The Saga of Sesame: Florida's West Coast

Friday, January 19, 2007

Florida's West Coast

Mikey's First Christmas

After a relatively quiet Christmas with daughter Lyz and her family, we headed north along the West Coast from Fort Myers.

We found ourselves in Sarasota

for New Year's weekend and spent some great time with Judy's cousin Jeanne, who works in real estate there. We took the boat up to Longboat Key where Jean treated us to lunch at a delightful dockside restaurant. We passed the Ringlings' modest winter home on the way.

We headed south at a leisurely pace, stopping at a couple of

anchorages on the barrier islands. There are a number of state parks, accessible by water only, where you can anchor or dinghy to a dock or beach on the inside and walk to the beach on the Gulf side. Cayo Costa was paticularly nice.

We were on a mooring in Fort Myers Beach for a few days, waiting for some fair weather for the trip further south, which is "outside" in the Gulf for most of the way. It's a great place with all the conveniences, a beautiful beach and a 25-cent "trollee" which will take you anywhere. They have a huge fishing fleet and high speed ferries to Key West. We caught up with John and Diane Cummings there, who were in the process of selling his father's house in Bonita Beach before continuing their cruise on their PDQ powercat.

We stayed on the dock at the Everg

lades City Rod and Gun Club for a couple of days so that we could take an airboat through the Everglades. Actually, the airboat ride is about 90 per-cent thrill ride and 10 per-cent "educational", but we got to to see some of the backcountry we wouldn't have otherwise. We even got too see some alligators "in the wild", although we suspect that they are fed illegally so that they will stick their noses up when the tour boats come through!

After an overnight stop at Little Shark River, we headed down to Marathon and Boot Key Harbor, where we expect to stay at anchor for 2 - 3 weeks with maybe a side trip to Key West and a couple of other spots. Then north in late February or early March to the Miami area to "stage" for a fair weather crossing to the Abacos in the Bahamas.

Bernie, our mascot, continues to watch out for us. So far, we've had no major problems and think life is pretty darned good for a couple of old folks!

[In case you can't see it, the name on the side of this dinghy is "Row vs. Wade".]

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This Blog

The information in this column does not change. New entries will appear to the left.

We started this blog in August 2006 when we were getting ready for our first winter heading south in our new powerboat, named "Sesame". The newest entries are first and the oldest are last. General information is in this column.

Most of the photographs are high definition. You can click on any one of them to see the photograph full size. If you want to steal one, click on it. When you get the full-size one, right click and "Save as" whatever you want. I would only ask that you give proper credit if you use them for anything other that your personal delight and delectation.

Powerboating on the East Coast

We are Judy and Allen Ames from Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Our boats have all been called "Sesame" (Ameses spelled inside out?). The dinghy, of course, is named "Open".

After 60+ years of sailing, the last 25 aboard a Nonsuch 26 and a Nonsuch 30, we went to the "dark side" and bought a slightly used 28 foot trawler, called variously, a Camano Troll, a Camano 28, or a Camano 31 (see below). This blog starts with our first motor boat trip down the East Coast from Connecticut to Key West and back during the winter of 2006-2007. (We had done a similar trip on our Nonsuch 30 a couple of years before. That trip is pretty well documented in our WebShots albums -- http://community.webshots.com/user/allen_ames) It then picks up with our third trip which took us across the Gulf Stream to Abaco on New Year's Eve 2007.

Like most blogs, the most recent entry is on top and you have to scroll down to get previous entries. You can also click on a specific date at the bottom of this column.

We welcome comments or questions. Just hit the word "Comments" at the end of any entry or email us at: Sesame130@comcast.net. You can send the blog to anyone else by clicking on the envelope with an arrow at the end of each entry.

The Boat

The Camano Troll is a "semi-displacement" trawler, 28 feet long on deck and 31 feet overall if you measure the swim platform and anchor roller. She has a 200 horse Volvo turbo-diesel which can push her up to about 13 knots when we're in a hurry and don't care that we're getting less than a mile per gallon. Normally, we cruise at 7-8 knots which is far more relaxing and gets us close to four nautical miles per gallon. We love the 360-degree view from the main cabin and inside steering station and it's even nicer on the flybridge in good weather.

We have most of the amenities: Hot and cold running water, refrigeration and freezer, 3 burner propane stove with oven, shower and enclosed head, and plenty of room for two people. We have replaced the large dining table (which made it possible to convert the dinette into a double bunk) with a smaller one, but have a 5' x 7' pop-up tent and blow-up queen size mattress that fits perfectly on the flybridge for occasional guests (our penthouse!). The bridge also has plenty of room for a couple of lounge chairs.

We have three AGM batteries on the "house" side of our 12-volt system. To keep the small chest freezer, refrigerator, and various toys going, we usually run the engine for a couple of hours a day when we are at anchor or moored in order to keep the batteries charged We also have a 110 volt belt-driven generator which runs off the main engine to power the microwave, airconditioner (and reverse-cycle heater), etc. Smaller 110 appliances, a TV, computers, and rechargers run off a small inverter. A 7.5 amp solar panel helps keep the house batteries up in sunny weather giving a little more TV and freezer time before we have to start up the engine. Of course, all of the 110 system works when the boat is plugged into dock power too.

We communicate by Verizon cell phone and get our internet through a Verizon air card or WiFi wherever and whenever service is available. (Verizon is not our favorite vendor, but it has the best coverage all the way down the East Coast.) We have external marine antennas for both the air card and WiFi. Where we don't have cell service (Bahamas, some of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Maine) but can get WiFi, we use Skype.

The boat was built in British Columbia but the factory has recently been sold and they say they will begin building in Washington state. See the links below for more pictures and specs of the boat.

The "Saga"

Our title is a leftover from an old English teacher's fondness for alliteration rather than a true description of the contents. Actually, we plan very carefully to avoid having it become a saga, or even an adventure! We refuse to have a real schedule or dated itinerary for fear that we would be tempted to venture out in poor conditions. If we want to meet someone along the way, we give them the choice of when or where, not both. The only exceptions are when we are relatively certain that we can reach a destination easily and safely at least a week before a specific date. Even then, we make it clear that all "plans" are subject to change or cancellation.

Traditionally, there are two kinds of cruisers: those who are happy in slower boats (sailboats and slow trawlers) focus on the voyage, while those with fast boats are all about the destination. We definitely belong to the former group.

Our goal is to do virtually nothing, and do it well!

Or, to invoke the greatest all-time boating cliche, as Kenneth Graham's Rat says in The Wind in the Willows:
Believe me, . . . . there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing . . . . about in boats -- or with boats. . . . . In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not.

The Saga of Sesame

Friday, January 19, 2007

Florida's West Coast

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The Admiral and the Captain

Powerboating on the East Coast

Sesame, Camano Troll #130

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The "Saga"

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