If you remember, the subject of my last blog was "fishing not catching". Well....I finally CAUGHT a fish! Apparently, it was a saltwater catfish which looks like its freshwater cousin BUT there are differences. My fishing friends had not educated me properly but fortunately I put on some gloves to remove the fish from the hook. It seems that the saltwater variety have a spike on their fins which carries a powerful toxin that can inflict a very painful wound and even paralyze your hand!! Fortunately for me, in my ignorance and with sheer luck, the damn fish did not stick me so I avoided those painful consequences. The little varmit grunted at me and cussed me out as I removed the hook and threw him back. I asked Linda if she wanted to come out of the cabin and try to catch one as she was the one who really wanted to fish in the first place. She said, "NO! It STINKS LIKE FISH OUT THERE!!!" So much for our fishing for awhile.
At the time of the last posting in February, we were in Bimini Basin, our "winter home". I am ashamed to say that we became "Harbor Rats" and just hung out in the harbor. Linda made lots of clothing for Olivia and Laura's American Girl dolls, made jewlery, and did other sewing and craft projects. She is never without a project in the works. We took the bus to the library once a week to get movies on DVD and watched a movie most nights.
Our friends, Kathy and Bob, on a large trawler named "Place For Us", came into the harbor for a few days so we were able to spend a few days with them before they headed back up to the Gulf Coast and up the river system. They own a marina on a large reservoir in Arkansas and were headed back there for the summer. Our friends, Dee and Lee on "About Time", returned to the harbor several times. One day they organized another get-together for the cruisers in the harbor and we all met in the park for snacks and drinks. Over the winter we averaged about 10 boats in the harbor with the maximum being 15 boats at one time. Just right, not too many but enough people coming and going to meet some interesting people.
Here is a photo of Linda and I on Enchantress that Bob and Kathy took before they left:
We left Bimini Basin in Cape Coral on March 19th and headed north to our summer cruising grounds. We stopped in Glover Bight, Useppa Island, Cape Haze, Lemon Bay, Blackburn Bay and finally arrived in Sarasota on the 24th. We stayed for several days in Sarasota. We had some really great sailing all the way up. My New Years resolution this year was "More sailing, less motoring". I am inordinantly proud of myself for sailing much of the way even in very narrow channels where I would have fired up the "infernal combustion beast" in the past. :-)
When we arrived in our summer anchorage in Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island most of the same "usual suspects" were still anchored there. There are some unusual characters, harmless and friendly but they are what we call "float-aboards" as they just live on a boat and never move. We suspect that heavy drinking may be involved also.
I finally gave in and went to a dentist as my tooth had been bothering me for 8 months and the filling finally broke. The dentist said I needed a root canal and scheduled me to go to an endodontist that same day as they were afraid I would flee the country if it wasn't done right then!!! I can tell you that I have had my first and LAST root canal!!!!!!!! Now after the Connecticut trip I will have to go back to the orginal terrorist and have a crown done. Could have just gone to a park after dark and asked to be mugged and spent the rest of the money on a trip to Hawaii!! :-(
We have now sailed on up to St. Pete Beach and anchored near the Don CeSar hotel to kill some time before we go into a marina in Gulfport to fly out of Tampa to visit Amy, Mark, Olivia and Laura in Connecticut.
Here is our view of the Don CeSar Hotel and Spa on St. Pete Beach. People are spending $300 a night to look out their windows at our pretty little sailboat!
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Well, that's enough for now. We are looking forward to our trip to Connecticut next week.
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