La Belle Florida town dock

We are still anchored med style at the La Belle town dock. The town provides free docking with water and electricity for 3 days.  You then have to leave for 8 days before you can return. Everything is really close including a grocery store, laundry and restaurants. The only draw back is that it is near a bridge so there is quite a bit of traffic noise. There is a library across the street that has free books and cheap books for sale, I will go investigate.
We went to visit our neighbours on their 44 foot DeFever on Monday night for happy hour. Yesterday we had Canadian friends, Bruce and Anne, who are wintering in Fort Myers visit us for lunch at the Log Cabin. The log cabin is famous for it's ribs and pork but we usually go for the fresh fish that is equally nice.  They give you a complimentary soup and ice cream with your meal.  We then walked to an antique and junk shop to try to wear off our lunch.  It was a very nice visit.
We also had friends from Thunder Bay, who leave their boat here over the summer and winter in Cuba every year, drop by and say hello.  They are at Glades Boat Yard getting some boat work done so we will go back to the yard for the week end to visit with them.
I saw an alligator go by this morning and I have often spotted manatee in the past but not yet on this trip.

North Star anchored med style

Drop and set the anchor then back up to the dock to tie the stern

There is a nice little spot called the lollipop on the way to the boat yard so we will anchor there tomorrow, provided it is available.  It is shaped like a lollipop and can only accommodate a couple of boats.

LaBelle Florida

We spent the week end at Glades Boat Yard checking up on our other boat and catching up with some friends. We were able to get a drive into town to do some major provisioning, thanks to Peter our British friend.  The boat yard has installed a lanai for the boaters so happy hour is much more civilized with proper tables and chairs.
We went for a bike ride to the Glades RV park for breakfast and took Peter out to lunch at our old haunt the Gator Bait.  All bar food but it is the frosty mug of beer and he camaraderie that makes it so special.
We are in La Belle for the next three days tied up to the free town dock.  They provide power and good water. There is a nature trail next door and a really good BBQ restaurant.  This is like being home since we have spent so much time here over the last five years.
The weather is fabulous and the locals are friendly and of course the bike riding is ideal.

Glades Boat Yard dock

La Belle town dock

Caloosahatchee River

After a rocky bouncy night at anchor on San Carlos Bay near Fort Myers, it is a pleasure to be on the Caloosahatchee River which is part of the Okeechobee Waterway. We are back to swing bridges and locks and fresh water for a while. We will not miss the tidal currents and the crab pots.
After a nine hour sail, we arrived at Glades Boat Yard to check on our other boat. It feels like home. All appears to be well, we will stay and visit with old friends and go back to LaBelle and the Fort Myers area until the middle of January and then who knows where we are going. The possibilities are endless.

Low tide leaves a very narrow channel

Fort Myers

York Island Fort Meyer's Florida

We were finally able to get the laundry done in Venice yesterday.  We tied up to a free dock in town and rode our bikes 2 miles to the laundry mat. It started to peck as we were getting there and once inside, the skies opened up and he rain came down in sheets.  Once we had completed the deed, the sun came out and we were able to get back to the boat with dry laundry.
We had to get off the free dock by night fall so it was a rush to push off and drop the hook just to the north of the Venice Yacht Club (N26 06.7100 and W82 27.6007').
We finally got some good pictures of dolphins today as we made our way to York Island Natural preserve. It was a little choppy on Charlotte Harbor so we stopped for lunch at Pelican Bay.  A beautiful anchorage but the first mate forgot about the dinghy and North Star chewed up the rope as we were anchoring. Luckily, a small boat came by and retrieved our dinghy for us. If you can't take a joke, don't travel with this first mate.
We are now anchored at York Island (N26 41.3269' and W82 14.6025'), Jerry is fishing but it looks like I better make some supper.
Tomorrow we are heading 5 miles into Fort Myers.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Tampa Bay

Sarasota

Venice anchorage

Lemon Bay dolphins

Dolphin jumping right beside the boat

Sunset at York Island

Gulfport Florida

We are anchored near the Gulfport Municipal Marina with some permanent residents because our guide indicated that there was a laundromat close by. We loaded all the laundry in the dinghy, went to the dinghy dock but the laundromat is closed. The dinghy dock is close to interesting shops and restaurants and you are allowed 8 hours free. We wandered around for an hour or so and went back to the boat with our dirty laundry.  Oh well, we will try again in Sarasota.
Jerry fished and caught a catfish and a bonefish so the anchorage was not all bad.

It was a bouncy noisy night as the wind came up on Boca Ciega Bay during the night. We had good holding so all is good.  We are getting ready to make our way to Sarasota.

Gulfport dinghy dock

Sunset on Boca Ciega Bay

The Captain is having fun

Caladesi State Park

It is a pleasure to travel in protected waters on the Intracoastal waterway. We were delayed a few minutes by the sheriff at the Dunedin Causeway because they had a diver in the water.  I wonder what gruesome task they had. It is nice not to have to hail the bridge to get it raised, North Star fits under all the causeways.
We spent the afternoon walking the beach at Caladesi State Park.  It is reputed to be one of the top 10 beaches in North America.  It was quite nice, hard packed white sand and lots of shells. I saw my first live armadillo, usually I see them dead at the side of the road. We met some friendly folks who invited us to join them at happy hour, we did join them but not before we went to photograph the sunset on the beach. We did not see the green flash that some claim to see as the sun sets.
This morning we walked along the 2 mile nature trail while we waited for the right tide to leave.  it is a nice clean park with wonderful floating docks that are easy to tie up to and to get off the boat. A very worthwhile stop.

Gopher Turtle resident

We did not see any

Bahama Mama

The beach goes on for miles and miles

Sunset over the Gulf on Honeymoon Island

The sponge capital of the world

They are not kidding about their sponges and the wonderful Greek food in Tarpon Springs. he sponge docks are lined with sponge diving boats and sponge shops. They are touristy shops selling loofah, T-shirts and soap. The Greek restaurants are everywhere with ladies handing you copies of menus of their respective establishment. I am not that familiar with Greek food and it is hard to decide when they offer the same thing at similar prices. We opted for the Parthenon and split the small house special.  It is one of the best pizzas I have ever had. The Captain liked it although he was less enthusiastic than I.
There is a really nice bicycle trail that runs through town which we found quite enjoyable.  We love this flat terrain and bonus the trail led us to a grocery store and you guessed it, West Marine.

We finished off the day with a visit to Capt'n Jack's Tiki bar for a cold beer and finger food. It was located 100 feet from our boat and looked too good to pass up.  All in all, we are glad we stayed to visit this quaint town, it was a lot of fun.

Tarpon Landing Marina

I didn't remember to look for sharks

A real fixer upper

Sponge boat at the sponge docks

Sponge Diver

Entertainment while you shop

Sunset in Tarpon Springs

Tarpon Springs

We arrived at 4:30 yesterday and drove around the crowded downtown area looking at the boats at the sponge docks.  We were looking for a concrete wall mentioned in Skipper Bob's guide but at low tide, we both went aground trying to navigate the narrow channel.  We pulled out and went to the Port of Tarpon Springs marina.  They only had room at the fuel dock and the marina is in the middle of nowhere so here we are at the Tarpon Landing Marina this morning getting ready to explore the town by bike. Randy continued on to Clearwater for some boat repairs. We will miss our travelling companion but most likely we will meet again out there somewhere.

This town has a Greek flavour and lots of sponge diving history.  The sponge docks are supposed to be the main attraction with live entertainment on week ends. It looks colourful and touristy so we will go have a look and report back tomorrow.

Sponge Docks

Sailboat in Tarpon Springs

Swimming with the Manatee

As expected, our plans changed. We felt it was too cold and windy to go out and anchor so we spent an other day at the marina. We rode our bikes to the mall and went to Charlie's Seafood restaurant for lunch with Randy.
The weather improved by afternoon so we piled into Randy's dinghy and went to look for manatees.  We saw quite a few of them so we tied up the dinghy at the entrance to the Three Sisters Spring and Randy and I went snorkeling.Jerry stayed to mind the dinghy and to take pictures. I did not see any manatees but the under water springs and the small colourful fish are interesting.  The current was pretty strong going into the spring, Jerry said I sounded like a bull moose. Coming back out was a nice ride.
We drove around some of the canals and Randy slid back in the river when we spotted a mother and her young. He was impressed with the size when you are looking at them in the water.

Most Manatees have scars from boat props

They need to surface frequently to breathe

The entrance was narrow and the current strong

Randy snorkling

Mama and baby

We left early this morning to go to Tarpon Springs and we should be there in a couple of hours. The Gulf is nice and calm and the visibility is good. Lots of crab pots to dodge.

Crystal River

We are at a rickety marina under a covered slip. It rained yesterday morning and the noise was deafening as the water poured down through the large gaps in the roof. This river is teaming with manatees because it is spring fed which means that the water temperature remains constant at 72 degrees. We plan to go anchor out near King's Spring today and get our snorkel gear on to see if we can't swim with these gentle giants.  A cold front has moved in and the high today is supposed to be less than the water temperature. We may have to revamp our plan.
Since we have 3 bicycles on board, Randy joined us for a ride into town to go to you have guessed, West Marine.  No trip into town is complete without it. We all went out for dinner at a seafood restaurant and to an Irish Pub for a night cap. Last night Randy had us over for cedar plank salmon and potato salad. He is quite the gourmet cook.  Tonight we plan to have Randy over for my famous sausage dinner. 
Jerry and I set off to go junk and antique browsing yesterday on our bikes. We had covered a few shops when Jerry picked up a tack and got a flat tire. He had to walk back 2 miles to the boat for his repair kit. I went on to get some supplies. Jerry did some boat maintenance and repaired his bike one more time.
It looks like we have a weather window Saturday so we will attempt our last jaunt down the open water of the Gulf. We are looking forward to the protected waters of the Intercoastal waterway.

Sunset at Pete's Pier Marina

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Watching the sun go down

Black Tickle is too wide for the slips, he is at the fuel dock

Crossing the Gulf of Mexico

We have completed two of three crossings of the Gulf of Mexico. This is a large body of water and mother nature is once again in charge of our schedule.

We started out at 1;30 on Monday after pouring over many weather sites. The winds were quite a bit better than on our first attempt and the swells and the chop was acceptable. We knew we would run out of daylight so we olanned to anchor in Deadman's Bay at the mouth of the Steinhatchee River, which we did. I have never been so anxious for a moonrise before. It was very dark without it, we had to have radar on to be able to follow Randy in Black Tickle.  It was hard to judge distance without it. The crossing went well wih dolphins and stingrays to entertain us. Not much to see 50 miles off shore.

We were going to stay in Steinhatchee to wait for a weather window but as luck would have it, we were able to carry on to Crystal River by 8:30 in the morning when the fog lifted a bit. I never did see DFeadman's Bay anchorage as we arrived in the dark and left in the fog. Fog is usually an indication of light winds and true to form we had flat seas and fog most of the day. We arrived at Crystal River as the suns et so we anchored rather than get to the marina in the dark. We had lots of dolphins swimming on our bow. It looks like we will hit them but we never do, they are fast.

We are waiting for mid tide to head into the marina. We don't want to be like the Loopers we heard on the VHF radio yesterday who thought it was interesting to be doing 7 knots in idle. That makes it difficult to dock a boat Florida style.

Sunset on the Gulf of Mexico

I didn't think the Gulf could get this calm

In the fog on the Gulf...better than rough seas

Sunset on Crystal River

The Gulf of Mexico

This starfish was still alive on the beach on Dog Island

We are most likely staying here for several days as a cold front is supposed to move through and the winds will be building. Next stop is Tarpon Springs and then we are back in protected waters.

Dog Island

We are enjoying this beautiful anchorage but we are anxious to reach Steinhatchee before the weather window closes. We will eat a hearty lunch and Randy made us some sandwiches for supper so we are all set to go at around 3 this afternoon. We should reach Steinhatchee some time in the night.

Black Tickle and North Star rafted up at Dog Island

We will most likely have to stay in Steinhatchee until the weekend as an other cold front is moving in and the winds are not supposed to be that favourable.  We will see, one hurtle at a time.

Dog River Anchorage

We left before first light this morning, along with 3 other boats, to do the 70 mile Gulf crossing to Steinhatchee. We got a few miles off shore, past the Dog Island reef, and the 2-3 foot waves increased to 4-5 on our starboard quarter so we elected to turn back.  Two boats went back to the marina while Black Tickle and North Star are anchored in front of the Dog Island Yacht Club on St. George Sound.

At this point, we are planning to cross on Monday night when the wind and waves are supposed to subside. We should be able to reach Steinhatchee by daybreak on Tuesday morning.

This is a nice protected anchorage with a sandy shoreline that we are getting ready to explore. There is a grounded sailboat abeam of us that looks like it has made it's last voyage. It was grounded 5 year ago in hurricane Denis. There are grebes and loons around as well as the usual sea birds and pelicans.

Another early day and what a spectacle

Hurricane Denis victim

Waiting out the wind on Dog Island

Randy doing his Chrismas shopping..shells for everyone

A little rough out there