Fun in the Keys of Florida

Hey, these are some of the photos of the undersea world at the reef off of Marathon.

Here is Erwin's dive partner, Morgan.

Here is Erwin, having a great time.

Here is a shark sitting under the ledge of the reef.

The rest of the photos are the sea life and all of the great coral plants at the reef.

Isn't this all just fascinating!

Back to cruising in the Florida waters

Well we made it back to Florida and have spent a couple of weeks here, one working on all the various things that needed to be done and one on moving the boat from Charlotte Harbor to Marathon in the middle keys.

We flew into Ft. Meyers and were picked up neighbors of our Dorothy and Larry.  Fred and Dot are some of our new friends that we have made at Harbor Heights which is outside of Punta Gorda.  Dorothy and Larry have been away from home and returned just the same morning as we were flying in.  They had their new tug boat they had purchased on a trailer and were hauling it from the Chicago area to Florida.  Here is a picture of the proud owners and their new boat.  Isn't it just adorable?

We had to go to the boat yard the day after we arrived as we had scheduled for the boat to be plunked in the water.  I was nervous as always.  This is not a light weight boat and those big lifts are huge and noisy.  It is like you want to turn your head, but you have to watch to be sure it is OK.  All American boatyard did a super job.  Here is a couple of the pictures of them moving it from storage to the water.

We cleaned the boat, windows, gally, dishes, beds, walls, dinghy, solar panels, etc. so the boat no longer looked liked it had been stored for a long time in the hot summer heat of Florida.  All in all it really did not have a lot of issues that needed to be addressed, we had the usual to do as in free up some of the metal stuff that had frozen in the heat and salt.  We were very happy that the inside of the boat stayed so dry and even though there were a few bugs in the spices that were not sealed, not a lot of problems.  I tossed the spices and started new with the ones I had brought with me in November in the truck. 

We will be forever thankful for our good friends Dorothy and Larry as they carted us all over the place even though they had been gone a month themselves.  We knew that Larry was anxious to start on the new boat, and we sure could not blame him for that.  We supported the economy well as we provisioned the boat from the local Winn-Dixie, Publix, and the health store which had a wonderful supply of fresh spices.  We also visited the Ace Hardware, West Marine, and dive shop.  It was fascinating to get a call from the credit card company (after Marilyn was denied credit at the grocery), they wanted to verify we were making all the purchases and that it was all OK.  Nice touch on the fraud department.  I love it that they watch out for us so well.  It was Discover by the way.  Good Job.

As we were cleaning and putting all of the supplies away the boat looked pretty much at home on the dock at Dorothy and Larry's.  Here it is:

  Oh yes, we are not in Kansas anymore as this Blue Heron was standing on the dock looking in the windows of the boat as I was putting away all of the groceries.  I think they expect some food, but I was not sharing.  He was so close that I could hear him making a slow gurgling sound in his throat!

We were all set to leave but awoke to some clouds, some wet stuff falling from above, and quite a bit of wind.  It seemed like a good day to take advantage of some more organizing and hug the dock.  We left the following morning early to catch enough water in the channel.  Here is the sunrise as we went under the bridge at highway 41.

We made our way to Ft. Meyers and were hoping to catch up with some of our cruising friends there.  But Don and Linda, and Casey and Edith were not in water so we were unable to see them as we did not have a car.  We were able to see our old friend Frank (from Maine) as he was in Ft. Meyers and picked us up to go lunch and catch up.  Even more important, he took us to West Marine to purchase a new battery for the main engine.  It seems as our old battery did not survive the heat and humidity.  Since we live on the battery and generator with our own power supply, it was a good investment.

After a couple of days waiting for winds and seas to be favorable we said good bye to Ft. Meyers and started our 3 day trip to Marathon.  2 of the 3 passages were nice and easy.  The middle one had a little of the rolly seas that just make it less than pleasant.  Erwin was playing with the new camera and took this picture of me driving the boat.  Note that the water on the Gulf of Mexico is almost flat.  Nice way to cruise.

When we took the pass into Marco Island and on to Goodland, we could not help but remember the water here in Florida is quite shallow.  Just look at the dry land where water used to be on the shore.

We anchored all of the nights on the way to Marathon.  Some of these spots are very secluded.  You can see by the photo, not much other boat traffic.

Getting the boat ready with some fun in Florida

We returned back to Florida in our truck to get the boat ready for our return trip up the East coast and some more relaxing in the Keys.

We stopped at Crystal River and stayed with my father-in-laws cousin, Barb.  We were so lucky she invited us to stay at her lovely home.  Erwin had booked a scuba trip (yes it is his new passion) at the Crystal River and she lives very close by.  We were able to have a great visit with her and we even made friends with her dog, Sammy.  It was great.

Here are a couple of pictures of the dive trip that Erwin took.  There were several divers and one person snorkling.  They floated the river and as you can see the water was so clear it was amazing.  He had a great time and Barb and I rode in the boat and got to watch them play!

After our visit at Crystal River, we joined our friends Dorothy and Larry at Punta Gorda.  They invited us to stay at their home which is quite close to the boat yard where the boat is stored.  We so very much appreciated the home cooking and nice room that they provided us.

It was a very busy time as we first worked on the boat.  Here is a picture of it in the yard.

It looks much bigger out of the water, at least to me.  We were very pleased that the many tips that Dorothy and Larry gave us last spring worked very well.  The inside of the boat had very few little creatures as the roach tablets warded off all of those creepy guys.  The 9x13 pans of kitty litter kept the entire boat dry as a bone even in the rainy, humid, summer weather.  It was wonderful to get those inside tips from them. 

The entire truck was loaded in the back with our summer clothes, canned goods, dry goods, reading material, dvds, etc.  So Erwin and Larry hoisted all those tubs of stuff into the boat (boy was I lucky that they were so helpful).  I got busy organizing the inside of the boat and determining what had to be done when we return in January.  Erwin and Larry got busy getting the bottom of the boat and the outside ready.  We got the dinghy off the deck and on the back of the boat.  We all went about getting the other things done and before Erwin even realized it, Larry had put the motor back on the dinghy!  Here is a picture of both of them sanding the bottom of the boat.  We had to be sure to keep the tarp under the boat and to hook up the vacuums to keep all the dust contained.

I was so grateful as was Erwin that Larry volunteered to help us.  They put these white coveralls on and went to work.  Larry has done this on his own boat and he was very aware what a crappy job it is, but he still was a trooper and I was one lucky girl that he helped.

I could not believe it, they sanded the entire boat in one day and then they also put the new coat of bottom paint on as well!  Doesn't she look beautiful?

We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends as Dorothy and Larry.  Well after that we spent a couple of days do other things to get the boat ready.  We also helped Dorothy and Larry put up a ham radio tower at their house.  It seems as though when they visited us this summer, Erwin hooked them on ham radio and they both got their ham radio licenses so Erwin helped them get up and running.  I however, did not do much.

We returned back to Michigan and were surprised that our children from Anacortes, Washington came to visit early in December.  Here is a picture of all of our children and grandchildren with us celebrating Christmas.  It was only a long weekend, but so memorable.  We loved every minute of it.

More family fun

We were excited about our grandson, Jordan coming to stay with us on the boat.  The plan was for him to stay with us or as I like to call it "we take possession" for a few days.  He arrived in the middle of the night because his flight was delayed due to some thunderstorms.

We gave him a little time to sleep in then we took him to see the beach at Ft. Meyers.  Since he is from the northwest, he loved the sun and warm temperatures.  The beach was full as their are many schools and colleges on spring break.  Here is the typical tourist picture along the sidewalk.  Isn't he cute?

We also had won a free paddle board lesson at one of the local gatherings.  Well neither of us wanted to have that kind of adventure so we saved it for Jordan.

This is at the beginning of the lesson.

This was two hours later with no falls whatsoever as he is crossing the bay back over to the canal he started out in.














We also took in a local event called the sand bash which featured international sand sculptors from as far away as Italy and Latvia.  It was a great afternoon adventure.

Amazing detail.  Here is a picture of the mouse on the side of the castle.

We were at the beach a day before the official judging so some of the artists were still working on their creations, it was very fun to watch.

Gramma and the boy.

After a few days Jordan's parents Mike and Lynette joined us on the boat.  We had a great visit and got caught up on each other's lives.  Here is one of the beach days where we went looking for shells and sea creatures.

Grampa and Jordan

Mike and Lynette

Jordan and his mom checking out the sea treasures.


We also took a side trip to Cayo Costa State Park and one of our favorite anchorages in Englewood.  It was great to show our children and grandchildren our winter retreat area.

So we stopped to get some fuel and this fishing boat was parked at the dock but was unattended.  The bait bucket was full and these two thieves thought it was lunch time.  The bird on the right was bigger and of course he kept the smaller bird at a distance until his tummy was full.

Too Funny!

We also took a trip into Fort Meyers and toured the Edison and Ford winter estates.  These were the homes in the winter for Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  There is a museum and many acres of unique plants and flowers.  This tree behind the Beemer/Brower group is a banyan tree which covers a large area.

Well to all of our faithful followers, we will not be posting for a while as we are pulling the boat and putting it into storage (away hopefully from the hurricanes) and then we will begin our adventures again the beginning of 2012 as we continue our loop.  Thanks for sharing our trip with us.

Ft Meyers Fun and family

Well we had a wonderful time with Erwin's little sister Bonnie and her husband, Bill.  They are visiting Florida and drove to Ft. Meyers to spend some time with us.  It was great fun to catch up with them for a couple of days.  It was a first for both of them sleeping on the boat, but they are campers so it was not a hard transition for them.  Here is a picture of Solitude on the mooring at Ft. Meyers.

Here is her Big Brother taking us in the dinghy which of course, is our main transportation.

One of the things we did was check the crab pots and we were very successful.  Here is the picture of Uncle Bill and Erwin.

We took a hike on the beach the pier at Ft. Meyers Beach.

Here are the shrimp boats which are on the one of the shores off the mooring field.

Here is a picture of the mooring field one of the evenings on board.

We took Solitude out and up the Caloosahatchee River for a day trip with Bonnie and Bill.  It was a great day for a cruise.  We did not realize it would be a nature cruise though.  We spotted a couple of manatee and we also had a couple of dolphin that cruised for over 15 minutes on the bow wake of the boat.  Aunt Bonnie got some great video and both her and Bill were hanging over the edge of the bow watching them swim very effortlessly.  It was great fun.  We also spotted a sea turtle back in the mooring field!



Here is a picture of the light house as we cruised by Sanibel Island.

It looks like they enjoyed the trip!