Marathon Florida

 

New floating docks at Safe Harbor Marina

We started of this morning by sleeping in and then having coffee with some fellow loopers at Bahia Honda State Park. We talked boats, travel, anchoring, and the next great adventure. Always a good time hanging with fellow loopers doing what we like to do, boat work in exotic places. Well not really on the boat work, but certainly a thing as something is always needing attention. Right now it is our washer is leaking and we have to bail a gallon or two of water from our boat daily. So basically we are sinking, pretty slow, and it is limited to 150 gallons if our water tank was full. So we will push that project to another day and keep bailing water. After coffee, we cast the lines around 11am and made a short cruise on the Atlantic side of life to Marathon Florida. The wind was minimal as were the waves, we did have a bit of swell that gave us a gentle roll as we moseyed along at 7.5kts for 11 miles to Safe Harbor Marathon marina. Again, being close to shore, we were constantly dodging crab pots all the way. We arrived at the Marina around 1pm and topped off our fuel tanks with 245 gallons of diesel at $2.75 a gallon. We are Safe Harbor Marina members so that included a 65cent discount from the retail price of $3.39. In other places we have saved over $1.00/gallon which is quite a bit when taking on 200-300 gallons. We get .5mpg at 17kts and we get 1-2mpg when traveling at 7kts, so we try to slow it down as much as possible. After fueling, we slid down the new floating docks just 8 slips down and backed into our spot for the next 3 nights. And as luck would have it, Kevin and Tina on "Cross Rhodes" the exact same year and model of our boat was two slips down from us. They will be here through the end of January. I met them in Tennessee and their boat was the same boat Yolanda and I looked at in New York last August when it was for sale. Kevin and Tina from Connecticut bought the boat 2 months later in October last year. Small world. We had dinner at the local cafe, and it was not the best, but did the job, we won't be eating there again with all the other great places to eat in the keys. We got in some loads of laundry while eating so that was something. Tom and Nan fly in tomorrow, then Thursday we head to Key west. So until tomorrow, we will see you on the water soon...

Poolside at the Marina

Cross Rhoads - Meridian 441 Next door

Sunset in Marathon

Bahia Honda State Park

 

Tied up in Bahia Honda State Park

Today we pulled up anchor in Shark River inlet and set out for Bahia Honda State Park with Solstice and Lovett, two buddy looper boats. We traveled at a whopping Avg. speed of 8.4kts/hr for the 44nm trip. It was sunny, warm, and very light winds and <1' waves, very nice day on the water. It was not easy as we had to avoid hundreds of crab pots that lined the ocean in our path. Sure did not want to get one wrapped up in our props. Yoli had some helm time today and was it a learning event as the crab pots were relentless for the whole trip miles from shore. We arrived at Bahia Honda around 1:30 just a couple hours before high tide, making it easy to get into the harbor and under the overseas highway. We got docked up, checked in and took a walk around the harbor. It is Sunday so lots of people here at the beach which is only 50 yards from our dock. We are only here for one night before we head to Safe Harbor Marathon Marina for 3 nights and Nan & Tom fly in while we will be there.

Lovett and Solstice leading the way

Beach view out our window

Harbor view out the back

North Beach

Yoli on Bahia Honda Bridge looking back to state park

Bahia Honda Bridge (decomissioned)

Shark River Everglades

 

We left Fort Myers Beach at 8am for an 86nm trip to the Everglades National Park. We dropped anchor at the mouth of Shark River. We felt outside the river we would have less bugs and we did, but we had more chop and wind which made for a rolly night on the hook. With the extra breeze it was cool and bug less, so it was an uneventful night. We did hook up with Ed on Lovett and Robert and Josie on Soltice at the anchorage. Soltice was one of the boats with us for the Gulf crossing back on Dec. 12. part of our dozen or so boats that sailed into the night. Robert and Josie stopped by in their dingy with their dog Alex for a boat side chat and catch up. We decided that tomorrow we would go out with them to Bahia Honda State Park. We planned to just anchor out but they had room so we book a slip for tomorrow. Did not get the best sleep with the rollies and water slapping the bow all night, but what kept me up the most was I got into some no SeeUms that had me itching my ankles well into the night.

Mantanzas Pass Mooring Field at Fort Myers Beach

 We have been on a mooring ball for two days at Fort Myers Beach, watching all the boats and Tiki huts go by. The pirate ship made no less than 4 trips past us today alone. We caught up on some boat projects, got the lettering on the dingy for the TX 5183 MW registration numbers, that was fun. We also organized some more bins in the basement another fun task for sure. But we mostly enjoyed the view from the bayside watching all the festivities around us. Yoli fixed an awesome  beef tips dinner with rice and veggies. We have been eating out way too much, so the next few days will be on the boat as we make our way to the Florida Keys. The plan is to cruise 86nm to the Everglades National Park at Shark River to Anchor out, then 42 miles on Sunday to Marathon. Looks like we will have light winds and 0-1' waves.

Sunrise

Pirate Tour ship

Fort Myers Beach

 

Nervous Nellies Bar & Grill in FMB

For Christmas day, we slept in late at Burnt Store Marina. We went for a walk, then cast the lines and said farewell to our looper friends Bob and Linda on Maia. Maia is a 68 year old trawler that Bob has nursed back to life in great shape. First met Bob and Linda at Aqua Yacht this past summer when they were coming through Pickwick lake. We pulled off the dock around 11:30am with a short 36nm day ahead to Fort Myers Beach. We decided to catch a mooring ball in FMB for a couple days before we head to the keys. We had a good time at Safe Harbor Burnt Store Marina. We biked to Dollar General twice, went for several walks and had dinner at the Cass Cay restaurant twice as well. Last night was with Bob and Linda along with Bob and Renee from OH that just came in on a 30' sailboat. Kudos to them on such a small boat! We pulled into FMB around 4pm and unloaded the dingy and went to shore to dump our trash and grab some dinner on the wharf. Grouper sandwich and fish and chips were the course and all was good. Can't say the service was good, but they were obviously busy and understaffed. Since it took so long to get dinner, we ended up with a night time dingy ride back to the boat. We found the boat in a 89 bouy mooring field. All was good on the water, no mishaps, no groundings and no wrong turns. Another Gooder Day!

Burnt Store Christmas

Yes we are at a Marina called Burnt Store here in Punta Gorda Florida, not sure yet how it got it's name but I am sure a story exists, but it has eluded me so far. It is Christmas Eve and we just had a super enjoyable docktails with fellow loopers here at the Burnt Store Marina. We followed up with dinner at the local restaurant Cass Cay at our Safe Harbor Marina which we are members, so we get free access to the pool and facilities. I enjoyed a dip in the pool, we biked to the Dollar General for provisions, and enjoyed chatter with the locals and fellow loopers from Canada and Ohio of all places. The weather is perfect at mid 70's and sunshine. We are certainly loving boat life here in Florida for Christmas.

Venice Florida

I can't begin to say how wonderful life was today. We pulled out of Ragatta Point Marina around 8am under beautiful sunshine and blue skies. We topped off the port tank and headed out to sea. Coffee on the bridge at 7kts in a light breeze was just priceless. We headed out of Manatee River into Tampa Bay with a slight chop on our starboard beam but pleasant. As we eased south the tail winds were gentle and calming. We intered the ICW and all went flat and calm. We hooked up with a fellow looper and tagged along for a nice leisurely stroll south towards Venice Florida. We passed several bridges and only waited for a couple to open to continue our stroll down the channel. We had Toscana and Givit A Go ahead of us and chatting on the vhf about anything and everything that passed us by. It was an beautiful day on the water. We finished the day at the Crows nest marina in Venice, with Scott and Joan on Give it a Go and Wes and Amy on Toscana pulling into the marina all on queue. We were quite the show trying to dock in the current and wind on an inside tie up. Starboard tie did not work for us so we had to back out and spin the boat for a port side tie and that is where the fun began. Coming close to hitting boats fore and aft, we finally got the boat secured port side behind Toscana and Give it a Go. We met up with Mark and Lisa for dinner and had an outstanding time chatting and catching up since they moved from Grapevine to Florida. We had a great dinner, then docktails, good times for sure. Nothing like getting old American Airline folks together for a seaside chat. Afterwards, we caught up with fellow loopers Toscana and Give it a Go for evening docktails. Life is good, life is short, every day is a good day, and today was a super Gooder day.

Alan, Yoli, Lisa, Mark

Palmetto - Regatta Point

 

Sunset Dinner on the Patio

Today we cast the lines and left the dock at 0800 and low tide. Usually not a good idea, but we made it through the narrow and skinny channel. We decided to take the ocean route avoiding a lengthy shallow route down the ICW. We pulled out of the Gulf at Clearwater and back on to the Inter-Coastal Waterway. We were on the move for about 6 hours, mostly at 7-8kts. We did push the pedal across the Gulf portion to smooth out the rollers coming from behind. It was a beautiful sunny day and cool temps in the upper 60's. Yoli napped a bit through the gentle rollers as I kept an eye out for those pesky crab pots that dot the coast by the thousands. We met up with several loopers along the way, some slower, some faster, all doing the loop a their own pace. We tried to cut the corner going into Tampa Bay only to run into some skinny water again polishing our props in the sand. We backed out and took the main route/channel to the bridge and along the bridge across the bay. It was a pretty calm day and many boats out for the Saturday sunshine. 

We pulled into Safe Harbor Regatta Point Marina about 2pm, took on about 100gal of Diesel then slid Gooder Days into her slip where we will be for two nights. Again, we get dockside by the bar with live music at the Reef Grill. We decided to do some laundry and catch a sunset dinner on the patio since it was right next to the laundry room at the Marina. We had another awesome dinner, and we just have to stop doing this. The food is so good, but 3-4 nights a week is getting to my mid section. Tonight we had desert as well, but what is better than a Sunset with chocolate cake and ice cream (see pic below). It was sunny warm when we started laundry and dinner, but was quite cool after the sun went down. But time time put away the laundry anyways. Another great day on the water with dinner and margarita's on the patio at sunset to finish it off. Tomorrow we sleep in, G'Nite...

Distance: 56nm.  Duration: 6:41. Avg. Speed: 8.9kts  Max Speed: 19kts

Very Shallow this morning

a little skinny through the ICW today

One of several bridges today

Tampa Bay Bridge

Yoli catching some ZZZ's on the bridge

Safe Harbor Regatta Point Marina

Fish bites for Appy's

Sunset in Palmetto on Manatee River

Sunset with Cake and Ice Cream :)

Crystal River to Tarpon Springs

Mom, Yoli, Alan

Dec. 17th: We pulled anchor and left Crystal River at 7am for a 64 mile trip back out into the Gulf of America. Just as we passed the last channel marker we did not quite run agound but very close to it as we came upon 3ft. depth very quickly and backed out. We sucked sand into our Generator and polished our props on the sand bar. Luckily we backed off and went around it. So much for excitement for the day, could have been much worse 5 miles from shore on a sand bar. We headed out with another looper, Terrapin on a marine trader trawler. Since we needed to be at the marina by 3pm, we had to burn some diesel at 17mph and leave them behind. We kept the throttle down for an hour or so to meet our destination at 2:30pm. It was another smooth water day in the Gulf and amazingly shallow with the 3ft tide out. It would have been a much easier trip if it were not for all the crab pots we had to avoid. We pulled into Tarpon Springs City Marina about 2:30pm for a nice stern tie up with a starboard floating dock, my favorite. 

Tarpon Springs is known for sponges. They dive for sponges here and you can buy all kinds. The town also is of Greek heritage and has some of the best Greek food around. We had an awesome dinner at Hella's Resturant & Bakery. The Greek margaritas were excellent as well as the Grouper, and Gyro I had. We will spend three nights here before our next stop on the Great Loop in Palmetto Fl.

Distance: 64.5nm Duration: 7:10. Avg Speed: 9.4kts Max Speed: 17.7kts