Oct, boating in paradise, SW Florida
 

Just another beautiful day here in paradise!

The Skater is on the trailer, getting ready for the FMO 2010-2011 season, and today was so perfect, (air temp 85, humidity 33%, clear blue skies, clear light green seas, sea water temp 78, wings 5mph, seas 1 foot or less), I just had to go boating.

I lowered the 23 Stringray, 230LX, 350magMPI/Bravo-1 off the lift and had a great day. I went out the Myakka River, south down Charlotte Harbor, west to Boca Grande Pass, out into the Gulf, around the Johnson Shoals, south to a nice secluded spot on the west side of Cayo Costa island. Then I headed back to a quite spot on the SE side of the island.

Round trip was a total of 55 miles, I burned 17.1 gallons of 87 octane, that 3.2mpg.

Enjoy!

all 67 pictures


It is a boating board, so here is the boat

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/...e0f542b2_b.jpg



Paradise found

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/...3c5a7a16_b.jpg



Island residents

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/...3a57a8db_b.jpg



all 67 pictures

Nice! I spent the day winterizing my boat. Therefore I must hate you.

Just got back from Ana Maria Island myself
 

But we drove down, just to break free of Clearwater for the day.

Awesome day, went to the Sandbar for lunch.

Looked like a 37 Outerlimits was anchored up there, anyone know who that was?

Perfect boating conditions, but am boatless right now.

Beautiful day in SE Fl also, perfect temp, great water, ran 74 miles today, but used 68 gallons- lol. On days like this its tough for me to remember you really CAN run under 4500 RPMs! Then I got back and noticed a 2" piece of my prop missing, but other than that this is what I moved here for!

:ernaehrung004:

Nice day on LIS as well, but the breeze kicked up some ugly 2' chop. Sadly, our nice days are numbered up here. :(

Beauty and destruction

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/...355bb326_b.jpg

Nice, Frank and thanks. The weather in SW Florida this last while has been unbelievably nice. A great time of the year. Hans, Marc and i took Jay down to Key West yesterday to help him celebrate his birthday and back today. Trelfa's came along in their 42 Outerlimits. I'm sorry, but we cannot share the pictures of Jay ! LOL See you soon,
Bob

I'm sorry, but we cannot share the pictures of Jay !:eek:

Hey Frank,
Looking at your photos, I thought I accidentally logged on to the National Geographic Only site.
As long as we're at it I snapped these Saturday on North Captiva.

Terry, in pic 1 what is the white / pink bird with the flat bill ? Is pic 2 a flock of white pelicans or the bird shown in pic 1 ? Interesting. I once saw a flock of 100 pink flamingoes on some flats in the Marco River 15 years ago and never since.

Terry,

I know that spot.

Don't you just love living here!

Well Bob,
Thanks for asking. That white and pink bird is called a Roseate Spoonbill.
Scientific name: Ajaia ajaj
Family: Threskiernithidae
Order: Ciconiiformes
Class: Aves

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
The Roseate Spoonbill stands about 30 inches tall and has a heron-shaped body. The legs and eyes are red, and the feet and knees are blackish. The body is pink. During breeding their plumage can be a bright red or magenta color on their wing shoulders. Wing span is 3-4 feet. The tail is a tawny orange color. On the upper breast there is a prominent patch of stiff curly feathers in red surrounded by pink and buff (a yellowish-orange). The head is bare and varies in color from a pale green to a greenish gray. It has a black skin area around the ear and nape of the neck. They have a long spatula shaped bill, or banjo bill, about 6 inches in length. It narrows in the center and widens to about 2 inches at the tip. Immature birds have white plumage with varying tints of pink.

And yes those are Amercian White Pelicans.
Tune in tomorrow for some fun facts about those.

You know we were talking this week about flamingos.
I've only seen one in the wild. It was flying over the channel near key largo.

Great shots. Indeed, it was a spectacular weekend in FL. It's the best time of year for sure. We ran the boat all weekend up and down the coast and the water was perfect!!
:cool:

Hey Terry,

You are so crazy!! Nice description of the birds I think we are all very impressed...

Same thing here.

I lived in NJ (Point Pleasant and Lacey on Barnegat Bay) until 2002. Putting the boats away, was one of the most depressing days of the year, for me.

I feel for you all

I just spotted one in the Koi pond benhind my dental office here in Arkansas!:evilb: