Hair raisers

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A Big One!

passing tug and tow

See the wake we're making?

Friday started off with barges; three in all and we were on our toes from the get-go. No sooner did we leave the marina (securely tucked in a basin down a short canal off the ICW), then we saw a tug pushing a long barge behind us. He was moving along and we moved to the edge of the channel to let him pass. Couple miles further we spot a very long “something” up ahead. Binocular inspection reveals that it’s a large tug pulling two sets of long dredge pipes, assisted by a smaller tug with a line attached perpendicular to the pipes, moving along at 1kt. The current was against us and even we with two engines at 2600 rpms barely saw 4.5kts.
By this time, we had 3 small trawlers behind us and a turn to the right was coming up. The tug was way over on the right side of the channel. Ok, here we go. We pushed the engines to 3600 rpms, giving us 6kts and “flew” past the barge; which allowed the boats behind us to do the same, and make the right hand turn before the barge.
Making a note that this is tug and barge territory, what do you suppose happens next? We get close to a bridge and see what appears to be a very tall barge and tug over to one side, not moving. Oh good. Wrong; he’d moved over to the let the first barge who’d passed us earlier, go by and through the bridge first. Then he starts up; we’re last in line behind a few other boats.  Once clear of the bridge, with room to pass, we all go on by. Enough already.
Our anchorage for the night and Saturday was in a wide creek, off a bay off the ICW about 15 miles north of Oriental.  It provided some protection; more trees would have helped, and we were all alone in 8′.  Alone in that we were the only boat, but we had plenty of crab pots for company. The Captain, on a roll with his A game, dropped the Rocna in the middle of a bunch, needing to allow for the fact that we would swing 180 degrees when the wind changed direction.
Darn, but if the forecast didn’t get revised in the morning; now we’d be entertaining 30kt winds, gusting to 35kts, along with the T-storms, oh and toss in a tornado watch for kicks. Time to take action: drop the second anchor to ensure we wouldn’t drag. I was to motor up to a spot to the left of the Rocna, Russ would drop the Fortress and I’d keep the engines in idle to allow us to fall back into place slowly. Easier said than done in 20kt winds, but we got it in only 3 attempts. The system was huge; a slow moving mass of red, greens and ugly purple centers. It stretched as far north as Canada, wider in the northeast than where we sat in North Carolina.  I busied myself with sewing while Russ worked on his summer to-do list (longer than RVW’s beard) and ignored the wind gauge. Why should real numbers get in the way? I much preferred to keep busy and after noting 31kts for the log, I told Russ to note the highest wind speed and tell me on Sunday.
After dinner, the huge porpoise shaped storm arrived, bringing more wind, sky filling lightning, thunder and rain. The sky was lit up for over an hour, but only once did I see (and no, it wasn’t because I was hiding below) a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt.

ugly t storm blob

Uuug-LY- we're near the tip of the nose

The storm, comprised of many blobs, one shaped like a porpoise, did not pass over us directly, we only got the edge. Imagine if we’d gotten it full force! By 10p.m. it was pretty much over, even the wind had calmed down. The highest speed noted was 44kts, and I hope to never experience that again. We did not drag an inch. The Fortress would be a challenge to raise, but that was OK.
Meanwhile, our friends on s/v Sanuk were having their own dance with the elements. On Sunday, during a brief call before we lost phone service (at least someone was concerned about us), they told how they and the 4 other boats anchored with them, had been paid a visit by one of the many tornadoes that had touched down all across North Carolina. OMG.  Down below and the storm apparently over, suddenly they were heeled over, the mast touching water. Dragging 50 ft and only lost a dockline- not the disaster it could have been.  Notice that they use the same “knotical” weather guide as we do: Rope gone= Tornado!

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Ft. Myers Beach- the good and not so…

Again, we are grateful that sunset here is later than we see it is in CT. Picked up a mooring, dropped it on purpose then picked up the only other one available…. with no pennant. We managed quite nicely and 15 mins later the sun set. Time 6pm. Fort Myers Beach turned out to be a better, and as a result, a longer stop than we’d planned.  Everything we needed could easily be obtained or walked to. The ride in was long, but never a rough one as the area is Slow Speed. A casual beach-y area full of shops, bars, eateries, public trolley transportation, great beaches and parks to enjoy.

FMB SOB

Enjoyed drinks here one evening

We did it all; including haircuts, buying shrimp off a shrimp boat and several Red Box $1 rentals from the nearby 7-11. What a cool machine- it does it all and after 2 rentals we got a free one.

shrimp guy

Fresh shrimp off the Ms Cher

Heard from Sanuk that a concert with Third World was happening Feb 4 in Key West. We could take the bus down from Marathon and spend the night on a neighbor’s boat… if only we’d be there.  With nothing pressing and a desire to sail rather than consume diesel, we planned to leave FMB on Thursday based on a reasonably favorable forecast. No way we’d hit Marathon in time. Oh well, we’re sure they will be able to have a good time for us.
Our arrival in Marathon required more planning than usual; the saildrive work that never happened in Vero Beach was being scheduled with Marathon Boat Yard so we wanted to commit to a date ; preferably the day we arrived. Boot Key Harbor City Marina was filled up the point of “waiting list” and to get on the list, you have to make the request in person.  Therefore, if we could be at MBY for the engine work, we could walk to Boot Key Harbor marina and put our name on the wait list…. All is falling into place and MBY is expecting us Sunday at their docks.
Tues and Wed, our final days at FM Beach were interesting … in a near disaster-themed sort of way. Tues was an adventure; we rode the trolley-buses to Bonita Beach (Ace Hardware, etc), stopping at Lovers’ Key State Park on the way. Back to the dinghy dock by 5pm and that’s where the trouble began. The details are too painful, but suffice to say that the razor sharp shells attached to the cement bridge pilings should be avoided at all costs. The dinghy ride back to Ortolan was horrifically long as Russ sat crouched by the outboard with one hand on the tiller and one over the slit I had made. Another first that never had to happen.  Dinghy has been patched, but because the hole is an inch above the rub rail we couldn’t make the patch big enough and air leaks out slowly.  A re-do is needed.
Wed, Ground Hog Day and even if he didn’t see that silly shadow, funky stuff happened in Ft Myers Beach. After lunch the Coast Guard went by (our mooring is on the edge of the channel) and we saw it slow down by a house boat in the anchorage just past the mooring field, then stop for a while at a tri-maran before heading back.
Around 3pm we heard a VHF call from a boat who saw three people in a dinghy that appeared to be upside down and was heading toward the mangroves (those hungry trees!). Sure enough, we looked and there they were, just as she said and after a few seconds we couldn’t see them but one had a line and we guessed they planned to tie on to the mangroves. The Lee County Sheriff boat came out (right past us) and after quite some time and discussion with Base that we listened to, the three guys were taken aboard the Sheriff boat, headed for the Coast Guard Station. A boating accident- yep drinking likely and one guy refused to sit down in the Sheriff boat- as they passed by us could see a lively discussion taking place.

Bad boy!, Now sit down like I told you!

Couple hours later, I notice someone rowing in a dinghy. A few mins later the Sheriff boat comes by and I hear a woman’s voice calling out. Yikes, she’s headed into the mangroves and asking the boat for a tow out to her boat- gesturing toward the anchorage. The Sheriff boat, loaded with 5 official looking guys, told her they’d have to come back. Lucky lady; the boat in front of us went to her rescue and towed her to her boat anchored in the same general area as the visited tri-maran.
Most of the boats anchored may at one time have resided on a mooring until the city raised the fees and moved to clean things up to encourage more transient use- more visitors spending money. In less than pristine condition, these boats contain full time and part time live-aboards.
At 6pm the Sheriff boat does indeed return, but heads past her boat toward the house boat and then stops at the tri-maran. We see a man’s head pop up, the uniformed men step on to the boat and they spend the next 20 mins at the tri. Do we have a great viewing spot or what? Then around 8:30 a man announces on the VHF that a boat had left Bonita Bills (a bar by the bridge), operator drunk and had hit several other boats on the way out, heading north toward Matanzas Pass. When you’re in an unfamiliar place (which we are nearly all the time) landmarks and such are foreign, so when we heard this call we scrambled to figure out if the bad boat was headed our way. Luckily no. Enough already. Time to get out of Dodge.