Back in Florida

So a lot of people have been asking what our plans are since we got back from the Bahamas.  The original plan was to go up the East coast, through New York to the Erie Canal to the Trent Severn and then winter somewhere in Lake Michigan.  With the arrival of Covid, we had to scrap that plan as the Erie canal would not be open in time to support that plan. 

Plan 2 was to go up the East coast, boat around on the Chesapeake Bay and then put the boat on the hard for the winter.  With most of the marinas and towns closed or at least not operating at full capacity, we scrapped that plan as well.  Did not make sense to us to go up the East coast if we could not enjoy all of what the towns had to offer. 

Current plan - we are going to move the boat back over to the Gulf side and make our way back up to Bradenton, FL for the winter.  We could probably make the trip in about a week if we wanted, but we are going to take about 5 weeks, spending some time in Ft. Myers, Captiva Island, Punta Gorda, Boca, Venice, etc...  We are going to take the Lake Okeechobee route as we have not done this before.  We will plan to use the boat on and off over the winter.

Tony (our son) and I drove down in late April to do some maintenance projects on the boat.  If you remember, our dinghy mount took some damage in the Bahamas and had pulled the screws out that held it down.  Washington Marine reinforced the dinghy mount and Tony and I repaired the old holes and installed the "new" stronger dinghy mount.

Repairing the old dinghy screw holes

Our salon air conditioner was not working as it should, so we decided to purchase a new one and replace it.  It was a pain, but happy to say the new air conditioner is in and working well.  Definitely needed to be replaced.

Old air conditioner

 New air conditioner

 
We left on June 2nd to drive back down to the boat.  We drove to Valdosta GA and then finished up on Wednesday.  The hotel did not have it's free happy hour due to Covid, so had to make my own.  Been a while since I had a tall boy.

The toll both operators got a kick out of Lucy sleeping on Marcia's lap as we made our way across on the turnpike.

Boat seemed to be fine when we got here, and there was a break in the rain when we needed to unload the car.  We just dumped all the bags in the boat and decided to unpack later.  We did make up the bed (with new foam) as we knew we did not want to do it later.  We did a large provisioning trip to Publix and then found a great place for dinner. 

Conch chowder for me and clam chowder for Marcia

 Gumbo for me and scallops for Marcia.

I figured I deserved a bourbon and cigar after the last couple of days.

On Thursday morning after the rain stopped, we took a drive into downtown Vero Beach and over to the beach.  Found a nice place on the beach to have lunch and drink. 

After lunch we returned the rental car and then back to the boat.  We both unpacked and tried to find space for all the stuff that we brought back down.  Just grilled up some dinner at the marina and then took a walk down the docks.  All is pretty quiet here as it is off season. 

Tomorrow will be another work day as there is still a lot to get done and check before we head out on Saturday. 

By the way, the goatee was getting a little bushy and it is hot down here, so it did not make it. (as expected).  I may grow it back in the fall (for the ladies) :).