December 29, 2015  Day 37  South for the Winter 2015-16

Legacy Harbour Marina
Ft. Myers, FL

We have been here for over a week now and have stayed very busy. 

We had two Looper couples over for Christmas Eve dinner to share our traditional lasagna meal.  On Christmas Day we joined several other boaters for a potluck dinner and ate way too much.  We enjoyed talking to our family throughout the day also!

On Saturday we went out to breakfast with Rick and Margi and Darrell and Lisa and then drove to Port Charlotte with Rick and Margi to see the property they were going to buy. It is a very nice lot on one of many canals in the area.  We like the floor plan they have chosen for their house.

We made a big purchase on Monday and for the first time in almost four years, we now own a car!  We chose a new Jeep Cherokee and are very happy with it. Bill has been studying manuals all day. We went out to dinner at Cristof's with Rick and Margi last night to celebrate their new property and our new car!

We moved our boat to another slip (same marina) this afternoon and will stay here for about two months. Everyone is very friendly and welcomed us to this dock!  When we turned on our Christmas tree nights this evening, our neighbors applauded! 

We are taking care of cleaning projects when we aren’t visiting with others!  We do plan to get the boat up for sale and need to de-clutter it first.  Lots to do!!

We will spend New Year’s Eve with Rick and Margi and will have a “game night” on their boat.  And yes, food!! Joyce and Margi enjoy planning meals together and will do the shopping tomorrow, after pedicures. First things first!

 
We have had very warm weather in the high 80’s since we arrived.  It has been amazing.

We will write the blog again in a few days.

 

We wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year!!

December 22, 2015  Day 30  South for the Winter 2015-16

Legacy Harbour Marina
Ft. Myers, FL

After four weeks travel, we arrived at Legacy Harbour Marina this afternoon and will be here for the winter.  We are happy to be here! Rick and Margi, Looper friends on Journey, were here to greet us.

We got checked in and used a dock cart to pick up all the packages we had waiting for us.

We went to dinner with Rick and Margi at the popular Capone’s restaurant downtown for some great pizza.  We stopped back at their boat to visit for a while. We are pretty tired from our day of cruising which included going through two more locks today. Tomorrow will be a busy day provisioning and cleaning the boat.

We will probably not write the blog every day but will update it as often as possible.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

December 21, 2015  Day 29  South for the Winter 2015-16

City of Moore Haven Marina
Moore Haven, FL

After 8½ hours of travel, we are so happy to be docked in Moore Haven.  We left our anchorage in Stuart at 7:40 this morning and went down the St. Lucie River.  We reached the St. Lucie Lock an hour later and were the only boat in the lock.  Two and a half hours later we entered the Port Mayaca Lock with one other boat. Sometimes the water level is even at this lock and you can just drive through. Today we needed to be raised two inches so we had to go through the whole process of tying up in the lock.   

When we departed the Port Mayaca Lock, we entered Lake Okeechobee.  With the winds today the forecast for the lake was a moderate chop.  It was not too uncomfortable but we were glad to get off the choppy lake water 39 miles later!  The exit is at a town called Clewiston and we entered the river there which is more like a narrow canal.

Our final lock of the day was at Moore Haven and we locked down about seven feet.  Five minutes later we arrived at the City Marina in Moore Haven. We were greeted by very nice boaters who had arrived earlier in the day.  We soon learned they are Platinum Loopers (Loopers who have completed the Loop at least twice.)  When Joyce walked across the street to pay for the docking at City Hall, she noticed a large Nativity Scene on the lawn and was so impressed the city had the courage to display this!  Well done!!

We had a quick dinner tonight. We are exhausted after our long day. But the end is in sight as we will arrive in Ft. Myers tomorrow, our winter destination!

December 20, 2015  Day 28  South for the Winter 2015-16

At anchor, St. Lucie River
Stuart, FL

We cruised for about 5 ½ hours today from Vero Beach to Stuart. It was windy but we were in fairly protected water much of the way. By 10:15 we passed Ft. Pierce; then Jensen Beach at 11:50. 

We reached the St. Lucie Inlet at 12:45. This is the point one either continues south on the ICW toward Palm Beach and Miami or turns to enter the St. Lucie River.  We are on the river, which allows us to continue on to Lake Okeechobee and take the shortcut across Florida.

We only needed to have one bridge open for us and that was here in Stuart.  We are in a large anchorage and have decent protection from wind. Shortly after we anchored Joyce baked a batch of Christmas cookies. We had a light dinner and are just relaxing for the evening.

Tomorrow will be a long day of travel – nine hours plus transiting three locks.  The forecast for the lake is a moderate chop.  We will go as far as Moore Haven and look for a spot at the city marina.

 

December 19, 2015  Day 27  South for the Winter 2015-16

Loggerhead Marina
Vero Beach, FL

We got an early start this morning by leaving the anchorage in Cocoa just after 7:00.  We knew the winds would be getting stronger as the day progressed.  Within three hours, our 11mph wind became 22 mph.  It was mostly on our stern and we weathered through it.  There was not much boat traffic, a rare occurrence on a Saturday in Florida.

We arrived at Loggerhead Marina in Vero Beach, at 12:30 and went to the fuel dock first. Then we went to our slip and got secured. Thankfully the wind was much calmer on that side of the marina!  Joyce spent some time vacuuming, polishing wood trim, and doing laundry after we arrived.

At 5:30, our friends Dick and Deanna picked us up for a nice dinner in Vero Beach. They are at the municipal marina but also have their car here.  We visited for three hours and had fun reminiscing about our boating adventures.

We will head to a protected anchorage in Stuart tomorrow. The wind will be strong again!

 

December 18, 2015  Day 26  South for the Winter 2015-16

At anchor
Cocoa, FL



He caught a fish just as we passed by!

Entrance to the Haulover Canal

We were up early this morning to get an early start on our cruise to Cocoa. We did not like the forecast but it seemed unproductive to stay put.  We did encounter rain much of the day but it was not a problem.  The wind was not as strong as we had expected either.  Joyce took advantage of having the generator running this morning and did some baking for Christmas while we were underway.

We reached the Haulover Canal which connects Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River about 1015.  We like going through here because of the wildlife. We saw herons, pelicans, egrets, ospreys, and two manatees!  It is a very narrow canal and on sunny days is full of little boats.  We were happy to have it to ourselves!

We passed by Titusville and then anchored just south of the Merritt Island Bridge at Cocoa at 1330.  It is a big anchorage with easy access by dinghy into Cocoa Village. But, it rained again after we arrived and we opted to stay put.  Dinner was pizza on the boat!

Sour cream coffee cake is an annual tradition for Christmas morning.
So glad we have a big freezer on the boat!

Tomorrow’s destination is a marina in Vero Beach!

 

December 17, 2015  Day 25  South for the Winter 2015-16

Free city dock
New Smyrna Beach, FL

We left Palm Coast Marina just before 0800 and traveled south on the ICW for 5 ½ hours.  We had a sunny sky most of the day with clouds building up in the afternoon.  We had a lot of small boat traffic including one pulling a water skier today. We also had to have four bridges open for us. It is good that they open on request, not on a fixed schedule.  We passed Daytona Beach and the Ponce de Leon Inlet with its lighthouse.

We reached New Smyrna Beach at 1320 and found a space on their free dock. It is a small fixed dock that holds two boats but the dock is curved which makes docking interesting!  Joyce was prepared to lasso a piling but was happy that a guy walking by stopped and caught our lines. We had quite a bit of current and some wind. 

We decided to stay on board and relax for the rest of the day. We even had leftovers for dinner.

Tomorrow’s destination is Cocoa!