{"id":50833,"date":"2023-10-09T13:28:45","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T17:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=50833"},"modified":"2023-10-10T16:42:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T20:42:25","slug":"cortez-cove-haul-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/people\/cortez-cove-haul-out\/","title":{"rendered":"A Haul Out In Southwest Florida’s Cortez Cove Comes Packaged with a Few Surprises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"sailboat <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n After a small mishap in a channel marked with hand-painted signs, I hauled out my Pearson 365 for a bottom job in Cortez Cove.<\/span>\n Herb McCormick<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n

Among the many \u00adrevelations I\u2019ve \u00adexperienced since purchasing a 1970s-era classic-plastic cruising boat and setting up shop on the Gulf Coast of Florida for half the year is the fact that yachts don\u2019t get hauled out annually here for a fresh coat of bottom paint. In New England over the years, I\u2019ve owned a series of sailboats, all of which spent every winter on the hard in a boatyard safe from the ravages of endless nor\u2019easters. Their bottoms were all prepped and repainted before getting launched again the following spring. It\u2019s not a particularly pleasant task, but one I\u2019d always tackled myself\u2014yet another annoying yin to the rewarding yang of owning a sailboat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when I bought my Pearson 365, August West<\/em>, a year ago, I was pretty psyched to learn that I wouldn\u2019t have to undergo the labor (and cost) on a yearly basis. In fact, I thought that I might get a pass altogether for a season or two. Then, two things happened: First, the diver I hired for a monthly bottom scrub, when asked about the condition below the waterline, had a pithy answer (\u201cpoor\u201d); and second, the previous owner, when queried about the last time he painted the bottom, was equally succinct (\u201cum, good question\u201d). There really was no alternative: It was time to haul the vessel for new paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Rhode Island, if in possession of a pulse and a \u00advalid credit card, this had never been an issue; plenty of yards in or near Newport were more than willing to relieve me of cash. In Florida, at least in the greater Sarasota area, it was more of a challenge. The first couple of places that I called flat-out said that they didn\u2019t work on sailboats. And it was quickly apparent that, if I did find a spot, doing the work myself was out of the question. Finally, on a tip from a local sailor, I learned of an outfit called N.E. Taylor Boat Works, just a few short miles up the Intracoastal Waterway from my slip on Longboat Key, in a place called Cortez Cove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tiny adjacent community of Cortez, measuring just 2 square miles of real estate, was an oasis from the strip malls. Cortez is a commercial-fishing village founded in the late 1800s that still retains its old-timey Florida vibe. Home to a great fish market, a big fish processing plant and a couple of seafood shacks, it seemed of a different time and place, and an extremely welcoming one at that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cove, however, is not such a simple spot to get into. Peering in from the ICW, the fleet of rather large fishing boats would suggest otherwise, but the actual channel is narrow and marked by hand-painted signs, one of which I, of course, missed. In what\u2019s becoming a disturbing new habit, I ran aground\u2026directly in front of one of the busy waterfront restaurants right at dinner hour. Free entertainment for all. Luckily, I\u2019m getting good at getting off the bottom, and I made it to the yard unscathed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Descendants of the Taylor family, part of the original group of Cortez settlers from North Carolina, still run the yard. It\u2019s both friendly and funky, and I mean the latter as a high compliment. From the time I pulled in until the time I pulled out, nobody ever bothered asking me for, well, anything: my full name, an address, payment details, nada. Almost as an afterthought, it occurred to me that, since I was in a boatyard and all, and I\u2019d purchased a pair of deck hatches that were sitting in my V-berth, I might as well get them installed (a task I\u2019d originally planned to do myself but was not relishing). No muss, no fuss, just two hours of reasonable labor costs that would\u2019ve taken me much longer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting out of the boatyard was a lot easier. Back in my slip a few days later, my diver returned (he does several boats in the marina), noted the paint job, and said I was good to go for a while. \u201cThat could last you a few years,\u201d he said, which made me smile. Whenever that time does come again, though, I\u2019ll know to return to Cortez Cove. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herb McCormick is a <\/em>CW editor-at-large. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bottom painting isn\u2019t a particularly pleasant job, but one i\u2019d always tackled myself\u2014yet another annoying yin to the rewarding yang of owning a sailboat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":50834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Herb McCormick","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"ad_targeting":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true},"categories":[165],"tags":[202,632,197,1968],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50833"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}