15-31 October 2005
Cedar Key, FL to Stuart, FL.
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| Date | Location | Log and Pictures | ||
| 10/16 | Three Rocker Bar, FL | A reasonable wake up got us into Cedar Key for breakfast and a view of the local arts and crafts festival. A tourist city for sure but it was pleasant. Underway after the tide started coming in we made it to a barrier island off Tarpon Springs by 5:30 pm and anchored. The sunset was spectacular. It would just be nice if the camera could make it look like we saw it. We're watching the new named storm in the Caribbean and will move quickly down to Ft Meyers and across to the east coast of Florida. | ||
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| 10/17 | Sarasota, FL | An astonishing trip down the Gulf to Longboat Pass where we entered the Gulf Coast ICW at the northern end of Sarasota Bay, then on to the Sarasota's designated anchorage area for the evening -- see below. We stopped at two marinas for fuel; the first ran out after giving us just 68 gallons. It was a shame because their fuel was $2.89, while the second place we stopped to finally fill up cost us $3.18 per gallon. After setting the anchor we used the dinghy to get to O'Leary's and ate a great chili burger and drank more than we needed. We are 80 miles from the end of the Gulf Coast waterway (near Ft Meyers, FL) and the start of the 150 miles of the Okeechobee waterway to Stuart, FL on the east coast of Florida. Of course we are watching the newly named storm Wilma and want to be on the east coast of Florida very soon. | ||
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| 10/18 | Useppa Island, Fl | A beautiful morning as we watched the weather channel tell us of Hurricane Wilma coming to Florida this weekend. We dinghied ashore, did some laundry, and returned for a 10 am underway. I'll have to stop at Wal Mart soon as the Clorox bottle leaked and my shorts and shirts are all strange colors. After traveling in the Gulf for the last three days we are now in the ICW and are traveling through some "monied" country as can be seen below. The homes are bigger than any family needs. We anchored off Useppa Island run by a private club and tried to dinghy to the beach but for the first time in six months had a problem with the dinghy. It got us back to the boat but will not run at full power. We'll try to fix over the next few days but we are now intent on making the east coast of Florida by Friday night. We're 20 miles from starting the Okeechobee waterway and will be on are way across Florida by tomorrow night, hoping to arrive in Stuart, FL by Friday. | ||
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| 10/19 | Glades Resort, FL | Running from Wilma we moved south to Ft Meyers then east through the Okeechobee waterway. No Florida east coast marina would guarantee a slip for us on Thursday or Friday for the duration of the hurricane's passage so we have stopped at Glades Resort just 4 miles east of La Belle, FL on the Okeechobee waterway. It is a small basin marina with high hills surrounding it and protected from any water action by two locks between here and Ft Meyers. We may experience higher winds than on the east coast of Florida but we're in a very good hurricane hole and tied to a pier. We can walk off the boat. Moving any further now has too high of a risk of having to anchor the boat on the east coast. So we'll stay here and ride out whatever happens and we can walk off the boat if necessary. The waterway is beautiful and we easily ran 10 mph in 20 feet of water. | ||
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We experienced heavy rain and thunderstorms during the afternoon run. At left one of many large homes on the waterway and on the right some of the rural areas which are just starting to show up on the waterway. |  |
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| 10/20 | Glades Resort, FL | Up late having decided to stay here until Wilma passes. We rented a car to move around the area and move out of the area if needed. Barny planned the remaining stops to Georgetown SC, just 680 miles to the end of our trip. We've traveled 5,025 miles to date and gone through 105 locks; just 3 locks to go before the end of the trip. We've anchored out 59 days, stayed at 26 free docks, and paid the dock master for 88 days at a marina. Of course we are hoping for a quiet passing of Wilma but are planning for the worst. We'll know how it turns out early next week. | ||
| 10/21 - 23 | Glades Resort, FL | Cloudy and raining on the 21st but it was a good work day. Barny got an appointment to have Durango groomed and I cleaned the mustache off the sides of the boat (caused by dirty river water), worked on cleaning teak rails and was able to fix the dinghy engine that acted up the other day. Wilma's arrival has been delayed so we've have some more work days as we wait for Wilma. Second guessing ourselves we could move on but have decided it is safer to sit it out right here in stead of being out on the water when the storm track finally approaches Florida. Below are some pictures of the small marina, Glades Resort, where we've stopped. | ||
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| 10/24 | Glades Resort, FL | Hello Wilma! It made landfall at 6:30 am on the west coast and ran 50 miles south of us as it barreled across Florida. Rain and wind for 4 hours will make us remember the storm even though we have no structural damage to the boat. Barny stood against the one piece of isinglass to save it from being blown out by the 80 to 100 mph winds we were experiencing. Half way through the storm we looked out the window Barny was standing by and saw a 30 foot houseboat bearing down on us. It had broken its moorings. Luckily it was snagged by the aft anchor line we had out and the wind carried it east to some empty land on the shore where it grounded itself. This afternoon we started cleaning up and will try to leave tomorrow or Wednesday for the east coast of Florida. | ||
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Top left, the storm starts. Above, at its full intensity. At right Barny saving an isinglass window -- winds at 80+ mph. At left, the storm is winding down. And finally, at right, Wilma is gone! |  |
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| 10/25 | Glades Resort, FL | Sunny and cool with dry air we started cleaning the boat and getting rid of the aftermath of Wilma. Cockpit and back deck carpets were taken off the boat and cleaned, all electronics checked, the dinghy was cleaned and stowed, and the boat was cleaned. We're ready to continue the trip but the Okeechobee waterway is closed. A marina five miles east was destroyed during Wilma and the piers have blocked a lock gate. Hopefully it will open tomorrow and we can start the final leg of the trip. The waterway was opened in 1937 and includes travel through a river, a canal, a lake, another canal, and finally another river. The lake, Okeechobee, is the second largest fresh water lake in the US, second to Lake Michigan. The waterway is 150 miles long and includes 5 locks. We've done two of them, with three more to do which will make 108 total locks for the trip. | ||
| 10/26 -27 | Glades Resort, FL | The waterway was not open so we traveled by car to see my cousin, Jan Lee Mason who lives in Vero Beach, FL. She and her friend Tom treated us to a great home cooked steak dinner. We stayed the night and returned to Glades and the boat on the 27th. Upon returning discovered I had to perform corrective maintenance on one of the heads (toilets). I hate plumbing and have been lucky that we've had no problems for the last six months. Turned out the discharge of the head was plugged. So much fun getting it fixed, but fixed it is. We are now waiting for the waterway to open so we can continue the journey. | ||
| 10/28 | Glades Resort, FL | Finally, we hope! The Corp of Engineers is hoping to open the Okeechobee Waterway tomorrow the 29th, and we're ready to go after a 10 day stay at Glades Resort because of Wilma. The boat is ready and you can see in the pictures below that the locals used an air boat to clean the marina of debris that had collected in the marina opening. Floyd and Deborah, on the sailboat ahead of us are planning to return to their home port in Fort Myers Beach tomorrow; they have also been here since the 20th. Glades was a pleasant place to hide out from the storm but we're ready to go. | ||
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| 10/29 | Glades Resort, FL | Stuck another day. The waterway is open for boats going west from the Lake but the Lake route and travel east bound is suspended so we sit until the USCG and Corp of Engineers open the Lake. They are not making estimates and getting information is hard, but we see evidence of hard work to get the waterway open so we are hopeful we'll be on our way soon. | ||
| 10/30 | Glades Resort, FL | The waterway opened today at 2 pm. Winds were 20 knots and we could not make a good marina or anchorage by sunset so we decided to get underway early tomorrow morning. Finally on our way again soon! | ||
| 10/31 | Southport Anchorage Stuart FL | Finally underway again, we started this morning at 6 am and did a 12 hour day settling in on a mooring ball at Southport Anchorage, Stuart Fl. We took the dinghy into Stuart and had a great Mexican meal and are now preparing for another early start to make Melbourne Fl tomorrow night. The trip today included views of the Lake with tall stands of denuded trees, large waterfront homes, and just before we moored we passed a sailboat with only its mast out of the water. We assume it went down during Wilma. | ||
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