Old friends, New friends

I had my friend Kim, (our horse trainer from Michigan) down in the area visiting her Mom and Dad with her kids.

We found an anchorage in Bimini Basin with a park where the kids could play and we could meet for a picnic and go for ice cream across the street.  It was the perfect location.  Scott gave dinghy rides to those who wanted to go.  Her kids are getting so big so fast.  It was great spending the day with them.

 

I had lost track of Janice a friend from high school. I happened to see her on facebook and we reconnected via Facebook a few months ago and made plans to connect when we got to her neck of the woods in Cape Coral Florida. We met for lunch and it was like we never missed a day.  I love friendships like that.  We ended up picking up Scott from the boat and went back to Janice’s and met her husband.  He is a great guy, oh and his name is Guy. 😉 We ordered chinese and talked the evening away.  It was so good to reconnect. Thanks Janice and Guy for a great evening!

If you have been following us, you know we spend a lot of time at anchor.  That has posed a little power shortage.  We haven’t been running long days traveling, so there hasn’t been enough time to charge our batteries.  We have a generator, but it’s is noisy and we’re finding we had to run the  genny for quite a few hours.  With plans to anchor mostly in the Keys and the Bahamas, we decided to invest in solar panels. The logistics of doing that while traveling was a bit of a problem until we connected with Kitty Nicolai. She is a Harbor Host and darn good one at that.  Harbor Hosts are people scattered all over the US to help us Loopers.  Kitty was willing to have us ship all the panels and hardware to her house prior to our arrival.  She lives on canal and offered us to use her dock to do the installation. She is our new friend.  What a gracious, friendly, knowledgeable and fun to be around gal.  We are enjoying food drink and camaraderie as well getting our solar panels installed.  We hope to have to project finished today.  We will spend the night and most of tomorrow with her and say a sad goodbye. Kitty will be one of those people we will not forget and expect to see her again someday.

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott

Unique random photo of the day.

 

We were expecting a storm so we need to find a safe place to anchor. We went to a small keyhole in the mangroves thinking it would be perfect, but it was just a little too small and if our anchor dragged at all we would be aground or in the mangrove trees or both. We moved back to Caya Costa and tucked into the south west corner  of the anchorage to protect us from the winds our ot the south and west.  We handled several days of wind and rain, no problem.  There were tornado warning north and south of us, so I think we picked the right spot.  After 3 days on the boat we wanted to get off. Caya Costa is known for shelling and they say the best shelling is after a storm. We got up early and dinghied to shore.  We just missed the  ride to the beach so we walked there.  It felt good to stretch our legs,  We got to the beach and were disappointed because it was all sand.  The waves blew sand almost a block up up the beach.  I bet it would have been wild to watch.  From our previous trips there we knew there was a point down the beach that had great shells.  We got there and were not disappointed.

All along the beach there were creatures that had been washed up on shore. We threw back anything that was still alive.  Many starfish, live shells, even an octopus got thrown back.  We weren’t sure if they would make it but we did our part.

 

We found some odd items.  Enjoy the pictures and what we learned from google after we got back to the boat and tried to identify our creatures. It was fun and interesting learning about new creatures.

 

Thanks for reading

Scott and Karen

Unique Random Picture of the day.

I cannot for the life of me figure out why my photos are not posting in the correct orientation.  They are perfect on my screen.  I am doing a test to see if I can figure out where the problem is.  I hope to help you neck when reading our blog if I can figure it out.

All photos show correct orientation in pictures where they were uploaded from.

Now friends, Lets see what happens when I post them.

Karen

1-21-17 Cabbage Key and The Tunnel of Love

We spent a few days in a marina after spending 17 days at anchor getting water filled, tank emptied and a serious cleaning job done on the boat and dinghy. We miss the fresh water. But the salt water life is good.

There’s a storm a brewing which means we needed to find the best anchorage we can to ride it out.  We went to a small well protected anchorage thinking we would stay there.  But it was so small that we were not comfortable. If our anchor dragged at all we would be in trouble. We ended up back in Pelican Bay off Caya Costa. We tucked in where we would be protected from the south and the west which is where the winds are anticipated to be from. We had a nice day to do something with before the winds get bad, so off we went in our dinghy to Cabbage Key about 2 miles away. There is a restaurant there that for years people have been taping dollar bills to the walls and ceilings.  They are everywhere. They estimate there to be $70,000 dollars on the walls.

There is the last standing water tower in the area. All the others have been taken out by hurricanes. We climbed to the top.  Man what a view.

Us at top of the tower. Look at the view behind us.

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We hiked a neat trail through the woods.  There were many species of plants and trees that we hadn’t seen before.  There have been known to be frequent alligator sightings, otters, snakes, etc.  We didn’t see anything but a million Geckos. The woods are so different than at home but so beautiful.

 

There were Gopher Turtles wandering the lawn eating grass.  The resort blocked off so people didn’t fall in their holes. The turtles were named after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Michelangelo, Donatello,….then there was Myrtle.  I don’t know my Ninja turtles very well but somehow Myrtle doesn’t ring a bell. At least her name is a great play on words. Myrtle the Turtle.

While we waited for lunch we looked up what to do on the island.  There was this little blurb about the Tunnel of Love.  You can only get through it with a kayak, canoe or dinghy.  It lands you in a spot a short walk to the Gulf.  We felt adventurous and squeaked through some thin water. Close to the entrance we had to start paddling. We paddled most of the way. It brought us back to our canoeing days only the dinghy doesn’t paddle as well as a canoe.  The mangroves made a tunnel over the waterway. Very cool! It was so narrow that the dinghy barely fit, we couldn’t even row it we had to paddle like a canoe.  When we got to the beach, we were the only people out there and it was beautiful. Lots of great shells seeing they haven’t been picked over.  We didn’t bring our shell bag and that is probably a good thing.

We are loving this trip more and more every day.  Who ever thought life could be this great!

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott

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The wonders of Caya Cost

Caya Cost is a 7-mile long island. It is a  Florida State Park.  We anchored in Pelican Bay . We took our dinghy to a nice dock. The park had a truck pulling a trailer with benches and a Golf Cart to take us to the beach side of the island.   This was the best shelling place we have been yet. We packed a lunch, walked the beach, snorkeled and spent time with friends.

Good friends Steve and Teresa enjoying the beach with us.

We found a little inlet that was really wild.  We found this Gator sitting on the bank sunning himself.  He could have cared less that we were there.  However, we didn’t push our luck to get too close.  After all we are in a rubber dinghy.  We did not feel any threat.  We saw some Manatees in the lagoon.  There was a little dock we were able to tie up to.  There was a path that led into the Florida Wilderness.  We enjoyed the walk in woods and marveled how different it is from the woods we are used to.

We love spending time in nature and this place is high on our list.

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott

Unique and random photo of the day.

Englewood Beach, Boca Grand with my parents.

We anchored out at Indian Mound which is near where my parents live close by. It worked out wonderful because they  have a friend with a dock right in front of our anchorage. We were able to dinghy to their private dock and my parents picked us up there.

 

After spending the day on the beach we went to dinner at Gulf View.   We had a quick drink at the Tiki Bar waiting for our reservation.

We sat inside with the air conditioning  and  with the perfect view of the sunset.

The next day we went to Boca Grande. We spent a glorious day on the beach.  We did some shell picking  and beach bumming. The temperature was perfect.  We went though the small museum. After the beach we drove to the little town and shopped the quaint shops.

We found a gem of a marina which is listed as a historic place.

This place was not just “Old Forida” but “Broken Down Old Florida” It was very interesting, but with minimal amount of care and straighten it could be almost a museum without losing the  character.

Last Call and a beautiful sunset at our anchorage at Indian Mound.

My parents were a life saver. They took us shopping and my Mom and I did errands and she sat with me while I got my hair cut.  We got back on the boat re-provisioned  and well taken care of . We are also thankful for the time spent with my parents Love you guy!

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott

Unique random picture of the day.

We went to Marina Jacks in Sarasota and stayed on the mooring balls for 3 nights.  The Lashers on Sanctuary were in the marina also. The highlight of our stay was our visit to the Ringling Museum. I almost don’t know where to start.

Brief History Lesson: John Ringling was from Iowa and had seven brothers and one sister from his German immigrant parents. His father was a harness maker. Five of the brothers started the show business along with other in 1884.  In 1889 the brothers took the show from  animal drawn wagons to the railroad and traveled the country.   In 1905 John married Mable Burton.  He was 39 and she was 30. Two years later they bought the Barnum & Bailey show and they became the “King of the Show World”

John was soon investing in railroads, oil and real estate and may other enterprises.  He was said to be worth  $200 million in 1925.

He and his bother Charles started purchasing land in the Sarasota area in 1911. At that time there were only about 800 people living  in the area. John purchased 20 acres on the waterfront where he and Mable built Ca’d’ zan, their Venetian Gothic style mansion. At one time John and Charles owned 25 percent of Sarasota.

In their search for new acts they would travel to Europe. This is when John and Mable began their art collection.

After the death of his brother John in 1929 John took over the management of the Ringling circus.  His wife died  and he was brokenhearted.  He had an unfortunate second marriage that didn’t last. He spent 1.7 million dollars purchasing the American Circus Corporation. When the depression hit John was financially in trouble but he refused to break up his and Mable’s art collection.  John died on December 2, 1936 of pneumonia with $311 in his checking account and masses of dept.  He never had children. He left everything to the State of Florida. His debtors were paid off pennies on the dollar by dissolving his many interests in oil, railroad etc. They state kept John Ringling’s estate and priceless art museum in tact. It is open to the public and if you ever in the area DO NOT miss this.  I only touched on a very brief history.

I have literally hundreds of pictures there was so much to see. I wish I could share them all.  On to the Mansion…

I am still in awe of this whole experience.

Thank you for reading.

Scott and Karen

Unique Random picture of the day.

 

1-3 and 1-4, 2017 Egmont Key, We’re off to see the Wizard and Turtle Tomfoolery

Our next anchorage brought us to an amazing island with rich history, Egmont Key.  It is at the mouth of Tampa Bay and is accessible only by boat.

A brief history of the island: 1849 the first of 3 lighthouses was built.  The first two were taken out by hurricanes and the current one was built inland further to protect it.

It was once a prison for the Seminole Indians who were defeated in war. Fort Dade was built to defend Tampa Bay from invasion during the Spanish American War. Over 70 buildings were built between 1898 and 1916. Today only finely laid brick roads and the gun batteries and dozens of cracked building foundations remain.

Sanctuary and Last Call took dinghies in dense fog to the island.

It fortunately wasn’t foggy on the island. We climbed the gun batteries. It is amazing how good of shape the concrete is in after close to 100 years. We figured not having winter freeze and thaw must help.

The brick roads went off into the distance and we felt like we were on our way to OZ.  In a silly moment Scott and I skipped like Dorothy  down the road and Teresa caught us on camera.

I bet you thought I forgot about the Turtle Tomfoolery. I didn’t. I just left you hanging. We started seeing Gopher turtles along the road to the light house.

When we got to the lawn of the light house there were turtles everywhere and yes, you guessed it…..it was mating season and there was lots of activity, thus: Turtle Porn.

Thanks for reading.

Scott and Karen

Unique Random Photo of the day:

1-1&2-2017 Highfalutin Monkey Business

On January, first we left Marker1 Marina. Leaving was bitter sweet. We met many new friends and had to say our goodbyes. The great thing about this trip is that we will likely run into them again. On the other hand, we were ready to get back to anchoring. On our way to to our next anchorage this tiny island had every inch filled with birds. Lovely.

We find the best stuff at anchor like this amazingly beautiful Don Cesar Hotel in St. Petersburg.

It is a small anchorage so 3 looper boats rafted together.  The next morning Ellis Island left and Sanctuary and Last Call loaded our bikes in the dinghy and we rode all around the key.

It was quite warm and lunch time, so it was time to find cold Rum drinks and seafood.  We found a table on the balcony overlooking the ocean at the Brass Monkey.

They had fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit drinks. They were so refreshing after biking. We might have had two.

Lunch was crab cake Rueben sandwiches. Best sandwich I have ever had. The menu was funny with things like Monkey balls.

That led us to the old saying “It’s so cold it could freeze the balls off a brass monkey” This is Salty Dog Talk.  In the olden days cannon balls were stacked on the decks of the ship on a brass plate called a monkey.  Brass, however, expanded and contracted with the temperature and if it got cold enough, the monkey would contract and the cannon balls would fall off. There you have it folks…get your mind out of the gutter. 😉

On our way back, we decided to see if this Tee Shirt, shorts, camera toting crew could go into the hotel without getting kicked out. I think Steve’s fancy camera saved us as we got to stay. It was beautiful.

We even could go down on their beach, but not to the Tiki Bar. We just wanted to say we had exorbitantly expensive drinks at the Don Cesar, but rules saved our pocket books.  They did have an Ice Cream shop with a deck right on the main street.  

We sat outside hoping with little hope that someone would think we were important as they drove by in their Lexus, Mercedes, BMW and Ferrari cars. A rusty Chevy truck drove by, we figured that was our only hope.

While we sat on the deck, a random bottle of Vodka showed up in the middle of the sidewalk. 

We were all intrigued so Scott, who didn’t care if he looked like a vagrant looking for a drop in the bottle, went over and did his duty to pick up the trash. Scott’s first thought was that someone super-glued it to the side walk like the firefighters used to do with quarters for entertainment.

He did act it up and weaved his way down the sidewalk as we all laughed on the deck.

We didn’t exactly put it in the trash, we sort of left it in another place to intrigue the next sucker to come along.  We be bad.

Here is an interesting mini history lesson on the Don Cesar Hotel which was built in 1928 by Thomas Rowe. It was the playground of the pampered rich at the height of the Jazz Age. It survived the depression because the rich still had money to spend and the hotel made a deal to house the New York Yankees during spring training for 3 years. The hotel is named after the hero in the Opera Maritana. Rowe died suddenly without a will and “The Don” was left to his estranged wife who allowed it to fall into disrepair until the US bought it during WWII for an Army Military Hospital. In 1944 it became a US air Force convalescent center, then later Veteran Administration Regional office. 1969 the graffiti covered hotel was vacant and at risk of being torn down. The locals put up a fierce opposition and in 1972 it as sold and renovated into the grand hotel it once was and is now.

What a fun day.

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott

Unique Random Picture of the day:

An empty magnum bottle of Grey Goose Vodka on the deck of the Don Cesar… How did that get there?

Holiday Week Fun

Scott, Allen and I spent Christmas at my parent’s in Englewood. We went to the early Christmas eve Mass at their churh because we had Luminaries to put out before dark. We enjoyed a spread of hors d’oeuvres, opened presents, walked the neighborhood to see the lights and played cards.  So wonderful to sped time with my parents.

The Kuhfeldt family arrived in Clearwater the day after Christmas.  It was so good to see them all. We met for dinner  at a restaurant on Clearwater beach.  We watched the sunset as we sat out on the deck. What a great family.  We sure enjoyed a few precious days together.

Allen was with us for about a week.  After Christmas at my parents, we spent two days on the beach. The weather was glorious.

We also had the Rehkopf’s stop by.  They had Angie with them.  Always a treat to see them, but even better when Angie is with them.

Just before we left Dunedin we had another visitor.   Michael Martin and Margp. He was our broker for buying our boat and we have become great friends.    He has recently started the Great Loop himself while working.  He has a go-fast-boat so he can zip to a destination and hop in a car or a plane to go where he needs to go to sell boats.

Funny story… I was a little afraid to let Margo give me a kiss for fear of her ripping my lips off.  After spending some time with her and beginning to read her emotions, I felt comfortable to take a kiss from Margo.  Michael was about to leave and he let her kiss him first then I did it, then Scott…..*****>>>>  whoa! She took one look at his furry face and snubbed him badly and refused to kiss him.  We got a great chuckle out of it.  Margo let everyone know her feelings for him by her reaction and body language.

It is so much fun seeing old friends and making new. If you are ever near us, please let us know. We would love to see you.  If you think you might want to join us on our crazy boat adventure for a short time, let us know.  We would love to have you.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott

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