Ft Myers and Legacy Harbour Marina (one month)

Merry Christmas
From Ft Myers
Daisy, Mark and Vicki

We traveled up the Caloosahatchee River to Ft Myers and Legacy Harbour Marina.  This is still on the ICW.

Vicki doing her Street gig.

View of Legacy Harbour Marina Ft Myers

When we arrived at Legacy Harbour, I was put in a slip next to larger vessels than Blue Willow.  I instantly thought we were on 'Wall Street' as the boats were significantly larger.  On our port side we have Donnie, a super guy who cannot provide enough information to us to have a better time at Legacy and beyond (Bahamas).  The other side we have a 59ft Marquis that is being worked on (read a lot of dust).  The other semi permanent folks are awesome, and welcomed us in many ways, including cocktails.   One fellow dock mate is 'Marv' of Dee Light, who puts out an everyday email on buoy conditions around the area.  Nice guy.  Other boats range from 46' Carvers and several 65'ers.  A personal favorite boat of mine is a Fleming, and I have to walk past two of them each day.  They are so cool.  Legacy is located near 'old' Ft Myers.  We can walk downtown easily, and there are nice restaurants and stores.  There is also a nice riverside park system to walk Daisy.

Shortly after we arrived, brother Robin loaned us his Lexus SUV for our use while at Legacy (4 weeks total).  WOW.... How nice.  He also brought along a coconut, Christmas lights, and a couple of plants to decorate our boat.  How cool is that?!!! (Thanks Robin).  Other than  driving defensively  with white knuckles to avoid messing up Robins SUV, it was great to have a car to see some sights.

Anything wrong here?

Just Us... Great View

Time for a Beer and Grouper sandwich 

Ft Myers Beach (FMB)
We visited FMB five times.  What a great time, place, and talk about RnR.  We typically would be there around 11AM or so and stay until 4PM.  Vicki and I went by ourselves once, we then asked Dave and Michele from Just Us to join us for four times, and we than had our grandson with us one time.  Simply stated, if you are a beach kinda person you know what it was like to see the sights, (all of them).  Having a cold beer on beach, while in the sun on a light breeze kinda day is truly relaxing.  Have another beer and things simply meld together, and it is all good.  we typical went for a sandwich, and I fell in love with Blackened Grouper.

Ferris Profs, Speirs, Carney, and Hill
Is that Batman trying to fly on the left?

Beach Crew, with Ferris friends

While at FMB one day Bob Speirs and Jeff Carney (former colleagues from Ferris State University) made arrangements to join us.  What a great time.  When I retired, I wondered who would be the first person to make contact while on the loop or shortly thereafter.  Now I know, and I was happy to see them, they are truly great guys, and well respected Professors of their disciplines.

Jr. and GrandPa on 'Jet Ski'

When my grandson visited us we had a great time relaxing.  But the hit of that day was I rented a 'Jet Ski' for an hour.  My grandson was excited, and he should have been.  We rented a decently powered two seater Yamaha.  What fun for him and me.  We went all over the place doing what a 13 year old would do with  a watercraft.  The Yamaha went 80 MPH.  I was surprised that they would rent one that went that fast.  Great watercraft, smooth, fast, quiet.  They have changed so much over the years.

Check out the
Ringling and Barnum
Poster
one of hundreds

This is one miniature display
Total pieces exceeded 44,000

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ringling Brothers  MuseumWe made a day trip to the Ringling Brothers Museum in Sarasota.  First, if you have the time, take the time and effort to see this jewel of a museum.  The museum is divided into several areas on the museum grounds.  First stop for us was the 44,000 piece miniature circus.  This creation was so very impressive.  It is difficult to explain but it contains all facets of a circus.  From arriving at a town with train cars, to every detail to make the show go.  Awesome detail, color, and presentation.  Next was an older part of the first circus museum. This area housed many larger artifacts, like John Ringlings personal train car, human cannon vehicle, carving area, and several circus wagons. Next on the waters, was "Ca' d'Zan"  meaning 'House of John' in the dialect of Venice.   This place was impressive, in its opulence. Another area is John Ringlings multi million dollar art collection.  Vicki likes fine art and she was wowed at this exhibit.  On the grounds there are many sculpture gardens.  The place was a great  visit. 

Mark Rides a Horse Bareback
WITH sandals on.

Vicki rides bareback...Kinda

Vicki Looking Great 

Greeting Room Ceiling

Main Entertainment room
Transom Ceiling 

First time I have seen a
stained glass transom ceiling

Dining room ceiling detail.
This is only a small portion  

Some stuff I do not like
But Vicki does

Ca' d'Zan
The House of John (Ringling)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jr with Charlie.  Both slept well that night.

L-R  Blue Willow, Ocean Breeze, Just Us

Visiting Friends
We were able to visit a couple of Looper friends.  Ocean Breeze, Average Looper, and Navigator.
We were near the end of FMB on a boat so we kinda found Navigator, and Average Looper.  We simply said hi and talked for a few moments.  We took Dave and Michele (Just US) and our grandson to see Todd and Paula from Ocean Breeze.  We had a great time in the pool with their dog Charlie

Shopping
It was so nice to travel easily to a store with the use of a car.  From Engine Oil for oil changes to food to repair items, it was so nice (Thanks again Robin).

Grandson Travels
There will be a separate blog post on my Grandsons visit.


At Legacy Harbour, there was a Thanksgiving Dinner Potluck, with Legacy providing a ham.  What a great time, and great food too.  Near the end there was 'entertainment'.  All the women in attendance were invited to stand in front of the group and sing "Sister Sister"  Click for Video

Ft Myers has a couple of cool restaurants Al Capones, and
Ford Garage, and they serve great tasting food.  Here are some pics to describe the place:

Hoist above the bar. Nice.

Tool Chest Carts for Tap Bar.

Door Handle to Mens Restroom

Mens Sinks.  You need to turn a control valve
to get water from Gas pump handle.

'Napkin' is a shop towel.
with Hose clamp.

Thanks for peeking in on our blog.  Those of you at work, are you supposed to be reading blogs?

Thanksgiving in Naples with Robin and Ken

"Its a hard knock life"

We arrived in Ft Myers a couple of days before Thanksgiving.  Robin my younger brother invited Vicki, Daisy and me to have Thanksgiving in Naples with my older brother Ken coming over.  What a great time.  Robin, drove to Ft Myers and picked us up, and, cooked a traditional dinner, that was awesome.  We had Robins famous Key Lime Pie too.... yum.  It was nice to watch some football and catchup on things with them.  Robin has a dog named Lucy, and I took both Daisy and Lucy for a walk...better said Lucy took Daisy and me for a walk.  It was very relaxing to just sit around.  Thanks Robin.

Robin with Lucy and Daisy

Dunedin to Ft Meyers

Nice Sunset

We had such a great time in Dunedin, but alas, it was time to move on.

Don Ce Sar  (or CeSar)

Our first anchorage was called Don Ce Sar.  The name was derived from a huge hotel/entertainment complex that was built in the mid 1920's.  Click for link to Don Ce Sar It is still there and it was impressive.  The anchorage was down three narrow channels, with shallow sides, and a couple of shoaling areas, throw in crab pots,  an island, and a bridge with several gaps to navigate.... it was no problem, only one small rub on the keel ;~).  We motored very slowly, but we ended up in a cool anchorage.  The winds were steady 15 MPH, but the anchor held fine.

A favorite, Pelicans resting in the trees.
One would think that the branches
couldnot hold this much weight.
There were many many more
Pelicans all around the back.

The island housed a rookery(?) for the several hundred pelicans in the area.  They sit in the trees just like a chick-a-dee would.  They were fun to watch, just like when they are diving into the water to get their meal.  I took Daisy for a long walk on the huge beaches of St Petersburg, she was a running fool!!

Opps.

On our way to Sarasota, we heard of a 32FT Catamaran that was in distress.  We joined about 5 other boats in helping this guy and his two mates to right his boat.  We did nothing, as we could not do anything that was already tried.  We exited after being told it was okay to depart.  after we departed, all the fire/rescue/marine authorities were storming to them.  The vessel that first responded, was detained for aver two hours to do paperwork (they seemed pissed on the radio).

The second night we stayed  on a mooring ball  at Marina Jacks in Sarasota.  We were on ball #1. That was great as it was easy to take Daisy to shore.  Later, Vicki, Daisy and I went to shore for a walk in the park and the marina areas.  What a great place.  We were a bit tired, so we went for a beer at a Tiki Bar.  Beer was cold, so we had another and a burger....  Life sure is good at times, and this was one of those times !


The next evening was went to Englewood Anchorage.  We later learned that there are three of them.  Poor planning on our part, as we could not get Daisy to shore easily.  But sometimes things work out. As we (Vicki, Daisy, and me) were exploring the area via dingy, to find a place for Daisy to do her business, Vicki wanted some Ice Cream.  We stopped at a small shack that looked like a ice cream stand, but alas, it was a boat rental office.  We finally asked them where to take daisy, when they offered their boat launch site, at night, and after signing wavier papers (seriously!).


While at Englewood, we witnessed first hand a serious problem in Florida with derelict boats. There were four at this single anchorage.  The basic premise, is that homeless, and unemployed or minimally employed people purchase  a (typically) old beat-up sail boat and use it as their domicile.  They place it anywhere.  They dispose their wastes near the vessel, among other less pleasing  efforts.  This issue is not new but it is serious.  The Florida water authorities are gathering information as to how to solve the issue.  I have taken two surveys on the issue (as a transient).  I support the concept cleaning up this issue for all water lovers.  We also saw this issue in Alabama.  Two  inebriated guys were making their way to their derelict boat, and barely made it into their boat.  I was told by locals that they have had drownings of these folks. Sad.

Daisy Chasing Coconuts

Good Girl!

She loved this activity

We went over to a small island
This cut was shallow, but later
filled in via the rising tide.

Having fun at Pelican Bay

The final evening we anchored at Pelican Bay State Park.  We were told that this was a great place, and it was nice.  Dogs are not allowed on designated beaches in the state parks.  We still had three to choose from.  All three were shell sand, and it was fun to walk the beaches, Daisy was a wild woman.  She had a funny time retrieving coconuts from the water.  She could not get her teeth to 'grab' the coconut and chased it around a few times, then she got the technique.  We waded from an island to a peninsula, had that portion all to our selves.

SHARK!!!!  (baby)

We witnessed a small shark being caught. It sure fought.  The people fishing were really excited.

Thanks for peeking in on our blog...... sorry we have been slacking.

Dunedin - Marker 1 Marina (for one week)

Evening View Dunadin

Celebrating the Crossing With Patroit

After making the crossing, and taking Daisy to do her business, we were really, really, glad to stop in a Marker 1 Marina.  Great place, and great location. After a long nap, we started to meet with others that crossed with us (or is it we crossed with them?).  It was fun to rehash the minor events of the crossing, and the crab pot stories.  We then had a celebration dinner.

The Bike Trail had this type of
Artistic Signage for each village

When we arrived it was still decent weather.  We took the bicycles off the boat and took many rides.  Our first ride was to Tarpon Springs (sponge Capital), with Spititus and Patroit we had a great ride.  We had lunch at Hellas, a greek restaurant. If you have been there slip the rest of this paragraph.  It was awesome, Vicki and I shared, Mousaka (Greek Shepard's  Pie, {Lamb, cheese, veggies,  mashed potatoes etc} and Stuffed Grape Leaves.  They were superb.  We both had a great (Greek) desert. If you have been there, you know the bakery is second to none.  After Lunch, we visited a imported licorice candy store.  Vicki had Strawberry rope licorice from Germany, and I had old school Black licorice from Finnland. Need I say it?  Superb. After the treats, we did the tourist thing, we rode the bikes back to Dunedin. 

Mouth Watering just to look at!!

The next day we rode the bikes to Historical downtown Dunedin.  We found a farmers market and adjoining arts and crafts fair. We replenished our veggies. It was very nice.  Of note:  We visited a jam and jelly stand.  Okay now, not a typical booth.  These guys get old recipes that are kind of historical in their reputation  I cannot tell you how awesome the actual tastes were.  They gave us perhaps 15-20 samples….. they were superb.  I could not believe that they could capture the tastes that well.  We purchased a dark chocolate raspberry jam.  It is simply  AWESOME.

Great Seafood everywhere.

Coconut Shrimp

We drove back to Tarpon Springs on saturday night for their Sea Food Festival.  Not disappointed.  Good food everywhere, and we stopped at a band playing great music.  Kinda fun when the first 5-6 songs you hear are favorites..... Beer, food and music..... All good

The weather turned cold while in Dunedin, and very cold across the entire U.S.  We were dressed in layers, kinda like back home in Michigan.  When I departed on this trip I said I was not going to wear long pants the entire trip.  Well……. I wore them four days in a row!!! Furthermore, I developed an chest cold (first one in many many years).  All was still good.

I mentioned on another post, that I blew a head gasket on the Dingy engine whenI took Daisy to do her business right after the crossing.  I purchased a part, and installed it.  Whooo Hoo!!! it worked perfect.  Wow, I was ready to purchase a new or used engine…. glad it worked out (at least so far…stay tuned).

We shared several dinners with Patroit, and played card games as well, and drank a few ginger ales alone the night. One night we had the same with Spititus, and another night with Just Us.

Freezing 

While the temps were pretty cold, we still rode our bikes to Honeymoon Beach State Park ($2 each??)  It was not a special event other than freezing, we thought it would be much better than it was (perhaps low tide was a factor).

Hugs are great.

Vicki met up with a cousin that she has not seen in several years.  It seemed that Vicki and Debby HASTINGS had a great time talking things over....  Remember When?.......  Debby, her husband Mel, Vicki and I went out to linch at the Alfresco Cafe.

Our last night we went to dinner with at the Ozone Restaurant.  We went with Just Us, Patroit, Grand Vita, Spiritus.  Great night, and superb food.  I had Seafood Pescatore, perhaps the best meal on the Loop so far, (shrimp, Scallops, Mussels, Clams, Grouper, and mushrooms in a tomato sauce) Need I say it?  Vicki had Shrimp and crab.

Note: Sure was a lot of food in this blog entry.   Have I gained any weight?...  Thanks for peeking in on our Loop Blog.

The Crossing - Tuesday November 11-12

Daisy watches the Sun Setting on the Gulf of Mexico
Does she know that no potty breaks for 23.5 hours?

Please Note: This Post is for information purposes only, (Do Not use to plan your crossing)

Background:
When doing the 'Great Loop'  there are many options as to which route to take.  The 'Bend" of the Florida Panhandle is one such decision point.  There are basically two options to make the 'Crossing'.
(See AGLCA image to the right of the webpage)

One:
Take the Bend route.  This route would be to follow the coastline around the bend.  This option would require a shallow draft (less than 4ft), considerations for time to destination during daylight hours, wind, and ability to see the crap pots, and tide considerations.  The 'bend' option is typically selected by those that can meet the requirements, and prefer not to be out of sight of the shoreline, and avoid a long, long trip with moderate risk involved.

Two:
Take the direct route, approximately 170 miles, and 21 hours at 7 knts, typically from Carabelle/Dog Island to Tarpon Springs (or another common route, Apalachicola to Dunedin).  This option seems to be the most preferred. Considerations are fuel capability, speed, communications, buddy boat, and the crews ability to help and handle the trip, among other considerations.

We (Blue Willow and Patroit) selected to do a direct crossing from Carabelle/Dog Island to Dunedin.
Weather windows are selected and are very important to do the crossing with minimal risk, and perhaps actually enjoy the trip.

Statistically, there are two major  weather windows in November to do a safe and moderately enjoyable crossing.  The weather window seemed to be in our favor for a tuesday November 11th crossing. We were in Apalachicola, and planned on a nice lunch and a walk through some shops, and then proceed to Carabelle, for fuel and vessel inspections. We received a 10 AM Weather Update from Eddy from the Weather WAG, that the crossing window was closing in for wednesday (second half of the crossing).

Okay time for a quick Captains Meeting.
We met for a couple of minutes, but it was evident that it was time to go.  We could top off the fuel in Apalachicola, do inspections and be at Buoy #2 by noon.  FYI Buoy #2 at Dog Island is the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico.  A noon departure from Buoy #2 is the proper time and location for a vessel doing the crossing to arrive at buoy #4 (just north/west of the Dunedin and back on the GICW) with proper light to see the crab pots when traveling 7.5 Knts.

We were in contact with Infinite Sea and Charese who departed from Carabelle, we actually met at Buoy #2 at the same time, and these boats were our 'Crossing Buddy Boats' (same speed, and a group stays together if any problems arise).

The Sun Setting during our Crossing

The Crossing
Weather: Fair, 74F, light winds, at the beginning.  The temps lowered in the early morning hours, guessing 70F, and the winds picked up a bit. We had both doors open to the salon the entire way.

When we started from Dog Island, we set the autopilot course bearing for 136 degrees,  the four boats made a plan to rotate  on the half hour, a radio 'Checkin'.  This was nice, in that, it would help keep the captain alert.  We naturally spaced ourselves out, typically two in front and two in back, and spacing varied from 200 yards to three miles apart.  This worked well.
We could hear radio chatter of boats ahead of us, and learned Spititus, Aunt Aggie, and others were ahead of us, five total in all ahead of us.  We also knew that a few 'go fast boats' were staging behind us for their crossing later, there were four in that group.

Vicki made special preparations for snack foods, and drinks.  She also made a high carb and protein dinner.  For our watch schedule, we made a plan for two on two off during daylight hours, and three on and three off for nighttime hours.

The first half of the crossing was purely uneventful. tiring and a bit boring,other than that,  nothing to note.  The later half conditions provided a bit more to process and required some minor changes to the "136 Heading".  We had following seas, and they were hitting on out port stern a bit, and the waves were building a bit 3-4 foot.  Just enough to be a PIA.  Every 4th for 5th wave caused a slight roll and pitch, and a few were a bit larger.  This started at 12 AM and lasted till 4 AM.  The seas settled down a bit near daybreak, but were still 3-4's.  Rolling diminished as well.  We did not go straight to the Marker1 Marina.  We made a stop at Caldesi Island for Daisy to do her business.  We anchored, dropped the dinghy, and motored to the island (blew a head gasket on the way... story later).  Daisy went further than I thought she would, but number one and two were done quickly.  Daisy and I ran along the island in the sand a bit, and found a posted sign:  No Camping, Alcohol, or Pets.  Too late!!!

We saw the Sun Set, Moon Rise, and the Sun Rise.  The sky was good, but I was hoping for a brighter   sky and more stars.  I saw dolphins breach right in front of us a couple of times.  I sat outside at the bow for a few hours, just soaking in the elements. I sat at both the upper and lower helm at various times. It truly was a decent crossing al in all.

Sunrise near Marker #4
Do you see any Crab Pots?

Crab Pots
For those that do not know about the dreaded Crab Pots, they are a major PIA for those that travel the coastal waters where crabs are present.  The 'Pot' is a perhaps, 8" diameter 'Bobber' that indicates the location of a crab trap, which is tethered via a line which looks to be about 1" in diameter.  The pot is colored in some fashion,including , BLACK!!  WTF.  Crab traps are about 24 " square, and about 18" tall (they are regulated in there size).  The location of the pots can be anywhere except in defined navigational routes, but they can line the route, and they can accidentally drift into the route too.  Crab pots typically start at 30 ft depths, but may be placed in 50 ft as well.  There are 1,000's (if not 10,000's) of them in some locations.  Entering the Tarpon Springs area we had many to dodge.  With the sun rising at near the same angle (136), the lighting conditions were marginal at best due to the reflection.  Recognizing a crab pot took some attention by all on board.  With Vicki at the bow pulpit, and me at the upper helm we managed to avoid any problems.  Two boats in our total group hit the pots.  They required towing in to a local marina, but no damage that we now of.  (Other boats have been known to have prop, shaft, and or holes in their boats from grabbing a crab pot with their running gear).  When looking for the crab pots, one must scan from the bow out about 100 ft, and to the sides about 20-30 feet each way.  Once spotted, Vicki would point at it until it passed safely, she needed three arms sometimes.  If we missed one dead on, we would typically see it 40 ft or so, and swerve very hard to avoid the damn pot.

Marker 1 Marina
We arrived at the marina safe and sound.  It was fun to rehash the crossing event with others.  We then proceeded to take a long nap, and try to refresh ourselves.  I am very thankful for an uneventful crossing.  As I started dreaming then planning  this trip, the crossing was always an issue for me.  How would it play out? Now I know.

Thanks for peeping in on our blog!