February 8, 2013 Day 273

Franklin Lock Corps of Engineers Campground
Alva, FL
Total miles to date: 4635.9

Today was a relaxing and interesting day. After a late breakfast, we went for a walk around the RV campground.  Every site is booked well into the spring - this is a well maintained and attractive area.  We are glad we decided to spend a second night here. 

Carried Away at the Franklin Dock

A friendly bull!

After we stopped at the gate and paid for our second day of dockage, we walked down the entry road to a farm.  We saw several bulls, but one was totally by himself. It did not take much encouragement for him to walk up to the fence to see us! That is a first for us to do that!

We turned back toward our dock and spotted our first alligator swimming nearby.  We were later told he lives here!  He must have been 10 feet long. 

We met some of the other boaters and campers and even some local people who had wandered over to sit by the water.

Bill worked on chart plotting as we plan to depart tomorrow. We will go to Moore Haven on the Caloosahatchee River. We are slowly working our way to Lake Okeechobee. Within a few days we will be on the east coast of Florida.

Any gator fans?

After dinner we spotted the alligator again – out for an evening swim past our boat.  We will likely see more of them in the next few days.

 



February 7, 2013 Day 272

Franklin Lock Corps of Engineers Campground, Alva, FL
Total miles to date: 4635.9

As planned, we met Don and Anita (Limelight) for breakfast at 9:00 and enjoyed our last get together before we both departed today in separate directions.

Another beautiful home along the river!

Don & Anita and Bob & Cathryn (Next to Me), helped us cast off our lines and we headed east on the Caloosahatchee River out of Fort Myers.  We only had 14 miles to travel today and enjoyed our slow pace up the river.  We were surprised to see so many homes along the river – many along manmade canals. 



One of many man-made canals for residents

Crossing under I-75!

Entering the Franklin Lock

We arrived at the Franklin Lock at 12:30 and only waited a few minutes for the green light to enter.  The lock only raised us two feet so we were in and out in less than 20 minutes.  We had not been in a lock since early November!  We will go through five locks before we reach Stuart, Florida next week.

We departed the lock and went right into the Franklin Lock Campground operated by the Corps of Engineers. This site includes eight docks with 50 amp power and potable water.  By using our National Parks Senior Member Card, we were only charged $12.00/night!  There are also several campers here. The site is well maintained and has many trees. Because it is above the lock and dam, it is fresh water.  We like it here and have decided to spend two nights. It is refreshing to be at a dock in a park like setting. 



One of the Limpits that frequent this area

We identified (our dock neighbors actually identified it for us) a bird we had not seen before.  The Limpit is a long legged bird similar to a crane and appears to “limp” when walking.  This one was extremely noisy!

We grilled chicken for dinner and spent a quiet night relaxing and watching television.

February 6, 2013 Day 271

Legacy Harbour Marina, Fort Myers, FL
Total miles to date: 4621.9

Before we left our anchorage this morning, we made some phone calls to check on fuel prices. When we realized the lower price was at a marina in Fort Myers, we decided not to go to Fort Myers Beach.  So, we headed back to Fort Myers. We had a very nice ride today - calm wate,r playful dolphins, and a sunny sky.  There were lots of boaters out there today!

Are we going the wrong way??

We passed this interesting conversion from a sailboat to a ??

We stopped for fuel at the Fort Myers Yacht Basin then went back to Legacy Harbour Marina to dock.  Shortly after our arrival, we took a taxi to Walmart to get prescriptions filled and to get a few provisions for the boat.

We were so happy to dock next to Limelight!  We had not seen Don and Anita since early November in Alabama.  We were also docked near Cathryn and Bob on Next to Me.


One of many beautiful homes
 lining the water way

The six of us had docktails on board Next to Me. We had a wonderful time visiting and catching up with each other.  We left the group at 8:00 with a promise to meet again in the morning before our departure.



Bob (Next to Me) and Anita (Limelight)

Don (left) (Limelight) and Bob



Cathryn (Next to Me) and Bill

February 5, 2013 Day 270

At anchor near Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge
Sanibel Island, FL

Total miles to date: 4602.3

We took the dinghy out today and went to Tarpon Bay Explorers. They let us tie up and walk around their site.  They rent kayaks, canoes, bikes, and also provide boat tours around the island, focusing on wildlife. 

Pelicans are everywhere!

Carried Away at anchor

We had a fun ride over, especially when a dolphin dove right in front of our dinghy!  We took the long way around to get there, but came through an open cut on the way back. We were told it would be shallow and indeed it was. Bill had to pull the dinghy motor up and paddle part of the way back – we could have walked through portions of the water!

We had lunch on the sundeck and enjoyed the warm day!

another beautiful sunset

We will leave this anchorage tomorrow and go to Fort Myers Beach to Salty Sam’s Marina. 

February 4, 2013 Day 269

At anchor, Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, FL
Total miles to date: 4602.3

Our Slip A-14 is now empty!

Today was departure day after our week long stay at Legacy Harbour Marina in Fort Myers. We said goodbye to Larry and Caryl on Prime Time and then left shortly after 10:00 on a beautiful warm day. 


Leaving the marina at Fort Myers

We reached our destination of Captiva Island after four hours. However, after spending one hour at anchor, we decided the water would be too shallow at low tide.  So, change of plans again!  We traveled another 11 miles and anchored near Sanibel Island’s Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge at 5:00.  This time we were successful!

We took pictures of the sunset, cooked out on the grill, and relaxed the rest of the evening. We will stay here tomorrow and take the dinghy to shore!

February 3, 2013 Day 268

Legacy Harbour Marina, Fort Myers, FL
Total miles to date: 4560.6

Since this is our last day at Fort Myers, we worked toward getting things ready for the next venture. Joyce finished the laundry, made a final trip to Publix for groceries, and Bill cleaned the outside of the boat.  Together we worked on a rough timeline from now until April 20 – our target date to finish the Loop in Yorktown, VA.  We will have a leisurely trip home and plan to take our time going up the Atlantic ICW.

We had planned to start across Lake Okeechobee tomorrow but since we have plenty of time we decided to back track and go to Captiva. We did not stop at Captiva Island when we were in Sanibel and have heard that it is a “must see”.  So, once again, our plans have changed – and as always, that is just fine!

We did go to the Superbowl gathering tonight with many boaters for a potluck in the Tiki Bar, complete with two big screen TVs.  We stayed though the first quarter, but then decided to leave because it was getting chilly and breezy (yes in Florida, it does not stay warm all night!). It was fun being with everyone even though we are neither 49’ers or Ravens fans.

We like Fort Myers and may come here again someday.  Boaters come back here every winter – it is like a family here for many of them.  Legacy Harbour Marina does a fantastic job of making this a fun place to be.

February 2, 2013 Day 267

Legacy Harbour Marina, Fort Myers, FL
Total miles to date: 4560.6

Yesterday (Friday) was a day to catch up on boat chores, chart plotting, and we did not write the blog that day.  Today is Saturday and we had a busy day. We started by going to the ArtFest Fort Myers, a very large juried art festival held by the waterfront downtown – a few short blocks from the marina.  We spent about two hours visiting many of the booths.

We visited with some other boaters this afternoon.  Gold Loopers on Rainbow’s End are docked next to us.  They liked Fort Myers so much when they were on the Loop they returned and bought a condo here!

At 5:00 we joined several loopers for a seminar that covered topics on cruising the Atlantic ICW, Lake Okeechobee, and the Keys. Everyone brought appetizers to share. We were there until 9:00!  Bill has been working on plotting our course for the next week and this was helpful. Thanks to Phil, Robert, and Louis for the presentation!



The Art Festival