February 2017 – mvsubjecttochange

2/15-2/22/2017. Sarasota Mooring Field

Because you have to have a sunset photo in every post.

Today is a rain day and it is also moving day for us. We woke to a long line of rain heading toward the west coast of Florida. So far it hasn’t been too heavy and it is not accompanied by high winds. It’s just been a steady light rain. Ok, not the best conditions for moving, but very doable for us especially since we are only moving from the mooring field to a slip. The rain is very welcome in Florida. It has been exceptionally dry here and this rain will soak in and help a lot. We actually welcome it as well. The boat is in need of a good washing and the rain will help rinse the salt off .

We’ve been on the mooring ball for a week now. It’s been a good test of the fridge/freezer since Tim replaced the defective diode and it’s given me time to practice my dingy driving skills. We’ve also been trying out “cruising” recipes. As we head to the islands, we expect to be eating more meals from cans and have limited access to fresh veggies, fruits and meats. We’re pretty familiar with canned veggies- not the greatest, but we can handle them. It’s the canned meats that we are more unsure of. As a kid I remember Mom making mac and cheese with canned ham and sometimes using Spam. Tim doesn’t have memories of that delicacy, so we decided we needed to try it out before we planned meals around it. We decided to make a boater’s version of mac and cheese. Tim grilled 1/2″ slices of spam on the Weber while I made basic mac and Velvetta cheese with cooked cabbage. Keep in mind that one pot meals are the norm here on Subject to Change. This dish would provide carb, dairy, veggie and protein. We cubed the grilled Spam and mixed it in. The Verdict: not bad. Grilling the Spam reduced some of the fat content while adding a depth of flavor. 🙂 Yes, we could survive with Spam if needed. If any of you readers are planning a stay with us- BEWARE!

We also had another road trip this past week, going back to Ft. Myers. Maggie needed her final shot and Heath Certificate for the Bahamas and we needed to pick up a package sent to The Marina at Edison Ford. While we had the car we made a run to Trader Joe’s to load up of goodies. We had hoped to make a Walmart stop too, but ran short on time. That will have to wait.

While in Sarasota, a Must Do, is to see The Ringling Bros. Circus Museum. Maggie stayed on the boat when Tim and I took the bus for a short ride up to the museum. Part of the displays is a scaled miniature circus complete with all the tents, animals, clowns, acrobats, vendors, circus goers, chairs, anything and everything one would see at a circus. It was amazing the detail put into this exhibit. They had original billboard and posters on display and some of the original carriages used by the circus. In its hay day, the circus employed 1,300 workers. It traveled from town to town by train, setting up in 150 towns a year. Most of the shows were for one day only. The publisizers would head out about 2 weeks before the circus to plaster the small towns with posters and billboards announcing the coming of the circus. The food wagons would be the first to set up, getting 3 meals a day prepared for the rest of the workers. They’d also be the first to breakdown and move on for the next show. It was quite an organization.

Smelling the roses at the Ringling Estate.

One of the great things about Sarasota has been seeing old friends and meeting a lot of new ones. On our first day here we met Steve and Barb Sipe on Maerin, a Solo 43 when they helped us string our lines through the mooring thimble. Shortly after we were greeted by our first DeFeverites- Peggy and Hans Bjarno on their Albin 43- Aqua Vitae. Yes, they are in the DeFever club despite not having a DeFever. They are DeFever wannabes. We are moored very close to Rock and Louisa with their dog, Maggie, who we met in Houma. And friends from Carrrabelle, Peter and Helen Hoyt on their DeFever 40 are also here.

A real treat was having Capt. Don and neighbor, Mark visit. Don helped captain Subject to Change when we brought her from Madisonville, La. to Texas 2 years ago. In fact, this week is the anniversary of when we first brought her home. Don called Tim to find out where we were because he was on a delivery from Miami to Texas. He decided to spend the night here at Marina Jack before jumping across the gulf. Don lives straight across the bayou from us and Mark is his next door neighbor. So Tim, Maggie and I dinghyed in to meet them for dinner. A cool surprise was that the boat he was delivering is a sister boat to ours. It is a 49′ 2002 DeFever, just one year off. Beautiful boat, of course, and it will be moored on Clear Lake too.

Mark and Don joined us for dinner at Marina Jack.

This next week will be DeFever week for us. The rendezvous officially begins on Friday, but boats are arriving daily and we are enjoying meeting other owners. This is our whole reason for staying so long in this area of Florida and we’re really looking forward to learning and getting to know others who have been out cruising their boats.

2/11-2/14/2017. Sarasota, DeSota National Park, Longboat Key

We had 2 nights in a slip at Marina Jack and now we were ready to head out again. We weren’t sure when we left where we would end up. We had a few places in mind and decided to just check them out and see what looked good. The first site we went to was Longboat Key. I’d heard a lot of talk about this area and how pretty the beaches are, but we’d also read that it could get crazy on the weekends and some anchorages had their share of derelict boats. As we slowly cruised through the area checking out its potential, we had to agree with all of the reviews. It was CRAZY! Here on a beautiful weekend were dozens of boats zipping around. Others were beached on a sandbar chillin in their beach chairs while kids and dogs frolicked in the shallows. People were fishin, drinking, partying and having a great time. Cool. But we weren’t going to beach Subject to Change on a sandbar. That’s something we try to avoid. Right? So looking at the anchorages where big boys like us go, we did see a number of boats that looked like their anchors had not felt the sea air in many, many moons. Some were obviously lived on and others looked like they had been abandoned. As we crossed the Longboat Key inlet, we found a great looking cove by the Sheriff’s office. Active Captain labeled it Coquina Cove. We decided to keep going to an area a bit quieter and decided to come back here on a week day. So we continued north up the ICW to Tampa Bay and then turned southeast into the Manatee River. About a mile in we dropped the anchor by the DeSoto National Monument.

We anchored in the cove to the right of the red marker.

We took Maggie to shore to investigate the area. The park told the story of Hernandez DeSoto who first attempted to colonize the area in 1539. There were a lot of people fishing the cove from the beach, from docks and from boats. We figured there had to be some good fishing in that cove. A local told us where to find live bait and we took the dink into Bradenton in the morning to buy some live shrimp.

As usual we saw some interesting boats anchored.

We took the dink out near the ICW channel hoping to get on the ledge where the current would be flowing more. It didn’t take too long before I got a hit. The fish grabbed the hook and danced in the air. I don’t think I’ve ever caught a fish that jumped and danced like this one did. It was a fun one to catch. Now all we had to do was figure out what it was. Tim started making phone calls and texting a pic of the fish – Cousin Andy, Capt. Don, fishing fanatic Greg. Meanwhile, Tim caught another. We had to know if this was an eating fish, or just a fun catching fish. Was it dinner? The decision was we had caught Lady Fish. Not dinner. We were told the meat was very oily and good as bait, but not good eating. We kept the two we had and later cut them up for bait. The meat is in the freezer for a later outing.

After 2 nights at DeSoto, we headed back toward Longboat Key. It was now Monday and we hoped the area would be a bit quieter. Sure enough, there was hardly a sole there. No boats were in the cove we picked out a few days earlier. We slowly slid in over a sandbar and dropped the hook for the night.

We anchored just of the dock at the Sheriff’s building.

The original plan was to stay here for 2 nights, but watching the forecasts, we saw predictions of 20+ winds coming our way. A quick call to Marina Jack got us an extension on our reservation for a mooring ball. Instead of coming in Wednesday as planned, we were going to head in on Tuesday. We wanted to be settled in before the winds picked up.

Thinking of mooring balls, for those of you who aren’t familiar, I’ll try to explain. As you drive the boat forward toward the ball, one person (me) hangs over the side with a long boat hook and has to hook the nasty line that is often floating in the water. You pull the line up and run one of your dock lines through the eye at the end. You attach the ends of your dock line to cleats on both sides of the bow. It is best to have at least 2 dock lines through the eye for safety.

Our mooring ball. Notice the NASTY line.

We run the blue line through the eye first and ten get the 2 heavier lines through.

Neighboring boat with one line already chafed. Not a good thing.

I know posts are have not been very regular in coming. There is a way you can get an email every time I post. Then you don’t have to check periodically to see if I’ve added anything. Scroll down to the very bottom of this post. You’ll see a place to check if you want to be notified of a post.

See where it says “Notify me of new posts…”

Click there and you should get an email every time I update. Thanks for reading. Oh.. I love getting comments. 🙂

1/31-2/10/2017. Ft. Myers to Sarasota

On Feb. 7 we were finally off the dock in Ft Myers after about a month there. While we really enjoyed our time at Edison Ford, it was so good to be back moving again. Our dockmaster, Carly, Maggie’s new best friend, was great and she and the guys made our stay so enjoyable. Where to? North. I’m ready to spend some time at anchor, enjoy the sunset and stars and wake up to the sun rising.

Before I move on, I have to say we are always amazed by what a small world it is. A few days before we left, a steel boat came in to the Marina at Edison Ford. We chatted with the owners briefly, but one morning as they were heading out, Tim was helping them with their lines and learned they were from St Paul, Mn. It turns out they live just down the street from Tim’s Uncle Ray and Aunt Sheila and Aunt Elayne. Paul and Laurie Olson joined us a couple nights later for cocktails. What fun.

So, we were off and heading north. We heard a lot about Cabbage Key, only about 3 hours north, so we chose that for our first anchorage. We pulled into an area just off the ICW that already had about 7 boats anchored.

Gotta love a beautiful sunset at anchor.

Once settled, we dropped the dingy in and took Mags for a cruise to Cabbage Key. Cabbage Key is a small private island with guest cottages and a restaurant. The restaurant is known for its burgers and one dollar bills posted on the walls and ceiling. We just let Maggie stop for a potty break and decided we’d go back for lunch the next day (dogs are not allowed). But, as things happen with a boat, plans change. The next morning, Tim realized that our fridge/freezer unit was not working. This is not a good thing. In fact, it can be a BAD thing. It should run off the 12 v batteries when we are at anchor, but for some reason, they were not. A call to the manufacturer told us that they have upgraded a diode for our unit and they’d be happy to send us the upgrade. Why they can’t notify owners that they goofed and made a fix before we find out is beyond me. What if this had happened while in the Bahamas? Not good. It meant we had to get to shore power to keep our unit working until the upgrade arrived. No more chillin at anchor for now. We decided to have the part sent to Marina Jack in Sarasota. We knew that marina and figured we could get a slip there to do the fix. By this time it was too late to get to Sarasota, besides they were full for the next two nights. A quick call found us a slip at Palm Harbor Marina in Rum Cove/Lemon Bay, only a few hours away.

Palm Harbor turned out to be a great spot. The neighbors were unbelievably friendly, chatty and just plain nice. There was a good sized group of Ranger Tugs rendezvousing there and we were given a tour of a 27′. Wow!!!! A very nice, well thought out interior, but quite tiny compared to what we have become used to on Subject to Change. Basically it is the size of a large van. Hmmm that might be too tight for Tim and I. Love the guy, but we need more space than that. While at Palm Harbor, we took the dink across the ICW to Don Pedro Island, a barrier island. We were allowed into the private resort since we were staying at Palm Harbor. We strolled the beautiful beach and lounged watching dolphin play in the surf. Mags got her fill of chasing sea birds before we headed up to the restaurant for lunch.

We saw several white pelicans as we dinked around.

We found this carcass on the beach. No idea what kind of fish it is, but thought it was kind of cool.

This site had recently been cleared and new barriers were being put up to get ready for nesting season.

The birds are saying, “Hurry up and get that ground ready!”

The girls enjoying a gorgeous day on the beach.

Soon after we returned to the boat, one of our neighbors called out to me that a manatee was swimming right behind or boat. Just loved watching it slowly glide by, surfacing for air a couple of times before heading into the channel.

We left Palm Harbor on 2/9 after the fog lifted in the morning and began our 5 hour trip up the ICW to Sarasota. Great trip. Lots of amazing homes, plenty of dolphins, and a bunch of bridges. Our fridge/freezer diode was waiting for us at Marina Jack. Also ran into a couple we first met at Houma City Marina back in November. Again, its a small word. Boating makes it even smaller. Rock and Louisa along with their westie, Maggie, are on a mooring ball here in Sarasota. Our mutual love of dogs named Maggie made a mark in our memory banks. They stopped by for a beer while the Maggies had a romp.

So, now it is today, 2/10 and we have pulled out the fridge/freezer and installed the “fix”. Cross our fingers. Soon we’ll walk the mile or so to Publix for a few supplies and then figure out where we’ll head tomorrow. We have booked a mooring ball back here at Marina Jack on for the 15t through 21st. Then we’ll be back in a slip for the rendezvous.

An update on our cruising buddies- Steve, Deidra and Trouble, on Osprey, are in Marathon looking for a window on Tuesday to cross over to the Exumas. Wayne and Elda took Aloha to Isla Mujures and will be there until ????

Other pics taken just because.