November 16 - 30, 2023
Utopia has left Punta Gorda after being anchored there for two weeks. Punta Gorda was selected to make it easy to connect with our sisters and some friends from Tallahassee during the Thanksgiving holiday and to accommodate a work-related trip I had the following week. I would be a good spot to tackle a bunch of errands after leaving our remote anchorage at Cayo Costa.
Thanksgiving
It turned out that various circumstances led to none of our proposed visitors making it down here, but we made the best of our time. Thanksgiving Day was spent with a long walk (while thinking of the Tallahassee Turkey Trot), sorting through our backpacking gear, early dinner at River City Grill, followed by a nice Irish Whiskey at The Celtic Ray. One woman at The Celtic Ray told me a story that she came in there last Christmas feeling rather blue because her daughter had been in the hospital, and that the staff had treated her as if she was a member of their own family lifting her spirits during a difficult time for her.
Farmers Market
Each Saturday there is a wonderful famers market in downtown Punta Gorda. It reminded us of the one in St. Petersburg. We purchased produce at the market both of the Saturdays while anchored here and enjoyed walking through the other vendor booths set up in the area.
Errands by Foot & Bicycle
Without a car, we are getting decent exercise while doing errands. Visiting stores like West Marine, Ace Hardware, the post office, a liquor store, and laundry mat are all available within walking distance. For one of our grocery store trips we used the free loaner bikes provided by the city, which was followed by a nice exploration of the area by bike. As a side note, we have discovered that receiving packages by General Delivery or finding (and getting to) Amazon drop locations can be a bit tricky.
Free Boatside Pump Outs
The city marina has a mobile pump out service free of charge (other than the tips we provided). Twice a week, they will come out to the anchorage and offer holding-tank pump outs. We took advantage of this the first and last opportunities while there. Not sure where our next pump out will be and may require our going offshore to take care of business.
Peace River Tour
While at anchor we saw tour boats going in and out of Fisherman’s Village. I’ve had an estuary tour out of Fisherman’s Village years ago and really enjoyed it, so I suggested doing a tour with Jimmy. We saw on their website that they offered up the Peace River Cruises once a week, so we signed up for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The cruise went pretty far up the Peace River (to Liverpool/Hunter Creek) and provided good historical and ecological information. We felt it was worth the cost and time and were glad to have taken the tour.
Boat Chores
Of course, we tackled a bunch of boat chores. If you don’t like boat chores as a hobby, don’t buy a boat. We see it as part of the package, and some of these projects can be quite puzzling, keeping our brains sharp. Although some chores like getting the outboard engine up into the cockpit to change the oil may have resulted in a few extra bruises on my legs. At least we found an easier way to get the engine back onto the dinghy which did not cause any more physical damage to me.
Road Trip & Being Solo at Anchor
Before leaving Tallahassee, Jimmy was aware that I needed to be in Orlando the Monday after Thanksgiving. I had also planned to head to Tallahassee around December 8 to turn in my work computer and cell phone. However, we realized that getting a rental car after leaving Punta Gorda, may have been trickier than we would like, so I decided to combine the two trips into one. This meant that Jimmy was going to be alone at anchor for three nights.
We have both spent time alone on Utopia at a marina, but not at anchor. Going to a marina is generally an expensive endeavor, and we have Baxter to contend with. We are not ready to leave Baxter alone on the boat for more than one night, so for the time being, one person needs to stay behind for trips. Eventually we hope to meet people along the way that might be able to watch him during short trips. If the weather looked like it was going to be questionable, then we would have tried to find a marina and just paid for the expense of a safe harbor. Luckily for us, it was looking to be mostly benign, so we just let out an extra 20’ of anchor chain before I took off just incase another storm popped up.
Leaving for the work trip was interesting. First after being in an isolated bubble for so long, it felt strange to leave Jimmy to head somewhere where I would be surrounded by a lot of people. Then there was the offloading of my luggage and work computer from Utopia down to the dinghy, hoping we did not drop anything into the water. It was a cold trip across the anchorage to the dinghy dock, followed by a 1.5 mile walk to the car rental, during which, the temperature warmed up. After a few errands, I left Jimmy behind in downtown Punta Gorda and took off north to Orlando.
It was nice seeing colleagues at the FSAWWA conference, but as it was a quick trip, I really did not have time to talk to a lot of people. I just spent one night in Orlando (where I had ice cream for the first time in 6 weeks!), then after a day of meetings at the conference I drove up to Tallahassee. I enjoyed visiting with my family, friends, and colleagues in downtown Tallahassee, but did not dally long and was back on the road after two nights there a little disappointed that I did not have time to make it out to the plant.
Oh, it was cold in Tallahassee with morning temperatures in the 30’s! While Jimmy was at anchor, he experienced some fairly chilly temperatures as well. He reported waking up to an interior cabin temperature in the 40’s… The boat does not have any heat while at anchor. I was feeling kind of bad for not paying the price of a marina while I was away…
Splashes
Now for the funny and not so funny part of our stay in Punta Gorda. On our second Saturday, upon returning from the farmers market, we took the dinghy back to Utopia during a cold cloudy morning. On the trip back home, I was thinking, how cold the water was that I would definitely not want to fall into the water. We successfully offloaded our purchases from the dinghy up to Utopia after a rocky landing of the dinghy to the swim platform. Just as we approached Utopia, a large wake pushed us to the side of Utopia, so I just did a quick tie to the side of the boat. While Jimmy was putting the groceries away, I stepped down onto the swim platform to re-tie the dinghy. As I reached down to grab the painter (the line from the bow of the dinghy) another big swale rocked Utopia and I lost my balance. I yelled “Oh shit!” and reached out for something to stop my fall. My hand landed on the upright swim platform, which felt my pull and rotated down into the water along with me. My first thought was “I’ve got to get my cell phone out of my pocket as fast as possible!” I kicked my hiking boot laden feet around until I found the bottom rung of the swim platform and climbed up (maybe it was good that it rotated down with me?). Jimmy had heard my exclamation followed by the splash and ran out to check on me. As soon as my pocket was above the waterline, I pulled my phone out and handed it to him, then climbed up the ladder back onto the boat. Jimmy laughed as he saw my raincoat hood filled completely with water. I also laughed and stated that I was so happy that I did not lose my eyeglasses.
I rinsed off my salty clothes and hung them out on the lifelines to dry. Later that evening, as I was looking at my well working phone while sitting in the cockpit, I placed my eyeglasses on my chest (I am nearsighted and can read better without glasses). Well, I heard a clothespin hit the deck, so I leaned over to see what was up. Just as I saw an insole of my hiking boots float past me, I heard my eyeglasses splash in the water after sliding off my chest…
So, it has been a busy and interesting time at Punta Gorda. We both really enjoyed our anchorage here yet are both itching to be moving on down south. From here we head to Burnt Store Marina, Pine Island, Fort Myers, Marco Island, and the Dry Tortugas! (Note: trackers can be found from the "About" page)
Photos from our two weeks in Punta Gorda:
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