We’ve decided to head back the way we came. We’ll skip the trip down the Gulf Coast to the Keys. With the engine problems and the prescription problems it doesn’t seem like a good idea to head out into an area that is kind of remote.
Larry has found a place where he can get filters, so we’ll head back to Ft Myers and he’ll pick them up.
It is a cold, windy day…..how lucky can we get….and I do mean lucky.
A few miles out of the anchorage at Ft Myers Beach, Larry gave us a call….he was losing oil pressure. He dropped his anchor and tried another repair. The anchor wasn’t holding and we drifted back into the channel. We decided to rig a towing bridle and we’d tow A Dollar More to the anchorage at Ft Myers while Larry worked on his bilge.
When I said we were lucky it was cold and windy…I meant it. We were not looking forward to a Saturday morning on the water in this area. Because of the cold and wind….the only boats out were several sailboats and a large group of “go fast” racing type boats. Neither create a big wake. There were one or two cruisers that did but after our wild ride the day before, we considered ourselves very lucky to have to water mostly to ourselves.
Once we got the the yacht basin, Larry tossed us the tow line and dropped his anchor in about 5’ of water. While turning around…we ran aground….not 2 boat lengths from Larry. I went to the bow and Jim gave it some fuel and we were off. (I guess it’s 3-3 now).We rafted alongside A Dollar More. Larry dropped his dingy and went for another ride. At least a mile to shore and then a 3 mile walk to the NAPA dealer to pick up the filters….then the walk back and another cold dingy ride.
We spent the rest of the day here. Larry replaced his filter and finished cleaning up the oil in the bilge.
This is the view before the sun went down.
Just after dark I put the depth gauge on and we were showing less than 3’ of water under us…up went the anchor and Jim started our engine and moved us into deeper water for the night.
It is cold, we’ll run the generator all night for the heater, the heating pad on the bird’s cage, anchor light and depth gauge. The depth gauge has a 3’ alarm on it. I wanted to know if we swung at anchor what the depth would be. Sand bars all around this area.
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