Fort Pierce and Sebastian

Sat-Wed, Feb 18-22, 2017

Another farmers market right there at the city park beside the marina. We had some fantastic jambalaya. And a few more veggies. And live pea sprouts for salad. And then we walked over to the crafts part of the market and I bought a seagrass hat for protection from the sun. 

Then we called Uber to go to the Navy Seal Museum. It was a facinating story of the transformation from the original UDTs (underwater demolition team) to the modern SEAL (SEa Air Land). You could actually get in their delivery boats and landing craft in the outside display. However we did not attempt any of the Seal training obstacle course.

Sunday was Kelly's birthday!!! He is so low key about celebrating, but I managed to get a card and his favorite candy--Whoppers! 

A gold looper in the marina sat with us for 2 hours sharing some travel tips for the East Coast. We ended a great day with dinner at the original tiki hut.

Monday was another good walk to Save-A-Lot and then getting the boat ready for traveling. I have been trying to keep our location posted on a Looper app just so we can locate fellow loopers. And loopers that we crossed the Gulf with are here at the Fort Pierce. We met with Jim and Cindy on "The Journey" at the tiki hut for drinks and appetizers. We will certainly see them on the loop again.

Tuesday was a gorgeous day for traveling to Sebastian. The dolphins led the way!

It was a short half day trip to get to Captain Hiram's Marina and Resort.  Just 4 miles from Jerry and Barb's. They came over to visit and then we all had dinner in the Sand Bar here at the marina.

We had only planned on staying one day, but the weather changed our mind. Heavy rain and wind gusts will keep us here another day. And right after coffee, Bob and Eileen also from Huntington braved the rain and came to the boat to visit for an hour.  We watched rain all day until Jerry and Barb picked us up to meet with Bob and Eileen at the local burger joint. Good burgers and great friends!

The marina pelican

Down to the Details

Thurs & Fri, Feb 16 & 17

We are still at Ft. Pierce enjoying the beautiful weather. We've been mainly waiting. We waited on Thursday for the marina to find another slip for us since we are staying longer than our reservation. Today we waited and waited for mechanics to show up. At least they finished by 5!

I managed to walk all the docks to look at boats and see fish and manatees.

So Kelly spent his time working on statistics! I know you have all been waiting on these details:

2169      total miles

    28      locks

      8      states

    20      rivers/waterways (approximate)

    37      marinas

    13      anchorages

And another beautiful sunset.

  

  

Ahhhh....the Atlantic

Tues-Wed Feb 14-15, 2017

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We woke up early to leave St. Lucie. The marina was right there at the lock so we radioed before we loosened the lines from the dock. The lockmaster had the gate opened by the time we got the 100 feet to the lock. Another boat slid in the lock also. The lockmaster (Scott Peyton) asked if we were really from Huntington WV. He was from Chapmanville!! More folks from home! The 15 foot descent in the locks was nice and slow and easy to hang on to the lock ropes!

It was a beautiful cruise down the St. Lucie River to the ICW and our first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean! That seafoam green color of the ocean and the hot sunshine was welcoming!  

We cruised up the coast to Ft. Pierce to the City Marina to relax for a few days. The line at the "original tiki hut" was short and we had a great dinner. This is the kale salad we shared and still had leftovers!

And guess what? Today is the local Farmers Market and look at the goodies I found!!! 

I also walked to the Save-A-Lot grocery store. But google map failed to mention that the street I was on had this tall bridge.....

I did find a different route back to the marina!!

And then here's a picture of our afternoon. Haircuts and ice cream for us both!

The clouds blew in before sunset, but every sunset is a good sunset.

Across the Big "O"

Sat-Mon Feb 11-13, 2017

We departed Ft. Myers looking forward to new adventures. But I will miss the Florida west coast water. It is such an amazing sea foam green. 

Just 15 miles on the Okeechobee Waterway at the Franklin Dam, the lockmaster hollers at us that he is from Parkersburg, West Virginia. Never too far from homefolks!

LaBelle was a nice place to stop for the day and it was free! Only a 4 block walk to Dollar General Market for fresh veggies.

Sunday we entered the Ortona Lock and they opened the upstream gate to let water in the lock to lift us up to the next level--we had to really hold on to the lock lines! The water leveled out and the lock gates fully opened. But we let loose of the lines too early and the current spun us completely around. Kelly kept the boat from crashing into the walls and we finished the spin heading in the correct direction. Whew-we were lucky! It happened too fast to get pictures or a video.

We arrived at Roland Martin Marina for the evening. Remember way back, he had a fishing show on Saturday mornings? He no longer owns the marina, but this iguana was really cool!

Today we had to travel across the Okeechobee Lake. The route around the southern shore is more scenic, but the Corps of Engineers was working on a bridge and had the channel blocked. So the weather forecast was decent and off we go across for a 3-1/2 hour ride. The sunshine was bright and a slight chop on the lake for almost half the lake. Then the wind picked up and with it the clouds and 2 to 4 foot waves. 

 

Much of Lake O is very shallow, so we had to pay attention to stay on course until the last 5 miles when the wind died down. A good time to stop at the St. Lucie Locks Marina.

Ft. Myers

Tuesday-Friday, February 7-10, 2017

So what did we do in Ft. Myers?
Short Answer: not much and we are happy with that!
Long Answer: we walked (no bicycles) to Publix every other day. And of course watched the river!

One day we ubered (is that a word?) to West Marine to get oarlocks for our dinghy. The driver waited and then drove us to Edison Ford Winter Estates. The houses and gardens were preserved as if the Edisons and Fords still lived there. I never realized there were so many types of palm trees.
Then we toured the museum of everything Edison. Wow!! He invented and improved so many different things in addition to the lightbulb. Telegraph, phonograph, recorders, cement, rubber..... This place is a must see!

Plenty of sunshine and friends this week. We did some chores like laundry and washing the boat. 
Our 21st anniversary was Thursday so we walked over to Joes Crab Shack. On the way back we met with Dan and Jean from Time Out! We hope to see them many times at different ports along the Loop. 

And then on Friday our friends Don and Anna, and Bruce and Beth drove down from Bradenton. Great day to just visit and relax and eat sandwiches.

And I think you need to see some more Florida sunsets!

Boaters, a lookout, a shack, a barge, and another junk!

Friday and Saturday, February 3 and 4

Our last day at Sanibel and somone knocked on the boat. It was fellow loopers Nick and Barb on RioMarLago. Thanks to Holiday Point Marina for telling them that In Deep Ship was out there on the Loop!!!

We moved to Legacy Harbor Marina in downtown Ft. Myers. Along the way it felt like a washing machine and is called "the miserable mile"--the current of the river mixing with the tide in the bay.

And look at the sights and the traffic coming down the Caloosahatchee River!

It was strange to see a tow and barge coming down the river. We haven't seen a river type barge since we were on the Tenn-Tom Waterway!

And here is another Chinese junk! We heard that the one we saw on Kentucky Lake capsized while crossing the Gulf of Mexico. The owners were rescued by another boat traveling with them. This one looks to be in much better condition.

Time to Ride

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Good news--Terri wanted to rent bicycles to tour Sanibel Island.

Bad news--I agreed. I haven't been on a bike in a very looooong time! I thought I was gonna die. My legs don't work right and I don't have any balance!! We must have traveled 50 miles on a 6 mile island. But I did survive.

 We eventually found our way to the island lighthouse and watched a dolphin play in the water.