Recovering from setbacks
30 May 2010 | Ft. Myers Beach, FL
Fri 28 May 10
The big day finally arrived. There were so many setbacks leading up to this cruise that we were a bit surprised to be shoving off today. We said goodbye to our near neighbors and slipped the dock lines a little after 0900 under gorgeous blue skies. The forecast wind, meager though it was, did not appear until later in our passage, so we motored most of the 18 nm to Pelican Bay.
Inside the large anchorage, we spotted a few of the boats from our club and set the anchor. It is Friday before Memorial Day weekend, when this anchorage typically gets well over 100 boats, but right now there are only several dozen.
Shortly after arrival, several good friends come over to visit in their dinghies. They learn and our dinghy is still temporarily unusable while we allow the glue to cure all three recommended days. We learn that they are headed to a special place on the island and we are invited along on their boats.
The "Tunnel of Love" used to be a narrow, winding water path under a canopy of mangroves, hence the tunnel moniker. Hurricane Charley in 2004 destroyed the canopy, and left a mess of broken branches in the path, so we wondered what we would see. It was still without any overhead cover to speak of, and there were many sharp branches to navigate around, but our dinghy captains did a great job of getting us through to the large lagoon at the other side.
Beaching the dinghies at the edge of the lagoon left a 100 yard stroll to the gorgeous blue-green water of the gulf. Nine of the twelve of us walked the beach in search of shells, while three of us lolled in the warm surf awaiting their return.
The trip back to the boats was uneventful, but with some urgency. There was talk of naps to be had and such. The big party on the rafted catamarans started at 1800, with us being chauffered the 100 feet from our boat. It was a delightful evening in all respects: food, drink, weather, and most of all, interesting conversations. One couple was from Australia and had purchased a 42 foot Manta to go cruising. Another couple was known to our friends from a Caribbean cruise and they were invited to join us. We love conversing with our friends, but it is the new people you meet that take the conversations to new topics.
Not long after a beautiful sunset near 2020, we were shuttled back to Diva Di where we got comfortable with Clyde, our boat cat, on the deck. Like many cats, Clyde enjoys the time after the sun has set more than the daytime. We was quite comfortable carefully roaming the decks in our sight in the calm anchorage. When a half hour had passed, he and we were ready to move back to the cockpit.
Diane read in the forward berth while I sat in the cockpit listening to music with my mp3 player and Clyde sniffed the night air. Sleep was wondrful in the breeze, but during the night the breeze simply stopped. I quickly became uncomfortably hot so I moved to the main saloon sette with a quiet, efficient fan blowing over me. That made it quite comfortable and sleep was again possible. I suspect there will be much of that over the next three weeks or so.
Sat 29 May 10
We got underway at 0820 and had to motor for four hours before we had any wind to put up a sail. Even then, we only got to sail for a half hour at 2.5-4 kts, which is pretty slow. Despite the near constant drone of the engine, it was a pleasant, warm day with blue skies and fair weather cumulus clouds.
Ft Myers Beach, specifically the Matanzas Pass mooring field, was our destination for today. We arrived and were settled on the mooring ball by 1400, then Duane put the dinghy in the water for the first time since the repair. After stepping into the dinghy at the aft corner where the repair was, I was mortified to see water leaking in. Even if it was less than 5% of the previous torrent, it was still a bad leak.
What happened next proved that it is possible for a husband and wife to have a civil conversation under what at the time is perceived to be extreme stress. I suppose some people can buy and live with used equipment like dinghies and engines, but we are not destined to, it seems. Anytime a problem arises, Diane points out that this would never have happened if we had bought a new dinghy and new engine. I believe that only postpones the inevitable, but the fact is that we are once again facing a major problem jeopardizing the cruise.
Rather than argue about it, I resolved to get the slowly leaking dinghy to shore and attempt to find a place in Ft Myers that would sell me a brand new dinghy in a reasonable amount of time. A bold move, but it gets worse. After putting the engine on the dinghy, which transpired with no mishap, amazingly, I primed the gas line and saw through the glass filter body that tiny water droplets were in the fuel. I was short on time, but did not want to mess up the engine with watery gas, so there was a half hour lost siphoning all the fuel from the tank into two plastic jugs and adding fresh fuel and oil. All this was done with Diane's important assistance and nary a harsh word was spoken.
I ran the engine for a full 10 minutes at 1/3 speed to ensure that the residual watery gas in the lines would not give me a problem. Everything seemed fine, so off I went to the Matanzas Inn to pay for the mooring ball and try my luck finding a store open on Memorial Day weekend. The young man behind the counter was a sailor living on a mooring ball and sympathetic to our plight. He recommended a particular dealer of inflatable boats and I made the call.
Miraculously, the phone was answered and it was the owner. The store was closed for the weekend, but we chatted about our situation for a long while and he agreed to call Sunday morning to arrange to pick us up and take us to the store. He has what seems to be a good dinghy choice for our needs (RIB, hypalon tubes, 9.2 feet long), so we will almost certainly do a deal tomorrow. I won't dwell on the amount of money we have spent on used dinghies and motors and repairs in the last six years. Had we just "bitten the bullet" and bought quality back then, perhaps we would have had six trouble-free years. At the least, Diane would not be able to point to my frugality as the source of our troubles.
So, the arrangements for tomorrow were made and then I paid for two nights on the mooring. I made it back to Diva Di with some hope to salvage the cruise. After a bit of straightening up aboard, I elected to have a drink and type out todays's log. No doubt, it is a bit of cathartism.