Ft Myers to Key West

Dolphin "Floating' in the water

Our time at Legacy Harbour Marina in Ft Myers came to an end two days after Christmas.  We waited a day for a weather window, to make our way to Key West.  We will miss the boaters at Legacy. they could not have been any friendlier.

The day before we departed Ft Myers we topped our tanks off......$2.65/gal Are you serious?

B/W  Of Legacy Harbour 'B dock'
We are there on 'Wall Street'
Somewhere

Our planned route would take us from Ft Myers to Marco Island, to Everglade City,  to Flamingo, to Marathon, then arrive at Stock Island (which is right adjacent to Key West.  We took this route because of Daisy.  There are simply few places to let Daisy do her business.  Reasons for this include: Daylight traveling time, Everglades National Park restriction of dogs on NP key property, alligators,  crab pots, and mangroves (zero place to get a place to pee or poo).  I worked on this small portion of the trip as much as any other segment.  It was simply a PIA to plan.

Typical Conditions From Ft  Myers
to Stock Island

The weather for the duration of this segment was nothing short of FANTASTIC. Warm/Hot, very light winds if any, and plenty of sunshine, and even clouds when it was too hot.  Very special.

On this segment, we saw so many dolphins it was unreal.  The dolphins react to our boat (I assume the sound) nearly 300 yards away. They will make a small leap, and do another one, and make a 180 degree turn about 20 yards just to the side of the boat, and then proceed to get right under the anchor pulpit.  They usually stay for about 5 minutes, some less, and several stay longer.  The antics that do is highly amusing. Of particular note is the "I'm Peeking at You' look.  This is when while swimming they tilt their head and look at us!  We never get tired of them, it is great fun.  At one time, we had six dolphins right below the anchor pulpit leaping over one another..... what a show, and what fun it was, Daisy enjoys the dolphins too.  She now perks her ears and wags her tail when they are with us.     Please CLICK for Video1    and  CLICK for Video2. Again, we cannot get tired of seeing these awesome mammals.

Jelly Anyone?

We have seen many other critters too.  We have seen Jellies, Manatee, fish of all types,   One fish, near Flamingo, five feet long and a foot thick, was swimming at us.  It then decided to leap up, and basically touch the starboard side.  It breached the water entirely, and made a huge splash.  Vicki said  'What the Heck was that?'  I was impressed.

Crab Pots.  Put as many swear words as you care to use here (but use a lot). 10,000's of them.  Hate them, always in my way, always white knuckled, always worried that I may grab one on the prop shaft.  After 8 hours of dodging them, one gets kinda pissed.  Why in the hell would anyone use black, dark blue indicators?  I have a plan if I snag one of these.  I plan to take the dingy and proceed to cut the lines off as many floats as I can,  and finally place a note on the last one saying 'If you cannot find your crab pot floats, keep looking, they blend in with the water'.

First stop Marco Island.  What a great trip great sights.  We anchored in the middle of a residential area.  As a friend said ' There are not many teachers that live here'.  True.  It was opulence on a grand scale.

Crab Boat 

Blue Willow in
Everglades City

Notice the 'Daisy' ramp angle.
It was angled down the other way
when we arrived.

We then proceeded to make our way to Everglade City.  We had a slight concern as we were entering the inlet at low tide, ...kinda shallow, but all was okay.  We knew this was a working port, meaning there would be commercial crabbing and shrimping. But, damn,  3:45 AM? and nearby was a public launch.  Okay, this is a good thing.  As we needed to travel 10 hours to get to Flamingo.  We got up early 5ish, and had coffee etc, and then made our way out the inlet, heading for Flamingo
In Everglades City there is the famous Rod and Gun Club.  This place has been visited by presidents, movie stars, yada yada yada.  Very nice place, cool stuff on the walls. Pricy food.

Vicki and Daisy enjoying
the evening sun at Flamingo

Vicki enjoying the LLOOONNG
Ride to Flamingo
Whats with the over the glasses look?

Our longest day of this segment was the Flamingo portion.  We  made great time nothing exceptional about the trip.  Flamingo is part of the Everglades National Park system.  What a surprise.  There was all kinds of stuff going on.  Kayaks, canoes, tour boats, and many many fishermen and boats.  Very busy place.  When we registered, the guy says make sure you get a grouper sandwich at the restaurant.  Okay, we went there, then from the waitress No shrimp, No Scallops, No Fish including Grouper.  HHmmmm  Okay.

Marathon Sunset.

Marine City at Marathon

A short day to Marathon was next. Totally uneventful, until we went under seven mile bridge, and entered Boot Key Harbor.  Must be 100 boats at anchor, and then add 270 boats in the mooring field, and marinas too..  WOW.  City on the water.  We anchored as the mooring field had a waiting list (12 boats).  All was fine, met several people.  One couple were parents of a Ferris alum.  Wearing my Ferris swag, I had a great talk with them.  They are very proud of their Ferris connection.  Near the marina office, there must bee 1,000 bikes that boaters use.  The dingy docks are huge as well.  the channels are like I75, and I saw 12 dingies running at the same time, like a slow motion highway.

Our View from our slip in
Stock Island Key West

We made it to Stock Island Marina okay, nothing of note except:  On the dock waiting to catch our lines was a friend from Legacy.  Wow that was weird.  Left him at Legacy, and he greets me at Stock Island.

Addendum
Christmas Day 2014
While we celebrated our official Christmas with our Grandson, we still had a nice Christmas dinner with Just Us.  I cooked the prime rib, Vicki did the beans and potatoes, and Michelle brought over some home made bread with dipping oils.  Dave and I had the King Cut, and the ladies had the Queen cut of Prime rib.  We had an awesome time.  Not our traditional Christmas, but one to remember.

Prime Rib Christmas Dinner with
Dave and Michelle

Michelle juicing up the carolers
at Legacy Christmas Eve.

As Red Skelton said many times: 'Good Night for now, May God Bless'

Grandson Visits us in Ft Myers for a week

This photo was taken by Jr
in Key Largo
on his phone camera.

Jason Mark Hill Jr. Visits Grandma and Grandpa in Ft. Myers

Leading up to Christmas, we had a preplanned a visit from our Grandson, Jason Mark Hill Jr.  What an event!
We made plans with Jr's parents for him to make the trip. That would include taking three days off from school in Traverse City (he is a good student).  Our daughter Kourtney was instrumental in getting the details worked out.

Here is how Jr got to Ft Myers.:
December 16:
Jr's dad would drive him to Big Rapids, where Kourtney would pick him up and drive to Grand Ledge 195 miles.
December 17:
Kourtney would take Jr to the Detroit Metro Airport for a noon non-stop flight to Ft Myers
We would pick him up and bring him to the boat in Legacy Harbour Ft Myers.

Jr arrives in Ft Myers, Tired?

It was a long day for Jr. but he was glad to be in the sun of Florida.

Waiting for Uncle Robin to
rig the poles

Eating some chips, and
Checking things out.

Another fish story....
Big fish on, then off.

We witnessed an incredible,
 three dolphin show.

Waiting for the big one

Where is the drag again?

Fishing near an inlet, with the birds

December 18:
My brother Robin offered to take us fishing in last fall, and we gladly accepted his offer.
We (including Vicki) met Robin in the Bonita Springs area to board Robins fishing boat.  Robin brought all the poles, tackle, and shrimp bait.  We proceeded to fish the Bonita area, and the lower Ft Myers Beach area.
Jason had the first bite and he had a fish on!!!  It was a serious strike, and I thought he would loose his pole as it was bending almost 180 degrees, and was fighting good.  Robin got serious and we did everything to help him land the fish.........Alas, the fish dropped off.  Robin inspected the leader and surmised that it was a decent sized Snook due to the frayed leader and the fight the fish displayed.  WOW, that was fun.  will there be more for Jr.?......  No that was his only serious 'catch' of the day.  he had many bites, and even some hooked for a brief time but that was it for Jr.  That Day Robin caught a few Sheepshead and I caught one.  A few other fish were caught as well. All of us had several bites, before things died off.  It was a superb day out on the water, with the weather perfect for fishing.  While fishing, we witnessed an awesome three dolphin show, spectacular  nature in action.

Fun

Vicki, Jr, Dave, Michele, and Me at
Ft Myers Beach

Highlight of the day if not the trip, Gpa and Jr

December 19:
We planned to go the Ft Myers Beach.  We asked Just Us to join us, and we all went and had a great time.  The sun and winds were perfect.  Jr was wanting to ride a 'Jet Ski'. So I rented one for an hour. Jr drove it for the entire hour, and we had a blast on the calm waters.

Our view at Germain Arean

Stupid "selfie" Grandpa and Jr.
Jr wanted NOTHING
to do with this photo.

Later that evening Jr and I went to a ECHL Everblades Hockey game.  It was a great night of action packed hockey.  It was fun to have someone enjoy a hockey game with me, and Jr felt the same as I did.  Of note: Travis Olouette (sp), whom I watched play hockey at Ferris State University for the past four years, played for the visiting Gwinnett Gladiators who player against the Florida Everblades.  Travis played well.

Nice pic of Jr

December 20:
We woke up early and we drove from Ft Myers to Key Largo to go snorkeling.  Vicki, Jr, and I went to John Pennekamp State Park. We boarded a boat that took us us out 8 miles to Grecian Reef to snorkel for 1.5 hours.  We had an awesome time, Jr took to snorkeling like a....fish.  He did a great job, and circled the entire reef, and then repeated the major areas, and we saw some awesome fish, including a 5-6 foot Barracuda, Angels, Stripe bass, Parrot, Sg Majors, etc.

We saw three Alligators
during our ride!

December 21:
After sleeping in Key Largo, we proceeded to go to the mainland for a Air Boat ride.  An air boat is a shallow draft aluminum boat with a car engine and propeller which then propels the occupants over the water and grasses.  We were in the Everglades National Park and it was fun.  We saw three wild alligators.  This was an ecological tour, so we had many stops that the guide would then explain aspects of the natural system of the everglades.  What a great time.  Pure fun.  CLICK FOR VIDEO

Styling, Everglades hat matches
TC west Tee shirt,
matches Ron Jon board swimsuit.
Dude!!

Jr. with Charlie

Grandma, Charlie, and Jr at
friends Todd and Paula's pool
in Cape Coral

Our 2014 Christmas Tree
With three presents underneath.

Jr. Doing some RnR

Jr. earned his Official:
Blue Willow CREW Tee shirt

Vicki opening her
Christmas Presents.

Do you think he likes his
Ron Jon Swag?

December 22:
We planned a RnR day, but we were actually pretty busy.  We went to a highly desired and awaited Ron Jon Surf Shop shopping trip, Christmas shopping downtown Ft Myers, swam at the marina pool, visited Looper friends who live in Cape Coral (more pool time), we then had a 'Mini Christmas' where we exchanged small gifts.

Ready to board the plane.
(he sure looks big to me)
Awesome week!!!!

December 23
The 23rd, was Jrs last day with us.  We had a lot to do to clean things up, so we did work around the boat, and Jr tried to do some school work.  We had lunch, and then departed for the airport. The return logistics were similar to the arrival schedule.

What a great time.  What a superb time.  This is the most time I have had with Jr since hockey camp days.  Jr. is a great kid we are so proud of him.

Some how, some way we want all the grandkids to join us for a leg on the Great Loop.  We are thinking about when and where this may occur.


A BIG Thank-you to Jr's parents and Kourtney for making this trip possible.


Thanks for visiting our blog.