We fueled up at the marina and got a pump out then headed north to St. Augustine.  In this area, there are a number of nice houses.  We began to see more and more crab pots (cages with marker floats used to catch crabs).  You do not want to get one of these in your props! In fact, Janis started cursing at crabbers like they were interstate truckers. Starting to believe it will be awhile before she eats crab cakes! It was Janis’ turn to drive for a while and she had a near miss.  The markers on the charts and the ones in the ICW water did not match up.  She was buzzing along and then notice we were running out of water. She recovered but we did get as low as 2.5 ft. of water and kicked up some mud. Whooo! Close call. Oh well they can plant corn in the ruts this spring.

We stayed at the city marina which is right at the historic down town.  We spent the weekend exploring the town and trying out different restaurants and shops. Thanks to everyone who gave Janis PANDORA stuff. Its been a jewelry stop in every town.  Chris found a used boat parts store. It’s only 1.1 mile walk. They had many things to take home. Remembering our food bank trip back in Carrablle (we carried 11# box of free food 1.2 miles), we limited our purchases to one fire hose and small hardware. It got heavy after awhile so we made a few beer and ice cream stops.

We took our time cruising from Titusville to Daytona Beach.  There were many slow zones due to Manatees and also a lot of RV parks with boat slips and small boats we needed to slow down for.  It was neat to see the Ponce De Leon Lighthouse from the water. We have visited this a few times since we have a timeshare in Daytona Beach Shores.  Seeing cities from the water is different from driving through it was neat to see Daytona from the opposite point of view.  We made it to Halifax Harbor in the late afternoon.  We took a walk to stretch our legs.

The next day we rented a car.  We took a drive to Leesburg to visit our friend Tommy.  Tommy purchased a place in Leesburg and we wanted to stop by to see it.   It is a real nice place that he is making his own.  He took us round the town and showed us his stomping ground.

Next day we went back to Daytona and visited some marine surplus and discount stores.  We found some good deals on a number of items for the boat.  We took a drive down to the Ponce De Leon lighthouse and stopped at a couple places for a snack and a drink. Last year we found Boondocks, so we stopped there again.  Afterwards went back to the boat to check on the lines and such. We had 35 mph winds and needed to be sure everything was tied down,  We then prepared to watch a rocket launch that was canceled from the night before.  We had a good view from the back of our boat. Unfortunately, after 15 minutes of waiting we found out that the launch was canceled again indefinitely.  Because of the winds we stayed another day and spent it working on the boat and getting ready to leave for our next stop.

We took off to head north with a heavy heart and shedding crocodile tears.  We decided to try to go a bit slow so we could enjoy the warm weather of Florida.  Our next stop Vero Beach. We had to wait on the RR Bridge because a train was coming so we floated for about 30 minutes before we could really get on our way.  We had 40 miles to travel.  It was nice out and the winds were dying down. We saw our first barge in the ICW on the Atlantic side and also a river boat look alike.  There were a number of very nice homes along the way.  We had to slow down for a sailing class that was taking place just off the ICW.

We arrived in Vero Beach about 3:00PM and got checked in.  Our neighborhood friends from Big Bone John and Bonnie were also in Vero Beach and stopped with a friend (Tom) for “Docktails”.

The next day we had a long trip of 71 miles to reach Titusville. FL.  We pushed off at 8AM and had a clear nice morning with low winds.  We enjoyed the trip along the Atlantic ICW. We passed some people on paddle boards and we were afraid we were going to give them too big of a wake when we went by.  Someone had a sail boat that looked like a pirate boat anchored out near an island.  We passed NASA where they launch the shuttles and there was supposed to be a launch of a rocket on this night but it was delayed until tomorrow due to the winds kicking up.  We stayed at the city marina in Titusville. It was short walk from town – we found a Tiki bar that had the best jalapeno poppers.  They were handmade and had a great filling.  We would have liked to stay an extra night but we are a bit on a schedule to get to Charleston and we intend to spend a few nights in Daytona Beach.

We spent time in Stuart to enjoy the weather.  Daryl and Cathy did not need to leave for a few days, so we checked out a few flea markets and also drove to the ocean.  We met a few new faces around the fire pit at the Marina, which was a propane fed fire over glass beads. And we continued to enjoy the $2.00 16oz Miller Lites at the Tiki Bar. Even Daryl drank Miller’s Lite.

We wanted to get a slip in Miami but the $6/foot/night was too much…………….

Sooooo…. We got a rental car that was larger than Cathy’s Cruz and drove 2 hours down to the Miami Boat Show.  This was the first year that it was at a different venue.  We got there about 10 AM and got a good deal on parking then went into the boat show. We entered at the Strictly Sail show and then took a shuttle over to Virginia Key the new venue for the new boat show. The key was the former site of Miami boat race stadium. It was heavily tattoo ed by vandals over the years. However, there was so much to see and it was so crowded.  This is because there were two venues combined into one smaller area.

They had water taxi’s but the wait line was nearly two hours so we stuck to riding the bus shuttles. This was only a half hour wait.

We returned to the Strictly Sail in time to have free pizza and beer and watch the Eric Stone Band.

All in all it was a full day!

We pushed off at 9:00 AM, there were a few white caps the wind was about 7.0 mph, it was still a bit choppy from the wind the prior two days.  We got across the Lake in two and a half hours.  We then were back in the channel and it was a smooth ride with a bit of current so we did not have to go at too high of RPM.  We spent one night at River Forest which was the sister marina to the one we stayed at before Moore Haven.

The next day we took off for Stuart. We only had to travel 12 miles.  We were docked at Sunset Bay Marina and had our first beer by 1:00PM.  They had a great Tiki Bar with $2.00 16oz Miller Lites.

Monday we moved onto Roland Martin’s Marina. It was a short ride of 14 miles and the day was sunny and a little breezy.  The fish tournament was over and there was plenty of space at the dock.

Daryl and Cathy drove their car to the marina and met us.  Daryl and Chris spent the next couple days fishing off the boat catching catfish and bluegills.

Cathy’s eagle eye found an iguana.  We learned that people purchase them and they get too big then they let them loose in the wild.  We also did some work on the boat and watched fishermen tool around.  Cathy had Boner’s help with her sewing project.

We watched the weather for the best day to cross Lake Okeechobee and decided that Wednesday would be the best day.  The boat behind us left on Tuesday at 7 AM and by 11 AM they had returned because the water was too rough.  We were glad we decided to stay an extra day.

Moore Haven, FL

We took a short 20 mile ride to Moore Haven City Docks.  The docks are in good shape and have good electric and water.   The current was strong because the amount of water the dam was letting out of the lake but we managed to dock fairly easily.  It was a nice sunny day.  We waited for our friends from KY, Daryl and Cathy.  They were driving down to get out of the cold weather for a couple weeks.   A fellow boater who was on the docks advised us that it was Steak night at the local bar around the corner, so we decided to try that.  The place was a little rough on the outside but, it was great! Never judge a book by it’s cover.

Next day we traveled to Dave and Barb’s place to check it out and do some fishing.  Everyone caught fish except Chris.  We had a great time.  They have a great place on a canal right near the lake.

The next day we went to a flea market in Okeechobee and then had to wet our whistle at a local bar. That night we watched the Super bowl at Adam’s Angler Reef and had great hamburgers.  Most people there were rooting for Denver but Janis was rooting for SC. (Sorry Janis).

On Tuesday we were going to push off at 8 AM but it was foggy.  We were going to travel with two other boats Elizabear and Sadie Two.  We had to wait 2 hours for the fog to lift before we could take off – it was 10 AM before we could begin to see any distance.

The Caloosahatchee River is very nice. The water is dark but it looks blue in the photos. In reality, the water was very dark brown, almost black.  Okeechobee Lake has too much water in it and the locks were letting out water from the lake into the river.  Extracts form the vegetation and black soil run off caused the dark water color. We read a few articles that said this river is considered a natural black river. Most are found in the amazons but there are a couple in north america. However, all the locals are crying fowl as the lake is high and the Corp is dumping more water than usual.

There were a number of bridges we had to go under or call and have them open the or raise the bridge so we decided to just travel 40 miles and stay at a marina, River Forest Yacht Club just past the Ortona Lock.

It was really a nice place, but not near anything.  We did find a small local bar about 1/4 mile walk away that was nice.  This is where we saw our first alligator.

As we were walking back to the marina we notice some wild pigs in a field with a herd of cows.  There were also some baby cows milling around.  The small bar did not serve any food so we grilled out at the marina.

Our friends from Pier 99 Marina spend the winter near here so we gave them a call.  Dave and Barb stopped out to visit us.  Since they had a car we decided to check out the docks at Moore Haven and also the Roland Martin Marina.  We had a reservation at Roland Martin but we wanted to confirm this since they had already delayed us due to a fishing tournament. It was a good thing – the dock master advised that we could not come in on the day they told us and that we could come the next day but after 5 PM.  When we walked around and saw the size of the tournament we began to doubt we should arrive on the weekend at all.   We decided to move to the Moore Haven City docks.

We pushed off at 7.25 AM because we wanted to make sure we left at High tide so we had enough water. The locals had advised us to be careful when the tide was low.  There was a rowing team out and we waited for them to cross the marina channel. However, we felt we were still pumping mud. We waited to leave today due to the winds being too strong and the fact that we needed to cross Charlotte Harbor. We always try to choose days where the waters are smooth and not choppy for the big bay areas.  It was a nice sunny day. During the crossing we had a number of dolphins swim with us.  (See videos).

We arrived in the early afternoon at City of Fort Meyers Yacht Basin.  What a great looking town! The marina is a very nice place and we made several new friends at the dock.  We visited the town 2 years ago with Linnea and Mike and it was totally under reconstruction and a mess. Pleased to say, construction was completed and it looks beautiful.We were right downtown and it was a short walk to shops and restaurants.  We were limited on the number of nights we could stay because there was an art festival and they had reservations for 21 boats for the weekend.  We would have to leave on Tuesday.  We took a short walk and found a Craft Beer festival.  They had a number of Craft Beer vendors to sample and live music.

On Sunday Jan 31 we celebrated Janis’ birthday. We spent the day downtown bar hopping and ended up at the Sky Bar which is on top of The Firestone Restaurant.  We could see our boat from the bar!  We met a number of different people but can’t remember anyone’s name.  The atmosphere was very open and relaxed. People introduced themselves and struck up conversations at a drop of the hat.  It was a great time.

Monday was a day of chores – laundry, boat cleaning, preparing for the next day’s trip. From here it’s off to the river system again. We plan to cross Lake Okeechobee to Stuart.