Update On The Pelican

Or What Really Became Of The Pelican?


Our fine feathered friend has met his demise.  It isn't clear as to exactly what happened.  But out of respect for his continued resilience or harassment, depending on how you view the circumstances, I have had him preserved so to speak.

Rest in peace Satchel Mouth

It all started on the last active morning of our cruise.  We were accustomed to hearing the pelican, whom we had named, Satchel Mouth, do a fly over of the boat and give off this most disgusting regurgitating sound. This was presumably a standing morning insult that might get a laugh from the pelican community but which we didn't find that amusing.

So here are the facts, hearkening back to my many years as a policeman....  Satch was found dead on that very deck that he used to fly over.  Closer inspection disclosed that someone had pulled a piano wire from the bow to the back up antenna above the bridge.  Presumably Satch didn't see the wire in time and flew into it.

The question is: Was this wire strung to accommodate a piece of nautical equipment, like a radar disk?  Or was this act from the deepest darkest depths of man's soul... Murder!  So I rounded up the usual suspects,  the crew of the Sea Me Smile.  I was not one of the suspects, of course, as I am, after all, the captain and am above reproach.

Don't let that innocent face fool ya'

He has the know how to pull it off

Technology is his middle name

No one was forthcoming with any decent information, no matter how hard I interrogated them under bright lights, while constantly pounding on the table with a rubber hose.  Some of 'em even had the gall to suggest that I, the captain, shouldn't be exempt from the inquiry and that an outside investigator should be brought in to determine the facts.  A truly laughable suggestion.

After a short investigation, because you can't finger print a piano wire, my inquiry  brought me to the only logical conclusion that could possibly be determined by a person of my vast investigative skills...


       It was the worst case of suicide that I have ever encountered!
                                                               

                               No Pelicans were harmed in the creation of this story

Left Standing At The Altar

 Or All Dressed Up And No Where To Go




We have been stood up two days in a row by Erick, the mechanic.  So last night after dinner, I called another fellow and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that he has it together enough to show up or at least enough to pick up a phone and tell us what, if anything, is going on.  It's like I always tell the kids,  "Good Manners Are Always In Style!"



Mitchell got lucky last night and caught a two pound Big Mouth which he and Wayne promptly filleted and added to last night's fare.  Yum!  Bar-B-Q'd chicken, brown rice, green beans, salad and fish.  I told 'em, "Eat hardy men, tomorrow we might be back to sandwiches".

I had to keep telling Jeff not to feed the alligators, which for him didn't compute until I told him,  "They eat you"!  To which he answered, " Is that really what they meant when they put up that sign?

Yes, Jeff, you could be the alligator food

Two days later...

Oh, the second mechanic we called in Apalachicola did show and did call to say he would be a little late. The fix on the ailing engine was quick and easy. His mother must have taught him the one about good manners always being in style.

Well, the countryside is beautiful and the boats and little ports are very pretty.  However, I have decided I am going to take a month off from this sailing adventure.   We are going to come home to Tennessee and spend about a month recuperating and trying to get me healthy enough to walk. We'll wait for the northern rivers to subside some and then come back to the Sea Me Smile and hit it another "lick"!  So the blog is going to go on hiatus for awhile.  I'm not sure how to spread the word as to when we are going to start up again other than to say, keep checking the blog and spread the word when you see the level of activity starting to increase.  I'm sure that we will continue to be something of a laugh with our unending list of episodes and small difficulties.  

A beautiful rising moon

The morning fog made for a wonderful picture of one of the shrimp boats headed out as we sipped our coffee and snapped a quick photo.

Misty Morning on Scipio Creek

We have about a hundred and fifty miles to go to reach Mobile Bay and then the lay of the trip will be rivers and lakes instead of oceans and waterways.

The Navigator & the Cabin Boy

  And thankfully this part of my crew is willing to return and try some more.  We figure that out of the thirty one or two days that we were gone, we actually traveled for only seven days.  We had our share of troubles and breakdowns, but we got enough of a feel, in those seven good days, to know that these trips can be a lot of fun.

Apalachicola

Or Waiting For Yet Another Mechanic

The picture out my window is saw grass. 

The birds are working hard for a meal.  Gulls & Pelicans. 

The breeze is beautiful and the sounds are relaxing.

It seems that relaxation is a skill,

It's hard in strange circumstances. 

So often for action guys relaxation is the bottle.

Don't make it so,

the sweet wine that warms the bones,

and lifts the spirits will do.

The oyster men have gone.

Soon their lights will glow on the gulf,

And tomorrow we will dine.

Last night my oysters slept in the ocean

On the subject of my injury... I seem to be doing better.  I found two more positions to sleep in last night that felt good.  And this morning I got up and walked a half mile.  This afternoon I did that half mile a second time.  And I made it through the night without the aid of any pain medication.  

While on my morning walk, I came upon an historic old house that begged a picture.  So I took one.  The grounds are also a war memorial and garden. 

It was St. Patrick's Day, so while I was on my walk, easing along in my now familiar gimpy style, muttering expletives under my breath about my current condition, when I reached the marina next door, my face started to shine like a leprechaun's.  A big smile spread from ear to ear, 'cus then I knew it was true... there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Right there on that marina's property sat the cutest little oyster bar and restaurant.  I was saved from having to walk farther and, of course, went in for a libation. (Once again, I caution the reader, strictly for medicinal purposes!) Being about lunch time, I helped myself to a dozen steamed oysters on the half shell.  They were great and the guy behind the bar was shucking 'em right there for me. Twas truly "Top O' the Mornin'!"  

     

Made It To Steinhatchee

And we plan on staying for a day

We're going to lay over here in Steinhatchee for a day to rest and enjoy.  Besides, the Gulf of Mexico has just a little bit of chop on it today and we're big on playing it safe.  We're staying at the "Sea Hag Marina".

Our temporary home in Steinhatchee

   

Especially not the one that is stalking us





Fisherman at work

The neighbors

Still having some trouble with the blog manager, hope to figure out what I'm doing wrong to cause the format to foul up.  At any rate we left Steinhatchee yesterday at about eight o'clock in the morning and started across the Gulf of Mexico toward Apalachicola, still in Florida but on the Panhandle.  It is a quaint little shrimping town with lots of good restaurants and shops to look in.

However, the trip here was no picnic.... about a quarter way into our ten hour trip, one engine started smoking and heating up.  We shut it down and crossed on one engine at about ten miles an hour.  Well, one thing isn't bad, right?  Right, if only one thing goes wrong. But as luck would have it, as we came into Apalachicola and were in contact with the marina where we were to stay, Wayne took a short cut across a mud flat that had too little water on top of it.  We were grounded again!  Out came the Tow Boat U.S. .  Wayne says to me, "I sure am glad you got the Gold membership". " Me, too", I said, "Let's have a beer."  It took the Tow Boat from 9 o'clock until 11 o'clock to get us unstuck, which is when high tide arrived.  By the time we got docked in the dark, I simply took a shower and fell into bed.  Wayne wasn't far behind me, just a different bed.

First thing this morning, we arranged for a little transportation.  Because I still can't walk comfortably and there are things we need to do like go shopping, do the laundry and buy some charts (so we know where to go to from here 'cus ours ran out), we needed "wheels". 

It's Wayne and I at the drive up teller

Coming up is a picture of  Jeff and I in the tender.  We are carrying the anchor out in front of the boat and dropping it into the water, then letting the boat try to drag/winch itself off the mud flat.  I saw it done in a pirate movie once. It didn't work.  Wayne said if it had worked, then that wouldn't have counted as a grounding against him.  I think he makes up the rules as he goes along.  Maybe it was the beer talking.

 A shot of some of the local flavor.  Mitchell was sitting in the back of the golf cart shooting pictures like crazy for this really is a cool little town.

 

 Well, seeing as how I haven't put anything on the blog in a couple of days, I think I had better stop playing with this and publish it.  We will probably spend a couple of nights here depending on the repairs to the engine and then get back on the Gulf Intra-coastal Waterway (GIWW).  I'll let you know what are next stop is when we figure it out. 

 

On To Tarpon Springs

We're Being Stalked.

Yes, as they say, one picture is worth a thousand words.  You've heard of the Pelican Brief? I think we've got the Pelican Enduring.  It turns out that ol' Pelican from Stuart, FL is stalking us.  Others on the crew just laugh and make light of my fears but as I said, one picture tells the story and the facts are in.

There he is... I know it's him!

We made our way from St. Petersberg to Tarpon Springs.  What a quaint little town this is!  It is a famous Greek settlement where they used to dive for natural sponges.  They did this by free diving off of boats, that's no tanks of air, just dive down and harvest 'em.  While the industry has died out, they still sell sponges on the street here.

This is one way to remember where you've been

Here's a shot of a sponge boat heavy with sponges

You can click on the map to see a larger version.

Nicole inserted this map of  Florida to show our progress so far.  We are leaving Tarpon Springs today after we do a little grocery shopping and are headed for Cedar Key, another little fishing village of a place, as we near Florida's "Big Bend".  The weather is cooler but still holding nicely compared to what the folks back home in Tennessee are experiencing.  

Here's the home of "The Mess"

I had a tip from a doctor friend at Tobacco Road to stop at Papa's in Tarpon Springs for dinner.  The Greek food here is absolutely great.  We ate, last night, till we were stuffed.  And this morning made our way across the parking lot to the Blue Fin Cafe where all breakfasts are just five dollars.  They had something called "The Mess" on the menu.... guess what Jeff and I had? 

While we were sitting having breakfast, I saw a public transit bus and said,  "Oh look, they have buses running here".  To which Mitchell replied, "I'm not riding on anymore buses with you".  Oh, ye of little faith.  Does this mean my crew is starting to turn on me? Is there a mutiny in my future?

Well, we have now arrived in Cedar Key and we will stay on the hook tonight.  I think there will be one tired boy amongst us seeing as how he drove the boat across the Gulf of Mexico more than anyone else today.

  

We Sail With The Tide- Encore

Fixed Again 




As I write, Mechanic Steve is out figuring up the bill for the steering fix.  We plan on going to sea at first light.  And it will be to sea, for in about one and a half hours, we will be in the Gulf of Mexico waters.  Then we'll sail northward up the Emerald Coast.  


Next Morning
We set out at about 0800 hours and managed to wind our way out of our new found home, Fort Myers, Florida, without much incident.  It wasn't long till the boys started spotting dolphins.  How cool! They swam along side our boat in two's and three's. Every once-in-awhile one of 'em would look up at us, like he was checking to see if we were watching his show and then he would belly flop and spray water all over the boat. Untrained, he didn't laugh like "Flipper" did.

There's the playful little guy right there

The trouble is you have to have a quick trigger finger to get 'em jumping 

 Once out of the harbor at Ft. Myers, we started north. We made it to Sarasota late in the afternoon, and decided to make this our first attempt at dropping anchor and "Staying on the Hook".  We found a quaint little spot just off the Inter Coastal Water Way (ICW).  We dropped the anchor, it held, and we started cooking dinner.  Mitchell kept saying we were moving, so we finally took him up to the bridge and showed him the GPS coordinates.  We wrote them down so he could go back and make sure it was true that we weren't moving.

About 0330 hours (that's three in the morning, folks) I hear it raining awfully hard.  I'm half asleep and then I realized, this can't be rain, or I would have had to close my window.  I looked outside and let me tell you.  WE HAD MOVED!  About a quarter of a mile.  We are near the dock of a residence that we were anchored near.  I wake up Wayne and we debated whether to have a drink, make coffee or cry.  Well, a fourth option worked out.  I rowed our dinghy over to our new friend's dock and then he got ropes to me and were able to pull the boat far enough up the dock that we could start the engines without doing  damage to any of our running gear.  Then we started the generator and had a hot cup of coffee.  And we did all this without waking up anyone else on the boat!

Here's a shot of Jeff driving the boat

 We are now headed into Tampa Bay and can see the sky line. We are passing under a really remarkable bridge.  The highway is called the Sunshine Skyway and we are assuming the bridge may have the same name.

Jeff drove the boat under the bridge

The columns holding this bridge up are small

  Well, it's getting close to time for the ol' Cap' to have a little of the grape.

It's really Jeff's fishing hat... I'm just clownin' around

Trip To The Store

I Don't Know Nothin' Bout Ridin' No Buses!




Well, Mitchell and I had our adventure for the day.  We were getting low on groceries, a seemingly perpetual occurrence around here,  so I planned a trip to Wal-Mart.  Only this trip wasn't by way of a taxi ($45.00 round trip... ouch!).  This time Bob is checking into public transportation.  I get the bus schedule from the Fort Meyers Chamber of Commerce located across the street from the marina where we are docked.  I get back to the boat and with the help of the schedule and their web site, I am able to map out my itinerary to Wal-Mart and back with very little walking (still not getting around too good on my gimpy knee).

So this morning after laundry, Mitchell and I walk to the bus stop which is just across the street.  Oh, and we have our little red cart to bring our loot home in.  We look like a couple of real bus riders.

Well, the bus shows within a couple of minutes, but everyone has to stand by while I fumble for exact change for our six dollar day pass which is now six fifty since the fliers were printed.  I finally borrow a dollar from Mitchell so we can be on our way.

We go for several miles and most everyone has gotten off except us and one other guy.  Finally, I asked the driver,  "Where do I connect to the #140 bus, 'cus I'm trying to get to Wal-Mart for grub and fish hooks?"  He looked at me and said;  "You got on going the wrong way".  "Oh", says I, in my stupidest sounding voice.   But then I spot a big super market right where the bus is stopping.  I opt to shop here and then return on the bus when it comes back.  We get off the bus and the other passenger is walking toward the store with us and he says;  "That s--t happened to me right after I got out of  prison, I didn't know nothin' 'bout ridin' no bus".  Well, the shopping got done, but we didn't get the fish hooks.

While we have waited on parts here in Fort Myers, we have done some more organizing and cleaning.  And, oh yea, putting the stairs back in after the repairs on the prop and shaft. This was no easy task because they are not square nor are they even level.  It took a little "heavy lifting" by Mitchell to get the job done.

He put those screws in upside down and backwards

No children were injured in the performance of this task

  Well, we're back and the groceries are put away.  It's barbecued chicken for dinner.   Keep your fingers crossed for an early start in the morning!

The Doctor Said...

And before I forget... the doctor listened to my tale of woe, took three x-rays of my knee, my thigh and my hip... nothing is broken.  He says it's just going to take time to stop hurting.

And this late breaking news, my daughter, Nicole, reports she just heard a song on the radio called:  "The Red Neck Yacht Club".   Hmmm?

The Cat Fish Dinner Was Fine

The Mechanic Had Some Good News    




Well, the cat fish were cleaned and then given a bath in olive oil, garlic and salt & pepper.   It was a good end to a mostly good day.... except for the getting "towed in" part.  The Tow Boat U.S. boat put us into the marina we were headed for anyway.  So we got situated into the Fort Myers City Yacht Harbor and got cooking.

The boys caught about nine nice cats

 At nine-thirty this morning, I called the mechanic and he agreed to come over and take a look at our steering problems.  After tearing the boat apart looking for the "pump", a call to Carver disclosed that this model didn't have a pump.  We did find out that someone had poured ATF (automatic transmission fluid) into the system instead of the proper oil.  And  we do have a seal that is bad.  The part will be ordered on Monday, arrive on Tuesday and that should put us back on track by Wednesday, if not Tuesday early afternoon.

Some of the folks back home are aware that I fell and hurt myself, about the second day of the adventure. So I might as well tell the story.... We were working on the boat and the hatch covers were off the floor of the salon/front room.  The engines are located there and the floor can be raised in one to eight pieces.  I knew one piece had been raised, but wasn't aware that the other piece next to it had also been raised and a cushion was laying across it.  I stepped on the cushion and the rest is history.  Wayne said, "You fell for about five minutes".

I didn't even think that I had hurt myself until the next day when I started having a little trouble walking without falling down.  Now I know this has happened before, but these circumstances were a little different, because no alcohol was involved.  By the next evening, when I realized how badly I hurt, that scenario changed. Enter Bacchus:  "Apply thine engine to thy spongy door, set Bacchus from his glassy prison free". 
This course of action was only taken for pure medicinal purposes, you have my word on it.  That and some Ibuprofen.  Tomorrow morning, in light of the two day delay, I have decided to go and get checked out.      


So today, after the mechanic left, Jeff and I went and did a little shopping.  These boys sure can eat!

We caught a cab to the Super Wal-Mart

And once there I got out my lariat, and with a little help from Jeffery, we managed to cut me out a good one.  

He bucked a little when I first got on!

At the marina where we are staying, there is the cutest house boat... I had to share it with you.  It reminded me of Sausalito California, where they have a bunch of really cool house boats.

Isn't that the cutest? It's someones hair salon!

The Manatees Have The Schedule

Or, What a Day!




Well, all the guys are on the back deck cleaning catfish... which are on the dinner menu for tonight. We got a pretty early start this morning and were making really good time. That's really good time when you're only going about eight or ten knots. For those of you not trained in nautical speak... that's about 9 to 11.5 mph.

This is an old steel hull tow boat

Some type of water plant

Along the way, Mitchell and Jeff spotted a couple of small alligators and bird life that is wonderful. We discovered that they grow thousands of acres of sugar cane in Florida. Who would have thunk it? We saw some interesting sights from our vantage point on the water. Did another lock through and the boys are really becoming proficient at being deck hands. They have this lock thing just about down.

This is locking up

So, we were about to get our third full day in and our second day without mishap. We had to lay out in front of the Franklin Lock at Franklin, Florida. Had a little lunch and even caught a quick nap. Now this is how it is supposed to be! When we went into the lock, we had a little trouble steering, however I thought it was because of the fairly high winds that we have been bucking for the last couple of days. BUT when we came out of the lock, we definitely couldn't steer worth a darn. We had lost our steering!

That's when the tow boat got called and the boys starting catching our dinner figuring the way things were going, what they caught might be our only food... cus' I just might go broke.

As you can see our crew has a good attitude even when towed

So the tow service has arranged for a fellow that specializes in repairs of this type to come to the boat tomorrow morning. They have also arranged for us a slip at the City of Fort Myers Yacht Harbor.

Judy at the VFW called and said she would gas the short bus and come rescue us if we wanted. But we thought about it and decided we could never live it down if we showed up in the short bus.

Here's a shot of Wayne overseeing operations

Well, the boys have the wet suits off those catfish and the tow has been going on now for over an hour, so before very long we hope to be able to pop those bad boys in the oven or put 'em on the grill. So let's see... left over spaghetti, rice and fresh catfish. Boy, it doesn't hardly get any better than that.

Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you... The lock operator, at the third lock we went through, was telling us that the manatees have figured out the new lock schedule so they show up to make their way through when the gates open. Pretty cool stuff!

Phoned Home...From the Bathroom

Mitchell's mom here, high jacking the blog to share Mitchell's perspective on the day.  I usually talk to Mitchell a couple times a day, during which he recounts the day's events. I get such a kick out of the things he says, and while sharing a couple funny stories from today's phone calls, my mom said I ought to include them here.

Mitchell first called this morning...from the bathroom. He wasn't "using" the facilities, rather, he said it was the only relatively quiet location to talk, because both engines were running. Unfortunately, we were just starting our school day here at home, so I told him I couldn't really visit. Then it occurred to me that he might be interested in listening in. He was, so he participated in "school" for about an hour.  I put him on speaker phone, and he piped in here and there. It was just like old times... ;) You know, back in the days when he actually did school here with us!

This evening he told me about the 3-4 foot waves they fought their way through today, and he informed me that he has pretty good sea legs.  I asked if he got seasick, and he told me, "I couldn't get sea sick - we weren't on salt water!" I don't know how that computes, but I'll go with it.

As of tomorrow they will have been gone from home for two weeks, and they are only on day two of the actual journey.  So, today I said to Mitchell, "Does Bum-Bine-Bubba..." (Really, just go with it. Maybe I'll explain later.) "Does Bum-Bine-Bubba have a plan? I mean, he originally planned for this trip to take three weeks, but that clearly isn't going to happen. So, does he have a plan?"

I'm thinking, maybe he will dock it somewhere and come back for a second go-round.

Mitchell is obviously thinking, plan? Who needs a plan? But he says to me, "We're going all the way to Knoxville. It doesn't matter how long it takes. We are going the whole way." Then he informs me that B-B-B's friends from the VFW have a pool going for what day they will be back, and some of them have proposed decorating the Lake House for the annual Fourth of July party in the hopes that they make it back by then.

Oh, for crying out loud.  Has B-B-B mentioned anywhere on this blog that the boy is eleven?! Isn't he supposed to be homesick? Not this one. People always ask me if he's getting homesick yet, but in two weeks he hasn't even sounded glum once. Never has he mentioned missing us, or his dog, or his cat, or the horse, or...you get the point.  I think he's over us. There's an adventure to participate in, and he's on it!

Really, as much as we miss him, we are so excited for him to have this opportunity, and wouldn't dare make him feel guilty over not missing us.  Every day he recounts stories of what he has learned and I love to hear them. Some days I wear my blue tooth headset and talk to him for an hour or more.  I do dishes and laundry, and he tells stories, explains new knots, tells me what type of fish are swimming by and the like. It's all good. A once in a lifetime opportunity.

Back In The Water

Hooray!
At approximately 0915 Hours on March the 3rd    


We left Stuart, Florida this morning, pulling out of the Manatee Inlet, and starting west on the St. Lucie River,  also known as the Lake Okeechobee Water Way (pronounced Oka-cho-be).

Bye to the pelican. I could have sworn I saw him snicker.

The lake is sort of interesting.  It is the largest lake in the state of Florida and the second largest lake in the lower forty-eight states.  It has a water area half the size of the state of Rhode Island.  But it is so shallow that you could practically walk across it.  It holds one trillion gallons of water. Before researching this trip, I had no idea that there was a navigable water way across this part of Florida.

It wasn't long before we arrived at the St. Lucie Lock and because of the low water levels in Florida, we had to wait about an hour for the lock to open again.  We adults had a little lunch and the boys starting pulling out fishing line so fast that the whine was deafening.  Before you could say "fish sandwich", Mitchell had one on the line followed about one minute later by Jeff.  Nice big cats.

Gary says a couple more scores like that and we've got dinner.

Darn the luck... that hour went fast! We quickly put down our poles and sandwiches when they called us into our first lock through.  The Lucie Lock is 250 feet long and fifty feet wide, but we were the only boat locking through. As we pulled in,  the lock master dropped ropes to each of the boys. They held the boat this way, without tying up, until the water rose so that we were even with the river above.  Then they opened the gates at the other end and we pulled on through...to the cheers and shouts of a gathering throng of people! (wink-wink!) The crowd pointed,  clapped and said things like, "Look honey, that boat's home port is clear up in Tennessee. I wonder if they'll make it?"  Of course, we waved back and not wanting to make a spectacle, acted as nonchalantly as possible.  I think Wayne gave 'em one little nod and a polite Tennessee wave.

Entering the lock

Mitchell held the stern ropes 

 

Jeff held the bow line

We interrupt this post with a trip ashore for dinner. We're happy to put our feet on solid ground after a day of wrestling the Sea Me Smile through 3-4 foot waves! More about that later...