This was our last morning on Blue Moon. When we woke up, we started to think about everything that needed to be done today, but we promised ourselves that we weren't going to over do it, even though we already had two pages of chores on our "to do" list.
At 7:20, we upped anchor for the last time on our trip. We cruised up the harbor with a 13 kt breeze on our nose. As we neared our canal, we noticed that there now are channel markers at the entrance. We approached our dock and could see something stretching between two of the pilings and on the railing. When we got closer, we saw they were Welcome Home signs, which made us both smile. We were home. This has been a wondeful trip and we are so glad that we were able to do it. We saw so many different places and talked to so many different people. We've repeatedly been asked several questions.... What was our favorite place that we visited? Well, there are so many that it is hard to pick just one. We really enjoyed visiting Washington DC, Jamestown, and Yorktown by water. There was so much to see and do there. We also enjoyed the old southern towns with the antebellum homes. And I will always remenber the friendliness of the people of North Carolina. What was the worst thing about the trip? The breakdown at Jekyll Island, the numerous tornados and severe storms that were just too close, and the jellyfish and unbearable heat in the Chesapeake. Would we do this trip again? Yes, we probably will someday, but not right away. We would leave a little earlier, go further north toward the cooler weather of Lake Champlain amd return a little later in the year. Trip Statistics,: Days: 168 days/167 nights (or 24 weeks) Miles Traveled: 2960 nautical miles (or 3406 statue miles) Engine hours: 499.3 Nights at Marina:47 nights or 28% Nights at Mooring:10 nights or 6% Nights at free docks: 12 nights or 7% Nights in Connecticut: 9 nights or 5% Nights at anchor: 89 nights or 53% Cost of trip: $10685 Fuel: $3213 Dining Out; $1659 Food ( including beer and wine): $1977 Marinas, moorings and dinghy dock fees: $1644 Entertainment: $75 Repairs (including tools, stove alcohol, grill propane): $1354 Transportation to Connecticut (car, gas and tolls): $348 Miscellaneous (gas for truck, laundry, ice, tips, souvenirs) : $420 The Experience: priceless For anyone planning to follow in our wake, I would recommend screens (even in the cockpit area), air conditioning and unlimited internet service of some sort. Thoughout this adventure, a frequent comment that we heard from people we met was "you're on a trip of a lifetime" and it definitely was. We both thought that the Chesapeake area was a pretty cruising area and the people of the Carolinas are so welcoming and friendly, but Florida is still our favorite place. It confirmed, what we already knew, that our decision to move to southwest Florida 17 years ago was the right one. Thanks for joining us on this trip and hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did. Our next cruise will be next month with the Punta Gorda Sailing Club. We will be spending 2-3 weeks exploring Florida's west central coast.
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At 7:30, Matt was up and started the generator to charge the boat batteries. After breakfast, we dinghied to shore where we met Mary, Bob, Nancy and Ken. We took the tram a mile across the island, then set up our chairs under Nancy and Ken's portable canopy. For the first time on this trip, Matt and I went into the ocean water. It was a little chilly, so we only got half way in. Soon it was time for lunch on the beach.
Back on Blue Moon, we showered off the sand and salt. At 16:30, we had Happy Hour on Blue Moon followed by a game of six handed Pig It/Hog it with the Bouys playing against the Gulls. It began to rain, but we all were dry on the boat's back deck. By 21:00, we had played three games (Gulls=3, Bouys=0) and it was getting more difficult to see the cards. Tomorrow, we will be returning home. I will provide the final trip statistics at that time. After all the wind and rain stopped last night, we had a restful night. We were up by 7:00 and had breakfast. At 9:30, we dinghied over to Cayo Costa where we met Mary and Bob for a walk on the trails on the island. It was a cloudy day, which made it a good walking day. We went down to the old quarantine docks, around by Boca Pass, past the old cemetary, returning to the dinghies two hours later.
After quick showers on the boats, Bob and Mary joined us for some more Pig It/Hog It. We had been playing cards and drinking wine for a while, when Blown Away cruised into the anchorage. Nancy and Ken dropped their anchor and came right over. They have been traveling all summer and shared some of their adventures. They joined the card game and we rotated the players so everyone got to play. Soon it was time for Happy Hour. For dinner, the six of us had pot luck at one of the picnic tables on shore. Everything was delicious. As we were finishing dinner, the surrounding skies were becoming filled with dark clouds. We decided to break up the party and return to our boats to prepare for any bad weather. Tomorrow, we plan on spending some time at the beach. That will be the first time on this trip. It was very still on the water last night, but we were comfortable with the v-berth fans on.
We awoke at 7:30, and were on our way by 8:00. The plan was to go 25 nm to Pelican Bay. The sun was shining and the only breeze was the wind created by Blue Moon moving. At noon, we pulled into Pelican Bay where we spotted JourneyOn and were greeted by Mary and Bob. After we dropped our anchor and were settled, Mary and Bob dinghied over to chat. The conversation flowed from topic to topic and in the end, we decided to book a Carnival cruise in January. They headed off to the beach and we stayed on Blue Moon where I researched and booked the cruise. At 16:30, we dinghied to JourneyOn for Happy Hour and a game or two of Pig It/Hog It. This time the Girls were victorious over the Guys (1 1/2 games to 0). The second game was postponed due to dark, ugly clouds coming our way. We went back to Blue Moon where Matt grilled chicken for dinner. We had just finished dining on the back deck then the rain and winds began. We closed up the boat, started up the generator and ran the A/C for a couple hours. We plan to stay here in Pelican Bay for a couple days before heading home on Sunday. It was a nice night in the air conditioned boat and we were up by 7:00 . We had a couple chores to do that we couldn't do last night because of the rain. Since there was water available, we topped off the boat water tank and the drinking water containers, then we collected the power cord. We loosened the stern lines so that we could get the dinghy behind the boat and up on the davits. Then I released us from the dock, as Matt used the windlass to pull up the anchor chain.
We were soon cruising down the waterway. At 10:00, we approached our final lock of the trip, Franklin Lock. For the last time, I hailed the lock tender. This guy was much more talkative than the previous lock tenders that we have encountered on the waterway. He wanted to know all about our trip and he told us that he was from Punta Gorda. At noon, we stopped at Ft Myers City Marina for fuel and a pump out. I had checked the"Cruiser Net" web site and discovered that they had the cheapest diesel in the area. It was only $3.93 per gallon (including the $0.05/gal discount for BoatUS). When we pulled up to the fuel dock, Barbara and Floyd (who we had met in Clewiston) were refueling, so we chatted for a while. They got their new batteries in Clewiston and were anxious to get their "new" boat home and start to work on it. Since it was only 12:45 and the tide was going out, we decided to continue down the Caloosahatchee River another 12 miles to Glover's Bight anchorage. We pulled into the anchorage at 14:30, picked our spot and dropped the anchor. We spent the remainder of the day reading until it was time for Happy Hour and dinner. After dinner, we retired to the v-berth to watch "Survivor" on the television. Tomorrow, we head up to Pelican Bay. Last night, we were very comfortable with the boat closed up and the fans on. We awoke at 6:50 and when we went out onto the back deck, we were surprised by the absence of mosquitos and no see-ums. Then I remembered seeing a "mosquito control" truck fogging the area last night.
At 7:15, we gracefully pulled off the dock, exited through the narrow canal, and took a sharp left turn through the hurricane gate onto the rim route of Lake Okeechobee. We had gone 13 statue miles when we approached the Moore Haven lock which would lower us several feet. I saw two manatees lock through with us. It looked like they have benefitted from the new manatee proof gates that were installed since we came through in April, as there was no evidence of squished manatees. We continued on our way for another 16 statue miles and didn't see any other boats. We arrived at the Ortona Lock and hailed the lock keeper. Blue Moon was lowered another 7-8 ft this time. Once through that lock, we had only 9 statue miles until we got the Labelle. There is one more lock, but we won't be doing that until tomorrow. At 13:00, we arrived at Labelle. The last time that we were here, the eight slips at the free dock were occupied and we had to move on further down the waterway, so we didn't get to visit Labelle. Today, there was only one sailboat there. At this dock a med mooring is used. That is where the boat is tied to the dock at the stern and the bow is held in place with an anchor. As Blue Moon drifted in the waterway, we took the dinghy off the davits and secured it to the side of the boat. Then we lowered the anchor and Matt expertly backed Blue Moon to the dock. Using the boat hook, I was able to get a line around a cleat on the dock, but the dock was too tall for me to get onto, so Matt jumped from the back of Blue Moon to the dock and got us securely tied. The whole procedure went smoothly, but there was no one around to witness it. This free dock had free electricity, so we immediately plugged in and turned on the air conditioner. Later in the afternoon, we got off the boat and took a walk to the Fortune Cookie Chinese Restaurant. Matt got the buffet and I had Lomein. After dinner, we quickly walked the mile back to the boat as we watched the dark, ominous clouds approaching. Shortly after getting back to Blue Moon, it began to rain and continued for a couple hours. Since we couldn't be outside and since we had power, I decided to bake a batch of brownies. We are able to get our local channels on the television. It is nice to be able to watch our local news again. Tomorrow, we plan to go to Ft Myers. Last night, we were surprised that we saw very little bug activity. The temperture was cool enough so that the two little fans at our feet in the v-berth kept us comfortable.
We were awake by 6:35 and on our way by 7:00. It was much easier getting off the dolphins than tying up to them. We had 50 statue miles to go today. No other boat was seen until we got to the Port Mayaca Lock 24 miles into today's trip. We arrived at the lock and requested to pass through, but luck wasn't with us this morning. The lock tender said that there was an eastbound boat approaching and he wanted to lock him through first, since the lock was ready for east bound traffic. So we waited and waited, finally we got the green light, entered the lock and grabbed the lines that hung along the lock wall. We looked to our stern and saw another boat about a half mile behind us. We knew what that meant...more waiting. It was entertaining watching that boat get into the lock. First it T-boned the lock wall, then the woman tending the bow line took a fall on her butt. Once their boat was secure, we were lifted about a foot. The actual locking through took 5 minutes, but if we included the waiting, it was over 30 minutes. We entered Lake Okeechobee and started our 26 mile trek across it. The wind was blowing about 13 kts across our beam and it would have been a great sailing day, but instead it was a bumpy trawler trip. We must be sailors at heart, as we still look at the weather as a sailor sees it. We arrived in Clewiston at 13:30 and entered through the hurricane gate. We then hung a sharp right and went down the long narrow canal until we came to the basin with the free town dock (note: the water depth was never less than 8 ft). We pushed through the hyacinth to get to the dock, then secured Blue Moon to it. Blue Moon was the only boat here and the adjacent public boat ramp was quiet today. We took advantage of the peaceful setting and took naps. At 16:00, we noticed some storm clouds forming nearby and decided to head to the restaurant before the rain came. We walked over to Roland Martins Marina's Tiki Bar. It was $1 beers for Happy Hour. From the bar, we could see the boat that had followed us across the lake. They had gotten a slip here. In fact, it was the only boat in the whole marina. For dinner, I had a salad and Matt had gator tail. As we were getting ready to leave, the couple from the boat came into the restaurant. The woman looked surprised when I inquired how her butt was, but then she recognized us. Barbara and Floyd had just bought their boat and were bringing it home to Sanibel. They already were experiencing the joys of boat ownership with numerous boat problems reported. They explained that their battery was dead and they had no electronics (or use of their electric toilet) and that they had to follow us across the lake. We chatted for awhile then we returned to Blue Moon. We had closed up the boat when we left for dinner and now, it was hot inside. We took showers out on the back deck lowering the canvas for privacy. Then, Matt got the portable generator and A/C going. It was cool enough to open the windows, but we already could tell that bugs would be a problem if we opened them. We ran the A/C for two hours, which cooled down the boat, then used the fans but kept the windows closed. Tomorrow, we are going to Labelle. Last night, Matt set the thermostat at 76° which made for comfortable sleeping. Mary, Bob, Matt and I were all awake and moving by 7:10 this morning. Bob and Mary were anxious to get home so that they could start installing their new solar panels on JourneyOn. I made coffee and Bob volunteered to do the job of filling the drinking water containers. We had a light breakfast of coffee, juice and cinnamon rolls. An hour later, they were on their way back to Punta Gorda. We had a fun weekend playing tourist with them. We'll be meeting up again at Pelican Bay this weekend, but this time, they'll be on JourneyOn.
We filled up Blue Moon's water tank, disconnected the power cord then headed to the marina showers. But before we left the marina, the two sets of keys to the marina's shower rooms needed to be returned. We had been told that if we lost the keys, it would cost us $50 per key. Matt returned the keys and was leaving the marina office, when the dockmaster started to perfusely thank him for visiting, said that he hoped that we visit again and asked if there was anything else that he could do for us, etc. He had been nice all weekend, but suddenly it was over the top. Maybe he was grateful that we actually returned the keys. We pulled out of the slip and headed south on the ICW, then turned west onto the Okeechobee Waterway toward home. There were many Sunday afternoon boaters out playing on the water today. A light breeze was blowing and the skies were partly sunny. An occasional rain shower would pass over, but they would last only a few minutes. I had checked the Okeechobee Waterway lock status on the internet and everything looked good. All the locks were functioning and because of all the rain, the water levels were up, which meant that they would pass us through "on request" instead of the hourly or every two hour opening schedule. That would make the trip a lot easier. We arrived at the first lock on the waterway, St.Lucie Lock, at 13:30. We were lucky, it was open and waiting for us. The lock tender threw us the lines and with Matt tending the stern line and me on the bow line, the gates slowly opened to let the water flow in and raise Blue Moon. When we passed through this lock in April, we went down only one foot, today we were being raised 7 feet. I guess they have gotten a lot of rain here. The force of that amount of water being let into the lock chamber made tending the lines a bit more challenging, but soon the gates opened and we went through.. It took 20 minutes to complete the locking procedure. We decided to tie up to the dolphins (a grouping of pilings, not the mammal), on the west side of the lock. In April, we had noted that the cleats on the dolphins were about 6 ft above the water and that this would be a good option to stop for a night. The dolphins are spaced 100 ft or so a part and we needed to get the bow line on one dolphin cleat and a stern line on the other, then we would position Blue Moon between them. Sounds easy? It wasn't. Since the water height had risen so much, the cleats were only one foot off the water, and the placement of the cleats on the pilings made it difficult to get to them, and keep the boat away from them at the same time. After several attempts, trying different methods, I got frustrated and was ready to bail on this idea. Matt, on the other hand, thought of it as a challenge and succeeded in getting us secured. It was time for Happy Hour. We enjoyed the peacefulness of this location. The boat traffic was minimal. We had dinner, then went through the satchel of mail which Mary and Bob had delivered to us. Soon, it was time for bed, we had a 50 mile (statue) day tomorrow to get to Clewiston. Last night, Matt had the A/C set on 72° and it was so cold that I got up and put my sweats on then went back to bed. At 8:00, Bob, Mary, Matt and I were awake and the bed in the salon was a settee again. We used the marina facilities to take our showers then returned to the boat.
Bob returned to Blue Moon with a bag filled with French pastries that he had bought at the Farmer's Market which was going on next to the marina. I made coffee and we enjoyed cinnamon rolls, croissants and pain au chocolate. After breakfast, we visited the Saturday morning Farmer's Market. It was bigger than the one in Punta Gorda with a wide variety of food Items to sample and buy, along with a reggae band to entertain the patrons. On the other side of the park, the monthly craft show was going on, so we walked over to check it out. It wasn't too big and it had the typical stuff that one finds at those shows. Next we saw a trolley which had the word "free" on it. We had no idea where it was going but we flagged it down and we all boarded it. We enjoyed the ride which basically took us in a big circle to a parking lot and back, but at least it was air conditioned and it was free. We got off the trolley and went to the library to see what books they had for sale. Next to the library, Bob spotted a shop that sold gelato. We went in to look around but, it was only 11:00 and too early for gelato. We all tried several "tastes", then promised that we would be back later in the day. We decided to return to the boat where we played a couple games of Pig It/Hog It. The score was now Gals ≠3 games , Guys ≠4. It was time for a gelato break. We went back to Uncle Carlos's and enjoyed our gelato treats. Walking back to the boat, Mary picked up a Jamaican meat sandwich from a local vendor for lunch. We returned to the boat and continued our card game. The guys won every game in this round of play. For Happy Hour, Mary and Bob served us some Sangria that they had made. We had decided on Mexican for dinner and this was a nice pre-dinner cocktail. We went to the Mexican Restaurant which we knew would be good because the dockmaster had given it good reviews and there were a lot of Spanish patrons dining there. After dinner, we returned to Blue Moon to continue our card tournament. The guys were hot and we didn't win a game all night. Mary and I found comfort in the brownies and chocolate for dessert. At 9:30, it was Punta Gorda midnight and we all retired for the evening. We had a fun weekend, even though the Gals team got creamed. Tomorrow, Mary and Bob will return to Punta Gorda and we plan on beginning our trek across the state on the Okeechobee Waterway. They will be out on their boat next week and we'll meet them at Pelican Bay on Friday. We'll spend next weekend there then go home on Sunday. We were up at dawn and on our way by 7:15. We had 12 miles to go today. As Matt steered, I defrosted the refrigerator and cleaned the boat. We could see distant rain clouds and even a rainbow, but it was looking like we would miss it, until we approached the marina, then it began to rain. We waited in the ICW until the squall passed before going into the marina.
At 9:30, the rain stopped and I called Ft. Pierce City Marina for our slip assignment. We pulled into the wrong slip then another squall came through with more wind blowing. Matt expertly backed out and we went to the right slip. We tied up and waited for the rain to pass. Once Matt got us hooked up to power, I baked a batch of brownies, we filled the boat water tanks, then we headed to the showers. At noonish, Bob and Mary arrived at the marina. We had lunch out on the back deck and caught up on what has been happening for the last 5 months. After lunch, we took a car ride over to the Ft. Pierce pier and took a look at the ocean. We drove down along the shore to Jensen Beach and found a Publix, where we had the opportunity to reprovision for our trip home. We returned to Blue Moon, stowed our goodies and began Happy Hour with some Blue Moon beer that Bob and Mary had bought. Tonight, Ft Pierce was having their Friday Fest. There were lots of food and craft vendors in the marina parking lot. We wandered over to check out the party. They had a great band playing so we got some beer from the local firemen's booth and sat down at a table to enjoy the music and conversation. After a bit, we all were starting to get hungry. We had dinner at the Original Tiki Hut which was next to the marina. The Cruzan rum girls were there and Matt and Bob were happy to pose with them for a photo op. After dinner, we returned to the boat and enjoyed a glass of wine on the back deck while enjoying the music in the air. Then we went inside to play Pig It/Hog It-girls verses guys. We played three competitive games and the score stands at gals-2, guys-1. At 11:30, it was time for bed. Bob and Mary are sleeping on the settee that opens out to a bed. They brought their sheets and pillows and everyone is cozy. It is close quarters, but we did share a much smaller bunk room on several trains in Italy, so this shouldn't be a problem. Tomorrow, we'll stay in Ft Pierce and play. |
AuthorMy name is Susan Alaimo. My husband, Matt and I are traveling up the east coast in our 28' Cape Dory trawler. Categories
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