Friday, April 22, 2011 – Big Lagoon, Pensacola, FL

Before leaving the dock Wednesday morning, we walked up to the house to say ‘Thank You’ and ‘Goodbye’ to Jack and Candis. They were on their way to South Carolina for a few days to visit family and attend a wedding. We untied the lines from the dock before 8:30 am and were on our way towards Pensacola via the ICW. The day was pleasant with temperatures in the mid-70’s, some clouds and a light southerly breeze.

We had two “low” high-rise bridges to pass under between Destin and Pensacola. The lowest one at Ft Walton Beach had a 49-foot clearance, however, since some work was being done on the bridge and it was covered with tarps, we barely squeaked through. Gale said he actually saw the antenna on the top of the mast catch and bend!! The other bridge at Navarre Beach had a 50-foot clearance so we slipped under with no problem.
 
We arrived at Perdido Key near Pensacola and anchored in Big Lagoon a little after 4 pm. This was one of our favorite anchorages. Perdido Key is part of the National Lakeshore and is undeveloped in this area.   Just a quick walk across Perdido Key provides great Gulf side surf swimming on a pristine, deserted beach.

 On both Thursday and Friday mornings, we were treated to an air show courtesy of the Pensacola Naval Air Station. The Blue Angels are based out of this facility and practice their maneuvers regularly. It was quite a thrill to watch these jets fly over Blue Heron.
 


 
We fished, walked the beach, explored an old fort and relaxed for a few days before making our final push towards Mobile Bay. 

 

Tuesday, April 19, 2011 – Joe’s Bayou, Destin, FL

After taking Sunday and Monday to reprovision, do some laundry and run a few errands, we pulled out of Panama City just before 7 am on Tuesday morning. Our destination for the day was Joe’s Bayou in Destin, Florida, where some new friends, Jack and Candis Wilson, had invited us to stay at their dock whenever we came through the area. We had met Jack and Candis while at the Vinoy Marina in St. Pete and enjoyed a few cocktails with them one evening aboard their vessel, After Five, a 50-foot Marquis.

Instead of traveling on the ICW, we decided to take the outside route. We had hoped that the wind would stiffen up a bit in the afternoon, but it wasn’t enough to help the ride. The seas were about 2 to 3 feet, but very “rolly.” We did have some fun catching several frigate mackerel along the way – not good to eat, but great fighters.  We caught and released four of these guys and a fifth (we presume it was of the same type) got away.

About 3 pm we sailed under the 50-foot bridge at the Destin inlet. There we saw After Five anchored near Crab Key, a popular local swimming spot. Jack hailed us on the VHF and said they would escort us to their dock. They patiently waited for us (their boat can travel 40 mph where we go along about 6 mph) and we followed them into Joe’s Bayou. Imagine our surprise as we came around the bend and realized that they had pulled into a dock in front of a gorgeous mansion! Yes, that was our home for the night.

 

Our hosts graciously invited us up to the house for some wine and hors d’oeuvres as soon as we were settled in. Candis had a meeting at 5 pm with some people that were going to supervise the staff at a charity event in their home later in the month. Maureen enjoyed following along and listening to the conversations about the table settings, appropriate glassware, decorations, serving the wine and the eight courses, etc.   Before going back to our boat for the evening, Jack gave us a tour of their lovely home. It was, without a doubt, the most beautiful residence we had ever seen.

 

Monday, April 18, 2011 - Bay Point Marina, Panama City, FL

On Thursday, March 31, 2011, our friends, Joel and Mary McChesney flew into Ft Myers and found their way to our boat at Snook Bight Marina. They were joining us for an adventure traveling up the west coast of Florida and across the Gulf of Mexico. Some of you may remember that they were with us for a time last winter as we explored Key West and the Dry Tortugas. We celebrated their arrival and Maureen’s birthday by sharing a five-star meal at the marina’s Bayfront Bistro. It was the first time Gale and Maureen had enjoyed anything more than drinks at this restaurant but, we declared, it wouldn’t be the last. 


April 1st found us up early and making preparations to leave the marina. By 9:45 am we were on our way to Cabbage Key – a favorite spot to take guests for a beer or a bite to eat. Since our destination was more than 30 miles away, we enjoyed lunch on the boat as we traveled. Our anchorage for the night was suggested by our friends on Life’s 2 Short, Todd and Brenda, and turned out to be a wonderful hurricane hole near Pt. Blanco and Cayo Costa Island.  
We felt so protected and secluded from the rest of the world. Our trip to Cabbage Key was fun, as always. We walked around the grounds a bit, climbed the wooden water tower and had a couple of beers before going back to Blue Heron for our dinner. The guys were very happy to have some time to fish beforehand and had no trouble at all catching enough sea trout to feed the four of us that evening. 
 

On Saturday, April 2nd, Gale and Maureen had made an appointment to meet a realtor at noon at Gasparilla Marina near Englewood. Joanne, the realtor, took the four of us to several properties in the area where we checked out some of the waterfront condos available. At the end of the day, we had enough time to make it to our favorite anchorage near Englewood Beach where we spent two weeks in March with Mark and Marge.
 

On Sunday, April 3rd, we traveled 80 miles to Clearwater – much of it on Gulf waters instead of the protected ICW. Since it was such a nice evening and no bad weather or winds were forecast, we anchored in the Gulf as close to shore as possible. It was a pleasant night with a light breeze.

On Monday, April 4th, we set our sights on Crystal River. It woud be a long passage, but with good southeasterly winds ( 6 to 20 knots ), we did not expect any difficulty making the 90-mile trip since we were leaving at 7 am and we had at least 12 hours of daylight ahead of us. That is, if everything went well . . .

Before arriving in Tarpon Springs where we planned to get fuel that morning, we called our friends, Russ and Cindy in Tampa, and asked them about any anchorages between Tarpon Springs and Crystal River. We knew there was some thunderstorm activity forecast for after midnight and needed the information before we left. Russ advised us that there was no safe anchorage between those two places – if we couldn’t make it to Crystal River by nightfall, he strongly suggested that we stay in Tarpon Springs until the weather passed.

We decided to make the passage. With the stiff breeze and the motor, we easily averaged 7 knots and our GPS indicated that we would make it to our anchorage just before sunset. Things were going along fine until we snagged a crab pot on our lower unit early in the afternoon. Joel and Gale were able to unwrap the line but could not free it entirely as it was wedged in pretty good. We still had the wind with us, so we turned off the motor and chose to sail the rest of the way. Gale was concerned about having enough power to get up the river once we arrived at Crystal River so the guys took some time to mount the outboard motor from the dinghy on the motor mount Gale had recently installed on the back of Blue Heron for emergency purposes. Without going into a lot of detail, we had a mishap with the dinghy as the guys tried lowering it to work on the lower unit while under sail. The dinghy caught a wave and dumped most of its contents into the sea! Now, there was no motor on the dinghy so we couldn’t go back for the floating items by dinghy. The only option left was to fire up the engine and hope we wouldn’t cause any damage to the lower unit with the dangling line. Oh, yeah, and it was getting very late in the day, too.

As they say: “All’s Well That Ends Well.” The prop turned just fine and there was no entanglement. We were able to retrieve most of the items that were dumped overboard. The outboard motor worked well as our backup engine. The spotlight on board helped us to make our way up ten miles of Crystal River as we lit up the channel markers for our Captain. The predicted thunderstorms held off and at 10 pm we were anchored safely near several other boats. We were so exhausted, we didn’t even bother making dinner. We each had a drink and a few snacks before latching down the hatches and going to bed. The thunderstorm made its appearance early the next morning and we spent several hours waiting for the weather to clear. Later in the afternoon, we explored the area by dinghy and got the lay of the land for the next day.

 

On Wednesday, April 6th, with wet suits, masks, snorkels and fins, we set out to find the manatees and to snorkel at Three Sisters Spring. This time of year most of the manatees had already left for other places, but we were lucky to find about 30 or so feeding in a small cove. We did not get in the water with them there but, rather, just turned off the motor and drifted quietly in the area. Snorkeling at the spring was another highlight of the day. We will definitely come back another time, preferably in January or February, to swim with the manatees.

We returned Joel and Mary’s snorkel gear and wet suits to the dive shop around 4 pm. Roderick, the guy at the shop, was a very helpful fellow. He even offered to let us use his truck to pick up groceries since he thought it was too far to walk. We accepted his offer for the next morning, but for this afternoon, we were all ready for a sandwich and a beer at the bar and grill next door to the dive shop.

 
After listening to the weather, we decided that we would cross the Gulf on Thursday and Friday, April 7th and 8th. Before pulling up anchor Thursday morning, we took the dinghy to the dive shop where Mary and Maureen grabbed the keys to Roderick’s truck and went to town for groceries. In the meantime, Joel and Gale headed over to Pete’s Pier to fuel up the dinghy and find some bait. Gale also came home with a very long fishing pole that was on sale for $20. By 11 am, we were all back on Blue Heron with our purchases and ready to pull up the hook to begin our crossing. It was interesting to see the river by daylight and a lot less stressful than coming in the other night in the dark. In fact, we were so relaxed and not paying too much attention to details, when we found ourselves outside the channel and stuck in the mud!! Gale tried getting in the water and pushing the boat off but the mud was so thick, he was just sucked down and could not get any footing. We lowered the dinghy and Gale was able to use it to nose Blue Heron out of the muck and back to the channel.
 

The actual crossing took 24 hours. There wasn’t much wind so we motored the entire way. The headsail helped us during the night for awhile but didn’t give us too much of a boost. Things did get a little “sloggy” and we were all very happy to get off the Gulf and into protected waters at Appalachicola around 11 am Friday morning. We continued westward along the ICW until we arrived at Port St. Joe Marina at 4:40 pm and settled into our slip for the night. Here we all enjoyed the “famous” Appalachicola oysters at the marina’s bar and grill.

Saturday morning we took some time to walk downtown and pick up a few items. Gale was anxious to replace the phone that quit working a couple of weeks ago when he went swimming with it while our grandsons were visiting. We happened to stop at Port St. Joe’s Verizon store on an “off day.” The only person who knew how to activate phones or help with problems called in sick that morning so the owner was there with another person who didn’t know much more than she did. After much frustration and a lot of time, Maureen walked out with the phone. Thankfully, it was working. After fueling up, we left Port St. Joe at 12:20 pm, and headed to Panama City where we took a slip at Bay Point Marina, the sister marina to Port St. Joe.

Joel and Mary were scheduled to fly out of Mobile on Tuesday morning, April 12th. Instead of continuing up the waterway, we decided to relax in Panama City, enjoy the pool and our time in the slip, do some laundry and get some fishing and beach time in. It was a very nice couple of days.

 

We were up very early Tuesday morning and on our way to Mobile in the rental car at 6 am. After dropping Joel and Mary off at the airport, we turned around and headed to Clearwater where we stayed with Craig and Dawn for a few days and looked at real estate in the areas of St. Pete, Englewood and Punta Gorda. We checked out quite a few properties and even came close to making an offer on a condo in Englewood, but in the end, decided the timing was not right for us. We enjoyed four wonderful evenings with Craig and Dawn then headed back to Panama City on Saturday, April 16th.

 

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 -- Part 1 - Snook Bight Marina, Fort Myers Beach, FL

 Well, it has been more than four months since we’ve posted any activity on the blog. How appropriate it is to be back at Snook Bight Marina for the initial posting of 2011!

We spent a wonderful six weeks in Ft Myers Beach enjoying the beach, the river, new friends, old friends and life in a marina. With a Publix grocery store in our backyard and topnotch facilities at the marina for laundry and showers, our periodic off-boat chores were a pleasure.

 
 
 Thanksgiving was celebrated with our dear friends from Iowa, Nick and Jane Ong and Gary and Marilyn Huffine, who live on Sanibel Island during the winter months. It was wonderful to share this very special time with them. We took about ten days in early December to fly back to the Midwest to visit our kids, grandkids and parents in Iowa and Illinois. Christmas Eve found us near the Pier at Ft Myers Beach for our second annual candlelight service on the beach.

The New Year brought our youngest son, Kelle, to Florida for a visit. After his arrival, we moved the boat to the dock at Nervous Nellie’s where we could easily walk to Times Square for the New Years Eve festivities. Instead of staying on the beach for the fireworks display this year, we opted to go back to the boat and watch from there.

 On Sunday, January 2nd, we left Ft Myers Beach bound for St. Petersburg. After lunch at Cabbage Key, we continued on to Stump Pass near Englewood where we dropped the hook and anchored overnight. At sunrise the next morning, we were accompanied by no less than twenty dolphins that played in front, behind and all around the boat as we motored out of the anchorage, away from the inlet and back to the ICW. What a treat!

The second night of our passage was spent in a popular anchorage off Longboat Key. Gale and Kelle dinghied to shore and checked out the area by trolley. They found Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach and Anna Maria Island to be quite interesting and worth exploring further. The next morning, we pulled up anchor and traveled the short distance to Bradenton Beach where we went into town and boarded the trolley. We stopped at the Holmes Beach Fitness Center and met some friendly snowbirds who were very excited about the area where they had chosen to buy property.

On Tuesday, January 4th, we arrived at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort Marina in downtown St. Petersburg and tied up in our assigned slip just before 5 pm. For two months, we enjoyed the wonderful facilities at the marina and the resort including a fitness center with all the latest equipment, dozens of group fitness classes and luxurious locker rooms. The hotel also had tennis courts, a golf course, large swimming pool and three restaurants. While in St. Pete, we did a lot of walking and became quite familiar with the downtown area. We also got to know Ron and Marie, aboard s/v Molly Bloom, who were preparing to cruise the Caribbean for the next several years. It will be interesting to monitor their progress and adventures.

In January, Gale boarded a plane for Seattle to visit our son, Casey, who is currently stationed there aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter, Melon. It was Gale’s first visit to Seattle and Casey showed him many of the sights. In February, Maureen met our daughter, Jessica, in San Francisco for a mother-daughter wine tasting tour of Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Since Jess is in “the business” of selling wine, they were treated to some very special tastings and even spent one night in a little cabin up in the mountains that one winery reserved exclusively for its special guests. While Maureen was in San Francisco, Gale spent his days at a nearby boatyard where we had the boat hauled out of the water and the bottom painted, a chore that should be done every two years or so. Other highlights from January and February include the Superbowl party at Russ and Cindy Varney’s in Tampa where we watched the Packers beat the Bears. We were also able to spend time with Maureen’s brother and sister-in-law, Craig and Dawn Jacobson, who live in Clearwater. We enjoyed driving around some of the St. Pete neighborhoods one afternoon and even took in an open house in the section called “Old Northeast.” Another brother and sister-in-law, Mark and Marge Jacobson, stopped in on Valentine’s Day on their way to the beach house they had rented on Englewood Beach from February 15th to March 31st. They stayed with us on the boat that night and we had a great time laughing and telling stories.

On March 3rd, we left the Vinoy and headed to Anna Maria Island to meet our friends, John and Susan Spragg, for dinner.

 

We had a great time catching up with them. Our only disappointment was that we could not get them aboard Blue Heron to show off our home because the wind was too strong to tie up to the restaurant’s dock and it wouldn’t have been much fun for them making the short dinghy ride between the dock and the boat.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 -- Part 2 – Snook Bight Marina, Fort Myers Beach, FL

 
 
 
 
 After a night near Anna Maria Island, we made our way to Englewood Beach where we found a protected anchorage behind the island and stayed for two weeks. Maureen’s brother and sister-in-law, Mark and Marge, had a nice little cottage on the beach and during that time, their kids and grandkids visited. Craig and Dawn also made a couple of weekend trips down from Clearwater. On one of those visits, they brought along Paul and Cynthia Jacobson, our first cousin who is currently living in New Mexico. It was a “mini” family reunion!








On March 17th, we pulled up anchor in Englewood and began our trip to Ft Myers Beach. Our friends, John and Lisa DeGroot, aboard s/v Independence, were anchored near Useppa Island, one of our favorite anchorages and a good half-way point to stop for the night.  We arrived around 2 pm and as soon as we were anchored, we hopped into the dinghy and followed John and Lisa in search of “The Tunnel of Love,” a tiny waterway crossing through Cayo Costa Island from the protected waterway side to the Gulf. It took us a while to find the tunnel entrance and when we did, there were places where we had to get out of the dinghy and pull it through the shallow water trail through the mangroves. The reward was great, however, when we emerged on the other side to find a beautiful, nearly deserted beach. The Tunnel of Love is not what it used to be – hurricanes in recent years were very hard on the mangroves and the tunnel.

We were on our way early the next morning and pulled into Moss Marine in Ft Myers Beach for fuel just before 11:30 am. Maureen’s sister, Sheila, and her son, Tyler, had been in FMB for the past week with friends and we had made arrangements to take them all out for a boat ride at 1 pm that afternoon. To our surprise, when we were ready to pull away from the fuel dock and meet our passengers, there was no forward or reverse! The transmission had completely given up.

 

Obviously, we could not give the promised ride and spent the rest of the afternoon figuring out the next moves. Since it was a Friday night, Moss Marine did not have any room for us there. Fortunately, Snook Bight Marina, where we had spent the latter half of November and all of December, had a spot available. We made arrangements with Boat US to tow us the few miles through the river from one marina to the other and settled in for whatever time it would take to repair or replace the transmission.

 

It turned out that the transmission had to be replaced. We ordered a new one directly from the manufacturer in England and had it shipped on a priority status. We saved quite a bit of money by taking this route rather than buying from a dealer in the US. The technician from the local dealership did the installation on Monday, March 28th, which went without a hitch.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 -- Part 3 – Snook Bight Marina, Fort Myers Beach, FL

OK . . . it’s tough to think of a better place to have a breakdown or a better time of year to do it than late March. Our reason for coming back to Ft Myers Beach was that our oldest son and our daughter-in-law and two grandsons, Dan and Julie and  
 
 

Kevin and Justin, were going to be visiting Julie’s parents who had rented a place for the winter in Estero. We had Kevin and Justin overnight on the boat and spent those two days packing in as much fishing, dinghy riding, beach time and pool time as we possibly could. The morning of fishing from the dock produced a bounty of snapper, flounder and gulf kingfish which we cooked up for our lunch. 
 
 

On Tuesday, March 29th, Jim and Deb Faughn, our friends on s/v Freedom, who now own a home in Ft Myers, drove over so Jim and Gale could work together on bringing Gale up to speed for his Captain’s License upgrade to “Master” as well as the sailing and towing endorsements. At some point in the future, Gale may be teaching some captain’s classes for the company Jim works for.


   On Wednesday, March 30th, the day before the kids had to fly back to Chicago, we took them along with Don, Cherie and Brian Swaninger, Julie’s parents and brother, out for an afternoon boat ride. The nine of us also celebrated Maureen’s April Fool birthday with pizza and cake before everyone left for the evening.