Pictures Are Better Than Words

Jarvis waiting on boat for his mother's return.

Rachel enjoying beach on last day.

Cousins Louis and Jarvis.

Full moon viewed out the helm window at the dock in St. Petersburg.

Big bird looking for fish.

Time with My Children in Pictures

Rachel and Jim in St. Petersburg park by large tree.

Rachel, me, and Hugh.

Rachel and Jim.

Hugh and Lisa.

Louis and Jarvis go for a swim.

All at Fort Desoto, Flordia beach

Hugh in a cutout.

Fun with Friends

TUESDAY:   Last night after cleaning the boat all day, we had a relaxed visit with friends and traded boating adventures. 

New style in boat attire, as modeled by Punk, when shoes are left at the door.

Some ate a little and. . . .

Some ate alot!

 

In St. Petersburg at Last!

SUNDAY – This was a moderately long day filled with many bridges and narrow, often shallow channels. Leading the way was our anchorage neighbor, “Cutie Girl”, a similar-sized trawler, whom we had befriended by radio the afternoon before. Our heights were similar so we both needed the same bridges opened and St. Pete was our common destination. Anchors were up at 8:30AM and we reached St. Pete Municipal Marina at 5:00PM.

Kathy and Jim McQuade, fellow GH owners of Lone Wolf, greeted us at the dock and caught our lines. Wind and current were nil so backing into the slip wasn’t difficult. Adjusting the dock lines lines just so, for our month-long stay, took awhile, but we were glad to settle in. After freshening up with showers and a change of clothes, we joined Jim and Kathie for dinner at a nice little airport restaurant nearby. Catching up on boat adventure news is always fun.

We have lots of time to enjoy St. Petersburg. Rachel, Jim, Hugh & Lisa will arrive Saturday to visit. Rachel and Jim are coming from distant (and chilly) Seattle and will surely enjoy the balmy, beautiful weather here.

Birds nested in marker.

"How low can you go?"

Tall ship in Tampa Bay. (notice dinghy behind)

St. Pete in view.

Dock at St. Pete Municipal Marina.

Louis with his catch.

Our Last Night Before St. Petersburg

SATURDAY – After hauling SeaDream’s dock lines about 7:30 AM, we continued on the Caloosahatchee River toward Fort Myers. The morning was beautiful with cool, light north winds and a sky floating puffy white clouds, glowing with sunshine.  From that point on nothing went as expected….. it was much better!

Despite being a Saturday, few boaters were on the water, evidently because of the chilly breeze and…. the charts, though accurate, had lied. The many channels weren’t nearly as confusing as the cluttered chart had threatened. Even passage through the much-hated “miserable mile” was easy with the sparse water traffic.

Finally leaving the river, we turned north up the WICW (West Intracoastal waterway), passing between the Gulf and many barrier islands like Sanibel and Captiva. The water is that familiar light aqua color, partially hiding the many sand bars.

About 3:45 PM the hook was set in a very secure anchorage near Englewood. We decided not to go ashore tonight; the anchorage is very peaceful. Tomorrow we tie up in Saint Pete!!  

SeaDream's lifesaver on aft deck.

Anchorage in Englewood, Florida.

Rain Through Morning, Sunshine This Afternoon

We had thunderstorms all night but the rainy gray morning cleared in mid-afternoon to blue skies, fresh breeze and comfortable 70’s. Dodging showers before lunch, we walked to the marina office and explained Active Captain to the dock master. It‘s surprising how many marinas are unaware of this wonderful website that shows navigational information for most water areas in the U.S., continuously updated by the boating members. We use it constantly for the latest information on bridge heights, anchorages, marina details and navigational hazards along our route. It’s generally superior to quickly-outdated guidebooks.. The dock master was pleased to see Sweetwater Landing had two favorable reviews…. we’ll add a third.

After lunch we studied charts, & plotted our last two days cruising north to St. Pete. The unfamiliar area is very congested and shallow with many islands & inlets. Friends have warned us about one bad leg with an especially narrow and shallow channel called the “miserable mile.” They warn “don’t go through on a weekend.” So, we’re making it on a Saturday!!

I also flagged all our bridges and possible anchorages on our paper charts. The trip should be two 60+ mile days however the weekend boat traffic may make for slow progress. If there are just too many weekend-crazy boaters, we’ll anchor for an extra day.

The day was, in hindsight, pretty lazy but Louie and Mike got in quite a bit of Frisbee and stick throwing, not quitting until sunset.

Picture of Active Captain flagged with information about the area.

Clearing evening sky.

An Unexpected Swim

THURSDAY - This morning, clouds promised rain so Mike & Louie left for quick Frisbee play just as I settled with coffee, talking to a friend on the phone. I heard nothing amiss but, as Mike later explained, things happened quickly.

When leaving the boat, Louie slipped during his dock leap and, after briefly dangling in his harness on the leash, slipped from the harness, dropping five feet, behind a wooden fender board under the dock.

Hardly thinking, Mike jumped in and swam under the dock. Earnestly conversing, I heard nothing and no one else was anywhere close.

Under the high dock, with struggling Louie in arms, Mike assessed their predicament for several minutes then swam across a wide fairway, finding chin deep water along a concrete dock wall with a rescue ladder. Side stroking three boat lengths holding Louie couldn’t have been easy. Needless to say, Louie clung tightly to Mike’s shoulder climbing that welcome ladder! Next I knew there were two wet figures standing on the dock. The entire episode had taken about 15 minutes.

Mike had minor shell cuts on his hands & legs along with Louie’s nail digs but both guys were fine and took good baths.

If Mike wasn’t a decent swimmer things could have ended badly so we discussed what one should do next time at some length. Simple lessons we won’t forget: attract attention first then quickly grab a flotation device before jumping in! Be darned sure you can save yourself to save the other.... only too easy to forget when you’re in a hurry.

The rest of the morning we stayed inside and relaxed, did chores, washed clothes and cleaned as rain fell and wind blew.  During a respite this afternoon, we took a walk and Louie found a favorite stick in the grassy field beside the dock. Tonight we’ll have movie night with popcorn. Much, much more rain is expected through Friday evening. 

Rainy day overlooking where Mike and Louis swam.

Playing keep the stick away with a view of the boat at dock behind.

Last Lock Behind, Bad Weather Ahead

WEDNESDAY - What beautiful weather! Cruising the Caloosahatchee River toward San Carlos Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, we passed rural farmlands, beautiful homes and transited two more locks. The Ortona Lock lowered us 8 feet and the Franklin Lock dropped the last three feet to sea level. The lockmasters were kind and patient, giving us time to prepare before operating the gates. We had very little wait and SeaDream was alone in both locks.

Nearing Fort Myers we faced a quandary: two days of thunderstorms are blowing in, there are virtually no anchorages and those few look lousy (but many, many, many expensive marinas), the chart is densely covered with channel markers, boats of all sizes are numerous and we’re completely unfamiliar with the area. Taken together, these signal “stop and hole up for two days”…… prudence demands we wait out the weather when facing so many unknowns.

Nearing Fort Myers, we passed the small SweetWater Landing Marina. Mike called and negotiated an acceptable rate for three nights, so here we are, tied dockside until Saturday brings glorious weather again to continue toward St.Petersburg. We’re a little outside the city but there are bonuses, too: cost is okay, there’s a large grassy field next to SeaDream for Louie to run, we can relax and catch up on chores (like washing clothes) and have full time A/C ….. and, the marina people are really nice and helpful. Oh yeah, and we can take naps!

Cypress Tree with many knees in Moore Haven, Florida.

Paper chart with notes for bridges and locks.

Square rigged wooden boat that passed us.

Early Start to Cross Lake Okeechobee

This morning we made ready to leave in the first twilight. However a closed train bridge blocked our path, with three long trains crossing, one after another. Still, we were on an early start and made St. Lucie Lock in good time. It raised SeaDream 14 feet, nearly to the level of Lake Okeechobee. The lockmaster was kind to us newbie’s and it was actually kind of fun.

Very few other boats were making the Okeechobee crossing today.  It was nice navigating fairly deep water in the canal, nearly alone, and we enjoyed the many birds and occasional gator.

Lock number two, at Port Mayaca, held both its gates open and allowed us to pass straight through into the lake. The present 13 foot water level is unusually high for Okeechobee but that’s still very shallow for such a large lake. When crossing, there is no anchoring and no deviation from the marked channel. It must be crossed in one day so the timing of the trip is very important. Our trip today was 67 miles. We left Stuart at 6:45 AM and by 5:10 PM we were tied up to the city dock in Moore Haven, Florida.

Louis and I were glad to get ashore and walk this small, lazy town. Mike connected the dock water and washed the entire deck and pilothouse. He took special delight in blowing the midge flies off the aft deck.

We expect to travel about the same distance tomorrow but we only pass through two locks, then spend the night in Ft. Myers, finally on Florida’s West Coast!    

A beautiful day to cross Lake Okeechobee.

Some of the wildlife in sea grass.

SeaDream docked in Moore Haven, FL.