Delilah's Meanderings

Since our last post on 2/7 Delilah finally changed locations. She had spent quite a long time in the Fort Myers Beach (FMB) mooring field. Currently she is tied to slip C114 at Esplanade Marina in Marco Island. The Admiral REALLY loves being dock side compared to being at anchor or moored. I skipped to the end, so time to back up and describe what happened the last two weeks.

We had a lot of great times at FMB with our boater friends, but a change of scenery was needed. So we decided to sail south, but first the bottom of the boat needed some attention. There was quite a carpet of growth on the hull that would really slow us down. I took the easy way out and hired it done by a local diver named Robin. Since I am working part time while aboard, it is very easy to justify such decisions plus I just didn't want to get wet and cold.

Prior to leaving we needed to do a lot of things ... get groceries, do laundry, refill an empty propane tank, get fuel, get water, pump out, etc.. We did all these and more. One funny story to tell about Kim's trip to the Publix grocery store. There is a small grocery store close to where the boat is moored, but she prefers Publix. Since we were out that morning having breakfast with a group of friends, Kim decided to head to the store afterwards. I took the dinghy back to boat to catch up on my day job. Kim walked about two miles before she decided to take the Trolley (beach bus) the rest of the way to Publix, a couple more miles. After shopping and weighed down with groceries she planned to Trolley back. The Trolley stop is on the street outside the store. As she was walking down the long entrance to the store, she saw the trolley pull up. She ran down the entrance, flip flops flapping, grocery bags swinging, screaming "wait wait wait!" Kim said some people enjoyed this scene and others looked frightened! Anyway, she was too late and had to wait for the next bus. Thankfully she bought an insulated bag for the cold items.

Another story is about getting our propane tank refilled. Delilah uses propane for the range (oven and 2 burner stove) and to power the refrigerator, similar to what are used on RVs. One standard 20lb propane tank lasts 2 ½ weeks and we carry two, so we switch to a full one and refill the empty. On FMB we go to the Red Coconut RV Park to have our propane tank refilled. I strap the tank on the rack on the back of my little foldable bike and ride about two miles to Red Coconut. We get plenty of stares and smiles. One guy yelled "now there's a motorized bike".

We decided to sail South on the 17th. We were up early and motoring out Matanzas Pass before 8am. We even beat the Key West Express, a large power catamaran that ferries passengers to and from Key West. Not far down the Pass, Kim says the engine doesn't smell right. My smeller is not at the same level as hers. I looked at the gauges and started to question if the oil pressure was at the normal level. So we turned Delilah around and motored back to the mooring ball to investigate. Everything looked ok, we got out the Westerbeke diesel manual and finally find where it lists the normal range for oil pressure and the pressure reading was exactly within range. Then later I remembered this was listed on the engine page in the Delilah quick reference guide binder we had out all the time! (duh) We lost 45 minutes and the Key West Express beat us out the Pass, but Kim claimed it was the right decision and good practice. I am pretty sure the smell was from Salty Sam's Marina fork trucks. It had gotten trapped inside our cockpit enclosure.

It was beautiful brisk morning for a sail down the Florida coast. There was a little wind so we motor sailed with the genoa averaging about 5.8 knots. We went in Gordon Pass at Naples and then headed south down the ICW and dropped anchor at Rookery Bay. This is a large protected area between Naples and Marco Island. The whole time we were in this area we did not see another sailboat. We did a lot of rocking in the wakes of motor boats after they flew by. Most people we saw were friendly, waving and smiling. We spent two days in this peaceful anchorage. During the day boats came and went, mostly to fish. At night we had the place to ourselves. There were many osprey nests in the area and the birds seemed to be staying on the nest, so I assume they were sitting on eggs.

It was a short dinghy ride from where Delilah was anchored to Keewaydin Island. Then a short path across the island to the beach side. Keewaydin is a narrow 7 mile long island with wonderful sand beaches. Our first visit was early in the morning and we had the beach to ourselves. Later we saw groups of people walking down the beach looking for shells. When we returned to the dinghy there were several tour boats pulled up on shore and our poor dinghy had water and sand in it from waves from passing power boats. I thought we had pulled the dinghy far enough up to avoid this. So on our return trips I carried the dinghy farther up the shore which worked.

The Admiral said roughing it is fun, but it was time head towards civilization where there are restaurants, showers, and real toilets! :-) I was more than willing because I was anxious to hook up to a fresh water connection to wash the accumulated dirt and salt water off Delilah. We motored the rest of the way down the channel to Smokehouse Bay, Marco Island and dropped anchor near the Esplanade Marina. We spent a couple days on anchor and then got a slip in the Marina. Now we are all clean and happy and Delilah is shipshape from stem to stern. Our plans are to stay in the area and head back to FMB when the winds are from the south.

Check out the pictures in the "February 2017" Album in the Photo Gallery.

Fair Winds,
Mark