Belize, Central America Dec 6-13, 2014

We joined Dale and Paula Fugel, long-time friends from Maine and Florida, at their time-share condo on Ambergris Caye in Belize. Tucked in between Quintana Roo, MX, Guatemala and Honduras, Belize is a tropical paradise. The second largest barrier reef in the world lies just off-shore, attracting tourists for fishing, tank diving and snorkeling. To see the sunset from a catamaran under full sail was breathtaking. Dale and Paula fished off shore one morning and the resident chef prepared their catch in a variety of ways. Every meal was delicious, but that meal was blissful! Three pools offered swim-up bar service with rum being featured,the “panty ripper” became our drink of choice!Water taxis, bikes and golf carts are the most available means of transportation. It was our first retreat-resort experience. We found it to be quite delightful!

Thanksgiving in SE Atlanta

With New Year’s Eve one day away, our stories of Thanksgiving, trek off to Belize, and then Christmas are long overdue. Our Mazda 5 is tucked away in a Wilmington, NC storage unit, so when we need to join family and friends off the waterway, we roll our traveling bags off the boat and into a rental car and away we go! Preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas prompts a flurry of activities in the Ellis family household. Erin has a flair for assembling just the right pieces to catch the spirit of the holidays. Decorating, baking, knitting and then hiking and/or roller skating the Atlanta Belt Line with its many arts venues along the trail.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Last February we exchanged road maps for waterway charts and guides as we moved onto our 36 ft. Kadey-Krogen Manatee “Summertime”. We entered a lifestyle driven by weather windows, tide charts, local knowledge, recommended secluded anchorages and bustling marinas, dredged channel depths and bridge heights and opening schedules. Yes, the rigorous course we took last November on navigation and powerboat maintenance and operation really did pay off. 

While sailboats and larger power boats with deep drafts (4’-7’) “go to the outside” to find deeper water, we take advantage of our trawler’s shallow draft (3’ 2”)and “keep to the inside”. We navigate the canal-like waters between the coastal mainland and the narrow barrier islands, the marshy rivers and their tributaries and the man-made cuts that make up the ICW, the protected Intracoastal Waterway. We steer the boat between red and green markers that keep us in the deeper water that has been dredged to 12 feet. We have already logged nearly 2000 miles. Starting from Punta Gorda Isles, we cruised up Florida’s Gulf Coast to St. Petersburg. Turning south we made our way down to the Cape Coral/ Ft. Myers area. At that point the Caloosahatchee River lock system connected us to Lake Okeechobee, and following the St. Lucie Canal we arrived at Stuart on the Atlantic Ocean. A nice short cut. We turned north and trekked our way up the East Coast: FL, GA, SC, and NC.

We put our trawler “on the hard” in a boatyard up the Cape Rear River near Wilmington so we could welcome Erin and the girls back to our cabin in Maine where we picked berries, played around in smaller boats and went swimming everyday. Great Gramps and Great Grandmother sure did enjoy our visits. Returning to “Summertime” in October, we made our way up the NC coast as far as Swansboro. The chilly mornings began to remind us that it was time to head south. We made our way back to Brunswick, GA and tucked “Summertime” in one of our favorite marinas. We have just driven a rental car to Atlanta to be with Erin, Brett, Emily, Bailey and puppy Cupcake. Thanksgiving has been a great time. Early in December we are looking forward to spending a week in Belize with friends from Maine. Christmas will be spent with Dad, almost 97, at his N. Ft. Myers home. We hope to explore the Florida Keys this winter, maybe even scooting out to the Bahamas. We’ll see how far we get at 7 mph!   Join us as our adventures unfold at our online blog: wallyanddarcy.blogspot.com Follow our travels daily on Facebook: wallydarcy campbell and like us at M/V Summertime Our phone number remains 828 231 5025; also our email: wallyanddarcy@gmail.com New mail forwarding: 3916 N. Potsdam Ave. #353, Sioux Falls, SD 57104-7048 A Merry Christmas to you all and fair winds for the new year.... Darcy and Wally