Happy New Year!!!

We want to wish everyone a very good 2011!!!!! Here's to more miles of smiles....... good friends and family!!!!!!!! Once again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!

When was the last time.........

You wrote a check to pay for dinner??

Tied to a dock!?!

Yes, we're tied up at Everglades Rod & Gun Club. It's old Florida at it's best! The "Club" has been here since the late 1800's and has been host to alot of VIP's over the years. We had a great dinner there.........it's just a special place!!

New Year's Eve Day

Not much wind but still sailing en route to Everglades City..........

43nm

Such a nice sail and then to a quiet anchorage just outside of Goodland for a gourmet dinner of Cajun Pizza.......... that's a home made concoction of sauce sweet & spicy with shrimp and andouille sausage. Mighty tasty..........

The Direction Indicater

Thanks to Kevin on Delphinea we now know that the thing on the top of the mast (windex) is not really a wind indicater but a direction indicater.............. hmmmm!!!

When we have a downwind sail or reach we'll let you know ;-)

Oh yeah, yes we are sailing not motoring........ boatspeed 6-7 knts

'bye Ft Myers

We're heading south. We left Ft Myers Beach around 10:30am Thurs morning (yeah, 10:30 and that's pretty good for us!). The wind was supposed to be E 12-15kn but it ended up being more south 5-10kn but who's complaining. The sky was overcast but we had flat seas and GH gave us a great sail averaging 6-7 kn down the coast.

A veiw from the Mantanzas Bridge

Yea, Yea Yea.......

Once again Casanova is hanging out with all the women.......this time, not only with Anne but with an Austrian named Ulla......I guess he hasn't lost the touch.

Brrrrr.......Christmas in Ft Myers Beach

The Chief & Millie came down to visit with us for a few days and fun was had by all!! The north winds continue to blow and yep....MR HEATER IS BACK!! And once again last night was a record low for the city......it's getting old now, this record setting stuff.

No sailing was on the agenda but we fun in the hotel, kept the heat on and all sorts of goodies arrived by the white Toyota. In the evening we headed out to restaurants and had a great time!

The dinghy ride back to GH was plenty cold but we had a little antifreeze going for us!

Merry Christmas!!!!

and to all a good night!! More excellent adventures to follow!!!

Ft Myers Beach

Wednesday we sailed to Ft Myers Beach. It was a nice sail down the coast in very light wind (SW 7knts) of course the forecast was for west/northwest lending still more credence to the term "weather guessers" We arrived after sunset and picked up a mooring ball just in time to see the moonrise. And yes a full moon this time of year brings very low tides!!!!!

Never see this girl again.........

A winter solstice sunset..........beautiful! Now bring on longer days and warmer weather!

Aahhhh!!

This more like it!

Cayo Costa

We spent 4 nights in Pelican Bay at Cayo Costa Island. It was a bit chilly but we had a great spot to anchor and we didn't have to pull out Mr Heater but seriously does this look like a Florida sky??

So it was....

Out the canal and through the lock to Charlotte Harbor we went........ Grey Hound knew the way but the wind gods never showed. So we had flat seas, no wind and fog other than that it was beautiful!.......

We promised......

no pictures of GH on the trailer!! It took about a week to launch (nothing to do with the boat just us being "chicken" of the cold!). The temperatures have been record setting in the wrong direction ........ the days high temps are actually lower than average lows for this time of year. Oh well, it's still better than being up north! So here's proof, GHP (Grey Hound Puller, the Tundra) and GLT (the trailer) in their spot until sometime this spring!!!

At All American Boat Storage

We made a nice easy trip south from Annapolis and we are now just about ready to put GH in the water. We've done most of the cleaning to get the road grime off and Anne has the inside spotless. We will most likely wait out the next cold snap and then get into the water and begin our trek south. A couple of nights at one our favorite anchorages at Cayo Costa and then we will have a good run to Ft Myers Beach to meet up with the Chief & Millie for a Christmas.

The next pictures will not be of Grey Hound on the trailer, we promise!!!!

T-minus one day and we are heading south!

Grey Hound is ready.......

Anne is back in Annapolis after spending time in Syracuse and Honeoye Falls visiting family

Dick is back in Annapolis after helping Kismet (Yep, 500+ miles on a monohull) get south to warmer weather ......

So....tomorrow we will hook up GH and head down the road. Destination is All American Boat Storage, just like last year.

GIVE US SOME SUN AND PALM TREES WITH CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!