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Day 311 – 318; March 25 – 4/1: Hard to believe another week has gone by. March 25 marks a full 10 months on the loop and we’ve nearly fully circumnavigated Florida. As we thought about that, we wondered which was longer: the trip from Chicago, IL to Mobile, AL down the river system or circumnavigating the coast of Florida. Hmmmm… how to figure that out? We took a piece of string and wove it through the pins on our map for a measurement. Which is longer? Turns out, according to our very precise string measurement, the coast of FL was longer by a little over an inch (about 100 miles.)

It took us a slightly less than 2 months to go from Chicago, IL to Mobile, AL and a little less than 4 months to circumnavigate FL. Why twice the time, you might ask? Well, there wasn’t as much to do or see on the rivers and the weather was cold, so we moved from port to port much more quickly. In FL, we stayed in certain ports longer, having guests aboard, visiting friends in certain towns or enjoying the warmer weather. We also left the boat for a week in Punta Gorda, FL to go to Myrtle Beach, SC and in Stuart, FL for a week to go to Scottsdale, AZ.

The map (24” x 27”) below is displayed in the pilot house of Legacy and while we always thought we’d put some fancy-schmancy piece of art there, this piece has really grown on us and is likely going to stay forever! The stories it will tell!

3/25 was our last day in St. Augustine and Gary and Chris enjoyed a round of golf while Tricia and Carol shopped and enjoyed a girls lunch. Alas, the Chitts headed home that night and the Z’s had a quiet night on the boat.

3/26 (Tuesday) we were off to Sisters Creek (part of Jacksonville) to a free dock there. It was about a 4 hour run, passing by an open inlet to get to the ocean; we stayed on the ICW.

When we arrived, the dock appeared to be full with no room for us. Fortunately, that was a solvable problem as each of the boats tightened up the space between them making room. That’s what loopers do! Of course that act of kindness called for docktails and appetizers to celebrate all of our safe arrivals, after which we all retired to dinner on the boats.

Sisters Creek was just a one night stop to break up the full trip to Jacksonville. 3/27 (Wednesday) we were off to the Florida Yacht Club (FYC), upriver/south of downtown Jacksonville. It was about a 2 hour run and we got to see the lay of the land in Jacksonville as we passed by. FYC was a very welcoming club undergoing a huge remodel/upgrade. Being in such a state of construction, they graciously didn’t charge us for the night but welcomed us to use their club for dinner, which we did. The Blast had a game that night, so we watched on board as the Blast beat the Harrisburg Heat in overtime 5-4. Nice win with Michael in goal.

A few fun facts about Jacksonville:

• Jacksonville was named for General Andrew Jackson, the first military governor of Florida who, incidentally, never visited Jacksonville.
• Jacksonville is the largest city by landmass in the Continental US (840 square miles).
• The longest stretch of the St. Johns River runs through Duval County – and YES, the river runs from south to north and NO, it is not the only river that does.
• Jacksonville boasts the largest urban park system in the nation, it is 4x the size of the island of Manhattan! 80,000 acres of parks, including 405 City Parks, 7 State Parks, 2 National park sites and an Arboretum. 
• The Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, covers 46,000 acres.
• It’s almost always Sunny in Jax with 270 average days of sunshine per year!
• The military employs over 30,000 active-duty personnel and nearly 20,000 civilians in the Jacksonville area and is the largest employer in the county.
• Jax is Florida’s youngest city with an average age of 36 – the state of Florida average age is 42.
• Jax is home to 1,100 miles of shoreline, more than any other city in the state – 22 miles of white-sandy beaches!
• And of course – it is home to the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team with Clemson stand out Trevor Lawrence as their Quarterback. Ever wonder why the Jag supporters shout ‘Duval’ during a game? It’s to recognize the county that makes up the majority of Jacksonville….. ok… a little strange but whatever!

3/28 (Thursday) we headed north to a marina called Port 32, just south of downtown Jacksonville. Carol had to split her meetings between the two ports, but it was only a 30 minute run. Port 32 was a very nice marina with a heated pool and hot tub, free laundry, courtesy bikes and a clubhouse. We took advantage of all of them, including a short 1/2 mile bike ride to the grocery store to provision.

3/29 (Friday) we had the best laid plans to go to downtown Jacksonville and stay at the Metropolitan Park Marina (MPM) – a free dock including power; centrally located in downtown right at the EverBank Stadium where the Jaguars play. The marina allows you to stay for 3 days. It was highly recommended in all the looper books and forums, except….. it was under construction! In fact nearly all of the public docks and parks on the river were torn up and under construction. When they are done, they will be amazing, but for us….it was back to Port32 hoping they still had room for us (which they did.) The beauty of MPM was it was right downtown where we wanted to be to go to the Farmers Market on Saturday morning, to restaurants and to the fountains, etc. No worries, we came up with plan B!

Enterprise car rental was just over 2 miles away, so needing some exercise we decided to walk there. Having wheels allowed us to explore the area a bit (beautiful homes in Avondale and Murray Hill) and have dinner at a highly recommended German restaurant.

Saturday, 3/30 we drove to the Farmer and Art Market which sets up under the route 95 overpass every Saturday. It was a very fun collection of food trucks, vendors of fresh vegetables, baked goods, honey, and more as well as various artsy items (jewelry, cards, clothing, art, etc). We arrived right when it opened at 10:00 am, hoping to find some sort of breakfast food. The food trucks, however, were mostly oriented to lunch so….we went with it! Chicken ranch baked potato for Carol and Hawaiian hamburger for Gary! Funny how Gary has a strong opinion that pineapple cannot be on a pizza, but it’s okay on a burger. Whatever!

We returned to the boat, with all of our purchases in hand and headed to the pool again. It was dinner on the boat and a Blast Game at 6:00 pm; the Blast beat Utica City 15-10 and Michael had another throw in goal. Great way to end the season, despite missing the playoffs.

Sunday, 3/31 was Easter Sunday. He is Risen, Indeed! It was a quiet day of touring the area, catching up on boat things and finding the Friendship Fountain that we wanted to visit on Monday for the evening light show. Had an amazing lunch at the Bearded Pig (BBQ) and made our traditional baked ham, scalloped cheesy potatoes and green beans for dinner. Gary reminded Carol that we ALWAYS make a couple different pies on Easter, but this year we did not….neither of our waist lines need pie. Next time!

Monday, 4/1 brings a new color of pin to our map where we track our Great Loop progress! It was also time to say goodbye to Port 32. In our exploring to find the fountain, we did find a free dock directly in front of it so we were off to that dock for the day and planned to see the show in the evening. We met two other looper boats there – Tara & Allan on ‘Follow Your Arrow’ out of Ontario, Canada and Pat & Sandy on ‘Gettin Nauti’ out of Midland, Michigan. It was great to go to the light show with them and hang out afterwards on the dock.

Pat and Sandy, after completing most of the loop (including a couple months in the Bahamas) have decided to hang it up and go home to have more time with the grand babies. Their boat, which has pods instead of outdrives or propellers on shafts is going up for sale….too much trouble with the pods and big draw home to the kids! Tara and Allan will continue up the east coast and finish their loop in Ontario, Canada. We hope to see them in Annapolis!

So why are there cows painted on the supports of a bridge you might ask (See pic above)? Well it seems these murals pay homage to Jax history prior to its founding in 1822. Natives called the narrow St. John’s River crossing at today’s downtown Jacksonville ‘Wacca Pilatka’ meaning place of cows crossing. Apparently, before 1822, Jax was known as ‘Cowford’ and this spot was where ranchers could get their cows to cross the water. Who knew!

Tomorrow, 4/2 we are off to Amelia Island (Fernandina) which will be our last stop in Florida. Tony and Shirley on Puffin are there so we look forward to reconnecting with them. Last we saw them was in February in the Keys. We met Tony and Shirley on ‘day minus 4’ at the Annapolis Yacht Basin – we had just moved out of our house and onto the boat, but still had 4 days before leaving on 5/25. They were 15 days into their loop and Shirley looked petrified! It’s been such a pleasure Loop-frogging with them! They are very close to crossing their wake in New Bern, North Carolina. We hope to plan many more adventure with them!

Day 306 – 311; 3/20 – 3/25: Wednesday, 3/20 Chris and Tricia arrived from MD right on time and we were off to dinner at our host yacht club in Daytona Beach – the Halifax River YC. It was great to see Chris and Tricia again on Legacy! Thursday morning we were off to Palm Coast and enjoyed a sunny ride accompanied by dolphins in the bow. It was about a 3 hour run to Hammock Beach Marina where we were quite excited to be able to sit by the wind protected heated pool for a couple hours before dinner. Hooray for sunshine since the forecast was for a bit of a spitty day on Friday. Initially, the marina was part of a larger resort including a golf course, pools, lazy river, tennis, fitness center and more as well as several restaurants. Unbeknownst to us, the marina was sold off and now separate. For a “small fee”…. $35/per person per day….we could venture over to the resort via golf cart and “use” the restaurant. Well that was a ‘no’ and we enjoyed a delicious shrimp stir fry creation by Gary, followed by the Baltimore Blast game on Twitch.

Since the Blast were no longer in the hunt for a playoff spot (they had been eliminated the night before), Quantrell, the backup goalkeeper, started against the Texas Outlaws. Blast lost 9-4, but it was good experience for Quantrell. The indoor game is very fast and with balls being played off the walls, it takes some time (and hard knocks) to learn. Michael had the night off except for one short appearance where his experience was better suited for the situation they faced.

Friday morning we were off to St. Augustine in a slight rain. We ran from inside (the pilot house) instead of the bridge most of the way, venturing out to see the dolphins in the bow.

It was a little over a 3 hour run, arriving a little after 1:00. After a quick lunch, we were on foot to get our steps in with a 10 minute walk to beautiful downtown St. Augustine. We met up with a large group of loopers at the downtown marina and enjoyed docktails with them in the lounge, followed by dinner at Hurricane Patty’s where it was ‘all you can eat snow crab night’….. Yum!!!

Saturday, 3/23, was a beautiful sunny day so we were up and out early. We enjoyed a hop-on, hop-off tour through the old city, which in one go would take about 2 hours, but we spent the entire day. Troy was an amazing driver and tour guide, filling us with the rich history of the city…. A small portion of which is below.

Founded in 1565, St. Augustine is the ‘oldest continuously occupied settlement’ in the United States. This was 42 years before the English colonized Jamestown and 55 years before the Pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. The first Thanksgiving, Floridians will tell you, actually occurred in St. Augustine, not New England.

Ponce de Leon is credited with discovering Florida and claiming the land for Spain. So let’s back up that train……Ponce de Leon first came to the Americas as a “gentleman volunteer” with Christopher Columbus’s second expedition in 1493. By the early 1500s, Ponce de León was a top military official in the colonial government of Hispaniola, and island in the Caribbean. He was authorized to explore the neighboring island of Puerto Rico in 1508 and took office as the first Governor of Puerto Rico in 1509. While Ponce grew quite wealthy from his plantations and mines, he faced an ongoing legal conflict with Diego Colón, Christopher Columbus’s son, over the right to govern Puerto Rico. After a long court battle, Columbus kicked him out of the governorship in 1511. Ponce decided to follow the advice of the sympathetic King Ferdinand and explore more of the Caribbean Sea.

In 1513, Ponce led the first known European expedition to La Florida, which he named during his first voyage to the area. In popular culture he was supposedly searching for the Fountain of Youth, but there is no real evidence to support the story, which most modern historians consider a myth.

In the following half century, the government of Spain launched no less than six expeditions attempting to settle Florida; all failed. In 1564 French Huguenots (Protestants) succeeded in establishing a fort and colony near the mouth of the St. Johns River at what is today Jacksonville. Many a skirmish between the Spanish and French occurred up and down the coast, attempting to claim the land and force their religions (Catholic vs. Protestant) on all those who were there or came there. St. Augustine was burned to the ground several times in these battles. The Spanish fort (Castillo de San Marcos) built in 1672 still stands as does the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine. Built in 1793, it is the oldest Catholic Church in Florida. Its congregation, established in 1565, is the oldest Christian congregation in the contiguous US. Both structures are built with coquina – a natural stone made from small seashells broken down over time and hardened when exposed to air.

Fast forward to the 1763 Treaty of Paris, signed after Great Britain’s victory over France and Spain during the Seven Years’ War. Florida was ceded to Great Britain in exchange for the return of Havana and Manila. The vast majority of Spanish colonists in the region left Florida for Cuba as Florida became Great Britain’s fourteenth and fifteenth North American colonies (East and West Florida). Because of the political sympathies of its British inhabitants, the two Floridian colonies remained loyal to King George and St. Augustine became a Loyalist haven during the American Revolutionary War…. More on that below.

During the twenty-year period of British rule, Britain took command of both the Castillo de San Marcos (renamed Fort St. Mark) and of Fort Matanzas. They permanently stationed a small group of men at Fort Matanzas. Once war broke out, loyalist St. Augustine residents burned effigies of Patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock in the plaza. Fort St. Mark became a training and supply base, as well as a prisoner-of-war camp where three signers of the Declaration of Independence and South Carolina’s lieutenant governor Christopher Gadsden were held.

We always look at the American Revolution from an American perspective, with 13 colonies from New Hampshire down to Georgia. But when you look at the war from a British perspective, you realize that we’re not talking about 13 colonies, we’re talking about 33 colonies that they had to be concerned with, from Nova Scotia down to Grenada. Half of those colonies – 16 of them – were in the Caribbean.

During the American Revolution, approximately 60 percent of the British military was stationed in the Caribbean, to protect sugar production. In the 18th century, sugar was as important to the global economy as oil is today. The Floridas were located right between the British sugar plantations in the Caribbean, and the northern colonial revolt. The British launched attacks on the American rebellion from both St. Augustine in East Florida, and Pensacola in West Florida.

St. Augustine was particularly important to the British, as it had the only stone fortresses south of the Chesapeake Bay. The British had repeatedly attacked the Castillo de San Marcos when it was under Spanish control, and realized the strength of its coquina walls.

During a series of battles from 1779 to 1781, Spain was able to recapture West Florida from the British. When the American Revolution ended in 1783, England returned East Florida to the Spanish to keep control of Gibraltar. Spain continued to struggle to bring settlers to Florida and their control weakened. Gaining control of Florida for the US would mean gaining control of the Mississippi. In 1819, after years of negotiations, Secretary of State John Quincy Adam’s achieved a diplomatic coup with the signing the Florida Purchase Treaty which officially put Florida into US hands at no cost beyond US assumption of some $5 Million of claims by US citizens against Spain.

Florida would become a United States Territory in 1821. By 1840, the territory’s population had reached 54,477 people. Half the population were enslaved Africans. Florida was named a state in 1845. During the Civil War, Florida seceded from the Union (January 1861), being deemed a “slave state” and fought alongside the confederacy although it’s role was mostly one of supplying beef, pork, corn and molasses to the southern armies.

So much history, yet so much we’ve left out like John Flagler (close friend of John D. Rockefeller) being one of the richest men in the world who built extravagant hotels to make St. Augustine the “Newport of the South”. Those buildings, including the former Ponce De Leon Hotel, are now Flagler College complete with 79 Tiffany glass windows valued at over 130 Million! Also, Flagler’s duping of Franklin Smith as he attempted to build a hotel (Casa Monica) to complete with Flagler…..you’ll just have to go to St. Augustine and get the scoop on those on your own!

Sunday, 3/24 was Gary’s Birthday, so we enjoyed a bit of a walk about town finding a very local tavern for lunch, then venturing to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum – the first of the Ripley Museums in the country. That was quite the display of oddities! The Museum grounds include just one of two exact replicas of Michael Angelo’s David, the most recognized sculpture in the world. The replica was carved to the exact specifications of the original 17’ high statue and weighs 10 tons. The marble is even from the exact same quarry – Fantiscritti in Miseglia, Tuscany.

Michael Angelo’s David was first put on display, front and center of the Ripley property, right on the main drag…. let’s just say it caused quite the stir and even a few car accidents. David, in all of his nakedness, now sits behind a 12-13’ high set of hedges that shield him from the public (you can only see his shoulders and head) unless you walk into the viewing area within the hedges…. Of course we had to go see him! It’s art!

Ripley’s, as promised, was a strange collection of things from around the world, but did give us a few good laughs on what was a cool and windy day. Originally, the guys had planned on golfing but the winds were so strong they changed their golf plans to Monday, so the ladies similarly changed their shopping plans to Monday. Sunday was capped off by am amazing dinner at “The Fish Camp” … highly recommend….and of course, Gary’s favorite German chocolate cake back on the boat.

All good things must come to an end and Chris and Tricia headed back to the cold weather of MD on Monday afternoon, while we began to chart out our next ports of call on our adventure north. Next stop is one night in Sisters Creek, then on to Jacksonville, FL.

We are thrilled to have finally found the warm weather and are not wanting to head north too fast and get ahead of that! Mid June is still our “target date” to be home, but we still have lots of places to explore…. Stay tuned!

Day 303 – 306: 3/17 – 3/20: Sunday morning, we woke up at anchor in New Smyrna Beach to a beautiful sunny and warm day. It was St. Patrick’s day, but we didn’t really have any ‘Erin go braugh’ plans…we’d see what the day had in store. We did have plans with Faith and Dream Catcher to go to brunch at Outriggers at 10:00 am. Legacy and Dream Catcher headed over in our dinghies while Faith rode in with My Bella. Brunch was excellent, and a good time was had by all.

While the others went back to their boats to get ready to head north (they wanted to get some miles behind them before the rain came on Monday) Gary and Carol decided to enjoy the beautiful sunny day here in New Smyrna and deal with the rain tomorrow.

We ventured a bit north and east to Flagler Ave (why is everything named Flagler?) on the ocean side of the ICW. Flagler Ave was great walking street lined with lots of great shops, restaurants and bars. It seemed odd that the 1-1.5 mile street had 3 Irish bars, all brimming with patrons on St. Patrick’s Day, but what the heck. Carol managed to find a couple nice shops and took home a few things, but we didn’t stay long. The streets were well tended by the local police force as the Spring Breakers had descended on New Smyrna! The college vacationers were out in their bikinis and swim trunks. The sidewalks were quite packed but the police told us this was nothing…. Wait til tonight. We decided not to stick around! Yes, we remember those days but have no desire to relive them in our 60’s, unlike some of the other 60+ year olds who were out partying their hardest!

We climbed back into the dinghy, took a swing by the mangroves to see if we could find some manatees (we found none) and had a relaxing day and dinner on the boat…. No corned beef and cabbage for us, but there is an Irish place in Daytona Beach – our next stop!

Monday, 3/18 we awoke to the forecasted spitty rain and cool temps. It was a short rum (just 2 hours) so we took our time getting up and out, leaving a little before 11 am. Getting the anchor up took a little longer than usual since we had a hitchhiker on the chain and he (we think it was a huge sea slug) was good and stuck! Finally got him loose and we were off. We ran from the pilot house instead of the bridge to stay warm, and of course Carol had a call. The cool weather didn’t deter the dolphins as they again joined us for a bit of the ride. This group we’d characterize as more ‘lookers’ and ‘spinners’ than ‘jumpers,’ but we enjoyed them just the same.

We arrived at Halifax River Yacht Club just before 1:00 pm to a warm welcome from the dockmaster and dockhand. The club was closed, but Scott the dockmaster gave us a tour anyway. It was a lovely traditional club with a fairly small marina but also tennis and pickleball courts. Interestingly, the front of their brochure features a statement “Where owning a boat is optional.” Hmmmmm… but it’s a Yacht Club? They had a special place for “Legacy Members” (see below) ….. okay, different Legacy!

Anyway – the club is centrally located near some great shops and restaurants on Beach Street so we wandered downtown for a little tour before Carol’s next call and chose McK’s Irish Pub for dinner. Neither one of us ordered the corned beef and cabbage or “The Gary” (surprised his head could fit through the door after reading that one – see below). Highly recommend both the bangers and mash as well as the Short Rib. Both filled us for dinner with plenty left over for lunch….now that is stick to your ribs food!

Tuesday, 3/19 we awoke to unseasonably cold temperatures (45 degrees) and turned on the heat! We’ve been in search of sunshine and warmth for 10 months….mostly unsuccessfully! We again returned downtown to tour one of the oldest chocolate companies in the country – Angels and Phelps. They have been crafting fine quality chocolates and candies since 1925 and they are yummy!! We went with the one pound box of assorted chocolate of our choice!

Leaving there, we couldn’t resist an “antique shop” that was full of stuff from every Great Grandmother’s house and attic. We saw lots of ‘lookers’ but not any ‘buyers’ in the place. It was a bit of a combination of an antique store, church thrift shop, Goodwill store and a very tired consignment shop. We also stumbled upon a theater that would be having an Improv Comedy show that night (every Tuesday) for only $8.00 admission. We decided we’d return for that after dinner. So after dinner, it was a cocktail at bar at the club and off we went to be entertained…. Or so we thought. Let’s just say they shouldn’t quit their day jobs and you get what you pay for!

Wednesday, 3/20 brought some chores and stuff that is so easy to do at home, and a bit more difficult on the road. Carol found a place for a haircut and Gary found a place for an eye exam in order to keep his drivers license. Let’s just say one of us was successful! You can guess which!

Maria and Todd on ‘Sea No Evil’ were in the adjacent marina and had a rental car so Maria was kind enough to come by and pick up Carol for a grocery store run. Hooray since Chris and Tricia were arriving for a few days around 6:30/7:00 pm. We’d provision, have dinner at the club and then head to Palm Coast in the morning; after that, St. Augustine on Friday….. “to infinity and beyond!” Oh no wait, that would have been when we were in Titusville and near Kennedy Space Center!

As we wrote in the last blog, on 3/16 the Baltimore Blast’s path to the playoffs was a tough one…. They had to win their last 3 games and Kansas City needed to lose 2. Sadly on 3/17, KC beat St. Louis and the Blast’s quest for a playoff spot was over. With 3 games left in the season, this was uncharted waters for Michael Z, playing games that except for supporting their fans, don’t matter. He’s always been in the chase for ranking in the playoffs, a playoff spot, or a championship. The rest of this year, is different… or is it? As a professional, it’s for the fans. As a teammate and athlete, it’s about honor. We know he will go out there and give his all.

Day 298 – 303; 3/12 – 3/17: Tuesday, 3/12 we bid Melbourne goodbye and headed north to Titusville, FL – a 3.5 hour run. Gotta love Starlink as Carol had one meeting in the middle of the run; works great except when we go under a bridge! We eased into our slip in the Titusville Municipal Marina, which provided basic services like showers, laundry and 2 boaters gathering areas – one outside with picnic tables and grills and one being a big screened in porch with lots of seating. The people were super friendly and facilities nice enough. What was surprising was the number of boats in the marina that haven’t moved in years! They are literally floating apartments with “window wart” air conditioners tacked onto the architecture of the boat, lots of accumulated stuff everywhere and years of growth on the bottom of the boats. Some were quite the sight!

We passed Mike and Darlene on Riversong at the last bridge before the marina, so they pulled in a few minutes behind us – their slip on the next dock over. We decided we’d all walk over to the nearest restaurant (about 1 mile) called Pier 220 for dinner. They’ve been on the loop, starting in Cincinnati, OH, since mid September, but have met hardly any loopers! We scratched our heads how that could be….6 months on the loop and so few looper encounters? We realized the problem – they started down the river system from Cincinnati about 3 weeks before any of us could pass through the locks in Chicago. Remember how the locks in Chicago were shut down for several months and didn’t reopen until 10/5? So their first several months, navigating the entire river system and most of FL western coast, was spent traveling alone and meeting only the locals….no loopers! That is not at all your typical looper experience and rather sad! Well, we were pleased to break that pattern and welcome them to looping with loopers!

They hadn’t experienced ‘safe arrival drinks’ or docktails on the pier, rafting up together, group potluck dinners, tall tales of fish caught or stories of looper helping looper. Carol promptly swung into action contacting all the other loopers in the area, finding them on NEBO and setting up docktails on 3/13. Best laid plans, however, didn’t work totally as intended….Mike and Darlene were leaving the next day to go to Kentucky to see their kids and grand babies for a week! Oh well – next time! We pressed on without Riversong joined by Walter and Alanna on Echo’s Too and Sacha on Live de Life for some looper time!

Back to Titusville – we were very much looking forward to this port so we could visit the famed Kennedy Space Center. Feeling like little kids, we bought our 2 day passes and started mapping out our path to maximize the things we could see, minimize time in line and avoid groups of screaming elementary school kids…. Yes they come by the bus load! Neither of us had ever been there as kids, so it was a big treat!

Part history and part theme park, we brushed up on our space race history starting with JFK challenging the nation to go to the moon, “not because it was easy, but because it was hard.” JFK wouldn’t personally see that happen, but his challenge on May 25, 1961 (as well as Russia launching the first satellite into space (Sputnik 1) in 1957 and first human space flight (a Russian) on April 12, 1961 (Yuri Gagarin) was the catalyst. The US responded with amazing achievements including the first humans on the moon in January of 1969…..I can remember being huddled around our black and white TV to watch that historic event as Walter Cronkite reported. It was Apollo 11; Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon…..”One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The United States would go on to put men on the moon 6 times between 1969 and 1972, something no other country has been able to do. Now NASA, with help from industry, is vowing to do it again.

From the Apollo missions to the Space Shuttles to the International Space Station (ISS), Hubble and James Webb Space telescopes and all the discoveries and improvements to life here on the planet Earth that came from the Space program (GPS, Solar power, and cell phone communication to name a few) it was a great 2 days. A highlight was the Space Shuttle Atlantis on display, after completing 33 missions in space. Like little kids we rode the Space Shuttle simulator to know what it felt like to take off on the Space Shuttle and enjoyed the simulation of future space flight that would take visitors to Mars. Like we said earlier, part science/history and part theme park, just about every exhibit ended in a gift shop and ice cream for 2 exceeded $20! Regardless, it was worth it and made us proud.

Both days, we returned in time for what was supposed to be a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch to carry more Starlink satellites into orbit. We sat on the bow of the boat ready for a launch on both 3/13 and 3/14, but both never happened. As luck would have it, we had tickets to the community playhouse on 3/15; show started at 8:00. Launch was scheduled for 6:00 pm; then rescheduled for 7:00; then, of course 8:05 when it finally went….. so we missed it! Oh well. The show was great fun and now we will have to return to see a launch when we return to FL in future years to go to the Bahamas!

Friday, 3/15 took us to the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum – an exhibit dedicated to those who serve as police officers all across the country. It was a very interesting mix of memorabilia, history, trivia and tributes. We capped off the night with docktails with Echo’s Too, Hoppy Trails, Seabatical, Carpe Diem and Next Chapter. Next Chapter has only been on the loop for 10 days…. Virgins! After docktails, it was onto the play at the community theater where we saw “May We All,” a fun play featuring lots of country music and heart warming Americana themes.

Saturday, 3/16 we said goodbye to Titusville and headed to New Smyrna Beach, FL where we planned to anchor for 2 days. We arrived in a little less than 4 hours, leaving around 11:00 am. Along the way was an interesting mix of sightings of manatees, dolphins, flocks of birds and gators. We had a few dolphins ride along with us on the way, but not like before. They were short stints and only one or two at a time.

Our planned anchorage looked a little dicey with strong currents, tidal changes, wind and some severe shoaling. We consulted with Linda and Scott (soon to cross their wake in Charleston) on ‘Faith’ as well as Norma and David (gold loopers from AZ) on ‘Dream Catcher’ who were already anchored, then chose a safe spot to drop the hook. Of course our next step was to drop the dinghy and join them on their boat for a “safe arrival” celebration.

We had communicated with Linda and Scott (‘Faith’) on Facebook and stalked each other on NEBO, but not actually met…so that was great! We hung out for a bit then returned to Legacy for dinner and to watch the Baltimore Blast Game at 6:05 pm. Baltimore played well and handily beat Harrisburg 7-5 with Michael in goal. Unfortunately, the Blast’s path to the playoffs is a difficult one. Sitting in 5th place, they need to win their last 4 games, all in regulation time, and need the 4th place team (Kansas City) to lose their last 2 games, all in regulation time. Why regulation time you might ask? MASL uses a scoring system whereby a regulation win earns 3 points, an OT win earns 2 points, an OT loss earns 1 point and a regulation loss earns nothing. It’s a pretty steep hill, but not statistically impossible for the Blast to make the playoffs. Love them all dearly and hoping for the best, but not putting hard cash on this one!

We will stay in New Smyrna Beach for one more day (3/17) and then it will be on to Daytona, FL. New Smyrna beach is a lovely and eclectic beach town with miles of white sandy beaches, cute shops, great restaurants and art galleries. The big ‘HOWEVER’ this week is that it will be College Spring Break Week AND St. Patrick’s Day. What could go wrong with that???

Stay tuned!

Day 288 – 298; 3/2 – 3/12: It has been another 11 days since our last post. Carol has spent so much time in zoom meetings or on phone calls, it’s been tough to find time to sit down and write the blog. It’s been a trade off of the “must do’s,” trying to enjoy the trip and the “other to-dos.” What’s going on you might ask? Well, Carol had a face to face BOD meeting in Boston from 3/5 – 3/7 for one BOD and countless calls and meetings in between from her other BOD. You know what they say …. “when #$&^* happens”…..it creates lots of meetings and calls!

So back to our adventure….3/2 was day 288 of our journey as we left Fort Pierce, FL and headed to Vero Beach, arriving around 12:45 pm at the Vero Beach City Marina. It was a bit of a strange sight as we approached the marina passing the mooring field. Each mooring ball had 2 boats on it, rafted together. At first we thought perhaps friends were sharing the cost of one mooring ball, but as we got closer to the marina and looked up the cove, they were all this way. We’d never seen that before.

Anyway, we digress….it was a beautiful sunny afternoon so we got on our bikes and rode to the beach for a little stroll. Gary’s knee was bothering him a bit so we didn’t walk too far on the beach, but we did enjoy the sun on our faces and the wind in our hair. The ride there was quite nice – of course very flat, but also quite scenic passing old style FL homes and beautiful mature trees. The Main Street downtown was lined with high end shops and restaurants that we had hoped to come back to, but didn’t get a chance. Gary is quite skilled at steering Carol away from those shops!

Dinner was on the boat as we settled in to watch the Baltimore Blast game against Milwaukee at 6:00 pm. Sadly, Blast lost 7-1.

Sunday, 3/3 began a few days of getting back together with old friends! Nancy and Carol worked together back in the Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems days in Linthicum, MD. It’s been 16 years since Carol left NGC, so 16 years since we saw Nancy and Phil who now live on North Hutchinson Island, Fort Pierce a short distance from Vero Beach. So thankful that Facebook is what reconnected us some years ago and Nancy has been tracking our journey. It was so great to have lunch and an extended afternoon with them and so gracious of them to take us to the grocery store!

We were back on the boat by 3:00 for another Blast game. Those guys had to be exhausted – they played in Baltimore on Saturday at 6:00 pm, finished the game, showered and boarded the bus at 10:00 pm to drive over 5 hours to Utica, NY. They arrived in the middle of the night to turn around and play again at 3:00 pm. They did look a bit tired and lost 10-2. Not their best day.

Monday, 3/4 was another travel day for us, heading to Melbourne, FL and the Eau Gallie Yacht Club (EGYC). It was about a 4 hour run and for over 1.5 hours, we had dolphin escorts on the port, starboard and in the bow! While this group of dolphins wasn’t quite as acrobatic as others, we’ve never had a group run with us for that long. It was spectacular and good to see our “dolphin magnet” was still working! We definitely attract more dolphins than most boats and love to see them; it never gets old.

Check out the videos below where again we were surrounded on all 3 sides – dolphins on port, starboard and in the bow. We divided the video into 2, it was so long.

The club is closed on Mondays so we were not able to check out the restaurant and bar, but did walk around on the grounds. A lovely spot with an equal focus on boating and tennis that is undergoing some pretty extensive renovations at the main club. This place is going to be very nice when done. Carol needed to pack for her trip so it was a quiet evening of packing and a movie; no Blast games!

8:30 am Carol was off to Orlando airport – destination Boston – and Gary was off to get a rental car – destination golf course! Gary’s 3 days were highlighted by 2 rounds of golf, dinner at the home of our looper friends Tom and Diane and 1 day cleaning the boat. Carol’s time away was highlighted by 2 days of meetings and an amazing dinner and tour of the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. While the main purpose of being there was to honor 2 colleagues who were retiring from the Board, we did get to take an abbreviated tour of the exhibits including the current special exhibit “Service and Sacrifice” which focused on JFK’s early life at Harvard and service in WWII (PT 109). What a fascinating place and journey to the 1960’s. If we could only roll the political state of our nation back to those days!

Oh….. one random travel tip…. When you pack toiletries into those little pockets in a toiletry bag, don’t put the tube of toothpaste and the tube of Icy Hot in the same pocket…. Yah, they are the same size and from the back side of the tube look the same. Yuck!!

Flights went smoothly and Carol got back to EGYC around 7:00 pm on Thursday, so we decided to head up and check out the bar. Met some lovely members who we chatted with for a couple hours, getting some of the history and hearing tall tales about boating and fishing!

Friday, 3/8 brought more of Carol’s endless calls, but we made the most of it and relaxed by the pool in between calls and a trip to the store to provision. By 5:00, we shut down electronics and enjoyed a cocktail on the boat with Pam and Ed before heading to Hotel Melbie for dinner on their rooftop deck. What a great view and fun time catching up with Pam. We worked with Pam back in our California Northrop Days! We were all in contracts and pricing together working on the B2 program. We moved from CA to NY in 1995, so have not seen Pam in 29 years! Since then, she’s a Gramma 4 times over and still looks like she did 29 years ago! It was so fun to catch up. We were back to the boat in time to catch the 10:00 pm Blast game in Chihuahua, Mexico where they lost a heart breaker 8-6, the 8th goal on an open net with a 6th attacker on the field.

3/9, in addition to being Michael’s birthday, brought us a reunion with more friends, these being loopers! Tom and Diane (Beachside Cruising) invited us, Jeff and Pam (Sea the USA) and Matt and Tonia (Lil Sudden) over to their beautiful canal front home for brunch. A great time was had by all as we spent the entire afternoon there. We are the only ones still looping (they have all “crossed their wakes”), so we got some great advice on places to stop and things to do as we head up the coast. Not wanting to overstay our welcome, we headed back to EGYC and enjoyed a late dinner on the patio with Matt and Tonia.

3/10 was another reunion! Carol and Leni worked together at Northrop Grumman (NGC) in Bethpage, NY and hadn’t seen each other since 2008…..so 16 years. Back in 1995, Leni and Carol were peer managers and Leni welcomed Carol with open arms as we moved from CA to NY with a 2 year old and newborn. Everything wasn’t wine and roses with the merging of 2 companies and cultures as Northrop bought Grumman, but that didn’t stop our friendship. We became fast friends and rose in the management ranks together becoming peer CIOs at different NGC Sectors. When Carol left NGC in 2008, we headed in different directions, but reconnecting was like yesterday! Steve and Leni graciously invited us to their beautiful waterfront home in Indialantic for an amazing brunch. We could have chatted all night, but again didn’t want to overstay our welcome.

We left them late afternoon to catch the Blast Game in Monterey, Mexico at 5:30 pm EST. Monterey is undefeated this season, so we knew it would be tough. Blast lead for a good portion of the game ending regulation in a tie, but losing in Overtime 5-4 on a penalty kick. Those who know soccer know that a defensive foul “in the box” in front of the goal results in a penalty kick (PK) for the offense. And those who know soccer know that the odds are heavily in favor of the shooter and not the goal keeper on a PK. Sadly, Blast lost in OT dashing their hopes of handing Monterey their first loss of the season.

Monday, 3/11 came and with that….. you guessed it… more meetings and calls! We ran a few errands, returned the car and regrouped to get ready to head to Titusville in the morning. Titusville would be a 3.5 hour run (with 1 meeting in the middle of it). There we look forward to visiting the Kennedy Space Center, never having been there.

Day 275 – 288; 2/18 – 3/2

WOW it’s been a long time since we updated the Blog… all is well here!

Sunday, 2/18 we spent our second day in Jupiter tied up to the outdoor bar….alas the weather did not give us a ‘margarita or pina colada day’. It poured all day, so we took the opportunity to clean the boat inside, top to bottom. People ask us what we miss while doing the loop. We surely miss our family and friends, but I miss our cleaning lady! Oh….. and my own sink in the bathroom….. and my hairstylist….. ok, enough of that!

Monday, 2/19 we left Jupiter headed toward Stuart – a 3 hour run. This was all on the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW) so we had lots of no wake zones and passed under many bridges, some of them needing to be opened for us. We turned off of the ICW into the St. Lucie River as we looked for the Fleming dealership where we would leave Legacy for a week of routine maintenance. We were a bit taken aback by the dark, dirty water of the St. Lucie River and would later learn it was due to discharge from the Lake Okeechobee Canal – a real point of contention with the locals. Mike and Sue Pitchford (Cruise Committee Chairs from AYC) graciously took us out for a pre-dinner cocktail (they winter in Stuart) and we later enjoyed dinner downtown at the Boathouse – the only seats were at the bar, so we enjoyed their Happy Hour sliders and called it a night a bit early – the car was coming for us at 6:30 am the next morning!

Tuesday, 2/20 we were off to Scottsdale, AZ where Carol had a BOD meeting and Gary decided to tag along and get in a few rounds of golf. BOD meetings made for long days and nights, but it was nice to be in the warm weather. Friday, 2/23 we boarded the silver bird again headed for Maryland, arriving at AYC around 6:00 pm to meet friends for dinner there. What a nice time we had with Todd, June, Chris and Trish. Saturday, 2/24 was a day of catching up on local tasks and some planning on our return in June. We went to the car dealership, since we sold Carol’s car when we left, and took advantage of our time at home by getting haircuts and pedicures…. Well at least Carol got one!

Sunday 2/25 was a big milestone – for those who know the saga of buying the condo in Annapolis, we closed on 1/31 after a 14 month delay. On Sunday, 2/25 we met with the architect and builder to turn what we affectionately call ‘the dump’ into what we hope will be something amazing. It is currently 2 units deeded as 1 so there is a 2 bedroom/1 bath unit adjoined with a 1 bedroom/1 bath unit….yup… 2 kitchens….both horrible! It’s not been updated since the late 70’s/early 80’s and needs everything! The good news is we have an amazing location and view with an amazing team to transform it. Stay tuned!

Monday, 2/26 we were up and out early again (left Todd and June’s house at 6:30 am) headed to the airport to get back to Stuart. Special thanks to them for hosting us! We arrived back at the boat around 1:00, thrilled to find Legacy looking great! Our entire list (and it was long) was completed and she is ready to take on our final leg of this journey – engines and other mechanicals maintained, carpets cleaned, canvas repaired, drains cleared, faucet fixed and more…. Let’s just say her ‘hair and nails’ were looking great!

We needed to turn around quite a bit of laundry so decided to leverage our own washer and dryer as well as the marina’s – Burr has some wonderful amenities for the Fleming owners including showers, laundry, courtesy cars and covered outdoor gathering areas. Carol had been in and out of the laundry room a couple times – you have to access it by going through the employees break room. When Gary went to retrieve the last load, he somehow got locked inside…. Without his phone…. After 5:30 pm. Yikes! He hoped Carol would eventually miss him, since we were going out to dinner with some new Fleming owners at 6:00 pm and figure out he didn’t come back and go looking for him. After pounding on the door for a while, someone finally heard him and let him out. The things that happen on the loop!

We enjoyed an amazing dinner with Ed and Jacqui who will be starting their loop on their ‘new to them’ Fleming 55 in about a month. It was so fun to get to know them and share our 9 months of wisdom! We initially thought we’d head out of Stuart on Tuesday, 2/27 but decided to take an extra day (being locked in the laundry room was traumatic….just kidding) and enjoy the downtown Stuart shops, re-provision Legacy and enjoy docktails and tall stories with 4 other couples who are Fleming owners that evening. A great time was had by all!

Our original plan was to head back south to Jupiter and Palm Beach to cross over to the Bahamas on 2/29 but the weather, wind and waves had given us enough pause to question the wisdom of that decision. First we would need to wait for a good weather window to do the crossing, then we would need to get Carol to Nassau to fly to Boston for a meeting on 3/5 and then get back on 3/7, then we would need to enjoy our time there and find a weather window to cross back to the US. It felt more and more like the weather, wind, waves and calendar were not in our favor and we needed to wait and do the Bahamas another time. This was to be a real highlight of our trip, but the more research we did the more we learned that the best time to go is April/May, not Feb/March. Thus, we will wait and go another time. Remember the movie Appollo 13 when Tom Hanks says “we just lost the moon?” That’s what it felt like. But as Arnold Schwarzenegger famously said “We’ll be back!”

When Wednesday, 2/28 came, we put smiles on our faces, bid our friends at Stuart goodbye and headed north to Fort Pierce, FL instead of south to the Bahamas. It was about a 4 hour run to the Safe Harbor Marina, arriving around 2:45. Carol had another meeting around 3:00 (this meeting schedule is getting exhausting) but we did manage to have some pool time around 4:00….. YES WE FOUND THE SUN! We decided on dinner on the boat and looper midnight arrived as usual (8:30/9:00 pm)!

Thursday, 2/29 we finally had a morning free of meetings so jumped in the tender and headed to the manatee center to see if we could see some manatees. The guide there said there were some earlier in the morning, but all we saw was a cement manatee statue! Hrumph!

After touring the Manatee Center (that took about 15 minutes), we headed back to to the boat for lunch, and afternoon by the pool and more meeting and phone calls for Carol (are you seeing a pattern here?) BOD work sounds great until something goes wrong! Enough complaining – we got this! We enjoyed dinner and live music at Skipper’s Cove right at the marina, also chatting with others who snowbird there.

Friday, March 1st we headed back to the Manatee center and were lucky enough to see 2 manatees for about a half hour before they disappeared. It was very cool!

Manatees are large, aquatic mammals that are native to Florida. Adult manatees are typically 9-10 feet long from snout to tail and weigh around 1,000 pounds; however, they may grow to over 13 feet long and weigh more than 3,500 pounds.  Manatees have two fore limb flippers that they use for steering movements and to hold vegetation while eating.  A large, round, flattened paddle-shaped tail is used for swimming.

Manatees have finely-wrinkled, leathery looking thick skin that continuously flakes off. Algae often grows on the backs and tails of manatees, which makes their skin color appear green or brown.  Barnacles (found mostly on coastal dwelling manatees) often leave round scars from attachment sites; movement from saltwater to freshwater habitats clears the animals of these saltwater hitchhikers.  The manatee’s flaky skin adaptation also helps keep the algae and barnacles from building up on the animals. These unique aquatic creatures definitely have some highly specialized features.

Manatees are aquatic herbivores (plant-eaters). Also known as “sea cows,” these herbivores usually spend up to eight hours a day grazing on seagrasses and other aquatic plants. A manatee can consume from 4 to 9 percent of its body weight in aquatic vegetation daily.

Manatees use their tails in an up and down motion to propel themselves forward. Strong swimmers, they are capable of reaching speeds of 15 miles per hour in short bursts. Manatees rest from 2 to 12 hours a day either suspended near the water’s surface or lying on the bottom, usually for several hours at a time.

While most people tend to see many manatees gathered together at winter warm-water sites, during the rest of the year these animals are semi-social as they travel around the state’s waterways in search of food, mates or places to rest. Except for cow/calf pairs and small mating herds, manatees do not need to travel together although they do socialize when other manatees are encountered.

Manatees reach sexual maturity in 3-5 years (females) and 5-7 years (males) and may live over 65 years in captivity. Gestation is approximately 13 months and usually one calf is born. The calf may stay with its mother (cow) for up to 2 years. Male manatees (bulls) are not part of the family unit. Bulls will leave a cow alone after her breeding period is over. Of the wild manatees that reach adulthood, only about half are expected to survive into their early 20s.

We returned to the marina for an afternoon by the pool, followed by a bit of a rainy day in the afternoon and dinner on the boat. One cool thing we saw, but didn’t know what it was, is this stark difference in the color of the water as we headed back to the marina…. An actual dividing line – can you see it below:

We wondered if it was a demarcation where there are sea grasses under the dark side and no sea grasses under the lighter side? It wasn’t a shadow. It wasn’t pollution. Turns out this is where the salt water from the ICW and the fresh water flowing from the creek meet. Very cool!

Saturday, 3/2 was our day to pull up stakes and head to Vero Beach (about a 12 mile, 2 hour run) to the Vero Beach City Marina, adjacent to the Vero Beach Yacht Club. We left around 11:15 and had lunch along the way, arriving at the marina around 12:45. More on Vero Beach later. We’ve covered a lot of ground (or should I say water) in February…. 12 trips and almost 500 miles at an average of 8 knots.

Good news is…. We finally found the sun and some warm weather!

Day 267 – 275; 2/10 – 218

Saturday, 2/10 we said goodbye to Jane and Luther as they headed back to Connecticut and the snow! Had a great time in the Keys with them! After they left (after breakfast) we took a little dinghy ride to check out the area and found lots of derelict boats…. Seems to be a FL problem.

Right around lunch time we received word that the Ocean Reef Club, a reciprocal club to AYC could in fact accommodate us for 2-3 nights so we cast off our lines from the Anchorage Resort and Marina in Key Largo and headed north, retracing our steps from the day before and crossing out of Blackwater Sound in to the open ocean north of North Key Largo. Of course we had some amazing dolphins escorts along the way (where were they when Jane and Luther were on the boat?). This never gets old!

On our way into the cove, we passed a huge mega yacht with their jet skis and kite boarding equipment deployed. WOW! Serious toys! We arrived around 3:00, feeling quite small compared to the mega yachts that were docked there!

Ocean Reef Club is a beautiful private club with a marina, homes and condos as well as a beautiful pool right on the beach, beach access with kayaks, sailing and SUPs, multiple restaurants, hotels, and amenities available to members. We were excited to have been extended some of the membership privileges for a couple days, enjoying the pool, an Italian restaurant and Super Bowl Party. Carol had several meetings while there, some that took almost an entire day so Gary toughed it out and went golfing! Someone has to do it!

Alas at $9.00/foot plus power (most transient slip prices range between $3.00 – $6.00 and we saw as lows as $1.00 – $2.00 prior to hitting the Florida coast), we said goodbye to Ocean Reef after having an amazing 3 nights there, heading to an anchorage in Miami on Tuesday, 2/13. Carol had more calls on 2/13, so Ocean Reef granted us a late departure that we were super appreciative of, and we headed out around 2:00 pm, arriving at the Marine Stadium Anchorage around 5:45 pm – a 3.5 hour mostly open ocean run. Seas were calm so it was a pleasant run, and of course we saw more dolphins!

Upon arrival, we weaved our way through the anchorage around other boats that were anchored – some just there for the day and some that had been there for years, looking totally abandoned. It was a beautiful night to watch the sunset over the old stadium and take in the lights of the city. Gary made an amazing shrimp stir fry with the varied ingredients we had on board and of course looper midnight came early!

A little history of the Marine Stadium… it is an interesting structure that looks like a huge set of bleachers under a large roof, only facing the water. What on earth were they watching? The Miami Marine Stadium was completed in 1963 as the first stadium purpose-built for power boat racing in the United States.  The venue on Virginia Key, located just south of Downtown Miami, was revered for its scenic views of Downtown and Miami Beach.

In 1979, Miami Rowing Club relocated next door and has been hosting the Miami International Regatta since 1973 with the basin providing a 1,500 meter 7 lane course for practice, training and racing.

From its opening for nearly 30 years, the stadium was used for its intended water sports as well as concerts, sporting events such as boxing (which began in 1972), and even figured prominently in the 1967 Elvis Presley film Clambake, serving as the scene of Elvis’ climactic speedboat race.  In the wake of Hurricane Andrew, it was declared an unsafe building in 1992 and sits abandoned, a canvas for graffiti artists and much debate in local politics about its possible restoration and use.  The well protected anchorage is a popular weekend spot for day boaters and has clearly also become the home of many derelict boats that have not moved in years!

We enjoyed watching the sun go down behind the stadium, gazing on the lights of the city and imagining this location in its glory days.

On Wednesday, 2/14 we left our anchorage around 9:40 am heading north on the ICW through Miami and Fort Lauderdale headed to another anchorage in Pompano Beach (Lake Santa Barbara). It was a long day with lots of draw bridges (which we didn’t time very well) so had quite a bit of wait time, arriving around 4:00 pm. Each bridge required our attention as to it’s stated clearance on our charts vs. the “staff gauge” which is a large measuring stick in the water that shows the actual clearance. We need 23’ of clearance (also called air draft) to avoid collision of our radar domes with the underside of the bridge (that would be a bad day!) and that is if we have the antennas folded down. Some bridges showed 25’ of clearance on the charts, but their staff gauges only showed 21 or 22’. One bridge operator told us we’d have enough clearance, so we didn’t need to wait until his opening, so come on up and go through now….but we could tell from the staff gauge we didn’t. We respectfully told him we’d wait for the opening! YIKES!

The ride up the ICW was very scenic with Miami and Fort Lauderdale’s beautiful homes, boats ranging from center consoles to mega yachts to cruise ships and everything in between. I don’t know why I didn’t take many pictures… let’s just say there was a lot of wealth on display! It was a beautiful and scenic ride. Gary took dinner duty again as Carol got ready for an evening BOD meeting. It wasn’t our typical Valentine’s Day celebration at Cafe Mezzanotte (Annapolitans know where that is!) but these aren’t typical days! All good!

Thursday, 2/15 we were up and out early again (8:30 am) for our last push to get to Palm Beach on time….’on time’ meaning we were pushing to get to Palm Beach Yacht Club (PBYC) to join other AYC-ers for a Cruising Fleet Snowbird’s Happy Hour. Carol had yet another BOD meeting from 12-2:30, so she took that one underway. We arrived around 2:15 and Gary just circled the marina for a while until Carol was done and we were ready to don our headsets and dock Legacy.

PBYC was another lovely club with reciprocal privileges to AYC – apparently, there are a few members at AYC are also members at PBYC. PBYC is a lovely and very traditional club requiring jackets for men while in the building and appropriate dress for women. If you know Gary, you know how much he LOVED having to wear his jacket for both Happy Hour on Wednesday and again for dinner on Thursday. Regardless, we met many of the PBYC members as well as visiting AYC members, enjoying the beautiful facilities and surrounding area. Quite a few of the members there have captains to run their boats. We enjoyed chatting with the owners and captains, getting their insights re: places to go and things to do in the Bahamas.

Friday we broke out our bikes, rode into town for lunch and found the local grocery store for a few provisions. The weather was finally warm and sunny, making it a glorious day! It was an early dinner at the club and then more meetings for Carol. The good news is we are hopefully seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for the need for all these meetings!

PBYC has a very small footprint and we thought it was so cool how they used “office/house boats” to satisfy their need for office space with their land space so limited.

Saturday, 2/10 arrived and it was time for Legacy to move north again, working our way to Burr Yacht Sales in Stuart, where we will leave Legacy for a week of scheduled maintenance and tune ups. Next stop along the way: Jupiter, FL. We took our time in the morning, leaving around 11:00 am (Carol had a turkey in the oven!)

Why a turkey in the oven in February? Deli meats are so full of sodium and unhealthy, we’ve been doing our own roasted turkeys, roast beef or chicken as our lunches instead of processed foods from the deli packed with blood pressure elevating sodium. Did you know that sodium and potassium are electrolytes that help your body function normally by maintaining fluid and blood volume? Consuming too much sodium (which is highly prevalent in processed food like luncheon meats) and too little potassium can elevate your blood pressure? Potassium can help lower your blood pressure because it relaxes the walls of the blood vessels whereas sodium provokes water retention which can increase the fluid volume of your blood and raise blood pressure. Potassium is naturally found in foods like bananas, spinach, avocados and potatoes. We now use a potassium substitute for regular table salt. Hey – a little effort, like roasting your own turkey, and you can stay more healthy!

Back to the loop!

Reed Burke took these awesome photos of us on our way to Jupiter and posted them on a Fleming FB group; pics are from Sand Mountain in Jupiter, just south of JIB club. Thank our Reed! People have asked why are our antennas down? Because we were going under bridges that otherwise we would have been too tall and they would have hit.

It was another very easy cruise up the ICW, navigating under lots of drawbridges and enjoying the sights. We arrived to a very fun marina in Jupiter around 1:30 pm where we docked right at the pool and outdoor bar. It’s not a bar that sells drinks, but you can buy a single or a 6 pack inside the ships store or bring your own. We enjoyed hanging out with the regulars, again gaining insights into their experiences in the Bahamas.

The highlight of the night though, wasn’t Carol’s turkey soup….even though it was good….. it was the Baltimore Blast (5th place) win over Utica (2nd place) by a score of 13-6! It also wasn’t just the win, it was Michael scoring 3 goals as a goal keeper – a new Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) record. NEVER before has a goal keeper recorded 3 goals in one game (a hat trick) achieving it with his arm, meaning he threw the ball the full length of the field into the opposing net. Arena soccer is unique where, like ice hockey, you can pull the goal keeper and add an extra player on offense. In the MASL, this is known as the 6th attacker. The risk of this strategy is that you leave the goal unattended and exposed. Utica did this and 3 times with the 6th attacker on the field, Michael made a save, was able to keep control of the ball and launched the ball down field to score. Congratulations Michael for making MASL history!

Hope these embedded links works!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/wzMx4is4DSy1kJ3q/?mibextid=K35XfP

https://www.facebook.com/100063592719052/posts/pfbid0izUZUiebMyugj21Gkr9EAAzgSAzarzUVcpiyw3MhpfvT1pscjHC1oh71LGQifMKel/?

Needless to say, the fans in the arena in Baltimore went wild, but so did Mom and Dad on Legacy. What a night for Michael – so proud of him and his journey from Broadneck High School soccer to Clemson Collegiate soccer and now to the MASL Baltimore Blast. He’s been patiently learning the arena game for 4 years and gaining experience as the number 2 guy behind an amazingly talented goalkeeper, but this has been his year. Just wish we had been there in person to see it and celebrate with him….The ups and downs of the loop!

Sunday, 2/18 is forecast to be rain, rain and more rain…. So we will stay in Jupiter and have a good cleaning day of the boat. Then it is off to Stuart.

Day 258 – 267; 2/1 – 2/10: 1/31 we said goodbye to Sarah and Richard on Wednesday, 1/31 after a few fun days with them. On Thursday, 2/1 we departed St. Charles Yacht Club in Fort Myers to head back to Marco Island (Smokehouse Bay) to anchor and reprovision. Running without stabilizers on this 4.5 hour run proved to be just fine, despite a bit of following sea off the starboard side. Friday, 2/2 we ran for another 7.5 hours to Shark River Inlet – an uneventful run with a little more breeze but favorable seas. We were out of Starlink (Wi-Fi) range for several hours on that run, so were forced to talk to each other….horror of horrors! Just kidding! We found a great well protected anchorage to watch the Blast Game on Twitch – it was a great 7-5 win in front of the home crowd.

Saturday, 2/3 would be our final push to get to the Keys – our destination was the Marlin Resort and Marina in Marathon where we would meet up with Jane and Luther who were flying from Connecticut into Fort Lauderdale and driving out. It was about a 5 hour run for us, arriving around 1:45 pm. We reunited with Steve and Barbara on Coda, Tony and Shirley on Puffin and Mayli and Boris on Saga. We felt like we finally found the sun and enjoyed some time in the heated pool and spa as we awaited Jane and Luther’s arrival around 3:45 pm. It was a long day of travel for them, so Coda’s gracious offer to make enchiladas for everyone (12 of us in total) was gladly accepted. Everyone opened their refrigerators and contributed ingredients to make it a reality, but it was Steve’s amazing cooking, recipe and smoked paprika combined with red wine that made it great! We took over all the high top tables and chairs by the pool and had a wonderful evening!

High winds (+40mph gusts) kept all of us in the marina on Sunday, 2/4. We started our day with our traditional lattes on Coda to plan the day, so of course we introduced Luther and Jane to our tradition! Winds being very strong, we all decided to make the most of it in the pool and spa and decided we’d have a Baltimore Blast watch party up in the lounge for the 3:00 pm game. Unfortunately, Blast lost that one 8-5. We had heard great things about the Steak and Lobster restaurant just a block or two away, so the 10 of us trekked over and it did not disappoint!

On Monday, 2/5 Saga left early to try to catch a decent weather window to get to Key Largo before a heavy rainstorm came in. They made it but did get a bit bounced around and quite wet! We opted to stay in Marathon and visited the Turtle Hospital nearby – quite fascinating and educational. Did you know that throughout the entire ocean, there are only 7 living species of sea turtles? 5 of those 7 are found in Florida: Green, Loggerhead, Leatherback, Hawksbill and Kemp’s Ridley. The green sea turtle is by far the most common in the area and also the largest represented at the Hospital. They aren’t called green because their shells are green…. It’s their insides! They eat so much seagrass their tissue and fat in their bodies turns green!

Sea turtles are at the hospital for a variety of reasons including ‘impaction’ – they’ve ingested some sort of synthetic material and can’t eliminate it causing intestinal blockage. Bottom line – don’t throw your trash in the water and do not release balloons into the air…. They do come back to land – often in the water and get ingested because they look like jelly fish! Another reason is ‘entanglement’ where they get tangled up in fishing lines, abandoned netting or more trash. This can result in cutting off the circulation in one of their flippers and death of that appendage or drowning since they can’t swim to the surface to breathe. Another reason they are there is ‘boat hits’. Boats inadvertently hit a sea turtle causing damage to their shells. This can result in internal infections or deformities to their shells that makes swimming and surfacing impossible. Often, an air pocket will get formed in the damaged shell causing the turtle to permanently float to the surface, unable to submerge to get food. This condition is affectionately known as ‘bubble butt’. The staff use marine epoxy to attach weights to the turtle shell to counter balance the bubble, but this isn’t a permanent solution since they will eventually fall off. These turtles can’t be released and become permanent residents or “ambassadors for their breed”. The final reason is ‘fibropapillomatosis’… say that 3 times! This is an aggressive herpes like virus that causes growth in soft tissue, particularly around the eyes.

We learned a lot about sea turtles and enjoyed our visit!

With strong winds and high seas still in the area, we opted to drive to Key West on Tuesday, 2/6 since we had to accept the fact that we’d not be able to get the boat there after all. Gary stayed behind since the mechanic to fix the stabilizers was able to come that day. What was supposed to be about a 1.5 hour drive took 2, but that didn’t dampen our spirits. We enjoyed a fabulous lunch at Garbos, a little airstream trailer that serves as a food truck with outdoor seating that was featured on Diners, Drive-in and Dives….our tacos were yummy!!! Then we were off to see the sights in Key West including the end of Route 1, Duval Street, Sloppy Joe’s, Captains Tony’s, and the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum.

A little history: Hemingway first arrived in Key West in 1928. He was married to Pauline at the time (which would be one of his 4 wives) and her wealthy Uncle Gus was the one who gave them the home they would update and live in for many years. Originally built in 1851, it was in a state of great disrepair but showed tremendous potential. Updated through the 1930’s and adding a swimming pool in 1937-38 (the first in ground pool in Key West), it was (and still is) a stately home complete with a writers studio behind the house where Hemingway wrote some of his finest works. The house is still filled with the furniture they collected in Europe and Africa and descendants of their cats! The story goes that Hemingway made the acquaintance of a sea captain who owned an unusual six-toed tomcat, which captured Ernest’s fancy, so the sea captain gave one to Hemingway. Today many of the numerous cats that inhabit the grounds still possess the unusual six toes.

Ernest’s friends Charles Thompson, Joe Russell (also known as Sloppy Joe), and Capt. Eddie “Bra” Saunders, together with his old Paris friends became known in Key West as “The Mob.” The Mob would go fishing in the Dry Tortugas, Bimini, and Cuba for days and weeks at a time in pursuit of giant tuna and marlin. Everyone in The Mob had a nickname, and Hemingway’s was “Papa.” Hemingway’s Key West was a town unlike any place he ever experienced. It was filled with interesting people, ranging from well-to-do businessmen and lawyers, to down-on-their-luck fishermen, to shipwreck salvagers. Throughout his career, Hemingway freely used the people and places he encountered in his literary works, and many Key Westers appear as characters in his novel “To Have and Have Not,” which is about Key West during the Great Depression.

Ernest and Pauline divorced in 1940, Hemingway took up residence in Cuba with his third wife, Martha Gellhorn. He continued to visit Key West during the 40’s and 50’s until his death in 1961. Having suffered from mental health issues his entire life, he committed suicide. Throughout the years, Key West has been home to many writers and artists, but none whose presence and influence is as profound as Ernest Hemingway’s. While in Key West, he wrote “ A Farewell to Arms”, “Death in the Afternoon” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” to name a few.

Back to our day in Key West…..the winds were howling so we were glad we came by car and not boat! We still ventured to the waterfront and enjoyed happy hour drinks and half price plates for dinner at the Boat House. Of course we also found huge cookies at $11.00 each – worth every cent and Key Lime Ice cream complete with graham cracker crust topping! Coda and Puffin took good care of Gary, inviting him over for burgers. As a consolation prize, we brought him a huge cookie and Tshirt since he missed out on Key West.

Wednesday, 2/7 the winds were still very strong so we stayed an extra day in Marathon enjoying the pool and spa. Carol and Jane did a little shopping and the boys hung by the pool. We enjoyed dinner at a local place called the Fishery that had stone crab claws – a real delicacy only available at certain times a year. When the crabbers catch them, they don’t keep the whole crab. They rip off one claw and throw the crab back to regrow a new claw. If their catch only has one claw, he/she goes back as is.

Thursday, 2/8 was our final morning coffee with Puffin and Coda. We said our goodbyes to Steve and Barbara who have completed their loop and will ship Coda back to Seattle in the next month or so. Puffin will hang out in Marathon a bit longer, then head around the horn of Florida and back home to North Carolina, skipping the Bahamas option. There may be a plan that comes together for all of us to do a boat trip from Seattle to Alaska… we’ll see! We look forward to seeing Puffin in NC when we go by and Steve in Annapolis when he comes for the boat show.

After coffee, Legacy was off the Metucumbe Bite in Islamorada to anchor – about a 3 hour run. Gary and Luther took the boat while Carol and Jane took the car. We found a great free parking spot with access to a pier at the Tidewater Resort. Okay so they thought we were staying at the resort …..a minor detail! It was a great anchorage where we enjoyed a traditional Portuguese dinner of green beans, linguica and chorizo as well as a few passing dolphins and a beautiful sunset.

Friday, 2/9 took us to Key Largo and the Anchorage Marina Resort. Luther took a turn driving the car, with a stop for a 2 hour kayak tour in the Mangroves and a visit to the Dive Museum. The 6 hour run had us out on the ocean side most of the way (ICW was too shallow for us) so it was a little bouncy with a few big waves bringing spray over the bow. We hoped for a few dolphins to join us and show Jane how they jump, but none were to be found. Anchorage Marina Resort was a lovely older time share resort right across from a beachside restaurant called Gilberts where Jane and Luther stopped for lunch on the way out. Instead of Gilberts, we took the managers advice and opted for dinner at Buzzards Roost which was excellent! We had never heard of hogfish, but highly recommend it – food was phenomenal. Our night was capped off by a Baltimore Blast win at home against the Empire Strykers where Michael even scored a goal by throwing the ball the full length of the court. Empire had pulled their goalie to add a 6th attacker (like you would see in hockey), giving Michael the opportunity to score on the open net.

Alas all good things must come to an end. Luther and Jane were off to the airport at 7:30 am on Saturday, 2/10 to return to CT, where snow was in the forecast. We decided to drop the dinghy and take a little ride to check out the area, searching for manatees. None were found but we did find a lot of derelict boats. It’s a real problem in Florida. Soon after our tour, we heard back from Ocean Reef Club that they could actually accommodate us that day for 3 days, so we tossed lines just after lunch to make the 2 hour run there. We arrived mid afternoon to enjoy some time by the pool. Ocean Reef Club is quite the swanky, fancy place! More on that next time!

Day 252 – 257; 1/26 – 1/31:

Friday, 1/26 we said goodbye (for now) to Saga and Who Dat as they prepared to head south to the Keys and we turned back north to connect with Sarah and Richard in Fort Myers. Not having been to Fort Myers Beach, we traveled about 4 hours and picked up a mooring there. We dropped the dinghy and ventured into Nervous Nellies for a safe arrival beverage and snack. We chose gator bites….. Hey, when in Rome! They taste like chicken!

The devastation from Hurricane Ian in September of 2022 is still very apparent here with sunken and wrecked boats still in the harbor or up against buildings, empty lots where homes once stood, construction fencing surrounding high rises beaten up in the storm, but also newly built or repaired homes and businesses.

We enjoyed dinner at Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grill, where there was ample dinghy dock space and live music. Their facility was mostly up and running with their large party space still closed.

Saturday morning it was back to St. Charles Yacht Club in Fort Myers where we got the boat cleaned up from all the salt, provisioned thanks to Wayne and Nancy lending us their car and had lunch with friends Jeff and Lisa who finished their loop on Boomerang in October and were in town for the Gold Looper Rendezvous. We actually donned bathing suits and relaxed in the heated pool as the sun went down…. first time in a bathing suit in months! We hoped Saturday night would be capped off with a Baltimore Blast win over Harrisburg with Michael in goal, but that didn’t happen. Michael had a great game, but the offense just didn’t show up in the second half with something like 1 shot on goal vs. Harrisburg’s over 25. The game went into OT, but alas it was not their night having to play 1 man down due to a blue card penalty; Harrisburg scored the golden goal in the first overtime period.

Sunday, 1/28 brought Sarah and Richard on an early flight down from Connecticut and we were off to Cabbage Key. We had amazing dolphin escorts right from the start that was a thrill for all of us, but particularly Sarah and Richard. Check out this super jumpy guy in the first video below. The the second one has some big jumps and barrel rolls!

The weather was cooler than we’d have liked with some strong winds, but Legacy is built for this. We’d hoped to cruise in the sun sipping cocktails on the sun pad….instead it was long pants and sweatshirts but that didn’t dampen our spirits….it’s still warmer than CT! We arrived at Cabbage key and walked the trails on the island, climbed the water tower, looked for the resident gopher tortoises and had dinner at the Old Inn in the Dollar Bill Bar, giving them the full experience.

Monday, 1/29 we headed to Fort Myers Beach where we enjoyed a safe arrival drink and lunch at Nervous Nellies. After our meal, we walked across the street to the Gulf side, observing the devastation from the hurricane. Ironically, one bar that was tucked across the street that survived the storm was now beach front and rocking and rolling! You could see where there once was a large structure blocking their view, but all that remained was pieces of the foundation. There was a lot of construction going on with high rises surrounded by construction fencing. Of course the white sandy beach was magnificent, but it will be years before all is restored or repaired. We took a dinghy tour of the harbor where Legacy was anchored, noting the destruction and recovery.

Tuesday, 1/30 we were off to Captiva Island with a reservation for one night at the Captiva Island Yacht Club. We had an amazing ride there with dolphins everywhere! At one point we had 5 or 6 (maybe more – hard to count they are so fast) on both the port and starboard as well as 4 or 5 in the bow. See below!

At the time of the video above, I didnt’ realize they were also in the stern. We had never seen dolphins ride in our wake straight off the transom, but there they were! We were surrounded on all 4 sides! Check out these 2 just a couple feet off the swim platform riding the wake!

The entrance to Captiva Island, which is just north of Sanibel Island, is very narrow and shallow. We had a few ‘pucker moments’ of less than 6 feet of water (we draw 5) and a little graze of the bottom. We fared much better than a power boat and sailboat that were fully aground on the sand bar to our starboard. These were not the product of Hurricane Ian, but we never did find out how they ended up so hard aground.

Captiva Island was a lovely stop with beautiful walking beach. Years ago, Captiva and Sanibel were one island but a hurricane in 1921 split them in two at Blind Pass. Legend has it that Captiva Island was a respite for pirates in the 1800’s. One of those pirates, Jose Gaspar (also known as Gasparilla), allegedly held his female prisoners captive on the land that would become, you guessed it: Captiva Island. Like many stories, this could be just another tall tale with the legend of Gasparilla more fiction than fact. Some say that Captiva’s name can only be traced back to a real estate pamphlet. I’m going with the pirate story!

We enjoyed a little sit in the club’s Adirondack chairs, a beach walk to the Mucky Duck, ice cream from the local grocery store since the ice cream shop was still closed and picking up shells along the way. Our evening was capped off by a fabulous dinner at the Yacht Club where we got out our fancy clothes to meet the dress code!

They say Captiva is more laid back than Sanibel, but Sanibel boasts better shelling. We had hoped to get to Sanibel, but with so much construction, the trip across the causeway between the mainland and the island can be up to 2 hours, depending on the time of day. We decided we’d wait a few years and come back then!

Wednesday, 1/31 we set sail back to St. Charles Yacht Club in Fort Myers where we started our adventure with Sarah and Richard. We arrived just before noon after dolphin escorts and acrobatics almost the whole way. Check out the video below with several dolphins in the bow while we were running at near idle speed. Never seen them jump in the bow before!

And this video of a jumpy group with 2 often jumping at the same time!

We enjoyed a quick dip in the heated pool, but it wasn’t as warm as a few days ago with the air temperature only in the high 60’s. We opted instead for little miniature golf tournament before taking Sarah and Richard back to the airport. Gary emerged as the victor (no big surprise there) while Sarah and Carol tied for second. Let’s just say Richard hasn’t had as much practice as the Z’s who have competed in the ‘Zierhoffer Family Open’ for years!

We packed sandwiches for Sarah and Richard to take on the plane, dropped them off and headed back to Forth Myers to connect with Wayne and Nancy who were again so gracious to allow us the use of their car. We enjoyed a drink at their club then thought we’d give our Annapolitan friends a taste of Rhode Island at the Clambake Restaurant. It’s decor is all New England, all the time with New England Patriots, Red Sox and Celtics memorabilia every where. If you are from RI, you won’t eat clam strips, and will only order fried clams if they are Ipswich clams complete with the bellies! Of course they also serve Chowda and Lobsta rolls as well as many other seafood dishes. Gary was disappointed they were out of his favorite scallops but made due with fish and chips while Carol, of course, had the fried clams. All was excellent!

Tomorrow is the first of February and we will begin our trek south again, with plans to arrive in the Keys on 2/3. We plan a week there and look forward to Jane and Luther’s arrival to hang and relax with us. We’ll have about 4.5 hours back to Marco Island, then 6+ to Shark River Inlet then another 5 hours to Marathon in the Keys. Somewhere in there we hope to get the stabilizers back up and running again. Other than a few ‘side to sidepitches’ mostly from other boat wakes (not nice!), we’ve been fine. As Sarah would remind me, “Mom, it’s a first world problem!”

Day 244 – 251; Jan 18 – Jan 25: The morning of Jan 18th, we were off to Marco Island from Fort Myers. Our path out of Fort Myers took us by the repaired causeway between Fort Myers and Sanibel Island. You may recall that Fort Myers and Sanibel Island were devastated by Hurricane Ian in September of 2022 when it slammed into the coast as a Category 4 storm. It was the worst storm to hit Sanibel since 1926 and the 3rd costliest ($113B) weather disaster on record worldwide. While portions of Fort Myers were up and back, portions were still devastated. We attempted to get an Uber/Lyft to take us out to Sanibel Island just to walk the beaches and look around, but we gave up after about an hour. We figured if we can’t get someone to pick us up to take us out there, how the heck would we get back!

Back to our journey…..It was about a 4 hour open ocean run from Fort Myers to Naples where we ran a couple miles off shore, so no dolphins! Not to disappoint, as soon as we pulled into the channel in Naples and began passing we gorgeous waterfront homes on our way to the Naples Yacht Club, our dolphin escorts arrived! The Naples Yacht Club was of course beautiful and quite friendly. Interestingly we met several visiting AYC members there. They stopped to say hello, recognizing our AYC burgee. We enjoyed walking the beautiful streets of Naples, especially 5th Avenue which was full of exclusive clothing and gift shops, restaurants, real estate offices, and banks. Bentleys and Lamborghinis were a dime a dozen and nary a Chevy could be seen for miles! It was quite exclusive and fancy!!

We were looking forward to seeing Rick and Constance, friends and colleagues from our Northrop Grumman days in CA and NY. Rick and Constance now winter in Naples, leaving the cold of MD behind. Had a great dinner with them at Mr. Big Fish – fabulous – highly recommend! We also connected with Wayne and Nancy, our friend and architect from Annapolis who also winter in Naples on their ~60’ Marlow named Grace with their 2 pups Bailey and Sampson. Thrilled to be working with Wayne again as it looks like we’ll be closing on the condo in Annapolis by the end of the month and his genius artistic and structural expertise is sorely (very sorely!) needed for a full gut and renovation. More on that another time! Really enjoyed dinner at Chez Boet – a lovely little French restaurant on 12th Avenue with Wayne and Nancy.

Saturday, Jan 20 we were off again and headed south to Marco Island. We were still chasing the sun, without much success I might add, but enjoyed the dolphins immediately coming along side of us again and showing us the way out to the open ocean. This was a much shorter run, about 1.5 hours, to Factory Bay at Marco Island where we dropped an anchor for the night. We had access to a dinghy dock at one of the marinas to go ashore, so we walked about a mile to the Esplanade to check out the shops and restaurants. Having found an amazing ice cream shop, we were quite happy! Then lo and behold, we found a very nice anchorage that was much more calm right there off the Esplanade. We took the dinghy to check out the winding path through a series of canals to get there and found the depth to be acceptable. We moved the boat to Smokehouse Bay where we reanchored and were very happy with that decision…. Much more calm and much more to do; easy (and free) shore access and fellow loopers in the bay. Bonus was the Winn Dixie (grocery store) right around the corner with its own dinghy dock!

The trip between Factory Bay and Smokehouse Bay, however, was eventful. It was literally a 10 minute run but very quickly we had an alarm about low hydraulic fluid in the stabilizers (which are the fins on the bottom of the boat that counteract the forces of waves and water and prevent side to side rocking). We immediately shut them down since we were traveling at very low speed with no waves and would check it out when we anchored… Gary thought probably some sort of a clogged strainer or something. Well we were wrong and when he entered the engine room found hydraulic fluid spewed everywhere. With a little diagnostics, we figured out that something in the hydraulic pump on the port engine failed (perhaps a seal or gasket) and we had a hydraulic fluid fountain that sprayed 5 gallons of hydraulic fluid everywhere!

After some consultation with the experts, we came up with a plan to get them fixed AND a way for us to safely run in the short term without using the stabilizers but also without damaging them. This gave us a little more time in Marco Island than we had planned, but we did enjoy a nice 5 mile hike to, from and on the white sandy beach there. We concluded this was only the 3rd beach walk we’ve had on the loop… hard to believe! Sylvan Beach, Clearwater Beach and now Marco Island. We’ve got some beach walking to do once we get to the Keys!

This little hydraulic issue also changed our plans to go to Everglades City by boat, explore that area and do an airboat ride through Everglades. We instead left Legacy anchored in Smokehouse Bay and rented a car. Really enjoyed the airboat ride with Captain Bradley who seems to be an alligator whisperer. He literally called one out of the Mangroves and she came to him! He pet her on the head…. Yikes! This was our first alligator sighting since hitting the Gulf. Others have reported seeing gators further north, but this was our first.

This has been a great anchorage, but alas we will head north tomorrow back to Fort Myers to meet up with Sarah and Richard. We reconnected with Scott and Amy on Who Dat from Wisconsin who we met in Clearwater Beach. SAGA also arrived today after spending a week or so tooling around in the Fort Myers/Naples area with friends. A fellow AYC member came by on his paddle board to say hello, having spotted our AYC burgee. 2 more loopers we’d not met yet arrived today…. Love meeting new friends!

Dinner for 3 of the boats will be on Legacy where SAGA is bringing bratwurst for all, we’ve got all the fixings ready as well as Old Bay French fries in the oven and Who Dat is bringing sides and dessert… rumor has it it’s a key lime pie! That’s what Loopers do!