Gale

 A gale is blowing today. Yesterday we raised the dingy and stowed the kayak in preparation. The water is foam streaked, but wave action is minimal because of the protection of land and the marina to the north and east. It is a stay aboard day.

Two days ago SeaTow brought a sailboat in to the buoy two down from us. 4 little girls plus Mom and Dad. They abandoned ship last night. I would not like to ride a gale on a small sailboat with 6 people either.

Rising moon from the buoy field:

End to end

We crossed the Okeechobee Waterway and have a buoy for the week in Stuart, FL. 

 While the lake crossing was uneventful the locks entering and leaving the lake proved stressful. We were delayed 2 hours leaving the marina because a boat club of very large yachts had to pass before us, and their size allowed only one boat per lock through - at 15 minutes per boat. Finally at 10:30 am with another small boat we were allowed to pass. 

 On the east side of the lake we had a short wait before the lock master called us into the lock. I was pulling to the wall and saw just ahead a couple stalks of sugar cane in front of us. With no where to go I went over it and not only heard, but felt it in the prop. After the gates opened we left at idle speed and tied up to a dol. Dols are for big barges to lay aganist while waiting for a lock opening. We tied tight and I gunned reverse a couple times. Problem solved! Sugar cane is grown in this area, and we saw a lot of it - just not in the water, until we were in a lock. 

 On buoy in the Sunset Bay marina:

 

Locks and concrete

We left Fort Meyers Saturday morning to cross the Okeechobee waterway. An hour and a half later we entered our first ever lock. It was not too stressful and we only bumped the concrete wall a little bit, and fenders absorbed the blow. 

 We spent the night at the cheapest marina in Florida - $1.00 per foot. No electricity or WIFI, but hey, we could rough it one night! It rained off and on so ports and sliding windows had to be closed multiple times. Between showers mosquitoes staged attack waves. 

Tonight we are docked at Roland and Mary Marina just a couple hundred yards west of Lake Okeechobee. The boat is plugged in, AC is on, and I have WIFI. The local pests will have to find dinner elsewhere. 

We will wait out tomorrow's storms and cross to the east side of the lake on Tuesday. 

 Approaching Franklin lock:

Sunday afternoon on the dock at Roland and Mary marina. The black gate in the background is a hurricane gate that is almost always open.... except for us, so De Anne declared it our third lock of the day:

Trump visit

Today President Trump visited the Fort Myers Convention Center which is about 2 blocks from our slip. Free entertainment! Because of closed streets and police tape we did have to walk a few extra blocks. 

 One short cut when De Anne held up the tape for me to duck under:

We also crashed the line to get into the convention center but just when we thought we would get in some police officers shooed us back behind the barricades:

So we saw hundreds of Trump supporters, maybe a dozen Biden supporters, and one tattooed kid, dressed in black, with a skateboard who looked kinda like Antifa.... maybe.

As cruisers we take our fun where we can find it. Note that in all the pictures I am standing away from the crowds!

Chores

When you live on a boat the chores list never quite gets finished. I am proud to report that it has been reduced over the past week to a manageable level. 

 De Anne has found time to kayak, and on Monday we did a barnacle run accompanied by Linda and Larry - former cruisers we first met in Marathon a dozen years ago. They now live in Cape Coral across the river. It was great to have them along and Larry was gracious enough to man the starboard side of the boat to push off the piling, thus avoiding those little nicks that upset De Anne's day. 

 Also in the below picture of De Anne in her kayak, you can see evidence of one of my boat chores. It seems the installer of the davits (me) did a poor job of sealing the davit bases and in the rain, water was seeping into the lazarette. We took down the dinghy, removed the davits, and made a better attempt at weatherproofing.

Second mode of transportation

We have a second mode of transportation carried aboard. A folding bike sits undercover on deck ready to deploy when in port.

In just the first week the bike has proved its' worth. I can accompany De Anne to Publix without slowing down her brisk walking pace by sedately riding at her side. On the return trip the rack on the back of the bike can hold a weeks worth of Diet Coke that is so necessary as mixer for our Sailor Jerry rum.

After several days of wind and occasional light showers we were brave enough to walk/bike the bridge. When I slowed down on the uphill De Anne was kind enough to assist with a hand on my back pushing. The metaphor does not need belaboring.

From the apex of the bridge with the marina to the left:

South on the Intracoastal waterway

 Our one-way journey started Wednesday morning. Fair weather and light chop in the bay made for a good first day.

The anchorage we had picked out for the night in Lemon bay was exposed to the east, so with higher east winds forecast during the night, we decided to go to Gasparilla Marina for a transit/overnight slip. This is when things started to go bad. 

It was a narrow fairway to our assigned slip in the very back of the marina; however I was able to get in without a lot of excitement. The electric hookup did not work - nor the wifi. The dock hand tried to fix it, and even offered us another slip (when I asked for proof of power there was none) so an hour later (hot and sweaty) De Anne and I took showers at the marina cruiser's lounge. When I rejoined De Anne in the lounge she was talking to the security guard. The marina staff had been looking for us and wanted to make things right. We moved the boat to the fuel dock and all problems were solved.

On Thursday the higher winds caused quite a fetch (wind blown waves) requiring the use of the windshield wipers as saltwater spray cascaded over the bow. After passing Charlotte Bay we were behind mangrove islands which cut down the fetch considerably. 

Entering the Caloosahatchee river is a very narrow passage about a mile long and a hundred feet wide. This is the choke point for all the boats from all the river towns and cities wanting to go to the gulf or bay. It is akin to a downtown Atlanta or Houston freeway suddenly becoming a two lane road.

We managed to find the marina and our slip, and once again I did not hurt the wax job that De Anne spent so much time applying.

Proof of life in Fort Myers: