Hello to all our dear family and friends!
I guess that it’s time for us to let everyone know where we are and what we’re up to.
Since the last time we did an update, we have traveled a lot of miles. We were in Ft. Myers Beach at that time and were about to travel up the West Coast of Florida. Shortly after the update, we moved a very short distance to Cape Coral. We had made arrangements with a canvas maker in the area for him to come and measure our doors on the boat and make insect screens for us. We knew that we were about to get into mosquito country, and we were having trouble finding someone who would even talk to us about screens. We ordered the screens with the understanding that they would be finished the next week. So we took off to meet some good friends that we hung out with in Ventura who now live in Punta Gorda. We traveled up through the Pine Island Sound and met them in an anchorage called Pelican Bay on the island of Cayo Costa. What a beautiful place; very well protected with a ranger station and a trail to the other side of the island and the Gulf of Mexico.
After spending time exploring, we were off to their house. We had to time the tide
in order to get up the canal to their house. Well, no matter that we waited, we still couldn’t get into their canal with only 4’ of water at best. So they made arrangements for us to leave Diamond Girl at a friends dock for a couple of days so that we could visit. We had a wonderful time. We ended up spending three days, and then we returned to Cape Coral to retrieve our new screens and be off across the state via the Okeechobee Waterway and a whole different world.We stopped for one night in the city of Ft. Myers and then started across the OWW. It is really different. There are spots with beautiful homes setting on 5 or 10 acres fully landscaped, and then there would be a rundown mobile home with cars and refrigerators everywhere. The river that we were on was anywhere from a couple of hundred yards wide to a ½ mile wide. We even saw alligators!!! And we had our first experience with locks. We traveled through 3 locks and found out that they aren’t really a big deal, it just takes time.
Our first night on the OWW we spent in the town of La Belle. We had heard that it was a little town still living in the 60’s and everyone was right. We tied up to a rickety old dock at the Rivers Edge Motel. It really reminded us of the “Bates Motel”. The people were very nice and the dock was very cheap so it fit us well. We walked into town and had dinner at a little restaurant named Flora and Ella’s. It was great! Chicken and dumplings, greens and cornbread ($7.00) how could you go wrong.
After two days there, we traveled to Clewiston which is right at the edge of Lake Okeechobee. By the way, did you know that Lake Okeechobee is the second largest lake totally within the United States? There isn’t much to Clewiston, so we only stayed over night and were off the next morning to Indian Town. Again, not much there to see so we only stayed one night. We did walk to the grocery store and only saw a couple of houses. When we got back, we asked the lady in the marina office where the town was located. She asked if we had walked to the market. We answered yes, and she said “then you walked through town”. Really not much in Indian Town!
Stuart was our next goal. After about a 3-hour run, we anchored in Manatee Pocket, an anchorage recommended by the cruising guide books. Very nice, very protected. We anchored in about 6 feet of water behind some very nice homes. There were only 3 boats anchored there with a lot of room. We explored around and found out that there is a much better place to be. The next time we are down in that area, we will anchor in a different spot with more things to do. We did stay for 3 days and then started our trek north.
Vero Beach is an area that all of the boats talk about, so we decided to give it a try. It’s great. You can’t anchor there, but they have mooring buoys for only $10 a night. We signed up and stayed for a week. The marina has all of the things you need; dinghy dock, laundromat, and fuel. The city buses come right into the marina every 15 minutes and take you almost anywhere you want to go (for free). It’s great. We could see why everyone talked about it so much.
We wanted to go to the Kennedy Space Center so we left Vero Beach and
went to Titusville. We decided to stay in a marina this time. We rented a car and went to the space center for a day. What a great place. If you haven’t been there, it’s a must see. It takes at least a whole day to see it. We decided that we would do it again next year and see then what we didn’t see this time. While we were in our slip there, I decided to fill our water tanks. When filling our tanks they have a tendency to drip. Four manatees came over to the boat and were drinking the fresh water. Elaine was actually able to go down onto our swim platform and pet them. They are very friendly and huge!! Great experience.Meeting up with friends in Palm Coast was our next desire. So we traveled to Melbourne for an overnighter and then on to Daytona Beach. It is a very nice town, but for some reason when we got there everything in town was closed. We still don’t really know why, but it was almost deserted looking. It was April Fool’s day, but that shouldn’t have anything to do with it….very strange. We moved on to Palm Coast and met up with friends. We had a wonderful time visiting with them.
After spending two days with our friends, we left and traveled to St. Augustine. WOW, what a great little town! We saw buildings that dated back into the 1500’s. It was amazing. We took a tour and saw a little bit of everything. It is a very nice place to stop and see.
Now we are anchored out in the Tolomato River just north of St. Augustine. We are waiting out a big cold front that is supposed to move through the area tonight. Strong winds and rain are predicted, so we thought that we would just sit tight and wait it out here. After this, we move on to Jacksonville. After a couple of days there, we will be continuing our trek north.
For those of you who might be curious, we have traveled a total of 730 nautical miles to date since we left Ft. Lauderdale and started our East Coast cruising adventure.
We will keep you updated in the future. Please know that we always look forward to hearing what you are doing too, so keep in touch.
