Charting our course

4/15/25

I think a good analogy for leaving on a long trip as we are, is to picture popping a champagne cork, along with the cheer!

It is always a mad rush of boat repairs, varnishing, paint touch ups, polishing and cleaning, let alone stocking up on supplies and making sure we have back ups for every filter or thing that could perhaps fail while we are out.

We are, after all, our own little island when we are away from shore but we absolutely love everything that goes with it.

Justine let our ropes go for us and we left our dock mid morning to fuel up and head to Bradenton for two days. We took walks along the reserve there and spent a little time on the beach for Cali. It was windy, the wrong kind, and we knew we would wait to Thursday to leave to travel on the outside on this perfect day and not down the inter-coastal

We had everything ready to go and left at 7am for Boca Grande.

We spent the next ten days anchored at Cayo Costa which is the anchorage right next to Boca. We love it here and didn’t know how long we’d stay put. We easily got into the rhythm of daily beach life with Cali and went into Boca once to pick up a part for our generator.

The heat ex-changer failed and fortunately Shaun has installed solar panels just before leaving which carried us through. We ordered the part to the post office on Boca, but little did we know that it was still closed since the hurricane last year! There are no Uber’s or general taxi’s on the island so we had to take a limousine service to the post office on the mainland and back. We enjoyed lunch on Boca and picked up a few supplies form the little grocery store there. We went back to Happy Wife to install the newly arrived part which shipped from Seattle (the local dealer had none) only to find they sent the wrong part! Oh boy - so mad scramble and much to our luck, the dealer had gotten one in. So two days later we were back up and running perfectly. We realized that we can cope well given most circumstances. Our main inconvenience was not being able to use the stove and oven but we grilled out and made it work.

We made our way down to Marco Island for a day or two where we ill refuel and get some things shipped to us and on so on before heading to our beloved Ten Thousand Island anchorages.

Life is always uncertain on a boat and we ended up staying in Marco Island for five days instead of one. Turns out the heat ex-changer wasn't the only problem and it ended up needing new boot ends and clamps. Even after we replaced those we still had coolant mixing salt water in the system, which must not happen. Eventually we got a mechanic on board who checked the whole system and attached the correct clamps and we were set to go! Apparently the ones we used were just too wide and so water was able to still make its way through. We just managed to conserve and eek out our water to last drop. Now our water maker could be up and running too bot fortunately we refilled our tanks and fuel at the and cheerfully headed to our favorite Ten Thousand Islands

I so love leaving home, yet when I’m out. I want to be home. A good friend shared a poem with me that just resonates. It goes like this…

The Double Life

How very simple life could be

If only there were two of me—

A restless me to drift and roam

And a quiet me to stay at home.

A searching one to find his fill

Of varied skies and newfound thrill,

While sane and homely things are done

By the domestic other one.

And that’s just where the trouble lies;

There is a restless me that cries

For chancy risks and changing scene,

For arctic blue and tropic green,

For deserts with their mystic spell,

For lusty fun and raising Hell,

But shackled to that restless elf

My other self stays home, himself.

With dishpan hands and deep in rugs

Who gently smooths the smallest bugs,

And sips warm milk and eats baked beans,

And sometimes mends his sock’s split seams.

And when the roving one comes home

From carefree wandering alone,

He’s welcomed in a manner grand

By the quiet self who’s glad he’s home.

But all too soon he’s bored and then,

He hitches up and off again.

While the domestic one, once more

Is left alone to mop the floor.

It seems my alter egos balk

At taking turns to go and walk.

If only they would learn to fence

And live in perfect competence,

This double life would surely be

A pretty darn good life for me.