Cape Coral to Naples

The gulf was beautiful on our trip from Cape Coral to Naples, the dolphins were out in full force and I am getting better at my timing with the camera. Here are a few of my better shots.

This one was quite the performer.  I did miss a shot of him jumping pretty high out of the water. Next time!

We had great weather this past week in Cape Coral.  It finally warmed up to the high 60's, low 70's.  The sun was out, along with many people.  It was so nice to be out of hibernation, and talking to everyone. While in Cape Coral we got together with Andy & Terry Horrick, they came to the Marina and took us out to dinner, Thanks Terry & Andy! Then they twisted our arm to go to the wine store so we could replenish our stock. We had a great evening with them.  Cape Coral is a pretty nice place, we stayed at Tarpon Point marina.  Next to the marina they just completed a hotel with restaurant this past November.  There are numerous shops in the process of opening, it should be a pretty busy place once everything opens.  The pictures show the hotel & restaurant, and the captain walking down the dock.

We headed to Naples on Monday morning, another gorgeous day for travelling in the Gulf.

The water just gets clearer an clearer and aqua in color. We broke the bikes out of storage and went for a ride for the first time in months.  On Monday evening we got together with some friends that use to live in Ohio, Jerry and Carol Papesh.  They came up to the marina and we had dinner at the restaurant by the marina.  Their treat, Thank you Carol & Jerry, we had a great time.  I shot some pictures of some houses along the inlet to Naples City Docks, unbelievably huge. 

The weather is suppose to turn windy, so we may stay in Naples for a few more days. I think our next stop will be an anchorage in "Little shark river" then we will head to Marathon Key, where we will stay for the next month or so.

Sarasota to Gasparilla

Tuesday morning we left Clearwater for Sarasota.  It was about 62 miles south, the weather was still chilly, but it was sunny, and the water was calm. Sarasota is a beautiful area, we did not stay long enough to explore, another city to go back to. 

We left Sarasota Thursday and came to Gasparilla, the temps today were in the low 60's and the sun was bright, we actually feel like we are in Florida .  There were allot of dolphins in the ICW today, but they were not coming up.  I took a few pictures, but am still trying for that "great "  dolphin pix, in the mean time this is what I got.

Tomorrow we head for the Ft Meyers/Cape Coral area, we will try to catch up with our friends Andy and Terri, and see the area.

Lisa, it was good to hear from you, say hi to Tom for us. Hopefully we will get together with you guys before we go to your kids weddings!

Cold, Cold, Clearwater

I can't believe how cold it is here in Clearwater.  Last night it was in the high 20's and today it only reached 36.  We were able to catch up with our friends, Maureen & Douglas, and their family.  They had us over for dinner and Maureen's Dad, Don, joined us. It was great to see him.  On Friday night we had dinner at Frenchy's Cafe, and then to Natalie's soccer game on Saturday morning.  Outdoor soccer, did I mention the temp was only 36, with a stiff breeze. Those poor kids.

It is suppose to warm up this coming week, we are hoping! In the mean time, stay warm.

Clearwater in January

It was wonderful visiting our family and friends over the holidays, and good old Ohio weather did not let us down, we got to see our share of the white stuff. The plane was delayed 40 minutes  but at least it wasn't cancelled, and now we are back in sunny Florida, but the sun can be deceiving, it is averaging 42 degrees during the day, and about 36 at night.  Not what I expected, the locals tell us this is unusually cold, and great news, another arctic cold front is coming thru tomorrow.  But I know it's nothing close to what you Ohioans are going thru and as they say, you don't have to "shovel " cold.

We will be here in Clearwater until the 14th, then we will head further south, in search for warmth. I know it's out there. Here's some pictures from Clearwater marina.

Carrabelle & Gulf of Mexico Crossing

Since our last post we have been to Port St Joe's, a very nice small town with a wonderful marina. There was a manatee that was injured at this marina, but was rescued the day before we got there.  They said it weighed approx. 1,000 lbs.  They can get as large as 13 feet and weigh as much as 3,000 lbs!  I guess that's why they call them "sea cows" slow moving and huge.

As we were going down the ICW,  I found this house that I thought was interesting, double click on this picture and look closely, yes that's a tree growing thru the middle. I wonder if that's a selling feature down here.

When we left Port St. Joe's, we headed for Apalachicola, where we spent 2 nights.  They are world renowned for their oysters.  I think Jim has eaten more than his share of oysters on the half shell, and he agrees they are the best.

From there we went to Carrabelle, they had a lighted boat parade the evening we were there. Carrabelle is the leaving point for the Gulf crossing that is necessary to get to Clearwater.  It is the part of the trip that I have been dreading.  We have been travelling with a trawler and a sailboat, they travel at about 7  1/2 knots (roughly 9 miles per hour).  Our boat can go real fast, about 35 mile per hour, but at a huge cost in fuel.  So we have opted to slow it down and conserve on the fuel cost. So back to my story of the Gulf crossing, running at 7  1/2  knots it took us 22 1/2 hours for the crossing.  I am not a fan of night boating in unfamiliar waters.  That was my big concern, then it was compounded by "pea soup fog" which never lifted.  We left Carrabelle at noon on Sunday, with the fog so heavy you could only see about 2 boat lengths in front of you.  It can be very eerie out there when you can't see, then night came, and it was inky black out!  No moon or stars, needless to say, I was very happy when daylight came, although the fog was still there, but not as thick.  We were not the lead boat, the trawler was first, and the sail boat and us were on either side but back  bit.  We kept each other on the radar, and used our instruments.  I am glad that part is over.

This will be our last entry until after the New Year.  We will be heading back home for the holidays on Thurs. We finally get to the warm part of Florida, and we leave to go back where it is cold. The attraction is obviously family and friends, whom we miss terribly.  Happy Holidays to everyone and we will continue with our adventures next year.

Gulf ICW and Panama City

It's an overcast day, and a bit on the chilly side.  Here are some pictures of Navy parachute maneuvers, a shrimp boat and another boat that I am not sure what it is.

We arrived in Panama City on Friday, it's cold here, last night the temps were around 29 degrees.  Today it reached a high of around 55, and the sun was out, which makes the cooler temps a little easier to take. We need to keep moving south, I know we will find the warmth sooner or later. Our plan is to head out to Port St. Joe's tomorrow. 

We had a problem with our battery charger, and had to replace it.  The last two days Jim and Ted worked on that. Ted and Nancy were nice enough to hang back with us and help us out, yeah!  I tried to get some pictures of the dolphins, so far no luck. I think once we get into warmer weather, they will come out of the water.

Pensacola, Florida

The weather is gray today, with rain on the way.  They are calling for 3 to 6 inches within the next couple of days.  We plan on staying put until Thursday. Yesterday we went to the Navy Museum, that is an amazing place.  They have planes from every war displayed.  This is also the home of the "Blue Angels".  They fly over the marina, practicing. Notice who is in the cockpit, he doesn't fit very well.  Too bad, he qualifies in every other way!

Here's "Snoopy" in his "Sopwith Camel".