Sand Castle Days

10/20/2010-5:00 AM — engine hours – port:1091.7 starboard:1200.3 generator:1749.7 It’s quiet at 5:00 AM in Ingleside, but we wanted to get an early start for our trip south via the ICW. No need for both of us to get up, so I told Michelle to stay in bed and I cast off the lines just […]


Gulf Crossing

This video is the result of a gulf crossing I made in the spring of 2010 with 3 great friends: Bill Baumann, Jon Carlson, and Tom McHugh. It was a great trip with 3 of my best friends. Someday I hope I’m lucky enough to get these three back on my boat for another epic […]


Fort Meyers to Ingleside

We left Fort Meyers, headed for the Dry Tortugas, our 3rd trip within a month. To some, that may seem a little excessive, but this is a wonderful place and we wanted to share it with our boys and my Dad (who had introduced me to the keys in the late 70′s).  So off we […]


Naples to Fort Meyers

We left Naples after a great lunch at Tin City and headed for Wiggins Pass, where we intended to spend the night. We had a nice sail up the coast and then discovered that Wiggins Pass was too shallow for us to get in. We made multiple attempts from different directions on an outgoing tide […]


Marco Island to Naples

After a couple of excellent days in Marco Island, we set sail for Naples, which is about 15 miles north. We had the option to sail offshore or up the Calhoun Channel. We thought it might be fun to head up the channel. Who knows, perhaps we’d see an alligator or swamp monster or something. […]


Everglades City to Marco Island

After a great rest stop at Everglades City, we headed out on the 10th for Marco Island. As a crow flies, it’s about 20 miles from EC to MI, but by boat, we had to travel about 32 miles in order to avoid the shallow Everglades waters. Though we didn’t have much wind, it was […]


Everglades City

I’m beginning to wonder if Aeolus (Greek God of Winds) has it in for us! Once again, the place I want to go to is DIRECTLY up wind from where I am!! I’m not going to get frustrated. I’m not going to get frustrated. I’m not going to…. No worries! We have two good engines […]


The Great Poop Disaster

As an overly prideful Captain, I hate to admit that I make any mistakes, so it is with a great deal of humility that I bring you the story of the “The Great Poop Disaster.” Frankly I wouldn’t tell the story at all, but my wife was witness to the event and I’d prefer that […]


Back to the Dry Tortugas

Well, sort of! On the 3rd, Michelle lifted me up to the top of the mast in order to replace a damaged line. While I was up there, I took a few minutes to inspect the rest of the rig. What I found scared the HELL out of me! The new shrouds that I had […]


Key West at Last

We arrived in Key West just before dawn on April 29. We pulled up to the fuel dock at the Conk Marina and waited for the store to open so that we could fuel up. While we were waiting, we filled the water tank which went dry during the night from the Dry Tortugas. Once […]