2/18/2018

Still in Faro Blanco.  We have about 1.5 weeks left here.  Still undecided about where to go next.  We wanted to go to Islamorada, but 2 things are conspiring against that.  Irma hit that area pretty hard & some of the marinas are not up & running at full capacity.  Also my research has shown some pretty skinny water.  That was confirmed when we drove up there & visited some of the marinas.  To be continued.....

So what has been happening here....

We continue with our morning walks along the Overseas Highway.  It is 4 lanes & the speed limit is 35 to 55 MPH.  Very noisy with many trucks.  Very few traffic lights.  The closest one to us is 2 miles down the road. If one needs to get across the street, you run when there is a break in the traffic.  Not my favorite thing to do, but I always need to know what is on the other side!  The sidewalks remain littered with broken glass.

We have only had a few days without the wind.  I will not complain about that until it comes time to leave!  We are in a protected spot & it keeps us a little cooler.  A few light sprinkles, but till mostly sunny, created some perfect rainbows.  Did not get pictures that would do them justice, nor did I find the pot of gold😟

We have been  spending some of our time at the pool.  It is surrounded on 3 sides by the hotel, so even with the wind it is comfortable.  When we first started going to the pool, there were many iguanas.  Now,  not so much.  Seems they are a nuisance & people are afraid of them, so they are exterminated.  We are seeing more by our dock now.  Not sure if that is due to warmer temps or they passed the word it was not safe to go to the pool.

Tim sometimes turns on the underwater swim platforms lights at night.  Usually the only thing to see is minnows, but one night we had a brief shark sighting.  About 3' in length.  He was gone in a flash.
Speaking of sea creatures, this AM, a manatee was hanging out at a boat a couple docks down from us.  Once again, no good picture.  He would not surface long enough for a face shot.  Could only capture his tail as he went back under.

Getting Riley on & off the dinghy here is a problem, so he has not been out.😟 But we have only been out once & that was yesterday.  Went with a group of loopers to a couple of waterside bar/restaurants.  We had to use a ladder to climb up to their docks.  On the up side, we did find a sandbar & hopefully we will go there to clean the dinghy bottom & let Riley do a little swimming.

Speaking of Riley, he finally got to the groomer.  He is no longer my "surfer dude", now he is my "preppy boy."  He was there for 4 hours.  Have to admit, I am sweeping up a lot less fur.

We have had some company while here.  Marsh & Linda stayed with us for a couple of days.  They are snowbirds from Avon Lake, who drove down from their winter home in Ocala.  It was fun to see them.  Anne & Dan & June & Tommer, also from home stopped.  They were visiting FL & stopped on their way to Key West.  We went to the No Name Pub for lunch.  It is papered with dollar bills.  In 2006 it was estimated there were 70,000 of them.  Mary & Jim, also visiting FL. stopped. They are docked at our marina back home. They did the loop in '09/10.  They have always been patient when answering all my questions about looping.  A good time was had by all.  At least we enjoyed it.

SEVEN MILE BRIDGE

TIM, LINDA & MARSH

IGUANA AT THE POOL

LOOKING FOR A FREE RIDE??

TRAILER ALONG THE SIDE OF THE ROAD

MARATHON MOORING FIELD

RED SKY AT NIGHT....

NO NAME PUB, THOSE ARE DOLLAR BILLS
DAN & JUNE

PREPPY BOY

RAINBOW

RAINBOW

WANTS IN TO THE AIR CONDITIONING!

SUNSET AT SUNSET GRILL

TIM CONTEMPLATING HIS DAY

1/28/2018

We arrived Faro Blanco Resort & Yacht Club, Marathon, FL on 1/20.  We ended up staying at Rose Marina 3 days due to weather.  The silver lining.....we were able to get the bottom cleaned while we were there.  That made for a faster run with less fuel on our trip to Marathon.  We both stood the entire way to watch for the ever present crab pots.  I stood on the 5.5 inch foot rest & Tim on a stool.  We needed to do that to see clearly over the bow.  The markers for crab pots are about the size of a grapefruit & come in different colors.  Depending on the waves & the sun, some are easier to see than others.  It was a long 5 hours, but we made it without mishap.

We were lucky to catch up with friends Lori & Derek on Donna Mae before they left for Fort Lauderdale to cross their wake.  A good time was had by all.  We miss them.

Our slip at Faro Blanco is tucked into a corner. (See pictures) It offers good protection from the almost non-stop winds (average 25 mph) we have been having.  Luckily, it was not windy when we docked, as Tim had only inches to maneuver.  As usual his performance was stellar.  Once again, the dinghy is boxed in & we are unable to to get in the garage!  A problem to be solved another day.

As with everything, there are pluses & minuses to this dock.  We are on a corner, so a lot of foot traffic, which keeps Riley constantly on guard.  The dock is not at an optimal level for Riley & myself.  The staff was kind enough to lend us stairs.  Riley will not use them.  He would rather jump over the side, which he does pretty well.

 We do not have 50 amp service at this dock, so we needed to use our splitter.  It worked to begin with & then we had no power.  Same thing happened at Rose Marina.  At Rose they had to rewire the post, of course we thought it was the same problem.  Turns out, it was not.  Our splitter was broken.  Luckily, the boat next to us had a spare.  We were able to use that until Tim ordered another on line & it was delivered.  It always seems to work.  Someone has something you need & they are willing to share.

This Resort is part of a Hilton Complex.  They deliver free ice 2x/day & deliver 2 newspapers/day.  (Wall Street & USA Today).  That is helpful as there is no TV service.   There is a free breakfast in the hotel, which we are allowed to share in.  The restaurant on site is good & offers specials.  There are 2 pools.

Speaking of pools...we were sitting at one of them with the palms behind our backs, watching lizards sunning themselves.  We kept hearing noise in the palms.  We thought it was the wind blowing the palms.  Next thing I hear is a big plop & what do my wondering eyes behold???  Two rather large lizards fell out of the tree right next to us.  They sat for awhile & then went back up the tree.

The closest shopping is about 1.5 miles away.  We took a cab to provision. We do walk it but not if we need to carry a lot.  While walking, one can see how hard hit this area was by Irma.  Much is up & running, but a lot is gone.  It seems the walk north is in a little better condition.

There is a Turtle Hospital down the road.  We have not visited it yet, but plan to.

SEVEN MILE BRIDGE 

OUR DOCK

OUR DOCK

OUR DOCK

GOOD BYE TO DONNA MAE

VIEW FROM THE END OF THE DOCK

CHESS BOARD IN THE DOG WALK AREA
DIDN'T KNOW DOGS COULD PLAY???

PROTECTED SEA GRASS AT DOCKS

FARO BLANCO LIGHT HOUSE

LIZARD AFTER HE WENT BACK UP TREE

ALONG THE SIDEWALKS

ALONG THE SIDEWALKS

ALWAYS NEED A SKY PICTURE!

THE SUN DID IT

PARKED IN FRONT OF TURTLE HOSPITAL

1/18/18


We arrived Marco Island yesterday after leaving Fort Myers Beach.  The Gulf was kind to us.  Almost flat.  One thing we did notice was a 5mph slow down.  Go figure, when we can run, we can't!  Think we sat too long & gathered too much on the hull.  We will have it cleaned at Marathon. One other wrench: CRAB POTS!!

When we got to Marco, we found a dock at Rose Marine.  Shortly after tying up the winds picked up.  I do not remember wind that bad before.  Tim was out checking the lines when I came out on deck.  The canvas was flapping.  Odd, I thought.  Why would Tim unsnap it???  Turns out he did not, the wind did it.  The temp went down to 37 overnight & the wind never stopped.  The water slapped the hull all night.  Today made it to 57, but at least it was sunny.  Looks like a better day tomorrow.  Hope so.  We plan to leave for Marathon.

Friends Denise & Henry came to visit from the frozen north.  Bill & Mo also spent a couple of days at the beach.  A good time was had by all.  Even if the weather did not always cooperate.

Tim refers to this trip as "chasing 80's."  We may be chasing, but are not doing real well with the catching.  It seems wherever we go the cold weather follows.

SAYING GOODBYE TO FMB

HORSESHOE CRAB (A RILEY FAVORITE)

TRAVELING INCOGNITO 

OUR VIEW AT ROSE MARINE

SAND CASTLE FMB

1/3/2018

Happy New Year🙌🎉

We are still in Fort Myers Beach.  Our friends, Toni & Fred came for Christmas.  We had a great time.  Weather was beautiful.  We spent every day on the beach. We met all our "Christmas Beach Friends" daily.  Same people & place for the third year.  They built a beer pong table on the beach & played almost non stop.  It was not played with traditional rules, one did not need to drink to play. The table attracted a lot of attention.  We always knew who the current champ was, as they wore the winners necklace.  It was as coveted as the Survivor immunity necklace.  Toni & Fred stayed at our usual place, Silver Sands.  We were able to dinghy to a dock there & leave all our paraphernalia at their place for pick up before heading to the beach.  A big convenience for us.

Riley loves the beach & retrieving his new toy from the water.  Another favorite of his is rolling in the sand after getting out of the water.  To include us in his joy, he then shakes, to get us full of sand!

New Years Eve was spent with Tim's brother, Ed & sister in law Mary Beth, her sister & husband, Jeri Ann & Roger.  They came to the boat & we went to dinner at Parrot Key & back to the boat for desert & champagne (which they brought).  We watched the Fort Myers Beach fire works from the boat.  It was a magnificent display, which I neglected to catch in pictures.😞. New Years day found us at Jeri Ann & Rogers house in Bonita Springs.  Roger is a closet celebrity chef, I think.  We had the traditional pork & sauerkraut,  but what stole the show was his hors d'oeuvres, once again, no pictures😟  Melt in your mouth crackers with a light spread, topped with minced green onion & minced tomato.  My description does not do them justice.  Sorry Roger.

Our weather has not been ideal FL since New Years.  I know, nothing compared to the frozen north, but we have had to bundle up to walk Riley, no sitting on the beach & no dinghy rides.  One night it went to 39 & the days have been hi 50's & low 60's, &  the wind keeps howling.

Speaking of walking Riley, every morning we walk over the bridge & down to the beach & back.  The wind on the bridge is especially strong, I can feel it pushing me around!

The other day we took Lee Tran to re provision.  What a deal!  $0.35 a piece each way.  That is the senior price.  Web site said we would have to show our medicare card to get the price, but the bus driver said he believed us.  That is a double edged sword....thank you for  believing us,  but do we really look like medicare recipients????   Ok, Ill give him Tim, what with the white hair, but ME???

Yesterday seemed a little warmer, so we decided on a dinghy ride to explore the Estero Bay back channel.  We were out about 2 hours.  It was much colder out there than it had been sitting on the back of the boat.  Lesson learned....get off the boat to check the weather.

Good news, the radar is fixed. Yea.  We had someone look at it.  He felt it was possible it was the wiring harness after talking to tech support.  He planned to bring out a harness to test the theory, which he did & the diagnosis was made.  The next step was to order a new one for installation.  Tim of course kept thinking about it & checking for ground issues.  He found it by retracing his steps.  He created the problem to begin with.....while  he was securing the anchor light, a screw perforated the cable.  Tim removed the offending screw & we now have a working radar.

Now we are looking forward to our friends Denise & Henry visiting us before we move on to Marathon in the FL Keys.

Thank you to our friends Kris & Mike for the flamingo sweater & Lake Erie t-shirt.

FRED

LAKE GIRL

OUR BIKES & POTENTIAL THIEF??

BEACH BUDDIES

SAIL BOAT CHRISTMAS TREE

COLD BEACH DAY

SALTY SANDY DOG

SANTA &  RUDOLPH?

ELVES?

ANOTHER COLD BEACH DAY

TONI

BEER PONG TABLE

SUNSET FROM OUR BOAT DOCK

BRIDGE TO BEACH

12/20/2017

Just realized how long it has been since my last post.  Now that we are not traveling on an almost
daily basis, there does not seem to be as much to say.

We stayed at Punta Gorda for almost 3 weeks.  As I said in the previous post, lots of company & a very nice marina.  We met a live aboard that arrived 3 years ago & never left!

 Riley went swimming with Cali, a yellow lab who is also on the loop.  Cali chases a toy into the water, which Riley has never done.  Well he did this time!  Turns out he is very competitive.  We had to pull him out & let them retrieve separately.

We arrived in Fort Myers Beach on 12/15.  The trip was uneventful.  There was a little confusion when we arrived at the marina.  No one seemed to know which dock we were assigned.   One of the dock hands did find a dock for us & said they would figure it out on Monday.  No sooner were we tied up, when friends came knocking on the boat.  They were in town for a short vacation.
 The dock master did come to the boat the next day & said we could stay where we were.  As with anything, it has it's good & bad.  It is out at the end, so not crowded & a nice view.  Also out at the end is a pirate ship.  They can take 2 cruises a day & that can get a little noisy & busy, but it doesn't last long.  It is a no wake zone, but not everyone adheres!

We have been using the dinghy almost daily.  Looking for the best way to get to the beach.  We have tried different routes.  Using free dinghy dock & then walking or taking the dinghy all the way to the beach.  We also walk to the beach & back to the boat every morning.  It all works.  Riley loves the beach & swimming.  He really sleeps well at night as he is missing his naps!

Today we stopped on the way back to the boat for breakfast at Bonita Bills.  They have resident cats.  Very tough cats.  There was a stand off & a confrontation.  The cat finally left, but not before getting his licks in!  Riley remained on guard for entire time we were there.

We have been spending time on the beach with friends we met there several years ago.  Soon our usual Christmas buddies Toni & Fred will be here to celebrate Christmas with us.

Merry Christmas to all.

GUESS WHAT THIS IS???

HISTORIC PUNTA GORDA

PATTI ON CLEARWATER BEACH.  IT WAS  COLD!

OUR CURRENT DOCK PARTNERS

CAN I GO HOME NOW?

CAN YOU SAY REINDEER?

WAITING FOR A SEAT AT ELKS TIKI BAR

The answer is.....barnacles on the bottom of an inflatable.  Not ours thankfully.