Saturday, December 11, 2010

It's been since Tuesday that I've written anything in here. Sorry. We have been busy, though. Wednesday was spent doing boat chores. Then there was a Harbor Christmas Party in the Tiki Hut. Our slip is right in front of the Tiki Hut door. That made trips to the restroom a lot easier. Ken (the harbor manager) rented two large propane heaters like they use at outdoor restaurants and that made all the difference. Last year's Super Bowl Party in the Tiki Hut was so cold, people didn't stick around for very long. At the Christmas Party, there were still people there at 10:00 (that's an hour past boaters' bedtime).
Thursday, I went consignment store shopping with Sue, Marsha, and Sandy. I'd never done an all day consignment store run before. We had a great time. Meanwhile, John and Norm went to West Marine. Everyone got yo do things they like to do. Thursday evening a bunch of us were invited to Herb and Marsha's for a potluck dinner. Yum! It seems I know a lot of great cooks!
Yesterday, Paul and Patty invited Norm & Sue, and John and me to their house here in Florida for dinner and Farkle. Another awesome meal! So, even though we are without wheels, we have been getting around (much like my mother).
Five more days until we leave for home. We are anxious to see everyone.

GROUNDED

Jelly fish next to the boats at Orange Beach Marina

Breakfast by the pound at IGA in Carrabelle

It is nice to feel the earth under our feet. Sue and I went to CVS this morning and walked back. I had 114 pictures printed so that I have physical evidence of our adventure in hand when I get home for Christmas. Speaking of which, we will be leaving here on the 15th for home and staying until about January 8th. We are babysitting one week while we are home and have a ton of doctor appointments to take care of. We are looking forward to seeing family and friends while at home. I will continue to blog until we leave for home and then start back up when we arrive back in Florida. I am including a couple of recent pictures for your inspection.

North Fort Myers

We spent last night at anchor in Pelican Bay, rocking and rolling all night. The wind blew all night long, so there wasn't much sleeping going on in our boat or Runaround Sue. We missed Paul and Patty during these last couple of days. However, I'm certain they are glad to have missed the turbulent night at anchor.

Today we made our way to Paradise Marina in North Fort Myers where we spent most of last winter. It was a very enjoyable cruise. There weren't many crab pots or fishermen to slow down for. Many of the people we met last year were on hand when we arrived. We will be here until about the end of January.

What's up with this weather? We are in sunny Florida and it's supposed to get down to freezing tonight. Brrr!

ALMOST THERE

We slept in this morningand then took a walk. Right across the street from Marine Max in Venice is the Venice Airport which is where the 9/11 terrorists trained. There is also a circus school there with a trapeze outside to train on. We untied our lines at 10:10 A.M. We only went 31 miles to Pelican Bay and anchored out. It's raining, but not hard. It's a good thing we crossed when we did because today there are 7 to 10 foot waves in the Gulf. Tom Conrad certainly knows his stuff. We are expecting 15 to 20 mph winds tonight. It's less than one day's cruising time to get to North Fort Myers. We're hoping Paradise has room for both of our boats. So far we haven't been able to get a hold of anyone there. We'll have to wait and see.

EVEN LONGER DAY

Carrabelle has a unique breakfast opportunity at the IGA across the street from C Quarters Marina. They sell breakfast by the pound. Paul, Fred, John, Norm, Sue,and Yvette all took advantage of this oddity. They said it was good too.

We thought Thursday was a long day. The report was that the weather window would be from noon on Friday until noon on Saturday, with no other good days to cross in the near future. So, we left Carrabelle at noon on Friday. We cruised with Runaround Sue and Trusty III all night. We came into protected waters at Tampa Bay around 11:30 A.M. and reached Marine Max in Venice at 4:30 P.M. Saturday. We cruised 250 statute miles in 28 1/2 hours straight. Paul and Patty met us on Wednesday at Panama City. Friday we took turns doing 3 hour shifts throughout the night ( Paul and Patty for three hours, then John and me for three hours, etc.) We ate and talked and laughed and ate some more. It was wonderful spending that time with them. We hope they enjoyed the experience as much as we did.

Once we got to Marine Max, they informed us that tonight is their Christmas Boat Parade. There were 41 boats entered in the parade and it ended here at this harbor. The boats were awesome. I tried to take pictures, but they didn't turn out with a flash or without one. So, I'm sorry that there aren't any pictures of the wonderfully lit boats. If we travel again tomorrow, it will be a short day as we are all very tired.

Long Long Day

Today we left Panama City at 6:00 A.M. in clear, cool, 48 degree weather with light winds. We planned on going 90 miles before stopping for the day in Carrabelle. After crossing Pensacola Bay, Lake Wimico, Appalachicola Bay, and St. George Sound, we arrived at C Quarters in Carrabelle at 5:00 P.M. We fueled up (140 gals @ $2.80 per gal), paid for our slip, and made dinner. We are hoping that we can cross the Gulf tomorrow at noon. We'll check out the weather/ wind/ wave situation before making our "final decision". It's really nice to have company on this leg of the trip.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

December already! Yesterday after the chores were finished, John and I began our Christmas shopping at the ship store. Now I have to stay away from there or I'll spend LOTS more money than I really want to part with. They have really cool unusual items that I find terribly appealing. Yesterday the temperature dropped from 68 degrees at 4:00 P.M. to 52 degrees at 4:30 P.M. There was a tornado watch until 2:00 P.M. and we had thundershowers off and on all day. The wind picked up and blew the flag right outside our cabin window all night long. We should have brought it in as it kept John awake. We were glad to be tied to a dock instead of on a hook.

Today is clear, but cooler. Our guests are due to arrive between 3:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M. We are looking forward to traveling with them. We plan to head to Carabelle at the first sign of light. We have about 80 miles to go tomorrow. So, it'll be a long day, but we are ready to stage ourselves for crossing the Gulf.