January 21 – February 15, 2010
Since I last blogged, we spent a little time exploring the West Coast of Florida. Our intention was to get to the East Coast of Florida by the beginning of February. Here are some highlights from the past few weeks:
Pelican Bay
Pelican Bay is on Cayo Costa Island (near Sanibel Island). The water on the West Coast of Florida is very shallow, so you always have to pay attention and chart your course carefully. We had no problems getting into the bay, no problems getting our anchor to set, but plenty of problems with our nearly brand new Kohler generator. The vent hose for the generator anti-siphon valve was sitting too close to the bilge and unfortunately sucked up water into the generator. That is like putting water into your car’s oil reservoir – not good. Our friend Danny, from “Potest Fieri”, helped Roger with 4 oil changes on the generator. It took them an entire afternoon / evening and part of the next morning. We had to get the generator fixed because on the second morning, our boat wouldn’t start—the batteries were spent! To top it off, the weather was rainy and windy. And it was pretty “campgrounds-like” on the shore—there were NO amenities. There wasn’t even a place to take your garbage to shore. After 2 days of maintenance, we pulled up the hook and left.
Cabbage Key
This was a nice stop. We took a slip at the small marina and actually had a beautiful day, weather-wise. There is really nothing to this island, except the restaurant renowned for its cheeseburgers, a water tower with a nice view and a very short nature trail. We took the dinghy across to, and all the way around, Useppa Island.
Louie picked up ticks there (or maybe at Pelican Bay). He had a total of 4 ticks and I had never seen a tick before, so I was going a little crazy. A nurse who was on another boat removed the first two ticks, and the next day I found two more, and I made Roger remove them while I held Louie!
Fort Myers Beach
Anticipating another weather front, we left for Fort Myers Beach after one night in Cabbage Key. We picked up a mooring ball and found that taking Louie to shore in the dinghy was a bit of a pain. We rocked and rolled on the mooring that night and then decided to take a slip at Moss Marine the next day. We waited for the rain to stop and headed over to the marina, where our friends were already. It was tricky getting into the marina – the entry was narrow, there was a cruise boat that stuck out at the end of the dock, it was really windy and the current was fierce. Roger got us into the slip nicely, but the wind was pushing us into the pilings and Danny was on the dock trying to fend us off. Did I mention that the dock was extremely narrow, wet from the downpour and slippery from the green slime? Yes, you guessed it! Danny stepped back one-step too far and lost his footing on the slimy dock and fell into the water. He was okay, BUT he had a gash on his shin, and ended up black and blue on his torso under his arms, as well as on his foot. Of course, he had his cell phone in his pocket and the salt water rendered it forever useless. Roger heard the splash and thought it was me falling in. I watched the whole thing in slow motion and was hoping I wasn’t going to have to abandon the boat and jump in to save Danny.
We had a great stay in Ft. Myers Beach for 3 days with Danny & Susan on “Potest Fieri”. We rented a car so that we could run our errands – the typical West Marine, Home Depot, and Publix grocery stops. Plus we got Louie some Frontline Plus medicine for ticks. And we took a ride to Sanibel and Captiva Islands for drinks at the Mucky Duck and Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grill. One of those days, I walked for about 6 miles with Danny & Susan and Roger stayed back at the boat and worked (business work). He has managed the consulting work very well, sometimes working a few hours each day, or an entire day. He is still extremely self-disciplined! And the wireless internet service on the boat has worked out perfectly.
I managed to lose my driver’s license and my VISA card in Ft. Myers Beach. They must have dropped out of my pocket without my realizing it. Hmmm…
Fort Myers Downtown
We stayed at Legacy Marina for three nights in downtown Ft. Myers. It was easy to see the toll the economy has taken in this area. Numerous businesses were closed and a multitude of condos were empty. Susan and I helped the Ft. Myers economy by patronizing a local spa for a manicure and pedicure. We were pampered for two hours one afternoon. Then we walked back to the marina and resumed our lives as boat wives.
One afternoon, our friends that we knew from Travis’s Culver Academy days, Tony and Jan Sdao, came to visit us. They are Canadians too, and when we introduced them to Susan and Danny, Tony actually knew their son-in-law from Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is such a small world.
Across the Okeechobee Waterway
There are two possible ways to get from the West Coast of Florida to the East Coast of Florida by boat. The obvious is going around the tip of Florida. The other is to go up the Caloosahatchee River at Ft. Myers where the Okeechobee Waterway begins and cut across the state, including Lake Okeechobee, to end up at Stuart, FL on the east coast. That is what we did. The weather was cold, windy and somewhat rainy. We did 170 miles in 3 days, stopping at 2 marinas overnight. We didn’t see much along the way. It was too cold for manatees and the alligators never even showed up. (Some friends who had done this route told us they’d counted 70 alligators along the way.)
I didn’t care for this trip, because I had flashbacks from the rivers. It was somewhat similar, but the water was cleaner and definitely shallower. In fact, at the east end of Lake Okeechobee, “Potest Fieri” bumped ground about 4 times. Their boat draws a foot more water than ours, and Roger and I were holding our breath with just inches under our keel in some spots!
We ended up in Stuart on February 2nd, and are at the Harborage Yacht Club and Marina. It is the nicest marina we have been to yet, and it is walking distance to downtown Stuart, a charming place. We said good-by once again to Danny and Susan, since they were southbound for the Keys the day after we got to Stuart. We rented a car one way and drove it back to Tampa (about 3 hours) so that we could pick up Roger’s car at Heath’s apartment. Louie threw up in the rental car, minutes before we returned it!! It must have been that wicked U-turn that Roger made. It’s a good thing we love this dog! We were able to have lunch with Heath and got caught up with him.
On Super Bowl Sunday, Roger had to go back to Indianapolis for business, so I dropped by to see my Aunt Peg and Uncle Bob in Boca Raton, after taking Roger to the airport in West Palm Beach. Friends of ours from Roger’s Goulds Pumps days, Dee and Frank Zonarich, own an oceanfront condo and we have enjoyed meeting up with them again. They set me up in a round robin tennis tournament in their development. I had a great time and hope to be able to play there as often as possible while we are in Stuart for these two months. Roger went to the Miami Boat Show while I played tennis. It was risky letting him go there by himself, but I had to choose between the boat show and tennis! We also had a nice visit with Carl and MJ Sellke from Columbus, OH who stopped by to see us before boarding a cruise ship in Ft. Lauderdale. And our friends from Barefoot Shoes have stopped in Stuart for a week, so we have had a couple of dinners with Rae & Steve, as well as a girls-only shopping outing. By the way, Rae & Steve gave Roger a new pair of powder blue crocs. Check out the photo, under Trip Photos!
Last week, I started re-varnishing the teak on the boat. I have a professional teaching me all the secrets of the trade. Now she wants to hire me to work for her! So we are here until probably April 1st. It seems like there will always be something to do here. I will leave on the 17th for a weeklong trip back to Indy by myself. One thing we can’t get away from is tax time – oh well!
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