Everglades City . . . a distinctive "oldworld" Florida.

On Tuesday the 19th, we took off from Naples for a 41 mile run down to Everglades City.  As we were pulling away from the dock, another private jet flew over us to land in the local Naples airport.  We were amazed by the constant stream of jets coming in and out of Naples.  We heard Judge Judy's jet was damaged by the tornado.

It was a beautiful morning for a cruise as we headed down the Gordon River to Marco Island, with a group of dolphins leading the way.

Since it was a weekday, that and the fact that it was still unbelievably "cold" for southwest Florida, there was little traffic on the waterway.   One last look at the mansions of Naples (this one under construction) as we moved on to The Everglades and Old Florida.

We passed through Goodland and past the Old Marco Lodge and exited Coon Key Pass into the Gulf.

Coming out of Coon Key Pass we spotted another boat in the Gulf travelling the same direction as us.  Turned out to be another "looper" boat named Moni Jean.  After contacting them on the VHF radio, we discovered we had met at the AGLCA Rendezvous in Rogersville, Al.  

Rick (Captain of the Moni Jean)  snapped this picture of Phase II motoring at flank speed (9 knts) in the Gulf on our way to Everglades City.

From the Gulf we entered Indian Key Pass and had already decided to anchor in Russell Pass for a couple of nights to "relax out" all the hectic activity of Cape Coral, Ft. Myers and Naples before continuing to Everglades City.   Entering Russell Pass we came across a flock of rare white pelicans.

 Our time in Russell Pass included activities such as making some minor repairs to Phase II, reading, and fishing.  Although Dave was shut out fishing, it was still pretty special floating in the dink in paradise.

Modern Everglades City was more or less created by Barron Collier in 1923 and used as a base to build the Tamiami Trail - the road from Tampa to Miami.  Many original buildings still remain including the museum, Everglades National Bank (now a bed and breakfast) and The Rod & Gun Club, our current home.

An interesting fact we learned at the museum is after gill nets were outlawed in Florida in 1995, Everglades City fisherman we forced to turn their attentions elsewhere.  Stone Crab fishing became a popular substitute and now 95% of the world's Stone Crab come from Everglades City.  Of course we had to partake of the local fare.

Although we will not be travelling with Moni Jean to the Shark River and Marathon Key because we must stay behind to receive a critical repair part for Phase II, we still got together with Rick and Moni Vicars over docktails to compare notes on anchorages and routes to the Keys.

Next.........Little Shark River and the Florida Keys.

Cape Coral to Ft. Myers to Naples while dodging tornadoes.......

After 4 nights at Burnt Store Marina, a weather window opened so we headed to Cape Coral.  There we docked at the AGLCA harbor host's house, Kitty.  A "harbor host" is a local member (many ports along The Loop have a harbor host) of the AGLCA who volunteers to be a contact to help Loopers with anything they need ~ provisioning, recommendations for site seeing, doctors, hair salons, etc.  Kitty took "help" to a whole new level!  She was absolutely amazing in opening her dock, pool, house, bar, truck and her heart to us.  

They told us that we would meet wonderful people along The Loop and within the first week we met a new life-long friend.  It was such a pleasure getting to know her & her house guests from St. Louis, Jackie & Don.  

Kitty is a member of the Coast Guard Auxilary and was a wealth of knowledge.  She even took the time to "school" us on travelling the rivers from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico.  We won't be in that neck-of-the-woods until next fall, so we took good notes.

Don helped Dave work on the dinghy outboard motor,

And on Tuesday, Jackie & Don took us up to the Muscle City Museum in Punta Gorda.  It is an amazing private collection of over 200 GM cars.  Any of you cars lovers should definitely make it a point to visit if you are ever in the area.

The day was a definite highlight!

Kitty made our stay so enjoyable that it became a joke between her and Dave that we may never leave!!  After 5 days we realized that we were actually "cruisers", so we needed to get cruising!  Many, many thanks to Kitty and off we went....

We ventured to Bimini Basin to anchor for a couple of nights and then went to the other shore of the Caloosahatchee River to stay at Gulf Harbor Marina, where our dear friend Doc Martuccio spends his winters.  Is was so great spending time with Doc.....

at the annual Art Fesitival and Farmers' Market in Cape Coral.
And just hanging out at his condo.

I forgot to mention that the night we stayed at Doc's a tornado hit about 8 miles from where the boat was docked at Kitty's!  We had a second scare within days which drove us to "abandon ship" luckily while docked at GHM.

It just so happened that Jerry (Rags) & Kay Ralph were in town and they had us over for dinner in their beautiful home!

The next good weather window opened, so off we went to Naples on Satuday, the 16th.  This is a picture of the waterway equivalent of a 7 Eleven (see left side of channel).  Boats can pull up for bait, groceries, beverages, etc.

This is the Sanibel Island bridge that took us out into the Gulf of Mexico.

Before we started the 25 mile off-shore run to Naples, we went to Ballard Oil to fill up the tanks ($1.79/gal for diesel....YAY!)  These are just a few of the sights we passed on our way to the fuel dock on Ft. Myers Beach.

Sailboat docked near the Ft. Myers Beach bridge.

 Commercial shrimp boats.

Ft. Myers Beach at the Pink Shell Resort.

Thanks to Marv's Weather Service, we knew the wind and waves were going to be calm and low, which is how I like it! It was so pleasant that we even slowed the engines down to about 1,000 RPM (or 6 MPH) so that Dave could do a little fishing.  He quickly caught a Spanish Mackeral.

The ride up Naples Bay was chaotic with the weekend boaters out in full force!  Here's a picture of one of the many beautiful homes that line the Bay.  Check out the boat with four 300 HP motors on that man's toy!

With another wicked storm forecasted to hit between 3 & 8 AM Sunday morning, we were glad to get docked at Old Naples Seaport.

It was a short walk to The Dock Restaurant near the Naples City Dock, where the first person we saw had on an Ohio State shirt and hat.  I think I say "O H" at lease once a day, there are so many Buckeye fans down here!

View from our table . . . .

Well unfortunately Marv was right and at 5:15 AM our phone weather alert alarms started blaring.  The winds sounded too much like a freight train, so we abandoned ship for the second time in a week and took shelter in the laundry center at the marina.   When daylight came, it was obvious that a fierce storm had passed.  We were told that 80 MPH winds came through the area.

These two sailboats weren't there before!  Their anchors didn't hold and the storm dragged them just behind several yachts.  And this is just next door to the marina.

A guy on the dock today told Dave that he has been here 30 years and has never experienced such a storm..... just our luck!  But we are just fine and Phase II only suffered an injury to the bimini frame which Capt. Dave had the tools and the know-how to immediately fix (we're so lucky to have him!!!)

We are going to spend a few days here to enjoy beautiful Naples and then it's off to Marco Island.  And finally the weather looks to be improving to what you would expect of south Florida.

And we're off........

Ahoy and Happy New Year!  Well after many months (actually years is more like it!) of preparing, we have officially set off on our adventure called the Great Loop.  If you are interested, Google AGLCA to learn more about the Great Loop. On the way down in October, we spent 4 days in Rogersville, AL with 275 other "Loopers" (some in progress, some planning and several having completed it) and learned more than we could possibly process.

From there we went to Longboat Key and spent 2 months prepping Phase II for our departure.

Yes, that's Lori sanding the bottom of the boat for the new paint job.  

And Dave giving Lori's paint job a thumbs-up!

We will definitely miss the amazing sunrises over the Sarasota Bay...

and the breathtaking sunsets over the Gulf visible from the bow of our boat....

but, we know we have many more in our future as we cruise the 6,000 miles of the Great Loop! 

We had the most incredible send off by our family and friends and pulled away from the dock at 9:50 am on Friday, January 1st, just as planned!  We will miss them all, but we know we will see them all soon either on the waterways or on return visits.

It's hard to believe we won't be pulling back into the channel at LBK until this time next year!!  

As soon as we crossed under the Ringling Bridge downtown Sarasota, the dolphins joined us in all their glory!  They put on quite a performance, jumping out of the water at least 3 feet!

We quickly got back in the groove of "cruising", requesting a bridge opening in Venice.  Travelling the waterways is definitely different than the roadways.

We anchored in Pelican Bay just south of Boca Grande, where Dave caught 2 catfish at once.  Needless to say, it was chicken on the grill that night!

From there we went up Charlotte Harbor to hunker down for a few days in Burnt Store Marina to escape the windy, rough weather that the whole country was experiencing.  We enjoyed the down time to relax and play some golf.

Tomorrow it's off to Cape Coral or Sanibel Island.......

We'll try to update the blog every week or two.