Boating Tortugas First Leg

Boating Tortugas 1st Leg

Friday;

Arrived back in Fort Myers last night aboard a rental car from Key West. Made paint this morning. I thought I had it covered but an emergency order, aren't they all, took most of the back stock and another order from Panama put us deep in the hole.

On Tuesday, left the canal at 7:30 am on a nearly motionless (static) high tide. Pux and I settled in on the helm/nav station on the fly bridge. Rico and Hot Tamale lounged on the aft deck. The sun was well off the horizon when we passed the sea buoy and settled in on the run south-southwesterly heading. We could see Thunderstorms way off but directly in our path. After an hour they appeared to have moved to the west.

Rico struggled up the ladder and rested topside. “Do you mind if Hottie sunbathes in the nude,” he asked. “She has an all over tan and works hard to keep it. She don't care if you look but no pictures, please.”

It was a good thing he hadn't told us this in a crowded anchorage. Punxsutawney Phil and I immediately left our posts and looked over fly bridge aft rail and down into the cockpit. True to his word, there she was lying on her belly naked as a jaybird. Nothing to see except a tramp stamp on her lower back and a very bronzed body. So we returned to our duties and hoped that was the extent of the excitement on this first leg.

We stopped for lunch, not really stopped but slowed down and let Rico steer us eastward around another T-storm. Hottie served us Publix sub sandwiches, individual bags of chips and diet cokes while wearing a teeny yellow bikini, no polka dots. “My that's an interesting tattoo,” Punxsutawney said as he looked between her legs. It was an arrow with the word 'Cielo.'

She just laughed and went up to be with Rico. We were left speechless until we remembered the Spanish translation book we had on board. It would come in handy if we ever accidentally landed on Cuba, again. Punxsutawney found the word 'Cielo' even though we weren't sure it was the right spelling. “Heaven, it means heaven or something like it!”

“I hope she can fish,” I said, “for some reason I don't think she can cook.”

After slaloming around a few more thunder heads we reached the secret fishing spot around 4:30 pm. Our GPS anchor-watch kept us close by alerting us that we had moved. We drifted in circles and remained over the spot(s) for the rest of the day.

I started cooking the Snapper and Grouper around 8:00 pm and we continued fishing until well after midnight. Hottie couldn't bait her own hook but caught several keeper Grouper before she went to bed at 10:00 pm. We were 'rock and rolled' by several T-storms throughout the night.

Just after 4:00 am the radar woke me with an alarm. It showed several fishing vessels five miles away. I pulled in the drogue (sea anchor to slow our drift) and moved off to the Northeast. Punxsutawney relieved me and I caught two hours of deep sleep.

We had fried Grouper with eggs and hush puppies for breakfast and started fishing again. Throughout the early morning Rico called Boston Bob on the VHF. At first all he got were some Coonass shrimpers and two commercial boats out of Sarasota but around 10 Bob responded.

“We're about two hours out from the Fort if the wind holds. Haven't had to fire up the iron Genoa (engine) yet.” We exchanged GPS co-ordinates and determined that they had sailed beyond us that night.

“I know you want to get the hook down but if you heave to we'll pass you several bags of fish up to your limit and we can all go in,” I told them. Under Florida Fish and Game bag limits a boat could only return from fishing with it's limit of fish.

We had the hooks down by 2:00 pm Wednesday. Cap'n Crunch arrived just in time for a late dinner of grilled Snapper and Grouper at the camp grounds. We included Southwestern Veggies and Potatoes for a real delight. We cleaned up the campground and left the Fort at sunset. See the next post for great Corn recipe.

Cap'n Crunch brought bad news for me. I learned of a run on our bottom paint, www.supershipbottom.com. I had to return to Fort Myers Beach. I started planning my departure. It worked out that the seaplane would take me back to Key West around noon on Thursday. I would rent a car and drive 5 1/2 hours back to Fort Myers Beach. I would meet the relief crew either in Key West or back at the National Park the following Tuesday.

Punxsutawney Phil would stay with 'My 20%' until Saturday. Cap'n Crunch was going to be in the anchorage until Sunday, Boston Bob and Ahab were staying until I got back and the relief crew would arrive on Sunday. We were covered.

I snorkeled until mid morning and then packed a getaway bag for the short trip. So much for uninterrupted vacations but we need to keep the numbers high if we're going to sell the paint company again. Any buyers?

  

Boatguy Ed (boatguiEd@aol.com) is a manufacturer of the worlds BEST anti-fouling bottom paint,www.supershipbottom.com. TWEET me @boatguyed and a corresponding web site ishttp://www.boatingbyboatguyed.com/........ NEVER, EVER TRY TO BUY HIM A DRINK!

This column is meant for educational purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Void where prohibited. Some assembly required. Do not read while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment.