We've made it to Longboat Key . . .

On January 23rd, we cruised into Longboat Key Club Moorings for a month long stay.  It is located about 4 miles north of the well known St. Armand's Circle & on a narrow section of the key with Sarasota Bay to the east & the Gulf of Mexico within walking distance to the west.  Dave & Darbi quickly got the lay of the land.

 

The marina has about 300 slips, but we were lucky to get one on a dock that's not full, which allows for great views from anywhere on the boat.  We've already met many friendly, helpful people.

 

 

Darbi has found her favorite spot on the bow.

 

The sunrises across the bay & behind Sarasota  . . . . .

 

. . . . and sunsets over the Gulf . . . .

 

 

. . . . are absolutely beautiful & uniquely different every day!

And as the sun sets, the moon rises, which is also a beautiful sight. Here you can see the reflection on the water of the moon & of the birds in the mangroves.

My girlfriends from home - Pat, Bonnie & JoAnn - were near Tampa on vacation during the annual Gasparilla Pirate Fest.  This is an annual event where a replica of a pirate ship comes in to Tampa Bay & over takes the city.  It has been described as Mardi Gra on the water & was just as crazy.  Dave & I met the girls at the fest, with 600,000 other people (yes, that is a true fact!), many of who were dressed in full pirate attire.  It was great fun!

 

 It was amazing to see the calm bay turn into a parking lot of boats, manned with wild people throwing beads.

Later in the week, the girls came to Longboat Key for a boat ride, but unfortunately the high winds & rough waters prevented the ride.  Luckily, cocktails & sunshine were a good back-up plan.  Florida Shelly joined us as well.

And a walk around the marina helped burn off the calories. 

On a calm, sunny day we took Mom & Dad for their first official boat ride on Phase II.   Mom & Dad winter in Sarasota & are only about 10 miles away.  It's great being so close to them.
Here's Mom helping Capt. Dave navigate . . . .

And Dad on the bow giving his own hand-signal navigation input . . .

And Dad doing his best Titanic bow scene . . .

They eventually retired to the back deck to take in the sights . . .

. . . .  including the tour boat with the palm trees on it!

It was another beautiful day on the water!
 

Heading to Florida on New Years Day . . .

On December 28th, Dave, Darbi & I piled in the Traverse with Mom, Dad and Calie (their cat) and headed south.  Four adults, two animals & all the "provisions" we "had" to bring, packed in like sardines is an accurate description of the 13 hour ride to Brunswick, GA.   Mom, Dad & Calie dropped us off and continued on to their home-away-from-home in Sarasota.  It was a great plan!

 

After a few days of preparation, we departed Brunswick Landing Marina on a beautiful New Years Day in search of warm, sunny weather.

 

Our 1st stop was Fernandina Beach on Ameila Island, FL.  We opted for a mooring ball to help prepare us for "living on the hook" when we journey to the Dry Tortugas later in the winter.  Hooking up to the mooring ball is much less hassle than dropping the anchor & far less stressful than lying awake all night wondering if the anchor has come loose allowing us to drift into the shore or other surrounding boats. 

 

Fernandina Beach is a quaint old town & is home to Florida's oldest bar.  The Palace Saloon opened in 1878 & still operates today.

 

As we were heading back to the dinghy to ride back to the boat, a huge pelican thought it would dive down & scare Darbi.  That plan backfired!

 

Huge, beautiful homes are common place along much of the ICW in Florida.

 

After spending 2 nights in cold, rainy St. Augustine & another cold, rainy night in Daytona Beach, we found ourselves in sunny, warm Titusville.  We had only planned to spend a couple days there, but that turned into a week as we started a "small" project compounding the fly bridge & as usual it turned into a big project.  It was no hardship, as the view from our end dock slip was incredible.  We also had the opportunity to meet lots of new people while having breakfast on the back deck, chatting with them as they fueled up for their days journey.

 

Dave & Darbi managed to find time to fish off the dock.

 

 

And Dave's first official catch about knocked him over it was so big!! Yes, that is his catch on the line, not his bait!

 

We did have very large visitors on a daily basis . . . dolphins & as you can see here, manatees.  "Sea cow" is definitely an accurate nickname for them.

 

Look between the 2 pilings to see him (or her??) swimming away.  They are huge!

 

They rolled on their backs to get a drink of cold, fresh water dripping from the fenders as we hosed down the boat.  Darbi didn't know what to make of them!

 

The Titusville sunsets were also an awesome sight.

 

On the ICW, you never know what you are going to pass . . .

 

. . . or how beautiful the sun rises can be . . .

 

 

 

After many nights in marinas, we decided we were ready for anchoring out.  We found a beautiful spot behind two small spoil islands joined together by a sand bridge. 

 

It was a perfect situation for taking Darbi ashore to do her thing.  There she met another dog from a  sail boat anchored in the same area

 

Dave decided to cast a line off the starboard side, using fat from the steaks we grilled as bait.  He immediately caught a catfish, of all things!

 

Our private sunset . . .

 

 

From there it was on to Stuart, where we had a great time with Mackey and Jackie Rogers and Florida Dave & Florida Shelly.  Dave put down the fishing pole & went golfing with David & Shelly & I got a good shopping and eating fix!  Cousins Tommy & Linda Nestor & Colleen, Dragon & Amalia also joined us in Stuart.  They were vacationing in south Florida.

 

Dave spent some time catching up with the outside world on the internet.

 

We left Stuart passing through 3 bridges heading to the west coast of Florida via the Lake Okeechobee Waterway.

 

Crossing huge Lake Okeechobee was awesome . . .

 

 

We spent the night at Rohland Martin Marina on the west side of the lake.  At my Dad's suggestion, I left my purse on the boat this time as we ate breakfast at the dockside diner.  Unfortunately the girl in the dock store remembered the lady who left her purse in the restaurant a couple years ago! It's not so easy to turn around & go back & grab it when you're on a boat!

 

The Lake O Waterway has 5 locks we had to pass through.  The biggest water level drop was 14 feet.

 

What started out to be a beautiful cruising day, turned into 3-5 foot waves & 40 MPH wind gusts as we were pulling into the Ft. Myers City Marina.  Needless to say I was a bit preoccupied with docking & didn't take any pictures of our arrival.  I will say Capt. Dave did a stellar job of docking!!  I told him he earned his PHD with that one!

 

We spent 2 great days with our Kimblewick neighbor Doc Martuccio, who winters in Ft. Myers.  He showed us around town & his "winter-hood", which is absolutely beautiful.  Yes, that is a boat they are starring at the end of the dock!  It made the 45' boat in the adjacent slip look like a dinghy!

 

Our timing was perfect as the monthly Music Walk downtown was just a few blocks from the marina.  On the way back, Darbi stopped to do her thing under this tree, that was not like any tree she had ever seen.....

 

The sunset in Ft. Myers . . .

 

Then we were off to Royal Palm Marina, where we had stayed for 3 months in the winter of 2011 just after we bought the boat.  We were so excited about seeing the great friends that we had made there.  Along the way, we were joined by dolphins . . . .

 

 

We spent 4 great days catching up with Capt. Mike & Angie, George, Wayne & others.  It was so great seeing them all again!

 

We left Royal Palm on Wednesday the 23rd (Darbi's 8th birthday!) heavy 1 crew member.  My parents brought my sister Linda to the marina the night before to join us for the cruise up to Longboat Key.

 

 It was a great ride, with all the usual sights of blue waters, pelicans, dolphins, sunshine & beautiful homes . . .

 

Passing through the Sarasota Bay, we headed under the Ringling Bridge to get to our "home" for the next month in the Longboat Key Club Moorings.