Friday, March 4th

Ft. Pierce, Florida

As we sit here this evening, we're very happy reminiscing the last few days!  After a slow start in Fort Myers, we have now traversed Caloosahatchee to Clewiston, crossed Okeechobee to Port Mayaca, and cruised St Lucie River to St Lucie.  We have our celebratory cocktails sitting on our flybridge watching the sunset over Harbortown Marina in Ft. Pierce.

Can you name this flower?

How about this one?

I'm sure you can name the fowl?

Actually, at present, flamingos no longer breed in Florida.  One will have occasional sightings in the southern reaches of Everglades National Park.

The following 3 pictures were in a very full, small Clewiston lock!  It was a party.  And they only had to raise us one foot!

Lori from Phase II.  We rafted to their boat.

On to Lake Okoochobee

This is our view for 26 miles.  Looks like haze.  But, it is actually smoke from sugar cane burning.  Apparently, it is a controlled burn to remove the outer leaves around the stalk before harvesting.  Plantation owners burn every year between October and April.

Back to Harbortown

Drinks on Sea Jamm . . . Fish at Harbor Cove

Pelican on Harbortown

Dinner at Harbor Cove

Pelicans spotted during our dinghy ride . . . 

two pelicans

two and one make three

Ft. Myers Municipal Yacht Basin

Caloosahatchee River District

Week 3

Happy Valentine!
Just the two of us!

 

A visit to Ft. Myers wouldn't be complete without lunch in Ford's Garage.

Ford's Garage.  The best hamburgers around!

The ladies' room in Ford Garage.

The hamburgers from Ford's Garage are directly related to Henry Ford's success.  In 1855, Mr. Ford visited a friend's meat packing company. In his autobiography "My Life and Work",   he states that visiting that meat processing company opened his eyes to the virtues of using a conveyor belt.  There he got his idea of an assembly line which attributed to his success in the automobile industry.

We eat a lot, but not ALL the time.  We finally saw manatees up close in Manatee Park.

A mother and her young one.

 A mother nurses her calf up to two years.

Do you see some surfacing to breathe? They spend approximately 50% of the day sleeping submerged, surfacing for air regularly at intervals of less than 20 minutes.

When they aren't sleeping, they are eating!  A 1,000-pound manatee eats up to 100 pounds of vegetation a day.  

Colorful Kayaks waiting for playful Manatees

Back in the city.

We were able to enjoy the Allure Your Senses Sculpture Exhibit only in Ft. Myers January-March. Allure Your Senses is a 23-piece exhibit of iron sculptures by renowned Colombian artist Edgardo Carmona.

Utopia.  Boy fishing

10.0 Balance, movement and internal and external strengths come together.

Juego de Domino.  Domino players, a part of tradition and life in the Caribbean and Antilles.

It's a Wrap

So we end this last week saying goodbye to the 3 who have help put Ft. Myers on the map: Ford, Firestone and Edison relaxing in Centennial Park. 

To be continued as we plan to move east and explore more of the Caloosahatchee in March . . . 

Ft. Myers Municipal Yacht Basin

Caloosahatchee River District

Week 2 

A visit from the Gorleys!

Enjoying the wind gust in front of the Edison & Ford Estates.

Sunset martinis on top of the Firestone, the tallest building on the River District. Only 4 stories!

Windy week with gusts up to 35!  We stayed in the marina most of the week walking the small city of Ft. Myers AND enjoying it's delicious restaurants.

However, on Wednesday we were able to cruise and anchor at Cayo Costa on Pelican Bay.

Stay in the channel.  Red to the left and green to the right.  No white knuckles for Mary Alice.

A natural!

Because of the wind on Tuesday and the fact that you can only get there by boat, nobody had ventured to the island. We were lucky and found traces of lots of sea creatures and many various kinds of shells, starfish, and sand dollars.

Mary Alice's treasure.

Cannot believe the wind brought this big baby ashore.  Must weigh more than a ton.

A calm night at anchor.  Good night Cayo Costa.

Ft. Myers Municipal Yacht Basin

Caloosahatchee River District

Week 1

A visit from Ingrid!

What a great opportunity to catch up with Lady Bowers.  With such a full week, we hardly had time to catch our breathe.

We cruised and anchored at Cayo Costa for the night. We dinghied to the island and walked a mile to the beach to do some shelling. Very relaxing.

Kayaked Bunche Beach Preserve in San Carlos Bay through the mangrove caves.  Hidden among it's many branches are small crabs from the size of a quarter up to a half dollar.  Reminded us of spiders. 

One of the many mangrove caves.

We also visited the Edison & Ford winter estates. They were neighbors and had winter homes in Ft. Myers and were friends along with Harvey Firestone. Thomas Edison loved southwest Florida and said it best (in 1914):  There are over 100 million people in the United States but only one Fort Myers, the flower city of tropical Florida.

Enjoying one of Mina Edison's gardens

On the weekend, Ft. Myers annual Arts Festival was held out our back door in the Caloosahatchee River District.

David Black's Fire Dance found in Centennial Park

Monday, January 18, 2016

Behind the scenes

Checking the twin Cummins before cruising.

This is what Sea Jamm is made of.

Had to say goodbye to our Looper buddies and head south.  

Early in the morning.  Have you ever seen a pelican in a tree??

An early riser.

Great cruising weather.  We steered from the fly bridge (open air) for about 5 hours to St. Pete where we stayed the night. After a short walk through the city, we grilled steak on board using a seasoning I bought in Spiceman's Kitchen in Tarpon Springs.

Sunrise in St. Pete

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Five hour cruise today. The first part across Tampa Bay was rocking and rolling.  Contemplating the tossing waves, I decided it was a bit like life.  The waves don't change.  It is how you turn and the speed you travel that determine the comfort. Sometimes you have to alter your course or slow down to make it tolerable.  Remembering the night Gulf crossing, I also believe it is most uncomfortable in the dark. And, in the dark, sometimes you can't tell which way the waves are tossing, so you don't know how to correct the course.  

In the middle of the bay, I spotted a shark. At first, I thought it was a dolphin, but it continued on it's course uninterrupted.  That's when I began to hear the Jaws soundtrack.

Marina Jack, Sarasota

I could live here or at least put down roots for awhile!  This marina was voted #1 national marina in 2015.  I can understand why.  Downtown wasn't bad either!

Sea Jamm admires the Sunset in Sarasota.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Wow!  When I said Tarpon Springs was Greek, I meant it.  It has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US.   The old world flavor takes one to a different time and place.    I have enjoyed their culture, cuisine, and Grecian people.

One of those was Joe Vidalas, our marine mechanic for the day.  He was professional, but personable.  And, not bad looking either.  He kind of reminded me of Jesus in a beanie.  He became our "trip advisor" during our stay.  Wish we could take him with us.

Joe and the Captain

Our favorite lunch stop.  Bikes are definitely the way to get around.

On the docks waiting on our burger.  Tarpon Springs is still a working seaport.  

the Greek burger

The weather and our fellow Looper friends have kept us here for several days now.  We are only a couple of blocks from the Sponge Docks.  The sponge industry began in 1873 when a Key West turtle fisherman accidentally got his nets tangled in them.  By 1900, this city was considered the largest sponge port in the US.

We saw manatees over in Spring Bayou, a bay not far from Sea Jamm.  We watched them about half an hour, but couldn't capture them in a picture.

Alan and I hosted our first docktails.  We had 6 others join us for drinks and munchies before heading out to dinner down the street.

Tuesday, January 12^th

We made it!   22 hours to cross the gulf!   12 hours in pitch black!    More waves than predicted. Definitely not as smooth as the forecast. And, it kicked my butt! Alan was fine. After all, he was a ship's doctor once upon a time. 

We were not pretty as we entered the Turtle Cove Marina in Tarpon Springs at noon. After a beer, burger and a bath, we napped. As I write this, he still hasn't awakened. Just may have to have to get my Greek on tomorrow night. Tarpon Springs is known for it's Greek flair/fare and sponges.

And, did I tell you that Sea Jamm is covered in salt. An inch of salt. She will get her bath tomorrow.