Ft Myers Beach

We left Cayo Costa State Park on Wed the 20th. We hit bottom coming out of Pelican Bay but nothing serious. We were able to motor-sail with the genoa out on the ICW in Pine Island Sound. We passed by North Captiva Island and Sanibel Island; crossed the “Miserable Mile” (so named for the squirrelly currents). Captain Paul said the rudder felt “mushy” with the tidal pressure. We ended up in San Carlos Bay at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. We encountered two shrimp boats that ran aground entering the Matanzas Pass into Ft Myers Beach. A third shrimper was on the radio thanking pleasure craft for creating the wakes which helped him get underway again! We think they were in an area where they usually have plenty of water but storms may have recently silted in the pass. Shrimping is a very big industry here bringing $60 million to the economy, second only to tourism. The high cost of fuel has kept many of the boats in the harbors, however. Here’s one of the aground boats:

We got a slip at Moss Marine in Ft. Myers Beach. I was anxious to do some laundry but found out my timing was off. There’s a huge casino ship that docks there, the Big “M”, and they happened to be filling her water tanks, hence the water pressure for anything else was practically zero! But we did have a great view of the lunar eclipse when the clouds cleared.

On Thursday we moved over to the Matanzas Mooring Field run by the Matanzas Inn. It’s $13 per day which includes head (toilet) pump outs at your boat and limited shower/laundry facilities. The downside is the close to 15-min. dinghy ride to the dinghy docks. We’re on mooring ball #53 which is almost at the end of the 60-ball field. We paid a week’s rent and may be able to move closer if one becomes available. There’s a public trolley for a quarter which takes you just about wherever you’d want to go. But…. we got to grocery shop in a “real car” when Paul’s brother Jim and wife Lou picked us up. They’re nearby now in Bonita Springs so we’ll be seeing them a few times while we’re in the area – yay!



This one is for you Sue Hall! She'd asked what temps we're enjoying. This was in the internet cafe we went to on Friday by trolley. The 80 degree reading was in the shade so it felt much warmer in the sun. Paul figures I'll be complaining about the heat soon (he's probably right!) Ft Myers Beach is a very busy place this time of year - lots of traffic and lack of parking spots.

On Saturday morning, we took the dinghy over to Salty Sam’s Marina and paid the $10 to leave it there as it was way more convenient than the other dinghy dock. Jim and Lou picked us up there; we drove to Naples and had breakfast at a nice outdoor café. We were entertained by the “attack cat” and her owner who sat next to us – very strange! We toured around Naples and checked out the municipal marina for a possible place to stay. We hit a produce market on our way back to Jim and Lou’s lovely condo at Coconut Shores in Bonita Springs. They made us a delicious dinner and the evening was topped off by a “real” shower and sleeping in a “real” bed - what a treat!
Sunday was spent running some errands, taking in a Florida flea market, some clothes shopping and a visit with Bill and Mary, Lou’s sister and brother-in-law who live in Cape Coral. This picture was taken poolside in their lanai (a Hawaiian word for a screened-in patio). Paul's brother Jim and Lou are on the right.


Then we checked out the Cape Harbor Marina and “yachting community” where we’ll be moving later in the week. We got back to the dinghy, then the boat on good old Mooring Ball #53 on Sunday evening. Thanks again Jim and Lou for a fun weekend!

Monday was almost “hot” (low 80s) and humid – I’m almost looking forward to the “cold” front that supposed to be moving in! We finally saw one of our “Looper” friends; Andre and Olga of “Mystic Bond” are here on a mooring ball but headed out on Monday. We took the trolley back to a point where Brother Jim could more easily pick us up. Later that night he drove us out to the airport where Eric’s flight came in at 8:10. I think he was glad to shed his winter coat and enjoy some warm weather. Milwaukee was expecting about 6 in. of snow but he made it out before that arrived. We had a nice dinner and stayed the night on land (thanks again Jim and Lou!)

On Tuesday we headed back to the boat via Jim’s car and the trolley. It took two dinghy trips to get the three of us plus bags to the boat; we’d stopped for some groceries on the way. Here’s Paul (in his new hat) and Eric (the bearded one) at the helm of our little dinghy.


Eric and I spent some time at the beach on Tuesday aft. Ft. Myers Beach is a pretty popular destination as you can see from this picture.

The wind really picked up during the night. We feel pretty secure being tied to the mooring ball as opposed to an anchor though. Here’s a view of part of the mooring field from the upper deck of the Matanzas Inn where Eric and I enjoyed a beverage.


Paul had a pretty low-key birthday (the way he wanted it I think) on Wednesday. We had a mini carrot cake with candles and the three of us went to dinner at the Parrot Key Bar and Grill (the Packer-flavored place) at Salty Sam's Marina. It was a chilly dinghy ride over there. It was only in the 60s today and may hit 40 tonight. I guess Eric brought the cold weather with him!

This is our last night on "good ole mooring ball #53 - we're moving on over to the marina in Cape Coral tomorrow.

Venice to Charlotte Harbor

We’d planned to leave Sarasota on Wed. the 13th but when Paul discovered a leak in the hose going to the impeller in the engine compartment, our plans changed. He took the dinghy back to shore, hopped on a city bus and found a replacement hose at a West Marine. He almost made it back before the skies opened! We were glad we stayed put since the weather turned nasty. The irony was I just overheard Paul on the phone telling his brother how the engine has “performed flawlessly” during the whole trip! It really is the first part we’d had to replace (so far).

Before leaving on Thursday, we had both anchors to pull up so it took awhile (actually 1½ hours). I was at the helm and Paul did the grunt work. We had one night of pouring rain there and one night with very high winds so we felt we needed to have both anchors out. Here are a couple of our neighbors in the anchorages. I thought the potted palm trees on top of the houseboat were a nice touch!

The water changed to that beautiful aquamarine color partway through Little Sarasota Bay. Lots more mansions along the way. It seems strange to us to realize the owners probably only live in them a few months of the year. There must be more millionaires in Florida than almost anywhere in the U.S.


The Blackburn Bridge was the only swing bridge of the four bridges we encountered. All the others were the Bascule type bridges.


We got a slip at the Crow’s Nest Marina in Venice. We were tied on an outside wall fairly close to the jetty out to the Gulf opening and thought it might be a little rough but it wasn’t too bad. What WAS bad was the extra fee they charged us for having the dinghy on the davits off the stern. So, we were charged $2/ft for a 45-ft boat instead of the 40 feet that we are – kind of annoying since they had plenty of space on their transient dock and the facilities weren’t anything special.

We enjoyed getting together with a former associate of Paul's from his Milwaukee days who winters in Venice. Henry and his wife, Lois, treated us to dinner at The British Open and a tour around the area. We didn’t think we’d be doing anything special for Valentine’s Day so that was a nice surprise. Thank you again – it was great seeing you both!

Since we were so close to the Gulf, Em got to spend some “strolling on the beach looking for shells time" in the morning before we left Venice.


We left Venice around noon, still on the ICW. We have five bridges to open, all on request so there should be no long waits. It’s very shallow in Lemon Bay so you have to be very careful to stay in the channel. We saw these pelicans flying in formation along the way. They look so graceful in flight and so awkward plopping along with their big webbed feet on land.


We anchored near Englewood Beach in about 8 ft. of water. There was a man standing about hip-high in the anchorage fishing. We’re getting accustomed to these shallow anchorages. The access to shore wasn’t very good but we finally found a little spot where you could dinghy to shore.

We have former Green Bay neighbors who retired in Englewood and live on a canal but it didn’t work out for us to use their dock – too narrow and too shallow. Paul and I took a LONG dinghy ride over to see Linda (Jerry is still in northern Wis. working on their cottage – poor him!) Linda took us grocery shopping and fixed us dinner. Then Paul took the dinghy back and Linda gave me and the groceries a lift back to where Paul picked me up. It was fun catching up, we haven’t seen them for four years. Thanks again, Linda and Happy Birthday on the 23rd! This is Paul heading out of their canal back to the anchorage.


We left Englewood mid-morning on Sunday. We had both anchors out again but it was much less hassle pulling them up this time. There was a nice breeze but it was directly out of the south so we motored on the ICW: Lemon Bay to Gasparilla Sound and into Charlotte Harbor. Since it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, it was like a highway with all the boat traffic. The sailboat ahead of us in this picture called us on the radio to chat – they’re from Oconto, WI! They leave the boat down here year-round and come down in winter to live aboard in the mooring field in Fort Myers. We didn't catch their name but the name of their boat is “Memories” in case any Wisconsinites know them.


The only bridge we encountered was the Boca Grande Swing Bridge on our way to Pelican Bay and the anchorage off Cayo Costa State Park. It’s a huge anchorage; I counted 26 boats and there was room for lots more. The depths coming in went below 6 ft. for a bit so the captain was a bit nervous but we didn’t hit the bottom (this time). There’s a nice dock to dinghy to and restrooms nearby. The island of Cayo Costa is 10 miles long with 30 tent sites and 12 cabins for the campers who come to the island by ferry boat; similar to camping on Rock Island in Door County, Wis. We took the tractor-driven tram the .9 mile to the beach on Monday. The sign at the dock says "This is the “Real Florida”. It is neat to see a part of the state that isn’t developed for a change!

We’re almost feeling guilty enjoying this beautiful weather when our “kids” are having the opposite. Eric in Milwaukee is enduring another snowstorm with some rain; Alison got stranded in Green Bay and couldn’t drive back to Wausau until Monday AM because of the snow and Kyle is in Fairbanks, Alaska for a week where it’s probably about 100 degrees colder than where we are today!

We spent three nights anchored at Cayo Costa Island. Here’s a picture at our anchorage (again not us).

I'm actually writing this in Fort Myers Beach at an internet cafe. We ran out of luck picking up an internet connection for quite awhile so I got behind. The adventure continues.....

Longboat Key and Sarasota

On Saturday the 9th we left Bradenton in a light rain heading west on the Manatee River into the ICW. There were lots of huge mansions along the way. Here's a couple of them:

We needed to have the Anna Maria and Cortez Bridges opened. The Cortez bridge tender commented on our Packer windsock – he’s formerly from a small town near Ashland, WI so it caught his eye. We went along Anna Maria Island leaving Tampa Bay and entering Anna Maria Sound. We anchored around 5pm at Longboat Key near Sarasota. There were four other boats anchored off Moores Stone Crab Restaurant. We were surprised to get a really strong wifi signal there and enjoyed a very peaceful night. This is the view at sunset from our anchor spot. (this isn't us!)

In the morning we took the dinghy to shore and walked to The Market where we had a second breakfast outdoors. It's great that so many places are dog-friendly with outdoor seating. We left there around noon heading for Sarasota. Here's some interesting architecture nearing Sarasota:

We actually got to sail along the way where the channel was wide enough in Sarasota Bay. With just the genoa out (the foresail) we did around 5.5 knots but we were in no hurry. It was great not having the engine running for a change. We got to the anchorage near Marina Jack’s, just past the Ringling Causeway Bridge, mid afternoon. There are about 65 boats on moorings or anchored here – much different from last night! We took the dinghy to shore at O’Leary’s Tiki Bar and Grill, evidently a really popular place on Sunday afternoons with live music. The big thing seemed to be to bring your dog (or dogs) along so we fit right in! The view of the downtown is beautiful at night. We had a lot of rain Tuesday night but not the high winds, thank goodness.

We've been making a daily trip to the Library in Sarasota. This is Ginger waiting with me outside the door while Paul was taking his turn on the computer. She sure generates a lot of comments from passersby. Paul said IF he were looking to pick up women she'd be very helpful! The statue is entitled "Best Friends".

THIS ‘N THAT

We were happy to see recycling bins at the marina in St. Petersburg and thought that would continue but that doesn’t seem to be the case. We HATE throwing our cans and bottles in the trash; evidently most places don’t value recycling as much as Wisconsin and Michigan. I was saving them for awhile but it became a space issue. We did actually haul them from the boat to a little grocery store here in Sarasota.

We miss seeing other “Loopers” along the way. Most of the boaters we met along the rivers are ahead of us now, hopefully we’ll catch up to them further south in Florida.

In the Tampa area, the State Fair was being promoted for later in the month. That seemed very odd to hear about a State Fair in February!

After hearing about all the nasty winter weather “up north”, we’re especially glad we picked THIS year to do this trip. We feel your pain, people of the northlands!

The next planned stop is Venice; the weather is still a bit iffy today so we may stay put another day. We're trying to see how long we can anchor out. Tonight will be night #5.

We liked Bradenton!

We came into Bradenton on Thursday, Feb. 7th and stayed two nights at the Twin Dolphins Marina. I knew we’d like it right away as our slip assignment was F-5. That meant to me it’d be close to shore (with such a low number) and the floating docks are always a treat. We felt pretty pampered with a beautiful heated pool, hot tub and private showers. The marina provided discount coupons for the restaurant and museum and a free bag of ice a day. There’s a really nice restaurant, Mattison’s, right at the marina and we went there Thursday night. It felt very “Hawaii-like” eating outdoors, with tiki torches, live music and a view of the water. We got to use the bicycles quite a bit here. Here's the manatee fountain in front of the marina.

On Friday we toured the South Florida Museum which is about a block from the marina. Em got to see two of the planetarium shows and the feeding of the manatees. (Paul didn’t spend near as much time there as he had boat projects). There are four manatees there right now: Snooty is 59 YEARS OLD and has never lived in the “wild”; there are three 2-year old females that will be released when they are ready. Snooty totally ignores them as he doesn't know he's a manatee; the staffperson said he thinks he's a lapdog! That's romaine lettuce floating in their tank; they also eat water hyacinth and Snooty gets special treats of cabbage and apples. We see lots of signs for “manatee zones” but have never encountered any except these in the aquarium.

We saw a lot of Island Packet Sailboats being prepped for the big Miami Boat Show. They’re built near here in Largo, FL; we got to go aboard a 37ft. motor-sailor but we like our boat better! We got 11 gal. of diesel before we left; we had to wait quite awhile for a yacht to finish fueling. The dock attendant said he took on 1100 gal. of fuel. At over $3 per gal. that was quite a bill. Makes us really glad we have a sailboat. We haven’t gotten to sail all that much but we only go through about .75 gal. an hour motoring. We’d definitely recommend the Twin Dolphins Marina in Bradenton – the nicest marina we’ve stayed at for some time.

Family and Friends in St. Petersburg

We anchored four nights at the Vinoy Basin. The convenience to downtown was great and the view was beautiful. We did get to see that Floating Chapel away from the dock. They must have gone out for fuel, no wedding party to be seen.

Then on Friday, Feb 1st we moved over to the Harborage Marina. It’s very near the Salvador Dali Museum but we weren’t that tempted to go there. The Coast Guard has quite a presence here; we went past five large Coast Guard ships on our way into the marina. We tied up on their transient dock and were happy to see floating docks again. The laundry was only 50 cents so I got caught up on that and after anchoring four nights it was nice to “regroup”. I met someone doing laundry and got invited to her Tupperware party that night onboard their 52ft Irwin sailboat – that was a new one! She and the Capt. live aboard with their two daughters, two cats and two cockatiels. The Harborage was a real treat – very nice facilities and so many friendly people. Many of them are live-aboards who were very interested in our trip and willing to share their knowledge of the area on places to anchor, etc. We walked six blocks to a Publix and were able to haul almost $100 worth of groceries back to the boat with the little wheeled cart we had stored away. Paul was happy we had a chance to use it since we went to the trouble of bringing it on the trip.

That night we were dinner guests of an old friend from our Milwaukee days, Eileen, at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club – very nice! We took this picture on Sunday at the Museum of Fine Arts where Eileen works. It’s a world class museum and has more than 4,600 objects from antiquity to the present day. I think we enjoyed it more than we would have the Dali Museum. Thanks again Eileen for your generosity – great to see you again.

On Saturday, Em’s nephew Randy, wife Cheryl and boys Ryan and Jake drove over from Tampa. They took us to the Saturday Market downtown where we met up with Cheryl’s parents who are wintering in Florida. They both look amazingly like they did last time we saw them at Randy and Cheryl’s wedding in 1992. I think they’ve been visiting Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth! It was a beautiful day to walk around and sample the different foods, enjoy the music, check out the produce and people watch – it’s quite an event. We got to go out for a little sail; pretty light winds so we didn’t break any speed records but it was a beautiful day to be out on the water and spend time with family. It’s like summer in Wisconsin without the bugs!

Cheryl's parents, Jim and Nancy B. (I didn't want to risk spelling your last name!)

This is Jake (4) and Ryan (9) at our slip at the Harborage Marina in St. Petersburg. I hope they weren't disappointed that we didn't see any pirates!

On Sunday night we anchored out just off the marina and the St. Petersburg campus of the University of South Florida. We’re going to try and anchor as much as possible. The $80 a night in a marina adds up quickly. The Fox station carrying the Super Bowl was our worst channel for reception. Luckily we didn’t care all that much about watching it (since the Packers weren’t in it of course!) but we did manage to catch parts of it.

We had no reason to go into Tampa since Randy and family came over to St. Petersburg to see us (thanks again guys!) so on Monday we headed south toward Bradenton. Going under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge was cool; it’s 175ft. high and four miles long. It was a little hazy for pictures but hopefully you can get an idea.

This is looking back after we'd passed under the bridge. Note the Packer windsock is STILL proudly flying!

We anchored in the Manatee River just behind DeSoto Point near DeSoto National Memorial Park – only a three hour trip. It looks way more like a large lake or bay than a river with beautiful homes along the shore. We set the Fortress anchor in 9 ft of water (which was 7 ft in the am due to the tide). Paul wanted to have both anchors accessible, so the Bruce is now in the anchor locker and the Fortress is on the anchor roller due to storage issues. The Fortress seems to do a better job holding in the mucky sand bottoms; sometimes described as “mayonnaise”. We dinghied to shore and went through the visitors center and saw the informational film. (Actually we went to shore quite a few times: for Ginger plus they had very nice restrooms in the visitors center!) The replica Spanish camp was open and a costumed interpreter talked about the expedition and gave demonstrations – really interesting. A bit of history:

Hernando de Soto was a Spanish soldier who was granted a license to explore La Florida and landed on Florida’s west coast, probably near Tampa Bay, in May 1539. His army spent the next four years making its way some 4,000 miles across what is now the southeastern United States. It was a futile mission, doomed by unfamiliarity with the land, hostile Indians, and the leader’s overzealous pursuit of riches. What had begun as an adventure became an ordeal (I feel like that sometimes!) De Soto killed and enslaved large numbers of Indians and lost half his soldiers to sickness and Indian retaliation. He found no gold and established no colonies. Three years after landing in Florida, he was felled by fever and buried in the Mississippi River. Quite a sad story.

We had two peaceful nights at anchor and were happy there’s a mini heat wave going on since it kept it from getting chilly in the boat overnight. It got up to 83 degrees Monday and Tuesday (that’s about 10 degrees above normal) and should only drop to 59 or so at night. On to Bradenton later in the week.