At Anchor in Daytona!

By the picture you can see we had an early start this morning. We spent last night anchored out in Titusville, Fl. The railroad bridge which is generally open except when a train is coming though, was scheduled to be closed most of today for repairs. This made it necessary for us to rise early and get through the bridge before it closed at 7:30 AM. I can't say I like these early starts but if we are ever going to get back to Virginia, we have to do them.

This afternoon we had our anchor set by 2 PM. That was even with getting fuel and water at the marina across from where we are anchored. It was heavy winds today gusting above 20 knots. I'm glad we were on the inside, ICW and not in the ocean. Of course the weather report called for much less wind. You just can't trust those guys!

We are still with Tom and Cathie S/V Interlude and Kris and Rich S/V One With The Wind. We will gather on Kris and Rich's boat to discuss the tidal depths in Mantanzas Inlet for tomorrow. We draw the least 5', Interlude 5 1/2' and One With The Wind 6'. Shoaling has been a major problem at Mantanzas. The coast Guard has been putting out regular alerts via the VHF radio. It has tended to have all the cruisers concerned. We will have to time our arrival to be at mid tide. We'll decide the time to leave when we get together tonight. I know it will not be a late night tonight for Larry and me.

At Anchor Dragon Point!

You can see by the picture we met up with Tom and Cathie S/V Interlude last night in Vero Beach. We were at Beachside Doubles tonight with them and another cruising couple Kris and Rich S/V One With The Wind, for dinner. Our three boats are sitting comfortably at anchor in the Banana River.

We had a good day on the ICW today, light winds and sunshine but the air was quite cool. It's supposed to get warmer over the next few days. I hope so because we are all thinking maybe we should turn around and go back South. It was actually warmer in Virginia today than here in Florida.

Tomorrow we plan to have another shorter day's travel like today. We will be in Titusville after about six hours of travel. I like shorter days it gives us a chance to relax before it's time to go to bed. Besides we need to rest up so when we get a window for an over night, we'll be ready to take it. That is if the weather cooperates. Well it's getting late and I'm about to call it a night.

Our Next Boat!

Thought I'd show you our next boat, or should I say yacht! We have seen several of these since coming on the inside, ICW. I would have to have a crew just to clean the thing. They sure are amazing. I imagine it has close to the space we had in our house, no thank you. It sure is hard to imagine a bad economy when you take a ride though this area. Enough on that!

Yesterday we woke early to over cast skies and threats of heavy thunderstorms. Which we got mid morning. It's hard to concentrate on the driving and bridges when lightening is surrounding you. We made good time even with all the bridges. One good thing about nasty weather, we had no boat traffic with us or coming at us. Not even the fishermen come out in this weather. It meant we didn't have to wait for slower boats to catch up at the bridges that were on request. When we have to wait it makes it hard to get to the bridges that are on a schedule. All in all it was a pretty easy day.

We arrived at North Lake Worth and had the anchor down at about 5 PM. It was a quiet evening with no wind or waves to contend with. It was the least amount of boats at anchor that we have seen in Lake Worth in the past. Most of the cruisers gave up on the weather and headed North earlier in the month and last month.

Today we started out before 7 AM, we are planing to get up to Vero Beach. The sun is shining and the air is warm and the current is with us. What more could you ask for. It's 9:30 AM and we already have several miles under our keel and several bridges behind us. It has the promise of a glorious day.

Fort Lauderdale!

After a very windy and rough ride on the ocean we made it to Fort Lauderdale around 2 PM this afternoon. the picture is of the pilot boat and barge we dodged coming past the Government Cut inlet in Miami. I can say I'm really glad to be at anchor here in Lake Sylvia for the night. I know I've said it in the past my days of heavy seas and stiff winds are over and I didn't enjoy today's ride. Call me a wimp if you may, I don't care. I think my captain will agree that today was very exhausting, and he was glad to arrive also.

I know it's been a while since my last blog, Marathon to be exact. After my phone broke and I got my new one in Islamorada, I had a very weak to no signal on my connection. We are back to populated areas so I should have a signal and will up date frequently.

Tomorrow morning we plan to head to Lake Worth. The wind is expected to clock around to the West, Southwest. If it does and the waves calm down we will go back to the ocean to avoid the twenty some bridges. If not we will take the ICW and all the bridges. At least it's Monday and all the crazies should be at work.

Windy, Windy, Windy!

We are still waiting it out in Marathon. The East winds continue to blow and have reached higher than 30 knots. It is getting to all of us as we wait it out to go East to Miami and continue on North to our destinations for the Summer.

We have provisioned several times and keep eating up our stores while we wait. The sun has been shining with only a few thunderstorms rolling in. At least it has been warm which helps us handle all the strong winds. Unlike this past Winter when it was extreme cold with the winds. No sense in complaining, could be worse places to be stuck.

Today my cell phone broke but all is well, Verizon is sending me a new one, no charge to me. I'm having it sent to Islamorada. We don't need anything more to hold us up. Other than a few phone calls it was relatively easy to get a new phone.

As of today the weather looks like we will be able to leave on Saturday if we go on the bay side. I don't mind, I like that route, lots to see and many choices to anchor. Maybe we will be lucky and the weather won't throw us a curve. For now we are managing to keep busy doing things we would do when we arrive in Deltaville.

Back in Marathon

We arrived in Marathon yesterday late afternoon. It was a beautiful sail from Little Shark River to Marathon. The sun was shining and the winds were 10 to 15 knots and gave us a beam reach, a comfortable one. Larry feels that it was one of our best sails in many years. The trip from Indian Key to Little Shark River, the day before, was under motor the entire way. That made Saturday's trip even more refreshing.

Last night we went to the store to get some much needed food and made it back to the boat just before the rain came. We did manage to squeeze a shower in too.

This morning we went to church and were greeted by our friends there and at the marina. Everyone was glad to see us even though they didn't expect to see us until next year. We have forged so many friendships here in Marathon. It certainly has made making the trip each season, very rewarding.

Tomorrow morning Larry will go to the dentist and I will do some laundry. He plans to clean the dinghy and boat bottoms when he returns. While we were in Fort Myers Beach the crud grew at an alarming rate. I have to do some mold removal in hidden areas inside the boat. In the humid climate it is an never ending battle for both of us.

It doesn't look like we will get out of here on Tuesday like we planned because of some heavy weather coming in. We plan to make the best of it. We have made plans to meet up with some of our friends for cocktails. Wednesday I plan to meet up with the sewing group. It's like we never left.

Delayed by the Weather!

We did something today that we very seldom do. We turned around and returned to whence we came. The weather took a turn not to our favor after we entered the Gulf of Mexico and had traveled 8 miles. The wind was 15 to 20 knots with large waves coming right on our bow. This made for a very uncomfortable ride and a very slow go of about 4 knots. We had left Everglades City at 9:30 AM to get a rising tied for the shallow depths of the Barron River. It was around 11 AM when we passed Indian Key and entered the Gulf. All was well until we were 3 miles out and the wind increased. We would not have arrived until almost dark at the rate of speed we we going. We really don't like to back track but we also don't like getting beaten up. After all this is supposed to be fun, right!

When we got back to Indian Key the fetch had white caps in the anchorage so we decided to go one mile further up to Russell Pass. The wind is still howling but we are sitting quite still here at anchor and are looking forward to a good nights sleep.

Tomorrow our plan is to try again to get to Little Shark River and then the next day on to Marathon. If not we will just sit tight and go explore in the dinghy.

The Everglades by Canoe!

This morning we left our boat by bike around 9:30. We waited for the no-seeums to stop biting before we ventured out. We biked to the rangers station, were we signed up for a guided canoe trip. The loop was about five miles long and when we left we were into the wind and current. We were fresh from sleep and it was a good thing. It's been a long time since I've had so much upper body work. I'm sure I'll hurt tomorrow but that's another day. We were out for about four hours. We stopped and tied to the mangrove trees for a quick lunch beak and rest. We were not able to get out because the tied was higher than normal and didn't expose any of the sandy beaches. We did stop at a shell mound where the Calusa Indians once lived but the bugs were too much to hang around for very long.

When we returned to ranger station, Larry and I went in search of food for dinner. We went to the Carmellia Street Cafe. One of the visitors on the canoe trip recommended it to us. She said it was where the locals eat. She had eaten there yesterday and said it was good and she was right. I liked it better than last night.

I don't think either of us will be up late tonight. Tomorrow morning we will leave and anchor at Little Shark River for the night. It will be on to Marathon on Friday.

Happy Anniversary!

It's hard to believe 20 years have passed since we said our I do's but it has. We had a great day on the water today together. It doesn't get any better than this. I'm sure all our cruising buddies would agree.

We left Marco Island before 8 AM and arrived in Everglades City around 2:30 this afternoon. The wind was on our nose so we motored the 25 miles on the Gulf. The distance was increased because we had to go out around Romano Shoal. The wind was out of the Southeast and created a fetch the further out we went so it was a bit bumpy. I wanted to bake a cake for us but was afraid it would fall. Good excuse, I thought so.

The ride up the Barron River was beautiful. The depths were a bit skinny in some areas but we saw no less than a foot under our keel. When we arrived at the Rod and Gun Club and tied up to the dock and checked in we went for a walk into town. This place still looks very much like it did 50 years ago.

We had dinner at the Rod and Gun Club tonight to celebrate our 20 years of wedded bliss. The picture is of us on the screened in porch were we ate. The Inn is beautiful and I took some pictures which you can view on Flickr at the side of this page under my links. I'll add more pictures tomorrow, we plan to ride our bikes to the Ranger Station, rent a canoe and see the Everglades.

Marco Island

I'm told the economy isn't good in this country but it doesn't look like it's bad here in Marco Island, Florida. In the picture is a bucket demolishing what was once a house. Probably a small modest home. I'm sure if we we return next year we will find a lavish very large home in it's place. Like the one to the right in the picture. Some people must have some money. We see this happening all up and down the coast and in the ICW. It's hard to believe we have a bad economy when you see this kind of progress but it's evident when we see the many homeless in Marathon. It would be nice if it could somehow be balanced out.

This morning we left Fort Myers Beach around 8AM and fueled up at Moss Marine on our way out to the Gulf. As we left the mooring ball Larry noticed that the knot meter wasn't working. After attempting to clear it from inside the boat failed. He finally got into the water and used a brush to clear the gunk that accumulated while we sat still in Fort Myers' not so clean water. We set our sails and shut off the engine but it didn't last long before the wind died and we had to turn on the iron jenny again. It was a beautiful day on the water and we arrived early in the afternoon here at Marco Island. We anchored in about the same spot as on our trip up. It was quite noisy when we arrived, with the demolition and the boat traffic but it quieted down just before sunset. We should have a good nights sleep. Tomorrow we plan to go to Everglades City for about two nights, then back to Marathon till Tuesday.

Visiting Mom & Dad

On Wednesday we went by trolley and three buses to get from Fort Myers Beach to North Fort Myers to visit with Mom and Dad Hodge. It was a smooth trip but took about three hours and only cost us three dollars each. Local transit systems sure are convenient and cost efficient as long as you are patient with the many stops. The four of us mainly visited except for the trip to Wal*Mart and the computer store. Dad and Larry played a round of golf on Saturday and had a beautiful day for it. Our time went quick as usual but it was good to get together before we head North.

I took this picture of Mom, Larry and Dad in front of their house this morning before they drove us back to catch just the trolley at Summerlin Square.

A shot of our home on the water as we approached in the dinghy tonight.

Our plan is to leave tomorrow morning when we wake up. We will get fuel and water here in Fort Myers Beach and head for Indian Key to anchor for the night. Then the next day go up Indian Key Pass to everglades City for a day or two. We then will head back to Marathon so Larry can visit the dentist before we head North.