From Paradise to a Completely Different Place..

Paradise in Cabbage Key

.....except, hmmmm, I thought hell was hot.

And believe me, it's anything but hot here in sunny Florida; it's bitter cold.

Earlier this week I composed a light hearted post about our interesting experience in Cabbage Key where we enjoyed a Hamburger in Paradise. And then something bad happened. My post disappeared. Just like that.

Well, crap!

I can't bring myself to try and duplicate it so I'll just summarize it here:

We anchored outside Cabbage Key the night before we entered the marina.

You can't get into Cabbage Key Marina as a transient, sooner than 3PM in order for them to accommodate the ferry and lunchtime dinghy traffic. Once you get there, you'll learn you can't fill your water tanks (they rely on a small water tower), there is no garbage disposal, the shower facilities require a $10.00 key fee (I opted to shower on the boat), and dogs are not permitted, although Wilbur got a huge reprieve when the ladies in the gift shop informed us he could let off some steam as long as he was leashed. We never let Wilbur off his leash anyway so that wasn't a problem. They have one washer and dryer so I was able to get a load of laundry done.

And for dinner we finally taped a dollar bill with our boat's name on the wall and ate that damn cheeseburger in paradise.

It was a fun time but if I were to do it again I'd just dinghy in for lunch and save the whole overnight dockage fee. Don't get me wrong, we had a wonderful time there and I'm glad Wilbur got to have his rollies, but the fees just didn't justify the means.

Hans places our Knotty Cat dollar bill on the wall.

We left the marina, spent a night at JN Ding Darling Refuge anchorage and then ended up in Fort Myers Mooring Field for this year's version of the Polar Vortex.

We approached the mooring field with some trepidation (no pendants! can't read the numbers! rude staff! Active Captain reviewers exclaimed), but luckily we picked up our mooring lickety split. And that was pretty much the best thing that happened to us for the next three days. BTW, we approach from the stern where Hans can see the ball and after hooking it I run a line through it (the other end is already cleated to the bow) and then run like hell for the front before my arms get yanked from their sockets. This was one of the longest pendants (or pennant whichever term you prefer) I've ever seen, something like 10 feet. We secured another line to it and now the ball was centered in front of the boat.

The mooring ball.

 

After getting the dinghy in the water we took Wilbur and all of our garbage ashore. Of course Wilbur stomped all over the garbage bags with his big pitty feet and then nearly fell in the water at the dock. We had a nice dinner at Bonita Bill's where we heard people talking about how it was gonna blow like hell the next day.

I was sound asleep when a huge bang woke me up. Bang! I heard it again and it was right near my head. I woke Hans up and he told me it was the waves slapping the boat. Umm, I don't think so, and then Bang! There it went again. Hans got up, I got up, and Wilbur got up which is very unusual because the little man prefers to stay in bed until noon. We all poured out into the cockpit and while Wilbur and I shivered in the freezing wind and rain, Hans went up front where he found that our mooring ball was deep underneath the Knotty Cat and pounding the hull near our berth.

The wind and current were having a huge fight and neither was willing to give up and soon the mooring ball was stretched way out in front of us so we went back to bed. Bang! Bang! It was back again and I was sure it was going to end up in bed with us. The lines on the cleats were groaning in agony, and then we heard an odd squeaking noise. The ball was now wedged under the boat. We both went up to the bow this time and we couldn't budge the lines as the ball had no intention of leaving its new home. I refused to go back to bed since the amplified noise of the groans and squeaks were scaring me to death so I stayed in the salon. Wilbur abandoned me and joined Hans down below.

We were due for a mobile pump out in the morning so we thought we'd ask the dock master if he could see where the ball was actually wedged. It was possible that it had passed under our center pod and if so that would be a huge problem. But it was too windy for a pump out so we were on our own. By leaning way out over the stern Hans was able to see that the ball was stuck up front between the starboard hull and the center pod, so we finally fired up the engines and reversed off it. Just like that the ball popped out. The wind took over and the ball was way in front of us and try as we might we couldn't pull it in so we could tie it off closer to the boat. We finally gave up on that project and went back down below. It was afternoon by now and I was tired and grumpy.

Bang! Bang!

Sonofabitch! It was back.

I raced up front and once again the lines were under the boat. And then we drifted back a bit and the ball was right there beside us on the port side. I asked Hans if we couldn't just grab its line now and tie it off to the cleat.

So he did.

The ball was now bouncing next to us and I just knew it would probably start smacking the hull. "Looks okay to me," Hans said. "Tap,tap,tap," the mooring ball replied. "You bastard!" I yelled. If I could have, I'd've smashed that mooring ball to pieces. I told Hans surely we could work that line over to the center cleat therefore centering it under the bow and rendering it incapable of touching the boat.

So he did.

Let me tell you we had that sucker cinched so tight it could have sang with the Bee Gees.

Down below we went and while the wind roared and the currents ripped we were pretty much at peace.

I was in desperate need of a shower and not knowing how much water we had left (in addition to the fact that it was icy cold) we decided to dinghy into the marina to use their facilities. This time we kept the dog and the garbage far away from each other but the problem this time was the waves. We weren't a foot away from the boat when a wave crashed over the front of the dinghy and my newly washed jeans and I got soaked. It didn't help that our mooring field was the furthest from the office so imagine what we looked like by the time we got there.

Back on the boat we continued our communication with our friends from up north who are flying down to join us today. Trying to plan something like this when you're on the move is not easy. Scheduling flights, weather, and our actual location have made this very interesting. "Bring sweatsuits and warm clothes," is probably not what our guests wanted to hear.

Last night the wind was blowing so hard it actually ripped two out of four of our solar panel connections apart. These connections are (or were) so strong we have a tool to disconnect them when we want to roll them up and put them away. We brought them in for the night and before we left this morning (yes, we actually left!!) I tested one of them and it appears to still work.

These are our solar panel connectors.

So, this morning we got up early, put the dinghy on the deck (impossible to do until today), ditched that damn mooring ball, and headed out into the gulf. Forty degrees is cold to be out here but the sun is shining.

Next stop, Naples.

 

 

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Trying to meet up with land based friends while cruising

 

 

Interesting bridge opening. A swing bridge.

 

How odd it feels to know you're a few mere miles from friends because actually hooking up with them becomes quite a logistical feat.

A couple we knew from our marina bought a home shortly before we departed and we promised to look them up as we slowly worked our way south. As we neared the area of their residence we poured over our charts and realized the waterways and the roadways weren't cooperating in a very friendly manner. They lived over 'there' and we were anchored over 'here'. We had dropped the hook in a tiny anchorage in Cape Haze and realized this was as close as we were going to get. However, Skipper Bob's guide mentioned that dinghy dockage was 'difficult' and Active Captain said it didn't exist at all. Cautions such as this make me nervous because I'm married to a man who doesn't understand the concept of 'NO'. To Hans; 'No Trespassing', 'No Admittance', or 'Danger High Voltage!' is an express invite to do just that, and I'm the kind of person who's still afraid someone's going to tell my mother on me. So we loaded a screaming Wilbur into the dinghy and zipped up the canal (our newly repaired motor failed a couple of times but thank God it finally got down to business) and then we passed under a small bridge that was purported to be very close to a Publix. We noted that there was nothing to tie up to but Hans spotted a cement water pipe sticking out of a wall and had an 'Aha' moment.

We then proceeded across the GIWW, passed through a path in the mangroves (believe it or not at one point we managed to run aground in the dinghy) and docked at Don Pedro State Park where Wilbur frantically marked many plants and bushes along the very desolate trail (I wouldn't have been surprised if tumbling tumbleweeds had skittered past us). We finally happened upon the gulf side but of course Wilbur was forbidden entry and so Hans ventured out upon his own in search of the millions of sharks teeth that supposedly wash up on the shore. He didn't find any.

No sharks teeth here.

 

Wilbur can't believe what he's reading.

 

The next morning we decided to try the water pipe thing at the bridge, sans Wilbur. And it worked. Actually it was pretty easy as the pipe (which I nervously peered into first to make sure no creepy crawlies were lurking within) works as a step and just like that (except for Hans who scraped his legs) we were on land and we tied the dinghy up to a pipe on the bridge. We were both lugging bags of garbage along with a back pack, my tote bag, and our luggage cart (for bringing back cases of beer) and I'm pretty sure we looked like homeless people. There are no sidewalks here but there's an access road behind the Publix which really helps. You can use it to get across the highway and after that you're home free.

Loading up (not getting loaded!) at our little bridge on the canal

Boo-boos, I mean really is there room for another band-aid?

Now that we knew this we got ahold of our friends and arranged to meet them at Lil' Tony's (excellent pizza!) right beside Publix the very next day. Not only did Dave and Lynn meet us, they bought our lunch (again a huge thanks here from us!) and did us a big favor. They let us load their vehicle full of provisions and drove it the whole 3/10 of a mile to our dinghy, which I was very relieved to find was still there.

Now on to our next anchorage at Cabbage Key and more friends to try to connect with. These are northern friends who come to Florida for the winter and this year they are near Fort Myers. We are going to spend the night in Cabbage Key Marina where in addition to getting real laundry done (not just undies in a bucket with a plunger), dumping garbage, getting showers and washing my hair, we hope to have a Cheeseburger in Paradise (Overpriced! Mediocre! warn my friends at Active Captain). This would be a great place to meet we decided and before checking out the logistics we made our plans. Needless to say those plans ended quickly when we found out that the water taxi costs $42.00 per person round trip to reach the island. Even if they're the best cheeseburgers in the world I wouldn't pay $82.00 to sample them. So we called that visit off. In a few days we hope to be at the Fort Myers Mooring Field and we can dinghy ashore and meet them there, although I think it's about an hours drive for them. We'll see.

Last of all, we have northern friends coming to spend a week with us on the Knotty Cat and that has certainly taken some planning. After a lot of back and forth with dates and places etc... I think it's finally been nailed down. We hope to travel with them down the coast from the Marco area and end up in either Marathon or the Keys (both locations will work as they will then rent a car to the airport). The Keys would be nice but as anyone who's sailed knows, it's all about the weather and how cooperative the Knotty Cat cares to be.

A parting shot here. I was on the bow cleaning up our dock lines and when I got back to the stern I saw this. A clever (sneaky) little mister hopped into the dinghy when Hans had his back turned. He knows he's supposed to be wearing his life jacket and right after I took this he hustled his smug butt back on board.

Pweeze to hurry, I has a date with a cheezeburger and it's in a place called Paradise.

 

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