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!