Day's log for Friday, August 17th, 2001 - Denaud, FL

0730 - I woke up when a passing boat put up a wake. I could feel Andrea Lynn's keel touching bottom. The aft anchor was too loose, allowing the boat to drift closer to the bank than I wanted.

0945 - primed raw water side of heat exchanger. I have realized that the way the hoses come out of the heat exchanger leads to air being collected and trapped in the seawater side, reducing cooling efficiency. I later devised an easy means of correcting this problem - affix a pipe in the output side so that it takes seawater off the top of the heat exchanger rather than the bottom. That way, any excess air will get passed along quickly and out the exhaust.

0900 - raised both anchors

0930 - passed SM 115

0953 - passed through Alva Bridge

1015 - passed SM 120

1045 - approached Franklyn Lock

1100 - completed locking through

1103 - knot meter not working. I "rebooted" it by switching it off, then on and it displayed the speed fine. Apparently when I start the engine the voltage drop knocks the knotmeter curcuits into a state from la-la land that it can't recover from on its own.

1126 - passed SM 125

1138 - passed through Wilson Pigott Bridge - this guy didn't answer at all. I got so close to the bridge that I had to slow down. Then he started the bridge opening process.

1152 - knotmeter 5.71, gps 5.5 must be a 0.2 knot flood.

1215 - passed SM 150

1228 - depth sounder now works

1302 - stopped at Ft Myers Yacht Basin for provisions. The guy said he had a bad back and wouldn't pull me in. I was docking in a corner, which is difficult. This is because I can't judge distances really well with only one good eye. Also I don't trust the diesel to back me down to avoid ramming the dock. I had to ask the guy to cleat the line off and I would pull myself in.

I took on water 20 lbs of ice, 16.79 gal of diesel.

1352 - left Ft. Myers Yacht Basin

1358 - passed SM 135

1440 - passed SM 140

1520 - anchored for a quick break and lunch

1535 - raised anchor

I was moving along and someone in a large powerboat with a quiet muffler passed by really close with a large wake. He did not slow down. I did not have time to react to the wake and got tossed around a good bit. Normally I can see it coming and as soon as the boat passes, I steer toward it so that the bow hits the wake at an angle - thus mitigating it's effects. Unfortunately I didn't get the name of the boat. The vast majority of powerboat skippers are considerate and either slow down or keep enough distance or they have smaller boats that get up on a plane and put out minimal wakes. I thank them. However there is always the small percentage of jerks like this one.

1545 - passed SM 145

1630 - reached end of Okeechobee Waterway. At present I was flying down toward the Sanibel Island Causeway bridge. They opened around 1635 for a north bound sailboat, saw me approach, and told me that I would have to wait for the 1645 opening. Since I was going around 8.5 kts GPS I got there before they started the bridge closing process. I proceeded through.

1645 - I had to proceed south to avoid a large area of shallows. The depth sounder was working and I checked it frequently. At one point it showed 2.9 feet but the chart told me that the water there was much deeper. I headed back east and went down further than the chart called for before turning up toward Sanibel. Now the fierce current was working against me and I inched up toward Sanibel, past the light and toward the marina at a glacial pace. I saw someone in a Hobiecat being towed back in by someone on a jet ski.

1710 - approached Sanibel Marina. Speed 5.48, GPS 2.8. There was a huge current against me. I tried hailing the marina - no response.

1720 - arrive at Sanibel Marina and tie up to the dock.

There is no one present at the marina so I went to the Granma Dots restaurant behind it to inquire about docking there for the night. They said ok, just move it to the end of the dock. I said Ok. I then moved the boat down, took care of minor stuff, and sat down for lots of lemonade and coconut shrimp. It was really good. Then I got my bike out and rode to the Bean for an iced, decaf cappucino. This was my favorite coffee spot when I came back in October, 1999 for a week.