Marathon on Vaca Key

We now have been at Faro Blanco for a full week. We are making new friends as you can see by scrolling down to the Docktails gathering by the light house. This occurres at 5 PM every night, weather permitting. It might we a good thing that the wind has blown hard 4 of the last 7 days, not sure docktails 7 days a week is a good idea.  I would guess there in excess of 15 Looper boats here!

The wind died down on Thursday so we took the dingy down and cruised down the gulf, under the 7 mile bridge and into the Atlantic and to the entrance to Boot Key Harbor.  All in all, about a 1 1/2 hr cruise.  Friday's weather was also fairly calm so we road the bikes down to the Steak and Loster house for early happy hour.  $2.75 drafts, 5.95 for a half proud of peal and eat shrimp,Tuna, wings, and other appetizers. We got back in time for docktails! Saturday was beautiful , we took a 3 1/3 mile walk down to the 7 mile Bridge and back, then biked down to the grocery store and back. In the afternoon we hung out at the pool for a couple hours.

Our plans for the Bahamas are starting to shape up. We have met two other couples who are heading over about the same time. One is a 48 foot Sea Ray Sedan Bridge and the other is a 47 ft Grand Banks. Our ridgid plan of infinite flexibility is as follows.  Around the 10th of March we will cross to Bimini from the Islamarada area.  We will then move on to the Berry Islands, Nassau, and the Abaco. We might sneak in some time in the Exumas. Our plan includes being home around June 1st.

Happy Valentine's Day

Faro Blanco

Key West to Marathon

Well the party did get started in Key West with our friends John and Cappy. Highlights included Schooner Warf, Irish Kevin's, Sloppy Joes, and McConnells Irish Pub. Around the Marina we saw 6 ft Tarpon and a 400 lb Goliath Grooper swimming about. We had eighty degree weather all week. Thursday night the wind started blowing and the waves started building. Even in the marina we saw 30 plus mile an hour sustained winds.  The moring  and anchorages were full, and I can't imagine what it would have been like out in open water!  One 30 ft sale boat lost its anchor and it ended up crashing into the Jetty and sank, thankfully no one on board.  John and Cappy flew out Friday afternoon, and the wind continued to blow.

We were originally leaving for Marathon on Sunday but Sunday looks ugly, and  the forecast for Saturday looked favorable untill around 2 PM. At 8:30 we said good buy to Key West and rounded the west side of Key West and headed to Marathon! As we headed out into the Atlantic we where greated with an unbelievable sight,  the entire shrimp boat fleet some 16 ships were anchored in the Lee of the Key trying to stay out of Friday's Storm and the up coming blow on Sunday. We headed East at 13 knots into 1-2 ft waves, after a bit they grew to 3 plus. This lasted for about 30 minutes and then they settled back to 1-2 footers.  After 45 miles we turned North and passed under the overseas highway and back into the Gulf.  We arrived at Faro Blanco Marina ( a Hyatt Resort) at 12:30.  By 2:30 we started to get rain and 28 mph winds are expected as early as 9 PM. The God Lord gave us a short but pleasant passage. 

We are hunkered down and will be here a month. We will fly home the 19th - 25 for Soren's birthday!

Pics

Pics

Putz'n Around - the adventure continues.

We splashed Putz'n around October 30 and made our way down river  to Legacy Harbour in Fort Myers and our home for the Month of November. After 5 days of non stop cleaning she was ready for another season.  Our friends Terry and Diane Emigh joined us for 4 days in early Nov.  We had a great visit with them prior to their return to their sailboat which they live-aboard in the Sea of Cortez.  The weather was unseasonably hot with many days in the 90's

December 1st we headed to Fort Myers Beach and SnookBight Marina were we spent two months.
We met new and old friends making this marina feel like home! In December my Sister an brother in law visited for 3 days and had a great time seeing them. We flew home for nine days for Christmas. We spent 7 of the 9 days with Jillian, Eric, and Soren.  On Christmas Eve our best gift was seeing Soren take off and walk 12 steps.

The weather in December was great but when we returned in January some one hit the Switch!  January was the wettest on record. We had 3 severe thunderstorm with Tornado warnings and 2 touched down 10 miles from us. One storm blew out the zippers on the windows in the Flybridge and something hit and snapped off one of my 14 ft antennas.  $1400 dollars in damages but we were not the only ones that had damage.  The good news no one got hurt.  The second storm dumped 5.3 inches of rain in two days. Storm 3 had sustained winds in the Marina at 44 knots.  One of the storm surges came all the way up and over Estero Blvd.

Jan. 31st, our friends John and Cappy Clemency came aboard and at 6:30 am we headed to Key West!  We had a short weather window so instead of making it 2 day trip we made ran 140 miles in 9 1/2 hours at 14.4 knots. Yup, we burned some fuel!  The first 1/3 of the trip we had 1-2 ft seas, the second 1/3,  2-3ft and the last third near flat seas. We pulled into the Galleon Marina at 4, and as the saying goes let the party begin!  More in a few days. Pictures to come as well.

Reflections

It's hard to believe that our first season is coming to a close!  We left Stillwater September 18th and cruised the first half of the Great Loop to Florida. We traveled the river systems of the Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, Tombigbee, and inter coastal (ICW) . We crossed the gulf in a night passage from Carrabella, FL to Tarpon Springs and then down  the ICW to Fort Myers arriving on Nov. 6th.  All in all we have traveled over 2900 miles by water this season.

I have been on the boat for 7 1/2 months with only 9 nights off the boat.  Brigitte flew home about every 4 weeks to keep her Partylight business alive and well.  She did it again and we are going on her incentive trip to  Jamaica  the first part of June.

We spent two months + and the Holidays in Fort  Myers at Legacy Harbour Marina.  On Jan. 15th we moved to Fort Myers Beach and SnookBight Marina. Brigitte went home for a month waiting for our Grand Daughter Soren to be born.  I waited until labor started and then flew home for 5 days. Yes we are proud Grandparents.

On the 15 th of March we headed out to do the Florida Loop with friends Dick and Inga Bonfoy.
They travel with Baily their chocolate lab on a 40' Mainship trawler ( Bon Foyage). We crossed the gulf again from Marco Island to Key West.  From there we spent about 6 weeks staying at Big Pine Key, Marathon, Islamarad, Keylargo, Coconut Grove,  Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Stuart, and back to Fort Myers by crossing the state through Lake Okeechobee.  We are spending a week in Fort Myers  getting the boat ready for summer storage.

On Friday I took one final cruise up the river. We are storing the boat at a boat yard 26 miles up the Calooshatchee River from the gulf. The place has been around since 1953 and as Bud the manager said we haven't lost a boat yet.  Once up Owl Creek they lift the boat out of the Creek and travel
about 30 feet and drop us in a fresh water Lagoon. Putz'n around will spend the summer in fresh water in a covered slip.

We got home Saturday Evening after driving 1700 miles in 2 days.  We drove across many bridges that we had passed under many months ago. This felt a little strange but did rekindle many memories of a great adventure.  We hope you enjoyed our journey and we will pick up again next Nov.  We would like to thank God for his protection, for all the wondrous places we have seen, and the great people we have met during The Great Adventure of Putz'n Around!