Fort Myers to Fort Lauderdale

 

SORRY, Things are a little messed up so the pictures are out of order....limited internet time is the reason I just can't fix it. 



Monique, Gary and Bob

Flotilla of winterfest lights Fort Lauderdale

Lizzard - Fort Lauderdale

Parade of lights Fort Lauderdale

Chilly evenings



Fort Myers.


Dec 01- 02 2012

Our friends Bruce and Ann from MV Happy Hour invited us to visit them in Fort Myers, Florida. We found a great anchorage near their winter home and dingied over for a visit.





No pets allowed either.

Marine Town

Gary enjoying the Florida lifestyle

In doing so, we had to leave Time &Tide anchored (over night!!) all by herself. Of course the cats stayed on board too which made me very anxious. But the boat was fine and so were the cats.

Bruce and Anne are great hosts,they fed us, took us sightseeing and as usual we had a wonderful time with them. They also took us shopping. When you live on a boat you wait for those times when you have a car available to go shopping for heavy stuff that is a pain to carry on a bicycle. Things like cat litter, pop and canned food (cats and human)

Dec 03/ 2012
We said goodbye to the salty sea water of the Gulf coast as we headed up the Caloosahatchee river and our first lock in a long time. Frankin lock was only a 2 foot raise compared to some of the huge ones we did on the river systems , this one was a breeze. The Caloosahatchee river is part of the Okeechobee waterway that stretches from the gulf coast (west ) to the Atlantic (east coats )


Those are Orange orchards

Aren't they afraid of the alligators?



( Oh here is something that freaked me out. Spanish moss is crawling with bugs and sometimes
even snakes! So pretty to look at, but don't touch!!
And guess where cockroaches like to live? Palms !!!!!)
Yuk!!

Labell Florida has a free dock with power and water BUT it is a small dock so in order to fit 6 boats on the dock you have to moor "med style" THIS is a whole new thing for us and Gary was actually very nervous about it. You have to drop you anchor then back to the dock , tie the stern to the dock and pull the anchor tight so secure the boat. Sounds easy?? NOT!! But we actually did an OK job. Gary was at the helm, I dropped the anchor, ran to the back to pass lines to some willing helpers on shore. (If they weren't there I have no idea how we would have done it) Of course my lines got all tangled but we got it on the first try.

Time&Tide Med Moored in Labelle

I went for a little stroll through town and sent Mya's Christmas present off to Ottawa ( The US postal service only charged me $4.00 to mail it and they gave my a lovely Christmas envelope to use for free. Pretty good hey!


Gary was taking the opportunity to use the fresh water to wash the sea salt off T&T when the wash down pump overheated and died! It never ends. There is always something that needs to be fixed on a boat.
The day ended with docktails (cocktails) and the company of new friends.

The biggest news for this day was that we finally saw our first manatee. Very cool.

Manatee

From Labelle we continued on to Clemiston , on Lake Okeechobee. We tied to what we thought ( and all the guide books say) is a free dock just to get chased off by the sheriff. She was very polite and felt bad asking us to leave but she was just doing her job. I just want to add that their was no sign or anything indicating that we were not allowed to over night there. Florida has a huge problem with "live-aboards" (People who live  in squalor on their boats and sometimes the boats are in such bad shape  too) I am sure this is why we were chased off the dock, because they want to make sure no one "lives" there for long periods at a time. So we just untied the lines and anchored right there.
The following morning we crossed the Lake. We had heard some horror stories about that body of water but it was as flat as a pan cake and a pleasure to cruise through. We spent the evening with Lind and Dave from SV Chimo2, who are also members of the Trenton Yacht club where we keep our boat. Because we heard about a rare weather window opening up for the crossing to the Bahamas we asked them to take us shopping for some provisions and we then spent  a lovely evening catching up on everything.
The next morning , wanting to get a good start for our trip to Lake Worth, we got delayed at St Lucie Lock for about 3 hours. After fuelling up in the cheaper part of Florida ( the further South you get the more things cost) we continue on to arrive in Lake Worth after dark.
The next day we were joined by SV Last Waltz also from Trenton yacht club. It was wonderful to see them and we took some time to catch up .

On the Okeechobee Waterway, abandoned

Forgotten

Anchorage on the ICW

So many beautiful homes on the ICW

Why don't you just put your boat on a bigger boat and get it shipped to the Bahamas??

Gary waiting for SV Last Waltz

Bob and Monique, SA Last Waltz

Because we had to get the boat ready for another major crossing we had to move things around and put all the heavy stuff in the boat to lower the centre of gravity.
From here we are waiting to cross to Bahamas, a very scary crossing. After everything I went through on the Gulf it is the last thing I want to experience again. I scares me to my bones.

Update: We are still in Fort Lauderdale. We tried leaving twice from Lake Worth Inlet and had to turn around both times because it was so bad. The weather has not co operated at all and a window for a crossing to the Bahamas seem unobtainable at this time. We are considering moving further south and over to Cuba to get out of the USA for the 15 days we HAVE to be out of the country. A silly law if you ask me. I wonder if the make other Canadians like Justin Bieber, Celine Dion and Shaina Twain leave every 6 months? It pisses me off to no end!!

In the meantime we have found a nice anchorage where we can just chill. Or so we thought......the fresh water pump died, the port engine's starter switch died and we decided to change to head's (sanitary hoses|) lines. What a job!! I had never seen Gary so disheartened. It is a MONUMENTAL job replacing all those hoses and it took us a whole day just to do the hoses from my toilet and Gary's toilet to the Y valve. We still need to do all the hose from the Y-valve to the holding tank. If the landlubbers who read this don't grasp the concept, I know the boaters will, and I am sure they will commiserate with our light.

It is not all work, we are also spending some time sightseeing. The homes on the water front here in Fort Lauderdale are unbelievable!!! It is just one mansion after another, and outside every mansion there is a 50-60 foot yacht!!! It is insane!!!! The beaches are beautiful and there are all kinds of beautiful people on the beaches. We even saw Sammy Hagar at a tequila bar.

Are you looking at me??

Pelican :)

I bite!

Where do they get all the money???

Lake Sylvia anchorage

Different scenery on the Okeechobee waterway

Crossing Lake Okeechobee

I have no idea how long we will stay here, I have a feeling that we will wake up one morning and just decide to move on.   It all depends on the WEATHER!!!

Merry Christmas to all our friends and Family. We miss you all and you are always in our thoughts.





...............................to be continued


 

Coconut face