Muttled Meanderings

News Flash! Tourist left the dock. Finally the weather gave us a break on Sunday and off we went. Kasey's Choice had been telling us about an anchorage called Bimini Basin in Cape Coral that has good swinging room and protection from the wind all the way around. So when we said we were going to go out they thought they would risk their reputation and go with us.

The cover came off the raft for the first time since October and into the water it went. After some gentle persuasion it started and off into the canals we went to visit some friends of Donnie & Marilyns. Nice folks with a home along one of the canals. In addition to the good company we found out the Canadian cure for a hangover. Clamato juice and beer mixed together. Let the good times roll!

Our friends on Kasey's Choice have a new puppy that they have been trying to teach to do her duty on an artificial grass mat on the swim platform. Chloe already is trained to ring a bell when she has to go and is a cute little pup. Donnie keeps telling Pam she needs one just like her. He knows he hit a soft spot since Pam had a similar dog when she was a child. The picture above shows Donnie trying his best to explain to Chloe the proper technique of using the grass mat. Being the helpful individual that I am I suggested that Donnie train by example!

Last weekend was the Edison Festival of Lights. Pam and I were going to go to the parade but docktails got in the way. Even though we missed the parade we had a great seat for the fireworks that followed. If you look at the bottom of the picture you can see some of the sail boats that had outlined their rigging with lights.

In other happenings we bid happy trails to the crew of Broulee who cruised out of Legacy today bound eventually for the gin clear water of the Bahamas. Looks like they remembered the bikes this time! Have a good time guys. We'll miss you at docktails. (I wonder how the Bahamian pizza crust tastes?)

Coffee Anyone?

Not much to report on for the past week. we've been staying hooked up to the umbilical cord at Legacy to keep Tourist and us nice and warm. Temps haven't gotten above the mid 60's for some time down here with cloudy and windy conditions to go with it. I'm not whining cause I know it's still warmer than back home but it is unusual for this time of year in Florida. Even boats coming back from the Bahamas are reporting cool weather.
We faced a dilema head on recently on board Tourist, however fate worked to our favor. The last day of Frank & Pegs visit with us the coffee maker quit drawing the water out of the reservoir. Being the handy guy that I am I decided to have a look at the contraption and see if I could fix it. Well, after studying it for a couple days and Pam buying a $20.00 Mr. Coffee (apparently she has no faith in my abilities!) I finally got it out of it's mounting only to find that it had one screw in the back holding it together. Of course the screw was like nothing I have ever seen before and required a special tool to remove it. Since I didn't have the tool I took it down the dock to Donnie on Caseys Choice who seems to have a floating workshop. He too did not have the specific tool so we made the joint decision to drill the head off of the screw and pull it apart. Like magic the screw head was gone and the guts of the beast were laid open for inspection! Just then Donnies wife Marilyn came up to check on us and upon looking at the now dismembered machine said "That's just like the one we gave to the marina 4 years ago". Hold the phone! Lets see if it's still there. So off went Pam & Marilyn and sure enough, back they come with the coffee maker which looked to be in better shape than ours.

After a slight height modification the new(old) coffee maker was installed and the Mr. Coffee taken up to the marina as a replacement. The old unit was dispatched to the Legacy dumpster except for the carafe which Pam insisted we keep since we have a habit of breaking them!
On another topic; How about that Olympic Curling? It doesn't get more exciting than that. Arteries harden faster than the speed at which that sport is played.

Winter Fun

It's easy to lose track of all the joys winter brings to those still back home in Illinois while we are sitting here in Florida. Even though the weather down here hasn't been what the Chamber of Commerce boasts about, it's still better than home.

This past week-end Mid-Town Marina in East Dubuque, Il. (our home marina) sponsored their annual ice golf tournament. A course is carved out on the ice around the docks and the participants warm up with the beverage of their choosing and out they go! Mid-Town donates the proceeds to a local charity and all have a good time. Notice the high tech golf cart!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

For the past week we have had windy conditions nearly every day, culminated by yesterdays 64 mph gusts clocked by one of the boats on our dock and of course rain to go with it! Temps have been in the low 60's without much variance predicted for the near future. I'm not whining though cause I'm still able to wear shorts every day! I'll leave the whining for Pam. It's way too cold for her liking!

We've enjoyed the company of Frank & Peg Balistreri for the past few days and although the weather wasn't great for boating we were able to do some exploring by land. We visited Ft. Myers Beach and found some hearty vacationers who don't have the luxury of waiting for better weather.

We even found this pair of pirate wenches roaming the sands. Perhaps being boarded by pirates isn't such a bad thing!

One of the highlights during their visit was a trip to see the Manatees that congregate near the local power plants water discharge. Hundreds of these creatures travel many miles seeking the warm water from the power plant. Unfortunately many have perished this winter due to the cold water temperatures. The picture above reminds me of the movie Cocoon from some years back.

Later that day we travelled to Sanibel and Captiva Islands and had lunch at the Green Flash Restaurant overlooking the water. Fortunately we weren't a party of two or we would have possibly been given this "head" table at the restaurant!

One of the fears of every boater is hitting a submereged object while travelling across the water. At home it is usually a log or barrel. In the open sea it's a shipping container. This ship lost between 20 and 30 of these truck sized containers off the coast near Key West a couple weeks ago. They think most of them sank but are not sure. The Gulf Stream will take those that didn't sink all the way up the East Coast endangering boaters for months to come. The ship returned to Miami for off-loading to try and figure how many and what cargo was lost.

As the headline says it's my son Ryans birthday. It's hard to believe he can get older while I never change! Happy Birthday Ryan. Hope you have a great day!

The Dalamar

Last week possibly the smallest Looper boat I've seen came into Legacy for a few days stay. The boat name is Dalamar captained by Buzz Gentes from Champaign, Illinois. Buzz left East Peoria, Illinois back in October and followed the same river system and route that we travel on Tourist. The big difference is that Tourist is 48' long and 15'3" wide. Dalamar is only 15' long. 3" shorter than we are wide! To say his accomodations are sparse is an understatement. Dalamar is powered by 2 Honda air cooled outboards coming in at 2 hp each! Our dinghy has a 25 hp motor and is only 11'5" long. Buzz does have a cabin to sleep in and get out of the weather but has to pilot the boat from out in the open. You can follow his adventure at http://www.thedalamar.com/ . He jokingly (I think) told me that his chidren made him agree to get counseling when he gets done with his trip!

In other news we have been staying in the slip here at Legacy. The weather has been sporadic enough to not allow two consistent days of good weather so that we could enjoy some of the places we found last year. Oh well. More time for the fitness room. Or so I thought. Shortly after taking the picture of Pam posted above I threw my back out while getting dressed. I now have a list to the starboard side when I stand up! Guess we'll have to get a sail boat so I look like I'm standing straight. A visit to a local chiropracter, ice, and ibuprofen are making life bearable until I get through this.

Things We've Been Up To

Pam's back following her whirlwind trip to the cold north country. Needless to say my life is back to normal! In preparation for her return I made the bed, cleaned the dirty dishes, put my dirty clothes in the basket, cleaned the galley, emptied the trash, and bought her a fresh carton of half & half for her morning coffee. It worked! She still thinks I'm a prize catch.

Since shes' been back we have been busy with daily chores which now includes hitting the exercise room almost daily. Ouch!  I'd post pictures but who wants to look at a guy sweating?

On Saturday we drove over to Ft. Lauderdale to attend the boat show portion of Trawlerfest which is put on around the country by Passagemaker Magazine. It was a great day for sniffing fiberglass. Temps in the low 80s' and slightly overcast with a breeze. We went to specifically look at the Kady Krogens, Fleming, Selene, Nordhavn, Ocean Alexander, Offshore, Alaskan, and Krogen Express models on display. Once again the 55 Fleming was in the top 3 of the boats we liked along with the 48 Kady Krogen and the 53 Selene. I might add that the 52 Krogen Express isn't bad either. Also we like the sea worthiness of the Nordhavns but the floor plans are too chopped up for our liking on the models we can afford at this time. It's always fun and educational to look at the different boats up close and personal. Particularly the used boats. True quality shines through and since our next boat will be a previously owned boat it's nice to see what you're in store for with the different brands. What shines up nice when new doesn't always hold its' luster after a few years.
Here are some of the boats we looked at;

Some of the websites for the various brands are; http://www.kadeykrogen.com/   http://www.nordhavn.com/    http://www.krogenexpress.com/    http://www.flemingyachts.com/    http://www.selenetrawlers.com/

Of course no trip to Lauderdale is complete for us without a stop at (BOW) Boat Owners Warehouse http://www.bowboat.com/  to pick up a few supplies that you didn't know you needed. Unfortunately we didn't have time to hit one of our other favorite places right across the street, Lesters Diner. Great breakfasts any time of day. We completed our day by travelling back to Ft. Lauderdale Beach for dinner at our favorite restaurant the Casablanca Cafe (http://www.casablancacafeonline.com/) which sits loolking at the ocean. we sat on the balcony and watched the cruise ships head out while enjoying a delicious meal.