Delilah's Meanderings

Monday Jan. 20th Delilah was launched and ready to start a new season of cruising. This year we are starting little later because of the birth of our 12th grandchild on January 2nd in London. She and her mommy are doing great. We flew to England for the birth. Kim stayed a week longer than I did to help out with the first time parents. This is our first grandchild more than a hour's drive away from where we live.
Getting back to the launch, we spent less than an hour on the dock at the boatyard, said our goodbyes and motored off. A northern front with high winds and cold temperatures was coming in and we were anxious to get to a safe anchorage to ride it out. We made it safely through the self serve lock that separates the fresh water lake and canals where the boatyard is located and Charlotte Harbor on the west coast of Florida. Three and half hours later we anchored in Pelican Bay behind the small island Punta Blanca near the Cayo Costa State Park which has excellent protection from the northern front winds. I got the dinghy down and we motored over to Cayo Costa and bought a Heath Klondike bar to share. Back to the boat. I put the main sail cover on, mounted the grill and the life ring holder. Together we put on the eisenglass cockpit enclosure, which turns it into a sun room. Perfect for cold, sunny days in Florida. Kim made beanie weenies for supper ... a tradition on the first day of the season. In bed at 8:30pm (sailors midnight). :)

As predicted it was a windy night as the front pushed through, but we had only tiny waves in our protected anchorage. The anchor held nicely. We woke Tuesday to a cold morning. Kim made hot tea to warm us up a little. We stayed aboard all day as the wind gradually built. It didn't take long for the sun to warm up the boat, especially the cockpit enclosed in plastic (eisenglass). We relaxed in the cockpit reading. Kim made chicken nachos for lunch. I worked on a calendar and put in known events and discussed where to go this season. We played scrabble and I won by 1 point. With sustained winds over 20 mph all night, I set the anchor watch on the hand held Garmin so I could sleep without worrying about dragging the anchor. Also with temperatures predicted to drop into the 40s, I pulled out the trusty sleeping bag. Kim's insulation of choice is multiple layers of blankets.

The wind howled all night, but our anchor didn't budge. It was 46 degrees in the boat when we woke up today. The sleeping bag was a good decision. To warm things up we had hot tea, oatmeal, and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Thankfully the sun heated up the cockpit quickly. Kim read her novel on Kindle and I researched some about Islamorada in the Keys. We had a early lunch and dinghyed to the Cayo Costa State Park dock. The wind had eased and we stayed pretty dry on the dinghy ride. Walked to the beach and saw a large sailing catamaran headed out the Boca Grande pass and then south with all sails up. It was chilly and windy, but we were dressed for it. We stopped for a snack and watched a large flock of small birds flying in formation in the wind above the camp grounds. It felt good to get some exercise. Back to the boat. I worked on posting pictures to the blog. Kim checked with friends at Fort Myers Beach and they could see open mooring balls in the East mooring field. Kim made salmon patties, green beans, and quinoa Asian mix for supper ... yummy! I ran the generator and charged everything up. Two new boats anchored near by. Good thing we are leaving in the morning for FMB!

All in all a great start for season 5 aboard Delilah. Remember to check out the photo gallery on the blog https://www.sailblogs.com/member/boombaby