Mr. Fix-It

Day 262  |  Pelican Bay to Punta Gorda  |  3 Hours  |  22 Miles  

Barry was up earlier than me and caught a shot of the sun rising over Pelican Bay. We had two things we wanted to accomplish before pulling up the anchor and started on that short list around 9:00. First, we needed to remove a nasty-looking fender scuff on our port bow that we got during the high tides and wind in tiny slip at St. Petersburg Municipal Marina. We loaded into the dinghy and I applied the cleaner wax as Barry kept the dinghy in gear and in contact with the hull. With that project successfully completed, we zipped back over to Cayo Costa State Park to pick up a few souvenir T-shirts. The camp store had closed yesterday before we made it back from our walk on the beach. Done and check. We brought the dinghy back on the upper deck and raised the anchor about an hour after low tide. We had plenty of water (1-2 feet) underneath us as we exited the harbor, but the sandbar was sitting high and proud. We set our course back to Punta Gorda and had a nice trip. The dolphin were out and followed along for the while. The photo on the right shows that, although crystal clear, the water is a dark tea color from all of the tannins in it.

The far side of the twin span I-41 bridge marked the entrance to our mooring field at Laishley Park Marina. The dinghy went back in the water and we bee-lined it to the marina dinghy dock to check in and then get to NAPA to pick up our replacement generator fuel pump. We jokingly referred to this trip as the NAPA 5k, with our finisher medal being a shiny new pump. Once back on board, we (mainly Barry) had the new one installed, tested, and running in under an hour.

To celebrate his victory, we went back to shore and walked a few blocks to a Mexican restaurant. By the time we were done, night had fallen and we made our trip back to Crossroads in the dark. It was our maiden nocturnal voyage and an important part of stretching our comfort zone with the new outboard.

We have been blessed with bright, sunny days that allowed the solar panel to keep our batteries topped off during the day. We will run the generator for three hours tonight, which will be enough time to take a few degrees off the deep-freezer. Tomorrow we will be back in business, heading south toward a to-be-determined destination.