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

12/31/05 - Happy New Year:

It's still a novelty to be able to go out sailing on a beautiful sunny day while realizing that it's the day before New Year's. Not much wind off Fort Myers Beach today so the iron genny is getting a workout. Got a full load of passengers today: Larry & Jonna have joined us along with our new friends from Ireland enjoying their first "sailing" trip: Anton, Sinead and Dara. Since there's no wind today, we decide to anchor off the beach and go for a swim. Not a bad way to spend new year's eve day!

3/8/06 - Yes Master!

Got my 50 ton masters license today (betsy decided that OUPV was enough for her). What a ridiulous course this is. The useless things that they have you memorize :(parts of a cargo crane! this hasn't been used anywhere is 50 years!). Oh well. It's done.

3/19/06 - Nice Day for a Sail:

Finally, we get the poor girl off the dock! Betsy, Jonna & I take the boat out for what the forecast said would be a light air day. Turns out the wind is blowin 12-15kts and the boat is haulin' ass down along Fort Myers Beach towards Bonita Springs. Heeling over at 30degrees and doing 7+ kts. I love this time of the season!

4/15/06 - Anchor's Aweigh!

Hard to believe but it's been 2 years since we spent an overnight on the boat. We finally managed to get our act together and take the boat up to Useppa Island and drop the hook for the night. Had a nice dinner at Cabbage Key with our friend Memo. The next morning we dinghied back to Cabbage Key to have coffe and breakfast. Of course we wouldn't have had to do that if our propane system hadn't failed due to lack of use (turned out that the solenoid had rusted shut). Then we took the dinghy and the new dinghy engine (yes, the old one had also failed from lack of use) for a nice trip around Useppa Island. Later in the afternoon we had a terrific sail back to Cape Coral. It was a beautiful weekend. Have to do this more often!

The anchorage off Useppa Island

Dolphins cruising the anchorage.

4/28/05 - Need a Tow?

Betsy & I took the last of our Coast Guard license classes - Towing Endorsement. And I thought the Master's class was a waste of time! It was scheduled to be 4 hours of class followed by a 20 question exam. I think we covered all the material in about 2 1/2 hours and then took a test which I think we finished in about 5 minutes. Learned alot about large commercial tugs and how they function but nothing for small boat towing (which you would think this class would be designed for). Oh well, it was developed by the government so why would you expect it to make any sense.

5/22/06 - Just like old times!

Molly the wonder cat goes sailing again! Took advantage of Betsy's 4-day weekend this week and tool the boat up to Pelican Bay for a long weekend at anchor. Even managed to get Molly on board. It felt just like we were back cruising the ICW. Molly adjusted very quickly to being back on the boat, finding her old spots on the boat. The weather was terrific - sunny & warm with a bit of a breeze each day. We had dolphins, manatees, manta rays and even a bald eagle make appearances nearby over the weekend. The dinghy and new engine got a workout touring the mangroves and beaches nearby. Boomer & Suzi stopped by in their power boat for a visit. A very nice weekend afloat. Must do it more often! (more pics available in the photo gallery)

6/10/06 - And so it begins again!

The 2006 hurricane season is now official. Tropical Depression number one for 2006 has made it's debut in the western caribbean and looks to become a tropical storm and hit the west coast of Florida by Tuesday. Yipee!

-- Note: Tropical Storm Alberto passed well north of us and gave the Tampa area some breezy conditions and gave us lots and lots of rain (6+ inches). The grass is doing better now.

6/23/06 - Off to the races:

Kokopelli took part in her first SW Florida PHRF race. We joined the Caloosahatchee Marching and Chowder Society (CMCS), the local PHRF racing and cruising club in the area. They hosted the "sunworshipper's race" on Sat. So we signed up for the race and were given a PHRF rating of 148 (bad) and put in the A fleet with 3 other boats (a 40' catamaran, catalina 42 and a Beneteau First class 10 (34')).
The day did not start too well - when we went to start the engine to leave the dock, the battery was dead (not sure why) so we had to jump start it. This put us late for the first gun. Luckily, everyone else seemed to be late so we were just able to make the start off Ft. Myers Beach. The sun was out but the wind was absent for race number one. The R/C sent us on a twice around windward/leeward, 1 mile course. It was a bit painful floating downwind without a whisker pole and no spinnakers (cruising race). At least only one boat from the fleet behind us was able to pass us!
The second race was more fun. The wind came up and we actually had a good battle with the Catalina 42 (forget the other two boats, they were in a different race from us). We were able to beat the Catalina upwind but they kept catching us by sailing dead downwind with the jib poled out. We have no whisker pole so we had to sail some angles to get going and just gave up too much ground. Oh well, it was a fun day even at the back of the bus.
Everyone at the after race party kept coming up to us and saying "you guys did great!" as if we'd won something. "You did so good for just the two of you!". I guess they thought we were racing rookies.

7/23/06 - Not Exactly Americas Cup!

Kokopelli Too took part in her second PHRF race. The "Firecracker" evening race run by CMCS on Sat. July 22. First gun was set for 6pm. Vinny drove over to help us crew and we were also joined by Suzi & Boomer. We almost didn't go due to some nasty looking weather in the area but we decided that it was clearing out so off we went.
The race committee was short handed so they made due with gov't marks for the course. This made the first leg a one tack beat. Luckily, we were the only one's on time for the start and got a jump on the other two boats in our fleet (a Tartan 4100 and a Beneteau First class 10 (see prev race). Of course by the halfway point in the leg, the Tartan had rolled us and then the Beneteau went by about 3/4/ of the way. A front moved through during this time and we had to dump the main and hang on for about 5-10 mins as the wind picked up to about 18kts. We did get to fly our cruising chute for the downwind leg but it was a very tight reach (the Beneteau F10 was on the edge of broaching for most of the leg but still pulled away from us).
In the end, we managed to save time on the Beneteau First 10 and took a second place. Not bad for a crusing slug.
Note: we also got our new "official" PHRF rating of 159. Much better!

This is where I also tell you about running the boat aground in the mud on the way back to the slip. Enough said on that subject.

8/27/06 - Here we go again....

Tropical Storm Ernesto, previously expected to go through the Gulf well to the west of us, has now been given a track awefully similar to Charlie in 2004. This morning the National Hurricane Service added that damn "dogleg" to the path that now has it hitting the west coast of Florida. Of course the storm is still below Cuba and everything depends on what happens when it hits that island. So we keep our fingers crossed......

9/27/06 - Acadia Natl Park!

Just returned from a week in Bar Harbor and Acadia Natl Park (see pics). What an awesome place! The four of us (Betsy, Suzi, Boomer & I) rented a house right in downtown Bar Harbor. This beautiful little town on Mt. Desert Island sits on the ocean at the foot of Cadillac Mtn (at 1530ft it is the highest point on the Atlantic coast north of South America) and Acadia Natl Park. There is alot to see and do here. Whether you are a serious hiker and outdoor person or just a "take it easy" tourist. There are hundreds of hiking and biking trails throughout the park, both easy and hard. Many of which have breathtaking views of the ocean and the rocky coast of Maine. If hiking is not your bag, you can take a whale watch trip and see humpbacks, finbacks, dolphins and seals. There is Ed's "Dive-In" theater, a boat tour that takes you by boat out into Bar Harbor an then "Diver Ed" goes down with a video camera and shows you the various underwater li fe that exists there and then brings up samples for you to look at and touch. It's a great trip. If you are just interested in touring around, you can take a car or one of the shuttle buses all around Mt. Desert Island and sample the sights and sounds of the area. Don't forget to sample the food and drink too. We couldn't get enough of the fresh lobster and steamers. We sampled the lobster rolls and at least 4 different places. All were delicious. We also sampled many of the local micro brews too. Also delicious!

Here are just some of the highlites of the trip:

• Diver Ed's "Dive-In" theater (also seeing a group of harbor seals).
• 3.5 earthquake at 6:30am (quite a wake-up call !).
• Sunset on Cadillac Mtn.
• Sunrise on Cadillac Mtn (cold!).
• Seeing two humpback whales on the whale watch.
• Lobster feast (courtesy of Boomer's friend Dickey and his son).
• Steamers from Parson's lobster co. (about 9 lbs!)
• Good pizza and chinese food after two years of bad stuff in Florida!
• Blueberry beer
• Seeing the Queen Elizabeth II at anchor in Bar Harbor.
• Touring the Hinckley boat yard
• Trip to Isleford on the park service boat.
• Hiking to the top of Gorham Mtn.

10/22/06 - Picnic Island

Finally got out for an overnight on the boat. We took "K Too" to "Picnic Island" (below). This is a small spoil island that sits between the Caloosahatchee river and Pine Island sound. It's only about 30 min motor from our marina and is a popular day spot for local boaters. Fortunately not many of them anchor there overnight so we had the anchorage to ourselves by sunset. We did have some barge traffic wake us up the next morning on their way over to the site of the new Sanibel causeway bridge (this one will be a 70' fixed span replacing the current drawbridge).

11/12/06 - Sandcastle Time:

Once again it was time for the annual sandcastle sculpting competition on Ft. Myers Beach. This was the 20th event. I didn't find it as competitive as last year but as the pictures will show, there were still some very talented sculptors competing.

11/19/06 - Cool, at last!

Finally the heat of the summer has begun to fade a bit down here. Took Kokopelli Too out for a beautiful 6 hour sail yesterday out on the Gulf in 15kts of wind (gusts to 20)! The day was sunny and cool, just right. The only boats out on the Gulf were us sailors, just the way we like it. Now that the weather is getting more to my liking, it's time to do this more often!

12/09/06 - Breezy!

Took Betsy's coworker Dan and his wife onboard for their first sail and to try to do the Commodore's Cup race. Turned out to be a little too breezy for a rookie crew (20-25kts). It was, however a very nice day to just sail around in the Gulf and drink beer.