Our home for the holidays

It's warm here and we love it.

Sunday,  December 11, John hopped on his bike to ride off base and check on the progress of the bike path from here to the city of Key West.  When we visited in February, we thought the trail would be completed by now.  No such luck, he had to ride along the Overseas Highway.  We'll rent a car to make traveling into town safer and more convenient.  John rode 23 miles exploring possible routes to town, the commissary, etc. then rode 10 more miles with Mary on base.  We also took a brisk 30 minute walk.  This base is pretty utilitarian, no path along the water, historic forts or museum so we'll probably buy a bike rack so we can drive someplace pretty for our rides and will probably take walks in town, also.  There are pretty constant flights of F-18s and we saw C-130s dropping paratroopers.

An F-18 Hornet:

Monday we walked again and Mary rode 5 miles, John 10.  We added a P-3 Orion and some F-5's to our aircraft sightings.  We rode our bikes to the base post office to pick up the mail Jo had sent.  We sure collect a lot of junk in a month-and Jo hadn't forwarded catalogs! We worked on cleaning the boat for our much-anticipated company-all 4 kids will be here for Christmas! John scrubbed the deck carpets and the deck while Mary washed the deck seating and the dash-including all the crud that gathers along the windshield from rain.  Her new hip allowed her to crawl right up to the window-it's cleaner than it's been since the boat was new!

P-3 Orion:

Tuesday we spotted a mysterious white object floating in the sky when we took our walk.  Fat Albert is a blimp that is tethered over Cudjoe Key.  There are 2 different ones-one is used for drug interdiction, the other transmits to Cuba.  We now have a rental car.  Enterprise has a good thing going with their policy of picking you up to take you to their office.  We can't remember ever using that company before, but have taken advantage of that policy all 3 times we've rented cars during this trip.  We won't need to buy a bike rack-they had no economy cars so we have a Jeep Compass and the bikes fit in the back.  We went to Turtle Kraal, a restaurant in the old turtle factory, where they used to can turtle soup before the turtles became protected.  It was our favorite place to eat the 2 other times we visited Key West, but they've changed their menu drastically and are more a southern smoke/barbecue place now.  Rather than have a distinctive sauce, they smoke the meat then bring 6 different sauces to the table. We get much better barbecue when we visit Matthew and Christine in Charlotte. We had a very windy bike ride around base.  There's one place on the road where you have to stop and look for low-flying aircraft, as you are crossing the runway approach.  There are often planes taking off or landing, so we have to wait, hands over ears, for them to pass.

Fat Albert:

Wednesday we had another windy bike ride then drove to Sigsbee, where the commissary and px are located.  Naval Air Station Key West consists of several different sites.  We then drove a few keys past Boca Chica to look at bike trails.  There are some nice ones we look forward to exploring. There is no fresh water available in the Keys, so a water pipe runs along the bridges and along the road all the way from the mainland. Here is a picture of the pipe along one of the old bridges:

Thursday we prepared Christmas cards and pulled the little Christmas tree out from under the seat and decorated it.  The US Postal Service did not get our forwarding address correct, even though we had our postmaster in Shepherd complete it for us, as it didn't present correctly when we tried on-line and the postal employee at the 1-800 number couldn't get it to go into the system, either. Consequently, we have to drive into town to the main post office to get our mail as well as check at the post office on base. We decided to go to Margaritaville, the site of the first of Jimmy Buffet's restaurant chain, but it was closed for their Christmas party so we had to go to Sloppy Joe's, where Hemingway used to hang out.  Yes, it's a tough life, but we're hanging in there! After dinner, we went to Mallory Square for the sunset ceremony.  Even the cacophony of the performers and vendors does not detract from the beauty of the sunset:

Friday we drove as far as Marathon to look at bike trails and the old Bahia Honda bridge, which was the biggest challenge for Flagler's crews during construction of the overseas railroad, as the water is very deep.  When the auto road was constructed, this bridge was too narrow to use the railroad bed, so the automobile road  was built above the supports!  John drove on this bridge in 1972 and he says it was quite exciting.  One of our guide books describes it as like driving your car on a roller coaster.  Alas, there is now a newer, tamer bridge.

There are several trainers at the base now, the white and orange 2-seater prop jobs like we see at Pensacola.  We tried the Square Grouper at mile marker 22.2 for lunch.  It had been recommended by someone in the marina and was excellent.  We went back into Key West for those "cheeseburgers in paradise" at Margaritaville then to Mallory Square for the sunset.

The old "roller coaster" bridge:

Saturday we added to our plane-spotting list with some 5-16's, 5-15's, and a C-17 while walking and biking.  John went to the commissary, as it's closed Sunday and Monday.

Sunday we moved the bikes to the Truman Annex, another part of the naval air station.  It's right in town and close to a good bike path along the ocean.  After dark we walked along the Bight (old docks) to the Christmas tree decorated with lobster pot floats to hear a children's musical group from Ft. Lauderdale play Christmas music.  Not quite the Dow Gardens Christmas walk-through, but nice.

Monday we biked along the ocean and walked along Duval Street.  We dropped John's bike off for repair since, in spite of paying to have 2 new tubes installed in Tarpon Springs, both tires are flat every morning.  There's also an annoying clicking noise that we hope they can eliminate.

There are a lot of chickens wandering around.  When cock fighting was outlawed, the chickens were just released and their descendants wander freely.  Crowing is common background noise:

Tuesday we did laundry and John grilled chicken breasts and steak.   We picked up John's bike then drove back to the old harbor to try another recommended restaurant-Dante's.  It seems the economy has badly affected the restaurants here.  Dante's now has a limited menu and uninspired food.  Matthew and Christine are here such a short time that we don't want to waste time and money in mediocre restaurants.

Wednesday we rode the bike trail all the way to the airport and checked out East Martello, the pre-Civil War fort that now houses the museum where Robert, the haunted doll, resides.  We'll go in when the kids are here. Mary wrapped John's Christmas gifts and his stocking now bulges suspiciously.

Thursday John arose early and biked all the way around Key West, following the bike path around past the airport and the old harbor and back to the Truman Annex.  Mary did some paper (computer) work.  John wrapped Mary's presents and went back into town for stocking stuffers. We set out the little nativity set John's sister Jo gave us and the Year Without a Santa Claus figures Theresa gave Mary a few years ago.  We put a small string of lights on the silk flower arrangement and Mary Frances looks very Christmasy for the kids' visit.  Benj and Sarah are running to catch their connecting flight in Atlanta and Matthew and Christine are packing the car to begin their drive. We can't wait for them to arrive!

Crab pot, crab pot, crab pot, TURTLE!

On the way to Boca Chica Marina, our home for at least the next month, there were once again many crab pots.  Mary spotted a float that was brown and more oblong shaped than usual.  Every time she tried to point it out to John, it disappeared below the surface in the chop.  John finally saw it as it surfaced next to the boat.  It was a turtle.

Seven Mile Bridge:  The open part is the old bridge, which is now a fishing pier. There is a crab pot float in the foreground.

An F-18 air escort as we approach the marina:

Mangroves on the way in:

Another hand pump-out.  Think this is part of the military fitness program?

Our new home:

Crab Pots and Keys

We left Sanibel Island at 7:10 am and were at Marathon by 3 pm.  We are in the Keys!!!! Tomorrow we'll call Boca Chica Marina and see if we can come early, as our reservations start 12/15.  We saw over a thousand crab pots today.  Watching for them and dodging them makes for a very tiring day.

An evening shot of Mary Frances at Marathon:

Christmas in a marina:

Tarpon Springs, Anna Maria Island, and Sanibel Island

Tarpon Springs has been one of our favorite stops.  We stayed at Turtle Cove, a fairly new marina close to restaurants, shops and the bike trail. The kind of bike trail Mary likes-on an old railroad grade, so there are no hills.

Mary Frances at Turtle Cove Marina:

There are many Greek restaurants in Tarpon Springs and we took advantage.  Saturday we had gyros for lunch-sausage for John, pork for Mary, accompanied by a Greek salad and Avgolemono (Chicken lemon) soup.  Sunday's dinner was Pastitso (Greek style lasagna with layers of macaroni and ground beef topped with tomato and cream sauce), Mousaka (layers of eggplant, potatoes and ground beef topped with cream and tomato sauce), Dolmades (seasoned ground beef and rice wrapped in grape leaves topped with egg lemon sauce), Gyro (seasoned lamb and beef), and Spanakopita (spinach pie). YUM!

Can you imagine a more perfect bike trail-and in December!

We rode 13 miles and ended up back at Spring Bayou to watch the manatees for an hour.

We left at 7:20 Monday morning, December 5.  We wove our way through the markers out of the Anclote river and back into the intracoastal waterway. We'd not seen a flock of roosting pelicans before:

We stopped at Anna Maria Island because Suki and Hal live here during the winter.  The dock behind our boat backed up to a mangrove swamp.  This osprey was trying to settle in, but grew tired of our conversation and left for a quieter resting place.

Hal, bearing the gift of 2 bottles of delicious Michigan wine, rode his bike to visit while John washed the salt off the boat.  We impolitely spent some of Hal's visit on the phone, as we had realized we hadn't had a bank withdrawal for propane, so John called Jo and asked her to check our propane tank.  It read empty, so John called the company.  They were evidently basing their planned fills for how often we've needed it in the past.  Since we burn wood and propane in a combination furnace, we don't use very much propane.  Even though we had explained to them that we are not burning wood this year, so wanted them to check and fill it regularly, something hadn't sunk in.  Jo graciously agreed to go back to our house to meet the delivery man as, when he saw the tank was empty, he turned it off and wanted to check the rest of our appliances as he thought we must have a leak to use so much more propane than in the past.  We don't have any appliances that feed off that tank.  They restarted the furnace and all is well, after only about 15 phone calls. Thank you so much, Jo. We shudder to think what may have happened with no heat in the house in a Michigan December.

Mary Frances at Anna Maria Island:

When Suki returned from having some work done on the car, she and Hal picked us up and took us on a tour of the island.  We certainly understand why they choose to spend time there!  We had dinner at their favorite restaurant and enjoyed another pretty sunset:

After dinner, we went to Joe and Barb's house.  Joe, John, and Hal were all in the same motorcycle club many years ago.  Barb and Joe sold John the 10 acres on Loomis Road that we used for a down payment on our house.

We were up early the next morning, as we want to keep moving so our kids don't arrive in Key West for Christmas before we do.  We traveled 100 miles on the intracoastal and arrived at Sanibel Island at 3:30.

The intracoastal is varied through here, from swamps to big cities to large homes.  Here's Mary's favorite site along the way:

(Hey, Sara, I'm putting one of these on my Christmas list, how about you?)

Even though our boat isn't very tall (13 feet with the antenna down) there are still some bridges with such low clearance that we have to request an opening:

There are many manatee protection signs along this section of the the intracoastal.  We saw some more dolphins today, but no manatees. Some of the signs say "Manatee Zone Idle Speed No Wake" others "Slow Speed Minimum Wake" and there's "25 MPH Within Channel, Idle Speed 100 Feet Out of Channel".  The signs also make good platforms for osprey nests:

Gasparilla Rear Range Light:

One of the reasons we chose Sanibel Island was a wish to reconnect with Vickie and Paul, who did the loop in their SeaRay in 2008-2009.  We met Vickie at the spring loopers' rendesvous we attended in Charleston in 2008.  We met Paul when they stopped in Mackinaw City while doing the loop.  We didn't have much time with them, as John was still working so we were only in Mackinaw for the weekend.  They drove from their home in Cape Coral and we had dinner together.  It was wonderful to see them:

Sanibel Light-the keeper's house is on stilts:

Because of the island's orientation, the tide washes a lot of seashells and sea creatures onto Sanibel beaches:

We picked up some shells today and rode 15 1/2 miles along some of the island's many bike trails.  Another sign we don't see in Michigan:

Just in case you're concerned that Santa won't be able to visit us because there's no snow for his reindeer: 

We are at Sanibel Marina and every morning at 7 AM they deliver blueberry muffins and a paper.

Hudson and Tarpon Springs

Everyone we left Carrabelle with traveled safely across the Gulf and docked in either Hudson or Clearwater.  Mary and John on Passport, Kerm and Chris on Southern Belle, and Maureen and Peter on Duddon Pilot arrived at Hudson at 4:45 am, 12 hours after we did.  We thought that their overnight passage would have been gentler than ours, as they stayed closer to shore, but they had to deal with waves and many crabpots.  We are all glad to have that experience behind us.

Mary Frances at Hudson:

Chris and Kerm on Southern Belle crossed their wake (finished the loop) here:

It's nice to know people who are familiar with the area, as you learn the best places to eat and where to watch the sunset:

We left Hudson Saturday, December 3, at about 7 am, on a falling tide.  We followed the long channel through a seagrass area out to deeper water and turned left.  Water was not bad until toward the end of our run, when a small chop developed.  We wouldn't have even felt it if we hadn't had to keep avoiding crab pots, so had to turn into and out of the waves.  After about an hour, we passed Anclote Key and turned into Tarpon Springs.

Anclote Key Light:

Greek sponge divers came to Tarpon Springs in the early 1900's.  The Greek food is wonderful and yes, sponge diving is still big business.

Not only are they sorting sponges on the boat, but look at all the bags of sponges on the dock:

A tribute to sponge divers.  There are sponges on the upper deck of the boat behind John.  Will we become accustomed to seeing Christmas decorations while wearing shorts?  We'll try hard!

Doesn't look very well balanced!

At the end of our walk, we went to Spring Bayou to see manatee. We saw about a dozen.

There is an actual bike trail here, so we're off for a ride.

Gulf Crossing

Buddy said Wednesday would be the only day to get out of Carrabelle for another week, so we left at 7 am, with Brown Eyed Girl and Free to Be to make a fast run.  The Carrabelle River and Intracoastal were fine.  As we headed toward the buoy to make our turn south, waves were about 2 feet.  An hour later, they started building and didn't get better for the whole run.  Often the wave patterns were confused and swells came from different directions.  About 2 hours out from our goal of Tarpon Springs, the other boats continued south toward Clearwater as we turned more east.  We used so much fuel fighting the waves that we came into Hudson, as it was closer than Tarpon Springs.  We made use of our Boat US membership and are glad we did, as Captain Red could give us local information about which fuel source was closest and it wasn't the one we thought-the chart (remember, water is important, not land) doesn't indicate that it's 6 miles (all no wake) into the marina we had in mind.  We were on the water for 10 hours today and are glad we are not among those who left Carrabelle this morning soon after us and will be on the water most of the night because of their speed limitations.  Sorry no pictures-that was the last thing on our minds today.

Hotel California

John says we must have inadvertently checked into Hotel California, as it seems we'll "never leave".  It's Sunday, November 27 and now Tuesday won't be good to go across the gulf after all.

Today is Tuesday, November 29.  Wednesday and Thursday are now looking like possible gulf crossing days.  Yesterday Suki and Hal stopped to visit on their way back to Anna Maria Island from Pensacola.

John and Hal attended high school together, their time in Vietnam overlapped, they roomed and rode motorcycles together after their army years, and they actually graduated from Central Michigan University on the same day 20 plus years after their high school graduation.  We went to Apalachicola for lunch, then surprised Mary and John, who have been trapped there almost as long as we have been in Carrabelle.

John, Mary, Mary, John

There are now 10 looper boats here and we'll all meet Buddy at 6 am Wednesday morning to see what he recommends.  2 of the boats that came in today are fast, so we'll cross with them when the window opens. 

Still in Carrabelle

We moved here on the last good weather day, Monday, November 21.  It appears that the next good weather day on the water will be Tuesday, November 29, so that is probably when we will cross the Gulf to Tarpon Springs.  In the meantime, we are making the best of our extended stay.

Mary Frances at her Carrabelle home:

The no-see-ums in Pensacola notified their Carrabelle cousins that sweet, tender John would make an excellent dinner and they were waiting.  We arrived here late afternoon, so John first rinsed the salt off the boat and was hooking up the electricity just about dusk and ......... we had to go to the drugstore the next day to buy more antihistamines.  It's a good thing the doctor in Pensacola prescribed such a large tube of steroid cream.  John is now confined to the boat at dawn and dusk.

Town is close to the marina, about 1/2 mile, and there is an IGA right across the highway.  Sidewalks come out this far, so we have been able to walk and bike.  Friday, after John replaced the innertube in Mary's front tire, we rode into town to the local history museum and to the Camp Gordon Johnston World War II Museum.  20 miles of beach here were used to train soldiers in amphibious assault (think D-Day).  We then rode west across the bridge to a small island.  We need to buy a couple more tubes, as both of John's tires go soft overnight, but the Ace Hardware only had one.  The family-owned hardware store was still closed for the Thanksgiving holiday so we'll check there later.

Carrabelle was originally a cotton shipping port, then lumber (like many Michigan towns).  Next came fishing and now it's a quiet town that relied on tourists until the economy crashed.

A few fishing boats still base operations here:

John mounted the EPIRB (emergency beacon that will allow rescue crews to find us) we bought in Pensacola and worked on the "ditch bag"-the bag we'll grab to take in the dinghy with us if something goes wrong with the boat during the Gulf crossing.  We should have had these for our many great lakes crossings!

According to the woman at the WWII museum, Carrabelle police actually used to operate out of a phone booth:

Low tide-these are a little bigger than the zebra mussels on Michigan dockposts:

Panama City and Carrabelle

While it was raining Saturday, John did some laundry.  It's a bit of a challenge putting sheets on the bed:

We left Pensacola Sunday morning at 8:30.  We heard Passport on the radio, so butted in and had a short radio visit with John and Mary, whom we hadn't seen since the rendesvous.  We passed Lauren Grace, Eagle One, and Passport then let Mary Frances have her head and were in Panama City before 4 pm.

We've driven over this bridge from Pensacola to Fort Pickens many times.  Here's a slightly different view:

Our wake is much foamier in salt water.

Here's Mary taking a picture of Mary taking a picture of Mary.....

Isn't Passport handsome underway?

The Gulf Intracoastal from Pensacola to Panama City varies.  Cypress swamp:

Man-made cut, the Grand Canyon of the GICW (Gulf Intracoastal Waterway):

Marshy grasslands:

At Panama City, we walked to the only restaurant in walking distance that was open Sunday, Bayou Joe's.  It's built over the water (evidently Florida law no longer allows this, so as these places are destroyed by storms, this old Florida tradition dies) and the very large catfish love any leftovers.  We didn't take the camera to dinner, but here's Mary Frances in her slip at Panama City Municipal Marina:

We traveled from Panama City to Carrabelle Monday to be ready to make the Gulf Crossing to Tarpon Springs as soon as weather permits. We have had dolphins swimming near our boat, but it's much easier to take a picture when they're swimming under someone else's bow:

The GICW between Panama City and Carrabelle:

They need to bring  a snagboat through here.  Dodged a lot of sticks, logs, trees; had one "thunk" but all seems fine.

Will there be room for us to squeeze through? This scene reminded us of entering the Manistee River back in August!  These fishermen are gathered at a spot where there is a way out to the gulf from the intracoastal:

A casualty of the last big storm?

At Appalachiocola, the waterway leaves the sheltered, narrow path and moves out into Appalachiocola Bay.  Um, John, that looks like a Coast Guard boat behind us and its blue lights are flashing...

After a courtesy safety inspection, we were back underway.  Before we noticed the Coast Guard boat, we were conversing by radio with Harbour Reach.  After our inspection, the coaties visited Mary and Bill.

Oyster harvesting:

We arrived at Carrabelle Monday, fueled, moved into our slip and prepared to make the most of our time here, as it will be a long visit.  The forecast is not conducive to a gulf crossing.  This town has been badly affected by the economy.  We had a hard time finding a restaurant open for lunch yesterday (Wednesday) and gave up looking for a possibility for Thanksgiving dinner out.  We are the only loopers in this marina-those slower boats are still in Panama City and those who were here ahead of us left Monday, the last good traveling day (the day we arrived).

This morning, we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  We are planning a "Thansgiving dinner in a sandwich" with cranberry sauce and John is marinating beets and green beans for a salad side dish.  We've talked to our kids and we'll watch Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving later today.  We are thankful that we have the opportunity to have this adventure and that we have people who care enough about us to follow this blog. Happy Thanksgiving.