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.