Marathon to Fort Myers

Marathon

We had planned to move on but we ended up staying tied up to the mangroves in Marathon for a while longer.  The winds picked up again which would have made travelling uncomfortable. Since we are not on a schedule or had anywhere in particular we HAD to be we figured, what the hey, and stayed put.  It turned out to be a fun stay!  There were about twenty boats tied up in Sister's Creek alongside us and we enjoyed their camaraderie.

Marathon is a crazy place to spend time as a boater.  It's just sooooo crowded!  They have two dinghy docks to service the large mooring field and all the boats anchored around waiting for a spot.  It's great fun to watch people park when it's so crowded.  They just line up a spot between two dinghies and hit the throttle.  Sometimes they make it in successfully, sometimes not so much!

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We finally got to meet Randy and Sherry from the boat Priorities. They are good friends of our friends Jim and Mimi, who we travelled with a great deal on our loop trip.  When Jim and Mimi weren't with us, they were often with Randy and Sherry.  It was fun to finally catch up.  We'd heard so much about them.

We spent our time in Marathon visiting with friends and exploring all the little canals and lagoons.  One day, after dinghy 'sploring looking for a good manatee picture with not much luck, we tied up to Randy & Sherry's boat for a visit.  I climbed aboard and Jeff, still in the dinghy, turned around and there they were!  Two big ones coming right for him and then under the dinghy!  I could see them quite clearly from up on the boat.  They are such magnificent, gentle creatures...  even if they do look a little like cucumbers.

Tavernier

Not being ones to pass up on an opportunity for a good visit with friends, we eventually cast off and made our way to Tavernier to catch up with the crew of Fugitive, our Ontario friends Brian and Janice.  We anchored in a little bay in about three, yup, count 'em, THREE feet of water, surrounded by liveaboards.  We were warned by some of the other boaters that the bottom was loose mud and didn't hold well. There were some of those seemingly ever-present strong Northerlies forecasted to be blowing in so we were a little nervous but Gran Vida, once again, held well.  She's awesome.  After a great evening with Brian and Janice, complete with a very impressive light show (had to be there, Brian got a coo,l high powered flashlight for Christmas), we were off at first light in the morning to make our way to the Everglades National Park.

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Everglades National Park

We spent the next several days exploring Everglades National Park.  First stop was Flamingo, right on the most southern tip of mainland Florida.  One would expect to see, um, lots of Flamingos there? Not to be.  Apparently there are no wild Flamingos left in Florida as they were wiped out in the early 1900s (they're still in the Caribbean and Mexico though).  But we got lucky!  Apparently, much to the excitement of park staff (and us!) two Flamingos just happened to have dropped in and were spotted in a quiet corner of the park. Off we went! (a little bit of Jane Hathaway from the Beverly Hillbilly's lives in us.  We love this stuff).  To get there we had to dinghy a long channel (with dolphins swimming along right beside us. I could have reached out and touched them. what a hoot!) and then row the rest of the way in the strong winds, as combustible engines are not allowed in this section of the park. Despite Jeff's valiant effort rowing against really strong winds and the heartfelt encouragement of the "coxman", we ran out of water and the dinghy pretty much hit bottom.  Darn.  But we did see them from a distance.... we think....

Don't laugh.  Despite our determination this is the best picture we could manage.  Most of the pink birds here are Roseate Spoonbills, native to Florida.  But to the naked eye we could see one was a different shade of pink and bigger.  That was the Flamingo we figure...  That's our story and we're sticking to it!

After much dinghy 'sploring in the mangroves over the past few weeks looking for a crocodile we finally found one swimming just outside the visitor centre in the park.  Jeez.  You can identify them by the pointy snout and flat head.

We made our way north to Shark River and then to Everglade City, where they were having their Seafood Festival. Great live music was enjoyed.  We eventually plotted north and ended up anchored just off the southern tip of Estero Island, where Fort Myers Beach is.  We dinghied the five miles or so up to visit friends we had made there last year and, of course, check out a few happy hours with them.

We were the only boat in our large anchorage, which was open to the west.  We knew a storm was possibly blowing in from the southwest but we figured we'd be slightly protected there. What's the worst that could happen?  (Oh, never mind).  On the radar the storm looked a little north of us and there was only a fifty-nine percent chance it would hit us at all.

Well, winds change.  We got hammered.  At about five in the morning we lay awake side by side with eyes wide open and lightning crashing all around us. The boat was bucking like a bronco.  It was one of the few times I felt nervous on the boat.  But storms are storms. They happen on land or at sea. In a situation like that we usually feel safer anchored out in a big anchorage. The boat can swing with the wind and even if the anchor does drag a bit it usually will catch again. There's nothing around us to bump into!  It passed.  We were fine.  

We arrived in Fort Myers to the welcoming greetings of  tons of friends. This is a popular marina and we were glad to see so many familiar faces. We're booked in here for a month, which will give us a chance to get a few boat projects done, catch up with friends and just relax.  Perfect. Sounds like a Gran Vida to us!

Miami to Marathon

Miami to Marathon.... Mangroves and Strip Malls

Holy windy!  I know I shouldn’t be complaining about the weather here in the
 “Sunshine State” while others are shoveling snow at home, but wow, what a difference from last 
year. We’ve had one “wind event” after another as a steady stream of cold fronts push across the area.  There have even been several tornado touch downs and water spouts (luckily,  they’ve all missed us).

The plan for this month was to meander our way South with our friends Joe and Connie on Chesapeake, stopping to linger when the mood struck.  Connie and Joe got a head start out of 
Oleta State Park with the plan to meet up a short way down the icw in Miami.  

Once we got going Jeff immediately noticed lots of white exhaust coming out of the boat.  Hmm.  
Within minutes the temperature started to climb and we were pulled off the side of the channel with a dropped anchor.  Ugh.  We were out of commission and needed a plan. Jeff jumped in the dinghy and I got on the phone. Heactually towed us the two miles to the marina I had contacted.  Right down the Intracoastal.  That drew more than a few curious stares! Two knots the whole way. 

An engine water pump was the culprit.  We ended up renting a car to make the drive to Fort 
Lauderdale to get it rebuilt. Jeff crawled into the hole in the floor to reinstall it and a couple of days later we were off again, with much lighter wallets. 

The next stop was further South in Miami.  We anchored in a large anchorage beside the
 loading docks in the Port of Miami.  We watched as each day a new group of massive 
cruise ships arrived, loaded and headed out.  Apparently the cruising business is alive and well.

We continued down to Dinner Key and bounced around on a mooring ball for the night in the very exposed mooring field.  There was an international sailing competition going on and we had 
great fun watching them zoom through the mooring field on their way to and from the 
races.

The Florida Keys

"Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya.... Bermuda, Bahama....hmm hmm... etc. etc
In the Florida Keeeys...  There's a place called....."       What?! NO Kokomo?

Did you know that Kokomo, off the Florida Keys. from the Beach Boy’s song doesn’t even actually exist?  But we did find Key Largo.  That was our next stop.  We anchored out in several different locations behind mangroves, trying to find protection from the strong winds. There we met up with our friends Jeff and Judy, from our home Marina in Penetanguishene, Ontario.  It was great to catch up with them for a short visit.  

Joe and Connie, being on a tighter timeline, had to shove on but Jeff and I decided to stay 
as it was rumoured that a nice sunny day was coming.  We were skeptical but it turned out to be true! We took advantage of that to take in John Pennekamp State Park and snorkel off the coral reefs there.  Just fantastic! (underwater pictures are pending, we have to get them developed)

Continuing South, the next stop was Islamorada, a cute little town half way down the 

keys. Islamorada is one of our favorite stops!

We spent several days there at anchor, exploring the town, taking in happy hour(s)with other boaters 
at Loralei’s (an awesome Tiki bar) and spending the evenings on the boat enjoying the excellent live music wafting across the water from Loralei's 

We saw the strangest thing here.  Just after dark we noticed luminous blobs of something floating past the boat.  We weren’t sure if it was plant matter or animal but there were lots of them, ranging in size from a baseball to football.  It would last for 
about half an hour and then stop.  Very cool.  It was like the whole bay around us was alive with mystery glow in the dark organisms. We tried to get pictures but they didn't show up well.  We both saw them though, every night, so If we're crazy at least we're going together! 

We loved Ilsamorada and would have loved to stay longer but the anchorage there is completely open to the North and the next “wind event” was coming. We needed to find safe refuge. 

We continued South about thirty miles to Marathon, which was also an attractive option as 
we knew our friends from Ontario, Brian and Janice from the boat Fugitive were arriving
 there that day.  We had seen them off on their loop trip last August from our home Marina, 
shouting “We’ll see you in the Keys” and now here we all were.  We had a great time 
catching up and comparing stories over happy hour(s).

Marathon is a very popular stop for boaters because there is a large, protected lagoon in the middle oftown with a huge mooring field of 226 balls.  Unluckily for us, with this storm coming, the mooring field was completely full with a waiting list of thirty-nine boats.  There were boats anchored very tightly in every nook and cranny.  We ended up struggling in the wind to drop two anchors and back up towards the mangroves to tie off with four lines. 

That's where we are as I type.  It's dark and the wind is just howling outside.  The anchor lines are taut and the boat is dancing around, moaning and creaking. But we're holding tight.  On nights like this we take turns getting up to peek outside and make sure we're still secure.              

The plan for next month was to make the crossing across the Gulf from Marathon to the southwest coast of mainland Florida and make our way north to Fort Myers. However, after a few happy hours we've decided to travel with Brian and Janice to Tavernier.  Not at all the direction we were thinking but that's just the way we roll.  We'll visit there for a few days then make our way west.