Key West to Marathon 2/10-2/17/18

Another day in paradise ending

Abbys getting ready to go to the Bahamas

We left Key West this morning and are heading east to Marathon for a weeks stay at the Marathon Marina Resort.  We passed close by one of the cruise ships on our way out of Key West.  The weather was clear with about three foot waves and was pretty comfortable.  When we arrived at Marathon Resort we were greeted by Debbie who works the fuel dock.  She is a real character and helped us get tied up at the fuel dock so we could unload the BMW before moving into our slip.

We are in Slip 1 which is quite close to the fuel dock, but on the plus side is also close to a nice bathroom and near the end of the dock so the view is pretty nice, and the sunsets are fantastic. All of the docks here are new Bellingham brand floating concrete docks.  Very stable and new power pedestals and water connections.  The new power pedestals also have the new GFI breakers.  This is the future of dock power pedestals and we found out that our boat will trip the breakers.  Under the direction of Robert the dock manager we plugged in and turned on one breaker at a time until we tripped the GFI.  We found out that it is only the 220 system breakers that would create a fault and trip the breaker so we ended up not being able to use the washer/dryer, oven, cook-top, hot water heater and the upper salon AC while connected to shore power.  Its a bit of a pain but we made do with microwaving and grilling on the BBQ.  When we did need the cook-top or oven we started the generator and that also reheated the water which was good for a day or two.  I guess I will need to spend some time going through all of the 220 appliances and isolating the neutral and grounds on them as this is what is causing the GFI to pop.  Household appliances are commonly wired with the neutral and ground bonded together inside the appliance and this just won't work for the new pedestals.

On our first evening at Marathon Resort we treated ourselves to dinner at the attached restaurant Lazy Days.  It was pretty good but not worth a revisit.  Over the next days we rode the BMW around Marathon and explored different places, bars and marinas.  Our favorite was Faro Blanco Marina which is attached to a Hyatt and allows access to the resort pool and facilities.  Pretty nice place.  We may stay there next year for a month if it fits in our schedule.  We went over to Banana Bay Marina where we had looked at a boat years ago to buy.  Many loopers make this their winter home and they were full up and not looking like there would be any room next year either.  Both of us agreed that we liked either Faro Blanco or where we are better anyways.

Marathon got hit pretty hard with the hurricanes last fall and although they are working hard at rebuilding there is still a lot of visible damage everywhere.  Some parts of it reminds me of driving through third world countries.  Another consequence of the hurricane was that there were over 300 boats on moorings in Boot Key Harbor (Marathon) and something like 65 made it through the hurricane.  They have two very large cranes picking up the salvaged wrecks and a large excavator smashing up the hulls and loading them into dumpsters.  The harbor is full again with not an empty mooring ball to be seen.  We dingyed through and stopped to visit some Canadians that ended up being from Lachute QC.  They recommended that we take the three Sisters channel over to Sombrero Beach for a visit and dog walk.  Abby was very keen on that idea.  We liked it too and we spent an hour or so there people watching and walking Abby.

One day we headed off to Key West on the BMW and rode along the south breakwater to downtown.  We parked and walked through Malory Square and Debbie looked in a bunch of the shops but came out empty handed.  We then moved over closer to the Marinas and went in for lunch at the Conch Republic Seafood Company.  What a great choice.  Delicious local steamed shrimp in clam broth, lobster bisque, and a Cesar salad.  We shared all of the items and Debbie had a few margaritas and I had a couple of beers since I still had to ride the bike back to Marathon and the highway can be busy and dangerous.  I didn't think margaritas would be a good choice.

Debbie and I at Mallory Square

Key West seemed to be in good shape, certainly less visible damage than Marathon.  We enjoyed our visit and headed back to Marathon.

Other days were spent getting haircuts, grocery shopping and visiting different bars and restaurants.  We went to Castaways and also Burdine's on the wharf.  I much prefer Castaways food and menu.  Its a dump but a nice dump!  Every morning I took Abby for her morning bike ride and we would ride down the highway and over to Castaways and Burdines to see what was going on.  All of the commercial fishermen are in this area and there is always something happening.  Abby got lots of treats and compliments.  After a few days of this I found a park right at the beginning of the seven mile bridge that Abby liked better because she could go off leash and run around. That became our morning regular run and we did a couple of miles every morning.  Good for the old dogs to get out!

Casey Key Fish House

The ocean had an eerie look to it today.  Like it was lit up from below

Everglade City to Key West 2/10-2/12/18

We very much enjoyed our visit to Everglades City.  A real Old Florida feel.  We departed towards Key West right after 8:00 AM and made our way back out the winding channel to the gulf.  Once you get offshore about 3 miles it's a straight course to Key West and we took turns manning the helm.  I was sitting on the aft deck watching the water go by.  Often there are dolphins which will follow us and swim right beside the boat playing in the wake.  I was watching astern when I thought I saw a dolphin and started to watch what it would do.  Well after about 30 seconds I realized it wasn't a dolphin but a crab pot that we were dragging. I signaled to Debbie to cut the engines but the message didn't get across very quickly and about another half mile later she finally brought the boat to a stop.  I thought I would have to go swimming to untangle the crab pot line but as we stopped the buoy bounced up and we were clear.  Sometimes you get lucky.

We arrived late in the afternoon at Key West and set about to find an anchorage that would make us happy.  One of the first places we were set to try, as we were starting to lower the anchor along came a guy in a dingy and advised us that the holding there wasn't very good and there was a lot of current that ran through where we were trying to set.  We thanked him and moved over closer to one of the anchorages with lots of boats in it.  There are quite a few mooring balls here and lots of derelict boats too.  I can see the problem Florida and other states have with these under maintained, and probably uninsured vessels squatting in the anchorages.  The other side of that coin is that there are lots of people who work here and other places and there is no affordable housing so this is somewhat of a necessity for the working class. Workers are hard to find in the keys and the recent hurricanes have only made it worse.

There were two cruise ships tied up at Mallory Square when we pulled in and they changed out over the next two days.  The cruise ship business is doing well.

Carnival Ship

Disney Ship

We stayed in the anchorage for two days and did not venture over to Key West.  We will return via motorcycle from Marathon next week.  It will be much easier.  We did take Abby over to Wisteria Island for some playtime via dingy but the beach was rocky and Debbie wasn't thrilled with it.

Marco to Everglade City 2/7- 2/9/18

We left Marco near 10:00 AM after taking Abby for her walk or in my case for her bike ride. We headed out into the ocean because there is not really an intracoastal waterway.  Well there is one but its not very deep and the ocean was calm.  Our destination was the Rod and Gun Club in Everglade City and we had a nice calm ride down on a sunny day.

The Rod and Gun Club has a lot of history and has hosted many celebrities from presidents to Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall, Sally Fields and Burt Reynolds.  Read the history below.

What a fun History

The dock was quite and there was only one other boat for our first night.  The second night saw two other boats come in but they were ramping up for the weekend with their annual seafood festival and expecting 20,000 additional visitors for the weekend.  We will be long gone by then. The internet wasn't bad right at the Inn but they don't open until 11:00AM so I had a meeting for work that was held via Webex and I ended up sitting at a table on the veranda having my meeting.  The staff when they came in were very gracious and set up all of the tables around me but left me to my meeting.  About 10 people had been seated for lunch by the time it was finally over.

Debbie, Abby and I went out for lunch by bicycle.  We went over to Triad Seafood for lunch and I had the stone crab claws and they were delicious.

Great crab claws

Abby was a very good girl and lay under the table well we had our lunch. We rode around town after lunch and Abby got to meet lots of tourists.

The Rod and Gun has definitely seen better days but its still a neat place and I'm glad we went in to see it.

The interior is all Cypress wood and lots of dead animals

The bar area

An old victrola

The original front desk and cash register

Its very dark inside and no AC.  They no longer rent any rooms out in the main building but do have a couple of cottages for rent

I don't think these people have checked out yet and the truck was probably new when they arrived

Ft Myers to Marina at Factory Bay 2/3-2/6/18

We left Ft Myers on Saturday and headed down to Marco Island for a few days.  We found a marina at Factory Bay.  When we arrived we discovered it would be very difficult to unload the BMW on their dock that had a long and winding walkway up to the parking lot.  We had ridden the BMW over to Chuck and Sylvie's house in Naples the day before and met up with Fred and Lizzie Zickmantel.  Chuck invited us over to watch the Superbowl on Sunday and they picked us up at the marina.  Pretty good game and we had a nice evening at Chucks.  They lent us a vehicle to do errands with the next day.  We are stocking up for our month and a half in the Bahamas and bought more wine and booze and lots of meats and frozen foods.  The freezer is now full and I know we have never had more provisions on board than we do now.  We had to get a permit to bring Abby into the Bahamas and we accomplished this along with trips to Walmart, Publix, the banks and West Marine.  Its good to have cash in the Bahamas so we stocked up at our respective banks.
After a long day of shopping and storing all of the provisions we met Chuck and Sylvie for a nice Italian meal at Ciao Bella.  A very nice family run place with great food.

I guess Chuck and I had the same memo on shirt colors

Ft Myers 1/30-2/3/18

Well back to just the two of us and Abby again.  The marina here at FortMyers is very nice and I would consider staying a month next winter. I made a reservation for next year and I guess we will see if it works out.  Chuck and Sylvie drove up from Naples to have dinner with us and we went over to Firestone's where we started with cocktails on the rooftop bar and then moved down to the second floor for dinner.   They have a tire conveyor that well, conveys tires around the inside of the restaurant.  Fort Myers was the playground of Henry Firestone and Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  It was a very pleasant evening and just a short walk back to the boat. 

Chuck and Sylvie came up to Ft Myers and joined us for dinner one night.

Very nice presentation at Firestone Grill

 Myers is having an art festival this weekend and the artists are all setting up their booths for the event.  There is an exhibit of sheet metal art all around the downtown core.

The tin men need a dog

Playing Chess

Debbie and I went over to Karen Raven's house for lunch one day.  We were sad to hear that Burt had passed away in September, but it was great to see Karen and she is busy getting ready to downsize and organize her life.  Nice to see you Karen.

This was from last summer in Kingston

Crow's Nest Venice FL to Ft Myers 1/16-1/30/18

Debbie and I had a few days to ourselves before Greg and my niece Fiona arrived for 10 days. We toured around on the motorcycle and went out for dinner one night at the Crow's Nest which is at the same marina we are docked at.  I had been here years ago and it was still very good.  Abby got long walks down Venice Blvd all the way to the Tamiami Trail and back, she walked or ran and I rode my bike.  About 2 miles round trip.  Once you get into the center of town many of the restaurants have tables right out on the sidewalk and Abby and I rode through about 6 of them me on the bike and her looking cute and trying not to steal any food off of the tables.  Everyone always wants to know what kind of dog she is and if they can pet her.  Never a problem with the little princess and she loves the attention.

Fiona and Greg arrived on Sunday the 21st and this was the first time we had met Greg.  He is very nice and also a very interesting guy

Welcome aboard

 He installed electronics in Americas cup boats and traveled the world supporting them. He is also a boat carpenter so I can see lots of potential in his visit...... He also has been involved in building Burning Man Temples and after he left us he was heading to Washington, DC to build a Burning Man Temple at the Smithsonian.

Last year's temple. Which they burn to the ground at the end of the festival!

Greg getting to know Abby

Greg wanted to have his van serviced so I followed him up to Sarasota and we dropped it off at the dealer.  He and I rode back to the boat on the BMW.  We stopped and loaded up on goodies, booze and wine for the next week because we would be anchoring out for the remainder of their visit.

Fiona and Greg took our bikes and cruised Casey Key and then we met them for lunch near Blackburn Pt Bridge at the Casey Key Fish House for shrimp and fish dip.

Casey Key Fish House

We left Venice on Tuesday and headed down the ICW towards Cape Haze Marina where we would fuel up.

Loading the BMW at Venice

We pulled in around 3:00 in the afternoon and took on about 700 gallons of diesel.  They have some of the best prices around at $2.20 a gal and even though it was tight getting in and about a 1/4 mile to back out it was worth it.  We anchored out that night in Pelican Bay.

The next day brought us to Three Sisters anchorage off of Boca Grande.  We went into the harbor there and stirred up lots of mud, or prop polishing.  There was nothing that really turned us on so we went and anchored in the north end of the bay and had a relaxing afternoon.  Greg and Fiona took Abby in the Dingy and went back to town for lunch and a walk on the beach.

Abby Greg and Fiona headed off to town

Abby's new walking guide

Our next day was Cayo Costa and also Cabbage Key for a "cheeseburger in paradise"   Supposedly this place inspired Jimmy Buffet to write the song.  Its a small private resort island that has a ferry boat that brings people over from the mainland to dine and stay.  We docked the dingy and walked up to the restaurant for lunch.

A little history on Cabbage Key

This is it. Cabbage Key Inn and Restaurant

Heading to Cabbage Key.  Sorry Abby no dogs allowed.  That's the boat in the background with Abby guarding the boat.

The Cheeseburger was pretty good and then we headed over to Cayo Costa to anchor for the night.  Its a state park and has beautiful beaches that run for miles along the coast.

 at Cayo Costa

Free to Run

Our next night was anchored off of Sanibel Island at Ding Darling Anchorage.  Greg and Fiona took Abby for a dingy ride but were unable to find a place to land for a walk.  We headed up the Caloosahatchee River to Ft Myers Yacht Basin where we would stay for a week.

Greg and Fiona took us out for a wonderful seafood lunch at Izzy's in Ft Myers.  Great time and seafood.  We tried just about everything.

Izzy's for lunch

It was Sunday and there was an antique car show with the streets closed off.  Nice setting for lunch

We rented a car and took Greg and Fiona back up to Sarasota to pick up the van.  Alas when we arrived and Greg got in the van all kinds of warning lights lit up and they had to keep it for another day.  So we took that time to go to Phillippi Creek Restaurant for a bite to eat.

Lunch at Phillippi Creek Oyster House

There's one in every crowd!

They gave Greg a loaner so I wouldn't have to drive them up again the next day.  So the guests that just won't leave stayed another night!  We were very happy to have them another night.

Galati to Crows Nest 1/16/18- 1/22/18

We left around 11:00AM after getting a pump out and saying our goodbyes.  We had shipped oranges and grapefruits to my sister in Canada and they had never gotten delivered.  When I called Hales Groves they offered to ship a replacement order so I had it directed to Galati so we could pick them up.  They had still not arrived this morning so I offered them to Charlene who had done such a great job of taking care of getting us our mail and packages.  She sent us an email later saying they had arrived in the afternoon and she had shared them with the rest of the office staff.

We headed out of Galati and turned north to go out one of the bigger passes onto the Gulf.  It was the perfect day for our trip.  Sunny, following wind and calm seas.  We set the auto pilot and only deviated when we got close to Casey Key to get closer to shore and see the properties where we used to own houses.  Things have changed a lot over the years and the houses have gotten bigger and bigger. I first came down here for Christmas in 1966 and my parents purchased a property on the north end of the key in 1971.  We had many family Christmas's and vacations at Casey and it has always been like a second home.  We had progressed to our third property which I sold in 1995.  Since then my sister Prue and Andre had come down to Casey Key over the years until their deaths and we continued to have family reunions here.  Many fond memories.

We arrived at the Crow's Nest around 3:00 and had planned for slack tide to make docking easier since the marina is right on the Venice inlet.  We got securely tied up in our inside slip on the main dock and off loaded the motorcycle and bikes. We will be meeting my niece Fiona and her guy Greg, who we have not met yet.  I'm so looking forward to seeing them and they will stay with us for a week on the boat as we travel south down to Ft Myers. We took Abby for long bicycle rides up to the Tamiami Trail via Venice Avenue.  There is a linear park between the two streets making up Venice Ave and there are lots of monuments to the founders of Venice and its creation as an Army Air Base.  I still remember being here in 1969 when the base was still active and the town still had the barracks in the central area.  Lots of young kids heading off to Vietnam.


Fiona and Greg arrived Sunday night in time for cocktails and dinner aboard.  We loaded all of their gear onto the boat and Abby was excited to have more friends to play with and take her for walks. Monday we traveled around to Cosco and Detwilers farmers market to stock up on supplies for the coming week as we would be anchoring for the most part as we slowly made our way south.

Greg Fiona Debbie and Jim

Our dock for the week in Venice

Detwilers Farmers Market

Debbie and I had been here before Greg and Fiona arrived and they had a special on where if you bought a lobster roll they gave you a cup of either clam chowder or lobster bisque for free and then they have $5 banana splits made with your choice of flavors of hard ice cream and toppings.  I didn't eat any dinner that night!

The lobster roll comes with free lobster bisque

Yummy