Ready, Set, Wait…

When we arrived in St Simons Island, we had a plan to stay for a month.  The first 2+ weeks would be spent on my Driving Miss Rita adventure as I’ve come to call it.  I flew from Jacksonville, FL to Indiana and drove Mom and her car to the Florida panhandle where she’ll spend the winter… yay, Mom!  Mike joined us in Panama City Beach a bit later and we had a blast with my youngest brother and his crew who we overlapped with for the better part of a week.

After our return from the FL panhandle, we figured we had a couple of weeks to knock out some small projects (we always have at least a short list of “next time we’re at a dock” projects) and still have plenty of time to play and explore a bit.  We’ve actually been to St Simons Island a couple of times before, but for fairly short visits.  Read about one of our previous visits here.  This time we could be a bit more leisurely.

So leisurely in fact that I did some reading, including an interesting little book, Voices from St Simons  (thanks, Terrie!), a collection of narratives by descendants of both plantation owners and slaves of the area.  It’s an interesting read actually, if you’re into oral histories as I am.  I’ve written in previous blog posts of some of the other islands of coastal Georgia… Cumberland (two visits actually, here and here), Jekyll, and Sapelo.  St Simons it seems moved pretty quickly from plantations to upscale vacation destination to over-developed when so many vacationers decided to relocate and live here permanently.  Still, a bit of civilization is nice from time to time… restaurants, grocery stores, etc., particularly for us cruising sorts.

This was actually our second visit to MorningStar Marina, having paused here briefly last year to meet up with road-tripping friends.  This visit we reconnected with some cruising friends Curt and Cindy whom we’d met this past summer in Oriental.  It’s a beautiful spot, surrounded by marsh grass, and has a great staff.  It’s actually across a small bridge from St Simons Island proper, so there’s very little that’s walking distance, but most all of the roads on the island also have bike/pedestrian paths, and in a pinch, during daytime hours, the marina has a courtesy car… which we borrowed twice, once to return our rental car and later for a couple of unscheduled runs to West Marine in Brunswick.  We did a lot of pedaling, and in fact found an awesome bike shop on the island, Monkeywrench Bicycles, where we were able to do a much needed replacement of tubes and tires on our Stridas, our little fold-up circus bear bikes.  (They also provide rentals of non-circus bear bikes for those who may be interested.)

Our longer stay also allowed for more exploring of the culinary.  We made return visits to a couple of gems we’d discovered on previous stops, including Palmer’s Village Cafe  (a breakfast favorite) and Southern Soul BBQ (yummy Brunswick stew among other things), as well as a splurge meal at Coastal Kitchen and Raw Bar which is on site at the marina.  New finds this time around were a great Vietnamese noodle shop called Island Pho, a fun little deep dish pizza joint called CJ’s Italian Restaurant, and last but not least, a new-to-us beer and wings spot called Locos Grill and Pub.  (Mike has decided with these additions to our list that he could stay here for the winter… I however have vetoed that plan, holding out for lower latitudes.)

yuck from the starboard fuel tank

Lest you think that we did nothing during our time on St Simons Island but eat, I should mention some of our projects, both the scheduled and the unscheduled.  We’d developed a bit of an issue with fuel pick-up on our trip down from Oriental… water/condensation and other crap that accumulates in the bottom of the tanks and gets sucked up and chokes in the separator causing the engine to die at the most inopportune times, mostly when we’re getting tossed about by waves or whomper wakes.  We/Mike had pulled/de-gunked/reinstalled both tanks a while back, but they’re apparently in need again.  This stop we managed to pump some junk out of the bottom of the starboard tank without actually having to remove the tank altogether (see photo… the brown is junk, the pink is good diesel); on our list for next stop is doing the same to the port side and upgrading the fuel filter system on the engine.

in the “foot locker”

I also finally tackled a much dreaded project… cleaning out and de-funking a storage area we refer to as our “footlocker” as it’s at the foot end of our bunk.  It’s a decent-sized but awkward space, kind of a giant wedge, that extends underneath the front deck up to the anchor locker, has marginal air circulation and is completely uninsulated… in short, it gets funky mildewed from time to time.  I’ve tackled this particular project once before, which literally requires crawling in through a 10″x 20″ opening up to my waist, repeatedly, with spray bottles and brushes and sponges and such.   There was much swearing involved.  This time was no different.

stripping teak

We also replaced a bent stanchion (the upright stainless poles on the sides of the boat through which the lifelines run).  This would have been a simple project, except that it required removing an 8 ft teak shelf and peeling back the vinyl headliner to access the bolts on the underneath side.  And as long as we had the shelf out anyway, maybe I’d just do a bit more of my ongoing strip-and-refinish-the-crappy-varnish-job-that-our-previous-owner-did project.  Even a bit at a time, it’s a multi-day affair and very messy.  Even so, we were on schedule for a month-end departure.

temporary door latch

A couple days later however, we returned from an afternoon of pedaling about, put the key in our companionway lock/latch, and heard a not-what-that-usually-sounds-like click.  Busted lock.  I managed to break into the boat by removing a screen in a window we’d left open, fetched Mike’s tools and he proceeded with much difficulty to dismantle the lock from the cockpit side… which then left us with a door that would not even latch, let alone lock.  (See Mike’s creative stop-gap fix in the photo.)  Of course the part had to be ordered, then installed, and by then some nasty weather was in the forecast.  So we stayed put for a couple of days hiding out from the wind and cold, and appreciating our little space heater that we can only use at the dock/on shore power.

This morning we finally got off the dock.  Except that the Raymarine chart plotter is apparently now not playing nicely with some of the other instruments, and the built-in cabin heater (which only works when we’re under engine power), which we almost never use and weren’t even using this morning, is now leaking.  And so, we start the maintenance/project list for our next stop, St Augustine.  Cruising has been defined as working on your boat in exotic places.  We’re certainly living that dream.  No worries though, it’s all good, and we’re sure to find a good balance between work and play… it is St Augustine after all.

last light

island amidst marsh grasses

view towards Brunswick

fading light over marsh grasses

view from our “back porch”

As always, stay tuned.

 

 

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Everglades National Park

Well, we’ve set a new-for-us record, a solid week without phone service, internet access, etc. In fact, while we saw an occasional fishing boat, the only voice we heard besides one another’s for the entire week was the voice of NOAA/National Weather Service on the vhf. Kind of nice actually. We started out from Russell Pass on Saturday 0308, in light and variable winds. Once we dug out and rigged our screacher (our light wind sail, Gemini’s version of a spinnaker), we enjoyed a long slow sail from Russell Pass to Little Shark River. (We’d had it out some time ago, but only to check for major holes, so this was the first time we actually had it up. Nice.) We pulled into Little Shark River Bay and dropped the hook just before sunset. We were in the company of several other boats, though every one was gone by 9am the following morning. Apparently this is a big stop over anchorage for folks enroute to/from the Florida Keys and Florida’s west coast. For us however, this place would be a destination, not merely a stopover point.

Over the course of the week, we made various hops up the Little Shark River, eventually spending a couple of nights in Tarpon Bay before heading back down. We spent most mornings exploring the mangrove islands and tunnels by dinghy and kayak, and most afternoons hanging out in the cockpit reading.  I’ve especially enjoyed the not-demanding-of-brain cells novels of Randy Wayne White and Carl Hiaasen, both of whom live and set their stories in south Florida.

Being so remote, it was also a great place for star-gazing.  Or might have been.  We settled for only quick glimpses.  Alas, the remoteness of the place also means the absence of mosquito fogging trucks, which was fine with us.  It just meant that in mere seconds after sunset, if not before, we needed to have the boat buttoned up pretty tight or be ravaged by mosquitos and even worse in my opinion, no-see-ums.  We have screens for all of the hatches, but learned in the first day or two that even our small led reading lights would coax the no-see-ums right through the screens.  Our routine after dusk was to open only the more remote-from-the lights hatches until after we went to bed.  It seemed to work.  By the way, so do the essential oil based/non-chemical NoNatz products we ordinarily use,  but even they don’t stand up to the bugs of the Everglades.  My humble opinion.

There is actually tons of information I could share about the Everglades.  The Everglades National Park website is actually very good.  It has some comprehensive information and some cool old photographs.  Dig deep in the menus for stories about Guy Bradley, an early conservationist who was actually murdered for his efforts to protect birds when they were being sought for their plumes; Ernest Coe, who spearheaded efforts to establish the National Park; and Marjory Stoneman Douglas, a writer who also had great influence.  Her classic, “The Everglades: River of Grass”  has been added to my “to read” list.

The Everglades is also at great risk though.  Decades of destruction, some intended, some not, much in the name of development, have wreaked havoc on the flow of water that makes the Glades the place that it is.  I’ll not go into details here, because I might not be able to stop myself, but for those who are interested, the following are some places to start.  Wikipedia has some informative articles about the draining and development that created the problems, as well as attempts at restoration.   Current efforts, including information about the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, or CERP, a major undertaking indeed, can be found here.  The more we cruise, the more we see, the more there is to be curious and learn about.  One more for my reading list: Michael Grunwald’s “The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and the Politics of  Paradise”.

We’ve actually ended up staying in the Little Shark River vicinity longer than originally planned waiting out some winds in the Gulf. This far south, there is no so called “inside route”, like the Gulf and East coast ICW routes, so we wait for water and winds that will allow for a comfortable stretch on the open water of the Gulf of Mexico.  Today we did a little routine engine maintenance, oil & filter changes, etc.  Tomorrow, if the forecast holds, we’ll start back north.  Stay tuned.

relaxed at dinghy helm

sunset, Little Shark River

morning light, Little Shark River

mangroves, reflected

Little Blue Heron, Little Shark River

morning exercise

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Getting Our Goose On

Title reference, I quote from a NWR website:

Get Your Goose On!

\ ˈɡɛt jʊr ɡus ɒn \ v1:

The act of hiking, bird watching, fishing, and otherwise experiencing with childlike wonder America’s great outdoors at National Wildlife Refuges across America.

Um, I think I might resemble that remark.  In case, dear readers, you haven’t figured it out by now, I kind of like birds.  In fact, I have a particular affection for wading birds.  Which makes the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, particularly at this time of year, a little bit of heaven on earth.  Our first visit was with friends Teresa and Dave who were visiting from central Ohio.  We made a second visit with our way-better-birders-than-us friends Bob and Donna who were also down from Ohio with camping gear, a canoe and several cameras.  For those who know them, make them show you their sure-to-be-awesome photos.  For the rest of you, you’ll have to settle for mine below.  Both visits were phenomenal.  Most of the photos below are from our second visit when I remembered to bring the “zoomy” camera.

The Ding Darling refuge is located on Sanibel Island, a barrier island near the Ft Myers area.  Described on their website as “part of the largest undeveloped mangrove ecosystem in the United States, it is world famous for its spectacular migratory bird populations”;  I promise you they’re not exaggerating.  Thanks to Ding for his dedication to conservation and for helping to save yet another important ecological area from development.  And for creating the very cool National Wildlife Refuge symbol that’s in use still today.

In addition to the Wildlife Drive and its mini-hikes, we also had an opportunity to paddle a bit. Bonus: Bob’s National Parks Senior Pass not only got us into the Refuge for free, but scored us a 50% discount at the paddle launch (for which there was a fee, even though we had our own boats, no worries.)  The Commodore Creek (paddle) Trail from Tarpon Bay was a lovely paddle through the mangroves, though short in length and time as we were pushing closing time.  A return visit (our first was with friends Dave and Teresa a few days earlier) to Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille was a nice end to the day.   For those who read, Doc Ford is a major character in Randy Wayne White‘s series of mystery novels set in the area.

A few days later, the four of us headed out again, earlier in the day this time, from an unimproved (translate: free, more remote) launch site at Sirenia Vista State Park for a delightful paddle in the Matlacha Pass Aquatic Preserve and Matlacha National Wildlife Area.  I was reluctant to take my “zoomy” camera, but my Lifeproof-covered iPhone made for a handy navigation tool in a wet kayak.  For those who paddle and are interested in visiting the area, be sure to check out the Great Calusa Blueway.  Could keep us busy here for a while.

After paddling, we took a bit of a stroll around nearby Matlacha (introduced to us by friends Glen and Paula), including a bite of ice cream at Great Licks.  Back in Cape Coral, we briefly checked out the Taste of the Cape event at Four Freedoms Park… a well attended (translate: crowded) and pricey opportunity to sample fare from the local restaurants, complete with craft beer… but decided to pass.   Instead we had a fun and yummy meal at Ford’s Garage in Cape Coral.  The website is cool, but you’ll have to visit in person to check out the “fluid disposal area”.

Little Blue Heron w/crab

Reddish Egret

Reddish Egret, dancing

American White Pelicans

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Donna & Bob

gator

Wood Stork

American White Pelican in flight

Roseate Spoonbill

So, all friends/visitors have returned to the Great White North.  I’ve been excused from jury duty.  All options are open.  Stay tuned.

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Bugs, Fairies and Watermen

OK, so that’s a title a little all over the map.  I had to share our most recent creature photo though.  For those who expressed concern, there have been no further snake sightings aboard Cheshire.  We did however pick up an interesting hitchhiker though on our way back across the Bay last trip.  I for one have never seen a bug so big.  Thanks to our friend Donna who was able to id it as a Swamp Darner.  He hung with us for quite a while.  Photo below.

Back in Solomons for a bit, we’ve continued with some boat chores with some touristing sprinkled in as well.  The weather finally cooled off a bit to make it all a little more tolerable, thank goodness.  The AnnMarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center had been on my radar for a bit, but I’d been holding off for a particular exhibit that opened just recently, and IMHO, it was well worth the wait.  As with some other places we’ve visited lately, this 30-acre Garden was a gift to Calvert County from a generous couple, an architect/builder/developer out of DC, Francis Koenig and his wife AnnMarie, on the condition that it be developed into a sculpture park.  It’s quite an eclectic place.  In addition to works on loan from the Smithsonian Institute and the National Gallery of Art, serious art if you will, they are also quite known for an annual Fairies in the Garden event, which includes fairy and gnome dwellings by mostly local amateur artists which are scattered throughout the wooded grounds, and other more whimsical exhibitions.  There are also a variety of art classes for the community and it’s a very kid-friendly place as well.  During our visit, there were tons of wee ones wandering around wearing fairy wings.  Very cute.

The highlight though was Marc Castelli’s “The Art of the Waterman” exhibit.  Although new to me, Castelli is apparently a well known artist in the Chesapeake area.  His recent works have focused on the watermen of the Chesapeake, those who live and make their livings on the Bay.  It’s a fascinating culture really, and one that is feared to be headed for extinction;  Castelli has captured it beautifully.  Shortly after we arrived in the Chesapeake, I read a delightful book by William Warner titled “Beautiful Swimmers”, a Pulitzer prize winner of some years ago, an enlightening introduction to the Chesapeake Bay, and everything you could ever want to know about blue crabs and the watermen who make their living catching them.  Castelli’s watercolors provided the visuals for the book for me.  Amazing stuff.  While not the same as seeing his work in person, his website is extensive. On the “past exhibits” page, check out the “view collection” tabs for photos of his work.

And for the less impressive but all my own photos, check these out:

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Until next time…

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Art and such in Vero Beach

So, when we arrived in Vero Beach, our original plan was to stay for about 3 days. After a couple of days, we decided to stay a bit longer. Wednesday was a week, and we have no definitive plans to be moving on. Yet. We now understand the nickname by which many cruisers refer to this place: Velcro Beach.

As we go along in this new cruising life, we’re developing some new habits. One of mine, when we plan to be visiting a place we’ve not been before, is to “do the research”.  I start with the obvious.  We’re always locating the nearest grocery store…Harris-Teater was always a great find until we got to Florida… they don’t go south. Publix and Winn Dixie do us just fine.  Liquor stores are important, and an ABC that also has a “Wine Country” corner is always a real find; we’ve become quite the box wine fans and ABC has the best selection, Bota Box being a favorite, at least for reds.  Seems we’re always needing something from a marine supply or hardware store, and the occasional marine consignment shop is always a find.  Occasionally we’ll score with a Lowe’s; Target stores are also a treat. Depending on our timing and the duration of our stay, I’ll also do some scouting for seafood markets and farmer’s markets.  We haven’t found a great seafood place yet, but it turns out Vero has a great farmer’s market near the beach on Saturday mornings; we’ll go again this Saturday.

I’ve recently added used bookstores to my “look for list”.   After our first 6 months on board without TV, and realizing we didn’t even miss it much, we’ve both started reading a lot more.   As I’ve mentioned before, most marinas have shelves of paperbacks.. take one, leave one deals, but alas, not a great variety.  I personally think that e-readers have impacted selection.   In any event, I’ve been keeping a list of books I want to read for about 10 years, but with demands of work, etc., I’d read one and add three more to the list.  So, the list is long, and since I’m not necessarily looking for what’s hot off the presses, used bookstores are a like being in a candy store.   And then of course there are the local attractions, birding sites, etc.

Vero Beach quite frankly has it all.   And a fabulous (and free, donations encouraged) public transportation system.  There is a system of 14 bus lines, all small buses that cover most of the county, the GoLine.   The Vero Beach City Marina is a bus stop, with a bus stopping once an hour. It will get you to the beach, but also to Publix, West Marine, ABC… bonus points for a Fresh Market, a little Italian market called the Cheese Cave and the Paperback Place, one of my best finds yet. We took in 6 books to trade, came away with 11 “new” ones, for about $14. A connecting bus will get you to Target, Lowe’s, a Bed, Bath and Beyond, a Verizon store where I recently bought a new i-phone (more on that later), a Best Buy (where I bought a “Lifeproof” case for said i-phone) and a whole mall if you’re so inclined.   OK, so maybe you have to live on a boat without a car to get excited about easy access to such things occasionally.

But then there are the really fun things.  Like the Indian River Citrus Museum.   I adore grapefruit, so this place was a must-see.  Kitchy , yes, but we learned a lot about the history of citrus farming along the eastern Florida coast, Indian River country.  Fun fact: every Spanish sailor headed to the New World was mandated to bring along 100 orange seeds for planting.   Apparently not a bad strategy.  I particularly enjoyed the old/vintage advertising labels.  Very fun.

Vero Beach apparently has a bit of a reputation as an artsy place.  They’ve done an impressive job of maintaining some of the old architecture of the original downtown area, and have some lovely public spaces.  I quickly fell in love with the turtles… large fiberglass turtles scattered about town, all painted up in different styles.  A bit of research revealed that it was a very clever and hugely successful fund-raising campaign by the local Mental Health Association a few years back, known as Turtle Trax… businesses sponsored, artists created and funds were raised via auction to the tune of more than half a million dollars. I’d seen similar public art displays in other cities… the pigs of Cincinnati for example.  I understand that Jacksonville has done something similar with manatee;  we’ll check into that next month when we’ll be in Jax for a bit.

We also spent a morning at the Vero Beach Museum of Art… an impressive place for a city of this size.  I was particularly impressed by a traveling exhibit by an artist named Stephen Knapp, titled Lightpaintings.   Those who know me know I have a thing about art glass, but this is incredible stuff, all done in light, glass and stainless steel. You really have to see it in person to appreciate it, but check out at the website for a cool video tour that will give you a sense of it.  Even better, if you’re among our central Ohio friends, check out the exhibit in person when it comes to the Dayton Art Institute in the fall of 2012.  Really, go see it.

Yesterday, on a tip from our friend Katie, we spent a couple of hours at a delightful garden, the McKee Botanical Garden.  I was delighted to find it on one of the bus lines, though not many at the marina seem to be familiar with the place.  It opened in the early 1930’s, and was apparently quite the tourist spot in the early years.  It closed for a bit during one of the world wars when it served as a Navy jungle training ground, and then closed altogether in the 1970’s when tourists began visiting “other central FL locations (translate: Disney World) instead.  The property was finally sold to a developer in the mid 1990’s – can you say condos and golf courses, but the last acres, 18 of the original 80, were rescued by Indian River Land Trust and the gardens restored.  The Garden is now on the National Register of Historic Places and is a wonderful place to spend a couple of hours.  The Garden’s website has some great photos, both historic and current.   We were also fortunate enough to catch a temporary exhibit called “Sculpting Nature”, which had a whole array of varying  pieces scattered about the grounds.  I was particularly intrigued by a couple of pieces by an artist named Gregory Johnson done in bronze on granite (“Balancing Act” and “Underfoot”), and others by a Merritt Island artist named Joe Thompson (“Sandhill Crane” and “Nesting Crane”) made of stainless steel utensils… that’s right, he re-uses knives, forks and spoons.  Again, you just have to see some of it in person to really appreciate it, but check out the photos for an idea.

… and the exploring continues…

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