June 1 through June 3, 2014 – My 62nd birthday was June 1st. We started celebrating on May 29th when we met up with Bill and Ruth Baker at the Oasis aka “No See-um” poolside bar at the ‘Tween Waters Resort on Captiva Island.
We all enjoyed dinner at the Crow’s Nest Bar and Grill on the property Friday night. Saturday, the four of us went in the car to eat lunch at the Lazy Flamingo Bar and Grille on the south end of Captiva Island. Picture compliments of http://www.lazyflamingo.com/
After lunch, we continued driving south on Sanibel Island through the J.N. “Ding” Darling Wildlife Preserve; past Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille (if you don’t know who Doc Ford is, pick up one of Randy Wayne White’s books) and almost to the causeway to the Lazy Flamingo Bar and Grille on Captiva Island. Then we returned north and went just past our resort to enjoy a drink at the Green Flash Restaurant. Ruth and I share the same birthday (June 1), which was the excuse for the four of us being at ‘Tween Waters for the weekend, but I have long celebrated the last day of being whatever age I am. So, we celebrated our last day of being 49 and 61 next door to the resort at the Captiva Island Yacht Club. Rick and Bill each had prime rib while Ruth and I both had the grilled chicken over tortellini. Of course, this was all enhanced by a bottle of wine with dinner and a bottle of Moet Champagne with desert.
When Bill and Ruth returned to their boat after dinner, they were surprised with a delivery of another bottle of Moet Champagne. This was a birthday gift sent from our friends Christy and Michael Messer. Not wanting to let that bottle go unused, Ruth and I drank Mimosa’s on her boat Sunday, around noon, as the guys went over to the boat rental place to make arrangements for us to take a small boat island hopping in the afternoon. Our first stop was on North Captiva Island at a place called Barnacle Phil’s where we had lunch and a drink. The white tent in the picture below has been replaced by an authentic chici hut built by Seminole Indians after Hurricane Charlie destroyed the original one.
Next we went to Cabbage Key Inn where we enjoyed a couple of drinks until it was time for us to leave to return the boat by 4:30.
We cast off but didn’t get back out into the intercoastal waterway before we encountered a strong thunderstorm. We have all lived in Florida for many years and know that these thunderstorms usually pass in a relatively short time, so we called the rental place to tell them that we were delayed by the storm and would be coming in late.
Then we turned the boat around and went back to the bar for a couple more drinks. We made it back safely to the dock about an hour late, with it still sprinkling but no longer lightning. Rick had brought a couple of nice Bahamian lobster that we brought back with us along with some steaks that he and Bill had planned to grill on their boat for our birthday dinner. But, the weather made that impossible. While the rest of us were cleaning up and drying off, he snuck off to the Crow’s Nest which shares a kitchen with the Captiva Inn. He asked the hostess if they could cook our steak and lobster for us. After meeting with the chef, all was arranged. When we sat at the bar that evening, the first Ruth said was that she was going to have pizza for supper. I told her that I was sorry but she couldn’t do that because Rick had pre-ordered our supper for us. It was only a few minutes later that the chef brought out four dinner plates with steak, mashed potatoes, asparagus and carrots and then brought out another platter with the two huge lobster for us to share. Boy-O-Boy did we enjoy our very special birthday supper! After eating all of that, I insisted that we needed to have some cake on our birthdays. Ruth told me to order it and she would have a bite. I asked the guys which cake on the menu they thought I should order. Bill said a white and dark chocolate crème cake and Rick said a warm chocolate Bundt cake with hot chocolate sauce and ice cream, so I ordered one of each with four plates. And, Ruth ordered a bottle of Moet Champagne to go along with it! I’m sorry that I don’t have a good map to help you follow along with all these travels, but I’m going to try to draw one up this week and add it in here. So, check back later.
On Monday, June 2, we said goodbye to Bill and Ruth and, once again, got into the “Hoffmeister Hamster Mobile” and drove down to Ft. Lauderdale. We drove through rain most of the way, but it was only overcast when we arrived. The work inside the boat has been completed and late last week the engine room and the carpets were steam cleaned. They looked terrific. We still had a lot of moving things around to do and cleaning counters and bathrooms, etc. but, it sure was good to be back “home”. On Tuesday, June 3, 2014, the boat surveyor was on the boat at 8:00 do conduct the second part of our insurance inspection. When he left the boat, after 11, he told Rick that the boat was in good shape. The only thing that he found was our fire extinguishers needed to be updated and we have 1 of 6 bilge pumps not working. We are still waiting for the new “glass” to be installed on the top deck and then one more test drive to make sure everything is running OK.
June 4 through June 12, 2014 –
We awoke to rain Wednesday morning – so no glass installation again today. We received the official survey and found that they also listed the need for a throw-able life ring on the boat, so we went shopping again. When we returned to the boat yard, we saw Barry. He was having Sea Clef’s tender lifted from the water onto its trailer. It is scheduled to be shrink wrapped tomorrow and stored on the trailer until after they take the yacht up north. Then he will fly back and drive up with it. Janine and Natalie are busy provisioning the boat. They plan to leave here early Saturday morning. I started making plans and reservations for our extended road trip this summer. On Thursday morning several momentous (at least for us) things happened. We made arrangements to leave the boat behind someone’s house for several months here in the Ft. Lauderdale area; the glass installers arrived to finish the job; and someone backed into our car!
We talked to our insurance agent and the folks at Baker Paint and Body in Palmetto. We made arrangements to bring the car in on Monday afternoon. The guys worked all afternoon on installing the new glass, but had to make a couple of adjustments to some zippers, so they plan to be back tomorrow to finish it up.
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There was a protective covering over the glass when they installed it. You can see it is still on the side curtain at the right of the above picture. If you have trouble seeing the rest of it, it is because it is crystal clear. I’m talking absolutely awesome! On Friday, we went to the surveyor’s office to pick up the report that they did on the boat for the insurance company. In the afternoon, the “glass guys” returned and completed the installation of the new glass which secures to the new hardtop. On Saturday, June 7th we drove to Ormond Beach to spend the weekend with Rick’s mother and brother. My brother, Bill and his wife, Mary, stopped by for a short visit in the afternoon. We told them that we planned to be in the Chicago area on July 12/13 and had contacted their daughters about getting together while we are there. Much to our surprise, they told us that Mary would also be up there on that weekend to see Shay perform in a production of Annie Get Your Gun in the Winette “theater under the stars”. We enjoyed supper on Sunday, June 8th with our Aunt Delores Viglioti (Rick’s mother’s younger sister) on the occasion of her 80th birthday at the Chart House Restaurant in Daytona Beach.
She was joined by her three sons and daughter and their significant others as well as five of her grandchildren.
Pictured above (left to right) are: Delores, Joe, Geri (sister), Phyllis (daughter), Louis (son), Michael (son), Dani (granddaughter), Jim, Steven (son) and Maureen aka Mo. We were seated at the second table with Louis and Rick’s brother Edward along with Phyllis’s two daughters with their significant others (husband and fiancée) and two of Louis’s teenaged children. It was good food and great company.
We drove from Ormond Beach to Palmetto, Florida on Monday morning and took the car into Baker’s Paint and Body shop just after 1:00 to see about getting our dent repaired and painted. They told us that they would need the car for three days so made plans to drop it off on Tuesday morning. We met Ruth and Bill Baker at Alvarez Restaurant for “Mexican Monday” supper. My son and daughter-in-law had given me a gift certificate for a massage for Mother’s Day, so I got a massage on Tuesday morning, after that we visited the AAA office to pick up books and maps for the “really big” road trip that we are planning. We enjoyed seeing many friends that evening at Power Fleet Captain Ken Sosville’s last meeting. At the end of June, (after three years) he will pass the flag to a new Power Fleet Captain for the Bradenton Yacht Club. During the social hour and continuing through the dinner, we shared a slide show about our travels in the Bahamas and entertained lots of questions. When Ken became Power Fleet Captain, he started a tradition of raffling off a $35 BYC gift certificate at the end of each meeting. I was fortunate enough to win the gift certificate and promptly signed it over to the Sosville’s in appreciation of their dedication to the BYC Power Fleet.
The above picture was taken when Jackie and Ken visited us on Staniel Cay in August, 2012.
Wednesday morning found us back on the road driving to Ft. Lauderdale. But, this time we had something new with us. Because we were not going to be with our son and his family for his first Father’s Day (we are going to be with my Dad) we exchanged cards/gifts on Tuesday and the “kids” gave Rick a Garmin GPS which covers roads in the US, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas and some of the other US Islands in the Caribbean. We were very pleased with its operation as we made our way through some rain back down the State. It drizzled rain all afternoon, so on Thursday morning we “sea trialed” the boat. I rode in the pilot house. There were two men on board from First Performance Marina. They handled the lines and listened to various noises and adjusted various things. Rick backed out of our slip (using the engines) but when he started to go forward out of the canal, he announced that he had no steering from up top! This cannot be a good thing. He immediately came down to the pilot house and found that he could steer the boat from here. I was very glad that I had already taken down all of the canvass on the windows, so he had a clear view of where we were going. We passed by Port Everglades and went out into the Atlantic Ocean. Other than the problem with the top deck steering, everything else was OK. Rick was pleased with the overall performance of the boat. He mentioned that he had noticed some leaking around the track where the new “glass” is attached to the hardtop. So, Bobby will call the fabricator back out to make an adjustment on that. Other than that, all we need now is for them to rebuild the steering on the helm. Looks like we will be here until sometime next week.
Friday, June 13 thru Thursday, June 19, 2014 – On Friday, we drove from Ft. Lauderdale to Palmetto and picked up our repaired car. (Many thanks to Bill Baker of Baker Paint and Body www.bakerspaintandbody.com and his crew for doing an outstanding job.) Then we continued on to my Dad’s cabin on the lake in the Ocala Forrest to spend Fathers’ Day weekend with him. On Sunday, we were joined by my brother, Bill and his wife Mary. They brought with them a full barbeque dinner for us all to share with Dad for Father’s Day. We all had a nice visit and a good meal from Dustin’s Barbeque in Ormond Beach. On Monday morning, we said goodbye to Dad and wished him an early happy birthday as we will not be with him on June 30th when he turns 84. It rained in the afternoon and it rained off and on all day Tuesday. On Wednesday, Rick went to the Boat Owners Warehouse and bought the throw-able life ring which was the last thing we needed to completely satisfy the insurance survey. Then we started packing for our extended car trip which I am calling our “Land Cruise, 2014”. We plan to travel by car about 7,000 in the next eight weeks. On Thursday morning, Rick paid for the repairs to the helm driving station that happened when we took the boat out on the sea trial last week. We are only waiting on one thing (maybe two) now for all repairs and enhancements to be finished on the boat.
The new glass is slid into a channel where it meets the boat deck. The installers left two gaps in the channel where the front curves to meet the side panels. We have discovered that these gaps allow the rain water to come in, so we have asked to have the channel extended all the way around. The fabricators have been asked to come today to do the work as we intend to move the boat tomorrow.
Our journey has been inspired by Joy and Steve Fredrick. You can see more of their story at