To Marathon, Florida Can this be winter?

Condos,condos and more condos in Marco Island

Before leaving Marco Island, we met up with a "buddy boat", Present Moment, who would travel with us to Marathon.  Since we're traveling five to six miles off shore in shallow (5' deep), unfamiliar water, we felt more comfortable knowing another boat would be in the vicinity. (Internet and cell phones do not work in this area.)
 Upon entering the Gulf of Mexico, we were met by five dolphins who swam with the boat for about ten minutes.  What entertainment!  They catch the bow wake and swim with it.  They jump and seem to say hello-they're having a great time surfing and we love watching them do it!

Traveling together with Present Moment worked well and we arrived at Little Shark River in the Everglades around 4:00 PM and anchored in a little cove near the mouth of the river.  We couldn't take Buddy ashore for his nightly walk and elimination because there is no shore- only alligator infested mangroves.  Buddy would have to hold it-he won't go on the boat-that's just not him!

Anchorage in Little Shark River

Little Shark River mangroves

We had great weather for the Florida Bay crossing - the winds were light and the seas were about 1 foot.  The only challenge we had was the huge crab pot population.  They are worse than the lobster pots in Long Island Sound.  These crab pots are way off shore and seemed endless, beginning near Marco Island and ending near Marathon.  Boaters want to avoid these pots because getting their lines (ropes) wrapped around their props cause MAJOR headaches.  Luckily, we avoided any problems.

One of many crab pots-can never see their lines

We arrived at Knights Key Passage, scooted under the bridge (with lots of swirling current)and made our way into Boot Key Harbor where there are some marinas and a mooring field for about 200 boats, some beauties and some that have seen better days.  These boats get on a waiting list to get on a mooring ball.  We are staying at Sombrero Dockside Marina and I'm very glad we're here and not on a mooring ball-every time you want to put dirt under your feet, you need to dinghy to shore instead of hopping off the boat onto a dock.
Moorings balls are ok for short periods of time but we'll be here 3-4 weeks-life is easier at a marina!

Boot Key Harbor mooring field

This marina has many "Loopers" here who are friendly and fun.  They get together often and frequent many of the Tiki Bars for lunch etc.  This could be addicting!

New Friends

Conch shell announcing Marathon sunset

We are very much loving Marathon!

On the "Road" again....

January 25, 2011

We stayed a month in Ft. Pierce, FL, enjoying the weather, getting the boat's settee reupholstered, spending Christmas visiting Charles, Erika and Lucienne in Charleston, SC, and taking a cruising break.  While in Ft. Pierce we managed to spend some time with long time and new friends.

Bill and Judy Riebe and Elsie Cole have condos in Vero Beach so they came down to have lunch with us in Ft. Pierce and then were gracious enough to drive down to pick us up, feed us a delicious lunch, drive us around the sights of Vero Beach and then drive us back to Tony M.  Thanks for a great day, Bill and Judy!

Pete, Elsie, Joanne, Judy, Billy

Pete's high school buddy Eddie Mucherino and his wife Kim also picked us up and took us out for a yummy lunch at Dominick's.  They live in Okeechobee and wouldn't think of living anywhere else.  Thanks Eddie and Kim for spending time with us!

Kim, Eddie, Pete

One weekend we rented a car so we took advantage of the freedom a car brings and did some more visiting.  Hank and Linda Reznik hooked us up with old buddies Carroll and Roberta Oates who have a yacht in Vero Beach at Grand Harbor Marina.  After almost getting frisked getting through the security guard, we snaked our way through the residential complex and found the harbor where their boat Miramare is docked.  We had a fun evening drooling over their 70' boat, listening to stories about Hank and Carroll's childhood antics and getting lots of good information about the Bahamas.  Thanks, Carroll and Roberta-hope to reconnect soon!

Carroll and Roberta Oates

While we had the car we visited Aunt Antonette and Uncle Jerry in Boynton Beach.  Luckily their sons Frank and Richard and his son Richard (my second cousin) were there so we had time to do lots of catching up. Of course my aunt put out NY style food -lox, cream cheese and chives, deli meats and cheese etc.- along with the cookies and pastries.  Love those Italian mothers!  Anyway Frank took us all out to Longhorn Steakhouse for a yummy dinner-thanks, Frank!  We hope to see them again when we return up the East Coast of Florida in March.

The Mingione Crew-Frank, Richard, friend, Richard, Jerry, Antonette

Saturday morning Farmer's Market

There are many things about Ft. Pierce we enjoyed and have fond memories of, such as

more Farmer's Market-great  produce and arts and crafts

fountains

Manatee Center where we would spot manatees

Sculptures in the park

Our daily morning walk with Buddy and our homeless friends

 We had planned to go to the Bahamas but after learning they have limited internet connection and cell coverage, and we would have to pay $300 for the privilege of coming into the country and we would have to find a vet and have Buddy checked out 24 hours before we arrived (something we thought would be difficult with no car available), we decided we would go to Marathon in the Florida Keys instead via the Okeechobee Waterway again.  We stayed at the same places we had earlier overnighted (except for Indiantown).  The familiarity of this route made it very enjoyable- we even saw some sights we missed the first time through.  The gator was definitely hiding the first time-now he was out in all his glory!!

probably 8-10 feet long

Fun water park for the kids in Moore Haven

Osprey on the Caloosahatchee

The last lock on the Caloosahatchee River, Franklin Lock was the only lock we had to wait to go through.  While waiting, six boats came out of a campground/ marina and one was a boat Segue we had previously met in Ft. Walton Beach and Apalachicola- small world!
We stayed in Ft. Myers and visited the Edison and Ford Winter Estates.  What a lovely place-the gardens are lovely and the buildings were interesting.  We spent a few hours exploring the estate, marveling at the trees-so different from what we know in New England.

Edison's Main House

Mysore Fig Tree

Banyan Tree

Watch out for those falling figs!

Ft. Myers hosted a Celtic Fair which turned out to be merchants selling everything Irish you can imagine, Guinness, some Irish fast food and very different bagpipe and drum music.  There were lots of the male species running around in skirts, even with the very abnormal cold temperatures we had that day- Brrr!

All kinds of kilts

Bagpipes and drums-very entertaining

Making our way down Florida's West Coast, we grabbed a mooring ball in Ft. Myers Beach and dinghied in
to see what this place was all about.  We were pleasantly surprised at how laid back it is and reasonably priced compared to other beach areas.We passed Doc Ford's place ( the fictitious Randy Wade White character) and were amused by this street performer (from Waterford CT) who while playing the guitar and singing,  also manipulated drums, cymbals, washboard and anything else he had attached to him.  What a hoot! 

He sounded good too!

Doc Ford's

Ft. Myers Beach-the cool temps didn't stop these folks

Naples was our next stop which turned out to be very upscale, reminding me of Rodeo Drive type of atmosphere.(I didn't see any TJ Maxx or Marshall's here!) Lots of boutiques, cafes and art studios, places we don't usually frequent but good to know some people do.  The homes were outstanding-the nicest we've seen so far- and came to learn they've gone down 50% in value-ouch -from 3 million to 1 1/2 million-what a bargain!

Our home for 3 nights

One single family home!

not your typical strip mall

We had a surprise visit from good friends from Shelton, CT, Hank and Linda Reznik.  They brought Hank's 96 year old father down to his Port St. Lucie house for a two week stay and drove from there to see us in Naples.  We had a great time catching up with them and had a yummy lunch at Jane's Cafe (highly recommended).  Thanks for a great visit, H & L!

Linda, Hank, Pete, Joanne

We are now in Marco Island. We thought Naples was upscale but we think this place has it beat.  There are MANY tall condo complexes along with beautiful houses along canals which does not lend itself to easy beach access. 
This morning we biked out to Tigertail Public Beach, one of two public beaches.  The water was a lagoon and the sand was ok but not what I'm sure the private beaches have.  Sounds like the "Haves and Have Nots" saga to me!

Tigertail Public Beach on Marco Island

 We will be leaving here tomorrow morning and traveling to Little Shark River where we'll anchor out for the night and then cross Florida Bay to Marathon in the Florida Keys.  Hopefully, we will arrive Sunday for lunch.  We have arranged to stay for a month but we may leave earlier to begin our journey North.  Time will tell...

Our hearts go out to all of you dealing with the ridiculous amount of snow you have.  We have an air mattress available to anyone wanting to escape for a while...
P & J