Marco Island, FL to Key West, FL

Total Miles Traveled 1519

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After leaving our Fort Myers Beach anchorage on January 31, we anchored at Marco Island for 5 days.  A cold front passed through causing the Gulf of Mexico to be a little too rough for our liking, so we celebrated the new year on anchor in the protected anchorage of Smokehouse Bay.

On January 5^th we weighed anchor and traveled 65 miles to an anchorage at Little Shark River.  After cruising for several hours, and several miles from shore, we noticed we had a stowaway hanging on the back of our flybridge enclosure.

This moth was huge and had no desire to leave.  We haven’t had a Moth Man encounter since traveling on the Ohio River last summer at Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

We shared our anchorage with a few other cruisers at Little Shark River as it is one of the few protected anchorages between Marco Island and the Keys.  

We weighed anchor on January 6^th and cruised 50 miles to Marathon at Boot Key Harbor. 

Sunrise after leaving Little Shark River.

7 mile Bridge at Marathon

Marathon is a very popular location in the Keys and the marinas and mooring field are usually full.  The city runs the mooring field in Boot Key Harbor, it is a very protected harbor between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.  The mooring field contains 216 mooring balls that are attached to the seabed which allows boats to attach to the mooring ball and swing with the wind and tide without fear of swinging into another vessel.  The mooring field is usually full by mid-December, and they do not take reservations.  When you arrive in the harbor, you must call the city marina for a mooring ball, if they have one available, they will assign you the location based on the length of your vessel.  There were 9 boats on the waiting list when we arrived, so we were lucky enough to find an anchorage outside of the mooring field for our one night’s stay.

We have several cruising friends that are staying at Marathon for the winter and we were fortunate enough to get together for happy hour.

The reservation we made at Stock Island Marina Village last year before leaving was January 15^th.  I contacted the marina, and we were able to arrive early, so we departed our anchorage at Boot Key and cruised 43 miles to the marina.  This will be our winter home until April 8^th and I plan to update the blog around the first of each month. 

Full moon at Stock Island Marina Village

This would make a sweet courtesy car.

Our resident Manatee.....there is also a 6 ft barracuda that hangs out in the marina. 

We usually go into Key West for Happy Hour, Two Friends is one of our favorites, a pound of fresh Key West shrimp for $11.25.

Of course Taco Tuesday at Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar is a must.

Anywhere you go in Key West you will see chickens, especially if there is any food dropped around your table........and watch your step for the little guys.

 

Hmm, we've heard this is a great place to eat, we'll have to check it out.

Rut Ro....Nana got snagged by the jewelry store  : (

We've had a cold front pass through (can you believe it 65 deg in the Keys) so we decided to take our electric scooters on a 10 mile round trip to Key West on the Atlantic side and have lunch at Salute on the Beach. 

The electric scooters weigh about 30 lbs, have a range of 15 miles and can reach 15 mph.

We've had a few dinghy rides to the local Tiki Bars on the water, and the sand bar, but haven't taken any pic's yet.....I'll work on that for next month.

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.