Vero Beach and North

Well, we are now moving north up the east coast of Florida.  The weather is colder and we have to think about sudden thunder storms.  We can watch our iphone RADAR app that gives a live look at what is coming.  We just got a tornado warning text message with a loud beep warning us to take cover.  We are at a mooring in St. Augustine. The RADAR shows the cell moving slightly north of us. The sky is dark in that direction, and brighter to the south, and the water is flat calm.


After crossing the Okeechobee we stayed with Dick and Bonnie on their dock.  We enjoyed their good company and visits from Ron and Tish Drago who brought us some fresh herbs from their garden. Mike Heaphy stopped by for brunch before we left.  Bonnie has beautiful flowers in her garden. Check out the pictures.  Dick led us out of the canal and along the bridge.  We touched bottom twice, but didn't get stuck like last time,  just rubbed off some of the bottom slime!

Bonnie's Flowers:

Dawn in Vero

Vero Beach bridge

We moved north to Melbourne, dropped the hook near the bridge and had a quiet evening.  Next day we went to Titusville and spent two nights in their mooring field.  The weather was warm and lovely, and we enjoyed sitting outside for a beautiful sunset.  Next morning was cloudy with thunder storms coming.  We wated a couple of hours for the rain to pass, then headed up to New Smyrna Beach.  We tied up, and found the Panhead Pizza place, where we had excellent wings and, of course, Pizza.

Sunset in Melbourne

 

Pelican posing in Titusville

Ibis on patrol in Titusville

Osprey nest - occupied

Roots along the shore

Eagle - I think

One of many small islands along the ICW

We have seen many dolphins along the way.  The first was in North Carolina in November.  They appear and follow the boat, or just go about their graceful business.  Sometimes they want to play in the wake.  This group of three of four played and jumped in the wake for almost a mile.  It's hard to get pictures of them because you can't tell where they will jump.   This group kept taking turns jumping in the same spot, and I was able to get some good shots.

You never know what is around the next bend.

The pelicans scrambling after the trimmings in New Smyrna Beach

In the morning we woke to cool crisp sunshine, and headed out past Daytona Beach with all the bridges and on to Palm Coast for a quiet evening.  The sun was warm so we enjoyed our Chardonnay on the upper deck until the sun went down and it got cold.

Many sandbars and marsh land

Ponce De Leon Inlet Lighthouse

Daytona Bridges

On this Daytona Bridge, every piling has a painting of Dolphins and Manatees

What a great boat - The Pink Panther - looked like a live aboard boat.

Palm Coast Marina

Working Tug

Beautiful shoreline

Yesterday found us taking a short trip to St. Augustine.  The section of the Matanzas River is lovely, with sandy shoreline and curving river banks and sandbars.  We picked up a mooring ball, felt lazy so we stayed on board.  Today I went to town to explore and get a few groceries.  There are so many shops and restaurants that are along a pedestrian only street.  It was busy even though the skies threatened.  Then it RAINED - buckets.  The gutters were deep with water - wet feet - just getting back to the marina building.
Got back to the boat when the rain subsided.  We are now dry and warm, listening to the thunder and pouring rain with some hail, can't see to shore - barely to the next boat. 

Interesting sculpture in a St. Augustine Gallery window.

Looking up King Street toward Flagler College towers

Garden in old town

The Bridge of Lions - notice the new dock that will also serve as a wave break from the NE wind/waves

It's still raining, but no more thunder or lightning ... at least for now.

Boca Grande, Cayo Costa and the bonus of Pete's second visit

This posting is out of order, but I wanted to share the pictures from our day in Boca Grande, and a day in Cayo Costa before Jeff's stroke. 

After leaving Punta Gorda around February 20, we headed toward the barrier Islands that stretch from Sanibel, Captiva and Cayo Costa to Gasparilla, some of the most beautiful islands in the area.  We anchored off the town of Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island in the fog.  We waited and it burned off in time to dinghy in for lunch and a leisurely tour around the canals and inlets.

Gasparilla Island pictures:

Canal in Boca Grande

Old Florida Marina

Boat House

We had lunch here on the upper deck with a view of the boats coming and going

Check out the dolphin fin - they are very hard to photograph, but they are all over, following the boat and playing.

The Bayou

Another boat house

Pelican bronze sculpture

The next day we made the short crossing of the Boca Grand Pass to Pelican bay on Cayo Costa.  I dinghied ashore to the park ranger dock and walked about 1/2 mile across the island to the beach.  Beautiful and covered with shells.  Plenty of open space to walk the shore and enjoy the solitude.

Cayo Costa Beach looking toward Boca Grande Pass

Island trees with hundreds of hawks looking for lunch

Interesting evergreen trees

Shells and more shells

Unfotunately our plans to spend a few days here were cut short by Jeff's second stroke.  We had to call the coast guard and the local Sheriff Boats and a Fire Boat with EMT aboard took Jeff to shore and to the Ft Myers Hospital.  Luckily we were able to get in touch with the Doyles and the Occhinos who helped us with everything.  After a night in the hospital, Jeff was much better, and he came home to the boat after Ed and Dennis helped me bring it back to Ft. Myers Beach.  He is doing much better, regaining his speech, and energy.

The bonus was that his brother Pete came from Iowa for the second time this winter to visit us back in Snook Bight Marina in Ft. Myers Beach.  We rested and relaxed with Pete and visited our Florida friends and MYC family for two weeks.

Jeff and Pete

We had some long walks on the beach - even on a stormy day

This Pelican is NOT a sculpture

These dolphin ARE sculptures

We took the trolley to town

"Time Square" Ft Myers Beach

The shrimp boats in Ft Myers Beach

Across the Okeechobee Waterway

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 The Okeechobee Waterway consists of two rivers, two canals with five locks, and one very large lake in the middle.

Last Sunday we left the lovely town of Ft Myers Beach to head across the center of Florida on the Waterway.  Ed Occhino gave us a great send-off, waving and blowing a horn as we passed under the Matanzas Causeway Bridge.  We continued on to the Caloosahatchee River past Ft. Myers and through the first lock that raises the boat toward the level of the lake.  These locks are different from the NY Canal system locks.  The doors open about two feet and the water pours through with a good bit of turbulence.  In the NY locks, the water is sent into some underground pipes that distribute the water through the length of the lock more evenly, with less turbulence and a higher speed. 

Ft Myers highrise

One of the locks - note the water coming in the partially open gate

After the first lock we stayed the night at Rialto Harbor Marina.  This has to be the most beautiful and unique marina we have visited.  It is like a old Florida horse farm, complete with barns, horses, chickens, goats, birds and carriage house.  The pool and bath house are surrounded by beautiful gardens, a waterfall and the buildings are all lovely architecture.  The 12 acre property is landscaped with all sorts of tropical trees, vines and flowers.  Each dock has its own sitting area, and the owner came to build us a wood fire in the grill.  His wife brought us fresh flowers, and a newspaper in the morning.  We would gladly spend more time there.  It is a destination all by itself.

Pictures from Rialto Harbor Marina:

Our personal sitting area - with wood fired grill - YUM!

The owner's home

The porch of a guest cottage with a HUGE ship's wheel

Lots of little gems around the property

Tropical Plants

Landscape Touches

Carriage Horses

Chinese chickens with spectacular feathers ...

... and feathered feet

more tropical plantings vines and flowers

Bougainvilla

Antique carriage on the porch

GoodTidings at the dock

waterfall near the pool

Carriage House

Wild Bird (?)

Training the competition carriage horses

True High Stepping Horse

The next day took us along the river and through two more locks that lifted us up to the level of Lake Okeechobee.  We stayed the night in Clewiston next to an outdoor restaurant where we had some good burgers.  We decided not to have the alligator tail sandwiches...  I kept looking for an alligator, but no luck.  My guess is that it was too cool for them to be out sunning.

Herd of cattle

Orange groves

In the morning we crossed the 25 miles to the east side of the lake ahead of a front.  The water was building as we arrived at the lock, but the opened the doors on both ends and we were sent straight through.  Later that day, after travelling through the St. Lucie Canal, we stayed in a marina that is really designed as a hurricane hole.  They are set up for dry storage with bolts set in the concrete for tying the boats down in a storm.  Many large boats spend the summer in their sheds and large lots while their owners are up north.

Ibis in the trees - there were thousands of birds along the edge of the lake

Jeff at the marina

Our last day took us through one more lock that lowered us almost 15 feet to the St. Lucie River.  It is lovely meandering waterway that joins the bays and inlets at Stuart Florida where we crossed our wake and turned north on the ICW.  We continued until we were met on the water by Dick Myers, who led us in to his canal and we docked in front of their lovely home for a few days.  We left yesterday afternoon to make sure we had high water, and took a mooring ball in Vero Beach Municipal Marina.