6) February 2024
2/2/24 - Moss Marina, Fort Meyers Beach
What a short but stressful trip today from our serene anchorage to busy, busy Fort Meyers. We dodged Tiki Hut Boats, huge power boats, small boat boats, and went under a 70' bridge that looked safe but seemed so close to our mast. However, as Kim said today, "We dodged death another day".
A quick snack and drink at the Rude Shrimp Co. by the Marina before we walked to the beach. Hurricane damage is very evident everywhere. This has not stopped the people from coming and enjoying restaurants that are using pop up trailers and bringing in live bands to encourage tourists to visit their establishments.
2/3-2/7 Fort Myers Beach
We have have an amazing time connecting with family and friends these past four days. I have lost track of which day we did so here is a hodge podge of 4 days.
Had dinner with Mark LuAnn Perkins at Nervous Nellies. Watched a pirate ship go out with a tour group.
Sea Pork washed up on Ft. Myers Beach after the high winds.
Michael and Sarah flew in for a 4 day weekend.
We rented a golf cart and may or may have not taken it past the allowed distance. Kim's driving and we are passing through highways. People were shaking their fingers at us. Sarah and I just looked down and made no eye contact with anyone. So glad when we got back.
We were able to meet up with my cousin Tracie and her husband Jim for dinner. We had such a great time!
Rainy morning and we played Trash! Michael won.
Also met up with our friends from Michigan, Tom and Kathy. We Ubered to their house in Cape Coral and they brought us back in their new boat.
2/9/24 Marco Island, FL
Left Ft Myers Beach, FL around 7:30 am. We were chased by the Key West Ferry out to the Gulf. Gulf was basically flat. The sun was out and we motored sailed to Marco Island. Set anchor in Factory Bay for the night.
That second video below is not suppose to be there but I cannot delete it. Hmmm.
2/10/24-Marco Island
Last night's anchorage was fine except the 3 knots of current kept shifting our boat 180 degrees. Anchor held and we sorta slept. Decided to take the dingy into the island and of course we had engine issues. Current, waves, other boats surrounded us as our engine kept stalling out. Kim kept restarting the engine and limbed us to the dingy dock at Rose Marina. Passed by American Glory, a small cruise ship. Rose Marina also houses the Key West Express Ferry if anyone needs a ride.
We moved to Marina @ Factory Bay to get out of the current and get some sleep. We went to Snook Inn for dinner and music and could see where we were anchored with other sailboats. Also, saw the cruise ship leave.
2/11/24 - Sunday
Good Morning!
Today was a work day. Trip to Ace Hardware and Publix in between loads of laundry. We have all clean sheets, towels, clothes and inside the boat. Kim worked on the dingy engine and cleaning the nav station. And the water maker is working without leaking! This task was huge for Kim. We now are making water that is drinkable.
I made a leftover casserole to use up odds and ends in the frig. Sorry no videos or pictures. Will do better tomorrow.
Kim was looking up the hits I have on this blog. Since I started there have been just under 140,000 hits! WOW! Thank you to all that are taking the time to check in on us. Many of you have reached out to us via text or FB and that is awesome!
2/12/24 - Monday
Our day started with windy conditions but sunny. Kim used his expertise to color my hair. Alisha, who has done my hair for the last 15 years, sent me on this journey with the supplies to color my hair. Not that I expected the same process from Kim, I did get a little concerned when he was doing circles in my hair and said how matted it was getting. No pictures but my hair did turn out fine.
We caught an Uber to South Marco Beach. Beautiful beach! Saw owls along the walk.
Went to a dive shop to get scuba gear for me and replace some of Kim's gear.
2/13/24 - Tuesday
Another breezy, sunny day. More boat work. Two trips to Ace Hardware and 2 trips to Rose Marina. One trip to the dive shop. 6 miles total! Our dingy decided not to go into gear and that's a huge problem. Rose Marina was able to fit us in on Thursday to repair our dingy so we hiked the engine in a dock cart down the street to them. Only a few stares but we are kind of getting use to that.
Prize of the day-one floating coconut!
2/14-2/18 Quick trip home. No emergency but just needed to see my dad (he will be 92 in April) and some business stuff. Will catch up when we get back to the boat.
2/18 - Back to boat. Long day! The alert for a 4 hour delay came after being dropped off at the airport at 7:15 am. 4 hours turned into 5 1/2 hour delay. Finally got on the plane. Flew to Ft Myers to sit on the tarmac because there was no gate for us. Thankfully that was a short 15 minutes. The hour Uber ride was wild. I think he was trying out for Fast and Furious! Got to boat at 7:00 pm. So sad that we have to cancel on my cousin Tracie and her husband Jim to spend the afternoon and evening with them.
We did see family and friends. Visited with my dad and Kim's mom a couple of times. Mark and Hope wined and dined us. Had a great visit with Brent and Mary our last night. The snow we got was minimal but am glad it's 70 degrees again.
2/19/24 - Monday
I have to say that we both slept awesome! Woke up to a cloudy, windy, light rainy day. Make our to do list and started in.
*Laundry
*Get dingy engine and test drive
*Install new wind instrument
*Provision
*Get boat fueled up to leave
New fuel line and fresh gas, dingy is working like a charm!
And as we all know, things do not always go as planned. Got dingy engine via marina cart and more people staring at the situation. Went to test drive the dingy and the engine still was not working like it should. Kim took it back over to Rose Marina and they felt it was the fuel line and tank. Back to West Marine. New wind instrument did not work. New one on over night delivery. We provisioned from Publix and West Marine. Laundry done!
Dinner at Snook Inn. Notice behind Kim. The heaters way back. We were the only table with no heater because it was an exit area to dock. We tried to move but it was so busy. Froze!
Tuesday, 2/20/24
Still in Marco Island. Sent Kim up the mast to get our wind vane. Waiting on a new part for the wind indicator. When on a dingy ride through the mangroves and found a abandoned boat, went to TigerTail Beach and walked around. Dingy is running great!
2/21/24 - Wednesday
Finally, we left Marco Island! Marina @ Factory Bay were amazing and I would highly recommend them. Free laundry, hot, clean showers, walkable to Ace Hardware, West Marine, Publix and a good selection of restaurants. Once again we were being chased by the Key West Ferry as we left the marina. So the rule of Bigger and Uglier, they have the right of way. We just stayed out of its way.
The gulf was kind to us today once we got away from land. 1-2 foot waves with light winds. We spent 9 hours on the water before we came to Shark River where we would anchor for the night. Most of the time was spent listening to audio books. I'm listening to The Lincoln Highway by Amore Towles. Excellent! Kim finished Caretakers about graveyard caretakers helping the Jews during WWII.
We were pleased to see green markers to guide us in. There were 2 other power boats already anchored. Then a 3rd one came in later.
We end out our day, we watched the sunset and then Kim opened his coconut.
2/22/24 - Thursday
Rose at sunrise to head out to Marathon from Shark River. Calm exit but shallow! Low tide was at 6:30 am and we left around 7:30 am. So had to slowly make our way to deeper water.
Once we were in 8-10 feet of water, we hoisted both sails and took off at 6.5 knots. All was good for 4 hours, listening to our books and podcasts until we spot crab pots. We were successfully dodging them until one appeared out of no where and we ran it over. Stop the engine, bring down the sails, reverse to try and dislodge it. We think we did but with so many crab pots around us was not sure. Continued slowly and was able to get back up to 6 knots. Kim did not feel evidence of anything but we will have to use our go pro to see if there is anything on our hull or prop.
The Gulf was flat as we worked our way to Marathon. Saw the 7 mile bridge, lots of fishing boats and crab pots. I had to stand at say 11:00 o'clock and 2 o'clock. A tight one o'clock meant Kim had to steer either to the starboard side to avoid crab pots. 4 hours of this madness. Now I know why I hate crab!
We entered Faro Blanco Marina, fueled up and Kim backed us into the slip. (He is very good at that) We walked around, walked a mile to Shuckers and Shakers/Key Fisheries for dinner. Then back home to relax. Looking forward to sitting by one of the two pools, having drinks by the pool bar and work on my tan.
Friday, 2/23/24
Slept in and woke up to fishing boats quietly exiting the marina. I made breakfast instead of cereal and granola bars. Then off to the pool to work on our tans. Had a visitor, drank rum punches and ate lunch at poolside bar.
2/24/24 - Saturday
Woke up to rain and wind. Around 10:00 am, rain had stopped so we called a cab to go to the 29th annual Gigantic Nautical Market at Founders Park Islamorada about 39 miles away. Thinking we would get there in an hour we got in the cab. Our cab driver had never been to Islamorada. Hmmmm! If you have been to the Keys, there is one highway. US 1 or Overseas Highway. However, our cab driver was up for the adventure. Traffic was horrific. After and hour and a half, our driver needed to stop and use the restroom. So we stopped and were on our way after 10 minutes. A mile from our destination, we decided to hop out and walk the last mile. Wow! This event was a very popular. We met up with Madeline and her friend Alex at the entrance. Madeline is a former student from GT Sailing School and Kim has worked on her boat.
Madeline and Alex are working at the Sea Base for the Boys Scouts. So impressive. They offered to drive us back to our boat but stopped to give us a tour of the Sea Base. https://www.bsaseabase.org/
Check it out!
I want to do a shout out to Madeline and Alex. They are very mature and impressive. They are enjoying this stage of their lives but in a responsible and thoughtful way. Good Job guys!
Once back home we walked around and found a new store for Cool Guys and a rooster. A huge moon ended our day. Sat in the chairs outside our boat for the 3rd night!
Sunday, 2/25/24
Very windy night! So glad we were in a slip. After sleeping in, we headed off to The Turtle Hospital. What an interesting place. They take you through an educational program since it is a working hospital. The largest such hospital in the world. https://www.turtlehospital.org/
Most of the turtles at the hospital have been struck by boats so they have developed "Bubble Butt" and are permanently injured. Some have been attacked by sharks and are missing flippers.
The work that this organization does is amazing! Currently there are 42 turtles in residence. We were able to feed them. You can adopt a turtle for $35.00 and you get 4 emails a year from them telling you about their year. If you are even in Marathon, go see these spectacular creatures.
We slipped in a few boat chores also like defrosting the frig, trying to see if that crab pot is still under our boat with the crab pot but too murky, filled water tanks and still working on setting up the Epirb.
2/26/24 - Monday
Today we walked 2.5 miles to the Crane Point Hammock Nature Trail. It was quite the adventure from watching turtles eating while a raccoon watches to feeling lost in a mangrove. We were swooped up in a pelican release and got a fish pedicure. We toured one of the oldest houses remaining in the Keys and walked around a 1954 house, The Crane House. Again, if you ever go to Marathon check this place out.
https://cranepoint.net/
We could see our boat from the point by the Crane House.
Feb. 27-Mar. 1
We have decided to slow things down for awhile and stay here in this beautiful marina/resort. We had boat projects to do and want to enjoy this amazing weather. We have repaired the genoa sail, fixed 3 chairs, installed our EPIRB, and will be working on putting in a new air conditioner.
No worries though! It is not all work. We lay by the pool (there are 4 to pick from), listen to live music most every night, enjoy sunsets and sunrises, sit by fires at the end of piers, and visit with other boaters, who are doing the exact same thing.
