Sombrero Marina - 1/30/11 (day 2)

What beautiful weather!!! Mid 70's with nothing but sunshine. Today we moved the boat from slip #3, a stern in dock, to the slip we reserved when I first called a month ago#51, a seawall side tie so Dianne could get off and on much easier. Besides that slip #3 was the first of the marina and now we are in the middle of all the stuff ... pool, bar, restaurant, laundry, etc. I met one of the owner/investors today and after he found out my background, proceeded to tell me all about the previous owners' problems and ultimate foreclosure and how he and his partners took over in the last year or so and are bringing the resort back up to their standards. Talking with other boaters here I have found that over 80% are repeat year after year and many have been coming for 10 years or more. The dockage here is $2/ft plus $15 per day electric based on a weekly rate. Monthly is a little less expensive and is actually a better deal for our 2 week stay by nearly $300. Since we came into the marina on fumes, I will have to arrange fuel delivery sometime before we can move on north. Tomorrow we will be going back to Ft. Myers to get the Hanna van then return to the Keys by evening. We think it is a 5 hour drive each way but it will be a way to see the Keys between here and Miami then on Tuesday we will go the other way about 50 miles to Key West for the day. The weather is predicted to be in the high 70's to mid 80's the rest of the week with a possible shower on Thursday/Friday. At least it will be liquid and not solid precip. Website for the marina is: http//sombreromarina.homestead.com if you want to find us.

Sombrero Marina & Resort - 1/29/11

Today was one of those days we all wish for, absolutely gorgeous. I got up around 4:30 this morning to chart our path to Marathon from Marco Island, a distance of 111 miles. We had very enjoyable guests last night so I didn't get it done before bed time. They were folks from Orion that we met in Midway Marina on the Tenn Tom last fall and had had correspondence from several times since but this was the first time we had seen them. Putting our path in the Garmin this morning made me feel very intimidated since it was off shore anywhere from 3 to 20 miles for most of the day then completely open water the last 20 miles. Somehow you feel a little more comfortable when you can see land even though it is too far to swim! The water was totally flat for most of the trip with a very light chop the last few miles.

This has to be the cleanest, clearest water I have ever been in before. I have said this before but this has to be one of my favorite shots.

We traveled about 100 miles when we came to the 7 mile bridge that we needed to pass under into the Atlantic Ocean then turn port for about 3 or 4 miles to Boot Key Harbor.

In order to get to our marina we had to pass several other marinas as well as a very large mooring field. We came under the bridge a little after 5 p.m. but due to the size of this harbor, did not get to our assigned slip until 6:30 p.m.

The mooring field is very large.

After passing the mooring field we saw several condos on the starboard side.

More pictures of the mooring field.

The dock master as well as our new next door neighbor met us at slip #3 and helped us with our stern in tie. Our assigned slip #51 was still occupied by a boat with some problems and couldn't leave today but we will move there tomorrow and will be here until 2/12. We plan to go back to Fort Myers the first of the week to help retrieve the Hanna van and bring it here.

Our present position is: N 24 42.619 W 81 04.916

Marco Island Yacht Club - 1/28/11

We left Fort Myers around 10 a.m. for the 59 mile run to Marco Island. Another pretty day in paradise. The trip was uneventful except for the slight chop on the water.

This is a picture of Naples from about 3 miles off shore.

When you look the other way (west) ... nothing but water.

We pulled into Marco Island Yacht Club at 4:15 which was a little pricey but very accommodating. The dock master contacted us as we were coming up the Marco River and basically stayed with us until we entered the harbor. Then he was there to catch our ropes and power cords. Very nice.

Tomorrow is a straight run to Marathon and Boot Key Harbor. We will be at Sombrero Marina & Resort for 2 weeks before starting up the east side of Florida. Our position tonight is: N 25 57.612 W 81 42.741

Ft. Myers - 1/26/11 & 1/27/11

Looks like I slacked again and have to put two days in the same post. On Wednesday (1/26) we went with the Hanna's to the Manatee Park for a very interesting tour. If I understood correctly, manatees are mammals that have a lot of human design. Their flippers have a skeleton structure that resembles a human hand with 5 fingers and a thumb.

Their jaw bones have teeth that as they wear out new ones form in the jaw bone and move forward to replace the worn ones that fall out. They call that marching teeth.

They passed around a rib from one as well as the rib from a cow to make the comparison. The manatee rib is solid and is their weight belt to hold them under the water. They only come up for air and it was almost impossible to get a good picture but this is what we got. We also learned that although they can hear they have no way of determining direction and so they just for deep water therefore ... manatee zones and no wake areas.

On Thursday (1/27) we played tourist again and went to the Edison Ford Museum. Edison was quite the genius. Although deaf from scarlet fever he was able to get over 1,065 patents during his life and at least 1 for 65 consecutive years.

For my gear head friends ... a Ford flat head engine.


For my day dreaming wife .......

There is a Banyon tree on the estate that covers a whole acre. It started out 80 years ago about 2 foot tall and is quite a marvel. The original idea was to make rubber out of it but Edison shortly found out that Florida was not wet or humid enough for the tree to produce. He eventually made rubber out of a goldenrod plant! Going thru his lab as it was in the 30's was a real treat.

Henry Ford had a interesting life. Apparently he was a ladies man and had several flings on the side one which fathered a child. Since being an unwed mother was not acceptable in the 20's, he paid a co worker to marry the woman. He and Edison were great friends and lived beside each other when in Florida.

Again .. for my gear head friends ... a model T and model A that were on display.

Tomorrow (1/28) we will be moving on down to Marco Island Yacht Club, a run of 59 miles then we will leave Saturday morning early for Marathon and Sombraro Marina and Resort. That will be somewhere between 80 and 90 miles of open gulf to get there.

Ft. Myers - 1/25/10 & 1/26/10

We are really enjoying our stay at Legacy Harbour Marina. Several loopers are here with more coming in every day. Tuesday we borrowed the Hanna's van and did some shopping and played tourist most of the day then joined them at a friends house for a steak cookout. Wednesday after a quick visit to Quick Care for antibiotics, we went to a manatee park which was very interesting. Of course the girls had to get their shopping fix on the way back to the marina then we went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner before retiring to the boat. We were supposed to leave tomorrow to start down the coast toward the keys but have decided to stay another day to go to the Edison-Ford estates and play tourist another day.

Venice & Ft. Myers - 1/23/11 - 1/24/11

Yesterday (Sunday) was the day that Christine, Greg and the girls left for their flight back to Pennsylvania. We sure enjoyed their visit even though the weather was a little chilly we are sure that it was much nicer than what they were going to see when they get home.


We pulled out of Twin Dolphin Marina at 10:15 for the 47 mile ride to Marine Max at Venice, FL (N 27 04.844 W 82 25.841) and immediately started passing nice homes again.


It was about 3 or 4 miles to the Tampa Bay which was really clear today but extremely rough with a beam chop on the starboard until we got to the inter coastal again in a few miles. This is the Sunshine Parkway Bridge that was covered with fog a few days ago.

More pretty homes. At least Ricki is starting to look at smaller places!

I have heard it said that if you can see a birds' feet in the water ... stay clear. What about fishermen?

We have passed some interesting boats on this trip. this one looked like a space ship coming at us.

These folks were on Sarasota Bay.

We had 3 swing bridges or bascule bridges to go under that required a call. Many have regular opening times so you have to time your trip so not to miss one and have to wait 30 minutes to an hour for the opening.

Lots and lots of these little monsters to catch in your prop. Some are actually in the channel so you have to keep alert. Although we have line cutters we still don't want to chance running over one.

Three boats followed us toward Venice. The first two were Present Moment and Royal Lady, fellow loopers that we have been with on and off since Joe Wheeler last October. Don't know who the 3rd boat is it just sort of caught us at the last bridge opening.

Ricki's next boat!

This was the last bridge to open before getting to Venice. Shortly after this bridge Quest and Present Moment both hit something in the channel. We started having a very strong vibration on the port side so we just idled that engine the last 10 miles to Marine Max and used the starboard for speed. This lowered our forward progress down to about 7 MPH which seemed very slow. Something I have not mentioned is the apparent love by Floridians for their manatees. Many areas along this shore has "Idle Speed - Manatee Area" signs and they mean SLOW or the water cops will ticket.

Pulled into Marine Max (Venice) at 4:30 for a side tie dockage across from the fuel dock.

Next morning at 8 a.m. I went to the service department to arrange for a haul out to check the damage from the incident yesterday.

You can see for yourself .... another bent prop. Good thing I had spares since they were installed and we were on the water again by 10:55 after getting 193 gallons of diesel, the first since Carrabelle (370 miles ago) and a pump out. Fuel consumption has gotten better since the injector repair.

The best still shot to date!

We really had to push the ol' boat to get to Ft. Myers in daylight since it was exactly 70 miles from Venice and we didn't leave until almost 11 a.m. We encountered many manatee zones that really slowed us down so when I could I pushed upwards of 2100 RPM which with the tide got us over 11 MPH which helped. We entered the Okeechobee Waterway at 5:00 with nearly 10 miles to go and almost immediately entered one of the longest slow zones so far. We got to Legacy Marina (N 26 38.540 W 81 52.568) at 6:15 in the dark. As we were approaching the auto pilot went goofy and the starboard engine over reved so we had to convert to the conventional balancing of the engines for the last mile. Maybe it got tired from all the fast moving today. We plan to be here for 3 nights then start our southward voyage again.

Bradenton, FL - 1/21/11

When we woke up this morning the fog had settled in big time although the temperatures were still in the low 60's. I walked to the end of the dock several times to see if visibility was getting any better. About 10 a.m. I talked to the captain of the S/V Amazing Grace that was docked in front of us who also was waiting to leave for Venice and we decided to check the computers for weather info and should be able to leave by 11. At 10:30 he came by the boat and said he was ready and did we want to go with him. We both pulled out into the bay but it wasn't very far when visibility got closer. After several miles Amazing Grace decided to turn back but we felt confident to press on.

We had Christine, husband Greg and both daughters on board for the trip to Twin Dolphin Marina at Bradenton. One of the perils of having an ex Navy man onboard is that he wants to "neaten" everything including the ropes.

We all now know Ricki's fascination with the dolphins, and it still continues. She was so afraid that due to the fog they wouldn't show up for the grandkids but they didn't disappoint her.

Visibily at times varied fron about a quarter mile to almost a mile then got significantly worse as we were leaving Tampa Bay and approached the Sunshine Parkway Bridge. This shot was taken about 1/2 mile away.

This one was practically going under the bridge. Thank God for good electronics and radar.

We got to the marina about 2:05 after 37 miles however due to a flooding tide and gusty winds, backing into the slip was more than a challenge. I bumped the starboard pole on the first attempt and had to give it another try. This time I bumped it harder resulting in a little cosmetic damage to the swim platform. Almost as soon as we got tied up and all the cords attached the wind subsided. Go figure.

The marina has a very nice upscale restaurant on the premises so we walked over for dinner but couldn't resist a picture with the grandkids in front of the manatee overlooking the marina.

Too bad the table had been cleared or you could have seen the sinful deserts this bunch ordered.

We will be here until Sunday when our guests fly back to snowy Pennsylvania and we leave for Venice, FL. That will be a 1 night stay before heading on to Ft. Myers.

St. Petersburg Municipal Marina - 1/19/11 (day 2)

We spent the morning today doing a few chores and projects around the boat before our guests arrive later this afternoon. My brother-in-law's cousin, Mike and Marilyn called from Gulfport and unfortunately we couldn't find a time to get together with their commitments and our scheduled departure on Friday. We have really gotten either lazy or relaxed because we just don't get anything going much before 11 a.m. each day. While I did laundry (which is stored in the front state room) to make room for company, Ricki worked on a sewing project. Daughter Christine and the girls are supposed to get here for dinner around 5 p.m. and will be bringing her grandmother Betty, who we haven't seen for many years. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone. Of course I had to make a trip to the West Marine which was only a couple blocks away before they came.


We walked from the boat to Fresco's Waterfront Bistro at the edge of the marina. Betty spotted this red motocycle and we had to drag her inside so she wouldn't take a spin on it.

The restaurant overlooks the entire municipal marina which includes the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. The yacht club must be very big and affluent since the clubhouse occupies almost a complete block and is gorgeous. When we arrived at the restaurant for our reservation, we were given the choice of inside or outside dining but since it was becoming dusk and cooler, we opted for inside. We were the only folks inside when we sat down but before we were finished with dessert, the place was full.

Chrfistine and the girls took Betty back to Dade City after dinner and will spend the night there before coming back to the boat tomorrow. Her husband will join us tomorrow after his job responsibilities are finished in central Florida and we will stage one of their vehicles in Bradenton so they will have transportation back to the airport on Sunday for the flight back to snowy Pennsylvania. Tomorrow promises to be another sunny warm day in the mid 70's after the fog lifts. It really pains me to put those kind of remarks in the blog since many of you folks aren't enjoying this weather. Just in case you are unable to read between the lines .... life is great and we are certainly enjoying it!

St. Petersburg Municipal Marina - 1/18/11

We woke up this morning to major fog which was not expected to lift until after 10:30 so what should we do until then.... either wash our boat like Skip is doing, or ...

GO SHOPPING! This was an interesting nautical shop that had a little bit of everything in it.

We finally pulled out of Clearwater at noon and headed for St. Petersburg in beautiful weather and calm water.

As we headed for the GICW we passed some gorgeous homes that the first mate thought she would "love to live there". I told here she would need to find another husband because it would take at least 2 of us to afford it.

A major portion of the 37 mile trip was thru narrow parts of the GICW and as a result were no wake areas as well as the bridge entrances and manatee zones. We didn't see any of the sea cows but had to keep alert just in case. Apparently they move very slow and quite often get hit by the boats.

Then we found more fog which was coming off the Gulf which was just a few hundred yards starboard of us. It was a little strange going out of sunshine into a fog bank that limited our vision to just a few hundred feet.

When we came past Indian Rocks and Indian Beach we started having visitors with us. They didn't jump our wake like they did in the Gulf but swam right off the bow wake. Ricki took many pictures leaning over the rail of these guys.

St. Petersburg was first noticed before we came into the bay but this picture is after several miles north on the bay as we were coming into the marina.

The marina is a little confusing to get into. The first landmark we looked for was an airport control tower then we had to turn into a small entry that was pretty shallow before coming to the fuel docks. The municipal marina shares water with the yacht club with tall buildings all around.

Quest is one of two boats on the transit dock tonight. We will be staying here until Friday morning when we will be crossing the bay to Bradenton and Twin Dolphins Marina.

Tomorrow we will get to see daughter Christine and the kids, Sidney and Riley. They flew in late today and will join us on the boat Thursday for the trip across the bay on Friday. I am sure they will be glad to leave the chilly, snowy Pennsylvania for the balmy 70's we have here.

Our position is N 27 46.342 W 82 37.775