Monday November 26: Nice Weather

The weather has been crazy nice for the past week - enough so that Steve, and his fun little engine that runs so well, have been out dinghy fishing under the bridge 3 times.

And he's out again today! By himself today but Flint and Bill have accompanied him other days.

Lots of fish being caught - just not always the kind being sought!

Yesterday there was a quite large shark picking off many of the fish he or Flint had on the line.


Flint suggested that perhaps Steve needed a larger dinghy when he caught a glimpse of the shark! No worries though as it just wants their fish!

In the meantime the manatee have really been in the harbor. Several with "babies" that aren't all that small!

The young manatee will travel with mom for up to two years before taking off on its own.

We always enjoy seeing them visit.

Old screening.

New screening.

Much of my time lately has been spent making the new screens for the windows.

The old ones work fine but just don't clean up anymore after 10 years of being up almost all of the time. So much better!

New on the left, old on the right.

Since the screening is made from pvc I thought that a spray paint for plastic might be a solution so I tried that last winter on the two large windows port side.

That seemed to sort of work but just didn't hold up.

Check out the new screening on the left window vs the old screening on the right window. No contest :-)

So I continue to get the screens made ASAP. We visited my hand surgeon and set the date of Friday Dec 7 for him to fuse my right thumb - which means 2 months of a cast or splint. So my deadline for the screens have been set! Somehow I didn't expect the surgery to happen so fast but it is definitely the sooner the better :-)

Old runner - 18 years old!

New runner - here's to another 18 years!

I've also been shopping on the internet!

Finally, I was able to convince Steve that it really was time to replace the runner that was in our last home for 9 years and on this boat for another 9 years.

It held up amazingly well and of course the history of buying it made for nice memories. Guess it's finally time though to make new memories with the new runner, right?

It wasn't the first runner I ordered though. The first one was the wrong length! The length I ordered was what we received - oops. A slip of the 'order now' button :-)


We decided to just trim it a bit and use it in the aft cabin.

It was a win all around :-)

Nicer than getting up on the bare wood floor!!

I had also wanted to replace the shower curtain for the past 3 years or so .... Finally did that as well. Do you know how many shower curtains there are available on the internet?

Kind of crazy. But I am quite happy with the result of the change to white rather than a dark blue. Not sure what I was thinking when I picked that one out - again 9 years ago (at least).





Thanksgiving was very low keyed around here this year.

Steve baked a couple of cornish hens. Worked great and it was all in all a good day - and we do have so much to be thankful for .....






Steve's back from fishing - I will make my usual contribution by cleaning the yellowtail snappers he caught.

The shark was back and eating but Steve managed to get these three into the boat :-)

I see fish on the list for dinner tonight .....

Sunday November 18: Enjoying Being Back

We have been here at Banana Bay for just over a week now and are really enjoying being here. A number of the 'regulars' are back and it's enjoyable catching back up with everyone.

And as always we're still catching up getting the boat up to snuff.

The washing machine didn't like sitting for 7 months either and finally gave it up. It was having timer issues at the end of last season but we had a workaround so never took the time to replace the in theory working used timing unit we bought last Feb.

I was feeling particularly ambitious one morning and decided to swap out the old timer with the new.

The biggest challenge? Work with the main control wires - 16 wires that had to be removed all at the same time and put back on the new control in the same position.

But with a box of different magic markers and good notes along with many pictures, it was successful!!!




Sadly though the 'new' timer didn't work any better and actually was worse than the old one. So unfortunate.

Well, we installed the washer/dryer unit 10 years ago and it was used when we bought it so we didn't feel too bad about that.

Scott the dockmaster helped Steve get it out of the aft cabin. Only the top and the washer door had to be removed so not really too bad!

When we first moved to the boat and were constantly traveling it was great to have the unit; Now it's not such a big deal to do the laundry here at Banana Bay. Seriously not worth replacing at this point.

The manatee have been very active in the harbor since we arrived. Most days there will be one or more hanging around.

Manatee lying on it's back
to drink the dripping fresh water.

They come in for the fresh water which drips from a small leak in the faucet just in front of our boat.

The one left is lying on it's back and letting the water drip into it's mouth. This particular manatee has been here in other years - it's tail with two cuts from a boat prop is kind of hard to miss.

It's rare to see a manatee that DOESN'T have some kind of scar from a boat - either on it's back or tail.


It just seems like it's been all work again but Steve did manage to make time for a kayak ride along the shoreline east of us.

Not a lot to see yet as the water is not terribly clear but we look for improvement as the winter goes on.

Painting the deck of the forward cabin.

Steve decided he wanted to finish up the last of the painting on the outside of the boat.

The top of both the forward and aft cabin decks needed to be painted and that will be the end of the painting.

The aft deck cabin - the end of the painting!

Both of these surfaces will be covered with Raptor. It's actually made for a truck bed liner but works great on these decks. Goes on relatively easy and holds up very well.




I keep thinking we must be finished but Steve keeps finding more things that need to be done! Seems like there would be an end to it at some point :-)

And of course most afternoons end with docktails.

This is Stephen from Stevedore - we thought our Ironman son-in-law Matt would enjoy Stephen's shirt :-)

I couldn't help but add the second line to the shirt!!




And finally it was time to get some bottom paint on our dinghy. Usually we just have it sitting out of the water on the swim platform but now we'll leave it in the water while we're here in Banana Bay.

It's way quicker for Steve to just jump in the dinghy and go rather than put the dinghy down and hoist the engine on when he wants to fishing.

And since he just bought a new Suzuki engine - he can't wait!!

Hopefully he'll be able to get out while grouper are still in season!!





In the meantime I finally have everything I need to start making the new shade covers for the boat.





The ones on are now 10 years old and are just not even cleaning up any more. Not bad for their age but easy to replace and relatively inexpensive when I do the sewing myself. I figure about a two week project - which means they will be done in a month :-)





Tomorrow we head to Ft Lauderdale to see my hand surgeon to hopefully schedule part 4 of the 4 part work on my hands: fuse the right thumb!!!

Thursday November 8: Back at Banana Bay!!!

Now it feels like we're back home :-)

Yesterday's Dream is back in Slip 8 - overlooking the Florida Bay.

All is right with our world.





Tuesday we left Fort Myers Beach - but only after Steve was again working with the alternator belt.

The design of the Ford Lehman diesel engine is somewhat strange in that in order to change or replace the alternator belt, the belt must run on either side of a large hose that is a part of the antifreeze system that circulates through the engine.

So if the belt has broken (as it did the other day), this large hose containing hot antifreeze must be unhooked from the engine. We're talking antifreeze that is 180 degrees as well as an engine that is likely somewhat hotter.

The solution for not having to deal with this scenario is to deal with it ahead of time. With the engine nicely cooled off in the morning, Steve drained the antifreeze from the engine, removed the large hose, looped TWO spare belts around the hose, and zip-tied them up and out of the way until needed!

Works quite well and eliminates the dangerous situation of working with hot antifreeze and a hot engine.

With that job completed we headed out. The gulf waters were so flat it was kind of crazy. From Ft. Myers to Marathon most of the travel is on the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

No problem if the winds are light or from the NE to the SE but west winds can make the travel miserable or not doable depending on the strength of the wind.

We arrived at Rose Marina on Marco Island and settled in after fueling up. We've stayed here a number of times in the past - pleasant folks and always very nice.

It was nice to be tied in and plugged in. My plan was to watch the election return to keep up with what is going on in the outside world!

Of course checking the weather is always first so we can plan tomorrow's travel.

There are two choices from here: travel south on the Big Marco River (which is not really very big and IS rather shallow). Or go outside around the Cape Romano shoals. Outside is longer but we can start out 3 hours earlier because we'd need to wait for the tide to be coming in to travel on the inside route of the river.

Leaving Marco Island

Wednesday morning it was a no-brainer! There were no winds so we were up and out of the marina by 7. Another super day.

Steve getting the lines off of the dock!

The plan when we left was to take another two days travel and pull into Banana Bay on Friday. Once we saw how nice it was, plans changed. Plus we were getting current pulling us along so we were traveling most of the time at between 9 and 10 mph - which of course for us with a normal speed of 8 mph was great!!


Steve was of course fishing but was also on dolphin watch! Probably saw a dozen dolphins riding our bow wave at various times throughout the day.

No fish while traveling but once settled into our anchorage at Little Shark River, Steve finally found the fish!


Not really the kind he was looking for but sail catfish (so called because of the very tall dorsal fin) seemed to love the shrimp heads he had for bait. Four in all - should make for a nice dinner tomorrow :-)


The sunset was nice and for a bit we though we might see our first green flash of the season.

Oh well.


Last time at pulling the anchor. Next stop: Banana Bay!!

Another perfect travel day .....

Monday November 5: Fort Myers

We just have to keep reminding ourselves that this is, after all, a boat!

And we were SO ready to go on Thursday. We had moved out of the condo, turned in the rental car, last minute provisions gathered. Time to head out. Destination was about 5 hours to Cayo Costa - a beautiful state park on the Gulf of Mexico.

100 yards away from the dock and the tachometer went to zero. Voltmeter went to zero. Mmmm  .. alternator belt has slipped again. So much trouble with that thing.

Back to the dock. Back into the hole for Steve :-)

Turns out - after checking with an electrical meter: the alternator is shot! Well, that's never happened before. Good thing we carry a spare one! We weren't sure if it would work but it was worth a try.

Steve worked hard tracing wiring and after a phone call to Brian at American Diesel, was able to figure out how the replacement should be hooked up.

By now it's late Thursday and not so nice weather was due in on Friday so we decided to just spend a couple of more nights at the dock at the storage area.

Yesterday's Dream at the dock.

Finally Saturday we left early and we were in and at the dock at the park by early afternoon. Alternator worked perfectly!

TD Dream at anchor.

Steve trolled all of the way there but no fish. He was sad ....

We spotted our friends formerly from Banana Bay - David and Terri on TD Dream at anchor in the bay just off of our dock.

David and Terri came to the dock by dinghy just in time for docktails on the flybridge. We hadn't seen them in a couple of years so it was fun to be able to catch up. They traveled to the Exumas earlier this year and loved it - fun to hear their stories of the adventure :-)




The wind Saturday night was quite strong from the NW - straight into the small marina here - with enough waves to sink one of the small boats tied up for the night.

Of course Steve went over to check it out and lend a hand if he could. The park ranger came to the rescue with a battery and a 12-volt sump pump which took care of the water pretty quickly.

"We" went kayaking but it was mostly Steve pulling me along! I could get used to kayaking like this :-) But it saved my shoulder from more wear and tear!

The goal was the manatee hole just a bit down the shoreline from the marina.

Lots of manatees around but they just come up, stick their nose out of the water to take a breath and the silently lower back into the water. Not really that much to see!

The alligator on the other hand was quite visible! This is taken with a zoom lens but the wind was definitely blowing me closer than I really wanted to be!

We spent two really nice days at Cayo Costa - Steve made it over to the beach side. It's a really pretty beach and he enjoys walking it.

The storm east of us just barely missed us - we had moved out into the anchorage for the night.

Not much wind ....

Monday was a perfect day to travel the 4 hours to Ft. Myers Beach where we would pick up a mooring ball for the night.

And we were again reminded that it is a boat :-)

Lost the tachometer and voltmeter again. This time the belt broke! No problem - we have one semi on the engine ready to install.

Back in the hole again for Steve as he spent about 30 minutes getting the new belt positioned and tightened. He hopefully discovered the possible cause of all the alternator issues. The bolt holding the adjusting bracket to the engine was a little too long and bottoming out without really being tight enough to secure the bracket when under way.

Off again - with David and Terri standing by in case we had any further troubles. So nice of them ....


Plus they took Steve to the NAPA store once we were in Ft. Myers Beach to pick up a couple of more spare alternator belts.

Can't have TOO many spare belts :-)

Hopefully we'll see Terri and David when they pass through Marathon on their way to the Bahamas in the spring. Boaters are the best people in the world and Terri and David are no exception!!

Marco Island tomorrow - another 5 hour run. Getting close to Banana Bay .....