OF EDISON AND FORD IN FT MYERS

December 17, 2011 Dateline: Ft Myers, FL USA

Yesterday morning I left Burnt Store Marina early in the morning and headed for Ft Myers.  The trip was nice out on the open Gulf then I got to the Caloosahatchee River.  The river is like the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway- there is a lot of horizontal water but not much vertical water.  It took two hours to go up the river to Ft Myers.  Because Rich rented the slip for a month I was put over in the live-aboard corner.  Rich and Carol have to walk nearly a half mile to get to the shore from where I’m docked.  The marina is really nice because even though it extends out into the river there is very little affect from the wakes of passing boats.

Today, Rich and Carol went to visit, Seminole Lodge, the winter home of Thomas Edison and The Mangoes, a home of Henry Ford.  In 1885 Thomas Edison purchased 13 acres located between a cattle drive path and the Caloosahatchee River.  He paid far more for the property than it was “worth” in most people’s eyes.  To Edison the property was a raw material source.  The property had a large stand of bamboo trees; his experiments showed him that bamboo made long lasting filaments for his electric light bulbs.  Edison would go on to build two houses on the property one for himself and the mirror image of it for his very good friend and business partner, Ezra Gilliland.  After a number of years, Edison learned that the relationship had been taken advantage of by Gilliland and Edison wanted him out.  First Edison cut off Gilliland’s electricity from Edison’s generator, then his water from Edison’s water system.  When neither of those worked, Edison cut off access to the dock that went out a quarter into the river.  Gilliland could no longer get supplies so he sold the house.  In 1906 Edison bought the house and turned it into a guest house. 

The houses were fabricated in Maine.  Edison had the materials shipped from Maine to Ft Myers via water and then had the houses built. 

Edison had a generating plant for his experiments, the story has it that he would turn the lights on and off in his house to have fun with the residents of Ft Myers.  His house, of course, had electricity long before there were electric lights in Ft Myers.

Edison began to experiment with plants in his search for latex.  Harvey Firestone, one of Edison’s good friends, had more than a passing interest in Edison botanical efforts.  In 1925, Firestone gave Edison a banyan tree that was about 2 inches in diameter and 4 feet high.  Today that tree occupies approximately an acre and has more than 350 roots.  As the tree grows and its branches get heavy it sends down roots which upon coming in contact with the ground form another trunk providing support.

Henry Ford purchased the house next to Edison’s in 1916.  Ford would visit Edison for two weeks in February each year to celebrate Edison’s birthday.  Ford did not like Florida and had an 1,800 acre property in Georgia to escape the harsh Detroit winters.

One of the walkways to Edison’s home is a “Friendship Walk”.  The walk is made up of stones that were given to the Edisons with the name of the donor carved into them.  The walk began in 1928 and contained stones from Ford and Firestone as well as 48 other friends.

Old Ft Myers is a very interesting place lined with buildings that were constructed in the 1920s.  There are covered walkways attached to the colorful buildings.

This statute in Ft Myers shows the three friends, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone on one of their camping trips which they seemed to very much enjoy.

This is likely my last post for 2011 as Rich and Carol are going home for the holidays.  I would like to close this year by wishing all of my readers

Merry Christmas

And

Happy New Year

 

COOL FERRY AND WAITING FOR A BRIDGE

December 15, 2011  Dateline: Burnt Store, FL USA

ERICA LIN and I decided that we should get going early this morning so we had our owners up and we were on our way at 7:17 AM, the sun had not even come fully over the horizon.  Rich lead me out of the marina very slowly.  Rich used my “Slow Engine” feature which slowed the big Cats down by 200 rpm, thereby keeping me under 5 knots.  We made it through the shallow spots and into the “deeper” water.  We traveled along at 6.5 knots for most of the trip until we came upon Charlotte Harbor.  At that point ERICA LIN parted company; she was going on to Ft. Myers and me to Burnt Store Marina on Charlotte Harbor.

After traveling only about 6 miles this morning I came upon the Cape Haze Ferry.  It consists of two tows that push barges across the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway.  As there is only one dock on each side they both cross the Waterway at the same time.  Guess who was behind one when he decided to back up? ---ME.  Rich got me out of the way quickly.

The houses on the Waterway are, as you would expect, very nice.  Here is one that particularly impressed Rich and Carol. I sure don’t want them to move to that house because I could not go with them, it’s much too shallow. They watched it for a long time as I had to wait 25 minutes for a nearby bridge to open.  I missed the previous opening by only 5 minutes.

Charlotte Harbor is named after the wife of King George III of England. In 1775 when Thomas Jefferys created an important map of Florida he renamed the harbor and indicated that it now was Charlotte Harbour formerly Carlos Bay as it was known when Florida was under Spanish control.  The harbor was an excellent fishing ground.

The Burnt Store Marina is located within a condo complex and has more than 500 boat slips.  The condos appear to be well maintained on the outside.  Since today is Thursday the bar at the marina has Karaoke Night.  As I am at the end of the dock outside the bar, I will get to enjoy the singing along with Rich and Carol.  As I pulled into Brunt Store there was a small 28 foot center console ahead of me.  Her owners pulled her over to a tee head and waited for me to pass.  After, when Rich and Carol were having lunch her owners came over to them and said what a fine job Rich did of bringing me in and they were glad to have my life easier getting onto the marina.

One of the things that seems to break on the boats on this trip is the gray water shower sump pump.  Mine broke the other day, I am not sure when.  The sink and shower water was flowing into the bilge and it didn’t smell very nice.  After replacing the pump, Rich found a wire that had broken so once it was fixed everything worked just fine.

Tomorrow I am off to Ft. Myers, some 65 miles away. Most of the run is in open deep water, I can hardly wait.  It looks like I will sit there for a month while Rich and Carol go home for Christmas (by the way they did not put any lights on me this year, I am not feeling very festive right now).  When they return they will wait for MY WAY to catch-up and then continue our adventure.

ANOTHER BORING DAY

December 14, 2011  Dateline:  Englewood, FL USA

I left Sarasota this morning with ERICA LIN at about 9:45 AM this morning, before leaving Rich got this picture of a bird standing on ERICA LIN’s water line.  He was successful in bending over and capturing some fish in the water.  Finally, he reached too far and started to fall; he spread his wings and caught himself.

The trip today was about 27 miles through narrow sections of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway.  It was a boring day in spite of the tension created by the required opening of three bridges.  One of the bridge’s openings was narrow and on an angle, Thank God for that bow thruster.

I pulled into the Royal Palm Marina at about 2 PM.  The entrance was anything but Royal.  My depth gauge was reading 4.3 feet and I need 5; at that level I was dredging the marina entrance.  Tomorrow I have to go out the way I came in; Rich said he will try to get me out on the highest possible tide.

The marina has a restaurant and live music, except for the low water in the entrance it is really nice.

Tomorrow I am off to Brunt Store Marina on Charlotte Harbor, a trip of about 35 miles.

A VERY CLOSE ENOUNTER WITH SAND

December 13, 2011  Dateline: Sarasota, NJ USA

I left Marina Jack’s at about 12 noon—I was back by 1:30.  The chart was wrong and Rich did not catch it.  Instead of there being 13 feet of water at a spot there was only 3.5 feet of water there.  Sea Tow came out and needed to pull me off the sand.  Fortunately there was no damage just embarrassment.  At the Rendezvous people said I would go aground somewhere.  I did.

Tomorrow it is off to Venice on the inside rather than the outside route.

THE MAGICAL KISS

December 12, 2011Dateline:  Sarasota, FL USA

Not much to report on today.  I sat at the dock in Sarasota while Rich and Carol went off to explore St. Armand’s Key.  That key is circular in shape and in the center is a large shopping area built around a traffic circle.  I was told that it was interesting shopping and Carol did come back with some bags.

Near the water in Sarasota, there is a very large statute of a sailor kissing a nurse.  The statute is based on a picture that was on the cover of Life Magazine marking the end of World War II.

Sarasota seems like any other large city.  There are a lot of restaurants but also a lot of empty office and some empty retail space.  It is very clean.

Charlie and Sandy, who live nearby, and own a boat called ALL THAT CHAS came by for a visit.  They live half way between Venice and Sarasota and Rich and Carol met them a year and a half ago.  At the time they were doing the loop with MY WAY.

Tomorrow I am off to Venice a short run of again only about 20 miles.

GOOD FRIENDS AND FOOD

December 10, 2011   Dateline: Anna Maria Island, FL USA

December 11, 2011   Dateline: Sarasota, FL USA

Having left the Vinoy Marina on the morning of the 10^th I headed off to Anna Maria Island.  The island is located at the south side of the entrance to Tampa Bay.  The owners of my friend KA-DEE-ANNA live there and they invited Rich and Carol to join them for dinner at their beach front home.  Rich told me that the dinner was great and the company even better.

The island has an ordinance that no building can be higher than 36 feet high.  That has kept it largely single family homes.  The Galati Marina there is small but it has a lot of large sport fishing boats in it.  The trip from St. Petersburg to Anna Maria Island was short, only about 17 miles, so I was there in no time.  The channel into the marina is interesting because it is very narrow with 1 foot of water on each side. 

This morning I left Anna Marie Island with visible ground on each side of the channel as the tide had gone out.  The twenty one mile trip to Sarasota was through very narrow channels.  I saw this sail boat, without a mast, that was sitting on the side of the channel with its keel stuck in the mud.  It must have been there for a while.  The trip was stressful because the channel was so narrow and just outside the channel there was 3 feet of water.  The shore line on each side of the water way was lined with fancy homes and condos.  I finally got to the Ringling Causeway Bridge, the entrance to Sarasota.

This fountain is located across from my slip and is really pretty.  At night it is lit with different colored lights.

Tomorrow I will stay in Sarasota and on Tuesday will head off to Venice.

IT IS GOOD NOT TO BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST BOATS

December 09, 2011  Dateline: St, Petersburg, FL USA

The weather finally broke yesterday afternoon so this morning I was up early and moved to the fuel dock, to get my tanks full of diesel.  I then got on my way to St. Petersburg, FL.

I had mentioned about some pelicans that were sitting next to small fishing boats waiting for some chum to be thrown into the water, well this heron stood on the dock in Clearwater next to a fisherman waiting for some shrimp bait or a fish to be caught.  Rich was able to walk up to him to capture this picture.

Rather than travel along the Intracoastal Waterway, Rich told me to go out into the ocean where I could travel much faster.  The wind had died down and the water was flat.

Carol yelled at Rich that there was a small boat coming up behind me with blue lights flashing.  Rich slowed me down and a 30 foot center console boat pulled up next to me.  They had impressive guns and bullet proof vests on, these guys were serious.  Carol thought they were Coast Guard and told them we had been boarded within the last week and had a gold get out of jail free card.  They didn’t seem to care.  They were from U.S. Customs and Border Protection so the Coast Guard didn’t matter much to them.  After a few questions the man at the helm nodded to the one asking the questions, they told us to go and away they went.  Their 30 foot center console had 4-225 hp. outboard engines hung on the stern.  I can only imagine how fast that boat can go when those engines are running flat out.

Several of the boats in the Vinoy Marina, where we stayed in St. Petersburg, are bigger than me.  That makes me happy because if they are larger than me that means that the water is deep and that makes me feel really good.

There was another kind of lady that Rich saw today.  He was wondering about the operation that she went through, but continuous questions produced no response.

I have heard that human men lose their heads over women.  Here is a photo that shows just that.  The man is above the woman, he has lost his head, and therefore he lost his head over a woman.  Perhaps the alligator lady, pictured above, bite his head off.

St. Petersburg is full of holiday spirit.  The downtown waterfront area is fully decorated for the Christmas season and many families are bringing their children to have pictures taken with Santa. There’s even a small ice skating rink for the children.

Tomorrow, I am off to see the owners of KA-DEE-ANNA who live on Anna Marie Island about 20 miles from St. Petersburg.

 

GOOD FRIENDS AND DOLPHINS

December 7, 2011  Dateline: Clearwater, FL USA

As predicted the weather turned worse.  I am glad Rich and Carol left Carrabelle when they did, otherwise I would have been stuck in Carrabelle for almost a week.

The wind was gusting at about 30 knots last night and I was being bounced around like a rubber ball with some lines attached to it.  The temperature dropped to 47 degrees.  I keep having to tell myself that I am in Florida.

Rich and Carol’s good friends Ross and Nancy Hiner of ODDYSEA contacted Rich and Carol and decided to get together for dinner.  As John and Mary of PASSPORT were also in the marina, the six of them went out. Before dinner, Ross and Nancy brought champagne with them to celebrate the Gulf crossing of me and PASSPORT.  That was really nice of them.

During August, PASSPORT, ODDYSEA and I along with two other boats were stuck in Frankford, MI for five days waiting for the wind to die down.    One of the neat things about doing the Loop is that boats go their separate ways but sooner or later they seem to meet up again.  Here is a picture of the dinner at Crabby Bills.

The beach at Clearwater is lined with poles to mark beach entrance points.  Each pole has a turtle on top of it like this one.

I had mentioned that Carol had been unsuccessful at getting pictures of dolphins.  One of Rich’s good friends sent a picture that he has of dolphins, so since Carol has not gotten any I thought I would include this one.

I will be traveling to St. Petersburg tomorrow.

RUNNING THE TRAP LINES

December 6, 2011  Dateline: Clearwater Beach, FL USA

When Rich and Carol went to sleep last night they were discussing whether or not to leave Carrabelle for Clearwater.  Their discussion dragged on in the morning and after some discussion with other boaters they told me it was time to get out of town.  So they woke up the sleeping Cats and we started to leave the dock.  Initially there were three other boats that “might” go with me.  They all had to go to the fuel dock and one had to have some repairs done.  Carol said, “If we are going, let’s go, it is getting late and we will not get there before dark if we wait too much longer.”  So off we went, we would have to make the crossing alone.  We left Carrabelle about 9 in the morning.  Carol had opened the MOJO shirt Rich had purchased in Apalachacola and Rich put it on

The first hour was ok until we got from behind Dog Island then the wind from the south took over.  I bounced along for the next 2-2.5 hours.  The waves were a bit choppy but nothing that I have not faced in the Atlantic Ocean.  Suddenly, the waves laid down and the water became nearly flat.  Great !!! Rich pushed my throttles forward and I began to move at 23 mph.  Carol did some quick calculations and said it would be about 6 PM when I got to Carrabelle.  Now it was a race with the sun.

I was doing just fine and then the lines of crab pots started.  These lines were laid in a 45° angle off of my route.  Carol’s job was to spot the lines and Rich’s was to get me around them.  They both did a great job.  As we got closer to Clearwater all of a sudden the crab pots were no longer organized but they seemed to be randomly placed with dark colored floats. Oh dear, this is not good.  As it got darker they became more difficult for Rich and Carol to see.

At seven miles out from Clearwater (21 minutes), Carol took this picture of the sun going down.  By the time I got to the channel into Clearwater the sun was gone and I had to find my way to the marina in the dark.  That turned out to be not an easy task because the channel is unlighted and had only 3-4 feet of water on either side of it.  On the bright side, there were no more crab pots.

At 6:30 I saw a man standing on the fuel dock ahead of me.  He directed me to a slip close by and I got tied up for the night.  One of Rich and Carol’s Looper friends sent over half a pizza for dinner, they told me it was very good but that I would have to wait several days to get my tanks filled.  I had traveled about 167 miles for the day in 9.5 hours. I was very hot and tired.

It looks like for the next two days I will be staying in Clearwater, then off to someplace else and another adventure.

PS:  Still no dolphin pictures, I think Carol has given up on getting any.

       Also, I am the only boat that made it to Clearwater. One is still in Carrabelle and the other 2 stopped at Steinhatchee.  It must have been the magic of the MOJO shirt, which the others did not have.

CARRABELLE

December 5, 2011  Dateline: Carrabelle, FL USA

At the magical time of 8:30 AM, I left Apalachicola on my way to Carrabelle, FL.  The route was only about 31 miles and was in narrow channels all the way so I only did about 10 miles per hour.  I followed this shrimp boat out of Apalachicola; he was good to follow because he knew the route we had to follow.

Many pictures of fishing boats show birds following behind.  The boats churn up fish that the birds get to eat.  These birds were following me hoping that my propellers would churn up fish as well.

I traveled passed one spot where there were a large number of small boats gathering oysters.  Carol got this picture of two men as we passed.  The man standing was using a set of forks to gather the oysters from the bottom; the man setting down was sorting the oysters.

Carrabelle is a small town but it never-the-less must have a police station.  The town claims to have the smallest police station Rich got this picture of it.  I sure hope that I don’t get arrested as I doubt I would be able to fit into the station house.

My hitchhiker, Josh, got word today that his grandfather was very ill and rather than go on to Tampa with a boat called LOVE SHACK, he had to leave me in Carrabelle and fly immediately to North Carolina.

I don’t know what I am doing tomorrow, Rich and Carol want to stay in place but if the weather is “good” I will be on my way to Clearwater.

 

A GREAT COTTON AND OYSTER TOWN

December 4, 2011  Dateline: Apalachicola, FL USA

Josh, Carol, Rich and I left Panama City for the 55 mile trek to Apalachicola at about 8:30 this morning.  Somewhere along the way we lost an hour as we came back into the Eastern Time Zone.  By 3:30 I pulled into the fuel dock at Scipio’s Creek Marina to take on fuel.  Because it was late in the day, the dock master let me stay at the fuel dock for the night.

The trip was boring and while there was some open water, generally the trip was in a canal and the sides were like this picture.  I went past a spot where there were a number of small fishing boats.  Each boat had a pelican sitting next to it waiting for some chum to be thrown in the water or a hooked fish that could be stolen from the fisherman.  One pelican out foxed himself and got his wing caught in a fishing line.  The fisherman was trying to pull him over to the boat to cut the line, but of course the pelican did not understand he was about to receive help and kept fighting.  The fisherman finally cut the line and by then I was on my way.

I saw this boat along the way. It reminded me of what could happen if I ran out of fuel in this desolate place.  I then thought Rich would never let that happen to me.

Apalachicola was once the third largest cotton exporting city in the US.  Cotton would come down the various rivers from as far away as Georgia and be shipped from the wharfs here.  The town has not been hit by any hurricanes so it is pretty much the same as its early days.  This house certainly is one that has survived all these years.  The city is now the oyster capital of the United States.  Approximately 90% of the oysters harvested in Florida come from Apalachicola and they represent 10% of those harvested in the United States.

There is a veteran’s memorial park and it contains this statue dedicated to the veterans of Vietnam from the Southern States.  While not large in size it is never the less very impressive.

One of the shops had this carved mermaid outside of it.  Rich thought that she was really nice, so he asked if he could take her picture.  She did not answer, so Rich figured that was a yes.

Rich bought a tee shirt at this shop.  The gentleman who runs the store, John Lee, sells all of his tee shirts wrapped in a Styrofoam tray like the ones found in the meat department of a grocery store. By using this packaging, John says that the shirts have not been handled by snotty kids or drooled on by adults. Inside each package is supposedly placed some mojo which is released when the package is opened and will give the wearer extra good fortune. Rich said he will wear the shirt when I cross the Gulf—I hope it helps me as much as it does him. Everything that John sells is priced so that when the tax is added the price is a whole dollar amount. That way, he says, his very old manual cash register doesn’t have to deal with coins.

Here is a picture of the tee shirt package that Rich purchased.  The picture on the shirt is of Pearl Messina.  At the turn of the 20^th Century, Pearl’s father, Joseph Messina, owned the Bay City Packing Company which distributed oyster, shrimp, fish and roe throughout the United States.  One of his labels, which is printed on the shirt, was the pearl brand, named of course after his daughter.  Interestingly enough Joseph Messina’s house is now the location of Pearl Dentistry.

Tomorrow, I am off to Carrabelle and a ride of some 27 miles.  Rich tells me we will drop Josh off, rest for a day and then on Wednesday maybe head across the Gulf, weather permitting.

I HAVE A HITCHKICKER

December 3, 2011  Dateline: Panama City, FL USA

I did not do a post yesterday because other than some radar antennas there was nothing to take pictures of, as the entire 45 mile trip consisted of sand and condos.  Last night, I stayed at Baytowne Marina at Sandestin, Florida.  Here is a picture of the channel going into the marina.  The Sandestin complex is huge.  There is a cute shopping area, many restaurants, 4 golf courses and multi-story concrete and steel buildings on both the Gulf of Mexico and the Intercoastal Waterway.  There is a boardwalk around the shore and there are several tree houses located next to the walk.

The trip through the Intracoastal Waterway today was largely through a man-made canal.  There is no development along this section of the Waterway.  I did see this one house along the way and I don’t believe that it will ever be part of a condo development.

I saw several dolphins but Carol could not get any pictures.  She is beginning to get frustrated.

While I was in Fairhope, AL, I posted a picture of a kayak that came into the marina.  Later, Rich saw an email from its owner that he needed a ride across the Gulf of Mexico. Rich responded and said I could help.  Someone else had better timing so the kayaker said he would go with them.  Yesterday, Rich got an email from the kayaker asking if I was near Panama City and if so, could he get a ride to Carrabelle?  After several emails Rich and Josh agreed to meet in Panama City this afternoon and I would carry him to Carrabelle where he will meet the other couple to cross the Gulf.

Tonight when Carol looked outside she saw a sailboat that was all decked out for Christmas.  She looked at Rich and asked why Salt ‘n Sand is not decorated.  Rich replied “so Tom Swider could win the best decorated boat at Canyon Club this year”.

The sunset tonight was really pretty here is a picture.

Tomorrow I am off to Apalachicola with Josh.

A STORY OF DOLPHINS AND PELICANS

December 1, 2011  Dateline: Pensacola, FL USA

This morning the owners of JEREMIAH and SWEET PEA came over for a visit and chatted with Rich and Carol as to where I was heading today.  I learned then that I was going to Pensacola, FL.  I was born in Florida so maybe this will be a trip to my home town.  Rich told me that I had a ways to go before I got to my birth town, but that he would make sure I got there before I returned to New Jersey.  The good news was that there would be some open water today and I could run fast, at least for a little while.  Today’s trip would be short but I know the Cats are getting tired of loafing along.

The trip was through narrow channels and for most of it I could not go fast.  I saw these really colorful houses, notice how white the sand is.  The houses were located on a barrier island between the Intercoastal Waterway and the Gulf of Mexico.

Right after some “Slow for Manatee” signs, came this welcome to Florida sign.  I guess Alabama wanted to get me prepared for the manatee zones in Florida.  I saw a fair number of dolphins playing in front of me.  Carol wanted to get some pictures; she adjusted her camera to take rapid pictures.  As things turned out, either she could not find them in the view finder or they just swam away.  Therefore, there are no pictures of dolphins today, maybe tomorrow.

As I approached this narrow cut between the shore and a barrier island, Rich saw a tow coming in the opposite direction.  Rich called the tow and it was agreed that I would circle for a while until he cleared the cut.  Good idea Rich!!!!  So around in circles I went just like an airplane in a holding pattern.

About an hour after I arrived at Palafox Marina in Pensacola, SWEET PEA, JEREMIAH and NAUTI NELL arrived.  It was good to visit with some old friends

I saw this heron land on the canvas top of another boat in the marina, it was funny to watch.  The heron thought that his feet would grab on the canvas, they did not and the heron slide along for about a foot.  Fortunately for me, he had no thought of landing on me.

Pensacola is a city that has existed under 5 different flags, Spanish, French, English, Confederate, and the United States.  Its architecture reflects the differences.  Some of the building have covered walkways in front of them they are pretty neat.

Pensacola is a Navy town; more specifically it is a Navy and Marine Aviation town.  The town also has a number of pelicans; these three stand together, while the Navy and Marine pelicans stand guard on a main street road island.

Docked next to me in Pensacola harbor is the Global 1200 operated for the Dubai Petroleum Establishment.  She is a 500 foot offshore service boat designed to lay up to 60 inch concrete coated pipe in waters up to 3,000 meters.  Her large crane can lift up to 1,200 long tons.  The large white pipe looking structure on the left is a 400 foot “stinger” to guide the pipe to the ocean floor.  Her naming ceremony was held during September 2010 in Singapore.

Tomorrow will be another short day I will be off to Sandestin, FL