On The Move



We spent a couple of nights in Venice. Primarily to visit with my Uncle Leo, but also to let some strong winds and rain pass through. Both missions were happily accomplished and we had a nice stroll around downtown Venice as a bonus.

 

Lunch with Leo & Jean in Venice.

The main drag in Venice. Not 5th Ave. in Naples but very nice.

View of the ICW and Fisherman's Wharf Marina from the Hatchett Bridge.

Strangely enough we slipped next to a 55' Hampton that we considered buying a few years ago.

We left Venice on Easter Sunday and headed north on the ICW past Sarasota and on to Tampa Bay which we decided to cross while conditions were good. As we entered the channel on the north side of the bay we caught up to a familiar looking boat with an unfamiliar name.  I hailed the captain on the vhf and confirmed that it was formerly March Winds IV which had been slipped behind us at Legacy for a couple of winters. The new owners were quite proud of their new vessel and seemed like they would take care of her the way Gary and Linda did.

Former March Winds IV under way near St. Pete Beach.

We decided to pull into an anchorage that turned out to be not the best but you'll have that once in awhile.
Pam wasted no time in getting out the Holiday Mimosa's so we could toast Easter.

Happy Easter

We followed up the drinks with our now traditional holiday meal while on Tourist of Cornish Hens.

Yumm!

Our night was bumpy as the anchorage didn't protect us as well as advertised. We were happy to get going the next morning and had a peaceful ride up to Clearwater where we took on fuel. Did laundry and walked to Publix.

A happy Pamster.

Hiking back from Publix.

Tourist at Clearwater Municipal.

The big day is upon us. Crossing day and the weather looks good. Forecast wave height of 2 foot or less most of the way with possible 2 footers near East Pass at the end of our day. Off we go.

Sunrise over Clearwater.

Heading out Clearwater Pass.

Once out in the Gulf the forecast seemed to be accurate. We had 1' to 2' on the nose which was very comfortable for Tourist. As an additional bonus we experienced very few crab pots after leaving Clearwater. I put Tourist up on plane and cruised along around 17 to 18 knots most of the way with the exception of an hour and a half of running at 8.5 knots for lunch and to save a drop of fuel.

Looking ahead on the Gulf.

The view behind.

Pam taking a nap.

You'll notice the stuff under the table by Pam in the above picture. Even with the good forecast we take all chairs, tables. and any other loose items out of the cockpit and secure them elsewhere.
Once again the wisdom of this extra precaution paid off. About 20 miles from our destination the wind picked up and started coming at us from the port beam raising the waves to 3' to 4'. Yuk! Not unsafe but certainly not comfortable. A little throttle play and we found a speed that didn't beat up the boat, just threw water over the bridge periodically.
Part way through the last 20 miles I noticed the burgee on the bow of the boat had come loose and was only holding on at one eyelet. I immediately slowed down and turned into the waves. Pam took the helm after refusing to go out on the bow (imagine that!) which left me to retrieve the burgee. Back inside we once again got under way and made it through East Pass and around the corner to our anchorage behind Dog Island. 172 miles for the day. Time for a drink!

Safe and sound on the hook.

We shared the anchorage with 2 other boats that night and in the morning got under way. First stop C-Quarters Marina in Carrabelle for fuel before going on to Apalachicola.

Pulling the anchor.

Tannin colored water going into Carrabelle.

Hazy travel day on St. George Sound.

Coming into Apalachicola.

Boss Oyster Bar restaurant where we later had dinner.

Tourist secure at the dock.

Pam and our new friend Sean at Froggy Level Bar at Boss Oyster Bar Restaurant.

Apalachicola. Originally we were going to only stay one night but changed our minds. We had only spent one night here in all our times of going this way and when we explored the town it was a Sunday morning. Nothing was open. Duh! This time we would see what this neat little town had to offer.
I'll offer up some scenes from around town.

Shops were open with the usual selection of items that you find in tourist towns. My favorite was one that had an abundance of all things nautical just scattered around as though they just dropped them as they brought them through the door.

Apalachicola has had it's ups and downs like so many small towns. It seems that it is on an uptick once again because of tourism and the shrimp boats. As for the Apalachicola oysters. The folks are waiting to harvest them once again. Supposedly back following the BP oil spill everyone was warned that the oil was coming and it would ruin the oyster beds. As a result the beds were over harvested and of course the oil never came. Now they are about a year away from being able to get the beds back in a rotation much like a farmer and his crops.
Did we have raw oysters. You betcha! But they came from Virginia.

Last Days at Legacy and we're off!

It's getting time to empty the dock box and point Tourist to the North. Our destination for the summer is somewhere in the Kentucky Lakes area. We don't have any particular schedule as to when we want to arrive there but I know from past experience that once we're underway it's hard for me to stop and smell the roses until we reach our destination.
Before we left we had time to take in one more Art Walk in downtown Ft. Myers which started with dinner at Ichiban.

Pam & Bill too full to move after dinner.

We finally got them off the chair in time to see Jesus.

 This young lady was more than happy to strike a pose for the camera.

 By now Bill was in need of support.

 Not to be left out the NSA had a drone watching the festivities.

 We were amazed at how this VW came through the wall unscathed.

 There was even an aerial show in the middle of town.

 This guy was performing spray paint art. And oh yeah. We hit the Cigar Bar.

 A few days later we got Bill, Mary, & Ted to pose for a family picture before they headed back to Canada.

For the past couple of years we have been wanting to return to a German restaurant we had eaten at one of the first years we wintered here. Luckily Rich & Diane (M/V RiDi) asked us to join them and Bob and Linda  (M/V Erika Lyn) for dinner. It was buffet style and did not disappoint. Yumm!

 Pam surprised Diane on her birthday with flowers.

As I stated earlier we are planning on boating in the Kentucky Lake area this summer. Good plan but it does present a logistical problem. What to do with the car? Answer: move it to Kentucky. So we did. We got a rental from Enterprise and Saturday morning we took off. Me in the rental and Pam in our car. Up I-75 we went. All was well until we got to Tampa and then it stopped. Bumper to bumper, sometimes moving, sometimes stopped. We wasted time in this mess until Ocala where we decided to go cross country. Past Tallahassee and into the panhandle where we bunked for the night. The next day we cruised through Dothan, Al. home of the National Peanut Festival! On to Montgomery and Birmingham. Through Nashville and into Kentucky.

 Pam in my rearview mirror somewhere in northern Florida.

Rest area near Huntsville, Alabama.

 We dropped the car off in a lonely parking lot to await our return.

 The view of our summer marina.

After dropping the car we did a U-turn and headed back to Florida.

 Of course no road trip for us is complete without multiple stops at Pilot for their coffee.

 We found this cow in southern Georgia. The same place we ran into a guy smacking a pipe into the bed of his pick-up truck. Turns out he was killing a rattlesnake that was in the bed of the truck! No Lie!

 Monday afternoon we arrived back at Legacy after 1926 miles and stayed awake long enough to take this shot of the full moon.

 Wednesday came and it was time to go. One last shot of the marina and Highpoint condo's.

 Our first night we made it to Cayo Costa and decided to hang it up for a couple of nights.

 The second afternoon rain moved in and curtailed our tanning.

Friday we were on the move again passing through the Boca Grande Bridge enroute to Venice for a couple of nights to visit my Uncle Leo and wait out a weather system.

 

While we were tying up our last days at Legacy my son Addam's favorite girl turned 10.

 

Future Harley rider? Happy Birthday Kate!



Caloosahatchie

One week ago we untied Tourist from the dock and headed east along the Caloosahatchie River. Our destination, River Forest Yachting Center located in the middle of nowhere between LaBelle and Moorehaven. Two towns that are not likely to pop into your mind when your thinking of places in Florida!

We passed by rural homes.

Abundant greenery.

Cattle. This one with a bird companion.

Heading East.

Approaching the Ortona Lock. The smoke is from the sugar cane fields being burned off.

Just past the Ortona Lock we made a 90 degree turn to port and headed into the basin at River Forest. Somewhat to our surprise the basin was nearly full of boats. Most waiting to be hauled out for summer storage.

Fortunately there was an open spot near the well where the boats are hauled out of the water. We were assisted in docking by Kathy and Terry from M/V Green Door who we had met in January.
It wasn't long after that I heard conversations on the vhf of a couple more boats who were coming into the basin. The scramble began to move boats closer together to make room for the others. Once the dust settled a total of four additional boats had arrived and were able to tie up. Among them were our friends Rick & Deb from M/V Broulee and Bob on Istaboa who had wintered at Legacy a few years ago.

Broulee on the opposite wall. (3rd white boat from the left)

Istaboa in the well.

Our reason for being here was to have an intake cover installed and a prop switched out.

There should be another cover over the hole on the right.

The ding in the prop wouldn't have happened if the cover hadn't come off and hit the prop while we were underway.

Of course as things usually happen they didn't have the correct cover in stock but were able to get a new one overnighted. The prop was sent out and our spare put on and by Wednesday we were on our way.

One of the perks of our stay was being able to re-connect with Rick and Deb and catch up on what's been going on in each others lives since we last saw each other. Of course this mostly happened over docktails!

Pam and her new friend Izzy. Actually Izzy was suckering Pam into giving her a treat. It worked!

Izzy sharing her seat with Rick & Deb.

Just for size comparison. That's a 42' Silverton sitting in the rear of the building.

River Forest does come complete with wildlife. There's a gator in the water just off the rocks in front of the boat.
We also had a water moccasin ride out of the water on our trim tab and fall off on land. One of the workers smacked it with a pipe and flipped it back into the water before it could attack Pam.

As I stated earlier we left River Forest on Wednesday and headed back west to overnight at Franklin Lock before going back to Legacy. Shortly after we locked through Ortona Lock we met M/V Seagull heading east. Harry & Mary were getting ready to store the boat for the summer and head back up to the great white north.

M/V Seagull underway on the Caloosahatchie.

When we arrived at Franklin Lock the docks were nearly full. We secured Tourist in one of the remaining slips and got the dinghy out. We took a little ride along the river and through some of the small oxbows looking at homes and any wildlife that dared peek out at us. Unlike last year when Mike and Nancy were here we failed to spot any gators in the water or on shore.

Heading into one of the lilly covered oxbows.

The docks filled up causing this guy to anchor overnight.

When we first pulled into the dock we heard a loud screeching sound. First on one side of the canal and then from the other. Back and forth, back and forth. It was obviously a couple of birds that supposedly were mating or at least negotiating a future date. Fortunately they gave up at nightfall but by 6 a.m. they were at it again. I have no idea what type of bird they were but I did get a picture of one Thursday morning.

Screeching bird.

We pulled up stakes Thursday morning and headed back to Legacy where we will start getting ready for our departure next week.

Passing the power plant just outside Ft. Myers.

Coast Guard buoy tender "Vise" replacing a green marker.

Nothing better than a cocktail and a snack once back in the dock.