Log 80; Day 205; Dec. 12, 2008; Deb's 2 cents from Legacy Harbor

Deb took this picture from the bow of our boat...this is where the daily coctail party takes place. The boat you see "Tranquillity" is an 84 year old man who lives aboard 6 months a year...his wife stays at home in New Hampshire. The boat to the right of him came here on the Loop 3 years ago, and never left.

Lunch in downtown Fort Myers on Wednesday...about 5 blocks from the boat

Deb decided it was a good idea to dry our boat towels in the front state room


Deb has not been successful at putting lights on the outside of the boat "yet", but she has managed to remind me this is the Christmas season

Don't tell Deb...but she had done her usual great job of decorating

Log 80
Day 205
Friday, December 12, 2008

5:40 AM EST
Location: Legacy Harbor, Fort Myers, FL.
Weather: 65* and partly cloudy...forecasted to be mostly sunny and 70

It really rained yesterday...we got almost 2 inches. It started about 9 am and finally quit about 2 pm. I know they talk about Florida drought...but Fort Myers has gotten about 60 inches of rain this year...about 6 inches more than normal. Overnight it cleared up, and there is a big full moon. It will be 80* by Monday.

And now, Deb’s 2 cents...

Hey Everybody!

We’ve been getting reports from family and friends that winter has descended upon the Midwest. We’ve seen pictures of the beautiful Michigan snow…and in Illinois, a pictures of our niece’s 2 yr old daughter making a snow angel and a video of their 4 yr old son on a snow board! Well, aside from a few cold days and a couple of rainy days (today being one of them) we’ve had beautiful weather, and it is weird how quickly we’ve forgotten about ice and snow and cold. I was talking to our daughter on the phone recently as she drove home from work and she said, “Rats! I’m stuck behind a snow plow.” It struck me funny because at the time I was sitting on the dock in the sunshine, sipping a Corona and reading a book. “Snow Plow?!” Oh yeah…I remember those.

We got here to Legacy Harbor Marina in Ft. Myers last Thursday and will be here at least through the 1st of Jan. It's a great marina, within walking distance to downtown Ft. Myers, 2 blocks to a Publix grocery store and lots of restaurants all over the place. There's a guy on dock who was also doing the Loop like we are. He stopped here for a few days and he liked it so much, he decided to stay. That was 3 years ago! Almost every night at 5 pm, boaters gather on the dock by the boat in front of us for cocktail hour. They always tell us to grab a drink and join them and finally last night we did. They are a bunch of fun people. One guy passed around hors d'oeuvres...a large container of cashews from Costco...our kind of people! They told us that every Thursday night there is a pot luck up at the tiki hut (which is inexplicably called the "Chickie Hut") and being Thursday, this is the night for it. Right now it's raining like the devil and so we’re not sure if it will still be held...we'll have to wait and see. We still have chicken noodle soup left for dinner if the pot luck falls through! Not sure what we'll bring if we go...potato chips and dip? :o)

It’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit when the weather is (usually) so nice and sunny and warm with palm trees forming a backdrop to our days. We will hear Christmas music on the radio and think, “Why are they playing Christmas music already?” We have put up a few Christmas decos on the boat (see pictures) but BK has blocked my every move to put them up on the outside of the boat. I was thinking we should string lights along the bow rail…maybe a lighted tree on the hard top strapped to the radar arch? Wouldn’t that be cool spinning around? (Is it just me?) Last night we shared a dinner with Mary & Andy and after an evening of laughs we left their boat at 8:45 pm (Mary has set a personal goal to keep Bob up till 9:00 pm…she’s getting closer!) So we went back to our boat and as BK was “locking up”, he spied Mary and Andy in the dark up on their fly bridge stringing lights! It was not a complicated event…they had one string…it was over in 2 ½ minutes. So now I’m lobbying for lights at the helm…not sure I’ll get the job done.

We'll leave the boat here on the 17th to fly back to Illinois for the last 2 weeks of December doing the Christmas celebration thing with all our family and friends. We will have our Christmas celebration with Bob’s family in Herscher, IL…one with my family in Ottawa, IL…and then another with our own little family…Jeff, Beccah and the grandkids, Zack & Sam in So. Elgin, IL …all about 60 miles apart. As usual, we'll be spending a lot of our Christmas holidays on the road. (Let’s hope the roads stay clear!) We have also made appointments for medical checkups, doctors, dentists, etc. It's a lot of stuff to pack into 13 days! It will be our usual whirlwind Christmas and I can't wait!!

We’ll be back to our boat in Ft. Myers on the 30th in time to celebrate New Year’s Eve (probably up at the Chickie Hut!) Then as weather permits, we will make our way down to the Keys where we have a reservation for one month in Key West! They say you can catch a bug while down here which causes a malady called "Key's Disease". The longer you're here, the less you think about anything except getting to the dock in time for the sunset celebration and where your next beer is coming from. I think we must have already been bitten because the symptoms have begun to show and I’m sure being in Key West for a month will only make matters worse! We’re looking forward to it!

Since it’s been raining all day, we’ve planned inside projects…back to mine…organizing and backing up our pictures onto CDs. (I have to become better friends with the ‘delete’ button!) I also want to clean out the fridge and maybe defrost the freezer…not sure it will get done…I might just go watch the sunset instead.

Hope you are all staying warm and getting into the Christmas spirit! Here’s to Holidays filled with fun, family & friends!

First Mate - Deb

Log 79; Day 204; Dec. 11, 2008; Legacy Harbor

Leaving the dock at Marker 34 restaurant

This is one of the boats decorations at the end of our dock

Down at the end of this narrow channel is Marker 34...a lunch stop for us



Our marina is in the distance...just under those condos

Another day...more cleaning

The inside of Marker 34

Sunset from our dock in Legacy Harbor

Log 79
Day 204
Thursday, December 11, 2008

7:30 AM EST
Location: Legacy Harbor, Fort Myers, FL.
Weather: 73* with rain on the way...forecasted to rain much of the day

Today (Thursday)...storms are in the forecast this morning, some are predicted to be heavy. Then rain most of this afternoon. Andy and Mary have decided to stay another day or two to wait out the weather. Both boats have saved inside boat chores because we knew this weather system was coming, so not sure how much we’ll get out today. After this system moves through today it is supposed to get nice again, with temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s starting on Saturday.

Here is an update on the last few days...

Sunday...in the morning, I worked on the holding tank issue. The problem was that it would not pump out properly when we hooked it up to the pump out on the dock. I changed the vent filter, and blew out both vent lines, so I know there are no restrictions in the vent line. Not really sure what the problem was (if there ever was one) but when I tried it again, and went very slow, it worked just fine. I am thinking that the dock pump has such suction that it was causing a problem. So, by slowing it down some, it seemed to work just fine. The afternoon we just we laid around the boat. Deb read her book, and I watched football. About 6 PM Andy and Mary came over to our boat for a cocktail, and then went back to their boat for dinner. We had homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner (awesome job by Deb) and our movie was Shooter.

Monday...Deb did laundry while I went in the engine room and did a few things. One of the things I did was to check the water in the batteries, which was a good thing because the house batteries we low...very low. It took all the distilled water I had to top them off. For lunch, we had planned to take the dinghy and go up river to Marker 34...a restaurant on the river that someone had recommended, but the wind picked up, so we just walked next door to the marina and ate at Joe’s Crab. After a good lunch, Deb came back to continue laundry, and I walked the other way toward town, and the Fort Myers City Marina. On the way back to our boat I also stopped at a large Mainship dealer to talk to them about their latest models, and possibly listing our boat when it comes time to sell. Andy and Mary had decided to keep their car one more day to run some errands, so I went with Andy to Home Depot to pick up a few things. For dinner, Mary had invited us over for her version of “sliders”...similar to the ones White Castle makes. Deb made a big batch of tater tots to go with the sliders and we had a great dinner. Not necessairly the best for you...but the best tasting.

Tuesday...did boat chores in the morning and at 11:30 we jumped in our dinghy with Andy and Mary and went up the river to Marker 34, a restaurant near the water. I say near the water, because you would assume it was on the river (because they say you can come by boat), but in fact you have to go back in the mangrove channels and try to find this place. I would not want to do it in any kind of a big boat, but in a dinghy it was fun. Very simple, but fun place...I’m sure we’ll go back before we leave Fort Myers. It reached 83* today, and was muggy. Nice day to be in Florida.

Wednesday...It got to 86 today (1 degree from the record of 87) and was muggy. It’s the first time we have had to run the A/C very much. First thing in the morning I jumped in the dinghy and went to a near-by ramp to meet a service guy with a trailer. We put the dinghy on the trailer and went 6 bocks to a small boat dealer where I had the engine serviced. I changed the oil, and all filters. I also had the lower end grease changed and installed a new impellor. As particular as I am about keeping everything just so on our boat, I have really neglected the dinghy motor, and it was long overdo for service. I’m glad to get that done. The guys at the dealership did a great job and had me back in the water by 11:15. Back at the boat we asked Andy and Mary if they wanted to walk into town and have some lunch, and we walked about 6 blocks and found a popular spot in downtown Fort Myers. Back at the boat at 1, Deb continued to clean and do laundry, and I (after a short nap) continued to polish the isinglass. I have been doing a 3 part process. Heavy scratch polish; light scratch polish; and then a coat of clear wax/polish. It looks great. At about 5 each day the dock in front of our boat becomes the gathering area for cocktails. They continue to ask us to join them...and today we did. Very nice folks...each with a different story of how they got here. For dinner we took a salad over to Good News, and joined them for dinner (they had salad for dinner as well). More stories; more philosophy; more things we learned about each other...and about ourselves.

I’ll keep you posted.


Bob

Log 78; Day 200; Dec. 7, 2008; Legacy Harbor in Fort Myers

This fellow was pulling his boat just off the channel in the ICW near Cabbage Key, so you tell how shallow it is.

One view from our boat in Legacy Harbor

Another view

This is looking out at the Caloosahatchee River from our boat

The road outside our marina

Mary...on the back of Good News

Deb thinks it's Christmas so she is decorating the boat...I dont' think she has a tree planned

When Deb and Mary went to the street sale she met this man who makes things with palm strips

Log 78
Day 200
Sunday, December 07, 2008

6:30 AM EST
Location: Legacy Harbor, Fort Myers, FL.
Weather: 65* and light winds...forecasted to be 73 & sunny today

We’re at Legacy Harbor in Fort Myers. About a year ago I started planning this trip and made a decision to stay in Legacy Harbor, and made a reservation several months ago. I remember thinking at the time, all the things we would have to do, and accomplish, in order to make it to Fort Myers. That’s behind us now, and we are in Florida for the winter. Even saying it makes me feel good.

The run from Punta Gorda to Fort Myers is pretty straight forward, and easy to navigate. It is very shallow and you must pay close attention to always stay in the center of the channel, but not near as bad as the run from Sarasota to Punta Gorda. When we left Burnt Store Marina we had an 11 mile run across Charlotte Harbor to rejoin the intracoastal water at MM 25...which means we were 25 miles from where the Western Florida ICW ends. (From this point cruisers either follow the Caloosahatchee River east and then across Lake Okeechobee and come out at Stuart on the east coast, or go south in open water and head for the Keys...we’re taking the latter route in early January). From where the ICW ends we joined the Caloosahatchee River and went another 11 miles up the river to Legacy Harbor (very close to downtown Fort Myers). Once we got here, we again joined up with Andy and Mary on Good News. Through several ports, Andy and Mary have become good friends, and we were looking forward to spending more time with them.

The last couple of days...have really been without any agenda. Friday morning Andy and Mary rented a car, and we tagged along with them to West Marine and Costco. For lunch we walked a couple of blocks from the boat to a local restaurant that boasted to have “the best cheeseburger in town”. Not sure if we would all agree with their claim, but it was good. Back at the boat we worked on boat lists, and just relaxed. Dinner consisted of Deb making some awesome chicken tacos, and the movie was stripes, which I had recorded earlier. On Saturday Andy asked me if I wanted to go with him to the race track in Sebring, FL (about 80 miles away). He had planned to meet up with a college roommate and some other guys who were attending the fall classic races at Sebring. We had a great time. Hard to explain about the races...so I’ll just say it was a lot of passionate race car owners and drivers (of every size, shape, and financial status) who raced together on a 3.7 mile road coarse. I really enjoyed it. Deb and Mary walked to the grocery store, and then into town to a local sidewalk sale. Back at the boat about 4 PM, and then for dinner the 4 of us got together on Good News. We both brought our own meat, and Mary made a dish to pass. We swapped more stories, and learned more about each other, and our families. We also learned that their son (Ryan) had proposed to his girl friend that day, so they were really excited.

The next 10 days will be spent working on odd jobs, and doing a lot of preventive maintenance on the boat. Before we leave Fort Myers and heading to the keys I plan to have the oil and filters changed in the dinghy (someone will pick that up on Wednesday). I also will have the oil changed in HQ...that will be done next Monday. Finally I will have the hull waxed by someone else, and I will continue to wax the rest of the boat myself. I have also got a problem with the forward holding tank (won’t pump out correctly) that I need to fix. Deb plans to do a very through cleaning of the inside of the boat. In between all of that, I’m sure there will be the usual dinghy rides, and quest for the perfect cheeseburger.

For Christmas, we plan to fly home on December 17th, and return on the 30th. While we are both looking forward to seeing family and friends...neither of us are looking forward to the drastic weather change we know will come. Oh well...we’ll be back in the keys before you know it.

I’ll keep you posted.


Bob