I have had to over come a great deal of inertia to get this blog started. We have been gone three weeks already and this is the first entry. Part of the problem I guess is that we have not taken many pictures plus in most cases we are covering ground traveled on past trips.
Our overall plan is to make the circumnavigation of the lower half of Florida by going down thru the Keys then up the West Coast to the St. Petersburg area then south again to Ft. Myers and across Lake Okeechobee to the East Coast and south to Ft. Lauderdale. Total distance traveled will be just short of 1,000 miles.
For the first 5 days of the trip we traveled with our friends the Hajaars on their 44' power cat Dream Away. Leaving on Oct 31 our first stop was the north end of Elliott Key where we anchored out. The next day we moved on to Pumpkin Key so that we could spend Sunday afternoon enjoying the food and band at Alabama Jacks, one of our favorite Keys watering holes. We than moved on to anchor off another favorite bar in Islamorada, Lorelei's. There we met other friends, the Gillens and joined them for dinner. The following day we moved on down to Lower Matrecumbe Key to anchor off the Gillen's great Key's house. They had graciously invited all of us for dinner. ( In the small world department the Gillen's house guests were people we had met on our trip up to North Carolina in '08. They are from California, but keep their 49' Grand Banks in Oriental, NC which is where we first met them. As it turns out they live just a few blocks from our nephew Mike in the marina area of San Francisco.)
We had planned to spend more time at the Gillen's, but the forecast was for increasing winds so we moved on the next day to Little Shark River while the Hajaars started back home. Little Shark River is about as isolated as you can get on the coastal waters of Florida. It is just north of Cape Sable in Everglades National Park, 30-40 miles from any civilization. We anchored then put the dinghy in the water and explored the river. Very tranquil and full of birds.
The next day was the worst of the trip as we had a 57nm open water run to Marco Island into a strong north wind. Debby spent the whole day in bed as that is the area of the boat with the least motion. The Gulf waters can get nasty in a hurry.
We arrived in Marco Island on November 6. It continued to blow in excess of 20 knots for the next 5 days so we just stayed put at Marco Island Yacht Club. Fortunately, the Coulsons were in town. Tony and I worked together both at National Airlines and at AeroThrust. They have had property on Marco for over 30 years, so we got a good tour of the island and had several nice meals together. Since we were going to miss going to Naples by boat we rented a car one day and toured Naples as well. We were pleasantly suprised by Naples, and wished we could have enjoyed the club there.
The wind subsided a bit by the 11th so we moved on to Sanibel Island for an overnight stop then on to our next destination which was the Isles Yacht Club in Punt Gorda in Charlotte Harbor. This turned out to be a great, hospitable club and a neat little waterfront town. There were 4 boats from St Pete YC there having a rendezvous and they included us in some of their parties. The Isles club had a lecture on the sinking of the Titanic by an individual who traveled to it on a Russian submersible in 2000 which was also very interesting.
We have finally arrived at St. Petersburg Yacht Club after an overnight stop at Venice Yacht Club. (For those of you unaware we stay at yacht clubs when we can because we get reciprocal privileges meaning the first nights dockage is free and subsequent nights are usually inexpensive.)
Our friends the Sorensens have recently moved nearby at Treasure Island, and other friends , the Hansons live at a high rise overlooking the club, so we have a built in social scene. The Sorensens are trying hard to get us to consider moving here. The area certainly has a lot to offer boaters.
The pictures show from top to bottom: Moon rise at Sunset off Pumpkin Key, Underway in the Keys in tranquil water (note the almost indistinguishable horizon), Sunset in Lower Matecumbe with Hajaars boat, Gillen's house, Sunrise at Little Shark River.
