Retirement agrees with him

Is this hard to take, or what!?! If you look closely though, he caught me taking the picture. There's a tiny little smirk on his lips! It was too priceless to let slide! Remember who didn't want another dog? Ahha! Guess who's dog this is?

Ft. Myers, Florida

A fleet of shrimp boats. We are in Ft. Myers to spend the holidays with dear friends. They tell us with the price of fuel, these boats are not sailing as they had been, which was daily. Now they go out once a week.

Welcoming Committee

My apology to all those bird lovers out there, but these guys are just really dumb looking animals! They have all the grace of a out of control tank when they dive for their dinners. Kaplunk! Half the time they come up empty. Those lucky enough to succeed now thrill the onlooker by watching the prey swim around in the large loose throat pouch. The white head pelicans are the males we are told and the brown head, the female.

One of the very beautiful homes along the ICW

Thought you would enjoy this one. Yes, there are big, bigger, biggest homes all along the ICW. Most of them I don't even notice but this one had some unique artwork on the front of the home. Also, embedded in the front retaining wall were shells of various shapes and sizes. Very different.

The most active Dolphins so far!

Jumping our wake! This pod was active. At one point we had four dolphin in the air at one time. We tried to get pictures. Their quick!

Perfect Timing

As we were coming across the Tampa Bay this morning, a small tanker was proceeding up the main channel to discharge. I thought it was a beautiful picture in the center of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The Tanker was an OSG ship named Overseas Galena Bay.

This evening we are anchored off Englewood Beach and should arrive Ft. Myers tomorrow afternoon. We'll spend Christmas this year with friends in Ft. Myers.

More Holiday Spirit

Christmas on the water

These are two sailboats all decked out for Christmas. The first is Santa's sled and "some" tiny raindeer. The second dressed his sails. Very Festive.

Keeping things in perspective

A tragady hit the people at the dock pretty hard yesterday morning. There was a ruckus to the left of where we were docked. Distinctly, a gentleman was quite distraught. He'd traveled in with a friend the night before. The friend has a wife who had decided not to do the open water transit of the Gulf and was scheduled to arrive yesterday afternoon to again travel with her husband. He did not wake up this morning. He'd suffered a heart attack during the night and died. He was 61. While it was not the most pleasant part of doing the Great Loop, it does keep things in perspective. In this most blessed season of the year, it is with a great deal of gratitude that we praise and thank the creator for all that is ours to enjoy today! God Bless and Merry Christmas to each of you.

Lines ready for docking

The trip today took about 8 hours. Crystal River Marina is 9 miles up the river and Tarpon Springs Marina is 5 miles up the river. In a trawler, that is a substantial time lag. My brother has a captains license and has brought other peoples boats from Florida to New York many times. So being on the water was nothing new to him. Five hours into the trip, he was ready to tie er up and leave -- but it was still fun having them aboard and June enjoyed the trip tremendously. Here you see Tom bringing up the docking lines letting us know he'd had enough

Shared part of the loop

Yesterday we drove my brothers truck to Tarpon Springs and returned by car, leaving the truck at the marina we are docked at tonight. They met us this morning and rode the 64 miles from Crystal River to Tarpon Springs. It was great to be sharing part of the loop with people we love and it was hard to part this evening.

THE greatest Apple Pie

For as long as I can remember, there was no one who could match my sister-in-law's apple pies! Knowing how much we enjoyed it, she baked this day and we enjoyed every effort! The card she is holding? It was just having fun with my brother. Christmas is NOT his favorite holiday! The card read: Have ourself a merry little Christmas, just don't involve me in it! What can I say? Does this explain why I am the way I am?

Caring Husbands

My sister-in-law June, who is slightly older than I; O.K. so she's a LOT older than I (see me laughing) had never been in a kayak before. I knew where the manatee were and June proved once again, "You're as young as you feel." With no hesitation, she gave the kayaking a whirl and remained dry the entire time! We set out to find the manatee together. BUT we went a little further than we'd anticipated because you all know how great things are just around the bend -- and by the time we were found, we decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to throw the husbands the line and let the outboard motor return us all to the boat! (Yes, we found the manatee! but don't tell the husbands they were at the FIRST bend! The other bends were just plain fun!)

Doggles

Believe it or not, they are 100% UV block, shatter proof, anti-fog protective eye wear for dogs! They were a "gift" from a friend when we began the loop. Gilligan has never worn them, but hay, you remember we are visiting my brother and there are some things a sister just cannot restrain herself from sharing! His face so expressed: "What's the world comin' to now!" Don't you agree?

"Candle-ing"

My brother will be fitted for new hearing aids on Wednesday. Prior to the appointment, he had to remove mega ear wax and this procedure is an actual prescription from a bonafide medical doctor. Watching it done on either ear, Ron was curious about what that might feel like. Gives a whole new meaning to the Hot Head, doesn't it? It was however, an extremely efficient method of removing ear wax. Ron said he didn't feel a thing.

More Manatee

This guy was every bit as big as my kayak. His nose is in the air here and he is directly in front of me. Ron got the pictures.

Manatee Intro

We are staying at Pete's Pier in Crystal River. Crystal River is a national wildlife refuge. Manatee may come to you, but many places prohibit you going to them! This was an open area. This manatee went under Ron's Kayak for a good back rub and than pushed him around in a circle for a while and then came up to say thank you!

And he moves in for a Closer Look!

I'm sorry to say, Gilligan missed this whole adventure! We certainly got a kick out of it. Hope you will too.

Great Egret

Did you ever go to the zoo and peek inside the cages to see what animal lives there? Well, sitting with my brother and wife having lunch, Ron looked up and saw this guy peeking in. We got up very slowly and reached for the camera in order to send him home to all of you! Isn't this great! Yeah, Great Egret!

Red Skies When?

Remember the ole adage: Red skies at night, sailors delight; red skies in the morning, sailors take warning? Yeah, don't listen to that anymore! This was the evening prior to that nasty crossing you'll see as you scroll down!

Entering Crystal River

We had another full day from Steinhatchee to Crystal River. My brother lives here and we plan on being here at least two weeks. This is also the manatee capital of the Florida Gulf. All along the river were signs "Idle Speed, Manatee Zone." So we'll try to get some pictures of those "mermaids!"

Carrabelle to Steinhatchee

This was a nasty day. We reviewed the weather as best we could and then checked with the locals! That was our big mistake. While Ron felt it would be a better crossing the following day, the fisherman (three of them) swore this to be a better crossing. It was 78 miles and 8 hours. Four of those eight hours brought us into 6-8 foot seas. The second picture was the result AFTER everything had been "secured." This was truly a nasty crossing. And by the time we neared Steinhatchee, the natural lay of the land blocked some of this nasty stuff, and the last four hours were like glass (well, the last three actually).

Welcoming committee

Pelicans and cormorants.

Abandoned boats

Many abandoned boats line the intracoastal. Today we traveled about 78 miles, arriving Carrabelle 1600. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will begin our first leg of sailing in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico and hope to arrive Steinhatchee late afternoon. We are three days away from my brother folks!!!!!!!

Can you guess the tax structure?

Little floating homes like this one, are located all along the intracoastal water way. This one has a washing machine out front. Other's have little tricycles and usually a row boat attached to the home. There aren't any no wake signs, but we somehow thought it would be a good idea to really back it down!

On the GIWW

We're in the Gulf Intracoastal Water Way at this point and some of the passages are narrow and winding! We hailed these tugs, barge, AND dredge, all of which are being PULLED by these two tugs up front, to ask permission to pass. Not much room for error! We laughed as some of the boats behind us hailed this motley group trying to decide if they were coming, or going! Believe me, after coming up upon it, we could understand their question. Ron said he'd never seen anything like it being towed in confined waters.

West Bay Florida

Here you see the beautiful creature about to jump out of the water. They are spectacular. What else can I say! I hope we never tire of seeing them!

Dolphin off the Bow

This guy was running with us directly under the pulpitn and swam from port to starboard and back again. And never touched the boat once. It was SOOOO exciting! I wish every one of you could have been with us this day!

Happy Birthday!

This was a beautiful manger scene in front of one of the restaurants. I couldn't get the entire cast of characters and animals so I decided to get the most important ;-) It's beginning to loot a LOT like Christmas!

Animated figures

Gilligan wasn't quite sure what to make of these animated figures but he was a gentleman and made no noise in the crowd of people! He merely pulled back and watched with his eye on each of us from time to time to find some security in his frightened little world.

One of the shops in the town

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

We attempted to anchor in not one, but three anchorages this afternoon. The bottom was mud and silt and the anchor just would not hold. We began calling marinas and nearby we found Baytowne Marina in Sandestin, Florida. It was just about sunset when we arrived. We had dinner and wanted to get some exercise and this quaint little Christmas town is what we found. Come to find out, Sandestin is a resort town. We were both sorry we'd had dinner. These are some of the pictures I could get with my cell phone. We didn't even bring the camera.

Florida Pelicans

Watching these guys dive has been fun. They don't appear to be too accurate however, as rarely do we see them come up with their prey! When they do, it's great fun to watch them swallow. The fish almost swim all the way down! Years ago Tony and Jill were visiting in Monroe and gave us The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds. I used it a lot in Monroe and we brought it with us on the trip. We're both glad to have it aboard. There are some weird looking birds out here! It's fun to find and identify some of the newcomers!

Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

This is the beginning of the Gulf ICW. Tonight we are in Pensacola Beach, Florida. We wish we could say it's warm here -- but it isn't!

Black-crowned Night Heron

Look in the center of the dark photo to see the bird on the piling. It's a Black-crowned Night Heron and he came every single night we were at the Dog River Marina. I know the photo isn't the best. He was beautiful though and I had to share what I could get of him. Every single night he'd come and watch us through the window! If we moved, he got a little edgy and he'd never let us on deck to take the shot. I know it's dark but again I say: "It's a NIGHT Heron!!!!"

Christmas on the Loop

Readying the boat for Christmas!