Kayaking with Manatees and Leaping Mullet

On Saturday, Sue and I headed north to Fort Myers (about 45 minutes north of here) to the Manatee Park. We had an awesome afternoon. It's a small county park dedicated to environmental education. Florida Power and Light discharge warm water into a canal there and the manatee have adopted the location as their winter home. They have a beautiful butterfly garden as well. We rented a 2 person kayak and set off down the Orange River. We saw several manatee snouts and a tail. They aren't easy to spot but thankfully they sound like a whale when they come up to breathe so we managed to see one up close while in the kayak. The river is full of mullet - it's not just a bad haircut - as well. As we were drifting down the river, fish would jump out of the water vertically - 3 or 4 feet high - and flop back. It was a bit strange, like a fish circus. It was great to spend time with Sue and catch up in such a peaceful place.

Then we all (Martin, Sue, Armando and I) went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. The food was great, the cannoli wonderful... It was a great day!

ps I very friendly woman we met there offered to take our picture and email it to us. She actually took a few and sent them the next day - how sweet is that?!

Work being done to Lucky

On stands in the boat yard in Naples.

Warning!  This post contains graphic details and strong technicalities.  Those of a weak disposition are advised to skip this post and get a nice cup of tea instead.

For those of you still here, a brief summary of all the work being done so far.  The list keeps growing, so there's bound to be another post later.

A few pictures here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mmorris/WorkBeingDoneInNaples

I had the oil changed and engines/drives serviced.  Including the drives and generator.  I'm glad I had the drives serviced as that showed up an issue with water in the oil of the port IPS drive.  So They've been trying to find the source of the leak.  All the seals in the lower unit are fine and it passed a 24 hour pressure test, so they're not really sure.  Final thing to do is drop the lower unit and check the two seals (one to keep the oil in and another to keep water out) between the lower unit and upper unit.  To do that the mechanic had to take off the upper unit, which he did yesterday.

Lucky was a mess.  Thanks to the shrink wrapping coming off in Louisiana, she spent a day before delivery travelling naked (as it were).  This made a mess.  So I'm having her detailed, which involves washing, polishing and waxing the whole boat above the water line.  Glad I'm not doing it!  Not only was the gel coat looking tired, the upholstery at the back was grimed from road dirt.  So I'm having the upholstery replaced.  Might as well start looking good.  More importantly, and the reason why the canvas makers were here in the first place, is I've decided to replace the slant.  The slant is a piece of canvas (plastic, really) that fits over the back of the boat, enclosing the cockpit.  The original had begun to deteriorate and was oozing something sticky.  I need to call the canvas guy on Monday and talk materials (we forgot to yesterday).

Bottom paint prevents marine growth on the boat under the water.  It's usually copper based and is designed to slowly rub away.  It needs to be replaced every few years.  It was time for mine, so I had the yard take care of it.  Two coats will definitely see us through the year.

As any high school chemistry student will tell you, if you put voltage across two metal plates in a salt solution a current will flow and metal will be taken off the anode and deposited on the cathode.  Great for electro-plating, bad for boats.  Due to stray currents in the water, anything metal below the waterline will slowly dissolve unless precautions are taken.  In this case, electrically attaching all underwater metal to a different metal less "noble" metal.  A Zinc.  So I had them check all my zincs.  All were great except one set.  It turns out one pair of zincs, attached to the drives, should have been aluminum as the drives are bronze not zinc.  This explains why I've been having all the issues with the drives and corrosion.  No more!  I'm also going to be carrying spares and will dive down to check them regularly.

I need to put all the stuff back on the hard top, but need a couple of strapping fellows to help me lift the life raft up (damn, but they're heavy!).  Once it's up, I'll be able to put everything else up.  So I'm expecting Monday to be a long day or wrenching!  I also need to check the float switch on the mid-bilge pump as it's sticking, put the chain and line onto the second anchor ready for Bahamian moors and finish construction on the bimini top.  The snuba arrives Monday, so space for that needs to be made and a battery bought.  All in all, the work has barely begun.

Timestamp change

Do not adjust your monitor.  I have taken control.  Welcome to the timestamp zone.

I've decided to change the timestamp Blogger gives each post to our local timezone, current EST (+5 GMT).  I don't think this will change, unless we decide to post during our brief trips back to California.

Pic of the Day

A friend had a great suggestion for our trip, to post a picture every day that exemplifies that days happenings. I think this is great so I'm going to give it a try! (Thanks Judy!) They may often be dups from the blog but I think it's neat to see the photos in order. I made a Picasa album called "Pic of the Day" and we'll put the link here on the blog in the right hand column. You can find it here.

Friends and more friends

The last few days have been a frenzy of activity.  Between visiting Lucky and spending time with friends, there hasn't been much downtime.

Thursday, Steph and I met up with Suzy, an old college friend of Steph's, and her husband Armando.  We were given a brief tour of Naples, went for a walk on the beach to watch the sunset and back to their house for snacks.  They're a great pair and I'm sure we'll be spending more time with them while we're in Naples.

Sunset on Naples beach

Yesterday was another trip down memory lane, this time for me.  Mike and Jackie were my neighbours as I grew up in Leeds (all those years ago).  They snowbird in Naples and we got together.  Also visiting was Harold a cousin of mine I've not seen in a couple of decades.  We went down to the boat yard to visit Lucky.  An interesting time was had trying to corral the herd as we walked through the busy yard.  I was distracted for a moment by the boat yard manager and a couple of canvas makers and before I knew it everyone had disappeared!  Steph kept them in sight and I was able to catch up with them all once I'd answered all the questions being thrown at me.

Outside Tin City

So it's dinner with Suzy and Armando tonight and bicycling with Jackie and Mike tomorrow.  Will the fun never end?

A Celebratory Drink

We arrived in Naples last night and a quick drink was in order.   We've visited Lucky and I'll bore you all to death in another post about that.  A Volvo Penta mechanic should be showing up this afternoon to talk about the left (port) IPS drive, so I'm on "standby 5", waiting for the phone to ring.  Steph's muttering something about more shopping.  Is it too early for a drink?

Naples

We’re off! We had a good trip, uneventful and on time. After a weepy first half I bucked it up with a margarita, stared at photos of my kids on my iphone, and pushed on. It helped a lot that Ghislaine sent me a text when I arrived to let me know that the kids were doing fine and being social - then I was able to relax and enjoy the evening!

And here we are. It seems hard to believe that it’s actually happening. Sitting at a table on the patio at the hotel, enjoying a “cold” day (there’s a cold front here now, it’s “only” 72). Last night we went to an Irish Pub, recommended by the hotel clerk, and had a drink (sitting outside again…) The bar had a “guys beautiful buns” contest, and so we began our trip! There are worse ways. First impression of Naples (though limited) is that there’s a distinct difference attributable to age. The younger people we’ve met have been friendly, chatty, generally very pleasant. On the other hand, Martin was almost run over by a 70 year old on a bike and an old woman slammed a shopping cart into me (I was moving too slowly). So I guess if you’re born here, that’s fine, but get out before it’s too late :-)

The Bayfront Hotel is nice and within walking distance to the boatyard, restaurants, shopping and all so we don’t need to rent a car. We went to see Lucky on the hard. She looks huge up on blocks. Martin will have more to say about all of that.

Gratitude list for the day is long, including friends, the internet and warm days!