December 30, 2010
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| Ft. Myers |
Ft. Myers was a great place to stop to wait for Walter and Geri to meet us for our trip across Florida via the Okeechobee Waterway. It is a busy, clean marina with a pool- too bad we could almost go ice skating on it instead of swimming! The weather turned very cold and the high winds made us glad we were tied up to a dock. Walter and Geri arrived on Monday and we went out to dinner to "Doc Ford's" in Ft. Myers Beach. The restaurant is affiliated with the author Randy Wayne White who writes mystery/adventure books about the character Doc Ford and his adventures around Florida. Along with good food, the restaurant sells Doc Ford books and souvenirs, enough to satisfy all of his followers.
It took us four days to cross Florida via the Okeechobee Waterway down the Caloosahatchee River through the Caloosahatchee Canal and across Lake Okeechobee. The waterway was calm with small towns, ranches and farms alternating with moss-hung wilderness. The locks on this waterway were different than any other we have been through-the gates open about a foot to let the water out instead of through valves the way other locks operate. Most of the Okeechobee locks only lower you a few inches but one lowered us about six feet -that was jaw dropping for us to see a wall of water that was rushing into the lock through the opened doors.
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| Lock doors letting water in |
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| Herons along the way |
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| Typical scenery along the Okeechobee |
After the Okeechobee we motored up to Ft. Pierce (there is no fort!) where we still are and will be until the middle of January. We are located right next to the Manatee Center (there are no manatees!) The city is quite large and the downtown area has been rebuilt due to the 2004 hurricane. Unfortunately, many of the new buildings are vacant with a few restaurants sprinkled among the general store, ice cream shop and beauty spa. Every Saturday there's a farmer's market and arts and crafts market so we're happy with that!
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| Ft. Pierce Marina |
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| Ft. Pierce art |
With Erika, Charles and Lucie wintering in Charleston, SC, we decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend Christmas with them. We rented a car, drove up there and had a wonderful Christmas with them (even with Lucie's cold!) The weather was very cold -even with a rare snow storm-enough to make the roads slippery with ice! We were glad to get back to Florida, even though it's been chilly here too- we had ice on the dock yesterday morning! Global what?
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| No ice scrapers in SC!-they use credit cards! |
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| How cute is this! |
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| Christmas on S/V Ambition -2010 |
We are now back in Ft. Pierce, hoping to enjoy some warm Florida weather.
We wish all our family and friends a very Happy Healthy New Year. We miss you and hope to see you soon.
P & J
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