Rants and Roars!
Yachting Vacations - Port Charlotte, FL
Port Charlotte Florida is a sleepy paradise that I would say truly is one of the best cruising areas in the United States. There’s so much in the area - Punta Gorda, Ft. Meyers, Sanibel Island, Pine Island, Boca Grande and the Cayo Costa State Park - just to pick out a few. Cabbage Key [...]
Big Sleek Windows - WTF
What’s happened to our beloved, classic, nautical portholes? Apparently sailboat designers have decided that it’s time for their creations to look like some sort of Porche on the water. Eyecatchers for the buyers with bucks I guess. They’ve been around for quite awhile, sailboat manufacturers Hunter, Catalina etc. have tried to jazz up the appearance of their models with large, non-opening plexi windows [...]
Santa Barbara, California
RANT - Santa Barbara, California. BUMS, BUMS, BUMS. The “high end” downtown State St. of Santa Barbara is full of expensive shops, eateries and stink-ass, money-begging bums. The offending people are right on the main street with all the shops and restaurants. Imagine Duvall St. in Key West, but with Nordstroms, Abercrombie & Fitch, $12 martinis [...]
Anderson Lumber Company
ROAR
Anderson Lumber Company in Gulfport has a good supply of hardwood, teak and other exotic hardwoods, but most importantly the owners are some of the nicest people I’ve met. They couldn’t be more helpful and friendly - probably because the lumber yard has been in their family since it began almost 100 years ago. If [...]
Agavero Tequila
I was recently given a unique bottle of Tequila as a birthday gift. Called Agavero it comes in a blue genie-shaped bottle with leaves molded in the outside, and the stuff inside is even better. It makes one of the best margaritas I’ve tasted, sweet but with a “classy upscale” flavor. There’s quite a bit of sweetness from the infused
Structure E
RANT
I mention this in my Anna Maria Island Post, but it requires a full - out rant. There are two drawbridges that a sailboat needs to pass through from Boca Ciega Bay to get to the north end of Tampa Bay/Tierra Verde side of the intracoastal waterway. I’ve only lived in Gulfport a year, but ever [...]
Morgan Invasion 2008
The Morgan Invasion was a fun place to be Saturday night. My wife and I stopped by about the time they were giving out the race awards. We only stayed for 45 minutes, but in that short time we met some tremendously nice folks. Sailors are always friendly, but the Morgan crowd was a cut [...]
O Maddy’s Great Gulfport Eating Place
I need to mention one of our favorite stops for sandwiches and beer. O Maddy’s in Gulfport. You can arrive by boat (dingy in), dock at the pier next to the Gulfport Casino, walk about a block and soon you’ve got a cold beer and a really good cobia sandwich. They have a famous roll [...]
Miami Boat Show is A Monster
I’m mostly a positive person but I can be a bitcher and the 2008 Miami Boat Show gives me cause to bitch. The show was four different venues that were scattered across wonderfully accessible downtown Miami. Big, tour bus shuttles carried attendees from location to location. The pick up and drop off points to catch [...]
