The Eckels' Visit & the trip to Key West

Bob and Linda Eckels arrived late Thursday afternoon, February 8th, following a leisurely drive from St. Petersburg. After getting settled in, we went across the bridge to the beach and had a nice dinner at the Pierside Grill. We then wandered over to Cabasca's, a nearby establishment, to chat and listen to their live entertainment before retiring to the boat for the evening.

On Friday we drove to Sanibel Island to do some beach combing. We didn't find much in the way of seashells, but the weather was beautiful and we all enjoyed the warmth of the sun as we walked along the beach and waded in the water in search of island treasures. We stopped at The Island Cow (home of "Udderly Great Food") for lunch and then continued along the road toward Captiva. We reached the end of the island at South Seas Plantation, a very high-end resort and marina, and stopped at another section of beach on the way back. The sand on the beach in this area was much darker than it had been on the south end of the island and the shells were also different, which we found interesting since the entire island is probably less than 10 miles long.

This heron exhibited virtually no fear of us as it strolled by on the beach.


This guy is waiting for someone to feed him!


The heron creeps ever-closer as Todd assists a young lady who caught a fish. After Todd got the fish off the hook, the heron took off with it!


The heron is still stalking as I looked for seashells.


On the way back to Fort Myers Beach, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items and then spent a quiet evening on the boat. None of us were very hungry after our big lunch at The Island Cow, so I made a rock shrimp and avocado pizza for everyone to snack on that evening with plans to have a nice breakfast the next morning on the boat.

After breakfast, we headed to the Fort Myers River District downtown on Saturday where Bob and Linda spent a few hours visiting the Edison & Ford Winter Estates while we visited with Mike & Mary on their boat at the city marina. The Edison & Ford Winter Estates include Thomas Edison's and Henry Ford's respective winter homes, a botanic research laboratory, research gardens, museum and much more. Apparently, Edison and Ford were good friends and their families enjoyed exploring southwest Florida, fishing and boating during their trips to Fort Myers.

When we were at dinner Thursday evening at the Pierside Grill, Todd had noticed a poster in the restaurant advertising that Fuzzy Thurston was having a book signing at the Dockside Sports Pub on Saturday afternoon. Fred "Fuzzy" Thurston was the Left Guard for the Green Bay Packers under coach Vince Lombardi and holds two Super Bowl rings - from the first two Super Bowls ever! At any rate, Bob Eckels is a big Green Bay Packer fan and really wanted to go to the book signing, so we headed back to the beach and made it to the Dockside about 30 minutes before the book signing was over.

Bob and Fuzzy Thurston at the Dockside Sports Pub.


After having a few appetizers at Dockside, we came back to the boat and relaxed for a while before driving down the street to the Parrot Key Caribbean Grill at Salty Sam's Marina to have dinner. The Parrot Key was very busy and we had to wait about an hour for a table, but the food was very good and we all enjoyed a very nice evening - our final evening together in Fort Myers Beach.

Dinner at the Parrot Key Caribbean Grill at Salty Sam's Marina.


Todd and I borrowed the Eckels' car Sunday morning to make a run to Wal-Mart while they slept in a bit. When we returned, Bob and Linda were over at Bonita Bill's having breakfast, so we dropped our bags off at the boat and joined them for a quick bite. The Eckels left shortly after noon to head back to St. Petersburg to catch their late afternoon flight, and we spent the remainder of the day getting things together for our trip to Key West.

It was raining when we woke up Monday morning. Eddie, a local gentleman who works for Key West Express and hangs out at Bonita Bill's, gave us a ride to Salty Sam's where the Key West Express is docked. The rain continued throughout our trip to Key West and even after we arrived, but the boat ride was good and Paz was there to meet us at the terminal, along with Susan and Anna Lee. Susan is Paz's significant other and Anna Lee is Susan's 10-year-old daughter.

After introductions were made, we headed into "downtown" Key West and had a drink at the Hog's Breath (As they say in Key West: "Hog's Breath is better than no breath at all!") before stopping for lunch at Flying Monkeys Saloon (a.k.a. Fogarty's) on Duval Street. They had a huge selection of premade frozen cocktails, which I was more than happy to sample, and Todd had a killer burger that he shared with Paz. We then headed to the house at Summerland Key, about 20 miles north of Key West, where Todd and Paz promptly decided to go fishing. They returned fairly quickly as the water was too rough, and we spent a quiet evening at the house while Paz and Susan prepared slabs of ribeye steak and crab cakes for dinner.

A beautiful sunrise at Summerland Key.


Todd and Paz headed out again late Tuesday morning to try their luck fishing; Susan, Anna Lee and I hung out at the pool. It was a beautiful, sunny day and it didn't take long before we had all the sun we could handle. Susan and Anna Lee went to play miniature golf while I sat in the shade and read. Todd and Paz returned later that afternoon with fresh fish for dinner - a Dorado (Mahi Mahi) and a Yellow Tail Snapper, both of which were excellent!

Susan looks on as Paz prepares the fishing bait.


Paz and Todd proudly display their respective catches of the day!


Paz, Susan and Anna Lee decided to go out in the boat together on Wednesday, and Todd and I took their car and drove into Key West to play tourist for a few hours. After we got our fill of shopping and frozen cocktails, we headed back to Summerland Key to find the rest of the gang hanging out by the pool. That evening we all went to play miniature golf. Todd was the big winner, followed closely by Paz, and I came in dead last. Paz bought fresh Cobia and Bass for dinner and invited their neighbor, Dave, and his friend Mike to join us - another great meal!

Todd, Paz and Dave went out in the boat on Thursday while the rest of us spent some time around the pool. The fish weren't biting, so the guys returned a few hours later and joined me at the pool. Susan had left shortly before the guys got back to take Anna Lee golfing again. While we were hanging around the pool, the neighbor across the canal asked if we would like some fresh swordfish. He had gone out fishing the previous evening and fished all night before returning home about 5:00 a.m. that morning with about 100 pounds of swordfish, so we were more than happy to take some of it off his hands!

When Susan and Anna Lee returned, we all played a few games of Yahtzee before starting dinner. After yet another excellent meal of fresh fish, Todd, Paz and Anna Lee went golfing - again! - while Susan and I worked on a jigsaw puzzle. Much to Paz's dismay, Todd prevailed as miniature golf champion but Anna Lee kicked our butts in Yahtzee.

By Friday, the weather had turned quite cool. We headed into Key West early that afternoon and spent several hours wandering around. We stopped at Flying Monkeys Saloon again where Todd and Anna Lee played hangman, and Todd and Paz entertained us with their mind-reading abilities and other assorted tricks. Paz dropped us off at the Key West Express terminal around 5:00 p.m. and we said our good-byes. We had a great visit and very much enjoyed meeting Susan and Anna Lee. We hope to see them again when we get up in their neck of the woods on the boat.

Our final day together in Key West.


Even though it was rainy and somewhat rough on the ride down to Key West (probably 3- to 5- foot seas for the most part, with a few 6-footers thrown in for good measure), it was still a pleasant trip; the trip back was not as pleasant. The Key West Express is a large catamaran that plows through the seas very well at about 40 miles per hour; however, we experienced 6- to 8-foot seas on the return trip and a large percentage of the passengers got seasick. Todd and I did fine, but the crew was kept quite busy taking care of dozens of sick passengers, and the boat looked like an infirmary by the time we got back to Fort Myers Beach!

Todd's sister Jennifer and her boyfriend, Mark, had driven over from Orlando to spend the weekend on the boat with us, so they picked us up at Salty Sam's about 10:00 Friday evening. By then it was very cold and windy and we were more than ready to get out of the weather. We returned to the boat and cranked up the heat and then spent a couple of hours chatting before calling it a night.

We went over to Bonita Bill's for an early lunch on Saturday before Mark left to spend some time with his daughter, Jessie. He returned a few hours later to pick Jennifer up and they spent the rest of the afternoon thrift-shopping around Fort Myers. Jennifer and Mark returned that evening with steak and chicken to grill for dinner, accompanied by a great Asian salad mix and a loaf of French bread.While they were gone, I fixed a spinach artichoke dip to have as an appetizer when they returned. Mark's other daughter, Rachel, had just returned to Fort Myers after being out of town all weekend, so she stopped by to join us for dinner.

Mark took Todd to the grocery store Sunday morning to pick up a few items, and then Jennifer and Mark took off late Sunday morning as they wanted to stop by to see Rachel at the coffee shop where she works before heading back to Orlando. It was still cool and incredibly windy all day Sunday, so Todd and I spent a quiet day on the sundeck reading and watching the turbulent water in the Pass behind us.

Monday was still cool but the wind had died down to a tolerable level, so we rode the trolley to the laundromat and spent a few hours getting caught up on our laundry. It is supposed to be in the upper 70's today, so we may walk across the bridge to the beach this afternoon for a few hours. Mike & Mary are planning to catch a ride to Fort Myers Beach tomorrow (Wednesday) with some marina friends of theirs, so we are looking forward to spending some time on the beach with them.

We still don't have any definite future plans once we leave Fort Myers Beach but are hoping to hear something from our insurance company soon as to whether our coverage extends to the Exumas. If it doesn't, that will narrow down our options as to what we do between now and the beginning of hurricane season. At any rate, we should have a tentative plan put together for our next blog update.

Hello, Ft. Myers Beach!

As planned, we left Boca Grande on Friday, January 26th, and enjoyed a relatively short cruise to Ft. Myers Beach. The 685-mile Gulf Intracoastal Water Way (GIWW), which starts in Brownsville, TX, ends just north of Ft. Myers. From Ft. Myers, you have two options to get to the east coast of Florida and the Atlantic Ocean.

The route from Ft. Myers to the Florida Keys via the west coast is characterzied by short trips in exposed, shallow Gulf Coast water broken by stops in protected, laid-back communities and is roughly 150 miles. The other option is to head east from Ft. Myers via the Caloosahatchee River and the Okeechobee Waterway. Most of this trip is in fresh water and includes five locks as you boat across the Florida peninsula. This trip is also about 150 miles and enters the Atlantic Ocean at Stuart, FL. Fortunatly, we don't have to decide which way to head yet as our plans have us in Ft. Myers Beach for the next six weeks or so.

As we mentioned in our last blog update, our original plan was to anchor out Friday evening and scope out possible marinas in the area. However, once we got here we decided fairly quickly that we would stay at the Semmer Electric docks by Bonita Bill's, a local bar/restaurant hang-out. Getting into the dock turned out to be a little stressful for us as we haven't had much experience dealing with the type of tides and currents we found in Matanzas Pass where the dock is located.

After some nerve-racking moments trying to fight the current as it pushed us away from the dock, we got secured with the assistance of Captain Bruce, the dock manager, and a few of the resident live-a-boards. The accomodations at Bonita Bill's are a series of funky little piers and docks that don't really qualify as a full-fledged marina, but we like it here as we are right by the bridge leading to Estero Island, where Ft. Myers Beach is located, and we have a great view of Matanzas Pass from the sundeck. We are technically on San Carlos Island, but the address is Ft. Myers Beach; downtown Ft. Myers is about 45 minutes north. Fortunately, there is a free trolley service that we can utilize to go to the grocery store, laundromat, etc., and the city has a local bus service that will take you pretty much anywhere you want to go in Ft. Myers.

This is a shot of "Life's2Short" from the 65-foot bridge that leads from San Carlos Island to Estero Island. Our boat is parallel to the pier in the lower left side of the photo.


Bonita Bill's has karaoke on Tuesday and Friday nights, so we were "serenaded" by the locals our first night here. Saturday was spent cleaning and Sunday was spent relaxing. Greg and Sandy from "Latitude Dancer" stopped by to see us Sunday afternoon on their way back to their boat across the bridge from us. We met Greg and Sandy in Demopolis last summer when we were waiting for our transmission to be replaced and have kept in touch with them off and on since. We knew they were somewhere in the Ft. Myers area but didn't know we would be docked just across Matanzas Pass from them. We saw their boat when we arrived Friday afternoon and called to let them know where we were.

Jennifer's friend, Mark, had to be in the Ft. Myers area on Monday for business, so he drove over from Orlando Sunday afternoon and spent Sunday night on the boat with us. Since his girls live in Ft. Myers, he invited Jessie and Rachel over to the boat for dinner which he had prepared before leaving Orlando and brought with him - meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and deviled eggs. We had a great meal and visit and then went to breakfast with Mark on Monday before he left.

The Captain had been fighting a developing cold, so the rest of Monday was spent hanging out on the boat and relaxing. By Tuesday, he felt somewhat better and we decided to walk across the bridge to see the beach. It was a cool, cloudy and breezy day so we just took a relatively short walk along the beach, found a place to have lunch and came back to the boat. The next few days were also cloudy, cool and breezy so we stayed pretty close to the boat, but by Thursday afternoon we were ready to venture out again. We walked down Main Street about a mile to check out Salty Sam's Marina and the Parrot Key Caribbean Grill and then came back and walked across the bridge to check out a few more of the local hot spots.

On Friday morning, we walked across the bridge again to the Farmer's Market to buy some fresh local produce and ran into Greg on the way back. He had been to a Flea Market in a nearby neighborhood and was bringing his "new" bicycle back to the boat. He told us the Flea Market was a mile or so down San Carlos Boulevard, so we decided to drop our produce off at the boat and walk down to check it out. The "mile" ended up being at least two miles, but we finally made it and spent an hour or so browsing through the merchandise. They were also serving food as part of the fund-raiser, so we grabbed a bite of lunch (chili and hot dogs) while we were there.

Since we had already walked most of the way, we decided to walk the remaining distance to the grocery store in Summerlin Square to stock up on a few items before returning to the boat. Having done that, we rode the trolley back to the bridge and walked the rest of the way back to the boat. Our legs and feet had had more than enough walking for one day, so we spent a quiet afternoon and evening on the boat.

Saturday was Artfest at the Ft. Myers River District (downtown), so we rode the trolley to Summerlin Square to catch the first of the two local buses that we needed to ride to get there. Two hours and one bus transfer later, we arrived at Artfest and began touring the 200 booths that had been set up while munching on a big bag of "Florda's Best" kettle corn - one of my personal favorites!

We saw a wide variety of original art work that included various types of paintings, sculpture, jewelry, ceramics, photography, woodwork, metal, glass and much more. I was especially excited by one artist's collection of beautiful glass blowfish, so the Captain sneaked back to buy one for me while I was using the restroom. What a guy!

Below are some of the pictures we took at Artfest. Cool stuff!





Super Bowl Sunday arrived and we walked over to Bonita Bill's around 4:00 p.m. to see what they had going on. After hanging out there for a while, we decided to walk across the bridge in search of a big screen on which to watch the game. We stopped in at the Gulfshore Grill initially and then made our way to the nearby Surf Club where we enjoyed free pizza and wings at half-time.  Having consumed all the food and drink we could handle, we walked back to the boat to watch the rest of the game before calling it a night.

Monday was a "stay on the boat" day as it was cloudy, cool, breezy and rainy. The weather was a little better on Tuesday, so we ventured out long enough to take care of some business and get the laundry done. The laundromat is also in Summerlin Square, so we packed everything up, walked to the trolley stop and rode to Summerlin Square. We returned by mid-afternoon and spent the rest of the day lounging around on the boat.

After enduring several days of clouds, wind and cool temperatures, the weather is finally improving and we are looking forward to seeing the sun again. Bob and Linda Eckels (friends from Springfield) had to postpone their visit last week and are scheduled to fly into Tampa/St. Petersburg this evening where they will spend the night and drive down to Ft. Myers tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. They will return to Springfield Sunday, and we will leave at 9:00 a.m. Monday morning for Key West aboard the Key West Express, a local passenger ferry service that utilizes hi-tech jet powered vessels to make daily runs back and forth to Key West (140 miles) in about 3-1/2 hours (http://www.seakeywestexpress.com).

This is the Key West Express that goes by our boat each day at 9:00 a.m. on its way to Key West and again at 9:30 p.m. on the return trip.


A college friend of Todd's (Paz) rented a house near Key West and when he found out we were going to be in Ft. Myers, he insisted we come down and spend a few days. We haven't seen Paz in 10 years, so we are excited to be able to hook up with him and see Key West at the same time! We will return from Key West next Thursday evening (February 15th) and should have lots of fun and exciting things to report in our next blog update.

St. Petersburg to Boca Grande, FL

We finally (sadly) left Cathy's dock at St. Petersburg on Saturday, January 20th. While there, Todd continued his landscaping efforts and we both performed a number of minor boat maintenance projects. Fred Winkler, the broker we met last spring when we seriously began boat shopping, paid us a visit shortly after our last post, as did Paul Schlechter, a gentleman we had some conversations with early last year regarding his boat, "Heart's Desire," and again later when we were looking to purchase some charts for the Gulf coast. Paul lives in Clearwater during the winter months and contacted us after reading in our blog that we were in St. Petersburg. We had a great chat and appreciated the opportunity to put a face with the name.

We had a wonderful time visiting with Cathy and getting to know some of her neighbors, primarily Bev and Frank. Bev supplied us with fresh-squeezed orange juice and Frank graciously gave us a ride into town to pick out a gazing ball and stand to adorn Cathy's pool-side patio as a token of our appreciation for her limitless generosity and kindness. Cathy is an amazing lady and a treasured friend who we feel incredibly fortunate to have developed such a special relationship with.

A view of "Life's2Short" from Cathy's beautiful pool-side patio. "What Daze It?" is to our right facing into the canal.


A fun evening cooking with Cathy in her kitchen.


Dinner on Cathy's patio with Frank and Bev. Taz is looking for a sympathy morsel!


Our beloved Cathy with her baby girl, Taz, on the left and Rafiki (the gazing ball) on the right.


After maneuvering away from Cathy's dock, we crossed Boca Ciega Bay to pump out the holding tanks at Gulfport Marina before making our way to Sarasota to anchor for the evening. We originally tried to anchor in the harbor near Marina Jack's, but after several unsuccessful attempts at getting the anchor to hold we went out into a nearby mooring field/anchorage where we had somewhat better luck. We finally determined that the anchor wasn't swiveling properly and that it was dragging along the bottom on its backside. Todd applied a little WD-40 to the swivel and we were back in business.

Because the mooring field was in an open area, the water was a little rough with all the weekend boat traffic but it got better as darkness settled in and the boat traffic died down. Since we had (hopefully) fixed the problem with the anchor, we decided to pull up anchor Sunday morning and try again in the more protected harbor near the marina. Another trawler had been anchored there when we arrived on Saturday, but they pulled up anchor and left Sunday morning so we had the harbor to ourselves. We still experienced some difficulty getting the anchor to hold in the very soft bottom, but we finally got situated and put the dinghy down to go over to O'Leary's, a neat little waterfront restaurant and tiki bar, for lunch.

Our first-night anchorage in Sarasota with a view of the skyline in the background.


Our second-night anchorage near Marina Jack's in downtown Sarasota - much nicer!


We left the dinghy at O'Leary's and walked into downtown Sarasota to find a place to watch the NFL playoff games. We watched the first half of the first game at Smokin' Joe's, a local sports bar, before calling a cab to take us across the John Ringling Causeway to St. Armands Circle, an area with upscale shopping and several restaurants. St. Armands Circle is technically on St. Armands Key but is just a short walk away from Lido Beach on Lido Key. We browsed through a few of the shops before wandering into Lido Grille where we watched the remainder of the first game before walking over to Lido Beach to watch the sunset.

A beautiful Gulf sunset on Lido Beach!


We returned to Lido Grille and had some wonderful appetizers (lobster dip with pita bread and veggie quesadillas) while we watched the rest of the second playoff game and then decided to get a little exercise by walking back to the boat - as we ate ice cream from a nearby shop. While the cab ride over seemed relatively short, the walk back turned into an almost three-mile hike! After our long walk, we had a quick nightcap at O'Leary's before dinghying back to the boat and calling it a day.

Monday was very windy and it took us 5-1/2 hours to cover 30 miles. We had originally planned to go from Sarasota to Boca Grande (another 20 miles), but we were both tired of battling the wind and decided to anchor at Englewood Beach by mid-afternoon. There were several other boats in the anchorage with us and about 8:00 that evening the wind shifted, turning the boat in the opposite direction which placed us uncomfortably close to a nearby sailboat. So we started the engines, pulled up the anchor and moved the boat a safe distance away. Fortunately, the anchor performed well and we had no difficulty getting the anchor to hold on the first try.

By Tuesday morning the wind had died down and we boated the final 20 miles to Boca Grande without incident. As we wound our way into Boca Grande Bayou, we saw about a dozen other boats already anchored. While that isn't a large number of boats by most anchorage standards, the Bayou is really just a slightly wider area in a canal and it isn't wide enough for boats to swing on one anchor without blocking boat traffic; plus, you would only be able to fit a handful of boats in the available space if they were swinging on one hook. Consequently, the accepted practice is for boats to anchor "med style" with the stern tied to mangroves and an anchor off the bow.

Our "med-style" anchorage in Boca Grande Bayou.


We were secure in our anchorage by 2:00 p.m., so I decided I would buckle down (finally) and paint the boat registration on the dinghy, a task I had been putting off for several weeks. Todd stenciled the letters and numbers on each side and I spent the next couple of hours applying three coats of paint and then painstakingly detailing the areas where the paint had seeped over the stencil lines. After that task was complete, we lowered the dinghy and toured the surrounding canals, admiring the many plush, expensive homes in an area known as "a hang out for the VERY rich and famous."

The weather was forecast to turn rainy and much cooler by Wednesday evening, so we dinghied across the canal to a local dock and walked into the village of Boca Grande late Wednesday morning. After grabbing a sandwich at the Dolphin Cove/Pink Pony eatery, we rented a golf cart and drove two miles to the south end of Gasparilla Island to see the historic lighthouse overlooking Boca Grande Pass.

The Boca Grande Lighthouse built in 1890.


While at the lighthouse, we ran into our boat neighbors and invited them to join us for a drink at South Beach, a beachfront restaurant just north of the lighthouse. After chatting with Chuck & Diana for an hour or so, we came back into town and toured around a bit more before returning the golf cart and walking over to the Boca Palms Restaurant to peruse the menu. Chuck & Diana had eaten there Tuesday evening and highly recommended it. Even though it was still a little early to be thinking about dinner (about 4:30), our waiter was very accommodating and offered to let us order off the lunch menu so we decided to have a couple of their lunch specials, which were very good, before returning to the boat.

As forecast, the rain began Wednesday evening and continued off and on throughout the night. Thursday dawned cool and overcast with a few more showers, but by afternoon the sun peeked through and the temps improved somewhat. Todd has been itching to catch some saltwater fish, so he broke down and dinghied over to a nearby marina to purchase some live shrimp to use as bait and is currently trying to catch some fresh fish.

Our plan is to leave Boca Grande in the morning and travel the final 40 miles to Ft. Myers where we will anchor for the evening and spend Saturday checking out some of the marinas in the area to determine which one we want to stay at for the next month or so. Bob and Linda Eckels from Springfield, MO are scheduled to meet us in Ft. Myers a week from today, so we need to get settled in and learn the lay of the land before they arrive. Stay tuned as "Life's2Short" continues its journey south!

The New Year Begins

We left St. Petersburg on December 28th to go to Orlando to spend some time with Todd's sister. Cathy was kind enough to give us a ride to Tampa where Jennifer and Mark were returning from a cruise and we rode with them to Orlando.

Since they were gone for Christmas, we celebrated a late Christmas on New Year's Eve with Jennifer and Mark and their children, Shannon and Sara (Jennifer's) and Chris, Rachel and Jessie (Mark's). After everyone opened their presents, we enjoyed a wonderful fondue feast and then went next door for a fireworks extravaganza hosted by Jennifer's neighbor, Michael. We all managed to stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop in Times Square as 2006 ended and 2007 began.

The Captain models his new Crocs and Croc socks. Isn't that a lovely sight!


Left to right: The lovely Rachel and Jessie (Mark's daughters) and Shannon and Sarah (Jennifer's daughters).


Sarah is thrilled with her new industrial-strength wagon!


Jessie and Shannon checking out a few of their gifts.


Shadow giving Rachel kisses!


Fondue anyone? Pictured (left to right) are Jennifer, Mark, Shannon, Jessie, Rachel and Chris.


On New Year's Day, Jennifer and Mark went with us to see Bobbi and Keith in downtown Orlando. We met Bobbi and Keith in June of 2006 at the Yacht Basin in Demopolis, AL where they were living on their houseboat. When we returned to Demopolis this fall, we learned that they had relocated to Orlando so we made plans to get together while we were in the area.

We met at Lee and Rick's Oyster Bar that afternoon and spent a few hours visiting and catching up. Bobbi and Keith plan to return to Demopolis later this year to resume life on the boat so we hope to see them again the next time we are at the Yacht Basin.

That evening Todd started watching the now famous Fiesta Bowl featuring the underdogs from Boise State University against the powerhouse Oklahoma Sooners. It turned out to be a very exciting game and Todd was up into the wee hours of Tuesday morning watching the overtime finale and post game show as Boise State walked away with an amazing 43-42 victory. Many are dubbing it "the best college football game ever" and I think Todd would probably agree with that assessment!

We spent the next few days enjoying the space and conveniences of being on land and made plans to go to the Universal Studios Islands of Adventure theme park on Thursday. We arrived at the park about 10:00 a.m. and spent the day roaming around and riding the rides, primarily the two roller coasters: Duelling Dragons and The Incredible Hulk. Both were pretty intense and even downright scary at first, but it was fun and we rode each of them several times. The park was only open until 7:00 p.m., so we stopped by Margaritaville, just outside the theme park entrance, to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back to Jennifer's.

Islands of Adventure, here we come!


The Captain poses with Betty Boop. Don't they make a handsome couple?

Jennifer and Mark brought us back to St. Petersburg Saturday afternoon and spent the night on the boat before returning to Orlando late Sunday morning. We shared a great meal Saturday evening with Cathy and her visiting niece, Lora, on Cathy's patio. Mark had brought along some killer barbeque ribs he picked up on his way home from work Saturday and then he and Todd went to get some Chinese food after we arrived in St. Petersburg. The food was really good and the company was even better!

A parting shot of the four of us before Mark and Jennifer head back to Orlando.


We got up Sunday morning and took Mark and Jennifer out to breakfast before making a restocking run to Wal-Mart. After helping us get the groceries unloaded, they headed back to Orlando and we settled back into life on the boat.

Buddy was very lethargic all day and by that evening he wasn't even able to stand up. We put him to bed early and woke up with him several times during the night as he seemed to be getting worse. He took his last breath Monday morning shortly after we woke up, so we got the dinghy down, went out into the bay and found a place to bury him among the palm trees. It was hard to see him go and we will miss him terribly, but he lived a good, long life and appeared to really enjoy the time he spent in Orlando roaming around Jennifer's big yard and hanging out on the patio.

A good friend of ours, Everett Hayes, wrote the following about Buddy in a recent e-mail: I can just hear him in dog heaven, some big dog comes up and tells about the high rise where he lived in the city and the big patch of grass in the park where he could lie down, and how he got to take cab rides. “The Bud Man” then ask, have you ever shit on a white sandy beach, pissed on a palm tree, swam in the salt water, swam in a fresh water lake, flown in an airplane, had your own boats,(yes that’s boats, not boat) met dogs from all over the country, looked up at night and it was so dark you could see all the stars and no neon lights. Big dog, I lived, you just existed. Now shut your yap before I hurt you. What a great and fitting tribute to Buddy and his many adventures!

After our traumatic morning, Cathy invited us to have dinner with her Monday evening and we cheered the Florida Gators on as they walked all over the Ohio State Buckeyes during the first half of the College Bowl National Championship game. We didn't stay up for the second half of the game, but the Gators managed to increase their 34-14 half-time lead by 7 while holding the Buckeyes to 14 total points and walk away with the National Championship in a 41-14 victory. An impressive win by the Gators!

Todd spent several hours working in Cathy's yard Tuesday morning while I worked on the blog and then we both worked in the yard some more that afternoon before retiring to a quiet evening on the boat. Wednesday was essentially a quiet day as well and was spent doing a few chores and projects around the boat and a little more yard work for Cathy.

The Captain couldn't resist taking of photo of this White Egret perched on a post just a few feet off our sundeck.


Mike & Mary of "What Daze It?" are due back from Alabama around the middle of next week after having completed a 17-day, 895-mile trip to deliver a 1985 43-foot Hatteras from Key Largo to Pascagoula, MS for a friend of theirs. We may stay in St. Petersburg until then and travel with them to Ft. Myers, but we haven't decided anything for sure. As someone recently told us, "I have no schedule and I'm sticking to it!"

Crystal River to St. Petersburg, FL

On Wednesday, December 20th, we gathered our laundry together and dinghied over to Bob and Phyllis' house around noon to borrow their car to go to the laundromat and grocery store. We then returned to the boat to get cleaned up in preparation for dinner with Bob, Phyllis and Hal (from the sailboat) that evening.

As we were getting ready, I noticed a houseboat that had been anchored behind our boat appeared to be dragging anchor and was continuing to get closer to Hal's sailboat. We watched it for a few hours and finally decided to radio Hal at Bob and Phyllis' house to alert him. Bob and Hal came out to Kings Bay in Bob's Bayliner to check it out and ended up calling the Coast Guard to report what was happening. They, in turn, managed to get in touch with the owner who said he would take care of it.

Since Bob was already out in his boat, we rode with him and Hal to the house for dinner. Bob grilled Caribbean Jerk Chicken and Phyllis made some wonderful Caribbean-style rice and a killer salad. After a great meal, we settled in for a game of Mexican Trash Train which lasted until 1:00 a.m., at which time Bob took us all back to our boats in his Bayliner.

Having stayed up so late Wednesday evening, we decided not to leave Crystal River until Friday and spent Thursday lounging around the boat and catching up on e-mail. We left Crystal River shortly before 8:00 a.m. Friday morning and wound our way through the long river channel into the Gulf. We left at low tide, so the water was much shallower in spots than when we originally came into Kings Bay and we experienced some tense moments before we finally got into deeper water.

It was a windy day with some pretty rough water, and the eight-hour trip to Anclote Key turned out to be exhausting as we dodged literally hundreds of crab pots along the way. Crab pots are big cages (crab traps) with ropes connected to floats on the water. The floats are roughly between the size of a softball and a soccer ball and are difficult to spot in rough water, so we had to constantly be on watch for them. If you run over one, the rope connecting the float and the cage gets tangled in your prop and the only way to get it off is to get in the water, swim under the boat to the prop and cut the rope. Fortunately, we haven't had to do that... yet.

This is a crab boat checking its traps in Kings Bay where we were anchored.


We reached Anclote Key about 4:00 p.m. and anchored in the wind and rough water. We were hoping the island would offer some protection from the elements, but it didn't and we continued to bounce around on the waves and swing in the wind. Even though storms were forecast to move in overnight, we were both so exhausted that we managed to sleep right through them and woke up Saturday to a beautiful, calm morning. Even though the boat's depth finder indicated that we were in five to six feet of water, it looked more like two feet as we could clearly see the grassy bottom, along with our chain and anchor which was now behind us!

After getting the dinghy down, Todd took Buddy to shore and we then went over to the island to look for seashells. When we returned to the boat Todd called Chicago Mike who we met this fall, along with his brother Paul, when we were tied up at Waterfall Cove on Pickwick Lake. They both live in Chicago and were in Tennessee visiting local friends, Tena and Keith. We had received an e-mail from Mike in response to our holiday letter and learned that he was in Clearwater, FL visiting his parents. Since we had to go right through Clearwater on our way to St. Petersburg, we decided to leave Anclote Key and spend Saturday night in Clearwater.

These are the shells we collected on Anclote Key. As you can see, the sand dollars are much bigger than those we found on Crooked Island.


Todd consulted the Cruise Guide and found a great municipal anchorage in Clearwater right next to a restaurant called Frenchy's, so we made arrangements to meet Mike later that afternoon. The trip took about four hours, and I spent most of that time trying to get our computer navigation system to work. Fortunately, we were back in the Intracoastal Waterway once we left Anclote Key and it wasn't too difficult to navigate without it. We met Mike at Frenchy's late Saturday afternoon where he treated us to a nice dinner, and we spent the rest of the evening checking out the nightlife in Clearwater before returning to the boat around midnight.

Todd and I with Chicago Mike at Kelly's Place, one of Clearwater's "hotspots."


Our anchorage in Clearwater.


Mike spent the night with us on the boat, so Todd took him back to shore Sunday morning and we began the final leg of our journey to St. Petersburg around 10:00 a.m. The majority of the twenty-five miles between Clearwater and St. Petersburg is in a "No Wake" zone due to the highly developed (both commerical and private) shoreline, so it took us about four hours to reach Cathy's house.

If you have been reading our blog from the beginning, you may recall that we met Cathy last February when we looked at a 42-foot trawler that was tied up to her dock. When we later bought "Life's2Short," Cathy graciously allowed us to have the boat delivered to her dock where we met up with Mike & Mary Hall in April and began our trip to Mobile. And we are grateful, once again, to have the use of her dock while we are in St. Petersburg, as are Mike & Mary whose boat "What Daze It?" is also tied up here.

A view of "Life's2Short" and "What Daze It?" at Cathy's beautiful home in St. Petersburg.


Although the weather on Sunday was very nice, storms were forecast for Christmas Eve and into Christmas Day. As predicted, the wind picked up overnight Sunday and by 9:00 a.m. Christmas morning, the day-long rain began. Todd and I spent a quiet day on the boat and were relieved to be tied up to a dock as there were several thunderstorm and tornado watches and warnings in the area. In fact, a tornado touched down just north of Tampa and either damaged or destroyed several area homes; fortunately, we only had wind and rain to deal with.

By Tuesday, the rain had pretty much moved through, but it was still cloudy, windy and much cooler. Todd took one of Mike & Mary's bikes and rode into town to get some engine parts and oil and then spent a good portion of the day doing boat maintenance (replacing deteriorated fuel lines, changing the oil, etc.) while I worked on the blog. Todd also put a new wheelbarrow together for Cathy and did some yard work which is part of our payment for docking the boat here over the next few weeks.

Wednesday dawned sunny and cool and Todd continued the yard work while I got things ready to go to Orlando on Thursday. Cathy is going to drop us off somewhere near the Port of Tampa Thursday morning, and Jennifer and Mark will pick us up and take us back to Orlando with them. We will probably be in Orlando through next weekend, so have a safe and Happy New Year and we will be back in 2007.

Reaching Florida's West Coast

We posted our last update as we were traveling through Mobile Bay on December 9th enroute to the Gulf coast. Mobile Bay can be very unpleasant to cross in moderate to high winds because it is so big and shallow, but we only experienced a light chop on the three-hour journey across the bay.  Once we got back into the Intracoastal Waterway, we encountered a lot of barge traffic which is always interesting since the Waterway isn't very wide and you are either meeting the barges head-to-head or having to go around them since they generally travel even slower than we do, although not by much!

We reached our anchorage at Ingram Bayou late Saturday afternoon and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings in the remaining daylight. Sunday we continued along the Waterway through Orange Beach, AL to one of our favorite anchorages, Mary Esther, just west of Destin, FL. Once again, we arrived late afternoon and enjoyed what we could of the scenery before it got dark. We also spent Monday at Mary Esther and made a trip across the sand dunes to the Gulf to see the ocean and look for seashells. We spent a couple of hours enjoying the beach and the sun (it had been cloudy, cool and breezy for the past few days) and collecting shells.

These are some funky condos on the waterway in the Orange Beach area. Look at that pure white sand!


This is the beach on the Gulf side of Mary Esther where we looked for seashells.


Just before we got back to the boat, we heard someone yelling at us from the road we had crossed to get to the Gulf side. We turned around and saw that it was some kind of policeman and he was motioning for us to walk over to where he was standing. When we reached him, he informed us that we were in a restricted area and asked for identification. Of course, we didn't have anything on us and told him our ID was on the boat. We asked if he wanted us to go get it and he said no, but he told us to follow him to his vehicle and he would run a background check on us.

When we got to the vehicle, he proceeded to tell us that we were on Air Force land and that being there was a ticketable offense. He said the Air Force was conducting exercises out there that day and that if the troops had encountered us, they would have treated us as "unfriendlies" and would have assumed that we were part of the exercise, taken us into custody, etc. We asked him why none of the land was posted (we hadn't seen a sign anywhere to indicate that we shouldn't be there) and he said that many of the signs had blown down in hurricanes and hadn't been replaced.  At any rate, he didn't give us a ticket, didn't run a background check and let us go back to the boat once he felt we had been properly warned. Needless to say, that will be our last trip to the Gulf at Mary Esther!

Tuesday we left early for the trip to Panama City to meet up with Mike & Mary Hall aboard "What Daze It" in Dolphin Bay. We arrived about 3:30 p.m., rafted next to them and spent a quiet evening on the boat. Wednesday morning we took Mike & Mary's car to get a few things at Wal-Mart as we were planning to leave around noon to go a short distance out into the Gulf to Crooked Island to anchor for the evening.

Crooked Island and much of the surrounding land is used by the Air Force to test drones and they announce on the VHF radio each day whether exercises are being conducted in the area. If they are, no boat traffic is allowed during that time. About 11:00 a.m. they announced that exercises would be conducted that day beginning about 1:15 p.m. Todd contacted them to ask when the exercises would be over and was told it would be about 3:30 p.m., so we left Dophin Bay around 1:30 p.m. and made our way out into the Gulf.

The trip took longer than we expected and we arrived at Crooked Island as the sun was setting. It was a little tricky getting into the anchorage, and even though Mike & Mary had been there before and we were following their old track, areas that had been deep before had shoaled and were very shallow now. So, we adjusted our course along the way, in semi-darkness, and made it to the anchorage without incident, even though there were some tense moments along the way!

After getting anchored and taking the dogs to shore, we joined Mike & Mary for dinner and enjoyed a pleasant evening on the water. I putzed around the galley Thursday morning while the Captain did a little fishing and exploring in the dinghy. We then took a dinghy ride to the eastern end of Crooked Island to look for seashells. We found lots of small sand dollars but not much else of interest. The Captain left me on the beach and trolled his way back to the boat, hoping to catch some fish, while I walked back along the beach.

Shortly after returning to the boat, Mary decided to trim the back of Mike's hair/neck and offered to give the Captain a hair cut. Since his last hair cut was in Columbus, MS around the end of October, he was ready to lose some locks - and I must say, she did a very fine job! That evening, we shared some of Fred's famous seafood gumbo, accompanied by cornbread, with Mike & Mary on our boat and then turned in for the evening.

This is Mary Hall giving Todd a haircut on the bow of their boat with a view of Crooked Island in the background.


These are some of the seashells we gathered at Mary Esther and at Crooked Island.


Friday we went back out into the Gulf and made our way to Port St. Joe where we re-entered the Waterway and continued on to Apalachicola to get fuel. We then made our way to St. George Island where we anchored for the evening and retired around 8:30 p.m. in preparation for the Gulf crossing the next morning. Mike got us up five hours later (1:30 a.m. CST) and he and Todd took the dogs to shore. We then loaded the dinghy, got the anchor up and were on our way an hour later. Since we were now in the Eastern Time Zone, it was actually 3:30 a.m. when we left the anchorage and made our way through East Pass and out into the Gulf.

These are some shrimp boats we passed in the canal that leads from the Gulf to the Intracoastal Waterway at Port St. Joe.


The water was very calm through the pass and into the Gulf. As we got further from land, the seas picked up some and we had three or four hours of two- to three-foot seas but then it began to calm down again as we neared the western coast of Florida. After thirteen long hours, we reached Cedar Keys and anchored for the evening. We were all exhausted and went to bed shortly after eating dinner. Mike & Mary left us Sunday morning and continued south toward Tarpon Springs. They were planning to spend a couple of days there before going on to St. Petersburg where they will leave their boat, rent a car and drive to Key Largo to move a friend's boat from Key Largo to Panama City.  Since we were in no rush to get to St. Petersburg, we decided to spend a few days in Crystal River, about thirty miles south of Cedar Keys.

A beautiful sunset view of a sailboat passing by our anchorage at Cedar Keys.

This is the infamous and much talked about Mike and Mary Hall holding their Jack Russell terriers, HID (left) and M.E. (right). HID stands for Hearing Impaired Dog and M.E. are Mary's initials, pronouned Emmy.


Crystal River is a spring-fed freshwater river and is the largest manatee haven on the west coast of Florida with 17% (about 200) of the state's manatee population living along the river. The water is a uniform 72 degrees and the thirty-some natural springs pump an amazing 300 million gallons of water each day! We made our way through the ten mile long winding river channel and anchored in Kings Bay, a small freshwater lake, near the town of Crystal River.

Mo, the 72-year-old dynamo we originally met in September of 2005, and again this past September at Waterfall Cove on Pickwick Lake, had given us the names of some friends who live in Crystal River. We contacted Bob & Phyllis and introduced ourselves and were promptly invited to join them for dinner. However, we wanted to clean up and spend a quiet evening on the boat so we told Phyllis we would dinghy over to see them the next day.

Late Monday morning we took the dinghy over to meet Bob & Phyllis whose home is on one of the many canals surrounding Kings Bay. On the way, we met Hal who was headed back to his 54-foot steel hulled sailboat that is anchored in Kings Bay. Hal is also a friend of Bob & Phyllis and was on his way back from their house. In talking with Hal, we learned that he had essentially gutted the interior of his sailboat and has been working on redoing it over the past year - what a project! Sounds like he is almost finished, though, and has plans to meet some friends in the Exumas mid-March 2007.

After making our way to Bob & Phyllis' home and visiting with them for a while, we walked to a nearby restaurant to have lunch only to find that it was closed on Mondays. On our way back to their house we met Bob who was heading into town to run a few errands. We hopped in with him and he dropped us off at a local restaurant called Crackers and then re-joined us a short while later. While we ate lunch Bob told us stories about the many wonderful years he & Phyllis spent on their catamaran in Trinidad in the West Indies near the Venezualan coast. They have also spent time in the Exumas and Grenada, among many, many other places - an interesting and amazing lifestyle, to say the least!

When we returned to the house, we got in the dinghy and made our way back to the boat to check on Buddy. We then took a short dinghy ride around the Bay and had just returned to the boat when Bob stopped by in his 22-foot Bayliner for a few evening cocktails. We visited until dark when Bob headed back home and we settled in for a quiet evening on the boat.

We dinghied back over to Bob & Phyllis' Tuesday afternoon to borrow Bob's canoe and visit the natural springs called Three Sisters just down the canal from their house. Todd took his snorkeling gear and snorkeled in the crystal clear 72-degree water while I watched from the canoe (too cold for me!) What a beautiful area, though! Todd also wanted to swim with the manatees but we didn't see any in the immediate area or on the way back to the boat, although we had seen a few on the way over. What we did come across on the return trip, though, was a couple of porpoises. They were chasing fish, with the pelicans hovering over their heads, and we saw the fish jump out of the water and the porpoise caught the fish in its mouth in mid-air. Way cool, but over too quickly to get a photo of it!

The Captain snorkeling in the Three Sisters springs.


Another view of the Captain at Three Sisters. The water was truly spectacular!


These are a few of the manatees we saw in the water on our way to Bob and Phyllis' house.


Shortly after returning to the boat, Todd saw a bald eagle swoop down right in front of him on the starboard side of the boat and pluck a fish out of the water - just another of the many incredible sights we've experienced in this beautiful area! Bob stopped by in his Bayliner about 5:00 p.m. and told us that Hal wanted us to come over and tour his sailboat, so we dinghied over and spent a couple of hours visiting with them and talking about boating in the islands. These guys have experienced a lot and obviously know what they're talking about!

Phyllis has invited us to their home tomorrow (Wednesday) evening for Caribbean Jerk Chicken. We may leave Crystal River Thursday morning; if so, tomorrow will be a laundry and errand-running day while we have the opportunity. Bob & Phyllis have graciously offered the use of their vehicle and their washer and dryer, although we will probably end up going to a laundromat for the sake of expediency. Regardless, Bob & Phyllis have been more than generous and we are grateful to have made their acquaintance. We hope to keep in touch with them for many years to come!

Our next stop on the way to St. Petersburg will probably be Anclote Key near Tarpon Springs. We will anchor there for a night or two and possibly go into Tarpon Springs for a night before making the final leg of the journey to St. Petersburg. We will then stay on the boat in St. Petersburg until December 28th when we will meet up with Todd's sister Jennifer and go to her house in Orlando for a late Christmas and New Year. In the meantime, we want to wish all of our family, friends and acquaintances who are reading the blog and keeping up with our adventures a very Merry Christmas and a wonderfully prosperous and Happy New Year!!!