Delilah's Meanderings

Picking up from the previous posting, it is Monday January 9th and the four shipmates (Deanne, Matt, Kim, and Mark) are aboard Delilah tied up to the south dock at Tween Waters Marina on Captiva Island. The weather is warming up and the days are sunny and windy. The wind is blocked at the pool and the water is heated allowing the group to recline, relax, read, and enjoy the warmth. Kim prepared ground turkey lettuce wraps for supper on the boat. Afterwards we barely caught the sunset on the other side of the island only a couple hundred yards away. We played 3 games of shuffleboard before returning to the boat. The old folks pulled out a close, come from behind, victory. :)

We had a great time on Captiva, but it was time to head south to Fort Myers Beach (FMB). Tuesday morning we had a quick and excellent breakfast at Captiva House. We got the boat cruise ready and motored a short distance from the south dock to the fuel dock to pay and pump out. Delilah has an 18 gallon holding tank and we learned the hard way last season you don’t want it to overflow! At 9:30am we were on our way to FMB. The wind was from the east so we were able to motor sail with the Genoa (head sail) part of the way.

Not far into the sail we saw a pod of dolphins, maybe 12. We killed the engine and drifted and watched them as they swam around the boat. There was one baby which swam very close to its mother. It seemed they were watching us as much as were watching them. A motor boat went by and off went some of them chasing it down and jumping in the wake … what a show! It never grows old watching these beautiful animals.

As we continued on the trip the engine would temporarily lose RPMs after being jostled by the wakes of large motor boats. The captain was starting to get worried. South of the Sanibel Causeway Bridge and not far from our destination the engine was barely running so we dropped anchor to investigate. We drained the fuel filter bowl and got some water, but this didn’t seem to help. So we decided to replace the filter which took about an hour. This fixed the issue and we motored into Matanzas pass and picked up mooring ball #44 about 3:30pm. We took the dinghy in, paid for a week on the ball, and walked to the Beached Whale for supper on the upper deck and another beautiful sunset view. The food there is excellent.

Wednesday morning we ate breakfast aboard and dinghy in Matt and Deanne so they could enjoy some alone time to explore FMB. We met friends Karen and Rex Beck (one of our daughter’s in laws) for lunch at Doc Fords and then dinghy back to boat to give them the 25 cent tour. We dropped the line from the ball #44 and motored out the pass for day sail in the Gulf. There was very little wind, so we just ghosted along below 2 knots with the Genoa up enjoying the time on the water, mostly talking about the grandkids of course. Later that night then Kim and I met up with Deanne and Matt for pizza on Time Square at Bella Mozzarella.

There definitely hadn’t been enough sailing for Matt and me, so finally on Thursday we took care of that situation. From 11am to 3pm we sailed down the coast and back with nice breeze from the east. No engine noise just the gurgling of water against the hull. We hit 7.4 knots at one point and consistently sailed above 5.5 knots. Hot dogs were grilled and beans heated on the stove for lunch. This was the best day sail we have had on Delilah and it was terrific that Matt and Deanne and were there to share the experience (Deanne and Matt each said this was the favorite day). That night we took the dinghy to Salty Sam’s and had supper at Parrot Key.

Friday the 13th, the last day for Deanne and Matt. :( We went to Heavenly Biscuit on FMB for breakfast sandwiches and delicious cinnamon rolls (hot and iced). Deanne and Matt spent the morning on the beach, renting a wave runner. We met them for lunch at Mantanzas on the Bay and then had to say good bye as they took a taxi to airport to fly back to Chicago. Then on the Ohio for a family celebration and eventually heading to London. They will be missed!

Now it is Saturday morning, Kim is anxious to get in to get started on 3 loads of laundry and I have a long list on the ‘Delilah to do list’ that is waiting for some attention. Our plans are to hang out on ball #44 the next few weeks and then decide where to go after that. Or we may pull up and take off in the next couple of days – the beauty of freedom!

Life aboard Delilah is very good!

Fair winds,
Mark & Kim