Day 76 - Cobia — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 54, fuel purchased $425, fuel purchased 195 gallons, daily high temperature 80*F

Our final day in Cape Coral was blowy. The winds were gusting over 30 mph all day. Any place out of the wind was very warm. There is one sailboat on anchor in the harbor and the sailor has a row boat. He made good time coming in with a strong tailwind but rowing back he will be pulling hard on those oars.

We could not pass up our final 2-4-1 happy hour at Pinchers.

Chris and Rich started cleaning up Star Chaser to get her ready to be shown for sale. We were the beneficiaries of numerous canned goods that were on board. These items had already made the trip to the Bahamas at least once or twice before and we will take them there again. They also gave a lot of the canned goods to Dale and Andy’s friend Carol Ann for her church’s food pantry.

Carol Ann and a freind

Chris and Kirstyn met us for dinner around 7:30 pm. Kirstyn is starting an event planning business and had to pick up gluten free and vegan cupcakes to delver to a christening party. When she ordered the cupcakes the bakery had a location in Ft Meyers. They closed that location and did not deliver so Kirstyn had to drive to Naples to get them. There are not many bakeries that have gluten free and vegan cupcakes. This bakery has won the Food Channel Cupcake Wars.

The world’s newest entrepreneur aboard Star Fisher. Kirstyn.

We had dinner at Pinchers. They had a cobia in the fish display case. Cobia is not generally available. The only other time I have seen it on the menu was in Key West. It is a mild, firm white fish. Very tasty. “The cobia is a species of perciform marine fish. Other common names include black kingfish, black salmon, ling, lemonfish, crabeater, prodigal son and black bonito.”

We will shove off around 9:00 am and go to the fuel dock. Dale and Andy will be on the boat for 10 days at Marco Island with no pump out facilities. Getting free dockage on Marco Island is amazing. Chris Weber is our hero.

We departed the fuel dock at 9:45 am and cruised under the Sanibel Island bridge into the gulf. The winds were forecast to slacken so we chose the gulf over the ICW. We would have to enter the gulf at Higgin’s Pass anyway. It was a bit more snotty (nautucal term) than we anticipated. The winds increased and clocked to the east. We were getting waves on the beam in the 2′ – 3′ range. That is a bit rolly. We were about 10 miles offshore on a heading of 180*m due south. We headed ESE towards shore and at about 2 miles out the seas flattened to about 1′ so we headed south again.

I am wearing my 2009 Race to Mac T-shirt with matching flowers.

bonus photo

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote for the day.

“A tourist remains an outsider throughout his visit; but a sailor is part of the local scene from the moment he arrives.” – Quote by – Anne Davison

Brother-in-law Dave (Mack) McKenna – quote for the day.
“I was born to rock the boat, Some will sink but we will float. Grab you coat let’s get out of here. – Quote by Warren Zevon – Mutineer. Hear the song in its entirety – cut and paste the link. http://www.thelefortreport.com/blog/2012-09/warren-zevon-was-born-to-rock-the-boat/