Thanksgiving, 2014
We enjoyed Thanksgiving and the day after with old and new friends. Our North Carolina friends, Dave and Barbara, invited us to Thanksgiving dinner at Mission Inn in Howey-in-the-Hills, FL. Barbara's good friend, Shirley, got together about fifteen friends for this event and we were happy to be part of it. Afterwards we had the chance to visit Shirley’s vintage old Florida home and the attached cottage and gardens in Mount Dora, all of which she has lovingly restored. Talk about an impressive DIY project!! We traveled on from there to the home of Jim and Shaula, who are old friends from our Florida boating days and we spent the night there, catching up and reminiscing about the good old days and some of our exciting boating adventures together.
 |
| Slightly out of character in our limited dress-up clothes |
 |
| Dave and Barbara |
 |
| We posed Jim and Shaula in front of the pies at Bob Evans because we couldn't resist the after-Thanksgiving 2 for 1 sale. |
Back to Gulfport
We wanted to show all of you what we meant when we commented last time about the funky Gulfport houses. We have never seen so many cute little pastel homes and we never did get a photo of the house with a huge metal dragon on the roof.
 |
| Wine bottles line the front walk with lights strung inside them. I'm sure it's quite a sight at night. |
 |
| One stupendous sunset; like a rainbow of pink clouds |
Cool Change pulled away from the Gulfport docks on December 1st. We spent three days slowly cruising down the Gulf Intracoastal, stopping for two nights to anchor in scenic settings.
 |
| The Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay This is the bridge that was knocked down by a errant freighter during a violent rain storm 30+ years ago. |
 |
| The city of Sarasota from the water as we passed |
 |
| A steady hand on the controls |
 |
| The people who live on Manasota Key travel to and from work by ferry. We waited while two ferries, one from each shore traded sides of the waterway loaded with cars and trucks |
 |
| Bridge opening to let us and several other boats pass |
 |
| A beautiful anchorage in Lemon Bay. We stopped for lunch and liked the spot so much we stayed overnight. |
 |
| Rain all around but we only got a few drops |
 |
| Traveling south this was the scenery on the port side |
 |
| and this was on our starboard side |
Our intention was to travel to Fort Myers and stay at the city docks for a month but our friends Jann and Gary promoted Laishley Marina. Punta Gorda, where Laishley is located, is a charming little town, across Charlotte Harbor from the city of Port Charlotte. Punta Gorda has been around since 1884 but its most recent history is tied to Hurricane Charley, a category 4 hurricane that hit this side of the state ten years ago. After the 150 mph winds had their way with the town the city fathers and mothers began what they term “urban renewal by disaster.” The result is a charming rebuilt downtown, within walking distance of the marina, beautiful murals detailing the town's history, good restaurants and a wonderful waterfront hiking/biking trail along Charlotte Harbor. So we’re settled here for a month and will be here through Christmas and beyond. Jann and Gary are here and we’ve also had the chance to reconnect with John and Kay, whom we met in Vero Beach three winters ago and who now live in Fort Myers, 30 miles further south.
 |
| The view from our back door, Punta Gorda |
 |
| Laishley is a friendly marina, clean laundry facilities and showers, once-a-week pot luck dinner with the marina residents and the bluest water and skies you can imagine. |
 |
| One of many historical murals around Punta Gorda |
 |
| A representation of an early Native American Floridian |
 |
| During a morning walk we found this tree. It had bright red flowers and pods the size of baking potatoes hanging from vines coming off the branches. Identify it for us and we'll mention your name in the next blog. |
 |
| This is a blossom. |
 |
| Seed pod?? |
Sewing Projects
Of course, lots of sewing has been going on and, unfortunately, also some unsewing. On this trip I’ve been trying to finish some projects that have been languishing in my sewing room for several years. One was to be a Christmas quilt made with 13 different 12-inch blocks I sewed in a class five years ago. They needed to be set with carefully measured triangles and I thought I had figured out the math to do it. I got the whole top together and realized it was seriously cattywhompus. Enter the seam ripper – for hours and hours. Now I’ve regrouped to use the blocks for something else. Thanks, friend Dottie, for the phone app to calculate weird triangles.
 |
| An easy fleece hat |
 |
| A boat dinette is not the best place to maneuver when quilting. |
 |
| An easy fleece scarf. The sides are crocheted to make a braided look. |
 |
| No longer a messed-up quilt - now reconstructed to make a Christmas table runner |
I’ve begun to learn a new hobby – pine needle basket making. My friend Jann is a right hander trying to teach this southpaw how to coil the needles around a base and sew them so they build into a beautiful basket. Not easy but she is making a valiant effort.
 |
| Some basket making; lots of goofing around. Can you tell by Jann's body language that she holds little hope of Colleen mastering this skill? |
Time to repair something!
 |
| This is the disintegrating transom plate where the outboard motor mounts on the dinghy |
The transom plate on the stern of the dinghy is made of some sort of plastic and it needs to be replaced. A thicker material is needed as the new 8hp outboard motor is gouging into the top of the top of the transom and chipping away the fiberglass. I found a hatch door made of "Starboard" material at a marine surplus store for $12. I cut it down to the right size and shape with a jigsaw and then hand sanded and bevelled the sides to the needed shape.
 |
| It required a whole lot of hand sanding as I did not bring my electric sander this year - dumb decision! |
 |
| The new transom plate |
OK let's do some more dingy repairs. Back in Gulfport we squirted a leak sealer ($55 a quart - boat stuff is always very expensive - it looked like milk) into the port side tube on the dinghy. Some sealant bubbled out and sealed two leaks on the tube where there were deep scrapes from years gone by. I cut patches to shape from hypalon material in our dinghy repair kit and glued into place on the two leaks. Hopefully the slow leaks are now permanently sealed.
 |
| Patch #1 |
 |
| Patch #2 |
Sorry we cannot get a photo that is not fuzzy. It is an iPad app that holds Garmin NOAA charts that we can call up and view. The charts coordinate and display information from "Active Captain", a boating information data bank. Look closely and you can see green anchors for recommended anchorages, red icons for marinas, blue icons for bridges, red and green navigation markers, and more. Clicking on an icon brings up all manner of info on the item. This has proven to be a great asset aboard.
A new boat design
We have never seen a flats fishing boat like this tunnel hull model. It is made in Texas and runs in 4 inches of water. It will do 65 mph according to the owner who customized it to his needs. Look at those seats! He can hydraulically jack up the engine on its transom mount so just two of the four propeller blades are in the water at cruise speed over the flats.
Christmas is Coming
 |
| Tree decorating on the back deck in progress |
 |
| And the result. Ta Da!! |
 |
| Cool Change is ready with lots of lights but..... |
 |
| Not as many as this guy, preparing to enter Sunday's boat parade. In addition to the lights they later added a giant blow-up polar bear at the back, a blow-up Santa in camo fatigues on the front and a snow machine. |
Happy holidays to all of our followers
Wayne & Colleen
No comments:
Post a Comment