Carrabelle, FL to Fort Myers, FL

Total Miles Traveled 1281

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Well, so much for getting a blog out every couple of weeks.  I can’t believe I haven’t posted a new blog update since November 26^th, and gee, can you believe that was way back in 2020. 

We made our Gulf crossing from Carrabelle, FL to Clearwater, FL on November 27^th.  We departed the marina around 11:30 a.m. and anchored at Dog Island for a couple of hours before starting our overnight adventure.  Although the forecast indicated possible thunderstorms north of us, we had a great forecast for the crossing.  We cruised 174 miles, taking 22 hours to Clearwater Pass.  The old saying “The Third Times a Charm” proved to come true as this was our third overnight crossing and the first time we have been able to see the horizon after dark as we were blessed with an almost full moon.  We also had seas less than one and a half foot, and an awesome sunset and sunrise. 

We anchored at Clearwater Beach four days, mainly to recuperate from being awake for most of the crossing, but also to visit Clearwater Beach and visit our favorite seafood restaurant Frenchie’s.  One morning while relaxing on the back deck, a paddle boarder stopped to visit.  We talked to him for a while about our adventure from Kentucky and our destination to the Keys.  Moni asked if he minded if she took his picture and he offered to do a hand stand on his board for her.  We were impressed!

On Wednesday, December 2^nd we cruised from Clearwater, across Tampa Bay to Sarasota, FL.  While crossing Sarasota Bay we noticed what appeared to be a helicopter chasing a boat across the Bay.  At first we thought it might be someone that had stolen a boat, but after watching it for a mile or so we concluded it was a sales video for the boat. We have cruised over 19,000 miles since 2015 and this was definitely a first for us.

If you look close you can see the helicopter in front of the boat in this picture.

We weighed anchor at daybreak on December 3^rd and cruised 53 miles to our favorite anchorage at Punta Blanca Island located south of Charlotte Harbor.  We stop here every year when traveling south, and also on our way back north in the spring.  We anchored here for 10 days.

There are two Manatees in this picture……but they are the boats.  Kady Krogen makes the Manatee Trawler, the boat in the foreground is our friend’s, m/v Forever Young, and the boat in the background is our friend’s, m/v Lila Blue.

This is the second time we have watched a helicopter land and take off from this small island, a symbol on the side of it indicates it is a state or county aircraft.  We assume there must be some type of air or water monitoring equipment located on the island.  The only access to this island is by boat.....or helicopter.

This Osprey caught a huge fish, we watched it all morning and it consumed most of it.

Fog approaching after a cold front passed through.

This is a huge Osprey, we had to dingy over to see what it was, from the boat it looked like a large animal.  If you look close you can see it got caught up in someone's fishing line and eventually drown trying to get free.  We cut the line and moved it to shore.

Steve and Jan, m/v Forever Young anchored with us for a few days.  We took the dinghies to Cabbage Key a couple of times for lunch and one day explored the Tunnel of Love.  This is a hidden mangrove “tunnel” to access a secluded beach on the Gulf.  Moni and I found it a few years ago but didn’t realize it must have been high tide because this time we had to row or pull the dinghy’s several times to get to the access point.  Little did we know that after exiting the thick narrow passage, an alligator would be laying along the shore waiting for his next meal.

I attempted to add a video but after several attempts I couldn't get the file size small enough for bloggers file size limit.  These are clips from the video.

On December 11^th we cruised up the Caloosahatchee River, also part of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, to Fort Myers, Florida.  We anchored behind Lofton Island for a couple of days visiting friends at different marinas by dinghy, and then moving to the City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin Marina December 13 through the 19^th.   We met our Looper friends Kevin and Jill, m/v Chasing 80, here and also m/v Forever Young caught up with us after a couple of days.

We met our friends David and Barbara, m/v Miss My Money in 2015 on the Loop, they have two docks about 11 miles up the river from Fort Myers so we moved to one of their docks December 20^th.   Our original plan was to rent a car and drive to Cocoa, FL to visit with Moni’s Mom, brother and sister, and have our kids and grandkids meet us there.  With the rapid increase in Covid cases in  both states, the uncertainty of flight schedules, and the risk of bringing the Covid virus to Moni’s family in Cocoa, we decided to stay at Fort Myers for Christmas and New Year’s.   When Barbara and David found that we had cancelled our travel plans, they invited us to join them and David’s Mom for Christmas dinner at their house. 

Steve and Jan m/v Forever Young also moved to one of the docks close to us and flew back to Tennessee to visit their families for the holidays.   When they returned we explored the area with our dinghies and with David and Barbara on their pontoon boat. 

Our current plan is to move back to the Fort Myers City Marina on Tuesday January 5^th and visit with our friends Charlie and Robin,  m/v The Lower Place and cruise to an anchorage at Marco Island on January 6^th.  We will spend a few days there visiting with Merrill and Jan from Indiana and waiting for a weather window to cross to Marathon, FL, then to our final winter destination at Key West mid-January.