Getting ready to head south where it's warm

It was nicer in Ft Myers Beach but we still had very cold water and of course we also got FOG. We had to make sure we would miss that stuff and we did manage to stay out of it for the sail down to the Keys, but the cold has hurt many things. First, you should have seen all the dead fish in the water. Many of the smaller ones just could not cope with the extreme length of the cold spell. I read yesterday that the Turtle Hospital picked up 170 turtles in just 3 days and kept them safe and warm until the water temp improved.

You also had to keep out the warm apparel. Style isn't too important when you want to stay warm!

Provisioning with the "Beach Limo"!!

Today we got to ride into town for some "stuff" with Jim & Laurie. Just like last year we took the "limo" and as you can see it's a real cool rod!!

- check out the miniature (OK, missing) rear view mirror.

- notice the rusty brown roof liner

- the locks don't work

- the trunk sometimes does

But.......it got us there and back with our good stuff!!! Jim is sure proud of our "ride".

Thanks guys.........

Salad

Ya thinkin' about some veggies...... they have salad in reef points here........Main sail is no taste, 2nd reef has spice and 3rd reef is delicious!!!!

Oyster eating at it's best!!

What a great time!!! Thank You, Guys!! Trace & Dianne and all the people we met.... Ft Myers Beach RULES!!!

YUMMM!!!!

We can't eat anymore.

WOW!!!!!!! Friday afternoon..at Burp & Slurp!!!

Amazing fun at Mantanzas Inn (aka managers of the mooring field). What a great time and an even better group of people. At 3pm today we went to an absolutely great Happy Hour/Cook-Out party. A seafood lovers delight!!! Thanks to Trace & Dianne we feasted on fresh!!!!! WE mean really fresh oysters and shrimp...........actually you couldn't even call the shrimp, shrimp, 'cuse they were HUGE!!!! :-0 Dick had his oyster shucking lesson and survived without a puncture.

Sunset in Ft Myers

looking out the bridge Gulf-side....................

Ft Myers Beach

The weather is finally getting a bit warmer and we're in Ft Myers Beach. Old grey Hound is need of gas, propane for Mr. Heater and water.......imagine that! So we'll be spending a few days hear to restock and do laundry.

There are all types of cruisers here on all different types of boats..............from the big ones to the small ones.............. Hey Otium does the Precision bring back some memories????

The "Real" Florida!

Cayo Costa is the largest undeveloped island on the west coast of Florida and I think we hiked most of it today!

Right now we are in the northern most part of the tropical zone and as we hiked around the island today we saw, smelled and enjoyed the island for most of the afternoon. The scenery was great, shelling unbelievable and the staff at the island was really helpful. Barry, the island manager went out of his way to make us feel welcome and the rangers couldn't help enough.

We found some great shells and other "fruits of the sea" and will get to work on making them even better........for you, Erika and Katie!!

Here comes the sun!!!!

Time to get the "stuff" out of the floats and .......let's get going!

Oh boy.......where did we get so much STUFF!!?? Where is this spartan concept??

You know it's cold while cruising when.......

• The skippers wife doesn't go beyond the front of the cockpit (which is under to dodger) for days on end!
• The white pelicans start looking like penguins!
• You know the local K-marts propane department's phone number by heart.
• Ospreys are setting up tip-ups for their fish meal of the day.
• No dumb chatting on the radio for days.
• Your heavy socks seem to smell good even after 5 days of constant wear.
• You haven't had a cold beer in days.
• The ice box is in no need of ice.....it's too cold in there already!

AND finally......we are still the only boat in the anchorage!!

Osprey!!

There are a least 4 or 5 nests in the area.......... we never seem to get tired of watching these guys!

Maybe..........

We took a wrong turn!! It's been pretty cold but that's OK, Mr. Heater and the Honda generator are saving the day!!!! We have another cold night ahead of us but we have really good, warm fleece bedding and believe it or not we've not been cold at night yet. Yesterday was raw!!!! Rain, clouds and wind but we are sitting tight!!! Today the sun came out and we were able to read in the cockpit..... Thank you Cooper Canvas!!!!

January 7th........ah, we are off the dock!

It sure takes a lot more time getting this boat ready when it is cold. But we are off and running, yesterday we left the dock and headed out. It is an 8 mile motor to get out of the canal and we held our breath getting out of the lock but by sunset we pulled up to Cayo Costa for a night on the outside and our best sunset of this winter (ok, our first). The next morning we went inside for a secure anchorage for the upcoming northerly that is coming in this weekend. Of course our 24 inch draft helped out nicely and we are sitting in 4 feet of water with sand under our bottom.

Forecast tomorrow..........more cold!! Guess we'll stay put for a day or so.

PS: those are White Pelicans and they are HUGE!!

Unbelieveable, but true!

Talk about wild and crazy. Here we are working away and a couple goes by dinghy after slowing down and keeps looking at us and GH......what????

Anne says "that looks like Elliott and Linda". Guess what??!! It is them!!!!

So.....after 6 years and many miles of who knows what, those guys are still in Charlotte working away on their steel mono-hull!! For many of you, these guys were at the marina when we helped Tom and Linda put Bahama Hunter, F-33, hull #4 (now EPIC, residing in Hawaii) together back in 2004. Elliot and Linda (not their first rodeo) recognized GH as an F-33......they truly were a big part of the ex-Bahama Hunter / EPIC build process. Ian Farrier mentions them in his web site.

It was really great to see them again and they finally have their boat almost ready to go!!