Day 232 – 243; 1/6 – 1/17: 1/6 we were up and out early to catch our flight to Myrtle Beach, SC to work on the rental properties there. It was great to see our partners and spend some work and play time together. It was mostly work time, but we do it well together which makes it more fun! Our list is always longer than we can possibly get done, but we accomplished a lot just the same.
Leaving 78 degree weather in FL for highs in the 60’s and lows in the 40’s was sad, especially since we’ve been in search of warm weather for so long now. Don’t get me wrong, we were blessed with some beautiful sunrises like the ones below, but also endured 40-50 mph winds and driving rain that did cause some damage we needed to deal with. We love North Myrtle Beach for the beautiful sandy beach that you can walk for miles and the proximity to some off the nicest golf courses in the country. January and February are the time for winter projects as the rental season gears up in March and April hitting full swing in May then slowing down in October. We will be ready!
Saturday, 1/13 took us back to Florida via Fort Myers airport after a 5 hour unexplained airline delay. It ended up we could have rented a car driven to Florida more quickly than Delta got us there….oh well! The delay allowed us to watch the Blast Game at the airport. Michael was the starting goalkeeper and had a great game with a 5-3 win. Tonia and Matt were so sweet to pick us up at the airport and get us back to the boat in Punta Gorda.
We decided to spend an extra day in Punta Gorda to catch up on laundry, provisioning and other chores, then we were off to Cabbage Key on Monday, 1/15. We we enjoyed lunch at the restaurant on this 100 acre island accessible only by boat. The building which now houses the restaurant was originally built in 1937 as the winter estate for the Rinehart family who bought the island for $2000. We ate in the Dollar Bill Bar also known as the money room where every inch of the walls, ceiling and support post are covered in dollar bills. Rumor has it there is $70,000 taped to those surfaces. Whatever falls every year is donated to charity and of course quickly replaced by patrons who enjoy coming back time and time again to see if their dollar bill (which they signed with a black sharpie) is still there.
I wondered why it was called Cabbage Key. Did the island grow cabbages and have a herd of pigs or something that ate them? No such great story. Cabbage Key is named after the Sabal Palmetto tree (aka Cabbage Palm tree or Cabbage Palmetto) and boast 7 different cottages and 6 rooms at the Inn & Restaurant that you can enjoy a tranquil stay on an island with no cars, but plenty of nature paths to hike and explore. One of the cottages was originally built as a dollhouse for the Rinehart’s 2 young daughters while there are also 5 staff houses on the island. Half the staff live on the island while the other half commute by boat. Each cottage has a kitchen and you are encouraged to bring your own food. We think that’s good advice having seen their restaurant prices! Having to ship everything in by boat is certainly a big factor, however. We are told the island is also inhabited by gopher tortoises, but we’re unable to see any the day we were there. Our amazing waiter told us they didn’t tend to come out in the rain or cold…. Unfortunately it was both!
The evening of 1/15 we dropped anchor off of Useppa Island where the waters were very calm but the fog quite thick. Tuesday morning, still in the fog, we were off the Fort Myers carefully searching out and finding the channel markers in the shallow, but well marked narrow channels. That has been a surprise to us – how shallow everything has been since entering the Gulf of Mexico. Visibility was very limited, but between the two of us we located each marker and arrived without incident, after enjoying more dolphin escorts on our starboard side and in the bow! Our host in Fort Myers would be the St Charles Yacht Club where we enjoyed this club’s hospitality and location.
Check out the dolphin videos below and if you missed our last blog post, go check that out for some interesting fun facts about bottle nose dolphins! When they come along and join us it’s just such a thrill. It never gets old!
Here are 3 or 4 on our starboard side and some of their big jumps (56 seconds):
It’s foggy but it didn’t deter these 3 on our starboard side and their big floppy jumps….. showing off again! This 1:36 video was trimmed from them following along for over 10 minutes!
Here are 3 running in our bow wave….. water is discolored from the tannins. Tannins are created as water passes through rotting organic matter or peaty soil in the water table. Tannins are basically the color left in the water from the leaching of the color in the organic matter. (51 seconds):
Here’s 4 or 5 running along together and some big air! (37 seconds):
Check out these 2 videos below. One was too long (4:48) so I had to split it into two. One of the dolphins swims on his side looking at me as if he’s insuring I’m watching before he jumps. At one point he even does a barrel roll in the water!
We stayed in Fort Myers for 2 nights since Carol had a day and a half of meetings. Seizing the moment, Gary snuck away to get in some golf. He couldn’t get on a course, so Top Golf with Boris and Matt would have to do!
The FOMO crew was back together for dinner in Cape Coral, but all of our boats were still in different places with conflicting plans for the next couple weeks. Do you remember what FOMO stands for?…..‘Fear Of Missing Out’….. so going in different directions is stressful for some!
Anyway….Lil Sudden and Coda will leave Cape Coral Thursday, 1/18 and head toward Marco Island and then the Keys to hopefully catch a calm crossing window Friday, 1/19 or Saturday, 1/20. It’s a 10 hour open ocean crossing, so winds and seas need to be favorable. Coda needs to be in Fort Lauderdale by 2/1, so Steve needs to keep moving south. Legacy is headed to Naples on 1/18 to meet up with friends for a couple days and will then venture to Marco Island and Everglades City. We originally thought we’d make it to the Keys and meet our daughter Sarah and her BF Richard there, but the weather after 1/20 looks really bad for a crossing and doesn’t get much better for a week. As such, we are going to plan B – we’ll return north to Fort Myers to meet up with Sarah and Richard on 1/28 and do some touring there where the weather will be more favorable. The SAGA crew will kick around the Fort Myers/Cape Coral/Sanibel Island/Captiva area for the next week/10 days with their guests from Seattle and then head south to the Keys. If it all works out, we’ll converge and reunite with Lil Sudden and SAGA in the Keys in February, but will miss Steve and Barbara as Steve prepares to ship CODA home to Seattle and call this 3 1/2 year adventure to Alaska, then south to Mexico, through the Panama Canal, north to Florida and around America’s Great Loop complete!
We are sad that we will miss Steve and Barb in the Keys…… until we meet again sweet friends! Fair winds and following seas!
chashurley
More great sunsets and dolphins!