Useppa Island SM 23 to Sarasota, FL SM 74

November 12, Friday:

On the right: Light house at the entrance to Mystic River, CT

At left, yours truly with three "Nuns", they were a team in the 5 legged relay(Downhill skiing, 10 mile cross country ski, 26 mile bike, 6 mile run, 2 mile kayak and 1/2 mile sprint, in Bend Oregon last winter. The team name The 3 Bad Habits, from left to right were Tequila, Chocolate, and Caffeine. Of course this has nothing to do with the cruise, but I threw it in just for fun.

We had some boisterous winds starting out today. Rose at dawn and were underway by 7:30. Winds were northeast at 15-20. We were planning on an outside passage to be able to sail on the last day of our cruise. A few miles in we had to decide if it was going to be to tough a slog up wind outside. After checking the bridges ahead we found 9, most of which would open on request, but added to that it was a slow and twisted channel in many spots. So we elected to go out Boca Grande Inlet stay close to shore where the wind wouldn't have much fetch to build up the chop. This worked out very nicely and the soundings dropped off to 20 feet just a hundred yards off the beach. The wind abated to around 15 with occasional higher gusts and we raised main and genoa and sailed most of the way close hauled or nearly so making 6 knots.

I kept reminding Jason to stay close to the beach. He asked, "How close should I get?"

To which I replied, "You'll know your close enough when you can tell if the gals are wearing a one or two piece bathing suit!" Ahhh......the fringe benefits of Florida sailing. We got so close to the Venice Pier that we were waving at the fisherman and tourists.

As we scoped out the two inlets to Sarasota, the information available was conflicting and worrisome. Most shifting shoal inlets are not charted on the East Coast and state that on the chart, although they do in fact have nav markers, these markers are constantly moving and can't therefore be fixed on the chart.

Both Big Pass and New Pass into Sarasota Bay show markers on the chart, however, the Sarasota Sailing Squadron web site shows that New Pass is shoaled in and not recommended. Furthermore, that Big Pass has been remarked and not as shown on the current charts. We elected to use Big Pass and to sound our way in with the centerboard most of the way up. As it turned out we were able to follow several other power boats in that showed us the way. Plus the water was clear enough to be able to see the most dangerous shoals. At near high tide our lowest sounding was 9 feet. The balance of the channel inside the inlet was narrow and even more shallow, with visible above water sand bars only a few yards from us in several areas.

We arrived at the Sarasota Sailing Squadron dock at 4PM, lots of friendly folks to show us the transient dock and help us tie up bow in and between pilings.

So arrived at last after 39 days and 1728 nautical miles!

Jason flew back Saturday AM. Thanks Jason for being a very competent crew a huge help and great company.

I have found a very reasonable dock a few miles north in Sara Bay for a couple of months in front of a private home, while I wait for the mooring I purchased to become available at the Sarasota Sailing Squadron. I am flying back home Tuesday to see my lovely bride.

So long for now, until the next adventure. Could be Cuba this winter.

LaBelle OWW SM103 to SM 150 then toUseppa Is ICW SM 23

November 11, Thursday:

At left, a little summer cottage with some southern charm.

Covered 70 statute miles today including 47 on the Okeechobee Water Way and 23 on the West Coast ICW which restarts at 0 SM at the Fort Myers exit of the OWW. Winds were north east at around 10-15 and we were able to motor sail in the waterway most of the way. Starting out heading south west until we exited at Fort Meyers then North West. This is pretty section of the waterway with lots of waterfront homes. In Coral Gables there are lots of canals with waterfront homes able to keep their boats right in their back yard.

We finally found a marina, the Fort Meyers Yacht Basin, with diesel and so we fueled up topped off water etc. For 5 bucks we were able to use the shower facilities. They even had some cold beer, which we were running low on (whew, close call).

After passing thru what is termed the miserable mile ( due to the extremely narrow channel shallow water everywhere and lots of traffic) we were able to head north (a novelty).

As we passed Captiva Pass the sun was setting and we slowed down to be able to see the sun set over the ocean (and potentially see the mystical green flash, rarely visible as the sun takes it last dip over the horizon) it was a very nice sunset, but alas not green flash this time.

We arrived at Useppa Island, which is only a few miles from Boca Grande Inlet, at the mouth of Port Charlotte. Our anchoring guide only covers the East Coast so we were on our own picking out a good anchorage. As it turns out we must of picked well as there were 6 other boats already anchored in the lee of the island when we arrived. We had to anchor just outside a cable area, where anchoring is not allowed, and squeezed between the channel of the ICW and the very shallow near shore. We anchored in 8 feet of water, but apparently we were so close to the shoal that in the AM our centerboard was rubbing bottom as we moved closer to shore and weighed anchor.

Port Mayaca, OWW SM 39 to LaBelle FL SM 103

November 10, Wednesday:

At left: Ponce De Leon guarding the Fountain of Youth (or so he hoped, although it didn't work for him, but lots of folks are still trying to see if it will work for them)

Today was our chance to see Lake Okeechobee. We weighed anchor at 7:45 and had to lock thru up a couple of feet to the lake level. We had anchored bow and stern just past the old railroad bridge in a wide spot in the canal. Once out in the lake we were able to raise the main and jib and motor sail in 10 knots of north west wind. The lake is pretty big with an horizon in most directions, but mostly only 10 feet deep. It was 25 miles across to the channel that cuts thru the very shallow west side of the lake. Once we were on the west side we had to follow a canal dug along the shore for about 10 miles to the Morehaven lock. It was in this section we saw quite a few alligators. Most were hanging around with their eyes and noses above water and nothing else. They typically submerged as we motored past. We did see a five footer sunning himself on the bank.

The Morehaven lock dropped us only a few inches and went very quick. We motored the last leg to LaBelle trying to find some fuel along the way. This section does not support many marinas. The first was an RV park on the canal in Morehaven which was out of business, the next was only open from 9 to 1 and then we got to one that reportedly had diesel and they were cleaning the tanks. The next one up would fuel you up from a truck. but would not bother with a 30 gallon sale for us. Fortunately we had filled up in Ft. Pierce and had 5 gallons stored on deck so we weren't desperate. The power boat we locked thru with had to dock in Morehaven to wait for fuel the next day.

LaBelle is in the interior of Florida and is very agricultural. The city dock was free, but required you to do what is called a med moor. This means dropping an anchor 100 feet or so in front of where you want to be docked stern to, and backing in. Then when you tie up on the dock you have to tension the anchor line to keep you just off the dock but able to jump off the stern to go ashore. Boats in the med that do this often have a boarding plank to make it a little less hairy disembarking.

Jason found us a nice restaurant on his Iphone only a few blocks away and we had some local fresh fish that was fantastic.

Jensen Beach SM 982 to Port Mayaca FL

We are now in the Okeechobee water way. After a few miles in the ICW we turned off at the St. Lucie River and reset the mileage at zero for this new waterway, with Port Mayaca at mile SM 39. There were a couple of delays on the route today. The Roosevelt Bridge showed opening on the hour and half hour so we timed our arrival accordingly only to find out it now opens on request. The current was very strongly carrying us into the bridge which was not quick enough in opening and we got sideways in the railroad bridge immediately prior to it, narrowly avoiding a good scraping.
When we got to the St. Lucie lock, we had to wait for eastbound traffic to be let down in the lock for a half an hour. The lock lifts you up 14 feet and does not have valves to let the water in or out, rather it cracks open the gate. The current was quite strong requiring some deft line handling to keep the boat in line and off the walls of the lock.
The St. Lucie river and the first few miles of the waterway were dotted with spectacular homes, some of the nicest yet. We ended the day just before the Port Mayaca Lock which lets you out into Lake Okeechobee. We anchored bow and stern in the narrow canal in a wide spot just after the notorious railroad bridge which is only 48 foot clearance for masts, while in the up position. This prevents many boats from being to use this waterway. Some clever guy will put 55 gal plastic drums aboard on one side and pump them full of water to heel the boat enough to allow boats with up to 53 foot masts to squeak thru. As we only need 41 feet it was not a problem, but still looked very close as we slowly passed under.

Fort Pierce SM 965 to Jensen Beach FL M 982

November 8, Monday:

Lingered at Aunt Lou and Uncle Mike's to help with his computer connection and the garden.

Did some grocery shopping since we had use of the car.

This pic is the Lighthouse at St. Augustine from our anchorage the second night. Again a little our of sequence

Had lunch in downtown Ft. Pierce at the Tiki Restaurant, and finally got underway from the Harbortown Marina at 2pm. Little problem leaving the dock. We had the dingy trailing astern and the wind blew it behind a dolphin. As we made a decent exit and started forward the dingy hung up on the dolphin and the painter parted with a big bang. This occasioned us to have to return to the dock to retrieve the dink. This was a bit of a hash as there was a cross wind and the dock set up was between pairs of dolphins. So with a little help from a friendly fella on the dock, we were able to temporarily able to dock while Jason dashed off to get the dingy which was slowly drifting under the dock and getting to be quite a challenge to get at. With some quick foot work, Jason was able to snag the dink and jump in.

The second departure was a bit more controlled as we slowly backed out and used one of the dolphins to let the wind pivot us in line with the exit channel. The day turned out great as the clouds blew south and we motor sailed 17 miles to Jensen Beach. We found a great anchorage just downwind of the causeway bridge and after dinner aboard, dingyed over to Conchy Joe's for a few beers and Monday Nite Football. Great spot with free snacks and good beer.

Catching up on some Pics along the way

Mystic Seaport, cat boat taking sightseers for 1/2 sail in Mystic River

Mystic Seaport, with authentic old schooner near

and Kia Ora (semi authentic old schooner) way way in the back ground anchored.

Classy waterfront on the ICW on the way from St. Augustine to Daytona

The Grandfather of all clocks, in the entrance to the Lintner Museum

Courtyard of the Lintner Museum, with coy pond

in foreground, former Grand Hotel, St. Augustine

Charleston waterfront homes

Skyline of Manhattan

Tall Ship in the East River

Melbourne FL: SM 918 to Fort Pierce, FL SM 965

This is just east of Boothbay Harbor, Maine. I'm just getting the hang of adding pictures to the blog so I'm catching up on some of the highlights in my photo album. So this is way out of sequence. Laurel (number 1 daughter) and I sailed up there last September.

November 7, Sunday:

My post yesterday was a little premature. When we got the the Ponce de Leon Inlet the weather forecast showed winds to 25 from directly astern, which heaped up waves to 11 feet. With the hurricane Thomas potentially kicking them up even more we elected to stay in the intracoastal. This allowed us to stop at Melbourne where my best buddy from Garden City High School lives. We recently reconnected via Facebook. We got together for a great night of reminiscing and catching up for the over 40 years since we have seen each other. Thank you Steve and Claire for putting me up in a warm and comfortable bed. It was pretty cool last night. Jason connected with his Aunt who lives 15 miles north in Cocoa Beach and stayed with them.

We were able to tie up to the Melbourne Yacht Club gratis thanks to member Hasty Miller who extended the invitation.

We are motor sailing with just the jib again today, as the winds are directly astern at 20 knots just like yesterday. We should arrive in Ft. Pierce at around 4PM today and we will stay with my Aunt Lou and Uncle Mike who live nearby.

St. Augustine, FL

Magnolia Blvd. St. Augustine, these are actually live oaks with spanish moss.

Ponce de Leon Hotel built by Henry Flagler, is now home to Flager College

ICW near Beaufort, SC

Some pics from the trip

Daytona, FL; SM 831 to Fort Pierce, FL; SM 965

November 5 & 6, Friday and Saturday:
More strong winds today, blowing 15 to 25 out of the NW. Plan A was to use the ICW to Titusville and watch the shuttle launch at 3 PM. This has been postponed several times already and was indeed put off again until at least Sunday. So Plan B is to head to the next inlet (the Ponce de Leon) south and head out for another offshore overnight to Fort Pierce. As this is 135 nautical miles we are planning our departure for 2PM so as to arrive at the inlet in daylight at 8AM tomorrow.
We will have to vector around the 3 mile security zone around Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, which the Coast Guard reminded everyone of, due to the impending shuttle launch. Fines of around a hundred grand were mentioned, just so we knew! We are planning on staying close to shore after that to limit the fetch the wind has to build up the waves as the NW wind will be angling somewhat offshore.

St. Augustine, FL; SM 778 to Daytona, FL; SM 831

November 4, Thursday:
Wind turned south again blowing 15 to 20. This is the windiest fall I can remember. We motored thru the ICW under cloudy but warm conditions covering 53 miles. The last several hours the wind went a little more west and we raised the foresail alone. In heavy winds this works out well. So well in fact that on the grand banks fishing schooners it was common practice in a blow. They called it "being in foresail harbor", even though they were over a hundred miles to sea.
Several more bascule bridges to deal with on the way, the first three, the Crescent Beach, the L.B. Knox and the Main Street Bridge, opened on request and were very good about opening with perfect timing so we didn't have to even slow down. The last one, the Memorial Bridge, however, was being worked on and the schedule was changed and unpredictable. This one we wound up waiting on for a 1/2 hour.
Our anchorage was just past the Memorial Bridge on the east side near shore. We had a quick dinner aboard and watching the weather radar on Jason's Iphone successfully timed our trip in the dingy between waves of rain.
The cruising guide recommended the Chart House which was right across the way, we checked to see if they had a TV in the bar so we could watch Georgia Tech play Virgina Tech. As there were two inlets right next to each other and it was dark we took the wrong one and Jason came to the rescue again with his GPS feature on the Iphone, so we were able to figure out that if we docked on the south side of the wrong inlet we could walk the short distance to the restaurant. Only one tinsey little problem, the condo complex we docked at was a gated and fenced in community. A little creative fence climbing took care of that and we "escaped" the compound to finish the short walk. We enjoyed the game in luxury as the Chart House is a high end restaurant, but got out cheaply since we had to remain sober enough to climb back over the 8 foot fence.

Beuforft, SC; SM 536 to St. Augustine, FL: SM 778

November 1 and 2, Monday and Tuesday:
Wind turned favorable for another overnight shot. Made 159 miles being off shore up to 25 miles at times. We fueled up and headed down river, stopping for 10 minutes in the open bay drifting with the wheel and autopilot removed to repair the clutch again. Success, and working again OK.
Headed out the channel and were sailing in company with a 40 foot ketch that paced us all thru the night on the same 200 deg magnetic course for 130 miles. The wind took some time to go from south at 10 to ENE at 15-20 knots. We flew main and jib once the wind backed around enough to be able to hold course close hauled. Then when it backed some more we raised the foresail. At dusk we furled the foresail as the forecast called for gusts to 25 and we didn't want to be faced with furling it in heavy seas at night. The autopilot steered the whole way (thank you God) and it was an easy passage except when the wind was directly astern. After an uncontrolled jib due to the wandering course the autopilot steers in quartering seas, we furled the main and motor sailed with jib alone and the boat handled it much better. A clear night with bountiful stars was awesome, as Jupiter set the moon rose. As it was waning the two crescents cleared the horizon first. After reading a bit with my head lamp on while on watch in the cockpit, I looked around to check traffic and saw what at first looked like a ship (and since you can normally see them from way off) this gave me quite a start since it seemed so close. It took a few seconds to relax as I realized it was moon rise. And it was spectacular.
We arrived at the entrance to St. Augustine at 10:30 am. We heard some reports on the radio about shoaling in the channel. In fact quite a few big sport fisherman ran aground in the channel during a big fishing tournament this past week, causing hundreds of thousand dollars worth of damage. When Jason was on watch someone was attempting the inlet and another boat close by kept on hailing on channel 16... get to starboard your going to run aground!!...repeatedly. This was enough warning for us. As we entered we kept the jib flying to limit the rolling. It turned out to be a tough one as the autopilot clutch gave out again only this time stuck in the engaged position. When steering by hand with the autopilot engaged you have to over come the resistance of the motor which is no running, requiring a fair amount of force. The waves were heaped up at the entrance due to an outgoing tide and opposing wind. This created some breakers, furthermore they were quartering on our stern. The end result was the boat slewing around 50 to 60 degrees in each direction as I attempted to keep to within 50 feet of the starboard side of the channel. The Coast Guard had finally addressed the shifting shoal by adding an extra buoy in the channel so at least we could see where the boat was supposed to be. Keeping it there was quite an effort for about a half a mile. Passed the newly constructed Bridge of Lions, which was made to look just like the 70 year old version, only the "Lions" were still in storage so they wouldn't get damaged in the construction.
We took a dock at the Municipal Marina, did some laundry showered and "launched" the bike for a grocery run. I took the "Red Train" tour of the downtown area while Jason worked on applying for some jobs that had just come up on the Internet. This whetted my appetite for seeing some interesting stuff that I didn't have time for on the whirlwind tour. So we elected to stay for another day and play tourist.
Right across the street was a brew pub called the "A1A" which did have great beer. While sipping the suds, there was a big hubbub right out front of the pub. Three cruisers pulled a fellow over and got him out of the car on his knees under gunpoint and handcuffed him. While the canine was going crazy, a total of 7 more cruiser made their appearance making the new total of 10 (how can a small town of 12,000 people have that many cruisers on duty at once?.. must be a wild town). The guy got slung in the back of one cruiser while the dog went wild in the car. A bit of uncontrolled substance perhaps... me thinks.
A little more excitement in the AM when the boat docked beside us got his dingy and davits squashed by a motor cat the made a hash out of pulling out of the dock. The current was carrying him back onto the dock and he didn't account for it, so crunch. The bad part was that he didn't stop, even when the owner was yelling at him. Furthermore since they had all his info at the dock masters hut, they hailed him on channel 16 and called his cell phone. He failed to answer either. The marina called the harbor master and he sent out a fast boat to chase the guy down. Well they got him and made him return to the marina about an hour later. The police were still questioning him when we left to tour the city.
We were able to use the Red Train again as the passes are good for three days. We visited the old fort Castillo de San Marcos, Ripley's believe it or not museum, Flagler College which is housed in Henry Flaglers first grand hotel Florida, and the Lintner Museum housed in another grand old hotel. Litner used to buy up other peoples collections and rarities which are now on display occupying over half of the old hotel. This was really a treat and the highlight of our visit.
We returned to the boat and went out to anchor to avoid another overnight docking charge. We then launched the dinghy and motored back to enjoy a very pleasant dinner at O.C. Whites. A folk guitarist was entertaining on the patio and we eat out under the stars with a warm breeze rustling the bountiful planting around the dining area.
We buzzed back to the boat and hit the hay, but at about 6 am the wind pipped up from the south at about 25 knots. This was opposing the current, so the boat didn't know which way to go against the anchor. As a result it was all over the place and coming very close to a boat that was double anchored and did not swing the same way as us. I stayed up on anchor watch for about 45 minutes playing with the amount of scope we had out to assure myself we wouldn't collide with this neighbor. Only got another few winks before sunrise at 7:45.

Charleston, SC; SM 469 to Beaufort, SC; SM 536

October 31 Sunday:
Used ICW due to more darn SW winds, today 15-20 knots. Motored thru many interesting rivers and cuts with current alternating quite frequently as we jumped from going down one river thru a cut and up the next. Started off cool at 55 with an early 8:45 start, just in time to make the 9:00 opening of the Whapoo Creek bascule bridge. Warmed up nicely with plenty of sunshine at 78 by the afternoon. Seeing lots of dolphins. Some right along side the boat for several minutes. In fact the first time one surfaced 2 feet from the side of the boat and exhaled sharply right next to me at the cockpit, I nearly jumped out of my skin! They really are playful creatures and love to rollick in our wake. Jason got some video of them on this I-phone.
Another timed arrival for the 7 pm opening of the Lady's Island Bridge. Docked at the Downtown Marina and took advantage of their complementary short stay policy to have a quick dinner aboard and go ashore for Sunday night football at a waterfront sports bar a block away. Left the dock at 10 pm and anchored close by on the edge of the ICW in a mooring field for the night, lots of current, which switches with each tide.

Littler River Inlet, SC SM341 to Charleston, SC SM461

October 29 & 30, Friday and Saturday.
Finally some fair winds today. We made good use of them with and offshore overnight passage to Charleston. With only a little over 100 miles we delayed out departure to arrive at dawn. The winds were northwest 15-20 knots and slowly veered into the north east. Although the forecast had them strengthening a little overnight they actually diminished around 2am.
The autopilot continues to shear the cotter pin that holds the clutch lever on allowing it to engage the belt. I replaced it just before we departed and it lasted until we had to disengage it when the quartering seas proved too much for it. This sheared the new cotter pin off yet again. We had to hand steer starting around 5 pm. Later when the wind abated it would have been capable of handling the 4 foot quartering waves so we missed it dearly with the long night watches. We have stuck to the 1 hour watches during the day and depending on the difficulty going to 2 or 3 hour watches, so we started at 10 pm with 2 hour watches and went to 3 when the wind abated. I hadn't figured on the long length of time it would take to get up river to the Cooper River Marina so with our calculated arrival time up river of 7:30 it actually had us getting to the the breakwater for Charleston at around 6 am. It was still very dark and the wind had filled back in to 15-20 just as we were making the entrance. A Carnival cruise ship entered just ahead of us and a container ship was just behind us. We were monitoring VHF channel 13 and the container ship contacted us to let us know he was overtaking us quickly. We started moving over to the starboard side of the channel, but the waves were slewing us around a lot and the breakwater was unlit and bearly discernible on the chart plotter. The upshot was we did not move over quick enough for the container ships liking and we got a few blasts on his ships horn to properly motivate us to get more out of his way, which of course we did post haste. Lots of shrimpers heading out of the channel to keep clear of some with their booms extended taking up a lot of the available channel. The starboard running light burnt out after only a few days of use. I had changed it in Annapolis. We located a portable running light I had on board, that is intended for dingies and set it up to starboard to make us more visible. This is especially important as when our dingy is stowed on the cabin top it partially obscures the port running light from dead ahead. We arrived at sunrise and took a dock at the Cooper River Marina, where my new mainsail was waiting for us. Got a good nap in and retrieved the mainsail. One problem the fully battened main, did not come with the battens which were part of the order. A call to Lee Sails quickly sorted this out, but it will take another week now to get them shipped ahead of us to Fort Pierce where my Uncle Mike and Aunt Lou live. In the meantime with weekly patches of sail repair tape the old main still hangs in there. We were able to shower and take off at 2 pm for downtown Charleston with no charge by the Marina (thanks guys). I saw my friend Hugh who was very good to me when I had the boat there for the entire month of Dec last year, he checked the bilge for me a couple of times a week as I only had a manual bilge pump at the time, (now remedied with an automatic float operated pump) .
We motored over to the Charleston Resort and Marina next to the WWII aircraft carrier Yorktown. There was a big tent set up next door that had music playing so we just had to check it out. The marina let us stay a few hours also without charge while we hiked over to the music. This turned out to be pipped in music in advance of a concert due to start a few hours hence. We elected to skip this and got underway for the anchorage in front of the Charleston Municipal Marina. After another nap we heading downtown to Tommy Condon's Irish pub. As it was Saturday nite we had a heck of a time getting a cab and after waiting 45 minutes for two different cab companies to come we elected to walk.
As it turned out to be cool stroll thru the old neighborhood with stately old mansions and historic buildings. In fact we passed 3 different groups that were on guided walking tours of this area. We passed two different venues with something gala going on as the folks outside were in tuxes and evening gowns. Upon our arrival in the old market district we ran into many folks in costume for the Halloween weekend, fun stuff. There was an Irish band at the pub and we enjoyed them immensely. Turns out the band was the same one that was playing when Frank Cook and I were there last fall. We were able to hail down a cab for the way back as this is a hot spot in town.

Wrightsville Beach SM 285 to Littler River Inlet SM341

October 28, Thursday,
More southerly winds today. Mostly motoring on the ICW, got to use the jib on some legs with wind gusting over 20 knots. We needed to time our arrival for a temporary pontoon bridge which only opens on the hour. With the current changing direction at the halfway point between gthe many inlets it made timing our arrival a challenge. We judged (read fudged) it correctly and arrived for the once hourly 6 pm opening. Only problem at low tide the pontoon bridge sometimes get stuck in the mud at the edge of the channel. So although we were on time we still had to wait another 45 minutes until the tide rose enough to allow them to move it. Which the do with anchors and whiches. So we anchored in the channel along with about 8 other boats. This had us doing the last 45 minutes in the dark again, and we are getting better at it, however, there are a number of additional markers which do not show up on my 1 year old GPS chart plotter. This puts a premium on vigilance and Jason's young eyes are very good. We entered the Calabash river adjacent to the Little River Inlet and anchored for the night in a tight squeeze between all the other boats held up by the bridge delay. We had a casino ship out of Myrtle Beach pass us just before we were making the entrance into the anchorage, another close order drill with the big boys.
We had quite a heavy thunder storm while having dinner, but at least it washed all the salt off the boat. Later in the evening I heard a band playing and got up from reading in my bunk. Just on the other side of the island we were anchored off, the lights (and they had quite a few on) of one of the casino ships were filtering thru the trees etherally appearing and disapearing in the now dark and still night with mist rising off the water. As the ship passed beyond the end of the island I could see it clearly now as it meandered down the channel with stains of "Sweet Home Alabama" wafting over us and slowing fading as the ship disappeared into the night.