Stuart FL

Dinner on Grant and Cindy's lovely Albin Trawler.

The big wait begins.  The "big wait" being the wait for the right weather conditions to head out into the Atlantic on our older coastal cruiser and cross to the Bahamas.

We are here on the East coast of Florida, fully provisioned and ready to go.  Only King Neptune is not cooperating yet. The preferred time to cross to the Bahamas is in the spring.  But, like many snowbirds, the time we have is now.  Winter.  So we wait.  And wait.  For just the perfect combination of weather factors to make our trip out onto the big blue ocean not only safe, but pleasurable.  Ten hours of uncomfortable bouncing is NOT on my bucket list.

Early morning swim.
Best way to start the day!

Jeff bought me a new
hat for my birthday!

We intended to stay here at Harborage Marina for one night only.  Our boating buddies Grant and Cindy (M/V As The Crow Flies) are here preparing their boat for sale. We just wanted to visit for a day and then head out to anchor. The marina offered us such a good deal we thought, what the heck, and signed on for a week.

Our week has come and gone with no weather window in sight.  The marina offered us an even better deal for a month long stay, so here we sit.  It's a great place to wait, with an awesome pool, hot tub and a nice, easy walk into town for shopping.

It's been sunny and warm and we're managing to fill our time. Jeff's completed a few more projects on the boat.  A new horn has been installed and it's good and loud!  A new depth sounder/transponder is set up.  We've been having tons of fun with Grant and Cindy, managing to find various happy hours around town etc.  My birthday was celebrated by taking in the Stuart Boat Show which was conveniently located right outside the entrance to the marina.

The guys have enjoyed some fishing but they got "crabby" when they didn't catch any fish.  They did catch yet another frog on the boat though.  We thought we had gotten rid of them all from winter storage, but alas, one little critter was found in the pedestal of our captain's chair.  The poor little guy was white as could be.  What a testament to resilience.  Jeff and Grant "floated" him up to the top of the pedestal and threw him in the water, where he promptly started to swim back.  Days later, another frog was found in the dinghy (not sure if it was the same one).  He was taken farther from the boat and set "free".  Always an adventure!

Surf fishing.  Waiting for those rods to dance.

There are no weather windows opening up in the foreseeable future, so here we'll wait for the month of January or until the winds change, whichever comes first.  In the meantime, I've booked a quick visit home for my Nana fix.  Winter, here I come!

Gran Vida and As the Crow Flies, across from each other wisely placed alone at the end of the dock.  

Okeechobee Waterway, Again.

To get to the East Coast of Florida from Fort Myers there are two options.  We could either go west, then down and around the bottom of Florida or go east, and cut through the Okeechobee Waterway.  We have done both and both have points to recommend them.  This time we chose the Okeechobee, simply because it is shorter.

The Okeechobee does not have the greatest reputation.  People call it the "ditch", which, for the most part, it is.  We were not impressed our first trip through but now we've grown to quite like it.  It cuts through rural Florida, past farmland and wilderness.  There are four locks, one lake and a few small towns or parks to stop at.  There are tons of birds and alligators.

We are currently in Stuart Florida at a lovely marina, docked across from our boating buddies Grant and Cindy (M/V As The Crow Flies).  From here, we'll just need to wait for the winds to shift Southerly and the seas to settle.  We use many sources for weather information, but we tend to hover over windy.com.  We check it daily (actually several times a day) and once it looks good, we refer to several other sites and confer with other boaters in, well, the same boat, waiting for that elusive winter weather window.

We must have seen at least twenty alligators, many of them babies,

M/V Mary Rose ahead of us crossing Lake Okeechobee

He was trying to steal my lunch!

approaching a lock

Early morning start

Bye-Bye Fort Myers

The clock ticked down and before we knew it it was time to leave our boating friends from Fort Myers.  As always, it was a GREAT stop.

Here are a few bits, pieces and highlights from our time in Fort Myers:

Dinghy 'Sploring:

Dinghy 'sploring.  It's one of our favourite things to do...  just take off in the dinghy and see what we can see.  This particular day we tooted over to the next marina, Legacy, to hang out with buddies Dave and Michele (M/V Just Us) 

The Cooking Christmas Dinner Adventure:

 We prepared our contribution to a dockside pot-luck Christmas dinner with other boaters.  With no oven on board Jeff cooked turkey breast on the barbecue while the drumsticks stayed warm on top.
It turned out great!
 I cooked a big pot of yummy mashed potatoes on my one burner hotplate and served them up in a crock pot, with gravy piping hot from a thermos.  Not exactly a fancy fine china affair
but where there's a will, there's a way!

What a beautiful meal we enjoyed with friends.

Russ & Janices Dirt House:

We were very honoured to be included in Russ & Janice's (M/V Dream Chaser) first house warming party.  They just purchased a new "dirt house" after living aboard for five years. A dishwasher is a very much appreciated new novelty!  They will be sorely missed at Fort Myers Yacht Basin.  It is outside their boat where boaters gather daily at "the wall" to share stories, laughs and camaraderie.

New Year's Eve:

The New Year's Eve celebration in downtown Fort Myers is a happening place to be. They close off the street and host several bands, food trucks, street vendors (including beer stands) and a midnight ball drop.  It was very convenient to be docked two blocks from all the action.

"The Wall" 

 At the sound of the conch being blown at sundown "the wall" is where we pull up a chair and gather most days for "docktails", which does not necessarily include an adult beverage, but often does.  Russ and Janice are the informal hosts. They have lived here at Fort Myers Yacht Basin on their boat for about five years and are in the process of selling their boat and moving into a "dirt house". Great friendships have been formed and lots of laughs and stories have been shared at "the wall" over the years.  Fort Myers Yacht basin will feel different once their boat has sold.

Bye-bye Fort Myers

And then the big day came.  Two little Canadian trawlers (M/V Mary Rose and us, M/V Gran Vida)

threw off their lines and cast off, with their bows pointed towards our next adventure.  Bye-bye Fort Myers until next time.  It's been a blast!

Friends gathered to see us off

Ready, set....

And away we go.