January 18, 2010

If has finally warmed up in Florida and we are presently sitting at anchor in Tarpon Basin off of Key Largo watching the sun set in a cloudless sky.

We left Ft. Myers a week ago Saturday and made our way across Florida via Lake Okeechobee to Stuart and the ICW. We were in Roland Martin's Marina, on the west side of the Lake and it was a toasty 25 degrees in the morning with ice on the handrails and deck. In fact, I had to get a warm cloth to wipe the ice off the isinglass so that I could see from the fly bridge before proceeding across the lake.

In Stuart we had a very nice dinner at Wahoo's with Plymouth friends Brian Chandler and Peter Kowilcik.

We left Stuart the next morning and headed south to Delray Beach and then the next morning to North Miami. The following morning we headed south across Biscayne Bay and ended up here in Key Largo.

We meet up with fellow Great Loop friends Capt. Sterling and Judy, as well as Rudy Sampson from Plymouth. For the last three nights, the five of us have been conducting a QC inspection of various establishments in Key Largo that are purveyors of post prohibition libations. I am happy to report that they all passed inspection.

We had our first "Face to Face" with a number of Manatees this afternoon behind Judy's (not Judi's) house, which is located on a canal. We actually had to be careful when we left in the dinghy as a very large Manatee was romatically interested in the dinghy and would not move. As you can see we got some pretty good pictures and they are pretty big animals.

We plan to stay here one more night and then head south to Islamorada where we will hole up at Islamorada Yacht Basin at the Lor~E~Lei. We drove down today to check it out and had lunch with Dave & Betsy Chase who, I am sure, we will see lots of while we are at Lor~E~Lei.

In the words of the immortal Sonny Bono, "The Beat Goes On"

January 9, 2010

Well we arrived back in Ft. Myers on the 29th of December after an uneventful trip south. We stayed with Danny and Susan Godin and the Weiner dogs, on Potest Fieri the night of the 28th. It was nice to see them and we had a good time even though we thought it was cold in Clearwater. Little did we know what we were in for.

We had two nice days on the 30th and 31st and went to a great New Year’s Eve party at Heidi and John Asiaf’s home in Naples. Also at the party were old friends from Plymouth that now live in Marco Island and Naples.

Since then, it has been cold. The other morning we went out to drive to Sarasota to go to the Ringling Circus Museum, estate and art museum, there was frost on the windshield. This was not in the trip description.

We left Ft. Myers yesterday, a relatively nice day (70 degrees) and are now in Moore Haven, Fl, a thriving metropolis of 1000 souls on the west shore of Lake Okeechobee. Yesterday, while traveling through the northern everglades on the Caloosahatchee River looking for wildlife such as alligators, manatees, boys with banjos, etc. the only interesting thing we saw was a camel in somebody’s front yard.

Today, Saturday the 9th, is another wonderful South Florida day with cold rain, winds 15-20 from the Northwest and a balmy 37 degrees at 2:30 in the afternoon. They say it will get into the mid 20’s tonight and tomorrow before it warms back up to the 60’s. Eat your heart out you New Englanders.

We are, however, tied up to the town dock with all three heating units on and it is a cozy 75 degrees in the boat.

We, hopefully, get across Lake Okeechobee in the next couple of days if the winds subside. Then is on to the Florida Keys where it was 50 degrees in Key West this AM.

The plan is to go to Key Largo, Islamorada, then on to Marathon where we will meet up with several other travelers we have met along the way. Perhaps by then we will see some warmer temperatures.

I am beginning to think that Al Gore is in hiding with Tiger Woods.