Update 1/1/2015 - Our 2014 adventures

Other than an occasional trip to Bradenton to clean and work on the boat, our boating in 2014 consisted of a trip to the Keys and back. We had company in early January and then took a cruise on the Celebrity “Silhouette” with approximately 70 other couples from our village. The cruise included Grand Cayman Island, Cartagena, Columbia, Panama (we went to the canal but not through it), Costa Rica, Belize and Cozumel, Mexico. Cartagena and the canal were definitely the highlights and we had a great time socializing with our neighbors.

Carriage Ride in Cartagena

After another round of company, we took Sun Cat to Marathon in the Keys where we stayed at the Sombrero Resort marina. However, getting there is at least half the fun so lets review our trip down to the Keys.

The first day was a short but good run, Bradenton to Venice. We stopped at the Crow’s Nest Marina and had dinner with our friends Doug and Maggie. A second days good run took us to Cayo Costa State Park where we anchored for the night. The next day we went to the Pink Shell Resort at Fort Myers Beach. It has several nice pools and one can walk the beach and walk or take the trolley throughout Fort Myers Beach. We stayed there two nights and had a nice dinner with Phil and Alice on Wonderland and Lee and Carol from Carol Ann. We also took on Fuel at Fort Myers Beach 200 plus gallons at 3.759 per gallon!

A 56 mile run the next day took us through Marco Island to the anchorage at Russell Pass. Russell Pass sits off the entry to Everglades City and is in Everglades National Park. Off early the next morning we made the 77 mile run across Florida Bay to Boot Key Harbor and Sombrero Resort where we were met by our friends George and Jane.

South end US 1 -Key West

For the next month and a half we mostly walked around Marathon, worked on the boat and partied with friends. Doug and Maggie came down for a visit and we went snorkeling on Sombrero Reef and did a trip to Key West where the highlight was lunch at Sunset Key.

We were able to spend some time with George and Jane, made numerous trips to Sparky’s with friends, played golf at Key Colony Beach a couple of times, celebrated St. Patty’s Day with Tim and Jan and participated in numerous happy hours on the dock.

We left Marathon in early April, accompanied by Willard & Barbara and their friend Dennis on Happy Ours. The route was a reversal of the trip down with a few different stops. The first day was an exact reverse as we traveled to Russell Pass where we anchored for the night. The weather was good, lobster season was over so the number of trap buoys was limited and the seas were smooth. After a quiet night on anchor, we proceeded to Smokehouse Bay in the center of Marco Island where we again anchored and took the dinghies ashore for a walk. Smokehouse Bay is literally in the middle of the island, protected on all sides, with lots of stores and restaurants to explore.

The next day took us back to the Pink Shell at Fort Myers Beach. We had gotten off early as the forecast was for increasing winds and building seas. We were surprised to find the dockage price had increased significantly but still enjoyed our stay there, walking the beach and trying one of the restaurants. The following day we made a short (11 mile) passage to Cape Coral where Phil and Alice were staying on Wonderland. To get there, we had to pass through a lock. It was only slightly wider than our boat and the rise or fall of the water wasn’t discernible. We’ve done over 200 locks but this was the first one where we did not secure the boat and we never saw the lockmaster.

From Cape Coral, we traveled to the anchorage at Cayo Costa and took a nice walk across the island to the beach. Its a nice but popular anchorage and there were a lot of boats there. After another quiet night at anchor, we proceeded to Venice. It was a good trip except I timed the Boca Grande swing bridge poorly and we had to wait a bit. Venice is a nice place to walk with a compact downtown and nice shops and restaurants. We had happy hour with Happy Ours crew and then dinner with Doug and Maggie. From Venice, it was an easy run back to Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton .

Sun Cat with new paint job

Normally we would have cleaned up the boat and gone home but our insurance company wanted another survey. The only good part of that is it gives us another opportunity to shop the policy to find something more reasonable that we like better. So, two days later we had a surveyor on board and we traveled to a boatyard to have it hauled. I was not pleased with what was left of the paint (it had been 2 years however) but the only problem noted was some play in the port prop which we had fixed right then while the boat was out of the water. Other than that, most of the survey dealt with some of the hoses getting older which I fixed by replacing them.

For the rest of the year, we traveled to Bradenton about once a month, cleaning the boat, doing maintenance projects and socializing with friends on the dock. Cathy made a new cover for the front windows and we had several nice dinners and happy hours with Randy and Neem and John & Cathy as well as Doug and Maggie. We took several afternoons to explore Bradenton as well.

In December we took the boat to a boatyard to have the bottom repainted and one of the 8D batteries replaced. Our trip was delayed a week or so when the steering reservoir burst and I had to replace it with a new one. The new bottom looked great and with 3 coats of paint should last for several years. We also replaced one of the big 8D batteries that are used to start the engines.