In her berth

The name of our new boat is "Gi Gi Mae". The previous owners named the boat after their dog and De Anne said it was a fine name and that she did not want to re-christen the bow or re-letter the stern so the name will remain - "Yes Ma'am Admiral!" is the only proper response.

We were planning to take her home up the intracoastal waterway; however, around the first bend was a big, dirty dredger blocking traffic. The Venice Inlet was in sight so just like that plans changed and out into the Gulf we zoomed.

 De Anne in her natural habitat, with Longboat Key in the distance:

After two years behind the mast the speed was intoxicating:

A few boat chores to do. De Anne has never waxed a car; but boats are different:

Baby boat

Our purchase was closed yesterday with little fanfare. In fact, our presence was not needed, our escrowed money was all the attendance required.

We used the free time to pick up our new baby boat and outboard from West Marine and felt compelled to immediately inflate it on the patio. This dinghy is a RIB. We wanted the hard bottom so that we could drive it up on beaches with impunity.

We are adhering to the time-honored yachting tradition known as B.O.A.T. (break out another thousand). 

Monday we will pick up our new boat in Venice FL and cruise 20 miles north to Longboat Key. 

Next Home

It has been a while since our last post, but we have been busy. Boat buying! .... again.

 Our offer has been accepted on a Sciallino 30S.

If you feel the need for more pictures this link will work until the sale is final:  

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/2004/sciallino-s30-3598225/?refSource=standard%20listing

A survey and sea trial is scheduled for this Friday. After closing she will be berthed a few feet from our front door for (hopefully) easy fitting out and so that De Anne can provide the love necessary to a boat. We will depart the first week of March to somewhere (TBD).

We are excited to go cruising again with a possible speed 10 times greater than before!

Back to normal

De Anne has had a summer of recovery from her fall and subsequent broken neck. She is now back to normal as evidenced by riding her bike to Longboat pass and kayaking in the same day. The only picture she has authorized of her in the neck brace is the one below where she is in the background with 3 dogs at center stage.

This summer our marina has been over run with manatees. We get up to six for several hours a day. Note the face only a mother could love.

When Henry, our Great Blue Heron, is called away else where on business, Charlie the egret is number 2 in the marina. A few weeks ago he snatched a sandwich away from our neighbor who may not dine alfresco again for a while.

Trauma

Three weeks ago De Anne fell at home and hit her head on the front door. The Longboat Key fire department has two stations equidistant from us so the response was quick. She was unconscious the entire time including the fast ride to the hospital. I on the other hand did suffer trauma having watch the woman I love braced onto a back board with four EMTs working hard to stabilize her.

She awoke in the Emergency room but, because of a concussion, was only semi-coherent for the next few hours. A battery of test showed that besides the concussion she had a cracked C2 neck vertebra.

De Anne is now fine except for the head brace she must wear until cleared by the neurosurgeon (hopefully in 3 weeks). I have chastised her - pointing out that my master plan calls for me to go first and that I forbid any future accidents.

 On a more humorous note: folks from Tennessee rented a slip in our marina for a few days and forgot we have tides. They tied it to the dock for convenient on and off. On a rising tide the bow of their pontoon boat was just under the concrete lip of the dock resulting in the stern coming out of the water.

Boudoir marina

A lot of manatees have visited our marina in the past few weeks. Singles, mother and calf, and yesterday a rather amorous couple who used our marina as their boudoir.

Note the propeller scars on the larger one. Sadly few adult manatee escape this type of injury.

This is a not-to-clear picture of mother manatee and calf. The mother has a large propeller injury and the calf just has its nose out of the water.

I almost hesitate to include the next picture since it was visible to everyone; however, during a happy hour last weekend that persisted into the evening, Ron (next door neighbor)  got out his big camera and tripod for this full moon shot.

Alone again

Spring break is over and the snow birds have left. We are alone again on our island.... well, almost. The population has dropped by 50 or 60 percent.

 Traveling now makes us appreciate where we live. We do get jaded about Longboat Key until we travel the mainland, then the reality of the outside world comes rushing at us and we can't wait to return to our idyllic island.

 Note in the picture below that De Anne abandoned her little Walmart kayak in favor of the neighbor's top-of-the-line Hobie kayak with the peddle fins.

There is still some occasional excitement in the bay. This 80 foot cigarette boat (complete with 3 cabins and 3 baths) is docked on a lift across from us. It is easy to get a picture since you can hear it coming for several minutes before it passes us. The link below the picture is a youtube of the boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BotcJP0D3vw

The fish have returned in huge numbers and the herons and egrets work our docks fishing at high tide. Every bird is fat and sassy now and when the tide is out and fishing is not so good they now have the strength to fight. 

Two egrets attacking each other in mid-air on the clubhouse patio: