The photo's in the previous post were supposed to be part of this one.  Finger fumbled and they posted before I was finished. 

First photo is Dave diagnosing the problem
Second photo is your captain at work.
Third photo is of the beautiful weather and the beautiful views and one of the reasons we elected to stay the extra night.

Day one was yesterday 04/05/10



Our departure was fun, did a loop run up to the end of the canal, and then a 180 to allow us to pass our dock and give the 3 long and 2 short blast of the horn. That was one of those times I wish the boat had a good set of high quality air horns. That would have sounded beautiful.


First thing out of the box, still within sight of our dock, we get an engine alarm. Turned out we had a clogged water intake on the port engine and consequently we were in "overheat mode" on that engine. I shut it down and the alarm went away. Good news. We putted her over to my favorite repair marina and I must say, Dave Marsh jumped into the engine room and had the clog cleared and replaced the impeller which was destroyed by the overheat. He had us ready to go within an hour. My hat is off to these guys.


We were back on our way early enough to be able to get to our planned destination, Venice FL before the marina shut down for the evening. I do recommend where we are at right now. The Crow's Nest Marina and restaurant.


The winds were such that I could approach and get to the gas dock like I was an expert. Got topped off with gas, and other services and then went to our assigned slip, #16 where the winds and tidal currents were such that I had to actually be an expert to pull it off. After the 3rd attempt, we were able to make fast in slip 16.


Dinner, we went to the restaurant at the marina for dinner and had excellent fare. For those who like wine, their wine cellar has 16,000 bottles of wine on hand and the prices range from $32.00 to $900.00 for a bottle. I have the theory that if you purchase the cheapest bottle of wine in the category you like at a quality restaurant, it will not disappoint you and last night was no exception.


This is a first for me. About half the wine was still in the bottle when we were ready to call it a night, and the waitress asked if we would like a "wine doggy bag." This was really neat. They recorked the bottle, put a sales slip with it and put it all in a single use seal able bag and we were good to go. Just like a concealed carry permit. Check them out at www.winedoggybag.com .


The weather is so perfect that we decided to spend an extra night and organize the boat and do some bicycle riding around town.


Next destination will be somewhere along the Okeechobee canal system. Anywhere between Fort Meyers and More Haven will be just fine.


Tony n Pat