Keeping out the sailor trash

Tuesday April 7, 2009, St Charles Yacht Club

We felt discretion was the better point of valor and got the heck out of Captiva Island Yacht Club Monday morning. Now don’t get me wrong, it is a beautiful place with nice facilities, very peaceful and tranquil but the area is open from the north and east for several miles. With the weather front coming in, we thought it was prudent to move to a more protective place. Apparently, several other people shared our opinions. The club here is full of visiting boaters.

It was a short run as the crow flies it was only 12 miles. As we followed the channel, it was more like about 20 miles. The entrance is a long narrow channel into a small natural harbor. Type 15900 St Charles Harbour Blvd, Fort Myers, Fl 33908 (I know that isn’t the way to spell harbor but that is the way they spell it) into Google Map and you can get a good view of the harbor. From the satellite view, you can see we are snug as a bug in a rug and that is a good thing. We beat the front by a couple of hours. As the front approached, the winds pick up into the mid 20’s and the temperatures started to drop. We are expecting near 40-knot winds today and I have already seen over 30-knot winds.

I have the feeling this is one more expensive club. Most clubs try to build a large member base. Pensacola has around 600 and we are very envious of St Pete with its 3000 members. The club here limits the number of members to 120. Unfortunately, it will be closed the whole time we are here, so we will not get to try eating in the club. It must be good; Paul the dock master says it is hard to get a reservation for dinner.

Paul is an interesting person. He is probably a few years older than I am and has been dock master here for 11 years. He takes the months of June thru September off and goes to his home in Sedgwick, Maine. Sedgwick is just around the corner from the Wooden Boat School. I want his job! As we are talking an alarm started going off. They have an alarm that goes off when someone enters the channel. I guess it the best way to keep the sailor trash out of this place.

Carole is going thru shopping withdrawals, poor thing, because we haven’t been anywhere that she could do some serious shopping. Well today is the day. There is an outlet mall about a mile away and we are off to the shops. I hope the husband benches are comfortable.

PS OMG have you seen the photo of my little brother on the followers panel. Our family doesn’t like to admit it but we are just one generation away from being the missing link in evolution.