ssloop: January 2015

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Key West - Jan 21-30

Our home for the month is A&B Marina which is located in the heart of the Historic Key West Seaport and Harbor Walk. Along the waterfront are many restaurants, shops, and fishing boats. Everyday along the boardwalk at 4pm a crowd gathers to watch the Tarpon feeding. This is really fun to watch as tarpon are 4-6 feet long and many show up to battle the waiting pelicans for the food that is thrown to them. Our Marina is also just a few blocks from the famous Duval Street and Mallory Square. So needless to say, we are within easy walking distance to hundreds of shops and restaurants. What fun!

Our weather has been sunny, but somewhat cool and very windy. So far, we have only had one day where we could take the dinghy out exploring. We have however put on many miles on our bikes riding around the island, checking out different beaches, getting groceries and even over the the next island, Stock Island to visit some fellow Loopers that are staying there.

On Saturday, Steve's sister Sue and husband Randy came to visit for 5 days. After settling in, we introduced them to Key West by going to a nearby harbor restaurant for awesome peel and eat shrimp! Our time together included visiting the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, spending an afternoon at nearby pool, relaxing on the boat, shopping Duval Street, hanging at Smathers Beach and eating at many fun spots. Steve and Sue decided to be adventurous and share raw oysters on the half shell! Eew! Sheli was thrilled to have Sue as a shopping partner! (Captain "I don't like to shop" was thrilled also). It was so fun to have Sue and Randy on board as they are always up for an adventure.

Sue & Randy

Across the dock from us we have met John and Sherri from Canada. They are here on their 67 foot yacht. They also have a 32' Boston Whaler here on which they invited the four of us to join them for a Sunset cruise. Fun!

What a sunset!

George Strait's boat named Day Money was docked directly in front of us!

Randy and Steve hanging at the pool.

Key Lime Pie!

Oysters!

Watch it....

Got it! (Screachy stealing from a fishermans bait well)

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Naples - Key West - Jan 17-20

It's time to begin our journey to Key West. We will be traveling alone (no other boats) with 3 nights on the hook in pretty remote areas. (Limited if any cell service) We filed a float plan with sister Sue as to where we would be and when we should arrive.

Saturday morning we departed Naples and traveled 40 miles to Camp LuLu Key located just outside the northern boundary of the Everglades National Park. LuLu Key is a pretty island with sandy beaches where many kayakers where camped out for the night. The sunset was beautiful as we grilled out on the boat. Although we were directly exposed to The Gulf, we had a peaceful calm nights sleep.

Sunday we traveled another 46 miles to Little Shark River. We went upstream approximately 1/2 mile and dropped the anchor in 13ft of water. We are now deep in the Everglades. This meant no cell service and all alone. We dropped the dinghy and explored the river and some side channels through the mangroves. We saw many birds, a few dolphins and possibly a couple manatee. (not 100% sure on that) In the morning we woke up to low tide. We were now in 8ft of water. Many of the channels we took the dinghy in are now mud. This 5ft tide was the biggest we have seen so far. Not in Grand Haven anymore Toto!

We departed Little Shark River early Monday morning and set a course for the middle Keys. We had following 3ft seas on The Gulf. The ride was a little rough and the Pura Vida wallowed like a pig. 52 miles later we arrived at our anchorage for the night, Tarpon Belly Key. Wow...was this beautiful! We dropped the anchor, took the dinghy for a ride around the island, through some channels and hung out on the island beach.

The water is crystal clear. Before settling in for the night, we pulled the anchor and moved around the corner of the island as the winds were predicted to shift during the night. Another great night for grilling and star gazing!

Tuesday we traveled 32 miles to A&B Marina in Key West. We plan to stay here a month and share our time here with several friends from home. This is the southern most point of our trip. From here we will begin our trip north ...if we can make the boat head that direction!

Beautiful Naples home.

Another beauty!

Camp LuLu Key anchorage.

Note how calm the Gulf is! Wow!

Little Shark River anchorage at high tide.

Leaving anchorage at low tide.

Off to explore the Everglades.

Cruising through the Mangroves on the dinghy.

Everglades sunset.

One of the channels we explored via dinghy the day before. No getting in there in low tide! (Glad we didn't stay in there too long!)

Tarpon Belly Key anchorage.

Exploring the Keys via dinghy.

Living the dream!

Captain taking sunrise dinghy ride.

Fort Myers Beach - Naples - Jan 12-16

You are not going to believe this....but we dug out the golf clubs! Our friends Todd & Star from Byron Center have a place in Fort Myers Beach. They arrived Sunday night and gave us a call Monday morning asking is we wanted to play golf. So we did and had a fantastic time!

Tuesday morning we had a diver scrape barnacles off the hull and running gear. This is something we will need to have done periodically while in salt water. In the afternoon we spent time at the beach. Another beautiful day! In the evening, we took our dinghy over to Todd & Star's home where they treated us to a wonderful home cooked steak dinner and a fun evening.

Steve has been fighting a cold over the last week, so on Wednesday we laid low. Sheli took a long walk on the beach and got some wash done. The afternoon was spent loading the bikes and prepping the boat to leave. That evening Uncle Ken & Aunt Joyce stopped by with some cookies and wished us farewell.

It's time to to say goodbye to Fort Myers Beach. Thursday morning we headed back out to The Gulf and turned south. 25 miles later we pulled into Naples where we had reservations at the Naples City Dock. Henk and Thressa Witte were waiting on the dock to catch our lines! They have completed the Loop twice on their boat the Marco Polo II and were a big inspiration to us in deciding to undertake this adventure. After catching up with them on the boat, they took us for a tour around town in their car. Wow, what unbelievable homes in the area! In the evening they treated us to a wonderful dinner at a nearby waterfront restaurant.

On Friday we walked around town and did some shopping. Naples sure beautiful and has many high high, high end shops. No....Sheli did not buy the $135.00 pair of shorts or the $365.00 sweater!

In the afternoon Nick (from Keenan Marina) and his wife Sherri stopped by the boat. They are in the area with their motor home for the winter. Beginning around 5pm, the Naples Friday night rush hour began....a constant stream of private jets arriving at the Naples Airport. What an inconvenience for us as our TV reception was interrupted every time one flew over.

Our diver

Todd & Star sharing an awesome meal

Pura Vida arriving Naples

Henk and Thressa Witte

Pelicans everywhere!

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Fort Myers Beach - Dec 31-Jan 11

We are still hanging in Fort Myers Beach at Moss Marine and loving it! The weather has been in the 80s and the sun has been shining.

New Years Eve was great. We had Bob and Camie from the sailboat Eclipse over to the Pura Vida for burgers on the grill. Bob and Camie are from northern Minnesota so they are loving being warm on New Years Eve also. After dinner they headed back to their boat via dinghy since they are staying out on a mooring ball. We walked down to "Time Square" to watch the "beach" ball drop at midnight.

At midnight we enjoyed an awesome fireworks show from the beach. (The city shoots the fireworks off the Pier.) It was a warm beautiful night...what a treat!

Instead of watching the Rose Parade and football on New Years Day, had a great day on the beach!

As no surprise to us, many people from Michigan come to Florida this time of year. The surprise to us is running into so many people we know! On Sunday afternoon we received a text from Gary & Lori, dock mates from our home marina in Grand Haven. They are staying at a condo nearby so we met them for dinner. Nels and Carol, also from our home marina are in the area. They drove over Monday morning and treated us to breakfast. On Wednesday, our friends from Borculo, Lavonne and Mike came down from Ana Marie Island (where they are vacationing) They invited us to join them and their friends Mark & Sally for the day. Mark and Sally have a 34ft center console, triple engine "go fast boat".....and yes it does! We screamed on over the Captiva Island for lunch at Tween Waters Resort.

What a fun day! On Thursday, Gary & Lori were so kind to drive us to Walmart to load up on some much needed provisions. Thanks guys! On Saturday, Nate & Debbie (Sheli worked with Nate at Witte Travel) came over from Fort Myers where they are vacationing to see us. We had a great afternoon together enjoying lunch and hanging on the beach. On Sunday, Uncle Ken & Aunt Joyce picked us up for church. After church the took us to Sanibel and Captiva Island. We drove through the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge and then had lunch at The Mucky Duck on Captiva. Steve and Ken enjoyed awesome shrimp! The captain says is we keep up this social calendar he is going to need a vacation when we get home!

Besides having fun with friends from home, we have continued to enjoy the beach, take bike rides and explore the area by dinghy.

Happy 2015!