Fort Myers, FL to Marco Island, FL

Total Miles Traveled 1361

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 Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year!

We were very fortunate to have a great year in 2021.  We avoided the Corona Virus, although several of our friends and family weren’t so lucky, and we cruised over 6500 miles, to and from Key West, Pittsburgh, PA, and back down to our current location at Marco Island, FL. 

We really enjoyed our stay at Fort Myers, visiting family and friends, and getting a few items checked off the “to do” list.  Our friends David and Barbara invited us to a Volkswagen Club gathering at David’s shop at Fort Myers.

David's Fleet

I believe the front end is a  1937 Chevy with a 1988 bed and small block V8..Sweet

Scooter made from the fender of a VW

We rented a car and visited Moni’s family at Cocoa Florida for Christmas.  We had a great visit and perfect weather during our stay. 

Moni and her mom Delores, Sister Janis, and Sister in law Marla

David and Barbara also took us to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates Holiday nights, where thousands of Christmas lights and decorations cover the estates.  If you ever get a chance to visit Fort Myers, the Edison and Ford Winter Estates is a must see.  The estate contains a historical museum and a 21 acre botanical garden on the adjacent sites of the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, next to the Caloosahatchee River. It is amazing to see and hear of the contributions these two individuals made to society. 

The lights changed with music and it was really cool.  I spent an hour trying to edit the video and put it on the blog but couldn't get it to work, had to settle for a frame pic.

We departed Fort Myers December 30^th and traveled 24 miles to an anchorage near Cape Coral Florida at Glover Bight.   It feels good to be cruising again!

On New Year's Eve we were fogged in until 11 a.m. before we could depart for Marco Island, a 50 mile cruise in the Gulf of Mexico.

This section of the GICW is called the miserable mile, it's narrow and shallow on each side and when the tide is changing swift currents flow through the small islands AND because we were fogged in until 11, so was everyone else so it was pretty congested.  I have just as many boats behind me.

Yep, that's fog past the bridge over the Gulf of Mexico, luckily as soon as we passed through the bridge it drifted north of us and we had clear cruising all the way to Marco Island.

 

We passed the mega yacht Silver Shalis, a 175 ft yacht accommodating 12 guest in 6 cabins, and 14 crew in 7 cabins.  She was crusing along at 14 mph looking pretty sleek on the water. 

We will stay anchored at Marco Island a few days waiting for settled weather on the Gulf before making the two day cruise to Marathon Florida.  

Demopolis, AL to Fort Myers, FL

Total Miles Traveled 1269

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I intended to update the blog at least every two weeks but since this is our sixth year of traveling the same waterways, I think updating the blog around the first of each month will be best. 

We spent eight days at Demopolis, AL completing several maintenance tasks, visiting with friends, and waiting for the official end of hurricane season. Our boat insurance coverage will only allow us to be south of 31 degrees North latitude after November 1^st. On October 30^th we departed Kingfisher Bay Marina and with the help of the river current we traveled 93 miles to an anchorage at Okatuppa Creek, only a few miles from our last lock in the river system.  This is a very secluded section of the waterway with very few anchorages, no marinas, or public docks.

On October 31^st we continued through the Coffeeville Lock and traveled 88 miles to the Tensas River cutoff anchorage, this is as far as we can go until November 2^nd.  It’s a good feeling having all of the locks behind us, especially since our summer Pittsburgh adventure. 

We were the last boat in the Lock, a lot of water spraying and leaking around the chamber doors holding back the river.

We continued south on November 2^nd and traveled 30 miles to an anchorage at Big Briar Creek, then on November 3^rd traveled 65 miles crossing Mobile Bay to one of our favorite anchorages at Pirates Cove.  We were very fortunate to have ideal weather conditions for crossing the bay and arriving in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

Not all of the cargo ships are stranded off the coast of California........

After a few days anchored at Pirates Cove, we traveled 65 miles crossing into Florida and arriving at another of our favorite anchorages at Destin harbor.  Our friends on m/v Inked Mermaid caught up with us so we spent the next few days visiting the shops and restaurants along the harbor walk. 

Visiting with friends Josh and Barb from m/v Last Trade.  They are from Texas and have the same model DeFever as ours, a year newer.  They were visiting Orange Beach and have been following our travels and contacted us.  We have contacted each other by email but this was the first time we actually met.  We had a great visit.  

The guy that took our picture said his zipper was open which got quite a reaction from Barb.

On November 10^th we traveled 70 miles to an anchorage at Pearl Bayou near Panama City, then 40 miles to an anchorage in an oxbow near White City.  This is another favorite anchorage and a good place to wait while trying to time the weather for a Gulf Crossing.

This guy gets bigger every time we see him at this anchorage.  Maybe he was able to get one of the wild hogs we heard last year?

A weather pattern was developing for a possible crossing so we traveled 47 miles on November 12^th  to C-Quarters Marina at Carrabelle, Fl to top off our fuel tanks, visit the grocery store, and a few local restaurants. 

On November 15^th we started our 178 mile Gulf Crossing to Clearwater Fl .  There were seven boats crossing to different destinations, and departing at different times, but we were all traveling from the same location and a course within a few miles of each other. 

 It doesn't get any better than this!

You can see the reflection of me taking the pic from the boat.....

You can see m/v Inked Mermaid in the distance

Not a full moon but close enough.

After 21 hours we arrived at our anchorage at Clearwater Beach Florida a little past noon on November 16^th.   Our friends Mike and Jan on m/v Trust Me have been anchored here for a week or so and were planning to leave the next morning, so after an afternoon nap, and a good night’s sleep, we departed Clearwater and planned to meet them at Sarasota in a couple of days.

 This dolphin kept turning to see if I was still taking its picture.

We spent a few days at Marina Jack’s at Sarasota, then traveled 40 miles to and anchorage at Cape Haze, then 14 miles on the 22^nd to an anchorage at Punta Blanca Island.  We stayed at this protected anchorage a few days as a weather system passed through with 20 mph winds.  We normally drop the dinghy and go to Cabbage Key for lunch but the wind conditions kept us on the boat this time. 

Opps!  You have to stay on this side of the red marker.........

On November 24^th we traveled 38 miles to Fort Myers Yacht Basin Marina.  I had to replace the level probe on our waste tank so I ordered a new one to be delivered there and we spent Thanksgiving with our friends Kevin and Jill from m/v Chasing 80.

On November 27^th we traveled 11miles up the Caloosahatchee River to our friends David and Barbara’s private dock.  

We met our friend Rafe on m/v Cat Daddy in 2016 during our Great Loop.  He was heading for Stuart, FL the day after we arrived.

Looks like our Gator friend from last year decided swim by to great us.

David is a Volkswagen enthusiast, this is his "new to him" 1964 model with a little over 64k original miles on it.  

We will stay here until after Christmas to visit with our friends here at Fort Myers, and Moni’s family near Cocoa, Florida over the holidays.

Grand Rivers, KY to Demopolis, AL

Total Miles Traveled 436

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We were only at Green Turtle Bay for two weeks before heading south again, and it was a busy two weeks!  We rented a car, visited our family and friends in Indiana, completed all of our annual doctor and dentist appointments, and managed to take care of a few maintenance items before leaving.

We even had a chance to attend a Tom Petty Tribute Band concert from Nashville while staying at Indianapolis with family.

I dropped the anchor on the dock and ran out 216 feet of chain and marked it for 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, and 200 feet with red, white and blue paint.  This makes it easier to determine how much chain I am letting out when we anchor……..normally 100 ft.

Leaving Green Turtle Bay October 8^th.

Nice calm morning on Kentucky Lake.

Well, we only made it 13 miles to one of our favorite anchorages at Duncan Bay and stayed 4 days.  The weather was awesome, so we dropped the dinghy, explored the area, and caught up on a few more things on the to do list.

We bumped something a few times on the Ohio River during our Pittsburgh trip.  We didn’t see anything before or after a bump, and didn’t have any vibration, but I wanted to check the props and running gear to verify we didn’t have any unknow issues……everything checked good.  The surface water was 78 degrees, but 3 or 4 feet down it was a little chilly.

Our looper friends from Wisconsin that we met last year in Florida completed the loop this year and are going south again for the winter.  They caught up with us while anchored at Duncan Bay.  Rick and Christi on m/v Inked Mermaid.

Asian Carp are everywhere, we have seen them all through the Ohio River and into the lakes.

On October 12^th, we traveled 55 miles to an anchorage at Richland Creek, then on the 13^th we traveled 60 miles to an anchorage at Double Islands. 

On the way to our anchorage, we passed the Old Danville Grain Elevator.  It was built on the banks of the Tennessee River about 300 yards from the L&N Railroad in 1914.  The purpose of the building was to transfer barges of grain and other goods from the river to railcars above.  It contained 6 levels with the bottom three being open for boats carrying cargo to unload their goods from the river.  Two twenty-horsepower elevators carried cargo from the lower levels to trains docked at the fourth level.  It was in operation until the 1940’s when TVA began clearing out the area for the creation of Kentucky Lake.

Before Kentucky Lake

After

We departed our anchorage at Double Islands on October 14^th and traveled 67 miles through Pickwick Lock, to Aqua Yacht Harbor Marina located at the beginning of the Tenn-Tom Waterway.  We stayed here a couple of days catching up with Steve and Jan on m/v Forever Young, and Charlie and Robin on m/v The Lower Place 2.

Old friends and new friends at the Aqua Grill

We topped off our fuel tanks, pumped out, and departed the marina October 16^th and traveled 37 miles to an anchorage at Bay Springs.  This is a beautiful Lake with many isolated anchorages, we stayed at one of them for a week last year.  We anchored here with m/v Forever Young and will travel with them to Columbus, MS.

On October 17^th we traveled 40 miles and through 4 locks to an anchorage just before Wilkins Lock. Bay Springs elevation is 414 feet above sea level, the first lock is the Whitten Lock, an 84-foot drop……. from this point on, the remainder of the locks will drop us down to sea level at Mobile Bay.

We locked through the Fulton Lock with a Corp of Engineer working barge.  The lock master instructed me to tie off at the farthest bollard in the lock.  I found that when the doors would open, the front of our boat extended past the area of door opening.  I called the lock on the radio and he instructed me that he would notify us before opening the doors, and for me to untie and back up.

All lockage must be behind the yellow mark on the lock wall.

We had planned to weigh anchor at daybreak on October 18^th but mother nature had other plans for us.

After the fog lifted, we continued 50 miles through 4 locks and to another favorite anchorage at Columbus, MS.  This anchorage has a small dock that we can take the dinghy to for access to downtown.  We anchored here for three days and our friends on m/v Forever Young and m/v Trust Me joined us on the last day. 

Dinner with friends at Harvey’s in Columbus Mississippi, m/v Forever Young, m/v San Souci, and m/v Trust Me

October 21^st we traveled 55 miles to an anchorage at Cooks Bend, another friend of ours, Randy m/v Passages, caught up with us at one of the locks and traveled with us to our anchorage.  We all traveled 61 miles on the 22^nd to Demopolis, AL at the Kingfisher Bay Marina. 

Moni and I will stay here a few days for some maintenance and provisioning before continuing South.