The Final Leg

We departed Marco at first light on Saturday morning, as planned. The passage through the "backwaters" of Marco and Goodland were absolutely fabulous!

By shortly after 8:00a, we were at Coon Key Light and headed offshore for the five hour cruise to Marathon. The day was overcast, which made sighting all the crab pot buoys much easier -- combined with calm seas, it made for a most delightful finale to our journey. At about 12:30p, we had the Marathon Yacht Club in our sights!

So, we're "home" for the winter -- with plans to prepare Ivory Lady for the "Lighting of the Fleet" on Dec 10, which is the launch of the Christmas season here! We're returning to Dry Dock for Christmas and returning to Marathon in time for New Years' Eve.

We'll post a few thoughts and pictures as we journey through the holiday season! But, one last picture, from Useppa Island that Bill wanted to share with you!

Thanksgiving @ Useppa Island

We safely traversed the channel out of the Redneck Riviera -- with Touch N Go leading the way.

The 21 miles was rife with wildlife -- manatee, lots of dolphins playing our wake and a flock of white pelicans (quite unique to this area of western Florida).

Useppa Island is a little slice of paradise! We had a lovely evening with Stu & Diana on Wednesday evening and then a delightful Thanksgiving Day, beginning with Willy's infamous cured salmon and then a sumptuous buffet at the Collier Inn, dining on the patio.

Friday morning dawned with clouds and rain -- providing the appropriate weather for our sadness that our week of travel with good friends had come to an end. Ivory Lady departed in the rain for the 60 mile trip to Marco Island Yacht Club and Touch N Go headed north to Bird Key.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last leg of our journey (80+ miles of open water across Florida Bay) -- and we are really excited about seeing our friends and settling in for a few weeks at our winter home. We're starting out at first light to take advantage of the most water in the back channel behind Marco Island. We're projected to get the "tail end" of the cold front racing across the US, so we'll have some wind, but should not be much!

Cruisin' the West Coast

On Friday, November 19, Ivory Lady made the large journey to Pass-A-Grille -- about 20 minutes. Had a wonderful time seeing good friends on the dock & at dinner -- table for 12!





Saturday morning dawned with fabulous weather and three boats ready to PLAY! Water Wings (Don & Beverly Hyde) left first, making a stop for fuel and taking the "inside route" to Tampa Bay. Next went Ivory Lady going out the channel for another day "off shore" and Touch N Go (Willy & Caryn Bain) the last to depart. But, of course, Touch N Go passed us all and was first to arrive Sarasota Yacht Club. Water Wings & Ivory Lady entered together after a lovely cruise by all.


Weekend was absolutely fabulous with good boating friends -- time seemed to fly with many "remember when" conversations. Monday we bid Water Wings a safe cruise as they headed back to Pass-A-Grille for a Thanksgiving holiday with children & grandchildren. Touch N Go & Ivory Lady cruised out Big Sarasota Pass and back in at Venice Pass -- and found Chadwick's Cove at Englewood Beach. Quaint old Florida -- just think water and no markings for a channel!





Good bike ride and delightful lunch on Tuesday and Willy's home-cooked black beans for dinner -- doesn't get better than that! From the fly-bridge, as we sipped glorious wine and snacked on stone crabs provided by our dock neighbor, we enjoyed a memorable sunset over the "Redneck Riviera"!

It's now Wednesday morning and we're headed a whopping 21 miles to Useppa Island -- a favorite stop for us. Stu & Diana Sheldon (good friends we met @ Dinner Key Marina in Miami when we moved to Florida twenty years ago) live on the Island -- they are joining us for dinner aboard Ivory Lady tonight.



Tomorrow is Thanksgiving -- and we are truly blessed and thankful for our life and our friendships. Wishing everyone a Fabulous Day!

Catchin' Up

Having so much fun -- the blog got left behind! We'll try to "catch you up" in the next few paragraphs.

Entering Okeechobee through Pt. Mayaka Lock

Saturday - The journey across the Okeechobee Waterway provided great excitement. Winds remained up but Ivory Lady held her own as we crossed the lake and into the calm waters of the Caloosahatchie River. Wildlife abounds with alligators, sea turtles, osprey, egrets, hawks, eagles and hundreds more.

The river provided entertainment in a variety of ways -- the locks (3) were a bit of a challenge, but having done the Panama Canal, they seemed rather tame. A race on the waterway with antique boats & antique motors was a hoot -- and we captured a picture of a boat/motor combo exactly like Uncle Bob's -- Bill has great memories of having to pass the Coast Guard test before he was allowed to take out "the vessel". Bill was 12 years old at the time.

Then some real local color - looks like something you might expect to see in a Chinese river -- but certainly a low cost approach to living!!

It was a long day (105 miles) as we cruised into the Ft Myers Yacht Basin @ 4:50p. Fueled Ivory Lady, provisioned for Captain/Admiral and had a lovely dinner aboard.

Sunday - Out early (best part of the day) with a plan to anchor out that evening. A couple hours out, the radio provides the information that the Boca Grande Swing Bridge (9' clearance) is broken until further notice. Some research got us the phone number to the bridge-tender who confirmed it would not be operational until "at least" Monday 6p. Mid afternoon, we were securely anchored in Pelican Bay -- found that we need an anchor bridle to improve the anchoring enjoyment and Bill is planning to make one in the next few weeks.

Monday morning dawned gorgeous, but a rather significant low tide. So, we enjoyed the morning on the anchor, sailed out around noon and cruised over to Boca Grande Marina. Waters off-shore were reported 2-4 and starting that late did not make sense, especially when the weather forecast for the following day was greatly improved. We love Boca Grande and have a great evening washing Ivory Lady and then a lovely dinner @The Temptation Room. Sunset at Pelican Bay Anchorage

Tuesday was everything the 'weather gods' promised and we had a fabulous trip off-shore to Longboat Pass and into Bradenton Beach Marina, negating the need to worry about the Swing Bridge repair. Cousin John & Trudy Horigan joined us for the afternoon/evening and we had a delightful visit.

Wednesday morning we're off to our "destination" at Bob & Shar Fillingham's dock behind their home in Broadwater in St. Petersburg. Arriving about noon, we launched several projects that will keep us busy for about a week -- which will be intertwined with lots of "doings". A superb compound/wax beauty treatment for Ivory Lady (Wayne & Rick Schmoyer), oil/filter change on her engines (good learning experience and great findings from Mark Donaldson's team), new microwave and associated woodworking by Steve Schuler (& Marvin).

So, it's now Monday, November 15 -- we've had some great visits (more to come) and joined Bob/Shar/friends for the "Blessing of the Fleet" at St Pete Yacht Club yesterday. Today, Bill had his MRI but we won't find the results until Thursday regarding his hearing -- but nothing appears to have changed (we hope!). I flew to Philadelphia mid-day and am working with Tyco Electronics tomorrow -- with hopes of getting home on Tuesday (rain forecasted, so it's always a question out of Philly!).

We'll be moving to Pass-A-Grille on Friday to join Water Wings (Don & Beverly) and Touch 'N Go (Willy & Caryn) -- and on Saturday morning we begin our Thanksgiving Trip and head south for the week, culminating at Useppa Island for Thanksgiving Day.

More Soon!

Cruisin' the East Coast

Tuesday put us @ the Halifax River Yacht Club, right downtown Daytona Beach. Brian, the dockmaster, was a gem! Enjoyed the evening with dinner in the Club, then early the next morning we were off to Eau Gallie at Indian Harbor, just north of Melbourne FL. Lovely cruise down Indian River and past Cape Canaveral. Unfortunately, the Discovery Shuttle launch got pushed back at least a couple days, but for a while we thought we'd have ring side seats.

Longer day on Wednesday filled with dolphin sightings, manatee, jellyfish and all sorts of birds, including significant number of osprey. Eau Galle lived up to its reputation as a great stop in the north-south trek. We were fortunate to be there for their monthly "Colors Event" - cadets from Patrick Air Force Base Guard retired the color amid singing of the National Anthem and America the Beautiful.

Out early Thursday for a short trip to Vero Beach and a stop at The Moorings Club. Superb facilities and we took the opportunity to use their fitness center for a great workout. Then a special treat, we had dinner with Jim & Helen Dodds, good friends from Greenville SC that we haven't seen in ~18 years -- quite a memorable evening.

Awoke Friday to blustery wind & seas -- certainly not going outside today with reported 8-10 foot seas. Assistance from the gracious dockmaster & the Vice Commodore got us on our way without incident -- and the turbulent weather stirred up the water even in the ICW. Saw some flying stingray as we began the day (too quick for any pictures!)

We journeyed 25 miles to Stuart and the St. Lucie River and then began our journey across the state on the Okeechobee Waterway. There are two locks going up to the Okeechobee River and then three going back down on the other side of the lake. Today, we did the first lock (St. Lucie) at mile marker 15 and then continued 13 miles to our stop for the night at Indiantown Marina.

Lock Gates Closing Behind Us Vessel in Front of Us -- Had LOTS of trouble!

On our last mile, we cruised through the open railroad swing bridge -- not knowing that it was going to close as soon as we passed and 3 minutes later the Amtrak train was flying through!

We were here several years ago while Bill was captaining a vessel for a good friend (former customer of mine) -- and we had dinner at the Seminole Inn here in Indiantown. Seems The Seminole Inn was the "hide-away" for Prince Edward and Wallace Simpson that led to his abdicating the British throne. Ironically, that night long ago was the night Princess Di was killed in the automobile accident in Paris.

Tomorrow we plan to cross the lake and continue the journey west into the Caloosahatchie River.

More Later!

Back in Florida!

Had a great trip from Jekyll Island with amazingly little water traffic! A beautiful sight, both from the sheer magnitude of the facility but also because it's the last thing we see in GA, is Kings Bay Naval Station. This facility performs the re-arming of our nuclear submarine fleet -- and as part of the Salt Treaty, the re-arming bays are shorter than the submarines so that "enemy" satellites can identify that a "boomer" is being re-armed.

Kings Bay Naval Station, St. Mary's GA

Once in Florida, we again confirmed that Jacksonville is still really south Georgia, as there was no apparent difference in the scenery - endless marshes! We "turned right" at the St. Johns' River and continued some 25 miles through downtown Jacksonville to the Florida Yacht Club. As the northern most Club on the East Coast, we started our mileage log in the yearly competition for most miles traveled between Florida Council yacht clubs during a calendar year.

Gorgeous slip and facility -- even though the Club was closing within a couple hours of our arrival and we had the entire marina to ourselves for the evening.

The side trip through the Port of Jacksonville was astonishing in the magnitude of the facilities.

As we passed a container vessel, we saw another way to get your boat from port to port!

Early departure this morning got us back to the Intracoastal and again heading south. Made it a "short day", stopping in St. Augustine by 1p, avoiding a collision with a "run-about" who didn't have a clue!! Afternoon spent re-provisioning and doing a bit of "seeing the old city".

Bridge of Lions, St. Augustine FL

Tomorrow morning we head for Daytona Beach and the Halifax River Yacht Club -- these "free nights" sure are nice and the facilities & friendliness are tremendous!