Steve’s Birthday – stevenjen

Belated birthday lunch at Cabbage Key. A few more projects left to do.

jen — Wed, 26 May 2010 17:10:09 +0000

A shrimp jumped in the boat!

Got spit out by the sea. Thanks for all the birthday wishes.

steve — Tue, 25 May 2010 01:40:06 +0000

Anchored safely. Made it south a bit. More tomorrow.

Buttered Pecan and Key Lime ice-cream on a rainy day!

jen — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:40:09 +0000

Goodbye little dinghy.

steve — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:00:33 +0000

We woke up from a nap yesterday afternoon to head to the island for a birthday celebration that was postponed the day before due to awesome fishing and found our dinghy missing. I heard someone cranking on an outboard that sounded just like ours but I was half asleep and not very concerned about someone taking our dinghy while we were aboard. In broad daylight. Next to a crowded island. So I didn’t check. We’re pretty sure it was stolen. Conveniently, the one pair of decent binoculars we have were in the dinghy so we couldn’t do much scoping out of things. Also aboard: new dive knife, 20 feet of hefty chain, two locks which aren’t currently locking things, fuel tank, life jackets and throwable, oars, and, the worst part of all, a 2hp Johnson my grandfather gave me when I was 16.

Not having the dinghy pretty much cuts us off from any available supplies in the area so it looks like we’ll be heading back to the car to start looking for a new one.

The Sanibel pd were no help. They stonewalled us with some “intent to prosecute” document that must be completed to report the dinghy as stolen. They don’t provide dockage at headquarters so our dinghy is “missing” until we can get there. They did tell us that they had a “ton of reports” of missing dinghies in the area yesterday. Plus one for stolen. The sargeant didn’t know the popular anchorage we’re in but he did want to know the type of knot we used to tie the dinghy up.

Morale is low.

UPDATE: No bonfire. Dinghy stolen. – Going to make a bonfire on the island. Cooking out.

jen — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:20:32 +0000

@ Picnic Island. Fishing in the mangroves.

jen — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:40:34 +0000

Birthday shark!

steve — Mon, 25 May 2009 10:40:31 +0000

Bimini Basin to Picnic Island – 6 miles.

jen — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:00:38 +0000

Departed Bimini Basin (Cape Coral, Fl) at ~3:45pm today. The channel leading in/out of the basin is really well marked, both green and red markers to/from the ICW in the Caloosahatchee River. Headed to Picnic Island (Sanibel, Fl) for Steven and Sandy’s birthday. Took two depth soundings in the channel leaving the basin. 7′ and 12′. Plenty of room for our 5.5′ draft. Cleared the power line with not much room to spare though. Fair winds out of the West/SW. Averaging 3.6kts just after entering the ICW. Tons of Memorial Day boat traffic. Mostly powerboaters kicking up big wakes. Makes us hobby horse around a good bit. Note: clear the area around the mast. There’s currently a blind spot from the piles of rain tarps, lines and fenders on deck. GPS markers do not match the real ICW markers around #93. Bumped 5.1kts after entering the Miserable Mile, named so because of the strong currents. You really need to pay attention during this stretch. It gets shallow, quick. Anchored at Picnic Island ~6pm. Smooth anchoring just before the rainstorm.

Arriving at Picnic Island.

jen — Sun, 24 May 2009 22:00:37 +0000

Passing a giant catamaran in a narrow channel.

jen — Sun, 24 May 2009 21:50:33 +0000