We are anchored safely in Pelican Bay located between Cayo Costa and Punta Blanca Islands. This area is one of our favorite places – it is a State Park and the way Florida used to be. We are so thankful to whomever decided to make it a park, or we would be surrounded by condominiums rather than mangroves, all sorts of shore birds, and walking trails. We learned yesterday, from Steve (of Steve and Helen aboard Shanty, from our boatyard and volunteers at the Park) that the area long was a native fishing area and the remains of fish houses – indeed ice houses where the fish would be brought and packed on ice to take to market – remain visible in some areas.
Saturday night saw the passage of a cold front, with strong winds and heavy rain. Sunday dawned windy, but it lay down and turned into a lovely sunny and calm day. After reading and doing some minor boat chores, Lauren set a pot roast in the oven for a day-long slow roast at low temperature. In the afternoon, we decided to go ashore and take some walks. First, we went to a beach at the southern end of Punta Blanca to explore a new space and let Taz (our golden retriever who has not been on the boat for 5 years) run, roll, and “do her thing”. She truly enjoys riding in the dinghy and going ashore, where there are all kinds of new and interesting smells (not to mention some fun things to roll in). After that, we headed over to the State Park docks on Cayo Costa and walked across the island to the Gulf beaches. (Taz does not like that so well – she must be on a leash and cannot be allowed, much less run, on the beaches there.) We headed back to the docks and there bumped into Steve (Helen was volunteering in the office) and three older folks, each of whom is single handling his/her own sailboat. We invited all over for cocktails at 5:00.
Shirley, who is 81, has been single handing since she retired at 62 from Tennessee. She was raised in Panama, where her father was involved in building the Canal locks, evidently is something of a legend in these parts, and is remarkably spry for a woman of her years. Ruth, who is in her mid-50s, lives 6 months on her boat and 6 months in Englewood, FL. Ruth was a paramedic for the fire department before retiring early. Pete, in his late 60s or so, grew up on his father’s fishing boat harpooning swordfish out of Block Island. Pete told us that, in his youth, swordfish averaged 450+ pounds but now they are a tenth that weight and Pete declared the fishery should be closed to allow the stock to replenish. Pete sails his small boat back to Block Island every summer. Needless to say, the conversation was most eclectic. After all the deviled eggs, sausage, nuts, cheese, hummus, etc., we hardly felt like eating pot roast, but we could not resist a small sampling.
We watched some of the Ken Burns Civil War films (we are hooked since our visit to Gettysburg this past Fall) and then Van ran Taz ashore and returned for bedtime, with all feeling secure in our snug cabins and enclosure. While this sure isn’t Vermont, it is cool down here, and another cold front rolled through this morning with winds forecast (and now blowing) 15-20 with gusts to the 30s. We think we will stay aboard and just relax. That is hard for us to do, but we have to take lessons from Taz and just do what feels right.