Blogs Part 1

A note to the patient reader: The post you first encounter here is the last post we wrote, Each preceding post was written earlier and so on, in chronological order. The blogs are dated;

Charleston and Points North

Puffin's crew enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise at breakfast today while anchored in a piece of water a few hundred yards south of the Figure Eight swing bridge. It's a no-name cove that's also a "no-go" anchorage in anything but the calmest weather. It's too narrow to swing 360 degrees without running aground at low water. Last night, however, was totally calm so the tidal ebb and flow kept us positioned within the channel's narrow confines, though we did awaken at 3:30 AM for a quick position check as low tide approached.

What really stood out in cruising this stretch of the North Carolina ICW near Wrightsville, were the unusually large number of loons. We saw dozens, without even trying. Dare we say the loons easily outnumbered the cormorants? Saw a lot of least terns as well, at least that's what they looked like. (sorry).

We last posted en route to Charleston while off the coast of Georgia, cruising overnight in company with Alan and Gerri aboard Civil Twilight. Good weather and good luck combined to make it an uneventful trip. Swapping watches with Nancy through the night, I went to sleep about 5:00 AM. I awoke several hours later as Puffin was gliding through Charleston Harbor under Nancy's pilotage.

We remained in Charleston Harbor for a couple of nights, meeting up with the crew from The Good Life, Mark and Mary, and new friends Mike and Betty from our home town area. They were getting to know the brand new Benneteau they took delivery of in Charleston. We also received a dubious "award" from Alan and Gerri, in the form of a T-shirt proclaiming to all, that the wearer hadn't always been "old geezer", at least in his own mind.

Reluctantly Puffin departed Charleston, our favorite city, and started up the waterway anchoring the first evening in the Santee River. The next evening found us at Cricket Cove Marina and then we moved on to last evening's dubious anchorage at Middle Sound.Puffin's crew enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise at breakfast today while anchored in a piece of water a few hundred yards south of the Figure Eight swing bridge. It's a no-name cove that's also a "no-go" anchorage in anything but the calmest weather. It's too narrow to swing 360 degrees without running aground at low water. Last night, however, was totally calm so the tidal ebb and flow kept us positioned within the channel's narrow confines, though we did awaken at 3:30 AM for a quick position check as low tide approached - Bob - April 13, 2013

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Gannets and Gulls

It's three bells into the afternoon watch or so it would be if Puffin had a real ship's clock. Puffin's running outside and up the coast to Charleston, accompanied by friends on the sloop, Civil Twilight, pictured above. It's bright and sunny but the wind isn't enough for a 47 foot sloop to sail by though her main is up to steady the roll as moderate swells sweep by us from east to west. The seas are lumpy with 3-5 foot swells, looking like so many squirrels under a blanket.

We called Civil Twilight to ask about the birds we see that seem like large gulls. Gerri tells us they are (northern) gannets. According to Sibley's, these are large birds with a wingspan nearly a large as the brown pelican. They seem more agile then the pelicans as they wheel and dive from as much as 20 or 30 feet in the air. They dive deeper than pelicans and have air sacs in their shoulders to cushion the impact of hitting the water (as do the brown pelicans). They're more skittish than the shorebirds along the ICW so it's hard to get a good picture. Intermittently a few terns spiral down to skim the surface for a snack, but it's mostly loose groups of gannets we see during the day.

One brown pelican and couple of laughing gulls swing by but we're a little far out for gulls and others who prefer the shallows.

Later an Atlantic spotted dolphin surfaces briefly but didn't lope along Puffin's bow wave as we'd hoped. Later in the afternoon Civil Twilight reported a dozen or more dolphins, several turtles and even a group of rays. Over the years that the our two vessels have had occasion to cruise together, they've consistently reported more frequent and better sightings of nature's nautical creatures - a nettlesome matter that we're sometimes reminded of. Bob - April 18, 2013

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Farewell, Florida

The sun is setting over the mooring field at Fernandina, Puffin's last stop in Florida for this season. It's been another great winter here most of which was spent on the west coast. We've made some great new friends and had a chance to re-visit with other "old" friends, unquestionably the best part of cruising. But to add icing to the cake, we seen lots of new places and gotten to do and see so many things. And of course we can never forget the magnificent shorebirds and other wildlife we've enjoyed throughout Florida. If I'm ever reborn I want to return as a pelican, so down the road if you see one wearing sunglasses and crocs, please wave.

Tomorrow, if the forecast remains promising, the plan is to head offshore to Charleston, in company with long-time friends, Alan and Gerri, aboard Civil Twilight, a beautiful Passport 47 sloop. Bob. April 6, 2013

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Rockhouse Creek

Puffin is anchored in Rockhouse Creek, a little cove just outside of New Smyrna, Fl. Unexpectedly warm temperatures near 80 this evening convinced us to enjoy dinner on deck. It's a pretty cove surrounded on two sides by little islands and overlooking a sandbar that separates us from the ocean entrance into New Smyrna.

Boats occasionally glide in and out of the entrance under the protective gaze of the 159 ft. Ponce de Leon lighthouse, painted in red like a New England barn. Since it's low tide, a great blue hero and a couple of snowy egrets have dropped in to check the exposed sandbars for snacks.

Halfway through dinner Nancy noticed something on a rocky portion of the island shore nearest. Binoculars quickly revealed a raccoon prowling the shoreline for dinner. This particular shoreline is a mat of broken coral, many about the size of a grapefruit.

Working his way along the shore's edge, our raccoon quickly rolls over rocks with one quick motion of his paw. He's occasionally rewarded for his efforts when we see him stop to chew something, perhaps every fourth or fifth rock. Nancy soon noticed another raccoon and then a third, all looking for dinner. No time is wasted as they patrol the shoreline: flip a rock, look and move on to the next, stopping only to gobble some found morsel.

We wondered how they got here, on an island. A quick lookup on Google showed they are excellent swimmers and this island obviously also provided good habitat with brush, grass and mangroves edging the island. - Bob 4/1/2013

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Fort Meyers

Puffin departed Ft. Meyers yesterday to begin the cruise back across the Okeechobee and on up to Solomons, Maryland. But the crew certainly didn't leave empty-handed. Three great months on Florida's west coast has left us with a ditty-bag full of great memories, some fine new friendships and a chance to see some old friends as well.

Cruising earlier, we found Sarasota and Saint Petersburg packed with stuff to see and do but a month spent in Ft. Meyers convinced us that the City of Palms does not suffer by comparison. Each month there's both an Art Walk and a Music Walk with a dozen or more bands all playing outside in various downtown locations. Another night was "bike night" with more bands (pictured above). Yet another evening featured beautifully renovated old Ford cars, there to celebrate the opening of a new restaurant, naturally enough, called the "Ford Garage". It's all tricked out, top to bottom, with old-timey Ford memorabilia while the menu features hamburgers of all persuasions. It seemed almost any given night something was going on downtown.

Daughter Sara and her husband Wayne visited us there for several days mid-March during a particularly eventful weekend - I'm sayin' the downtown was smokin'. Nancy and I even danced in the street to the sweet sounds from a great Elvis impersonator and his band. (Perhaps secretly, Nancy and I hoped all this activity might dispel any notion that Sara might think her parents were another pair of semi-comatose geezers gone to Florida to snore away their golden years in a sun-baked stupor.)

We topped it off the last day of their visit with a short cruise up the Caloosahatchee River. Sara had mentioned earlier she wanted to see a manatee and luck of all luck, we were treated to an extraordinary display of disporting manatees presumably in search of connubial bliss. That's the only explanation for the boisterous behavior of a species whose lifestyle is otherwise both solitary and sedentary in the extreme.

Unfortunately, a picture of Sara photographing this event is my only documentation of this remarkable "affair", absorbed as we were in watching this event from a respectful distance. Bob - March 28, 2013

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I’d look stone cool on this puppy!

Raccoon

Rockhouse Creek

Puffin is anchored in Rockhouse Creek, a little cove just outside of New Smyrna, Fl. Unexpectedly warm temperatures near 80 this evening convinced us to enjoy dinner on deck. It's a pretty cove surrounded on two sides by little islands and overlooking a sandbar that separates us from the ocean entrance into New Smyrna.

Boats occasionally glide in and out of the entrance under the protective gaze of the 159 ft. Ponce de Leon lighthouse, painted in red like a New England barn. Since it's low tide, a great blue hero and a couple of snowy egrets have dropped in to check the exposed sandbars for snacks.

Halfway through dinner Nancy noticed something on a rocky portion of the island shore nearest. Binoculars quickly revealed a raccoon prowling the shoreline for dinner. This particular shoreline is a mat of broken coral, many about the size of a grapefruit.

Working his way along the shore's edge, our raccoon quickly rolls over rocks with one quick motion of his paw. He's occasionally rewarded for his efforts when we see him stop to chew something, perhaps every fourth or fifth rock. Nancy soon noticed another raccoon and then a third, all looking for dinner. No time is wasted as they patrol the shoreline: flip a rock, look and move on to the next, stopping only to gobble some found morsel.

We wondered how they got here, on an island. A quick lookup on Google showed they are excellent swimmers and this island obviously also provided good habitat with brush, grass and mangroves edging the island. - Bob 4/1/2013

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Fort Meyers

Puffin departed Ft. Meyers yesterday to begin the cruise back across the Okeechobee and on up to Solomons, Maryland. But the crew certainly didn't leave empty-handed. Three great months on Florida's west coast has left us with a ditty-bag full of great memories, some fine new friendships and a chance to see some old friends as well.

Cruising earlier, we found Sarasota and Saint Petersburg packed with stuff to see and do but a month spent in Ft. Meyers convinced us that the City of Palms does not suffer by comparison. Each month there's both an Art Walk and a Music Walk with a dozen or more bands all playing outside in various downtown locations. Another night was "bike night" with more bands (pictured above). Yet another evening featured beautifully renovated old Ford cars, there to celebrate the opening of a new restaurant, naturally enough, called the "Ford Garage". It's all tricked out, top to bottom, with old-timey Ford memorabilia while the menu features hamburgers of all persuasions. It seemed almost any given night something was going on downtown.

Daughter Sara and her husband Wayne visited us there for several days mid-March during a particularly eventful weekend - I'm sayin' the downtown was smokin'. Nancy and I even danced in the street to the sweet sounds from a great Elvis impersonator and his band. (Perhaps secretly, Nancy and I hoped all this activity might dispel any notion that Sara might think her parents were another pair of semi-comatose geezers gone to Florida to snore away their golden years in a sun-baked stupor.)

We topped it off the last day of their visit with a short cruise up the Caloosahatchee River. Sara had mentioned earlier she wanted to see a manatee and luck of all luck, we were treated to an extraordinary display of disporting manatees presumably in search of connubial bliss. That's the only explanation for the boisterous behavior of a species whose lifestyle is otherwise both solitary and sedentary in the extreme.

Unfortunately, a picture of Sara photographing this event is my only documentation of this remarkable "affair", absorbed as we were in watching this event from a respectful distance. Bob - March 28, 2013

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I’d look stone cool on this puppy!

Raccoon

Farewell, Florida

The sun is setting over the mooring field at Fernandina, Puffin's last stop in Florida for this season. It's been another great winter here most of which was spent on the west coast. We've made some great new friends and had a chance to re-visit with other "old" friends, unquestionably the best part of cruising. But to add icing to the cake, we seen lots of new places and gotten to do and see so many things. And of course we can never forget the magnificent shorebirds and other wildlife we've enjoyed throughout Florida. If I'm ever reborn I want to return as a pelican, so down the road if you see one wearing sunglasses and crocs, please wave.

Tomorrow, if the forecast remains promising, the plan is to head offshore to Charleston, in company with long-time friends, Alan and Gerri, aboard Civil Twilight, a beautiful Passport 47 sloop.

Bob - April 6, 2013

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Bike Nite, Ft. Meyers. Not too many Suzukis in this bunch

A Fort Meyers Special

Puffin is now at the Legacy Harbor Marina in downtown Ft. Meyers. We stayed here last year and enjoyed both the Marina and it's easy walking access to downtown. What we never realized until informed recently by friends, was that a very special donut shop was just across the street.

This is no ordinary chain store like Dunkin' Donuts or Krispy Kreme. In fact the word "donut" isn't even mentioned on the sign outside. It's a mom and pop style shop that simply says "Bennett's, Fresh Roasted". What it does do however, is offer veritable explosions of sugar lovingly melded to a matrix of baked flour they call donuts. While this news may not excite everyone, it's exciting enough that any given morning finds fifteen or twenty cars parked outside. Like lemmings, they are helplessly seduced by a continuing addiction to these saccharine sugar bombs.

It's all about the donuts here. If you want protein or something with a modicum of nutrition, please, just roll on down the street. At Bennett's you just sit back at one of the tables and let your eyes roll back in a sugar stupor, leavened with intermittent doses of caffeine or you can just bring 'em home and enjoy a bagful of sucrose iniquity in the privacy of your own home.

You can find coffee or O.J. here, maybe even some cold cereal, but it's really about the donut. As expected, a variety of donut styles are offered. If you're really hankering for protein, we saw donuts topped in white icing with chunks of bacon camped on the top like numbers on a clock. For those for whom mainlining sucrose is insufficient, there are also donuts with marshmallow nuggets similarly embedded in the icing. We just ordered a twist and a chocolate covered donut.

We might add that these puppies are big! We lugged a pair onto Puffin and she listed to one side as we boarded. Sitting later with a mug of coffee, we had to hold this donut with both hands, a specimen so freshly baked it was in danger of breaking in half from its own weight. Wow, we're glad we didn't eat them in public - the look on our faces would probably have gotten us arrested for indecent expression. Bob - Feb, 24, 2013

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