Key West

While at Marathon, to celebrate Valentines Day, we hopped on a bus and went to spend the day in Key West.  We've spent time here before on the boat and loved it and we wanted to visit one more time before we headed North.  This seemed like the best way to accomplish that.

The first stop was the butterfly conservatory.  What a peaceful place that is!  You enter through two sets doors (to try and prevent the butterflies and birdies from escaping).  Once inside, you are immediately transported into an entirely different, zen-like, magical world, complete with a lush gardens and fountains, peaceful, meditative music wafting in the background and little birds and butterflies fluttering all around.  Can I live here?

Chest full with joy at the butterfly conservatory in Key West

Jeff got a hitch-hiker

We spent quite a bit of time in the conservatory.  Then, we walked the entire length of Key West's main drag, Duval Street, making several pitstops for libations along the way.  We stopped for dinner at Sloppy Joes's an iconic establishment that opened back in the prohibition days.

I had the signature sloppy joe sandwhich and Jeff had the peel and eat shrimp

There are roosters everywhere.  

These two were just hanging out on the side of the road, Which begs the question...   

It wouldn't be Florida without Flamingoes! (from the Butterfly Conservatory.  There are no native Flamingoes left in Florida, except on rare occasions a visitor from the Caribbean shows up)

Marathon

Very crowded Boot Key Harbor (Marathon, FL Keys)

This is a great way to get
beach sand off the feet.

We arrived in Marathon and called in to request a mooring ball as we approached the channel.  Which is a bit of a joke.  We knew there would be none.  Marathon City Marina is a very bustling, crowded place during the winter months.  We've been here several times and every time all two hundred and twenty-six mooring balls have been taken and we've been put on the waiting list, never to score one.  This time we were instructed to find a spot to anchor and then come on in to register.

We shopped around for a spot we liked.  The anchorage is chock full of derelict looking boats, many that appear to have been here for a very long time.  I'm pretty sure many of the boats in the anchorage are not even functional and many are piled high with stuff -- old engines, generators, storage boxes, and who knows what else -- just stuff.  And there is plenty of what I've heard called "local colour" here. "Local colour" are the characters who have settled in and live on these old boats full time.

Interspersed in all this local colour are plenty of regular folks like us, just waiting for a mooring ball.  

Docktails on the flybridge of Steve and Cookie's boat Valentine
Always fun!

We visited the Turtle Hospital which is a non profit facility.
Their entire revenue comes from entrance fees and donations.
Their mission is to save, treat and release injured or sick turtles.
We always love when we see one of these giants so we were
happy to contribute to their care.

So we paid our week's dues which allow us access to the facilities and the dinghy dock (which, ironically, is the same price those on a mooring ball pay, $85.00 per week) and settled in.  We spent our week hanging out with friends, celebrating happy hours, getting a few chores done and exploring.

Open mic night at Dockside, a local bar on the water
that many just dinghy up to.  Great night with an
awesome group of folks chiming in together.

Oh Oh.  While at Dockside Pierre and Renee (M/V Shoreline Traveller)
motored by.  That's them in the background.
Jeff decided some full moon action was in order and a random
guy from the next table jumped up and decided he should assist.  Too funny.
Stuff like this happens in the Keys.

Near the end of our week our good buddies Jim and Mimi, who we travelled with back in 2014/15, flew in visit.  They stayed in the V-berth guest room of other buddies, Randy and Sherry (M/V Priorities).  Looking way back in this blog to about February 2016 you'd see that the six of us enjoyed a week together in the Bahamas a few years ago.  A wonderful reunion was had by all.

Great friends:  L to R  Mimi, Sherry, Randy, Jim, Jeff

The last time we were here Jeff was so pumped by the fuel station that had the sign out front reading "Fifteen gallons of fuel gets you one hundred pounds of free ice".  Me thinks this is targeting fishing boats that have large holds of ice to keep fish fresh but all Jeff could think about was how cold his beer would get with all that ice.  He was so excited.  He purchased his fuel and filled up an entire eighty quart cooler with his free ice and was able to squeeze just one beer in at a time for awhile until it melted down.  But, damn, that beer was cold.

Remembering this, he was so pumped to see the sign out again as we motored past.  He ran the generator extra long to burn enough fuel to make sure he could have room for fifteen gallons.  Unfortunately, presently Jeff is presently suffering with a siatica issue and eventually had to admit that the big cooler on the fly bridge completely filled with ice was maybe a bit much to struggle with.  Not one to give up though, he gathered up a bunch of smaller coolers from boating neighbours and off he went.

The fuel dock is an older, drive up building with a big porch that is a little reminicent of an old saloon, complete with salty old characters sitting in rocking chairs.  He pulled up and they gladly sold him his fifteen gallons of fuel and filled up all his little coolers.  While there, an old guy sitting on the porch suddenly jumped up.  Woo-hoo!!  He had scratched off his lottery ticket and was a winner!  Beer for everyone!! (at ten in the morning).  All the staff got one, customers in the store got one, he looked at Jeff and asked if he'd like one?  Of course, Jeff said sure, and an ice cold beer was delivered.  Sitting in his dinghy surrounded by coolers of ice and sipping on his free beer, his day was shaping up pretty good.

As Jeff was enjoying the moment he looked over at the old guy and asked,  "How much did you win?"

"Ten bucks." he answered.

I just love Marathon.

There have been a few casualties during our week here in Marathon, namely our coffee maker and worse, our generator.  We got reasonable deals on replacements (Thanks Randy for the use of your Veteran discount card).  The new generator works great and is quieter than the old one.

It's been fun but we're ready to move on.  Tomorrow morning we point the bow North and begin our long journey home.

Shark River

There were fairly strong Easterlies blowing but by staying in the lee of the coast we were quite sheltered and had a reasonably calm cruise down the coast from Goodland, heading into one to two footers all the way.  We pulled into the Northern entrance to Shark River and dropped the hook in the open water, away from the shore.

Shark river is deep in the Everglades National Park and is known for it's wildlife (gators, snakes and sharks, Oh MY!) and lots and lots of hungry bugs.  Especially the dreaded No-see-ums.  These little beasties are hungry and you can barely see them.  But man, can you feel them. They are very annoying and small enough to squirm their way through most normal screens.  So once the anchor was hooked we booted it inside and shut up the boat tight, save for our few fine bug screens.  Blah! + There is no cell or tv reception here.  It was a cloudy night so no star watching, and we were exhausted after our day on the water.  After wolfing down some left overs it was early to bed for us.  The plan was to set the alarm for six and head out at the first hint of light.

Pulling the anchor at sunrise

After hitting the snooze button a few times we made it out on deck as the sun was rising and offered our warm blood to the beasties while we got the anchor up.  The full-moon was still high in the morning sky, which meant that the extra-low tide was still on and we were almost at the lowest point of it.  We carefully inched our way out following our track from the day before.  This is not the place you want to get hung-up on a shoal.

We started inching along and bam, just like that, all our electronics went black.  I put the boat in neutral while Jeff checked the fuse, cleaned the contact and got them going again.  Off we went.  Whew!

Then I looked at Jeff and made the colassal mistake of saying "Jeeze!  What else could go wrong?"

Heading back out onto the Gulf of Mexico.
Note the moon still high.  That made for an ultra-low tide.

Just like that, he glanced at the temperature gage and saw the boat was heating up.  And fast.  Back into neutral and engine off.  We had been underway for about five minutes and we were already on our second problem.  We hadn't even had coffee yet!!

Anchor back down (we were luckily still in about seven feet of water).  I stayed on the flybridge and fed the no-seeums while Jeff investigated.  After some fiddling and checking it became apparent that a fan belt had broken.  Luckily there were spares onboard that came with the boat seven years ago.  Unluckily, I don't know why, they were just ever so slightly too tight.  It was shaping up to be that kind of day.

So, down in the hole in the floor Jeff went, hanging upside down over the very hot engine with sweat dripping off his face.  Using very creative language while banging, coaxing and tugging on the belt, he had me heave on a heavy pole with every pound I have, trying to lever that sucker into place.  Voila!  We got it on and it worked!  With mission accomplished we were on our way again.  It's always an adventure.

The day turned sunny and warm.  The winds calmed, the water flattened and we had a beautiful day on the water, making it to Marathon in the Florida Keys by late afternoon.

Tired guy.  A calm Gulf of Mexico made for a great nap!

Goodland

There are lots of brightly renovated
old trailers in Goodland.
It's a colourful, funky place!

We have been hearing about Stan's in Goodland for years now.  Apparently it is a hoppin' place to be on a Sunday afternoon.  We even anchored here once several years ago on a Wednesday and all we saw was a quiet little funky trailer park surrounded by several quiet bars and restaurants.

Well, Sunday afternoon is certainly when it's happening in Goodland!  Following a very confusing and shallow, shoal-filled channel (a few markers were missing) we worked our way around the back of Marco Island and anchored in pretty much the exact same spot as last time.  We were the only boat but soon several others showed up and anchored close to us. A little too close for our comfort in fact, but what can you do other than watch and put on your best stink-eyed glare?  Once settled, we launched the dinghy and putt-putted in.

Every bar had live music, crowds
and folks up dancing.
What a lively place!

We couldn't even get close to Stan's

Wow, what a difference a Sunday makes!  We couldn't even get near Stan's, the original bar in the area. We walked around (well shuffled, as my knees are still acting up and Jeff has a sciatica issue) and settled in at one of the other bars for lunch and some entertainment.  What a hoppin' place!  Live music.  Waiting lists at every establishement.  Dancing, singing along, fantastic people watching...  Great vibe!

Oh!  The little mermaid!!

We headed back to the boat before dark to make sure all was secure.  There was an especially low tide coming that night because of the full moon and with the other boats anchored so closely we wanted to make sure there was no bumper boats happening in the anchorage.


Sure enough, one sailboat did drag (but at least he dragged away from us and not ON us!) and the other one ended up on the bottom by morning, leaning over to one side.  It's times like this we really appreciate our shallow draft boat.  We were able to slowly make our way out of the anchorage and begin our journey, albeit slowly and carefully, while the others had to wait for high tide.

As our destination was a full day's travel away so we didn't
take the time to get close enough to get good pics or
see any sharks.  This picture is borrowed from the net.
They are very eerie looking though, I think.

On the way out in the distance we spotted the old dome houses that have been long abandoned.  Just South of Marco Island FL are the remnants of a concrete dome houses built on a sandy barrier island in the early 1980s out of concrete for strength. After many storms the shells still stand but the land is washing away from under them. They are now entirely surrounded by water and are not expected to last much longer. We didn’t get close enough to get good pics so this one borrowed from the net. You can now drive a boat all the way around them and they’re known as a favourite shady spot for hammer head sharks to hang out, which I would love to see (from the safety of the boat). But, alas, we saw no hammerheads that day.

Marco Island - Smokehouse Bay

Now here's a great idea.
In these canal communities there
is a lot of traffic by boat.
A courtesy dock at the grocery store.
Allelluia!

Marco Island Farmers' Market.  

The weather systems go up and down, up and down.  That's winter in the South.  Yet another wind event was coming.   We're ready, tucked into a great little anchorage in Marco Island called Smokehouse Bay. It was a little snakey winding our way in there through the shallow canals, but we ended up in a wide basin, surrounded by houses, condos, and a large marina, right off the main street of Marco Island.  There is even a dinghy dock at the local grocery store.  Now that's accommodating!  And how forward thinking.  Already, we've stocked up the boat with groceries, I've had a pedicure (my first one), I have an appointment at a hair salon tomorrow and we'll likely go out for dinner afterwards.  Ca-Ching for the local economy.  We do our part.

We weathered out a "wind event" and thunder storm here.  We're not sure what the wind speeds were but we were rockin' and rollin' all day.  Jeff only left the boat to run me to shore and back for a hair appointment.

We'll likely leave here in a little while once the Gulf of Mexico calms down.  Our destination?  South.  How far will depend on the weather and sea conditions.  In the meantime, this is a pretty convenient place to sit and wait it out.

Taking 'er Home. Southern West Coast

So off we go.  We're taking Gran Vida home. From now until mid April we'll be cruising.  It's kind of exciting!

The plan is that we'll take her down to the keys, then turn her around and point her North, booting it up the ICW.  We've travelled this stretch, at least up to North Carolina, a few times so we're not planning on much sight-seeing.  We'll just boot it along and see how far we get.  Of course, there will be weather days, and laundry/shopping days, and days when we just say screw it, let's stay put.  But for the most part we be cruising!  We'll stop mid April so Jeff can go home to launch boats at Harbour West Marina in Penetanguishene.  Then we have a little side-trip vacation planned to Scotland, just for fun.  Mid July will find us back at the boat to finish the loop and at least get Gran Vida back on Canadian soil, er, water.

So, first stop: Fort Myers Beach. Fort Myers Beach is one of my favourite places. It just has such a funky, summer feel, and white, talcum powder-like sand.  I was so looking forward to walking the beach, the main street and poking around the shops.  We got the second last mooring ball way at the back of the field.  Number 65.  We hooked up easily, launched the dinghy and headed in to the office to check in and let me have my day in the shops.  We made plans to meet cruising buddies later for a drink.  We stopped for a nice lunch and as I got up afterwards, ugh, something was wrong. My bum knee had totally locked up.  I could not even put weight on it.  Just like that.  Out of the blue.

Totally bummed out, we cancelled our day at the beach and Jeff hobbled me back to the dinghy.  I kind of did a combination downward-dog and bizarre log roll manoeuvre to get into the dinghy and back to the boat we went to RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevate) and Advil  for the stupid bum knee.  Harumph.

With the wonders of modern medicine and a good knee brace, after a nap I was good to go, albeit, not that fast.  We met up with friends at Bonita Bills for jam night and a good time was had by all.  We dinghied back to the boat, giggling in the dark.

The next morning, with grace from the weather gods, off we went.  Headed South.

Shrimp boats in Fort Myers Beach

Good morning from the back of the mooring field at Fort Myers Beach

Two second later, he (or she) got one!

Jam night at Bonita Bills

B-Bye Fort Myers (yes again) and OH Canada.

Yet another wind event was coming.  That's the rhythm down here.  You get a hot and humid high and then a low blows in and it's windy as all get out, then everything cools off for a few day.  Back and forth.  The weather is a little bi-polar.

Knowing that I had a flight booked to Canada for a grandbaby fix, we took advantage of a break in the weather to move a little closer to Fort Myers where there was the desired airport, a discount battery store and a truck in storage to facilitate those chores.  We set our sights on spending a few days in Bimini Basin in Cape Coral.

The only problem being that to get there we had to make our way through the "miserable mile" on a dreaded Sunday afternoon.  The miserable mile is a tight channel South of Cape Coral which is NOT a no wake zone and is very traffic heavy, especially on a Sunday.  We had been drifting at anchor for a couple of days and we figured, what the hey, let's take it on.  So we battened down the hatches well and off we went!  Jeff's middle finger got a good work out as we were cut off and tossed around from every angle for a few hours.  

Granvida at anchor in Bimini Basin.
If you weren't reading the weather you probably
wouldn't know there was a "wind event" going on.
 There were nasty white
caps out on the river.  Here, we were totally protected,
there is a park with a dinghy dock and stores/
& laundromat
a short walk away.  We enjoyed several days here
where I burned through several
great biographies.  Priceless....  

We settled in Bimini Basin, which is a very protected anchorage accessed down a canal and surrounded by low-rise condos.  Perfect.  We rode out the winds there very securely.  You never would have known there was a weather wind event going on if you didn't look up at the palm trees whipping around.

We enjoyed a visit from Canadian friend Stephano, who was looking for a suitable fixer-upper boat on which to escape on.  Kind of interesting to see what's for sale out there and how some folks live on old, non-functioning boats.  He eventually found something he could work with.

We had a week-long reservation at the Yacht Basin but that somehow got lost in translation through the various levels at the office there, so we ended up at anchor, which turned out to be lovely. 

A great trip home.
 I enjoyed several walks in the woods
 with Louis, my grandpet
and various family members.
 Sometimes I just miss the snow soooo much!

I made my flight home to the Great White North, while Jeff stayed and minded shop. A few glorious days were spent hanging out with my daughter, her husband and their two lovely children.  Lots of long walks in the woods with various grandbabies/pets, yummy meals cooked together with great conversations, cuddling in front of the fire...just what I needed to rejuvenate my soul.

  

What's not to love about finding
such treasures on your pillow.
I took this one back to the boat
and put it out on display.
 Such sweetness!

I returned home, er, back to the boat with our 'ol Great Loop Burgee in hand.  It has been in storage for the past several years but we're ready.   We're time to bring Gran Vida Home and finish our Loop.

After I got back to the boat, we pulled into the Yacht Basin for one full day of provisioning, laundry and good times with friends.

The 'ol Great Loop burgee is back in place.
Complete with signatures from our Looper Buddies.
It's time to take this baby home.

Hard good-byes.
Good-bye get together with Dave and Michele (M/V Just Us)
We've made so many great friends.
Check out the hot-dog contraptions.  Too funny!

Another dinner with friends...  Joe and Rob are old friends (meaning
we've known them for a while now) and Dave and Denise new
Looper friends. Boaters are such social people.  We love it.

At the anchorage outside of Fort Myers Yacht Basin
between the two bridges.
This guy was quite comfortable and we had a hard time
shooing him off our dinghy.