Panama City

We left Apalachicola, again trying to beat weather.  We didn't think we'd make it very far since our average speed for the first few hours was only about 3.5 KPH due to very heavy outflow of the river.  Once we were above the juncture of another major river, our speed picked up tremendously and we kept passing our planned stopping spots. The weather held off long enough for us to make it all the way back to an earlier anchorage, Smack Bayou.  The rain started just a few minutes after the anchor dug in and boy did it rain, and rain and rain for 2 days.  The rain has now stopped but the winds are gale force.  We moved across the bayou to the city marina and it was the longest mile of the entire trip!!  We are very secure here and made the 2 mile trek to the local yacht club for lunch.  It was a brisk walk downwind then a long walk back but it worked off the lunch.  The club is not very protected from the west winds so looking at the boats in the marina there reinforced our decision to move to the city marina.  We'll sit here until we can move, maybe tomorrow.  That puts us on schedule to conclude our trip this Thursday.  It has been a great trip but we look forward to catching up with friends.

This is the Panama City Marina.  Nice people and nice facilities.  We are the last mast down closest to the office.

We are walking on the bridge over Maselina Bayou.  You can sure see the waves and lines of foam from the wind.





The wind is blowing a steady 35 kts and the waves were splashing over the marina seawall.



Across the Gulf

We hated to leave Clearwater early but we had a weather window that was very narrow and we jumped on it.  In hind sight, it was a very good decision. There aren't too many pictures due to the fact that it has rained or been foggy most of the last 5 days.  The last crossing, however, was just as magical and different as our other recent days at sea.  We covered over 130 miles in about 24 hours. For the most part, it was great sailing.  We had a patch of fog for a few hours but it was miles from anything or anyone so not too big a worry.  We decided originally to go to Carabelle since we assumed weather was going to hit sooner than later.  Once we reached the cut from the gulf, we were so far ahead of schedule that we decided to go on to Apalachicola.  That part of the run is where we ran out of luck. The fog started in weakly at first then within moments it was zero visibility.  Of course, this had to happen as we approached the section of the channel that is shallow on one side and lined with oyster shells on the other with a bridge to negotiate.  It was a nerve wrecking challenge.  The second part of other than great luck was the choice of marina.  The one we stayed at on our way out on this trip was tough to get into and out of due to strong current so we tried Scipio Creek, again.  This time we learned our lesson, stick with the city marina and save our money.

This is one of three tunny tunas that we caught in the gulf.  We weren't sure how tasty it would be so we only kept the one.  We only kill what we can eat.  It was a bit gamy but I've looked up some other recipes so if we look forward to catching another one someday.

We were able to run with the spinnaker for several hours.  When the wind switch to behind us, David rigged it to run as a traditional symmetrical spinnaker rather than a cruising one.

There has been a lot of rain in the area of the panhandle and we saw many rapidly running creeks joining the river and ditch.

Getting into and out of the boat during a rain storm turns everything to a soggy mess.  We had things all over trying to keep the mold and mildew down.

This nice area looked to be river living at its best.

Welcome Nathan Andrew

This is our third long cruise and a new niece or nephew has been added to the family.  The first two, Alex and Caroline were added by David's sister and brother-in-law.  They declined to keep the record going so my niece Jacque and Matt stepped up.  Beautiful Nathan Andrew joined the clan February 21.

Clearwater

We had a great time visiting the Clearwater YC.  They were hosting a major regional Laser Regatta.  The winner of this series goes on to the international level in Greece so it was a very big deal.  We really appreciate the dockmaster finding a space for us to stay.  We also had a great time with my nephew Greg who was in town on a business trip.  The night we went to dinner with he and his boss at a local icon, Frenchie's.  We realized that it was the first time we had been in a non-floating vehicle since the short cab ride back from Junakanoo at Christmas.  The next night we visited historic Dunedin and the guys had a hard time deciding which beer to have at The House of Beers.  Then on to a great dinner.  Always nice to see family.  Another treat was being joined for a day by outbound fellow yacht club members, Robin and Jesse on Robinsong.  They were our mentors for the trip and we were able to share intel on the FCYC clubs farther south. 

This cute B&B is on the water tucked in amonst all the condos.

David and Greg in historic downtown Dunedin.

The three of us at Frenchie's.  Thanks Larry for taking the picture.

To make room for Robinsong, we overlapped our bowsprits and there was a bit of overhang on the other end.

Part of the Pinellas bike trail that runs from Tarpon Springs to downtown St. Petersburg.  We still hope to bike the entire trail someday.

 

On our way out we had to watch the water level.  These birds are resting or drying their wings just feet from the channel.

This beautiful snowy egret is a regular at the club.

Anyone Know What These Are?

We passed these boats along the way to Clearwater and are curious as to what type of boats that happen to be.  The small boat seemed to have a lot of gear on board so maybe he is camping or just running away from home.  The larger one looks to be a serious cruiser.

I edited the pictures to make them easier to see the entire boat.

On to Clearwater

We had an absolutely awesome sail from Fort Myers to Clearwater.  I think we broke all our speed records that didn't involve the gulf stream.  Heck, maybe even that record, too.  We covered over 130 nautical miles in 23.5 hours.  That also included a stop for fuel and about 1/2 hour of being hove to so we could get ourselves and the cabin ready for going in the gulf.  We even had to slow the boat down the last few hours so we wouldn't arrive at the pass in the dark.  The seas were smooth and the wind was steady.  You just can't ask for a better trip.  We are currently at the Clearwater Yacht Club but due to a huge regatta this weekend we'll have to vacate the slip and probably anchor off the club so we can use the dingy dock, showers, etc.  We're looking forward to seeing our nephew Greg who will be in town for business this week.    Then we'll continue to work our way north and home.

Despite the cold, we had a great time visiting Fort Myers.  This gorgeous sunset just put the icing on the cake.

The last mile of the Okeechobee waterway.  Back to the regular ICW.

Traveling on a holiday resulted in crowded waterways.  Several large power boats were not friendly rocking all the smaller boats with their huge wakes.  What jerks!

We saw quite a few dolphins and this one cooperated long enough to let me take his picture.  If you look closely, you can see a wound in his fin from a boat. Sadly, we did see a dead manatee in the river, probably also from a boater not following the no-wake rules.

This is the hook that the giant mahi bent.

Heading out the Boca Grande Pass, back into the gulf of Mexico.

This flock of gulls followed us for hours.  They were either hoping for scraps or drafting off of our stern.  It was a first for us to have a flock follow us so consistently.

Arriving at Clearwater at sunrise.

Clearwater YC.

All these are coach boat for the regatta.  They won't have room for us too.

This heron thinks he owns the place.

Fort Myers, phase II

The rain finally stopped and we were able to get out and about.  As already mentioned in a previous post, we spent a great time at the Edison-Ford winter estates.  We also made it down to old Fort Myers.  The town has done a great job of revitalizing its core area with lots of shops, large and small and a variety of restaurants.  The waterfront is nice and clean and great for strolling.  They had the 75th anniversary festival of lights yesterday complete with a 5k run and parade.  I'm afraid we wimped out due to the really cold weather.  Once the sun went down we closed up the boat and turned on the heater.  We definitely know we're not in the Bahamas any more!!  Riding to church this morning was a challenge.  Fortunately it was only a mile away and downwind coming back.  The current plan is to travel straight through from here to Clearwater.  We're looking forward to seeing my nephew Greg who will be in the area  on business.  We'll leave early in the morning on the tide. We were going to move down the river to the St. Charles YC but didn't have enough water to leave the slip!  David didn't mind since I took the opportunity to make cookies for him.

This is the art center in downtown.  It was built in the 20s out of mined coral reefs.  That was before they realized how many centuries it takes for reefs to build up.  I'm sure a few millenia of sea life are locked up in these pillars.

The main thoroughfare is McGregor Blvd and it runs for many miles.  There are thousands of these royal palms lining both sides of the street.  You can see why the city calls itself the Palm City.

That wind was howling at 25-30 kts straight out of the north.  A good time to stay put and not try to sail north.

There are stands of these palms all over the area.  They really are majestic.

The city has a unique method for handling its storm water runoff.  They channel it to one of these large detention ponds then filter and aerate it before releasing it into the river.  There is nice landscaping and places to sit all along the perimeter turning the area into a park like setting.

Thomas Edison/Henry Ford winter estates

We are very close to one of the main tourist attractions for Fort Myers, the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  Edison was the much larger and longer presence here, first buying acreage in 1885.  The grounds are massive with his lab for experimenting and greenhouses and gardens for his hoticulture pursuits.  It was an amazing tour that took us several hours.  Ford bought a house next to Edison after a visit one year.  The museum was also well put together and informative.  There was quite a bit about the two men that we never knew.  If you are ever in the area, like within a hundred miles, we can highly recommend a visit.

Stands of bamboo are all over the grounds just as they were when Edison first visited the area.  He bought the acreage because of the bamboo.  It was used in making the filaments in his first light bulbs.

This banyan tree was a gift and very small when it first arrived.  It is now a showpiece of the estate and the second largest one in the world.  This was just one side of it. It now covers almost and entire acre.

There used to be a long pier out into the river that was used to bring in supplies to the estate.  This archway and bridge were the landside end of the pier.  All that is left of the pier now are the concrete pilings.  One of Edison's inventions was a better type of concrete.  The pilings and his swimming pool from over 100 years ago are still intact.  He even had a business of building concrete houses.  Too bad they didn't make a better inroad in Florida with its hurricanes.

The tree is called a fig tree but in reality it is a type of rubber tree.  Edison, Ford and Harvey Firestone were trying to find an alternative source of rubber and many acres of the estates were devoted to experiments to find the best plant to produce latex.  Surprisingly, the goldenrod plant would produce more than any other plant but never enough to be economically viable.

There were so many beautiful areas.  This is a moonlight garden behind his office.  His wife had the place built and landscaped for the aging Edison when making the trip across the road to the larger lab became difficult.  The area was used as a quiet place for evening relaxing or entertaining under the electric lights.

This pond is adjacent to the pool and it was used as a way to let the excess water run off and still be beautiful.

 

This is the Ford winter home called the Mangoes since there were so many of those trees on grounds.  The house was used by Ford only about 2 weeks out of the year but his family did enjoy it on more occasions.

 

This was the main house of the Edison estate. There was an almost identical one next to it that was used as a guest house. The main lab and greenhouses are on several acres across the street. Due to reasons not fully explained, Fort Myers did not have an electrical system of its own so Edison had a generating plant installed to provide for his buildings and lights in the gardens and out on the pier.

Fort Myers, Royal Palm YC

The trip down river yesterday saw the last of the locks on the Okeechobee Waterway.  In fact, there won't be any more opening bridges until we're back on the west coast of Florida in the ICW.  We arrived just before a cold front with all its rain.  We hope it lets up enough for us to get out and see the sights.  Right now David is peddling to West Marine since he didn't want to rent a car for the day.  I chose to stay dry and put away groceries from our trip out this morning.  I think a hot shower will be in his future!  There are some historic places such as the Thomas Edison/Henry Ford winter homes grounds and museums.  They are a short walk from this club but most of the things to see are outdoors so we'll wait.  Meanwhile, I'll start working on the LLC taxes, YUCK.

This large power plant was along the way yesterday from La Belle.  We looked for manatees but didn't see any.  However, we did lock through with a large tarpon chasing mullets.  That was quite a show as they leapt from the water.

This huge cantilever was so shiny, it must have been recently refurbished.

This was just one of many islands covered with white herons nesting.  It is true, love is in the air!

The waterside of the Royal Palm YC.  Hopefully the weather will clear before we have to leave and I can get pictures from the front side.  This part of Fort Myers has a street lined with hundreds of Royal Palms, hence the name.  Hope to see that too.

On to La Belle and There

We made it to this quaint little town and currently enjoying the hospitality at the city dock.  It even has power and water with no charge.  We plan to repay them by spending some money in town, I'm sure the intended purpose of the dock!  We've already bought a used book from the library and had a great breakfast at the local coffee shop.  After cleaning the boat this morning and working on the varnish repair necessitated by the huge mahi, we took the bikes out for touring around town.  We rode one direction to the city limits and sat at the water's edge in  a quiet little city park.  We tried to visit an historic old house but no one was there to give us information and let us in.  Looking in the window piqued our interest to know more but not this trip.  We crossed the river and saw some masts seemingly in the reeds and went to investigate.  We discovered one of the most fascinating places we've seen the entire trip, Belle Hatchee Marina.  We met the owner and he allowed as to the marina being "a bit different."   It was like looking back a long time.  They apparently specialize in stowing multihulls because they don't have a travel lift and are thereby limited in what size boat they can haul out of the water.  There was an incredible diversity in the type, shape and condition of boats in the yard.  The owner explained to us that the bit of water the marina is on is the original river channel from before the main ICW channel was dug.  We could not see the opening from the main channel to get back to the marina but it must be there!  With high banks on either side it truly is a safe spot in a storm.  Overall, we found La Belle to be a nice town.  Unpretentious, friendly and as modern as she wants to be.

Airboat rides are popular all along the lake.  You can see lanes cut through the reeds and marshlands.  The lake is a birder's paradise and the boats are a way to get there.  I imagine you have to sit for a while to let the noise die away and the birds to return.

If not for the palm tree, this could be a scene in cattle country in Texas.

The Corps of Engineers is repairing large sections of the dike.  In order to do that, they have to build coffer dams like this one to keep the canal at bay (sorry for the pun, I couldn't resist)

Like the piles of sand, gravel, huge rocks and large earth moving equipment didn't give you enough of a clue.

That's our lucky number.

At one of the locks we had to wait on some maintenace to be completed.  While we waited there ended up being 4 boats to lock through at once.  Now that we're on the western side of the lake, we're dropping down, not being raised up.

This is a group photo from on top of the bridge we came under.  The mediterrean mooring sure allows for more boats in a tight spot.

This bird is hunting in the greenery near the boat.

Part of old downtown La Belle.

We had breakfast and I had lunch at this great little coffee shop.  The interior was a well put together blend of modern coffee house and old architecture.