Authors Note: Any spelling or grammatical errors in the following logs are the fault of the editorial staff, but since we can't afford to pay them, we let it slide.

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March 2024 : Full Circle

What goes around, comes around. After 20 years at Tarpon Point Marina, we're back at Salty Sam's Marina where we first arrived in Fort Myers on the sailboat.

Due to the recent hurricanes, many marinas, including Tarpon Point, have added a clause to their slip contracts that require owners to move their boats out of the marina whenever a hurricane or tropical storm warning is issued. This left us no choice but to find a marina that had dry rack storage available for us so we wouldn't have to scramble for a safe anchorage during any approaching storms. Salty Sam's happened to have space available.

We have enjoyed our time at Tarpon Point. We survived four hurricanes there without a scratch. We've seen the place change from a quiet marina with a dirt parking lot and a small fuel dock to a full blown marina facility with condo towers, a hotel and a number of restaurants and bars. We'll miss it there.

March 2023 : Back on the water

Kokopelli is back in the water after repairs due to a collision in November.

Many thanks to Tom Papesh and his crew at York Road Marine in St. James City. They really came through finding us a new powerhead from Yamaha and getting us back in ship shape.

We were finally able to complete our trip to Cabbage Key and it only took 4 months!

November 13, 2022 : WTF!

So Kokopelli survives hurricane Ian without a scratch and we are finally able to get to the boat and take it for a run after having it sitting there since the hurricane. We decide that it might be a nice day to go to Cabbage Key for lunch. We invite Suzi, Boomer and Jonna along for the ride.

It's a quiet day on the water, almost no other boats. We are making our way up Pine Island sound (not a boat in site) and we pass through an area of light showers but now it's sunny and calm up near North Captiva. We see that there is another center console behind us a distance away. Not long after that Betsy notices that this boat is now getting close and looks like it will pass us close by on the port side. I look over just in time to see this boat suddenly lose control in our wake, veer across our stern and then slam into our starboard engine and completely destroying it!

Luckily the boat hit the engine and bounced off to our starboard side and didn't come over the stern and hit anyone. Still, everyone in the boat except myself got tossed around and soaked by the wall of water the collision caused.

Not to get into too much detail about what happened after the collision, we limped back to the marina on one engine and gave our report to the Environmental Police. The other boat ended was found 100% at fault and cited for violating navigation rules.