Dec. 23-25, 2017 - Christmas at Ft. Myers

We left Cayo Costa around 8:00 and headed to Ft. Myers to spend Christmas with Tricia and Rob (Linda Jean) and Wally and Darcy (Summertime).  When we arrived we found out Capt. Jack and Jane (Dixie) were also there.  We all got together for docktails that night at then walked into town for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Ford's Garage (the best hamburgers) (didn't get any pictures though). After dinner we took a walk through two beautifully decorated historic homes.  It really got us into the Christmas spirit.  Christmas Eve day we did grocery shopping, laundry and ended the day with a nice dinner aboard Summertime.  Christmas day started with breakfast aboard Nearly Perfect of Eleanor's Goop and mimosas.  After that settled, it was time for a fantastic Christmas dinner aboard Summertime. T.J., one of the young men who work on boats around the marina, was also invited to join our little party.  We all enjoyed his company.  The food was fabulous and spending the day with good friends was priceless.  It was a very special Christmas.

Touring the beautifully decorated houses with Wally and Darcy

All of the rooms were gorgeous

An upside tree

More decorations

Christmas Eve dinner

Merry Christmas!

Two of the cooks

My best partner in crime

Ready for our feast
(T.J. took our picture)

T.J.  was a welcome addition to our group

There was a lot of food

A little after dinner entertainment by Wally

Our Christmas decorations

A group dinner with some of the other boaters

Dec. 17-22, 2017 - Cayo Costa, Sarasota, back to Cayo Costa

We left Franklin park Sunday morning and went right into the lock.  We were heading to Cayo Costa State Park but stopped at Ft. Myers for fuel and to visit and check out the marina since Irma.  We ran into Wally and Darcy, Russ and Elaine, and met Scott and Darlene (Final Approach).  Final Approach is a 43' Hatteras and they had been anchored close to us at Stuart.  After about an hour, we were on our way to Cayo Costa.  We anchored around 3:30 and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings.  Since it was late and we were coming back there again, we did not go into the park.

Monday we headed north to Sarasota and grabbed a mooring ball at Marina Jack's around 1:30.  After we cleaned up, we headed into the marina to meet up with Wayne and Donadee (Always Home).  We later met up with John and Cecile (neighbors from Watergate in Houston) for happy hour.  They are now living across the bay from Sarasota at Long Boat Key.  We had a good time catching up with them.  We then walked downtown Sarasota to a very good Mexican restaurant for dinner.  Tuesday, we headed to Der Dutchman for breakfast/lunch (we get the last of the breakfast buffet and then stay for lunch).  After our yummy lunch, our taxi drivers took us to WalMart and West Marine.  We met later in the afternoon for happy hour and dinner at the marina restaurant.  It was great catching up with Wayne and Donadee and we'll see them while we're in Ft. Myers.

Wednesday we left the mooring field around 8:00 for a beautiful trip back to Cayo Costa.  We had lots of dolphins swimming with us.  Florida dolphins are the best.  We anchored around 2:00.  Thursday we packed a lunch and went into the park.  A cart took us to the Gulf side of the island where we walked along the beach and ate our lunch.  Friday we relaxed around the boat until late afternoon.  We took the dinghy out and met several boaters and arranged a sundowner at a little beach in the area.  We met Ed and Kim Robinson (Leap of Faith).  Ed is an author of a "Trawler Trash" series that Jack has read so he felt like he knew them.  We also met a couple from Lady Hawke (they're from Iowa).  It was a nice gathering and a lot of fun standing around on the beach watching the sunset.

Leaving Fort Myers, this is known as the "miserable mile" because

it's long, narrow, slow and there are a lot of boats (especially

since this was on a Sunday)

A beautiful sunset over Cayo Costa

An energetic little dolphin

Beautiful green water - passing Venice on our way to Sarasota

Coming into Sarasota

Wayne and Donadee are "Always Home"

A nice happy hour with Wayne, Donadee, Cecile and John

Our mooring at Sarasota

All full from our breakfast/lunch

The Salvation Army Sarasota style

Beautiful dolphin sculpture at the marina

These are circus students of Ringling Brothers practicing

in the park

Beautiful home with views on all sides

Oops - towing a burned boat

More dolphins

We had about 8 of them swimming with us

Back to another sundown at Cayo Costa

A foggy morning

and a foggy sunrise

Into the park

Beautiful beach along the Gulf of Mexico

The water wasn't too bad

A little friend I met on my walk

One of the trails across the island

Our sundowner with Kim, another boater, Ed and the couple

from Lady Hawke

The anchorages at Cayo Costa (we're on the right)

Dec. 13 -16, 2017 - St. Lucie Lock, Lake Okeechobee, Franklin Lock

We left Stuart Wednesday at 9:20 for a quick 6 mile trip to our first of three anchorages, the St. Lucie Lock. We are now starting to move west.  We had a little wait at the lock (which raised us about 13 feet) and anchored on the other side of the lock at 11:30.  We took the dingy across the channel to walk around the RV park.  We met several boaters and RVers and enjoyed a little jam session with them late in the afternoon.

We left Lucie Lock around 8:10 for a beautiful day on the St. Lucie Canal heading to Lake Okeechobee.  There are two ways to cross Lake O - directly across (which we did earlier this year) and the southern rim route.  We were told by the Port Mayaca lockmaster that the rim route had a lot of debris and wasn't safe.  However, a boater heading east told us he had just come that way and it was great.  So we turned left out of the lock and headed south to our anchorage for the night at South Bay, the southern tip of Lake O.  That anchorage was beautiful and peaceful.  We passed only a few fishing boats and listened to the birds most of the afternoon.

Friday was a rather long, but beautiful day on the water.  Our travels took us around Lake O, into the Okeechobee Waterway, and then the Caloosahatchee River (which goes across Florida to the west side).  We went through two locks and had two bridge openings during our trip.  We docked at the Franklin Lock (marina and campground) around 4:00.  The park was so beautiful we decided to stay two nights.  Both of the camp hosts came over for a visit.  One couple had traveled a lot of the area we traveled this summer - only they were in their RV.  They homeschool their 6th grade daughter and were very interesting to talk to. Saturday was chore and relaxation day.  The park was very peaceful and we enjoyed our day.

This guy was having a little trouble grabbing his lines

Looking back at the St. Lucie Lock and Dam

Our anchorage across from the park

A fun jam session

Looking back at the St. Lucie RV park

The beautiful St. Lucie Canal

A little blurry, but that's an eagle surveying his world

The Port Mayaca lock heading into Lake Okeechobee

There's a reason it's called the "rim route" - just just follow the lake

This is the last remaining manually operated bridge opening in

Florida - just to the left on the bridge you can see the bridge tender

manually opening the gate for us

Entering our anchorage for the night

Beautiful sunset over Lake O

A beautiful, calm morning

Traveling west on the Okeechobee Waterway

Dale and Bev - one of the two camp host couples

Sunset over the Franklin Lock

and a beautiful sunrise

Looking back at the Franklin Dam

The boat docks and some of the camp areas

It was like he was posing for me

Beautiful house I passed on my afternoon walk

And a horse farm