Legacy Harbor, Thursday

Another very windy day today, walked into town and to the Publix store a couple of times. This evening there was a boater's potluck dinner at the Palapa by the pool. Every one brought a dish Marsha made Crawfish pasta with some crawfish we brought from home with us. While it has been windy the last few days most of the heavy weather has been passing just North of us but it looks like we may get some of it tonight.
  Cousin Sally asked me about the brown stain on Gumbo's bow, if maybe it was caused by the oil spill. Actually is is what boaters call an "ICW Mustache", caused by  tannin in the water from trees along the Intracoastal Waterway (and other fresh water canals). It is usually cleaned off with toilet bowl cleaner. Gumbo's was cleaned just before this trip but was back after a few days on the ICW.
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Sorry, no pics today

Legacy Harbor, Wednesday

It was VERY windy in Ft Myers today so another day in the Marina, not much fun but better than being out on the water in the middle of it.  I added a set of cleats above the transom, they are small ones and will be used to cross tie the dinghy and keep it from swaying out on the water.
 We walked down to the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford winter homes which are about half a mile from the marina we didn't go in for the tour since we had done that last year. The walked into town for lunch at good Sushi restaurant. Walked around town for a while then back to the boat for dinner on board.
A front is supposed to come through here tomorrow afternoon bringing some bad weather, then inprove on Saturday, we'll see how that works out.

Henry Ford's winter home.

Right next door is Thomas Edison's house, apparently they were good friends.

Miles today - 0 

Legacy Harbor, Tuesday

It was cloudy this morning, it looked like rain for a while but it never did materialize. About 9 AM I took a walk to tropical Hardware, a good store about a mile away, I needed some parts for the dinghy.
Later I went to the Municipal Marina where we have stayed a few times on earlier trips, before Legacy opened.
We had an early dinner at Joe's Crab Shack which overlooks the marina.
0 miles today

 

Sunrise at the marina.

Gumbo at the marina's  "C" dock

A Green Heron perched on a boat power cord, witing for a minnow to swim by.

Very strange,but pretty, reflections on the water.

Sanibel Marina to Legacy Harbor Ft Myers

Woke up this morning to lightning, rain and high winds thies went on for a couple of hours. About 9:30 it started clearing up so we got the boat ready and headed out to the Caloosahatchee River which runs from the Gulf up into Lake Okeechobee. Ft Myers is about 12 miles up the river from the coast.  The water was a bit choppy for the first half hour or so but smoothed out once the land blocked the wind.  There was as usual a good bit of traffic on the river on the way up  and we did get waked pretty good once. We  were at the Legacy Harbor which is right on the river at 1PM. The marina is very nice, it is close to downtown  and a couple of blocks from a Publix Supermarket. Once the boat was squared away in the slip and I had signed in we walked to the Publix. About an hour after we got back to the boat a front came through and we had quite a bit of rain some wind but no lightning, at 9 PM it is still raining, Florida needs the rain badly the water levels in Lake Okeechobee are low and the locks are only opening three times per day. Dinner of Gumbo from home on the boat tonight.
We had planned to spend tonight at an anchorage on the way up from Sanibel but due to the weather I though best not to. After seeing tonight's weather I am glad to have made that decision. Rain and thunderstorms are forecast for most of the week, looks like we may be here a few days.
To see our location in Ft Myers click on the link below


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=26.64225,-81.87589&ll=26.64225,-81.87589&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
 

Once the skies cleared we left the marina, the first bridge we went under was the Sanibel Causeway, seen here. The buildings on the right are on Punta Rassa on the mainland.

This outboard powered cabin cruiser came by us on the way up the Caloosahatchee River.

The Calosahatchee is wide near Ft.Myers, which is on the right side of the picture.

Clouds rolled in late in the afternoon, followed by rain.

19 miles today

Sanibel Marina Sunday

The weather was nice today, kind of warm but with a good breeze. In the morning I replaced the depth markers on the anchor chain the old ones were getting tattered so off they went. It is good to know how much chain is being let out to put out the right amount according to the depth of the spot you are anchoring in. With an all chain anchor rode like we have it should be about 5 times the depth of the water plus the distance from the water's surface to the bow of the boat in Gumbo's case 7 feet above the water line.  In high winds the ratio might be raised to 7:1 in very light winds 3:1. After doing that I took an hour's walk along the road in front of the marina it has a nice walking and bicycling path next to it.
Early dinner at the marina restaurant.  Tomorrow we plan to leave for a, new to us, anchorage on the way to Ft Myers. It will only be a few miles and not necessary to stop there but I have been reading about the place for years and want to check it out. More on that tomorrow, if connections permit.

This speedy tour boat works out of the marina, they carry 30 to 40 passengers and make an hour and a half trip up the island to Captiva and back. They also stop along the way for some Dolphin watching. $42.00 a head 

Water fountain along the walking/bicycle path along the highway. It has three fountains, tall for adults, medium for kids, and low for dogs.

The entrance to the marina, they keep the place up nicely, the owner lives on site.

Sunset from one of the marina docks.

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Sanibel

At this marina they deliver a newspaper and home made (by the owner himself) blueberry muffins to your boat every morning, nice touch! After breakfast we went for a walk on the beach it is a pretty good walk, about 20 min., to get there. Today the water was beautiful but the shelling was not as good as last year. There haven't been any storms lately, the storms tend to wash the shells up on the beach. There were lots of people there as it  is a Saturday morning.
Back at the marina I was surprised to see some large Snook (Robalo)  hanging around the docks, they are out of season now so I guess they feel safe. Some of the boats here have strong underwater lights which attract baitfish and the Snook feed on them. Snook are an excellent eating fish, one which we do not have in Louisiana, the waters are too cold there.
Later in the day we took a ride in the dinghy to run the engine a bit and look at some of the homes on the canals near the marina.
BBQ'ed some burgers on the grill for dinner.
0 Miles today

The entrance to the marina and canal complex, it is a nice marina and there are lots of beautiful homes on the canals.

Gumbo in slip

"Gramma Dot's" restaurant at the Marina, this place is packed from opening, about 11, am till they close about 9PM.  

Sanibel Light at at the South end of the Island

A pretty much deserted section of the beach but lots of people further up.

This Snook, about 40" long, was hanging out in the slip next to ours, they are out of season, No, I did not try to spear, snag, or dynamite him!

The marina owner's boat, Independence, one big, beautiful, Burger Yacht, about as nice as you can imagine!

Blueberry muffin baking must be paying pretty well!

Englewood Beach to Sanibel Island Marina

We pulled away from the Chadwick Cove dock at 9:15 this morning, it is not a real long way today so there was no need to rush. The weather was fine as it has been since we left Biloxi a few weeks ago.  There is a possibility of thunderstorms Tuesday so we'll keep an eye on that.
Not long after we started out we came onto a ferry boat landing on the ICW. There is a boat on each side of the canal, when they have several cars on board they pull out simutaneously turn around then drive past each other to land on the opposite side of the canal from where they started. They carry 5 or 6 cars plus pedestrians and they criss cross each other all day every day.
We cruised South down Lemon Bay  it is a  long bay but narrow. Next on the way was Boca Grande, the water there was beautiful. Boca Grande is billed as the Tarpon Capital of the World! I don't know when the season is but there were a lot of fishing boats out today. We had about a half hour wait at the only bridge that we needed an opening from. Then when we got to the marina they had to shuffle some boats around to make space for us, although I had made a reservation and confirmed it this morning. Not a problem we circled around outside the marina for about 25 minutes till they gave us the go ahead to enter.  It is a nice place  that we have been to several times, It is near a great shelling beach and has a good but always crowded restaurant on site.
      I noticed the price of diesel here $4.59 a  gallon. I don't need any just yet but hope I'll be able to find it cheaper than that when I do!
 miles today,  46

To see our location on Sanibel Island click on the link below:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=26.45107,-82.0311&ll=26.45107,-82.0311&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

                                                   One of the ferrys on the West bank

Approaching each other at midstream

Crossing to the other side

 

Our wake through the beautiful water at Boca Grande Pass

Marina Jack, Sarasota to Chadwick Cove Marina Englewood Beach.

The weather was fine this morning. Wind from the South West at about 10-15. We left Marina Jack at 9 AM and headed South along Sarasota Bay, then the Venice area there was quite a lot of boat traffic (all recreational) for a Thursday. In spite of couple of big wakes and waiting for one of the bridges to open the trip was very nice.Lots of pretty houses and nice scenery along the way. We arrived at Chadwick Cove Marina in Englewood Beach at 2 pm the dockmaster was on the dock to give us a hand with the lines, the signed us in. It is a small but nice marina there are quite a few cruisers here for the winter we had a glass of wine with a group of them on the dock after dinner. Then we walked across to see the sunset on the Gulf which was quite rough.We plan to head out to Sanibel Island tomorrow, we will spend the weekend there at the Sanibel Marina on the south side of the island. We have been there a few times before and like it and the beaches which are covered with shells.

33 miles today

To see our location at Englewood beach click on the link below:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=26.92264,-82.35904&ll=26.92264,-82.35904&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1





                                    
                                              One of the nice houses along the Waterway

An island just inside Venice Inlet

This section of the ICW goes around the Venice Airport just south of the city

On Englewood Beach someone scuplted this  sand Alligator.

He is dressed up with bits of shells from the beach

Sunset over the Gulf complete with sunning Pelican on Nav. Marker,

taken from Englewood Beach

Day in Sarasota

Started out the day pumping out the holding tank, everything went fine, no shower!
 Mid morning a huge Yacht (243') pulled into the marina it carries an art exhbition and will be here for a couple of days so the local population can have a look.
We brought the rental car back to Enterprise and had them drop us off at the Ringling brothers Museum. The site includes John Ringling's mansion and circus and art museums we were a bit short of time so only toured the house and circus museum all were very nice.
  Susan and Mike picked us up to go to dinner at the house of friends on Anna Maria Island.
Planning to head South tomorrow morning.
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Megayacht entering the marina.

John Ringling's mansion overlooks Sarasota Bay

Ringling's living room

One of the Banyan trees on site the branches send down roots, when they reach the ground the grow and form trunks to support the branch which continues growing outward. The trees can become very big and cover a large area.

At the Circus Museum we saw the antique truck "cannon" which shoots a "human cannon ball"

Antique circus poster

THE END

Ringling's burial plot on the site.

Steve

Day in Sarasota

In the morning we walked over to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens a very nice place with large grounds. There are lots of tropical plants: trees flowers, fruit trees and even vegerables and herbs.
We spent about an hour there came back and had lunch on the boat. After lunch we drove to visit friends on Ana Maria Island. Margie, who is a childhood friend from when I was a kid in Aguirre Puerto Rico, and Adrian her husband live in a beautiful house just off the Intracoastal Waterway Canal. After we left them we retuned to the boat hen had dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant.
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Entrance to the Selby Botanical Gardens

Buddha and orchids display

There was a nice Bonsai display also

These masks were on display, they are hand carvedand painted (very nicely) by Boruca Indians from Costa Rica, I was surprised at the demon  faces. I have seen lots of Costa Rican handicrafts, carvings or paintings of birds or flowers, but nothing like these! 

 (Alex what do you know about this?)

A Ficus on the grounds, one of many beautiful trees on the grounds.

One of the Orchid displays

Steve

Day at Marina Jack

We spent the day at the Marina today, the weater was fine. I rented a car from Enterprise they didn't have one till 11:00 . After lunch I went to a local hospital to have my Coumadin blood thinner requirement tested I have to do it every month so when I am away from home I have it done wherever I am they fax the results to my doctor who calls me with instructions. it works out well.
Afer the test we went to a supermarket to pick up some things we needed, then BBQed for dinner on the boat.
Same location
 0 miles today
Steve

Tierra Verde to Marina Jack in Sarasota

We left Dot and Ed's dock at 7:45, weather was nice, cool, winds 10 mph, and clear we were headed directly into the sun so the reflection on the water made it hard to identify the Navigation markers, but with the help of the GPS all went well. The wind picked up as we entered Tampa bay and it got pretty choppy till we got across and back into the canal on the south side. There was lots of boat traffic on the water again today, the area is known for high speed boats making big wakes and not slowing down when passing, giving everyone else a rough ride. We got rocked quite  a few times but made it to Sarasota wihtout any problem. We were tied up at the dock by 12:30 PM. Shortly after Jerry and Scottie from Houma came by, they are staying in their boat across the bay at another marina on Longboat Key. They were having sunday brunch here at Marina Jack's restaurant and saw us entering  the marina, they recognized the boat because they keep theirs at the same marina we do in Houma.  Later in the afternoon Larry, a friend from Covington, came by, his boat anchored out near the marina. I had corresponded with him yesterday and asked him over. We went to dinner with Larry at a good Spanish Tapas restaurant, Sangria, which is in walking distance of the marina. Larry is making his way back to Louisiana from the Keys where he has been for about a year.
   We'll stay here a few days before heading for Ft Myers and Sanibel Is.
36 miles today
To see our location, at the green arrow, click the link below.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=27.33219,-82.54544&ll=27.33219,-82.54544&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Steve

Kayakers and Mangroves near the ICW

Traffic going up the Tampa Bay

Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay this bridge weplaces the one hit by a ship and destroyed in 1980. 35 lives were lost  when vehicles dropped into the bay

Satasota skyline and entrance to  Marina Jack

Tarpon Springs to Tierra Verde

We left Tarpon Springs Marina at 9:10 this morning itwas a short trip Down the Anclote River to meet up with the Intracoastal WaterWay heading South. The weater was beautiful. light winds, clear sky, and temps in the mid 70s.   Unfortunately for us these nice conditions brought out  every other boater on the coast. Jet skies, fishermen cruisers and commercial traffic, they were all out , But we continued slowly, had no problems and were pulling into the slip near Ed and Dot's Tierra Verde. Ed and Dot are also Monk 36 trawler owners, they were able to secure a slip near their condo for us to use. Another monk owners couple Bill and Pat are staying here also. We had drinks and snacks at Ed and Dot's then had tours of each others boats. A very nice evening!

40 Miles today

The busy waterfront in Tarpon Springs lots of tourism related activities

                                              Heading down the Anclote River from T.S.

Sunworshiping cormorant

One of the many bridges we passed under today, are low enough at 20 feet to pass under.

Saturday traffic on the ICW

To see our location click on hte link below

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=27.68436,-82.72507&ll=27.68436,-82.72507&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=

Steve