Kim’s Korner:
It was nice to be back on the water and see our Great Loop burgee flying again. The dolphins didn’t take long to join us – I really missed those guys!
We went through our first lock since the Tombigbee waterway. Instead of tying to a floating bollard, there were ropes hanging every 10 feet or so and you just grabbed one at the bow and one near the stern. The lock master would close the lock behind you and then open the lock in front of you just wide enough for water to enter or exit – this is called a gravity lock. Once the Franklin lock lifted us about 2.5 feet, the lock master opened up the doors the whole way. We threw the ropes back over the railing and were on our way.
The Franklin Campground was immediately to our port after going through the lock. The trip took about 2 ½ hours due to all the slow speeds during manatee season. Once we got Overtime settled, we got on our bikes and rode over to Caloosahatchee Regional Park. The park has trails for horses, walkers and trail bikes. Well, we have hybrid bikes but are not really into trail biking and these trails just reinforced why. And maybe I should clarify – “I” am not into trail biking – David would do just fine if I wasn’t in front of him. Staying on an 8” wide path with a ravine off to one side worrying about snakes and alligators and then hitting a root just wasn’t my idea of fun. But I’m glad we did it – go figure. I scared a raccoon or maybe I should say – a raccoon scared me. A tortoise was crossing a field so I stopped to take a picture – whoever said that tortoises are slow is just wrong – this guy was right next to me in no time – he was definitely on a mission. We only saw one human in the whole place.
Picture of Chattanooga
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Monday, February 27, 2017
Fort Myers - 20170227
Kim’s Korner:
Fort Myers is a great town and has been good to us. It’s hard to believe a month has gone by! We’ve been to parades, two antique car shows (David saw a 1963 Fairlane), craft shows, art festivals, and music walks. We’ve had docktails, dinner and ice cream with new friends as well as friends we met earlier in our travels. Even though I have missed being on the water, I will miss this place and the people we’ve spent time with.
Saturday was the big lighted Edison Parade with fireworks to finish it off. The best part by far was this young boy next to me who was maybe 8 with enough energy for at least 20 kids. You’ll notice him in almost all of my pictures – the one with the orange shirt on. I took a short video of him. His mom said he was up at the crack of dawn for a soccer game and had been going all day! If only she could bottle it – I’d sure buy it!
This week we {Wally and Darcy (Summertime), Rob and Tricia (Linda Jean), Jack and Patty (Nearly Perfect)} took the dinghys over to Manatee Park - we didn’t see one manatee but we had a picnic lunch and lots of fun! We could have rented our dinghys to those with a canoe or kayak as they really liked our small boats with motors.
I also went to a “fused glass” art class which I really enjoyed. I chose to make jewelry since we are on a boat and space is precious. I included a picture of what I made and the info in case anyone else is in Fort Myers and is interested.
So – now we are getting ready to leave here and slowly move across the Lake Okeechobee waterway to Stuart. Tuesday we leave for the W. P. Franklin Campground which is only about 14 miles from here but we’ve heard it is very nice. Wednesday we plan to get to Clewiston and stay at the Rowland Martins Marina. After that, we’ll make our way to Stuart. That’s the plan… stay tuned for what really happens…
Oh yeah – one other thing. Here is a link to a presentation that a 10 year old, Lucas, did for school about the Great Loop. We’ve run into his family twice now in our travels. His family of four from Canada is on a 27’ sailboat – I can’t imagine… The first time we met them, the husband was talking to us and kept looking at his watch saying that his wife had gone to the shower and hadn’t gotten back yet. All I could think was – your wife is with 3 males on a 27’ sailboat – she’s not coming back… But yes, she was still there the 2nd time we saw them. I guess they are lucky that they don’t have the young boy from the parade on board…
We miss everyone!
Fort Myers is a great town and has been good to us. It’s hard to believe a month has gone by! We’ve been to parades, two antique car shows (David saw a 1963 Fairlane), craft shows, art festivals, and music walks. We’ve had docktails, dinner and ice cream with new friends as well as friends we met earlier in our travels. Even though I have missed being on the water, I will miss this place and the people we’ve spent time with.
Saturday was the big lighted Edison Parade with fireworks to finish it off. The best part by far was this young boy next to me who was maybe 8 with enough energy for at least 20 kids. You’ll notice him in almost all of my pictures – the one with the orange shirt on. I took a short video of him. His mom said he was up at the crack of dawn for a soccer game and had been going all day! If only she could bottle it – I’d sure buy it!
This week we {Wally and Darcy (Summertime), Rob and Tricia (Linda Jean), Jack and Patty (Nearly Perfect)} took the dinghys over to Manatee Park - we didn’t see one manatee but we had a picnic lunch and lots of fun! We could have rented our dinghys to those with a canoe or kayak as they really liked our small boats with motors.
I also went to a “fused glass” art class which I really enjoyed. I chose to make jewelry since we are on a boat and space is precious. I included a picture of what I made and the info in case anyone else is in Fort Myers and is interested.
So – now we are getting ready to leave here and slowly move across the Lake Okeechobee waterway to Stuart. Tuesday we leave for the W. P. Franklin Campground which is only about 14 miles from here but we’ve heard it is very nice. Wednesday we plan to get to Clewiston and stay at the Rowland Martins Marina. After that, we’ll make our way to Stuart. That’s the plan… stay tuned for what really happens…
Oh yeah – one other thing. Here is a link to a presentation that a 10 year old, Lucas, did for school about the Great Loop. We’ve run into his family twice now in our travels. His family of four from Canada is on a 27’ sailboat – I can’t imagine… The first time we met them, the husband was talking to us and kept looking at his watch saying that his wife had gone to the shower and hadn’t gotten back yet. All I could think was – your wife is with 3 males on a 27’ sailboat – she’s not coming back… But yes, she was still there the 2nd time we saw them. I guess they are lucky that they don’t have the young boy from the parade on board…
We miss everyone!
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Fort Myers – 20170214
We rode our bikes over to Lee County's Manatee Park which is about six miles away. Some of the areas we traveled through are on the lower end of the socio-economic scale, a lot of people walking or riding bicycles. We stayed on the sidewalks as much as possible because there were no bike lanes for most of the route. Eventually, we arrived at the park unscathed and were surprised at how nice it was, and the number of people enjoying the paths. We walked along the water's edge looking for Manatees, there were only ten or so; they are difficult to see since they only poke their nose slightly above the water's surface for a breath. With on-site kayak and canoe rentals, it was no surprise the waters were stirred with numerous paddlers, old and young alike. I found a video on YouTube, I don't know the guy but he did a good job capturing the essence of the place.
Our next adventure was to Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center located about two blocks from the marina. It was here that we attended our very first Beatles concert, I mean Mersey Beatles concert. These guys dress and act the parts of the Beatles but they weren't overly ridiculous about it, they were good-natured and having fun with it. The music was, of course, all Beatles and they did a good job, the crowd of about 150 mostly old white people enjoyed dancing in the aisles, especially when they played Twist and Shout. I've posted some pictures and videos here... if you hear me singing on the video just try to ignore it; I had not drunk enough alcohol at that point in order to unleash the full range of my vocal talent.
Monday (2/13/17) we rented a pickup truck from Enterprise and took our bicycles over to Sanibel Island. It's about 25 miles from the marina (Fort Myers Yacht Basin) and the traffic was not bad at all until we reached the Sanibel Causeway's $6.00 toll station, for the next 10 miles or so we were in bumper-to-bumper slow moving traffic. We finally reached Bowman's Beach, our first destination, and found parking to cost $4.00 per hour; ouch. We coughed up 8 bucks and walked down the beach for an hour then back up the beach for an hour with Kim hunting pretty or unusual shells the whole way. The number of shells was mind boggling, you can literally scoop them up with a shovel and not make a dent in the numbers. After leaving the beach we drove over to Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge to ride bikes, good news right off the bat at the refuge, the parking was free and my National Parks Senior Pass got us in for free. A lot of beautiful birds and more mangroves was about all we saw on our ride, not complaining but we wanted alligators darn it, we see birds and mangroves everytime we're on the ICW. The traffic leaving the island was horrible, we would move 50 feet and sit still for five minutes, move 50 feet and sit still for five minutes over and over again for several miles until it slowly started to thin out; I feel sorry for the folks that live on that island.
Our next adventure was to Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center located about two blocks from the marina. It was here that we attended our very first Beatles concert, I mean Mersey Beatles concert. These guys dress and act the parts of the Beatles but they weren't overly ridiculous about it, they were good-natured and having fun with it. The music was, of course, all Beatles and they did a good job, the crowd of about 150 mostly old white people enjoyed dancing in the aisles, especially when they played Twist and Shout. I've posted some pictures and videos here... if you hear me singing on the video just try to ignore it; I had not drunk enough alcohol at that point in order to unleash the full range of my vocal talent.
I bought a 44 lb Rocna anchor and 160 feet of 5/8 rope along with 40 feet of 5/16 chain. Our friends on the Krogen Manatee Summertime have a Rocna and tell me it has never moved when at anchor. We've only anchored when tied to Kharma, although we have deployed our fortress anchor on a few of those occasions. The fortress may have done the job but I've heard good things about the Rocna from several different people so I decided to get one. Hopefully, we'll find it to be reliable as well.
There is a Farmers Market every Thursday just a few blocks from us and I have found a source of smoked Gouda, my favorite cheese. I bought 1/2 lb the first Thursday and ate it up in just a few days... along with Public's wheat crackers. Last Thursday I bought 2 1/2 lbs of which I still have about 1 lb in the fridge.
Friends we met at Midway Marina on the Tn-Tom were here when we arrived a few weeks ago, we had traveled with Rob and Glenda (Monterey) all the way to Fort Walton. We enjoyed docktails and went out to dinner with them several times since we've been here but they pulled out Monday morning headed for the Keys. Hopefully, we'll run into them again somewhere on the east coast.
We attended a kids parade last Saturday celebrating Edison's birthday. Edison had a winter home here in Fort Myers and they have named roads, bridges, and malls after the man. The kid's parade had kids from schools, dance troops, cub scouts, swim teams and just about any organization centered around kids represented. The main parade is this coming weekend and we hear it's the largest parade in this area complete with fireworks. We're looking forward to it, Kim loves fireworks.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Fort Myers - 20170207
Kim’s Korner:
Sunday, we rode our bikes to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates and spent most of the day touring it. It was interesting to learn how Thomas Edison and Henry Ford became friends as well as friends with Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs – all I could think was my dad would have fit right in with these guys. I have a whole folder of photos from it if you are interested but it could get boring... Let me just say here that an experience is worth so much more than words and pictures so I take these pictures more for myself in hopes that when I look back at them I can remember the experience – I hope that makes some sort of sense to you. When we left, we rode our bikes down McGregor which is a palm tree lined street of homes – some new and grandiose, some older but beautiful and very well maintained. It was a nice ride and on the way back, David saw an open house sign for some high rise condos so we decided to stop and take a look. We went to floor 28 and toured this beautiful condo with views of Marco Island which is 47 miles away (Florida is flat), sunrise views 3 months out of the year and sunset views 7 months from two different balconies– it was amazing! The price was also amazing which was no surprise but definitely a stop worth checking out.
We have eaten at several really good restaurants – one worth mentioning was Ford’s Garage which currently has three restaurants in the area but is growing rapidly. The food was excellent and the atmosphere top notch. Another worth mentioning is the Sky Bar, which is the 4th floor of the Firestone Restaurant. We went with friends, had drinks and appetizers as we watched the sunset – really nice!
Monday we rode our bikes on the John Yarborough Linear Trail Park. It is a 6-mile long asphalt trail which runs along a 12’ wide ditch which has maybe one foot of water at the most. This ditch contained lily pads, fish of all sizes, lots of turtles and of course the birds that were looking for dinner. The one thing that I found interesting was you could see these “bowl type things” on the bottom and there would be a fish in the bowl – I assume it was some kind of nest. I tried to get a picture but I ended up scaring the fish away so I only got one of a “bowl”. You’ll have to imagine the fish sitting in the bowl.
At the end of this trail, there was a connecting path to another park – Lake Regionals Park. It was neat – there was water and little islands all over the place. There were a number of trails that we biked on – some through dense trees and others along the water. A 2.5 feet iguana stood in our path so we stopped and watched him until another bike came in the other direction and scared him off – he sure could run fast! After that, we headed for ice cream, then back to the boat.
Sunday, we rode our bikes to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates and spent most of the day touring it. It was interesting to learn how Thomas Edison and Henry Ford became friends as well as friends with Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs – all I could think was my dad would have fit right in with these guys. I have a whole folder of photos from it if you are interested but it could get boring... Let me just say here that an experience is worth so much more than words and pictures so I take these pictures more for myself in hopes that when I look back at them I can remember the experience – I hope that makes some sort of sense to you. When we left, we rode our bikes down McGregor which is a palm tree lined street of homes – some new and grandiose, some older but beautiful and very well maintained. It was a nice ride and on the way back, David saw an open house sign for some high rise condos so we decided to stop and take a look. We went to floor 28 and toured this beautiful condo with views of Marco Island which is 47 miles away (Florida is flat), sunrise views 3 months out of the year and sunset views 7 months from two different balconies– it was amazing! The price was also amazing which was no surprise but definitely a stop worth checking out.
We have eaten at several really good restaurants – one worth mentioning was Ford’s Garage which currently has three restaurants in the area but is growing rapidly. The food was excellent and the atmosphere top notch. Another worth mentioning is the Sky Bar, which is the 4th floor of the Firestone Restaurant. We went with friends, had drinks and appetizers as we watched the sunset – really nice!
Monday we rode our bikes on the John Yarborough Linear Trail Park. It is a 6-mile long asphalt trail which runs along a 12’ wide ditch which has maybe one foot of water at the most. This ditch contained lily pads, fish of all sizes, lots of turtles and of course the birds that were looking for dinner. The one thing that I found interesting was you could see these “bowl type things” on the bottom and there would be a fish in the bowl – I assume it was some kind of nest. I tried to get a picture but I ended up scaring the fish away so I only got one of a “bowl”. You’ll have to imagine the fish sitting in the bowl.
At the end of this trail, there was a connecting path to another park – Lake Regionals Park. It was neat – there was water and little islands all over the place. There were a number of trails that we biked on – some through dense trees and others along the water. A 2.5 feet iguana stood in our path so we stopped and watched him until another bike came in the other direction and scared him off – he sure could run fast! After that, we headed for ice cream, then back to the boat.
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Marco Island to Fort Myers
We pulled out of our slip at Marco Island Marina at 7:00 on Tuesday morning (1/31/17) and headed for a northerly Gulf passage to Fort Myers located on the Caloosahatchee River. The outgoing tide in Marco Bay had us zipping along at over 9 mph, warp speed for Overtime. Fifteen minutes later we reached the Pass where we were met with some head-on rolling waves which made for an interesting ride, but once we were a few miles offshore things settled down and we had a pleasant ride up the coast. We scooted along at 7 mph or so past a ten mile stretch of isolated beach followed by thirty miles of high rise buildings consisting of Naples, North Naples, and various other locales. Five and a half hours later we were crossing under the Sanibel Causeway Bridge and back on inland waters, but inland waters mean narrow channels and a considerable number of inconsiderate boaters. However, this was a Tuesday and traffic was relatively light and we had little trouble traversing the next twenty miles. As we approached Fort Myers Yacht Basin I was jammed-up behind a tour boat, a fishing boat and a manatee while in a narrow channel but they all maneuvered out of the way allowing us to plow on through. With no wind or current, I had no trouble backing into my slip where we were met by a small contingent of Loopers eager to help. The docks at this marina are fixed, meaning they don't float up and down with the tide, but with the small fluctuation, it's not that big of a deal. We've heard great things about the area and are planning to spend the entire month here, come March 1st we'll head east across the Okeechobee Water Way to the east coast of Florida.
This town is a hub of activity and we only have to step off our boat to be in the middle of it. An Arts Festival is being held this weekend and just let me say that I’ve never been to an Arts Festival like this one. I don’t consider myself an art connoisseur but I definitely realize and appreciate these amazing and beautiful pieces! If anyone is interested, check out some of these amazing works at this address.
Yesterday, we rode our bikes and stumbled onto a gem – the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve. It has a one-mile boardwalk which winds through a wetland preserve. The first overlook we came to was at Gator Lake. We didn’t see any gators but we spotted a big heron about 5 feet from us. About the time we turned away from him, we heard this huge splash which startled me. This heron had caught a really big fish – it was flopping around in his beak and he was hanging on tight! He flew to a small dock in the center of the lake and every time that fish would move, he would clamp down on it. We wanted to see if he could actually eat this big fish but he flew across the lake out of sight – but he was still hanging on to that fish – cool! As we moved on, I kept hearing this snapping sound but couldn’t figure out what was making the noise. At the next overlook I figured it out as the noise was coming from right below me – it was fish eating the vegetation that was floating on the water – interesting. A rare sighting according to the guide was at the Otter Pond – two otters were playing and they were really putting on a show! The water was clear enough to see them underwater as well so it was definitely a treat that we really enjoyed.
Pictures
Kim’s Korner:
We are now at Fort Meyers Yacht Basin which will be our home for the month of February. We miss our friends Sharon and Bob on Kharma but Fort Meyers definitely has a lot to offer. A lot of people we met previously are here so it’s been fun catching up with everyone. Many of them come back to Fort Meyers year after year and call this town home. There are three Kady Krogen Manatees here at the marina - I never would have thought…This town is a hub of activity and we only have to step off our boat to be in the middle of it. An Arts Festival is being held this weekend and just let me say that I’ve never been to an Arts Festival like this one. I don’t consider myself an art connoisseur but I definitely realize and appreciate these amazing and beautiful pieces! If anyone is interested, check out some of these amazing works at this address.
Yesterday, we rode our bikes and stumbled onto a gem – the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve. It has a one-mile boardwalk which winds through a wetland preserve. The first overlook we came to was at Gator Lake. We didn’t see any gators but we spotted a big heron about 5 feet from us. About the time we turned away from him, we heard this huge splash which startled me. This heron had caught a really big fish – it was flopping around in his beak and he was hanging on tight! He flew to a small dock in the center of the lake and every time that fish would move, he would clamp down on it. We wanted to see if he could actually eat this big fish but he flew across the lake out of sight – but he was still hanging on to that fish – cool! As we moved on, I kept hearing this snapping sound but couldn’t figure out what was making the noise. At the next overlook I figured it out as the noise was coming from right below me – it was fish eating the vegetation that was floating on the water – interesting. A rare sighting according to the guide was at the Otter Pond – two otters were playing and they were really putting on a show! The water was clear enough to see them underwater as well so it was definitely a treat that we really enjoyed.
Pictures
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