Moving on toward Stuart

Well I know this looks innocent enough....Mike cleaning his bike?  BUT actually, on Tuesday morning we woke up to 25 kt winds and maybe stronger though the night, that's when Mike went outside and found his bike was missing!  Yup, you guessed it, it got blown off the dock and into the water it went.  My sources (Ashley) said he fished it out with a boat hook. 

Ashley got this great shot!
Finally on Wed morning the winds settled down so we could take our leave from Venice, we had hoped to leave on Monday but the strong winds prevented that so we got off the dock bright n early ( 10am ).  Our destination for the day was Burnt Store Marina.  We got there around 3 and pumped out and fueled up SweetPea and had dinner in the restaurant there.  What a nice meal we all had, we could of spent a week here just in the restaurant but it was just a 1 night er, the next morning we we were off again to Legacy Harbour which is at the beginning of the Okeechobee waterway and we also knew we would find some loopers there we had not seen in awhile.



A beautiful sunset as seen from happy hour aboard Something Special at Legacy.  We were joined also by ErikaLin and
 Salt N Sand.




We all went out for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack somehow the only picture I got was of Sid, he may be the most photographed looper of the year!



Can't have too much of a good thing so the next morning (Friday) we were off again leaving Legacy. 
Since we were held up for a couple of extra days in Venice we were now behind schedule.  We were expected at Stuart Friday but it looks like Saturday now and we are a bit eager to get there as this is where we started our LOOP last February.



Below is our day in pictures on the Okeechobee.

Looks like a fun island tiki hut and all.

One of many of the beautiful homes we passed during the day.

Looky looky what we saw.

MOO

We started the day in a Manatee zone SLOWspeed and the Environmental Police leading the way.  Once we got the chance Jim was moving at a" high rate of speed"I was surprised that at 18mph our wake was this minimal.  Gee sh that's smaller than a Sea Ray at half the speed.

We got to Moore Haven around 3pm it was cool traveling but once we were docked it was warm.



I couldn't get this picture where I wanted it ...at the beginning, but anyway this was a nice day we spent on Monday in Sarasota.  Thanks Jeff and Linda .  See you in a few weeks Mike and Miss Nell.



Longboat Key and Venice FL then its decision time again

We finally left Treasure Island (Johns Pass) a couple of days after Christmas heading for Moore's Stone Crab House where if you eat in the restaurant you may spend a FREE night at their dock.  Such a deal so off we went... the photo above is the Sunshine Skyway Bridge as we make waves down the west coast.

Here we are docked at Moore's for the night with NautiNell very nice dock and the meal was GREAT!

Sunrise over Sarasota from  Longboat Key

NautiNell all lit up for the holiday's

Sarasota skyline

OK this has got to be the winner of best courtesy car of all Marina's. pretty nice ride for a trip to the laundry mat don't you think?

Great NO Parking sign, yes we parked in front of it to get this picture.

Sunrise in Venice WOW I got 2 sunrise shots in 1 week a new record I believe,  ya ya I know sunrise at 7:30 am makes it much easier.

So as I had mentioned we are in Venice for a few days, NautiNell will be here for an extended stay as Miss Nell has a new grand baby and will be going to Dallas for a few days.  And Venice is the home of our friends Jeff and Linda who very recently completed the loop.  The picture above is our New Years eve on Snake Island a small island that the locals claimed for themselves and meet here to party, have cookouts search for sharks teeth etc.  Venice is the sharks tooth capitol of Florida betcha didn't know that!  When we got to the island which we had heard about from Jeff, there were no fewer than 50 people here.  They have a pretty cool set up too, fire pit, hammock's, grill, picnic tables and even an out house for the ladies. 

The only way to get here is by boat, finding a parking spot wasn't too bad though there were about 12-15 boats there when we arrived.
A great time was had by all and it was a nice way to ring in the new year.
 So while we have been hanging out here in Venice we have been trying to decide which direction to take from here.  The choices are to continue south down the west coast to the Keys!  Or, head on down to Fort Meyers and take the Okeechobee Waterway which cuts across the whole state and brings you out in Stuart on the east coast of FL..  The decision has been made, we will take the Okeechobee to Stuart!  This is where we cross our wake (where we started our loop), we will remain in Stuart for 1 month and do some sightseeing by land.  And try and decide where to go next?  South to the Keys? or East to the Islands? Stay tuned!

St Johns Pass Treasure Island

Well its not looking so good for a white Christmas this year.

Maybe a green one!

This is where we are at, if you look way to the far left.

This is our view across the way

And our view to the stern

Our neighbors off the bow

Christmas shopping

Weather report for the day, I guess we can take it.  But what about our white Christmas?  Well tomorrow is another day.

Tarpon Springs 78 degrees 5 days before X-Mas

Its beginning to look alot like Christmas

A winter wonderland

                                

Deck the hauls with boughs of Holly?

We returned to Tarpon Springs again with Ashley we thought it was pretty cool and she would enjoy it.



Since we rented a car to go to the airport we thought we would check out some points further south, we ended up at Treasure Island and found a dock to spend a couple of nights at when we leave Dunedin on Thursday morning.



The weather outside is frightful

Crossing the Gulf of Mexico, check!

Well it must be time to go, here is our buddy boat for the crossing,  Algonquin, 3 souls on board, Kathy, Garth, and ZEKE.  Hi Kathy! Glad to see Zeke is nice and relaxed for the trip on the bow.

This day will be filled with a bunch of firsts for us.  We are usually done traveling for the day before 4pm  but today it is the beginning of our day.  The plotter shows us heading out through the channel at 4:16 pm with an arrival time of 9:36am ( I sure do wish that was true.)
Traveling 170 miles in one shot, more than 12 hours of it in total darkness, no cell or internet service and no land in sight.

Algonquin leading the way.

Sunset was around 5:45ish

This is what the helm looked like all night.  There were plenty of stars to gaze at  and at 8.45pm the moon rose  but other than that we watched the single white light up ahead on Algonquin.  We did have others to talk to during the night but they were not in sight during the trip.  A group of 7 boats left ahead of us at 1pm they were the slower group.  Also at 4am that morning the Fast group of 2 left.  And the last 2. US traveling at moderate speed.

5.30am we had arrived a bit early and waited for the sun to light the way  as we would be heading toward land and also many crab pots.  

Sunrise!

Here we part ways with Algonquin as they are heading to Clearwater and we are heading into Tarpon Springs. It was nice traveling with them and I am sure we will see them down the waterway again at some point.  Merry Christmas Kathy and Garth, oh and Zeke too! 

Suns up time to make waves again.

All in all we had a pleasant crossing sometimes bumpy sometimes not so much.  But wouldn't it have been nice to have glass like this all night.

Total trip time was 20 hours  

Oh! and my Christmas tree travelled well, it didn't even fall over!  I did wire it up though.

Merry Christmas Everyone!  

Apalach to Carrabelle Fl

Today we traveled a short distance to the staging point where we will cross the Gulf there are several boats here at the C Quarter and more over at The Moorings next door not exactly sure how many but it looks as though we will have time to find out.  As of right now I believe we are looking at Thursday maybe Friday for a crossing.  We will find out more at the morning meeting.

The oyster were good here but even better at Papa Joes, Jim did think the cheesey shrimp and grits were the BEST ever.

That makes 6 dozen in as many days

Downtown Apalach

Panama City, Port St Joe and on to Apalachacola

Sunset in Panama City

These guys are so much fun to watch

Loopers doing what they do best!  Haughty Heron Port St. Joe

Gold loopers, Lollygag paying us a visit at Port St Joe 

Now thats a boat load of dogs.

We are currently in Apalach (as the locals call it) and will remain here for a couple of days before heading on to the staging area of Carrabelle to ready ourselves for the Gulf crossing.  We are hoping the weather will cooperate and we will make the crossing on Wed?  time will tell.  In the meantime its oyster heaven here on the forgotten coast.