Punta Blanca Island to Fort Myers, FL

Total Miles Traveled 1258.2

Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year to all of our family and friends!

This is the earliest we have been this far South since our cruising started in 2015.  After spending 8 days on the hook at Punta Blanca Island, we traveled 38 miles on December 5^th and arrived at the Fort Myers Yacht Basin Marina in Fort Myers, Florida.  The marina is located just one block from the downtown restaurants, shops, and historical sites. 

Our main goal for reaching this location early was to attend Moni’s mothers, 90th surprise birthday party held on December 7^th, near Cocoa, Florida.  Family and friends came from all over the country to help Delores celebrate.  It just so happens it was also Delores’s granddaughter Adelle’s birthday, so we had a double celebration and the opportunity for a great family reunion.

Of course, our family from Indiana had to hit the beach before returning to the frozen tundra.

Cocoa Village had a festival in progress while we were there so we spent an afternoon viewing the vendor displays.

When we returned to Fort Myers, we were invited to docktails and dinner from members of a boating organization we belong to.  Our boat manufacturer is DeFever and there are several DeFever owners in the Fort Myers area.  We had a great visit and realized we had met the host of the event at Goose Pond Marina on the Tennessee River in 2015.  When we meet new boaters, we usually exchange boat cards.   I keep an electronic version of the boat cards on my phone and currently have 265 boats that we have exchanged cards with.

This has also been a good stop at the marina to knock out a few boat projects, explore the city, and visit friends that have moved to this area since we met them on the Loop.  David and Barbara from “Miss My Money”, and Kevin and Jill from “Chasing 80”.

Main street downtown is lined with palm trees and displays several pieces of artwork. 

Moni put her artistic abilities to work and painted scenes on our shower window, and the cover we use at night for our salon door.

The Ford Garage Bar and Grill is one of the popular places to eat on main street.  The napkins are shop towels wrapped with hose clamps, and I couldn’t pass up a picture of the sink in the men’s restroom with gas pump faucets.

We will return to Cocoa tomorrow, the 23^rd, and celebrate Christmas with our family. Our current plan is to leave Fort Myers after New Year’s and gradually work our way south to the Key’s.

Merry Christmas!

Demopolis, AL to Punta Blanca Island, FL

Total Miles Traveled 1220

The river levels finally started to drop after several days of clear skies.  The marina at Demopolis was almost at capacity as everyone had been held up by the flood waters.   During the evening we had docktails at 5 to discuss river conditions, anchorage possibilities, and the number of boats leaving the following morning.  

Anchorages are far and few between and the only dock is Bobby’s Fish Camp, 98 miles from Demopolis.  During normal conditions in the fall, there is not enough daylight for us to make the trip to Bobby’s Fish Camp before dark.  This year, due to the elevated river levels and faster current, we made the trip with plenty of time to spare.  The dock at Bobby’s is about 150 feet long, so the bigger boats tie to the dock and everyone else rafts off of them. 

We departed Bobby’s Fish Camp at daybreak on November 4^th , passed through our last lock at Coffeeville, and anchored in the Tensas River, just before sunset, about 20 miles from Mobile Bay.

Unfortunately we hit something submerged in the river between the lock and our anchorage. We didn’t see it before or after hitting it, but it definitely made a thud.  We didn’t notice any vibration so we knew we didn’t have any major damage.  After leaving Green Turtle Bay, we kept hearing an intermittent growling sound coming from the starboard side and also our shaft seal was leaking. I wanted to make sure everything was okay before making a Gulf Crossing so we had made reservations at Saunders Yachtworks for a haulout and inspection of our running gear on the way south in October. Saunders is a major repair facility at Gulf Shores, AL and reservations are a must, we’re fortunate we had a previous appointment for November 7th.

The debris you can see usually isn't the problem.

 On November 5^th we entered Mobile Bay passing this ship and a fishing trawler.

We arrived at Saunders Yactworks, two days before our appointment, and perfect day for crossing Mobile Bay.  When we arrived, they had just put a boat back in the water so we pulled into the lift well and was hauled out.  We found an obvious ding in the starboard prop so both props were pulled for inspection and repair. 

While the props were at the shop, all of the bearings and shafts were inspected and checked for wear and were within tolerance. The shaft seal that I had previously ordered was installed and the engines were checked for alignment.  Since normal business hours are Monday through Friday, it gave me the opportunity Saturday and Sunday to get three coats of wax on the bow of the boat while out of the water.

The boatyard is located at the end of a small airport runway.

This area is well known for the songwriter’s festival, held each year in November.   Songwriters from all over the country come here to perform songs they have written for famous artist. We were only a mile from LuLu’s (Jimmy Buffets sisters restaurant) and was able to listen to 9 songwriters perform their music.

On November 16^th, we were back on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GICW) and anchored at English Navy Cove near Pensacola Florida.

After two more anchorages and an early start at sunrise, we arrived at Carrabelle, Florida on November 19^th, the end of the northeastern section of the GICW.

We caught up with a few friends waiting here for the next weather window to make the Gulf crossing and on November 21^st five of us started our 180 mile overnight crossing with clear skies and fair winds.

Our radar screen, the green dots are waves, the yellow/orange indicates boats, the red dot is from my camera.  The large target to the lower right is a United States Air Force tower about 3 1/2 miles from us.

Sunset over the Gulf

Sunrise over the Gulf

Moni and I decided to break away from the group and continue on to Clearwater Pass and anchor for a couple of days at Clearwater Beach, FL.

After resting a couple of days we anchored at Gulfport Florida, then again at Sarasota Florida before arriving at an anchorage at Punta Blanca Island on November 27^th.

Crossing the ship channel at Tampa Bay.

Charlotte Harbor

Happy Thanksgiving!

We took the dinghy to Cabbage Key and had a cheeseburger in paradise.

We also visited Cayo Costa State Park located across Pelican Bay from our anchorage.  The island has numerous trails, a beautiful beach, camping sites, and cabins available to rent.  Cabbage Key and Cayo Costa State Park are islands and can only be accessed by water. A ferry from the nearby mainland brings visitors to both islands daily.

 We're tucked away waiting for the 20+ mph winds to pass before continuing south.