We returned to our Kadey Krogen Manatee in time to welcome in the New Year at the Brunswick Marina Clubhouse. During that evening we mingled with like-minded souls who shared a lot of boating stories... and we actually stayed up until midnight!
In the next 8 days we worked our way south into Florida, finding protected anchorages and picking up mooring balls in St. Augustine and Titusville. For two days we hunkered down while gale force winds whipped the Intracoastal Waterway into a frothy frenzy. The weather improved in time for us to actually see the Cape Canaveral SpaceX launch of the rocket carrying a 5,000 lb. payload of supplies to the International Space Station.
For the next two days we hosted several sets of friends from Maine on “Summertime” while we docked at the Ft. Pierce City Marina. They, like us, have discovered that south Florida is a great place to get away from the long and harsh winter of the Northland.
We are fascinated by the many ways that people take to the water. We caught the glint of multiple oars ahead of us, and discovered the local college rowing team... an 8-girl crew plus the coxswain calling the strokes! Their coach, motoring alongside them, told us they’ve been known to reach 14 knots... twice our speed!
Further along, a lone paddler in an outrigger canoe fell in behind us and drafted us, paddling at a comfortable rate for 6 miles. We chatted with him during the hour he was with us and learned that he was from Connecticut and had bought the canoe in the Casco Bay area of Maine...small world.
Today we headed our trawler west for the first time. The Krogen Cruisers meet for breakfast every Tuesday in Stuart and it is our intention to join them tomorrow. We are on a mooring ball at the Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart, about to enter the St. Lucie Canal that leads into Lake Okeechobee and then through a series of canals to the Caloosahatchee River and on to Ft. Myers on the Gulf Coast of Florida. We made this 5-day crossing west to east in mid-March in 2014. In our quest to cruise all the navigable water east of the Mississippi River, we will then turn south and explore the area around Naples and Marco Island and then on to the Evergades National Park and the Keys. Before we leave North Ft. Myers, however, we have a very special birthday party to attend. My dad, Oric Osman O’Brien will be 97 on January 22!
We are now settled in the City of Ft Myers Yacht Basin. Darcy’s family has come together here to honor her dad on his 97th birthday. Neighbors who through the years have been especially attentive to Dad and his various needs joined the family for a noontime dinner celebration. He is a remarkable example of how to keep enjoying life to the fullest.
In the next 8 days we worked our way south into Florida, finding protected anchorages and picking up mooring balls in St. Augustine and Titusville. For two days we hunkered down while gale force winds whipped the Intracoastal Waterway into a frothy frenzy. The weather improved in time for us to actually see the Cape Canaveral SpaceX launch of the rocket carrying a 5,000 lb. payload of supplies to the International Space Station.
For the next two days we hosted several sets of friends from Maine on “Summertime” while we docked at the Ft. Pierce City Marina. They, like us, have discovered that south Florida is a great place to get away from the long and harsh winter of the Northland.
We are fascinated by the many ways that people take to the water. We caught the glint of multiple oars ahead of us, and discovered the local college rowing team... an 8-girl crew plus the coxswain calling the strokes! Their coach, motoring alongside them, told us they’ve been known to reach 14 knots... twice our speed!
Further along, a lone paddler in an outrigger canoe fell in behind us and drafted us, paddling at a comfortable rate for 6 miles. We chatted with him during the hour he was with us and learned that he was from Connecticut and had bought the canoe in the Casco Bay area of Maine...small world.
