Shell Island Day 2

Since we're in no hurry we hung out behind Shell Island another day and again went to shore to explore more thoroughly.  It is so isolated since it can only be reached by boat. Part of it is now a state park but used to be a place where folks had their beach houses.  Once the state bought it, the houses and occupants could stay until they became uninhabitable or destroyed by storms. Tyndall AFB owns and manages the rest of it.   Most of the base land  is set aside for critical wildlife refuge.  To me, a great use of barrier islands.  Sand naturally moves along the coast and we screw up the ecosystems by building seawalls and buildings way too close to the dune line if not right on top of them.  I get that the natural movement wasn't always as well understood but to continue developing knowing the harm you're doing.....

A few years ago, this house had people in it.  Seems not habitable now.

Looks like storms have taken their toll.  The whole thing leans to the west.

The weather was so hazy the sunset had an eerie look to it.

This old dock was all undermined on the shore side and leaned.

A Horseshoe Crab shell.  This creature's ancestors were around with the dinosaurs 

On a walk along the shore to the western end of the island, we found a
inland pond.

We couldn't reach the end as we hit wetlands but could see where an
inlet around the corner came inland.

All along a 400 yard stretch of the shore were thousands of crabs.
It was fun watching them march in unison up from the water or our of
the reeds depending on where we were walking.

Some of them tried to take us on to defend the rest until we yelled
"Boo" and waved our arms.  Bravery only goes so far in the crab world.

My old man and the sea.  The weather in the distance tells us it may be time
to move on.

Old house pilings.  Looks like a fire took this one out.

Old dock pilings.

Birds on old trees.  Check out the one in the background in the picture below.

A majestic great heron.  He could be mistaken for a branch from a distance

You never know what you'll find on the beach.
Some poor kid lost their toy.

A tiny whelk

This is an underwater shot from our viewing bucket.  Couldn't see what made them.

Shell Island

While at the club we decided that we didn't want to have to rely on sketchy forecasts to cross the gulf then have to rely on them to get back across in time for our flight to Oregon in early April.  Kids and grandkids are too important to miss!  So, we're going to wander around the Panhandle of Florida then sail down to Alabama and work our way home.  There are so many places we love going to in this area and sometimes pass them by in our hurry to either go south or get home.  This time we are completely in the mozzy along mode!  We have plans to be behind Shell Island for a while then go to the Port St. Joe marina for Saturday and Sunday.  We'll get laundry done, buy groceries, tramp around town and ride on their great bike path.  Sunday, we'll get to Mass and then start looking at where we go next.

Besides reading the great information, we also used the sign
to tie up the dinghy.

Despite this end of the island being a critical wildlife refuge, the base
provides quite a few walkovers to the beach so there is no excuse for
ruining the dunes or disturbing the nesting birds.

Walking back to the dinghy with yet more trash.

This was a huge piece of driftwood.

Watching the weather system made me think that I forgot to close up the boat.
There are lots of little things we have forgotten since our last cruise.

This was one busy crab as seen by all of his tracks.

Conch blowing time at sunset.

Walking the beach as we pick up trash.

I'm always fascinated to watch the patterns created by the wind on
objects in the sand.

The beaches were pristine.  Wrong time of year for tourists, right time of
year for cruisers.

Lots of trash.  This was all we could hold getting back to the dinghy.

The sunset over the island was gorgeous.  The camera didn't capture it well
but there was an almost perfect arc around it.

The almost full moon was in the sky at the same time as the sun was setting.

On to ????

We managed to remain equipment trouble free after our night at the 331 Bridge.  Our own area of concern was the completely wrong forecast for the winds.  NOAA, the NWS and the Weather Channel all use the same data and it kept assuring us that any minute now the winds would clock around 180 degrees.  We foolishly trusted them and anchored on the wrong side.  Not horrendous but not great either.  Once it was settled enough for us to pull anchor we headed towards the Intracoastal Waterway and more protection.  By the time we were a little ways into the ditch, the weather became clear and really gorgeous.  We were even able to sail a bit once we reached the West Bay and getting into the St.Andrew's YC was no problem.  This is a great club where we have reciprocal benefits.  Warm showers, interesting places to walk and great folks.  Worth staying for 2 days.

Not a lot of traffic in the ditch this time but this big tug was interesting'
in that it was larger than most and deadheading it back to the west.

You can see the trees just starting to sprout new green.  The marsh along
the sides is still brown.  We also saw a few eagles but they were too
busy hunting to pose for the camera.

Handsome man, pretty boat.

The YC entrance.

Being close to the water, these oaks really become huge.  They also
live for hundreds of years.

One of my favorite plants.  The Pride of Mobile azalea.

And We're Off Again

Finally, we have enough projects behind us to get off the dock.  It took us longer than expected due to some medical issues that needed to be resolved and injection pump issues that needed to be resolved and at the last minute, potty issues to be resolved!  This will be an abbreviated trip compared to last year but, hey, we're on the water enjoying the fruits of our labors.  We have no firm destination but would like to make it at least as far as Clearwater/St. Pete area.  If we don't get a weather window to cross the gulf by March 1, we'll simply explore along the panhandle of Florida and maybe points west of home.  Wherever we go will be good.

Our heros!  Joan and Lee saw my post about needing to return to the dock and
drive to Pensacola to pick up a part for our head (toilet)  They generously offered to
pick it up and bring it to us.  That saved us several hours and we had the part
installed and checked that night.  We went to Mass and brunch and then took off
again to the same spot we had been at the night before.  Great to have great friends.

We always want more fresh fruits and veggies but didn't have a good place with plenty of
ventilation to stow them.  An idea in Cruising World magazine gave me the solution!
I managed to get them installed during the provisioning process.

The weather did not behave according to the forecast.  We left the dock just
ahead of a front. A double reefed main and half  reefed jib still has us flying down the bay.

The storm behind us.  Amazingly we saw almost no rain from it.

We had clearing enough to get somewhat of a sunset on our first night out, version  2

Monday morning dawn just as bad as yesterday.  Once it let up enough to pull
anchor we took off.  This is the tail end of the front.  It did rain quite a bit last
night but that washed all the salt spray off so a good thing.  Best of all, NO LEAKS.

Catching Up

After arriving back home, David's vertigo continued to improve but my cold turned into acute bronchitis and sinusitis so a mixed bag health wise.  David was about back to normal by mid-June but it took 4 rounds of antibiotics for me to get rid of the infections.  Long story short, I spent most of my summer doing a cross stitch afghan for our newest granddaughter.  It took me a few months to get my strength back but all seems good for both of us now.  David's vertigo turned out to be the result of a viral infection and they think he has no more chance of a recurrence than anyone else so great news!
Once David could walk straight and drive he jumped right into some major boat projects.  He had very little help from me but that may have kept his frustration level down anyway.  My big accomplishment on the boat was making a new sail bag for our main to drop down into.  A big, scary project that turned out to be not as hard as I imagined.  The quotes to have one made simply didn't fit into the budget so I gave it a shot and it worked.  The pictures will show the projects in chronological order of their completion.  We are a really enjoying all the improvements!


First up was a larger holding tank.  We had found on our trip that the previous tank was way too small for live aboard life.  I guess in 1982 when the boat was built there was less concern about dumping waste overboard.  Not so now.  We wanted to get maximum capacity for the space available.  Turns out we were able to get a 39 gallon tank in there.  A huge improvement over the previous 15.

The measurements were extremely critical.  We had to have the tank custom made so even an inch
too large would be a costly mistake.

In order to make sure it was a perfect fit, David made a mock-up holding tank
from insulation sheets and then dry fit it in the hole.

A side issue that needed to be dealt with while the tank was being made was repairing
rot in the subfloor.  The water tank had leaked before we bought the boat.  The leak was repaired but
the subfloor wasn't.  Turns out there was a lot more than expected.  He had to keep cutting away to get
to good wood then replace it.  At the same time, he added more bracing.  The end result is a very solid, level
surface for us to put in new flooring in the summer of 2018.

Master craftsman at work!

Can't make progress without making a mess first.  This is the empty space
waiting for the new tank.  Notice all the wiring and plumbing that had to be carefully
stowed to one side during the installation process.

Our new and pricey tank.

Lots of areas to work on.

An idea or how far the rot had spread.

The completed installation.

The fabric on our old sailbag was done.  this is just one
of several spots where the material had rotten.  The zipper was
also in bad shape so something had to be done.  Sails are too expensive
to leave unprotected from solar rays.

The old bag had been repaired and modified but no more.

David built me a work table 14 feet long that butted up against our
picnic table.  This gave me enough to keep the parts level and
moving smoothly through my sewing machine.

The length allowed me to cut and tape all the pieces for assembly.

And the bag in use.  The sail drops down into it so easier than
a traditional bag to use.

This solid stainless bar runs from the break in our lifelines to the
stern pulpit.  It gives us room to safely secure heavy items and
turns out to be a pretty nice protector as I work my way aft to
work on the mizzen.  Also a handhold as you leave the boat.

We found a lot of leaks in a heavy rainstorm on our trip.
We traced them back to this decorative piece of teak called
an eyebrow.  It runs along both sides of the cabin trunk.
The fittings were corroded and the sealant around them was
pretty much gone so they let water in.

New teak pieces had to be milled and attached then 8 coats of varnish.
They definitely class up the join.

We found on our last crossing south across the Gulf of Mexico that the deck in 12 foot seas is a
treacherous place.  Sometimes sail changes are critical so we added mast pulpits to
give the sail changer a place to clip a tether to for safety.  You can also brace yourself
against them for added stability.  Turns out to be a great handhold as you work your way forward.

We decided to replace the faded dorade cowls with stainless.  Since lines
snag on the aft one easily, we had a cage built for it.  When the money tree shakes
loose some bills, we'll add one up forward.

A truly momentous change was a newly rebuilt engine.  I was too ill to
get out to the boat during any of the process and this is the only picture
David took.  He cleaned and painted the engine bed while the old
engine was out.

We are constantly asked what type of boat we are so I had these decals made based
on a design I came up with.  It's a combination of items from sales brochures.

Not the best picture but we're still proud.  Our yacht club, The Fort Walton YC
gave us this award for distance cruising.  It honors a club member who was
certainly wider traveled than us, Joe Angelini.  A real honor.