At the Shellbar

I can't call it a sandbar. That little strip of land consists of more shell than sand, so shellbar it is. Of course, will all the sundowners drunk out there, one could call it a booze bar.


Finally, we have a day worthy of Florida's reputation. Temperatures rose over 70 and the sun came out. After days of cloud and cool nights, it's a relief.

This will be our third night here, on or next to the sandbar near Cayo Costa. Winds have been unfavorable for southward sailing, but no matter what we are heading south in the morning.

The boat's battery had been severely discharged. I'd left something connected that I thought I'd unplugged. Combined with a couple of cloudy days, battery voltage dropped too low to do anything.. Thanks to a day's sun on the solar panel, there is enough power to run the laptop again.

On the bright side, I've pretty much lost contact with “the news.” That's fine. The longer I'm out on the water, the less sense the rest of the world makes to me.

I had a nice talk with a guy who sailed a small open boat all the way down from the Florida Panhandle. The weather has been cold and wet at times. All the guy has is a small tarp to sleep under. The guy doesn't even have a VHF radio. His rig is designed to slip under most of the bridges. A 9 foot clearance swing bring had him stopped, but I was right behind him and talked to the bridge master. Like us, he plans to sail down to the Keys.

I guess I'm not the craziest one out here.

. . . or maybe we are sane ones.


-Sixbears