers. If there is a fellow cruiser within ear/eye shot, you will always have someone to talk to, lend a hand to, receive help or tips from and, of course, share a sundowner with!

On the delivery trip last April, we approached Gasparilla on one engine, which completely died at the mouth of the marina. As we were weighing our options (and quickly drifting into a 1 foot shoal), a small power boat who was exiting the marina turned around and towed us into the marina and hung around to be sure we were secure. Dave, it turns out was local and was just heading home for dinner when he stopped to give us a hand. Our offer of dinner was declined, but we promised to look him up if we were ever in town again. As it turns out, we have spent the last few days on Boca Grande just south of Gasparilla where we will head on Monday to repower. Morgan held on to Dave's card, so it is our hope he will allow us to buy him that dinner. Last year we had a couple of dinners at a family owned seafood restaurant within walking distance of the marina where the menu is comprised of whatever they caught that morning! On that same trip, we inquired about a taxi to get into town. The manager of the marina repair shop assured us a taxi would take a week, so he directed us to his own personal pickup whose keys were already in the ignition! Thanks to the generosity of these two gentlemen, we had our engine problems fixed, some incredible seafood, were able to stock up at the grocery store and I managed to get a pedicure for my birthday!

In Port St. Joe (once known as the "wealthiest and wildest city in the land") last week, Morgan needed a little help with an electrical problem, so he called one of the business cards in the marina boat store. Rudy, a long time cruiser, showed up within 30 minutes. Though the problem only took a few minutes to fix, Rudy spent about two hours fine tuning things while discussing everything from cruising destinations, sails and philosophy with Morgan. He refused any payment and invited us to join him and his wife, Jill, for a sundowner that evening. They kept us riveted with their stories, insight and advice. Turns out they have been cruising for about 10 years on and off and built three of the boats they cruised on. Even more entertaining was our trip to get our hair cut. There was an elderly gentleman getting an extremely overdue trim. When he was finished, he informed us that his hairdresser had visited his office and informed him he needed a trim. His co-workers had shooed him out the door with instructions not to come back until he was done! Once he left the salon, the other hairdresser said her initial thought on running into him in his office was "Someone needs to groom that man!"

In Appachicola, we didn't run into many other cruisers, but the locals were very friendly. On our first day walking around the historic streets, we were reading a marker outside the Grady Hotel (which used to serve as the French consulate in the days before refrigerators and ice makers). A lady walked up and asked if we were tourists. She then proceeded to tell us a tale of a bet between the French consulate and another politician. The Frenchman bet a case of champagne that dinner that night would included iced drinks. The other politician who accepted the bet did not know that the Frenchman had been supporting the work of Dr. Gorrie who had recently developed a means of refrigeration. His discovery and inventions played a large part in erradicating the yellow fever deaths so prevalent in the area at the time. In nearby Port St. Joe, yellow fever wiped out the entire town prior to Dr. Gorrie's inventions. (To learn more about him, go to http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~ihas/gorrie/fridge.htm.) We had several meals at Papa Joe's right on the dock. The staff were entertaining giving each other a hard time and it was interesting to watch the oysters(which were caught that morning) being shucked right in front of us. The final night there were two young guys shucking while watching BCS highlights. It was amazing that they could shuck a perfect oyster without even watching. Then Morgan entertained them by trying various hot sauces. I'll let him relate the story in another blog, but to give you a hint, I had to wipe his brow!

We crossed the "Big Bend" in 27 hours and were in Clearwater Municipal Marina by mid-morning on the 9th. We highly recommend Crabby Bill's at the end of the dock. Our very pregnant server, Jenney, was very pleasant and hard working. She and her mother and five year old little girl had moved down from Michigan and were teachers, but she had to wait tables to make ends meet. If you ever make it there for dinner, be sure take of her! An amusing highlight of our stay was Nyla's initial disembarkment. The dock was quite a bit higher than the deck of the boat and she missed! Fortunately, Morgan had hold of her leash and only the bottom half got wet. Since the marina gave Morgan such a hassle checking in, I didn't feel bad about giving Nyla a "people" shower in the dockside showers, though she was not happy about it!! We left as early as possible the next morning to head for friendlier shores.

After overnight anchors in Boca Ciega Bay in Gulfport (near St. Pete) where we watched the Ravens beat the Titans and Longboat Key where we watched the Steelers beat the Chargers, we pulled into Marina Jack's in Sarasota mid afternoon on Monday. We had good memories from our stay there last year and Morgan's good friend Chris was nearby on business and made arrangements to come meet us there. For those of you who know Nyla, we were pretty surprised that she didn't bark at him once! Some watch dog! We thought we tied far enough off the dock to keep the mutineers aboard, but the littlest one was sitting on our slip neighbors boat when Morgan returned from up the dock. Back to the brig for her whenever we leave the boat at dock!

We spent Tuesday night anchored out in Lemon Bay near Englewood. Quite a ride we had. The wind was gusting to over 30 knots and in the morning we awoke to find our two bow anchor roads had twisted. It dindn't take us long to untangle, but the roads came up with tons of mud and sea grass that kept Nyla's attention. I don't think she's ever smelled anything like that before. From there we intended to go to Gasparilla to repower, but the engines weren't going to be in for a few days. Rather than wait around in the marina, we decided to go a little farther south to a better anchorage.

Our guides indicated a good anchorage in Boca Grande just south of Gasparilla, so we headed south. Upon entering the mouth, we nearly ran aground. While trying to decide our next course of action, an older couple, Dwight and Elizabeth, in a dinghy happened by and told us how to get in without running aground. We were glad to have taken their advice. The anchorage is very secluded with courteous boaters and only 200 feet to shore. We've been here since Wednesday and could not have selected a more pleasant place to wait for our new engines. The first night we went ashore briefly and had a drink and appetizer at the Pink Elephant. Carina, our server was a dog lover and not only allowed Nyla to sit outside with us, but also brought her water. The entire island is very dog friendly. We've taken Nyla to the beach twice. The first day she charged into the surf after a stick and got a snout full of salt water. Another first for her! We ran into Dwight and Elizabeth several times on our first full day ashore and shared sundowners with them on their power boat. Dwight owns a boat yard in the Northeast and had quite a few stories to share. They had been to the Bahamas a couple of times and didn't seem to think too much of it, but that's not deterring us!!! The island is not very big, so development is primarily residential. The least expensive place we've seen for sale was a 2 bedroom for 950,000. Most homes are 5 mil and over. Even so, it has kept its small town charm with no chain stores in sight. Most residents (and tourists) travel by golf cart. One day we ducked into Temptation, a bar/restaurant, for an Irish coffee. The bartender was a good sport having never made one before. However, I think it was one of the best Irish coffees I've ever had. While sitting there, the chef joined us at the bar. Turns out he's from Flomatan (near Milton). While talking about our home turfs, a guy at the other end of the bar says he's from Alabama and was recently out of the Army. Talk about a small world. We all spent a good half hour talking about our respective homes and shared experiences (i.e. hurricanes and Army).

As friendly as this town is, the librarian is kicking us out in 4 minutes, so I will close by saying, amid the beautiful scenery, I think our lasting memories will be of the people we befriend along the way and I hope they feel the same way.