Inching our way to Marathon - day by day!

Waiting out the weather safe and secure
at Rose Marina - Marco Island

A jar of pickles on every table
That's a new one!

Several sunsets along the way - this one
is in the Everglades

The skies never disappoint when you're out
on the anchor

Shark River

low rollers  -  rolling on by

Same sky moments later!

November 20 Thursday    I mentioned in my last post that we were leaving today for Marathon.  Well we decided that wasn’t such a good idea after all.  The winds were still kicking up.  So after spending three nights on an anchorage in Smokehouse Bay we decided that we might as well move to a marina.  It looked like we might be here at least a couple more days.  We went into Rose Marina where we had stayed back in February 2012 on our first run down.  It was so awful windy and the tide was so strong that we had a heck of a time trying to get into the slip. NautiNell thought she was a kite!   After a few runs at it – the dockmaster decided that it would be better to put us on the outside with an alongside tie.  That was much better.  Finally we were tied up and had electric!

That evening we walked to a local hangout called “Sand Bar”.  It was a nice little local dive that was just a few blocks away.  Of course my GPS took us the long route around!  When we finally found it after walking several blocks – you could practically see the marina from the front door!  Oh well….. It was a scenic trip – not!  This is the first place that I’ve ever seen where they put a huge jar of pickles and a giant set of tongs on each table!  They were good too!  We also had probably one of the best cocktails in a long time.  Huge and stout!  The food was good too and so was the "people watching".

It was still windy – so glad we’re tied up – much easier to sleep tonight…..

November 21  Friday   Cold (by Florida standards) and windy!  Getting rather tired of this….  Might as well do my laundry while we wait out this weather.  Just another day in paradise!  Leaving tomorrow if all goes well.

November 22  Saturday   We left the Rose Marina at 8:00 a.m.!  We had planned to do the inside passage to Coons Key which would take us pretty close to Everglades City where we would anchor.  We wouldn’t have to deal with Cape Romano where we have to go out rather far to miss the shoaling.  The farther out we would have to go the bigger the waves.  Inside = no waves.   However, the Captain wasn’t too happy about it after we went under the bridge and found ourselves in less than 2 feet of water!  It isn’t marked very well there either.  After a couple of tries  -  we decided we’d just go outside.  It was supposed to be fairly nice outside until later today.  So after getting an early start – here we were heading to the outside about 8:45.  Still not bad – we were only going 35 miles.  The first 20+ miles were fine.  Not a lot of wind and not any bad waves.  But then the wind picked up and the waves began to build.  We made it to Russell Pass where we planned to anchor finally about 1:30 – very tired of being banged around.  Of course, it also started to shower once we got to the anchorage.  We’re only about 3 miles from Everglades City so if it clears up some maybe we’ll take a dinghy ride into town.  Tomorrow we’re going to go to Little Shark River and anchor out till Monday morning when we’ll cross the Florida Bay to Marathon.  At least that’s the plan! 

November 23  Sunday   Russell Pass was a great anchorage although we did have some current with the tide coming in and out.  We were all by ourselves even though there was enough space for several boats.  It’s right in the middle of the Everglades so there's nothing much around but mangroves.  We also were on the dark side of the moon so it was darker than Coley’s Hole! There was no moon, no stars and no lights from any city.  Wow!  I don’t think I’ve seen it ever this dark. 

We left there at 8:00 a.m.   It was a much nicer ride than yesterday although the wind and waves were beginning to build about an hour from Shark River.  Not bad though.  We made it to Shark and was on anchor by 1:00 p.m. – again only about a 35 mile trip.  When we were setting the anchor a HUGE stingray jumped right out of the water about six feet up!  It made a humongous splash!  Also, earlier along the way we saw what we think was a small shark (4 foot) that was pretty much riding the waves.  Very cool!  You never know what you’re going to see especially when you’re on the outside. 

We’re tucked in the river but you can tell the wind is really blowing out there.  Hope it settles down like is forecasted for tomorrow.  We will be crossing Florida Bay tomorrow and should reach Marathon midafternoon.  Can’t wait!  BTW:  That huge stingray jumped several more times – one time it was only about 20 feet from the boat!  Mike did a little fishing too.  Caught several small saltwater catfish – that was about it. 

November 24  -  Monday   Crossing Florida Bay today – about 40 miles.  Up early and ready to leave only to find ourselves fogged in!  The fog was as thick as pea soup!  Hadn’t planned on that!  We finally left about 7:30 but still couldn’t see more than 50 feet in front of the boat.  We had our radar on but that didn’t last long.  About five minutes after we were out in the open water it stopped working.  Slowly we went – the fog would lift and then return.  It was really weird – the water was as flat as a swimming pool but the visibility at times was no more than 1/4 mile.  It was noon and we were still fighting the fog – the sun was shining through the fog – but you still couldn’t see much.

“NautiNell goes crabbing!”  We had been out about an hour when we were maneuvering through all the crab traps when Mike yelled we got one!  He wasn’t fishing so that wasn’t a good thing…..  We had snagged one of the crab traps with our props.  Luckily we were going really slowly because of the fog and Mike was able to shut her down before the lines got too tangled up.  Mike had to suit up to go snorkeling.  He’d mentioned that he wanted to do some snorkeling once we got to Marathon but this wasn’t exactly what he meant.  He managed to cut the lines away and free the props.  There didn’t seem to be any damage.  Of course, we wouldn’t really know until we were up and running again.  He even managed to tie the line back to the trap so no one would hit a free floating line and also the “crab guy” wouldn’t lose his trap.  Such a nice guy, huh.  Anyway finally about 1:00 p.m. the Seven Mile Bridge was insight!  Yea!  That meant we were only about 1 1/2 hours away!  By 2:30 we were finally in Boot Key Harbor which is where Sombrero Marina is located.  By 3:00 we were tied up in our slip safe and somewhat sound!  It was good to see all the familiar smiling faces there to greet us as we pulled into what is to be our winter home.  There are several boaters here but there are still a few that haven’t made it yet.  They should all be here within the week.

So nice to finally be here – what a trip!  We had planned to take our time getting here when we left Jacksonville on October 20 but never intended to take this long! Well, now that we’re here – let the fun begin!

Till next time!

Admiral “C”

Ft Myers Beach to Marco Island - Now will we ever leave?

Sanibel Lighthouse

Ft Myers Beach on the horizon

An old military landing ship
that has been renovated and is now
a cruiser - one of our neighbors at Bonita Bills

Doc Fords - enjoying the music!

Several of the shrimp boats here in Ft Myers Beach

View of the beach from our dinghy

Look out!  Here comes a pirate ship!

Cool cloud while we were cruising
kind of looks like a jelly fish!

NautiNell at home at Bonita Bills

I'm always amazed at all the rigging on these boats

Heading out in the Gulf in the dinghy

November 14   Friday   We left Casey Key Marina in Venice at 9:00 a.m.  Jeff and Linda came by to see us off.  J  We hate to leave them but we need to get south.  Hopefully we’ll see them again in a few months.  We stopped at Gulf Harbor Marina (aka Pops) for fuel and were on our way again about 10:00 a.m.  We had a 40 mile trip back to Pelican Bay where we dropped a hook about 2:30.  It was a cloudy and cool day but a pretty easy one.  Not quite as nice as the last night we were here but you can’t win them all.  There were way over 30 boats in here this time.  Still not crowded though.  The night was a bit restless – it ended up being pretty windy so between the water lapping and the chain creaking – it wasn’t the ideal night.  Oh well…..

November 15  Saturday   Left our anchorage about 9:30 and headed on to Ft Myers Beach – about a 30 mile trip today.  The weather was much better for traveling.  The dolphins were more than happy to travel along with us and play!  We saw several mamas and their babies.  It was so cool!  We made it to our slip at Bonita Bills by 1:30.  Bonita Bills is a restaurant here in Ft Myers Beach that has a few slips available.  Every time we come through here we try to stay there.  We love the bar/restaurant and the price.  Of course the price seems to change every time but the bar is the same!  This time they only charged us a flat rate of $35 a night including electric!  After we got tied up we immediately went to hear Peppermint Patty who was playing in the bar.  She is quite the entertainer.  It was her birthday so we ended up having birthday cake with our beer.  J  We ended up having dinner there too.  Tomorrow hopefully we’ll get to the beach.

November 16  Sunday   They were having a flea market on the parking lot this morning!  Good timing!  I ended up buying some Christmas decorations for NautiNell!  Can’t have too many!  They were also selling really good Bloody Marys for $2.00!  Perfect!  When we were wandering around the market – Mike heard someone call his name.  Knowing that we didn’t know anyone there we quite surprised to find Randy from Black Tickle there yelling at us!  We met Randy when we were on the Loop in 2011.  He’s one of the several Canadians that we traveled with.  Small world!  Since we had seen him last he has sold his boat and bought a fifth wheel.  He’s traveling around the US by road now.  That’s what I think we’ll end up doing one of these days.  Anyway it was great visiting with him. 

We finally made it to Doc Fords Rum Bar and Grille for lunch.  We have tried to go there every time we’ve been in Ft Myers Beach but something always changed our plans.  We weren’t disappointed! Doc Ford is the main character is a series of books by Randy Wayne White.  The restaurant is owned by the author.  I’ve been reading the books so I really wanted to check out the place.  When we got there we found that it wasn’t very crowded, however, within about 30 minutes the place was packed.  The big draw was the band that was playing.  They were really really good!  We stayed around and listened to them – probably a bit too long!  Oh and like I’ve said before – it’s a small world – well, we see this guy that has on an Ugly John’s – Thunder Bay hat.  Ugly John’s is a marina/boat dealer on Grand Lake in Oklahoma!  Only about 30 minutes from our home!  Come to find out – he was from Kentucky but had bought a boat from Ugly John.  The couple invited us to sit down and tell them about the Great Loop.  Very nice couple. 

After Doc’s we decided it was time to take a dinghy ride out to the beach.  It was a nice ride but a little bumpy outside.  We stopped in Moss Marine on the way back to visit with Tom and Linda from Q’s End.  We had met them a couple of years ago in Marathon.  It was really good to see them.  I wish we had had more time to visit but we needed to get back to NautiNell and get ready for our departure tomorrow.  We did manage to squeeze in dinner again at Bonita Bills!

November 17  Monday   We left Ft Myers after fueling up at Ballard’s at 8:30 a.m.  It was a nice day on the outside and we had about 41 miles to go.  The Coast Guard kept notifying on the radio that there was really bad weather expected on the west coast of Florida.  We decided to anchor in Smokehouse Bay in Marco Island.  We made it there at 2:15 p.m. and dropped an anchor.  In the past we have stayed in an area called Factory Bay which a little easier getting into but Smokehouse Bay is much more protected.  It’s a bit tricky getting into but once we did we found that we pretty much have protection in all directions and we have it all to ourselves.  It’s a good thing too because now they’re saying the wind is really going to blow.  They are predicting 5-7+ foot waves out there tomorrow SO we are staying put.  We’ll either stay till Wednesday or maybe even Thursday – depending on how it goes.  I just heard on the VHF that a gale warning has been issued for up in the Panhandle.  Glad we’re not up there!!  Hope it’s a quiet night here…….

November 18  Tuesday   It was a pretty uneventful night.  We like that!  We spent the day on anchor trying to keep busy doing things around here that need to be done.  We really can’t run the heater much while on anchor so we’re hoping the forecast is a bit wrong.  They are saying that it is going to get down in the 50s tonight – and only to 65 tomorrow.  I know that may sound warm to you all in Missouri but with no heat – the wind howling and on the water – it’s cold!  After looking at the weather websites, we’ve decided that we are for sure staying through Wednesday and Thursday doesn’t look so good either!  I had a big pot of soup in the crockpot.  That helped keep up warm!

November 19   Wednesday   Hanging in the boat trying to stay warm.   As of now we’re going to try to leave in the morning.  There is an inside passage that would take us part of the way to Little Shark River where we’ll spend tomorrow night.  This may be the way to go – so we will miss some of the wind.  Hopefully it will not be too bad.  We will stay in Little Shark Thursday night and cross Florida Bay to Marathon on Friday hopefully.  Keeping our fingers crossed!

Stay tuned!

Till next time!

Admiral “C”

 

Our Stay in Ft Myers and Venice

Huge Banyon trees

Edison Theatre
(now houses law offices)

Fords Garage - great place!

Beautiful sunset in Ft Myers Marina

This is a beauty salon on a boat in the marina

Another beautiful sunset in Ft Myers

Pink Heals firetrucks!

Cool cars on show

Mike was definitely enjoying the show

Huge Banyon tree at the Edison Museum

Thomas Edison welcoming us to his estate

Beautiful sunset in Pelican Bay

Full moon in Pelican Bay

Happy Hour on NautiNell
with Jeff and Linda

On the move again!

Several sailboats out today

Dinghy ride while in Pelican Bay
Looking for manatee

NautiNell with quite a moustache!

Full moon in Pelican Bay

Some of the  carvings at Fords Garage

Interesting bathrooms in Fords Garage!
Very cool!

What a sight!
Sunrise over Pelican Bay

Some of the boats on anchor with us

October 31  -  Friday   Happy Halloween!   I took a walk about downtown checking out the lay of the land.  There are several bar/restaurants and neat little shops close by.  I’m sure we’ll be checking them out.  Mike worked on the dinghy – after a couple of test runs he thinks it’s fixed.  Let’s hope so!  We’re in a no/minimum wake area so he can’t really open it up yet and be sure.  We’ll check it out once we’re in Pelican Bay in a few days.  Several of our boating friends told us not to miss Fords Garage so we decided to go there for dinner tonight.  It’s a very cool place!  Of course, it’s Halloween so it was pretty crazy downtown!  Fords was having a carved pumpkin judging - if you took part in the judging you got a free shot of some Halloween mixture – not sure what it was – but it was good!  Fords Garage is really decorated cool and is known for their burgers.  We weren’t disappointed!  Mike had an Ahi Tuna Burger.  It looked great!

November 1  -  Saturday   It was really windy today – 20-30 mph!  Glad we’re in a marina!  They were having the “Taste of Lee County” today at the park next to the marina so we walked over to check it out.  There was plenty of fun-food-music!  Nice place for lunch!  Later on the same area held the Pink Heals Tour.  After having a drink at the United Bistro – we were off to check out the Pink Fire trucks!  Pink Heals is a fundraising tour that started out being for breast cancer but since has branched out to several areas.  There were a few food trucks there and we decided to check out the Poutine Queen.  We had some of the best poutine with pea meal bacon ever!  Brought back some really good memories of our trip to Canada during the Great Loop! 

November 2  -  Sunday   It was 45 degrees this morning!  We need to get moving south soon!  The weatherman said that we’ve broken the record!  That’s a record I could do without.  We had to pull out our jeans and long sleeves – even got out our electric heater!  We spent the morning waiting for it to warm up.  Once it did we unloaded the scooters.  We found the American Legion – big surprise!  Then it was off to Publix and the Liquor Store. 

November 3  -  Monday   We hung out on the boat mostly today – it was so cold and windy!  This is sunny warm Florida?  It won’t last….  Right?  I fixed a big ol’ pot of chili – the only thing missing was a fireplace!  You would have thought we were back in Missouri!  Mike found the social meeting at the marina – AKA  “Old men drinking coffee in the morning” – He was gone forever so I would say he was enjoying himself.  There is a canal boat here, the SS Turtle and a Heritage East which was made in the same boatyard as our Jefferson.  He did manage to find the owners of each and find out all about them. 

November 4  -  Tuesday   While I got caught up on the laundry – Mike got a haircut at Rumors here at the marina.  Rumors is a hair/nail salon that is on a boat that was built for that very purpose.  It’s here at the marina and is very cool.  We had lunch at Gwendolyn’s Café.  This is a neat little café just a few blocks away. 

We also decided that it was time to update our Garmin GPS/Chart plotter.  It hadn’t been acting right the last few weeks and it’s a pretty important thing to have!  I downloaded the update – let’s hope it was done right.  We’ll see when we take off in a few days.  Rick and Terese, our boating friends from Marathon, will be coming this way tomorrow.  It will be good to see them and catch up on what has been happening with them this summer.  There are so many of our boating friends that we met the last two seasons in Marathon that are heading south.  We should be seeing several of them on the way!

November 5  -  Wednesday   Today we decided that we’d spend our last day in Ft Myers playing as tourists.  We went to the Edison/Ford Museums and Laboratory.  Both Thomas Edison and Henry Ford had winter homes here in Ft Myers.  It seems they were good friends along with Harvey Firestone. The museums were really pretty interesting.  There is a huge Banyon tree there that was planted by Edison in 1927.  It is thought to be one of the largest in the continental United States.  Edison used the milky sap (latex) to create rubber.  We spent a few hours there.  When we got back to the boat we found that Rick and Terese were here!  Since we planned to leave in the morning – we loaded up the scooters and then had a docktail with them.  It was really good to visit with them.  Mike and I walked over to Capone’s Coal Fired Pizza for dinner.  What a neat place!  It is really decorated in the theme of the gangster era.  The pizza was great!    We’re ready to head out in the morning.

Our next stop is about 40 miles north – Pelican Bay – where we’ll drop a hook for the night.  It’s not far from Cabbage Key and Caya Costa State Park.  We may just dinghy over to Cabbage Key and get a cheeseburger in paradise! Who knows!

November 6  -  Thursday   We left the marina at 9:00 a.m.  There was a lot of boat traffic on the waterway today – especially around Cape Coral.  There were also a lot of dolphins!  It was another great day for travel.  We’ve really been lucky!  We made it to Pelican Bay by 2:00 p.m. and dropped the hook.  We love Pelican Bay.  It’s such a nice anchorage.  There were about 20 boats anchored here before the day was over.  Still it was not crowded.  We took a dinghy ride looking for manatees.  They were all hiding from us though.  We did have a beautiful sunset AND a full moon!  Oh, and we decided we’d have our own Cheeseburgers in Paradise on the grill!  Great night!

November 7  -  Friday   We had to wait for the tide so we ended up leaving our anchorage about 10:00 a.m.  We only have another 40 miles or so before we get to Venice so that wasn’t a problem.  On our way out we saw a school of about 30 barracudas!  Actually hated to leave.  Would have enjoyed the day hanging out on the beach.  Oh well, we had another beautiful day to travel and we need to get going!  The Venice area still had some traffic but not as much as yesterday.  We made it to Casey Key Marina about 3:30 – a little later than we anticipated because of all the slow manatee zones.  We’re staying here for a week so we can visit with Jeff and Linda.  Then off south to Marathon!

We’ve having a great time hanging out in Venice (we’re actually in Osprey).  We’ve been to dinner several times and are spending as much time with Jeff and Linda as possible!  Linda and I have managed to do some shopping and the guys are doing whatever guys do – drinking beer and working on stuff.  :-)

We plan to head our Friday morning – November 14^th.  It will be hard to leave them but we’re ready to move south!  Several of our boating friends are already there and they’re having fun without us!  Hopefully Jeff and Linda will be coming down later on in a couple of months. 

Till next time!

Admiral “C”

 p.s.  I'm a bit behind on my posts since we've been traveling.  We are currently (November 17) in Marco Island waiting for the winds to lay a bit before we begin our two-day trek to Marathon. They're forecasting strong winds and big waves for the next few days.
I'll post more later!