I Have Too Much Blood In My Alcohol System

Or something like that.

Sunday was WAVERUNNER DAY here on Sanibel Island.

Now some of you may be wondering why I stay in Florida. I sure do bitch about this place a whole lot after all. Why do I stay? Got me.


OH YEA! I remember now. By the way, the above photo was taken in the "surf zone" of the beach. I was anchored on the first sandbar, in really super shallow water. Notice the lack of waves. It was FLAT calm out today.

Perfect Waverunner conditions. It could not have been much better. Wide open throttle (WOT) gets me to around 50 mph. Slower if there are are waves. 55 mph is supposed to be top speed but the speedometer does not read a steady speed much above 50 mph. I tend to cruise at around 40 or so.

It is a wild ride.

For lunch I met up with my parents, who were on the boat. Lunch was at a place called "The Waterfront" on Pine Island.

On the agenda for Monday is a run to Cayo Costa State Park. This state park is accessible only by boat. Or Waverunner. Since you can not drive there, the beaches are less crowded. Not like the beaches on Sanibel are crowded or anything - but there are less people at the State Park. I can usually find cool shells.

Then Ill make a trek to Cabbage Key. What the hell.

Beachy

Things are going pretty darn good here on the island. I managed to wake up, then get to the marina.

This took more effort than one might imagine.


Of course the boat is at the marina. Floating in a wet slip. Ill have the same slip all week. This is great because all I can leave my dock lines tied to the pilings. To leave, all I do is remove the eye splice loops from the cleats on the boat - then leave the lines on the dock. When I get back the lines are already set. Once the spring lines are on the right cleats - the boat is exactly where I want it to stay.


This is the resort as seen by sea. It faces the open Gulf Of Mexico. The marina is on the San Carlos Bay side of the island. The ride from the marina to the resort beach is short.

Once anchored it is a short walk to the beach. And once on the beach you are close to the pool. I thought this was a decent photo. A shot of the beach, the path leading to the pool, and the boat anchored off the beach.


And the pool is close to the pool bar. The pool bar has rum. The rum featured here is Mount Gay rum from Barbados. On the rocks. A simple drink for a simple time.

After the proper amount of time spent at the pool bar, one remembers that the boat is still at anchor off the beach. So I had to wade back out to the boat, bring up the anchor, and get back to the slip at the marina.

Life is hard right about now. I am on a barrier island in Florida, with a powerboat in a marina wet slip.

There is also a Waverunner around here someplace. I remember towing it from Miami. I plan to take it out to play later today. Once the sun is up.

The Other Side Of Florida

Well I am here. On Sanibel Island, FL. And where is that? If I wanted to know I would use this secret internet site NOBODY knows about. It is called "Google maps".

Anyhow every year I make the trek over to the island for a week. It is always the same exact week too. I have been doing this for some 30 years now. It is a timeshare deal. A pretty good deal too.

But there is one problem. The nemesis. The nemesis is here every year. But I have concocted a way to defeat the nemesis.

And what is this nemesis? Stairs. There is no elevator here, so everything you want to bring must be hauled up the stairs. There are 4 flights of 7 stairs - for a grand total of 28 steps. This may not sound like a lot, and in reality it is not. Unless there is a lot of shit to haul up.

Now you may notice something odd in the stairs photo. There seems to be a rope of some sort in the picture. More on that later.

Now if I am at the top of the stairs and I look over the rail, I can see that it is a long way down. Too far to jump, and too far to throw things up to someone standing at the top.


But there is a solution. The rope you see is a big part of that solution. Using that rope, a pulley, some straps, and some scrap metal parts this device was cobbled together.

I am a big fan of labor saving devices that actually save labor. And this device really saves A LOT of work. No having to go up and down all those steps carrying shit. Someone downstairs simply attaches a bag to a hook, loads shit in the bag, then hauls it up by pulling the rope. Someone at the top of the stairs is there to receive the shit, remove the bag from the hook, take the bag in the apartment, unload the shit, then send the bag back down.

Meanwhile, the person at the bottom of the stairs loads the second bag with shit and waits for the other person to get done so that bag can be sent up.

Doing this, all the crap can be hauled up MUCH faster and with MUCH less effort.

This means that I can hang out here faster. The view from the back porch.

The water in the background is the Gulf Of Mexico.

The beer is Sierra Nevada.

Goings On

I have TONS of stuff going on. So here is a preview of things to come!!!

Wednesday - Take the truck to Ye Ole Service Department for a new timing belt. I like to be on time to things, and for this to happen it helps if you have a good timing belt. Also, if the timing belt breaks pistons can slam onto valves - and this is NEVER good. I got this part done already, seeing as how Wednesday was yesterday.

Thursday - Get the truck back. Ye Ole Service Department finished working too late for me to get the truck back the same day, so Ill need to get it today. Then I have to finish getting the boat ready to trailer. And I have to get the Waverunner ready to trailer. This is pretty much done already. The boat trailer got a new torsion axle Tuesday! it needed one, as the old one had a rust hole in it that you could feel the rubber rods through. The rubber was also pretty shot, and was not really acting as a shock absorber as much. The action on the trailer axle was stiff. It is springy again now. The Waverunner trailer could use another tire. I also need to clean out the truck, and clean out the toolbox. I have to pack. I have to find the antenna for my wireless access point, or just get another one that will have greater range (802.11 G).

Friday - load the shit I packed into the truck. Take the cats to the vet where they will hang out for the week. Hitch up the Waverunner and pull it to the other side of Florida. Sanibel Island to be more precise. The boat is going to go also - someone else will pull it. Once on the island the boat needs to be put into the water and taken to the marina where it will hang out for the week.

Saturday - Drink something made with crushed ice and rum. Maybe use the boat. Maybe use the Waveruner. Who knows.

Sunday - Same as Saturday

Monday - Same as Sunday

Tuesday - Same as Monday

Wednesday - Same as Tuesday

Thursday - Same as Wednesday

Friday - return to Miami. Collect the cats from the vet. Wash down the boat and Waverunner. And a bunch of other crap.

Ill probably remember to post photos from Sanibel Island here. The place I stay at every year has high speed internet.