Hanging out in Ft. Myers

Indiantown Marina to Moorehaven - 47 miles
Moorehaven to Ft. Myers - 55 miles

Total miles "phase 3" - 172  Total days - 10 Travel days 4
Grand total miles - 3471

We left Indiantown Marina around 8:30 on Tuesday morning.  We traveled about 20 miles before entering Lake Okeechobee.  Not much to see as we were just running down the canal.  We did see quite a few more alligators as we cruised.  Not to worry though because big sister Lucy was there protecting Cluck Norris

Canal - heading out in the morning

You can see the alligator swimming across the canal

 Tree

 Alligator

 Alligator

 Grass

 We arrived at the entrance to Lake Okeechobee expecting to have to go through another lock.  We were happy to see that the lock doors were open and we were able to cruise straight through to the lake.  I do believe that is the the easiest lock that I have gone through.  Not much to see on the lake other than water.

 Following the channel markers coming off the lake

We arrived at Moorehaven in the early afternoon and got tied up.  I put on a swimsuit and washed the back of the boat.  I might have hosed myself off a few times as well.  We did a short walk after dinner on the boat, to check out the small town, but not much to see and it was hot so back to boat.

We got an early start on Wednesday as we were looking forward to getting to Ft. Myers.  We were able to get up and run for only a short distance today.  We were seeing more boat docks and homes as we got closer to civilization.  It was a nice cruise and we arrived at Legacy Marina around 1:30.

Leaving Moorehaven

 Boat storage yard - ie: hurricane hole

 Last lock of the day

 waiting for the swing bridge to open.

When we arrived at Legacy, we tied up in the slip right next to R&R.  You may remember Rick and Rhonda from when we traveled the rivers and then saw them again in Marathon.  They came over and we caught up with them for a while.  We made plans to get pizza at Capone's that night.  Also we saw Rick (of Rick and Sarah)(of Pirates Cove).  He has his boat here until the end of the month.  Pizza was good and then it was an early night. 

On Thursday we borrowed Rick and Rhonda's car and drove to West Marine and then Publix.  Back at the boat we both did some cleaning.  Marcia on the inside me on the outside.  We had docktails on our boat with R&R and Mike and Deb from Carousel and then walked to Kings Kitchen for dinner.  After dinner we sat out and had a few more drinks and then turned in.

Today (Friday), we are getting caught up on some chores, me blogging and stats, Marcia laundry and tracking.  We just ate and are now planning to walk down and see Rick's boat (hopefully) and then we are going to go to the pool. 


Thought I would end this post with a couple of pictures of Lucy.  She does not seem to be too stressed this go around.

 

Indiantown Marina - Middle of FL

Miles today - 22  Total miles phase 3 - 69  Today travel days 2,  total days 6

Sunday was a no travel day for us.  We slept in and had a slow morning.  I decided to do some waxing on the back of the boat.  Never ending battle of diesel soot stain.  I got about a 1/4 of the back done before I had to throw in the towel.  Think I sweated out about 2 gallons.  What I did get done looks good though.  We got showers and then had lunch on the boat.  We decided to take a walk to Publix as it was only about a mile away.  Picked up a few things and then headed back to the boat.  We relaxed and then walked up to have dinner at the Marina.  It was a nice setting and the food was good.  We also liked the happy hour drink prices.

View from our table

 If you look hard, you can just barely see the top of our boat in the far back left

 Enjoy the last of happy hour

 Mine - Swordfish, Marica - shrimp scampi  (yes I did eat my veggies also)

We no sooner got back to the boat and a thunderstorm came through.  I did manage to get all of the isenglass up, but it was a wet job.

We took our time on Monday morning heading out because we only had about 22 miles to go today.  It took a while to get everything dried off anyway.  We headed West on the St. Lucie river and then into the St. Lucie Canal.  Not a lot to see today but we did go through one lock.  It was a new one for us and there were just lines hanging down from the top of the lock that we had to hold onto as the lock went up.  Also, they managed the water by partially opening the lock doors to let the water flow in.  Marcia went to dig our inflatable life jackets out from under the bridge seats.  We were surprised to find that at some point they had deployed and inflated.  Not sure if it was moisture, heat or rough water, but something set them off.  Sounds like a trip to West Marine for new CO2 cartridges.  Even though we only had 22 miles, it still took us about 3 hours.  Lot of no wake zones and even in spots that we thought we could get up and run, there would be a boat dock or something else a few hundred yards away so it did not make sense.

Going through a railway swing bridge

 I assume a barge loading up with break-wall rocks

 Typical scene cruising the canal

We arrived at Indiantown Marina around lunch time.  I had to double check my GPS to make sure we were not in Africa.  IT IS HOT.  After getting tied up, I was unable to get the power to work.  This is a must have to run the AC in this heat.  After going up to the office, they informed me that the 3 power boxes by us did not work.  Back to the boat, untie, spin the boat, back up and re-tie.  Another 3 gallons of sweat gone.  We had lunch and just hung out on the boat in the AC.  Good news is that the new AC that Tony and I put in is working great.  Not sure how we would have fared with the old one.  As we were eating dinner on the boat, I noticed some ripples in the water and went out to investigate.  Seems that we are in gator country.  Took these pictures standing on the back of the boat.  I wanted to play Swamp People and jump in a grab it, but Marcia strongly advised against it.  We did close the back door just in case it wanted to come on and sun itself.

With the sun gone we thought we would walk the "Marina".  Basically this is a hurricane hole and not much to see.  We did see a sign that I guess we should have seen earlier :).

Boats lined up for storage.  A lot of sailboats.

 Our boat slip for the night.

  For the Cincinnati boaters, the marina kind of felt like the old Shawnee State Park Marina.  We are cruising again tomorrow, about 55 miles and crossing Lake Okeechobee.  Think we may have to resort to just wearing swimsuits as I went through 3 tee shirts today.  Did I mention it is hot.

PS - for those wondering Cluck Norris is still safe in the boat.  Maybe that is what the gator was looking for.  Marcia did not want to take Lucy out for a walk either.

Stuart Fl, Sunset Bay Marina

Miles today 47

So yesterday was a clean the boat day.   I washed the outside while Marcia cleaned the inside.  After about 2 hours and 3 gallons of sweat, I was wondering how much it would have cost to fly Tony down to wash the boat.  It still amazes us how dirty the boat can get just sitting here with nobody on it.  After a complete cleaning inside and out, we decided to go to the pool that has been touting us since we arrived 2 months ago.  It did not matter to us that nobody was there.  Could have been social distancing, or could have been just that nobody was at the marina, but either way we did not care.

We grilled up steaks and tater skins for dinner and ate on the boat as the rain moved in again.

We cast lines and pulled out at 8:30 this morning (Saturday) headed for Sunset Bay Marina on the St. Lucie River, 47 miles away.  Was a cloudy day and humid day, but no rain.  Nothing too exciting on trip other than seeing a rowing team out practicing.  We tried to get a picture, but the camera was fogged up from being in the AC and then coming out into the humid air.  Hopefully that is a one time occurrence.  After fueling up, we backed into our slip before 1:00.  I did a quick wash down on the boat and then we cleaned up and walked into down.  There is a nice little shopping and eating district close by and it was nice to see the shops and restaurants open again.  We had drinks at the Boathouse, and then ate at Spritz.  Menu made us think of Marianna (my sister for those of you that know her).  Menu was a little different, but food was good.  After the short walk back to the boat, we walked the dock to look at the boats here.

 140 foot yacht

 Puffer fish at the Boathouse

 Boyle-n-Water in it's slip

 100 foot yacht

We will plan to do some more minor projects tomorrow, cleaning and laundry as we are not leaving here until Monday.  Hoping for more sun and less rain as we move West across the state.  I am now going to finish my cigar and beer on the bridge, and enjoy the nice breeze.

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) :). 

Summary - Waiting in Cincinnati/stats

We managed to get everything unpacked and made a trip to Kroger.  We were actually able to get most everything except for toilet paper.  I still don't understand why everyone is using the bathroom more due to the threat of Covid19.  Maybe it is just scaring the shit out of everybody.  We also decided to try to go to Costco, but when we saw the hour plus wait to get into the store, we decided it was not worth it.

On Saturday, we went to Washington Marina to check out Matt and Sarah's new boat.  Ran into Dave and Leeanne Brill and ended up having a few beers and a cigar.  We were not on the water, but we were on a boat.  Tony came by later for dinner and dropped Port off.  Port did not seem too excited so see us, but appears that he has settled back into his routine quickly.

So I thought that I would take some time and summarize our trip thus far.  We are thinking of it in 2 segments.

Segment One - 09/11/19 to 11/22/19
Cincinnati, Ohio to Punta Gorda Isles, Florida
Total days on boat - 76
Travel days - 40
Total miles - 2274
Total engine hours - 210
Total gallons of diesel - 2809
Average fuel consumption - .81mpg

• Ohio River - 450 miles
• Cumberland River - 35 miles
• Tennessee River - 688 miles (side trip to Chattanooga)
• Kentucky Lake
• Pickwick Lake
• Wilson Lake
• Wheeler Lake
• Guntersville Lake
• Nickajack Lake
• Chattanooga
• Back to Pickwick Lake
• Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway - 116 miles
• Tombigbee River - 117 miles
• Lower Black Warrior River - 198 miles
• Mobile River - 33 miles
• Mobile Bay - 47miles
• Intracoastal Waterway - 233 miles
• Orange Beach, AL
• Ft Walton - 63 miles
• San Destin  - 19 miles
• Panama City - 55 miles
• Carrabelle - 96 miles
• Tarpon Springs (Gulf Crossing) -170 miles
• St Petersburg (Tampa Bay) - 55 miles
• Bradenton (Manatee River) - 19 miles
• Sarasota (ICW) - 30 miles
• Venice (ICW) - 17 miles
• Punta Gorda (Charlotte Harbor) - 50 miles

Segment Two - 02/12/20 to 03/31/20
Punta Gorda Isles, Florida to Florida Keys to Bahamas, to Vero Beach, Florida

Total days on boat - 44
Travel days - 14
Total miles - 1025
Total engine hours - 70
Total gallons of diesel - 1573
Average fuel consumption - .65mpg

• Punta Gorda, FL (Charlotte Harbor)
• Ft Myers Beach (ICW) - 54 miles
• Marco Island (Gulf of Mexico) - 41 miles
• Key West (Gulf) - 105 miles
• Marathon (Atlantic Ocean) - 58 miles
• Key Largo (Atlantic) - 66 miles
• Bimini Bahamas - 87 miles
• Berry Islands - 100 miles
• Nassau Islands - 54 miles
• Exuma Islands - 38 miles
• Eleuthera Islands (Governors Harbor) -  61 miles
• Eleuthera Islands (Spanish Wells) - 48 miles
• North Palm Beach - 234 miles
• Stuart, FL (St Lucie River) - 34 miles
• Vero Beach, FL (ICW) - 47 miles

Total trip

Total days on boat - 120

Travel days - 54
Total miles - 3299
Total engine hours - 280
Total gallons of diesel - 4382
Average fuel consumption - .75mpg

We have secured a slip at Loggerhead Head Marina (Suntex Marina) in Vero Beach, Florida for the month of April.  I am still planning to drive back down in a couple of weeks to do some maintenance projects on the boat.  We are hoping to restart the trip up the East coast as soon as the marinas, amenities and restaurants open back up.  Not sure when that will be at this point.  We will need to go back down at some point to continue the trip or make alternate plans for the boat during the Hurricane season (July - October).    

Cincinnati, Ohio - Again

Tuesday, March 31st - 1034 miles.

You read the miles correctly, 1034.  It was in a rental car instead of our boat though.  With the state of Florida pretty much shutting down, we decided to rent a car and drive home.  We figured we would have more room and be more comfortable at home instead of just sitting on the boat.  Weather may not be as nice, but the leg room is.  

We had a local driver take us to the Melbourne airport which was about 35 miles north of Vero Beach.  We got lucky again with the rental car from National, getting a Suburban.  Was like driving a small bus, but it had plenty of room for the dinghy mount and Lucy seemed to like roaming around.  We packed and closed the boat up and headed home at 6:30am on Tuesday.  14 1/2 hours later, we pulled into our driveway.  Thanks to everyone we talked to on the way home, it helped pass the time.  For the most part traffic was pretty light.  Most of the rest areas were open and we were able to get McDonald's as well.  Only encountered 1 accident in the mountains that cost us about 15 minutes.  Rest of the time the cruise was set on 82mph.  

The boat's new home for at least the next 30 days.

 Highway leaving Florida

Our plan is to wait this thing out at home and then hopefully continue our trip.  As I said in an earlier post, it is harder to find open marinas, and when you do, the pools, restaurants and towns are all closed.  We will do some "what if" planning based on some projected timing of when things might open back up.  My plan is to still drive back down to the boat in a few weeks to repair the dinghy mount holes where the screws got ripped out, reinstall the modified (reinforced) dinghy mount and replace our salon air conditioner.  I say that this is the plan right now because Florida continues to add restrictions and curfews, so not sure if it will be possible for me to get back to the boat at this point.

For those of you that have been wondering, Cluck Norris is still with us and doing fine.  He did not like some of the rough water that we had to go through though.  He was sad to see us leave but said he would keep an eye on things until we got back.

I have some top line statistics of our trip so far that I will share in my next post.  Not sure how much there will be to talk about over the next few weeks, but at least you can look forward to that.  Hopefully we will be able to see and catch up with family and friends while we are home - from 6 feet away of course.

Vero Beach

Saturday 03/28/20

After deciding to keep the boat here for a month, we began the process of packing, cleaning and preparing the boat for when we leave.  Marcia worked inside cleaning and staging things that need to come home.  I decided to tackle the dinghy mount.  After talking to Washington Marine, Greg said to bring the mount home and he would weld some reinforcements on it so that it will not bend and pull out again.  I began the search for 2x4 or 4x4 that I could use to place the dinghy on, instead of the bracket.  The marina was nice and said they had some old post behind a shed.  They armed me with a battery saw and off I went.  Found a 3x4 post that I cut that should work nicely.  I put the dinghy in the water and removed the old mount bracket.  After I had the bracket off, wanted to use some electrical tape to cover the holes so that water does not get in.  35 holes to be exact.  Naturally I could not find my electrical tape, so I borrowed the bike here to ride to Publix and pick some up.  The bike was old and rusted, and I found out the hard way that it did not have brakes.  This did not prove to be an issue for such an experience rider as myself.  Back at the boat I taped all the holes and put some painters tape on top of that.  It should prevent any water from getting in until I can get back down and repair the holes.  I am hoping that the bracket will fit in the rental car.

Some of you may remember Andrew and Cheri Hyde from Four Seasons.  They are living in St. Augustine now.  Turns out that they were driving back from Ft. Lauderdale after picking up a new dinghy they bought.  They stopped and visited with us for a couple of hours.  It was great catching up with them again.  We will plan to see them again when we make our way up the coast.  I did have to ride the bike again to show them how to get back to the marina.

Andrew and Cheri leaving

After they left, I finished cleaning up and putting everything away from the dinghy project.  We ate on the boat again and then walked the docks here.  There are a couple of other Loopers here, and two of them we had met before on the Tennessee River.  We forced ourselves to watch the end of the Irishmen.  It felt like the movie was 5 hours long instead of 3 1/2.  We think it could have been done in 1 hour.

Sunday 03/29/20

Today was all about the engine room.  I started out by flushing the generator with fresh water.  Then it was onto the air conditioners.  When those were done, I did both engines.  After all the saltwater was flushed, I decided to do some scrubbing in the bilge.  If you remember, I did have that oil leak that kind of made a mess of things.  Water, Dawn and scrub brush made a huge improvement.  After that I decided to check all of the battery water levels.  Two engine batteries, a house battery, generator battery and four thruster batteries.  I used the wet dry vac to get all of the remaining water out of the bilge.  Marcia and I then retied up the boat to be sure it was going to be OK for the time we are going to be gone.  With everything cleaned up it was time to take a shower.  (nobody face-timed me this time) Sarah and Laura :).

I am not sure if this shirt is going to make the trip home.  Might have to retire it.  

With everything closed here, not much to do except project work on the boat.  Marcia has most everything staged for the trip home already.   We found a driver that is going to take us to get the rental car tomorrow.  We are supposed to get our holding tanks pumped out tomorrow morning so things seem to be coming together.