Currently (Friday 03-18-11) we are laid up on anchor at Marco Island until Monday or Tuesday. Yesterday I screwed up again on leaving the fuel dock here and busted a solar panel on a piling. We should have a new one Monday. We could go on without one, but it was the 80 watt one so almost cut our 180 watt array in half output wise. So far we haven't had to run the gen-set at all and hope to keep it that way, but we have been on the outboard a lot.
I made it in and out of the fuel dock a couple days earlier at Captiva and made it into this one in a narrow 100 ft wide channel after doing a 180 in it to dock on the starboard side. I shouldn't of docked on that side of the boat as the BBQ and solar array both stick outwider than the sides of the boat on that side. On leaving I motored in reverse out into the channel a ways, not far enough, to get the stuff sticking out away from the pilings. My fatal mistake was leaving the bow pointed towards the dock. I put it in forward and gave
it too much gas thinking I could swing the bow around. I did that, but in the process the stern came around and the BBQ and solar panel caught a piling. That then swung the bow towards another piling. Things from then on happened faster than I could handle and I had to swing the bow back out and then the stuff at the stern hit the the next piling. I couldn't get to the reverse and throttle quick enough and this happened one more time before I cleared the end of the dock. A real mess, but I got most of the bent stuff straightened out and when the new panel gets here we should be good to go.
I should of backed out at 30-40 degrees and then continued backing so the I backed back toward the dock and that would of brought the bow around and then I could of gone straight ahead. Oh well expensive ($250) lesson learned and life goes on. I look at these expenses as we don't stay in a slip, so that screw-up is re-payed in 3-4 nights on anchor vs. a marina.
On another note Ruth is doing very well considering a couple weeks ago she fell down a whole flight of stairs at my sister's house and ended upside down wedged against a door at the bottom. How she didn't break anything is beyond me. She did get a pretty screwed up shoulder out of it though.
We put in the water about 3 pm on 03/11/11 (Friday) with absolutely no problems this time hanging up on the bow rollers. I lowered the guide bunks that go to the front of the trailer before launching. We motored down the fresh water canal system about 6 miles and anchored for the night about 2 miles prior to the lock.
Saturday we got through the lock with no problems and motored and then sailed for over an hour south until the winds came in on the bow and we gave that up as we had a long ways to go. We anchored off Part Island not too far from Pelican Bay after making 22 miles for the day.
Sunday we went to Captiva and filled up with gas (11 gallons in the 19 gallon tank) at Jensen's Twin Palm where we had last filled up in the fall. Made 18 miles for the day and it was calm. Lots of boats on the water and the fuel dock was a zoo. We also filled up our fresh water tanks there (26 gal of new water) over 40 total on board. I'm really glad that we installed the inboard fuel tank and aren't dealing with containers.
We moved on down into Roosevelt Channel about a mile past Jensen's where we had
anchored the previous trip and spent the night and the next day resting up some. Monday we took the dinghy back to Jensen's to empty some trash and to get a hat and walk a block to the little store on Captiva to get a couple goodies. The new 3 1/2 HP long shaft is really nice on the dinghy and a lot easier at 40 lbs. to put on vs. the 60 lbs. of the old one. Wish it was lighter, but it is a good outboard so far.
Tuesday we made 24 miles from Captiva down the ICW and across the 'Miserable Mile' and under the Sanibel bridge and out Matanzas Pass and on to the entrance to the bay at Ft. Meyers Beach. I had heard horror stories about the "Miserable Mile', but we timed it at slack tide, on purpose, and that worked great and we had no problems there are going out into the gulf.
We had no real problems anchored at the entrance into/out of Ft. Meyers Beach, but the current there was pretty strong. We had both anchors down on a Bahamian Moor and that worked great although the lines did twist during the night and then made a pretty disturbing sound as they sawed on each other. I moved them to the side chocks and that took care of that. Later I figured out a better way to put them both out.
Wed. (03-16) we got off to a fairly early start around 9 am and started out into the Gulf and down the open waters there to Naples. This was a first for us and did cause some anxiety, but the 25 mile trip from Ft. Meyers Beach to Naples was easy. Flat water no wind until we arrived at Gordon Pass where we went back in. We had picked the day for the trip as they were predicting winds of less than 5 mph and seas under 1 foot. It would of been nice waiting for higher winds and trying to sail, but with our experience we didn't feel that was prudent.
It was really busy on the water inside at Naples and we headed south a little ways on the inner waterway between Naples and Marco and tried to go off into a side bay to anchor, but ran aground twice in the mud and had to go south in the channel down about 6 miles to a deeper side channel beside Little Marco Island. It was a long day, almost 40 miles and with all the boat traffic on the narrow inside waterway tiring. I would not of wanted to of been where we were on a weekend.
We would of liked to rested up in the side channel, but the traffic there had the boat rocking on anchor a lot and it just wasn't fun, so we pushed on another 8 miles on the Inland Waterway and are now anchored in Factory Harbor at Marco after the piling incident.
There are a lot of people on the water this time of the year. Too many for us. Hope they thin out in the 10,000 Islands and that the bugs aren't that bad. The weather has been great though, no complaints there.
While we are here and have some Internet I might try and post some pictures of the above trip along with more details.
From here we head south into the 10,000 Islands and hopefully the Everglades and also hopefully on to the Keys. Probably no internet after we leave here Monday or Tuesday.
c ya,
Sum and Ruth
Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida
Our MacGregor S Pages
Mac-Venture Links
I made it in and out of the fuel dock a couple days earlier at Captiva and made it into this one in a narrow 100 ft wide channel after doing a 180 in it to dock on the starboard side. I shouldn't of docked on that side of the boat as the BBQ and solar array both stick outwider than the sides of the boat on that side. On leaving I motored in reverse out into the channel a ways, not far enough, to get the stuff sticking out away from the pilings. My fatal mistake was leaving the bow pointed towards the dock. I put it in forward and gave
it too much gas thinking I could swing the bow around. I did that, but in the process the stern came around and the BBQ and solar panel caught a piling. That then swung the bow towards another piling. Things from then on happened faster than I could handle and I had to swing the bow back out and then the stuff at the stern hit the the next piling. I couldn't get to the reverse and throttle quick enough and this happened one more time before I cleared the end of the dock. A real mess, but I got most of the bent stuff straightened out and when the new panel gets here we should be good to go.
I should of backed out at 30-40 degrees and then continued backing so the I backed back toward the dock and that would of brought the bow around and then I could of gone straight ahead. Oh well expensive ($250) lesson learned and life goes on. I look at these expenses as we don't stay in a slip, so that screw-up is re-payed in 3-4 nights on anchor vs. a marina.
On another note Ruth is doing very well considering a couple weeks ago she fell down a whole flight of stairs at my sister's house and ended upside down wedged against a door at the bottom. How she didn't break anything is beyond me. She did get a pretty screwed up shoulder out of it though.
We put in the water about 3 pm on 03/11/11 (Friday) with absolutely no problems this time hanging up on the bow rollers. I lowered the guide bunks that go to the front of the trailer before launching. We motored down the fresh water canal system about 6 miles and anchored for the night about 2 miles prior to the lock.
Saturday we got through the lock with no problems and motored and then sailed for over an hour south until the winds came in on the bow and we gave that up as we had a long ways to go. We anchored off Part Island not too far from Pelican Bay after making 22 miles for the day.
Sunday we went to Captiva and filled up with gas (11 gallons in the 19 gallon tank) at Jensen's Twin Palm where we had last filled up in the fall. Made 18 miles for the day and it was calm. Lots of boats on the water and the fuel dock was a zoo. We also filled up our fresh water tanks there (26 gal of new water) over 40 total on board. I'm really glad that we installed the inboard fuel tank and aren't dealing with containers.
We moved on down into Roosevelt Channel about a mile past Jensen's where we had
anchored the previous trip and spent the night and the next day resting up some. Monday we took the dinghy back to Jensen's to empty some trash and to get a hat and walk a block to the little store on Captiva to get a couple goodies. The new 3 1/2 HP long shaft is really nice on the dinghy and a lot easier at 40 lbs. to put on vs. the 60 lbs. of the old one. Wish it was lighter, but it is a good outboard so far.
Tuesday we made 24 miles from Captiva down the ICW and across the 'Miserable Mile' and under the Sanibel bridge and out Matanzas Pass and on to the entrance to the bay at Ft. Meyers Beach. I had heard horror stories about the "Miserable Mile', but we timed it at slack tide, on purpose, and that worked great and we had no problems there are going out into the gulf.
We had no real problems anchored at the entrance into/out of Ft. Meyers Beach, but the current there was pretty strong. We had both anchors down on a Bahamian Moor and that worked great although the lines did twist during the night and then made a pretty disturbing sound as they sawed on each other. I moved them to the side chocks and that took care of that. Later I figured out a better way to put them both out.
Wed. (03-16) we got off to a fairly early start around 9 am and started out into the Gulf and down the open waters there to Naples. This was a first for us and did cause some anxiety, but the 25 mile trip from Ft. Meyers Beach to Naples was easy. Flat water no wind until we arrived at Gordon Pass where we went back in. We had picked the day for the trip as they were predicting winds of less than 5 mph and seas under 1 foot. It would of been nice waiting for higher winds and trying to sail, but with our experience we didn't feel that was prudent.
It was really busy on the water inside at Naples and we headed south a little ways on the inner waterway between Naples and Marco and tried to go off into a side bay to anchor, but ran aground twice in the mud and had to go south in the channel down about 6 miles to a deeper side channel beside Little Marco Island. It was a long day, almost 40 miles and with all the boat traffic on the narrow inside waterway tiring. I would not of wanted to of been where we were on a weekend.
We would of liked to rested up in the side channel, but the traffic there had the boat rocking on anchor a lot and it just wasn't fun, so we pushed on another 8 miles on the Inland Waterway and are now anchored in Factory Harbor at Marco after the piling incident.
There are a lot of people on the water this time of the year. Too many for us. Hope they thin out in the 10,000 Islands and that the bugs aren't that bad. The weather has been great though, no complaints there.
While we are here and have some Internet I might try and post some pictures of the above trip along with more details.
From here we head south into the 10,000 Islands and hopefully the Everglades and also hopefully on to the Keys. Probably no internet after we leave here Monday or Tuesday.
c ya,
Sum and Ruth
Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida
Our MacGregor S Pages
Mac-Venture Links
