Day 36

We spent the night at W.P. Franklin lock which has a great campground with eight boat slips.  We had a very peaceful and quiet night.  We woke to cooler temperatures, and an early morning with a fog hovering just above the water to about four feet above the water.  I was a peaceful and serene sight.

We got going about 8:00 or so and had to wait a little bit for the lock to be ready for us to transit.  The lock dropped us about three feet, not a whole lot, and we moved out of the lock and on our way.  We were in no hurry; I estimated the day’s journey to be about 30 miles.  We were on the Caloosahatchee River which takes you past Cape Coral, and Ft. Myers.  Some very nice places along the river.  It is a wide river for the most part, and we had some wind which created a little chop.  Nothing big, but some whitecaps in the river.  After a bit it calmed down and we went past Sanibel Island and out into the Gulf of Mexico for a short ride to the Matanzas Pass, and into Estero Bay behind Estero Island.  Estero Island is where Ft. Myers Beach is located.  There is a mooring field owned by the city of Ft. Myers Beach and run by the Matanzas Inn.  The mooring field is quite large, and stretches for over a mile.

 

This was our destination, Ft. Myers Beach and the mooring field.  I had called ahead to “reserve” a mooring, and was told no reservations, first come first serve.  When we arrived I called and requested an assignment.  The woman hemmed and hawed, and suggested #’s 52 or 55. Turns out there was already a boat on #52, we couldn’t seem to find #55, so we took #54 as it was empty.  By the way, there aren’t many open moorings here.  We got tied to the mooring, then got the dinghy down and motored into the office to pay.  When I told the woman we ended up on #54, she said that someone had paid for that and they must be out for the day.  So I asked about #52 again and also asked for a map to help us locate where the numbered mooring are.  She said #52 is no longer available as was #55.  People had tied up and came into pay before we got to the office.  She suggested #68 or #69, but didn’t really have a handle on which ones were taken or empty.  So we took the map, got back in the dinghy, and circled the mooring field with me calling her about empty moorings to see if they were taken.  Turns out we were back to #68 or #69, neither of which had a pendant on them, which is what you used to tie your boat to.  I called her back and said we would take #69, and don’t give it away since we had to go back to the boat, drop the other mooring and tie up to #69.  But even before that, we had to go back to the boat, grab some lines, and create our own pendant for #69.  We got the lines threaded through the eye of the mooring ball, and using a lifejacket as a float, created the pendant we could then attach to.  We went back to the boat, dropped the mooring #54, and motored back to #69.  Grabbing the lifejacket with the boat hook, we brought the lines on board and got Rogue tied to the mooring.  Now, we had to jump back into the dinghy and motor the mile plus back to the office to pay.  #69 is at the extreme far end of the mooring field.  There are only 70 moorings, so you get the picture.  Finally we got everything squared away, we paid up, got some necessary information and we now have our spot for the next 30 days.  Whew, what a cluster that was.

By this time it was after 4 p.m., we arrived at 1:30 p.m.  Since we were in town, we decided to stay and wait for my friends Craig and Ann to arrive.  They live here full time and were meeting us for dinner, so we went to the nearest tiki bar and had a few drinks while we waited.  We then had a nice dinner overlooking the beach and the sunset.  It was really nice to see Craig and Ann, it had been quite a while and I’m looking forward to hanging here for a while and spending time with them.

Wednesday morning Rousby, my crew, is leaving me so I will be on the boat by myself until my wife Janice flies in on February 13^th.  WooHoo, looking forward to some female companionship.

Today’s travel was 35.9 miles for a total of approximately 1384 miles.  Travel time was 4hrs 55mins.

Well boys and girls, Until next time….

P.S. Hi Tyler.

Sunrise and W.P. Franklin

Rogue in the mist.

Day 35

When I woke up this morning I could hear the raindrops hitting the boat.  Oh boy, this should be fun.  Can’t I just sleep a little longer?  No, I guess not, it’s after 7:00 and we can’t be here all day, 55 miles to go today.  Get dressed and suck it up.  I made my tea and headed for the back deck to see what was happening.  It seemed no one was moving all that fast, although one big sportfisher had left already.  We were wedged between two larger boats, so Rousby and I mulled how we were going to get out from between them.  Normally it wouldn’t be much of a problem using a spring line to pivot on, however, given that approach, if I would swing the stern out to then back up, the wind was blowing in such a direction the when we released the spring line the wind would blow me back into the boat behind me.  Not to mention we were tied up in a narrow canal with rocks on the opposite bank, so how far could I really back out.  So, it seemed going out bow first might be the best option, but how do I get the bow out far enough to clear the boat in front without hitting my swim platform on the dock.  Decisions, decisions.  As we were contemplating strategy, the captain of the boat in front came by and said they were leaving in about 15 minutes if we wanted to wait for him.  Well, ok.  We’ll even help you get off the dock.  Problem solved.  So by the time we got going it was around 9:00, a little later start to the day, but we should be ok.

Well, it rained on and off all morning and into the early afternoon.  Oh, did I mention that is was cold and windy as well?  Cold being a relative term, I’m talking 50 degrees cold.  We were dressed in long pants and jackets or sweatshirts all day.  A far cry from the shorts and t-shirts we had been wearing.  So as a result of the shivering cold and rain, we drove the boat from the lower station protected from the weather.  The only time we ventured out to drive from the flybridge was when we had to negotiate a lock.  There were two that needed to be managed from the flybridge.  There were also a couple of bridges we needed to have opened, but we could do that from below. As we were transiting the locks, we notices swirls in the water that seemed to be moving.  Upon closer inspection we realized the swirls were being made by manatees.  Several of them in fact.  You could see them come to the surface for air, then dive down and away.  We had to go very slowly for a while until we no longer saw swirls.  It was fascinating to watch.  So on we went to within a couple miles of Ft. Myers.  We actually did see the sun for a while toward the end of the day and had a nice sunset. Tomorrow is expected to be a little warmer, it might even get up to 60 or 62 degrees, and with sunshine, it could be downright pleasant.

I had intended to stay in an anchorage just outside of a federal park next to W.P. Franklin lock.  It’s a nice protected basin with room for several boats.  Upon looking at my resources again I looked into the federal park more closely.  Turns out they have eight slips with 15 or 20ft. finger piers and electricity, all for the princely sum of $30.  And, if you have a national park pass, which I do, the price is cut in half to $15.  How can you lose?  I called them up and checked it out.  No problem, just pick your slip.  So for $15 we are tied up with electricity at a beautiful national park.  It’s a really nice place.  File this for future reference.

Tomorrow we will travel about 30 miles to our final destination, a mooring field in Estero Bay, just off Ft. Myers Beach.  We should arrive in the early afternoon giving us time to get settled and get the dinghy in the water, our personal water taxi, our water car.  We are going to meet my friend Craig and his wife Ann for dinner.  I’m looking forward to seeing them again, it has been quite a while since we have been able to get together.

Today we traveled 55.1 miles for a total of approximately 1348 miles. Total travel time was 7hrs. 43mins.

So boys and girls, Until Tomorrow…..

P.S. Hi Tyler.

Day 34

Today was the day we tackled the Okeechobee.  The lake has a reputation for being a menace on windy days.  It is wide open and there is a lot of water, so with a good wind you have a lot of fetch which can build some big chop.  Nothing like the ocean mind you but it can come at you fast and hard.

But before I go there, let me tell you a little about the morning.  The sun came up in a clear sky, with sunshine all day long.  It was a little on the chilly side, at 8:00 a.m. it was 51 degrees with a spritely breeze making it feel cooler than that.  I was dressed in shorts, t-shirt and a lightweight jacket.  Rousby, about the same.  We pulled anchor about 7:45 and headed out.  After about a half hour we both were questioning our wardrobe choices.  After an hour the temperature had elevated to a balmy 52 degrees.  A little while later Rousby said he was going to go put on another layer.  After about two hours I decided to change into long pants and a fleece sweatshirt over my t-shirt.  I was downstairs in the midst of getting changed when I heard the engines throttle down to idle and the boat slow.  I poked my head up so I could see out the windshield and there was a lock.  I knew there was a lock, but it came much quicker than I thought.  So here we were totally unprepared.  I scrambled to get dressed again, ran upstairs and took over the controls while Rousby started getting lines ready just in case.  We also needed fenders hung over the side, and here we were entering the lock with nothing ready.  Fortunately the lock tender threw lines down to us so we just had to set the fenders.  The wind was starting to blow a little harder now, but since we were down below ground level we couldn’t feel it so it didn’t feel so cold.  The tender closed the lock doors behind us and started flooding the lock.  It took about 20 minutes and the water level rose at least ten feet.  Quite a rise.  By the time the lock was completely flooded most of the boat was above ground level and subject to the wind making it harder to hold the boat to the lock wall.  Eventually we were told to move on so we dropped the lines and motored out.  Once in the canal I went below to finally change.  Also, in the lock next to us was a boat that was kept on Kent Island at Castle Marina during the summer, with the owners being from New England but living on their boat for the summer.  Again, small world.

 We continued motoring along the canal for several miles (see evidence below) until we finally reached Lake Okeechobee.  The wind was still blowing quite a bit, but not too stiff, just enough to make it interesting.  The lock at the entrance of the lake was open so we could proceed through without stopping.  We entered the lake and there was quite a chop going on.  I upped the throttle a bit to try to cut through it a little better, but we were still getting hit almost broadside rocking us a bit.  The waves/chop was only 2 to 2.5 feet, but had a lot of force with them.  Shortly after entering the lake I turned the controls over to Rousby and went to fix some lunch.  Of course I had to brace myself against the counters to make my lunch but that’s the way it works.  I went back upstairs and Rousby was working hard to keep us on course.  I think he commented on the chop, but I told him to multiply this by about three times to get a feeling for our outside run through Georgia.  Not fun.  This was childs play, mere childs play.  Eventually the chop settled down as we motored farther across the lake until it was pretty calm toward the end.  Rousby can check cruising across Lake Okeechobee off his bucket list.

  We had heard on the radio from other boats that the marina we were staying in was not letting people in until after 5:00 because they had a fishing tournament in progress today and needed the dock space for the fishing boats.  Well it was 3:00 and we were staring at the opening to the marina.  Just then another boat called the marina and requested to enter.  Since he had a reservation they let him in.  He came from another direction and turned in right in front of us.  I then called the marina with the same request and told them I had a reservation, so they let me in, but no more boats until 4:30.

 

We got tied up and washed down the boat to get all the accumulated salt off from the last several days, then got the electric hooked up and relaxed for a few, watching the parade of fishing boats coming and going.  Even some air boats in the mix.

Tomorrow we continue to head west, about 55 miles or so to the outskirts of Ft. Myers.  We will be stopping at Franklin Lock and anchoring just before the lock.  There will be two other locks we need to negotiate tomorrow, one at Moore Haven, and the other is Oronton Lock.  Hopefully we will be much better prepared and not caught with our pants down, literally.

Today we traveled 56.9 miles for a total of approximately 1293 miles.  Travel time was 7hrs. 52mins.

So boys and girls, until tomorrow…..

P.S. Hi Tyler

Day 33

Today dawned dreary and overcast.  There was even a small bit of mist in the air for a while.  Since we had about 45 miles to go today, there wasn’t a real sense of urgency to drop the mooring ball and get moving.  We made tea and sat on the back deck for a little while drinking our tea and observing the goings on in the harbor.  The dinghy traffic started early headed to the dinghy dock, people with dogs needing to do their thing, people wanting to take a shower probably, and maybe people heading to town.  By 8:00 there was a bit of traffic going on.  We finished up and decided to get going, so we dropped the mooring ball and headed out.  There was a nice following current so we were making good speed.

Everything went according to plan, we hit Ft. Pierce after several hours, there was some sun peeking through the clouds for a while,  and noticed how blue and clear the water was.  It looked almost like you were in the Caribbean.  It was just beautiful.  Stuart came along shortly after that and we made the turn up into the St. Lucie River.  All I can say is Wow.  The houses are just stunning along the river.  Big houses and big boats tied up in front.  It is a really pretty river, big and wide.  We were in no particular hurry since our targeted anchorage was along the river a little ways up, so we piddled along following a catamaran up the river.  There was a bridge that we needed to open up a little further, so we followed him for the bridge opening.  At the bridge, he made the call to the bridge tender who informed him he needed to wait a few minutes because there was another boat coming the other way with a boat in tow.  Well this guy kept getting closer, and closer to the bridge.  At one point the bridge tender told him to back off beyond the fenders for the bridge.  He kept asking for the bridge to be opened, and the bridge tender informed him again he had to wait until the other boat towing a disabled boat got closer, and then he would open the bridge for everyone.  Well, this guy has a catamaran, with two engines/props, making much easier to control your craft than if you only had one engine/prop.  This guy gets on the radio again, and says he wants the bridge opened because there is wind and he needs to get through because the wind is making it hard to control his boat.  What? Two engines and you can’t control your boat?  With two engines you can pivot a boat on a dime almost, and make it do pretty much what you want it to do.  Well the bridge tender got on the radio and really dressed this guy down with everyone in range listening to him give it to this moron.  He told him not to tell him how to do his job and back off in a not so pleasant manner.  Well, the catamaran guy didn’t say another word, and other boats that came by were just smiling.  Everyone heard what a dick this guy was.  That was pretty much the excitement for the day.

We pulled into the anchorage and dropped the hook about 2:00 and settled in.  Nothing exciting after that.  Tomorrow we have a long day planned, 65 miles, 20 miles of which is crossing Lake Okeechobee.  So we will be on the water early, there will be a couple of locks we need to negotiate, and eventually we will stop outside of Clewiston.  If you have ever been to Clewiston, there isn’t much there except a Wal-Mart, migrant farm workers and lots and lots and lots of sugar cane.  There is also a sugar plant there as well, but not much to do in Clewiston.

Today we went 45 miles exactly, for a total of approximately 1237 miles.  We were underway for 5hrs. 38mins.

So boys and girls, Until tomorrow…..

Day 32

Turns out today was less than expected.  As I mentioned in my last post we hoped to take a tour of the Piper Aircraft facility here in Vero Beach.  Rousby contacted them to reserve a spot, and found that they were all booked up.  Not only were they booked up, but they usually have on tour guide giving the tour but today they had three, and all tours were full.  Why you ask?  Good question.  Turns out our timing is impeccable.  There was a group here from England, must be a lot of them, and they filled up the tour and were the reason they added two additional guides.  The person Rousby talked to said that this time of year you really had to book at least two months in advance anyway. Either way we would have been shut out.  Although they did call back and said they could fit us in tomorrow.  Not an option since we are leaving in the morning.  Oh well maybe next time.

As it turns out the highlight of the day was riding the free bus to the shopping center.  We went to Publix and picked up a few odds and ends we were running low on, and then returned back to the boat, had lunch, and relaxed and watched the world go by.  I did do some computer work, taking advantage of the fact that we had access to internet, which we probably won’t have for maybe several days. 

I also got a text from Craig telling me my replacement credit card arrived at his house this morning.  Boy, that was fast.  I really thought it would take four or five days to get there.  Give Capital One credit, they are really on the ball.

 

Tomorrow we are off again, headed for an anchorage on the St. Lucie river called Pendarvis Cove.  It is about a 45 mile run, so we don’t have to leave super early.  Pendarvis Cove is a good staging area for our run the next day which is the day we cross the Okeechobee stopping in Clewiston for the night.  Lots of canal and a big lake to get across in one day.  About a 65 mile run.  There really aren’t many places to stop along the way that aren’t close to where we started, or too far to get to in one day, at least not at our speed.

So boys and girls, Until Tomorrow….

Day 31

We spent the night anchored near Wabasso Florida.  The anchorage was calm and quiet and sleep was plentiful. Unfortunately I forgot to turn my alarm off, so, at 6:30 it went off.  Since we had only a short distance to go, I turned it off and went back to sleep.  I did eventually get up a little after 7:00 anyway.  Rousby cooked some sausage and fried apples for breakfast, good stuff.  Somewhere after 9:00 we eventually got around to picking up the hook and motoring toward Vero Beach.  We cruised at a stately 6.5 knots, not in any particular hurry.  The homes along that stretch of ICW are just spectacular. There were several that would qualify as mansions. As we were cruising there were lots of dolphins playing in the wake of the boat.  You could see them approach the boat and then dive through the wake off the bow and under the bow of the boat. They were in groups of 3 to 5 at a time.  Really neat to watch.  We also saw a woman filling up her watering jugs on her patio wearing a full blown parka, with the hood up and fur.  I was 62 degrees, and warmer in the sun!  We were in shorts and tee shirts.  As someone said the other day, "you're not from around here are you".

We finally arrived at the Vero Beach Municipal Marina and pulled up to the fuel dock where we took on 225 gallons of fuel, off loaded about 40 gallons of pooh, and filled up the fresh water tank. We paid the bill, got critical information like the Wi-Fi passwords, schedule and routes for the free buses, and codes for the bathrooms.  We then moseyed out to our assigned mooring ball #22, and tied off.  So far so good.  After we got settled it was time to put the dinghy in the water.  That too came off without a hitch.  When we were pulling away from the fuel dock and heading to the mooring ball, a woman on another boat tied up there yelled “Hey, I’m from Chestertown” after seeing the hailing port on our stern.  After we got the dinghy in the water we motored over and said hello.  Turns out the woman went to school with Rousby’s sister, knew his other sister, and Rousby knew her father.  Sometimes it is a small world, and Chestertown isn’t that big that there are that many people from there, so, again, it is a small world sometimes.

After our visit we motored over to the dinghy dock, tied up, and waited for the free bus.  We took the bus into the old town and business district of Vero Beach and walked around a bit.  Boy, there sure are a lot of banks here in Vero, must mean there is a lot of money here too. Vero is a very pretty town with lots of motels and hotels tucked away along the main road along the beach.  Also, plenty of eateries.  You won’t go hungry here, and there must be five or six womens shops, spas, you name it on every block. Not hard to see who spends the money. The men just have big toys. LOL!!

As we were walking along I checked my phone and realized I had text messages and e-mail messages from my credit card company.  Turns out someone somewhere had cloned my card and withdrew $800 on my cash advance.  They flagged it as fraud and wanted to know if I had done the transaction. I spent the next half hour on the phone with the card company going through the drill to cancel my card and file a fraud report. I am very glad they are on their toes and caught this right away. Good job Capital One.  They wanted to send me a new card and asked me where they could send it.  Unless you have carrier pigeon service, I’m not sure what to tell you.  I have friends in Ft. Myers which is where we are headed, so I called Craig and told him the story.  He said send it here and pick it up when you get here.  So I called the card company back, gave them the address and hopefully in a few day I’ll be back in business.

Tomorrow we are going to try to tour the Piper Aircraft factory here in Vero, which should be interesting, if you are interested in planes.  I am, so looking forward to that.

Today we motored a respectable 8.9 miles for a total of approximately 1192 miles.  That long distance trek to about 2 hrs., including the stop at the fuel dock.  Long day! Ha!

So, Until tomorrow…..

How about a little beach porn for those of you wanting it to be summer

Day 29 and 30

There wasn’t much going on yesterday, kind of a catch up day.  The weather was quite windy, probably 25 mph with gusts in the 30’s.  Not a fun day to be out on the water getting blown around, so we opted to stay an additional day in Titusville.  Most of the morning was laundry morning.  There were only two washers working so you had to wait your turn to use one.  The only downside at the marina is there are literally 400 boats, and only two showers, two toilets, and two clothes washers for all those boats.  You had to time your potty stops or you were out of luck.  Anyway we got a load of laundry washed and dried so I’m good for another week.  In the afternoon we basically just hung around doing a few odds and ends here and there, catching up on the news and being rocked around by the wind.

We left Titusville at about 7:45 this morning backing out of the slip.  We went in nose first since it was so tight, a first for me.  And after all the bitching and moaning about us being too close and too big for the slip (which we were) the guy on next boat did, with all the wind we had the two boats never touched.  And the kicker is he was not even on the boat when all this was going on.  Only saw him the evening we arrived before the weather hit. What a …..

  Our next planned stop was at an anchorage called Wabasso, only about 10 miles from Vero Beach.  The ride was mostly calm with some whitecaps from the left over winds, but the waves were only 1 to 2 feet, pretty benign.  Since it was still a little on the windy side we never put the bimini back up on the flybridge.  It’s just too hard to control a large piece of canvas when it is blowing around in the wind.  As a result we were drenched in sunshine the entire day.  There was literally wall to wall sunshine and not a cloud in sight.  Good day to work on your tan I guess.  There is little wind tonight, so hopefully we will get it back up tomorrow morning.

We arrived at the Wabasso anchorage about 3:45, got the anchor set and relaxed for a little bit.  The days are getting longer.  When I left home the middle of November, the days were getting shorter and shorter.  It was dark by 5:00, now it is closer to 6:00 here.  My planning was generally for a 45 to 60 mile day with most days around 50 miles, but we could probably do 70 if we had to.  That’s at least an additional two hours or running time.  When I come back in March we might stretch things out a bit.

Tomorrow we will hit Vero fairly early in the day since it is only 10 miles or so.  We can sleep in a little have breakfast put the bimini up and still be there before noon. Maybe we can explore town a little bit.  We’ll probably stay two nights then hit the trail toward Ft. Myers.  That leg will take four days to get there.  Should be there by January 30^th.

Being down here in the sun and temps in the high 70’s to 80 every day makes the weather back home seem foreign.  It is getting harder to put yourself back there or remember just what it is like.  Of course from what I understand it hasn’t been all that bad back home, not a hard winter so far so people back home haven’t been suffering to badly.

BTW, what I neglected to mention in my other posts is the damage from hurricane Matthew we saw on the way from Jacksonville.  Along the ICW we saw numerous roofs either tarped over or under repair.  There were also a lot of palm trees blown over on the banks of the rivers, not to mention the docks either knocked over or just completely destroyed.  I’m sure quite a few homes have already been repaired, but four months later there are still many that haven’t.  I bet you couldn’t get a roofer for another six months.

Today we traveled 65.9 miles for a total of approximately 1183 miles.  Travel time was 8hrs. 8mins.

Until tomorrow….