Update 2/2/08 - Crossing our wake!

Hello to all,


We did it! Last Thursday (1/25) we crossed the wake of our sailboat Trader when we entered Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Fl. This means that we have now completed the entire great loop! Sun Cat will cross her own wake when we get to Ft Lauderdale.

We had a little champagne that evening with John and; Pat from Gypsy Time and Jim and Judy from Silver Foxes. It was both an exciting moment and a little bit of a letdown. But stay tuned – there will be more adventures!

Our trip from the Little Shark River started out with heavy fog and very shallow water. Even well out of the anchorage in the open water of the Gulf of Mexico the depth sounder was only reading 4-5 feet. Eventually we got to 7 feet and then “very deep” water at 10 feet. The fog dissipated by early afternoon and we had a good trip into Boot Key Harbor.

Pool at the Boathouse marina

We spent two days on a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor, visiting friends and walking around Marathon and then moved to a marina where we will spend a while as there is a pool, good walking and biking, enough shopping and most importantly 12 other looper boats.

We’ve spent the last week doing boat projects, biking around Marathon, enjoying the pool and generally relaxing. We did a trip to the local turtle hospital to see large sea turtles . There were several nearly 3 feet in diameter.

The ladies at one of our many dock parties

We had a dock party one night and the next day Mike and Cathy took a group of us on Explorer for a snorkeling expedition to Sombrero Reef. Unfortunately, when we got out there, it was too rough to get on and off the boat. We did see a large sea turtle swimming near the boat. We’ve also had several trips to Sparky’s, (a local watering hole) for happy hour, followed by another dock party.

We were not disappointed to have the groundhog predict another 6 weeks of winter. Its tough when its 70 to 80 degrees every day!

Tomorrow, a major Super Bowl party is planned. Go PATS!

Enjoying the Keys,

Steve & Jean
M/V Sun Cat

update 1/24/08 - Fort Myers and on to Marathon

Hello to all,


The last month has slipped by so fast. It’s amazing how busy we seem to stay! I sent out the last update on Christmas eve so I’ll try to summarize what’s happened since.

First, we had an enjoyable albeit somewhat different Christmas with son Stephen – we went to the beach and went swimming. It seemed strange to be swimming in the ocean on Christmas day and it was amazing to us how many people were there, some wearing holiday decorations. After that Jean served a somewhat traditional ham dinner on the boat.

Steve flew home the next day but the following day we were joined by our friends Eldon and Dianne Morrison. We enjoyed another beach day, this time on Captiva and then found ourselves at a University of Maine Hockey game that evening. Maine won. The next day Horace and Barbara Horton joined us and the 6 of us celebrated New Years Eve in Fort Myers. It was fun. The city had closed off some of the streets and there were bands and vendors selling food, beer and party favors. The festivities ended with a “ball drop” at midnight.

Dinner with Barbara, Eldon, Horace and Dianne

Later that week, we traveled to Daytona to visit our longtime friends Ellie and Bruce Murray. It was a fun visit. We told about and showed pictures of our trip around the great loop and heard about and saw pictures of their trips to England, Normandy and Panama. We also attended a classic car show. From there we had a nice visit with Bob and Sharon from Catch Me if you Can at their land yacht and also visited Bob and Allie from Bali Motu at their home. Then it was back to Ft Myers for a few days of shopping and work on the boats as well as some more beach time.

Jean with classic car owner

The next weekend, Betty from Betty B organized a pot luck dinner for all of the loopers in Fort Myers. There were approximately 20 people in attendance. We got a chance to recognize and congratulate those that had recently finished the loop and were recognized as one of several couples who were almost done (as of now we have about 50 miles to go).


It was then time to leave Ft Myers so we “set sail” for Ft Myers beach accompanied by John and Pat on Gypsy Time. We spent two days there, walking around, shopping and cleaning the boats. We had a nice dinner ashore one evening with the crews of Gypsy Time, Catch Me if you Can, and Silver Foxes. The we were off again, passing through Naples and spending an evening anchored behind Keywaydin Island. The next day we passed through Marco Island and anchored in Blue Hill Creek near Goodland. The weather turned nasty so we stayed a couple of days there, taking in the sights at the annual “Mullet Festival” –a great excuse for a party – John even learned the “Buzzard Lope”. We also found a restaurant with a TV where we could watch the Patriots game against San Diego.


Yesterday was a good travel day and we proceeded through Coon Key Pass to Indian Key Pass which is the entry to Everglades City which is several miles further in. We anchored for the evening in a beautiful anchorage called Russell Pass with about 5 other boats. The current was heavy and we were surprised to find barely enough water under us when we left at low tide this morning. Today was a perfect power boat day. No wind and absolutely flat seas. We are anchored tonight in the Little Shark River, another pretty spot with heavy current .

Anchorage in the Everlades

Dolphins swimming in our wake

Our anchorage is in Everglades National Park and it is about as remote as one can get. We’ve enjoyed the dolphins swimming around the boat all day. However, for the first time since the Tenn-Tom, we have no internet or cell coverage so I’m not sure when I’ll get to actually send this!

Continuing to have a great time !


Steve & Jean
M/V Sun Cat

Update 12/24/07 Fort Myers

Our Christmas card

Christmas Greetings from Ft Myers!

We’ve now been at Ft Myers for about a week, generally relaxing, playing tourist and enjoying a visit from our son Stephen.

During the past week, we toured the Edison and Ford winter estates and drove up to Sarasota to tour the Ringling Circus and Art museums as well as their incredible mansion the “Ca d’Zan”. These museums are well worth the time and one learns quite a bit about the people who built them, how they lived and how they made their fortunes.

Jean with Henry Ford

Ford winter estate

We also took an airboat ride through the Everglades. No alligators but we saw some wild pigs and a lot of birds. Last Saturday night (a week ago) we participated in a downtown wine tasting with John and Pat of Gypsy Time. This event introduced us to 10 restaurants and 12 different wines and a whole night’s entertainment, all for $5 per person!

Does Steve know how to drive this?

Today we went to the beach. It sure seemed strange to be swimming in the ocean on the day before Christmas. They are playing White Christmas on the radio and we see lots of white sand not snow!

After we left St. Petersburg beach we stopped at an anchorage behind Longboat Key with Gypsy Time and Summertime. We had a nice walk ashore and saw some large peacocks that roam on that part of the island. The next day we anchored off Sarasota and walked around downtown a bit. We started for the circus museum but discovered it was way too far to walk. The next day we went to Venice, stayed at the free dock and walked to town twice. Venice is a very charming town and was good walking and biking.

Venice

After that we stopped at Caya Costa State Park, anchoring in Pelican Bay. The entrance was unmarked and very shallow. We followed a track given us by Mike on Explorer. Once anchored, we walked over to the beach and took a swim. It’s a nice park and is only accessible by water. The next day we had to wait until noon to have enough water to leave and then powered our way through a rain storm to the Marina here at Ft Myers.

Happy Holidays!

Steve and Jean

Update 12/9/07 - Mobile to Tarpon Springs

These weeks seem to go by all too quickly. We just left Clearwater Beach where we have been enjoying the sun and sand immensely.

We spent Thanksgiving week in Pensacola where we docked at the Palafox Pier Marina which is right downtown in the center of the historical district. While we were there, we visited the Naval Aviation Museum which is located on the Naval Air Station. It was great. They had planes from before World War One all the way through to modern jets and our tour guides did a great job explaining the history of many of those planes as well as the ships that carried them and some of the people that flew them. We also toured two history museums downtown, walked and biked and worked on the boats a bit. We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant with Ray and Linda from Summertime and Rolf and Kathy from Norske. We wound up staying a few days longer than planned because of the weather and it seemed a bit cold for Florida in November, but we had a good time anyway.

From Pensacola we went to Fort Walton Beach and from there we went to Panama City. (Son) Bill and Stephanie joined us there and we enjoyed some shopping as well as an interesting trolley ride back from delivering their rental car to the airport. From there we had a nice quiet night at anchor in Saul Creek with Gypsy Time and then we went into Apalachicola where we spent a day playing tourists. We attended a holiday street fair and rode our bikes around town a bit to see the fine Victorian homes. We then went to Carrabelle where we spent two days waiting on weather. We walked, shopped, worked on the boat, played cards with Bill & Steph and attended a shrimp and oyster feed organized by George on Time Out and attended by about 10 looper boats. Bob from Catch Me If You Can provided the after dinner entertainment.

The next day we were again delayed by the weather. Howevcr, we decided to go about 20 miles to Alligator Harbor to anchor to get a jump on the trip to Stienhatchie the next day. However on our way out of the harbor we decided that conditions would be favorable for an overnight crossing to Tarpon Springs so we altered course and set out for Tarpon Springs instead, joined by Gypsy Time, Mystic Bond, Fifth Quarter and Black Dog. Black Dog had done the trip before and recommended that we stay in over 50 feet of water to avoid the crab pots. It turned out to be really good advice. We and Gypsy Time saw no crab pots that night while the other two boats were in shallower water and had to play dodgems all night to avoid the crab pots.

The crossing turned out to be a really good move. We had no wind and a gentle swell all night and the night turned out to be warmer than expected as we were surrounded by the warm Gulf of Mexico waters. Bill & Steph were a big help in running the boat and having the extra people let everyone get some sleep. We arrived in Tarpon Springs about 10 AM a bit tired but excited that the last bit of open water was behind us as we could run inside all the way to Marco Island from there. The passage from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs was 154 nautical miles dock to dock.

After a short nap and a shower we then proceeded to explore Tarpon Springs by walking over to the “Sponge Dock” area. Tarpon Springs is famous for its sponge fishing industry which was largely pursued by Greek immigrants. There were many shops selling sponges and Greek items and a number of Greek restaurants. It was a bit too much of a tourist trap but we had a nice walk and enjoyed the sights and the warm weather as it seemed much warmer than it had been in the Florida panhandle.

We had planned to stay two days in Tarpon Springs but Bill and Steph wanted to have some beach time so the next day we went to Clearwater Beach where we wound up spending 3 days. We had a nice walk on the beach, cooled off in the water and enjoyed dinner on board and cards with the kids that evening. The next day, they had to leave so we found a rental car and sent them on their way back to Sanford/Orlando airport where they would fly out the next day. Jean and I then spent a relaxing day walking around town and enjoying the beach again. We were joined that evening by Gypsy Time, Summertime, Catch Me If You Can, and Folly. We walked over to the pier for the sunset, toured the vendors that were set up on the pier and watched a few of the entertainers in the park. It was reminiscent of the sunset festivities at Key West but much more subdued. We then all had dinner at Frenchy’s, a local establishment which must be famous for something as there are 5 of them on Clearwater Beach!

The following day was Saturday and that was the evening of the lighted boat parade. Although we were not going in the parade, we all spent some time decorating our boats
with lights, etc and we were fortunate to have the parade pass right in front of the marina just off our bow. It was a lot of fun to watch, with Christmas songs being played on some of the boats and everyone tooting horns at the most well decorated boats. I have to admit that being from the north I still find it strange to see Christmas decorations with Palm trees and the temperatures in the 80’s. I’m getting to like it, however, especially after we heard that Maine got 1 to 2 feet of snow this weekend.

Today we walked around town a bit and left about noon, accompanied by Gypsy Time and Summertime. We traveled about 20 miles and are anchored for the night behind St. Petersburg Beach. It’s warm and sunny and we’ve had to run the air conditioner some to stay comfortable.

In checking the log, we have now traveled over 5600 nautical miles with over 2000 of that coming since Chicago. We are looking forward to enjoying Florida this winter with a trip to the Bahamas still under consideration. In any event we are still having a great time.

The following pictures are from our stay in Pensacola

Steve and Jean
Aboard M/V Sun Cat

Pensacola History Museum

Outside Naval Aviation Museum

This is fun!

Hellcat

About the Hellcat

Bearcat

About the Bearcat

Dinner with Ray & Linda

Palafax Harbor - Summertime in foreground

Update 11/19/07 - Tenn Tom and Mobile

Friendly sights along the Tenn Tom

Not so friendly sights along the Tenn Tom

Anchorage on the Tenn Tom

Update 11/19/07

Greetings from Florida. We are back in Florida as we crossed the Alabama/Florida border yesterday on our way to Pensacola. The remaining trip down the Tenn-Tom was uneventful but fun. We drove right into the last lock at Coffeeville, secured the boat and had a good ride down. We spent that night at the anchorage at Three Rivers Lake which is about at mile 64).

Going into that anchorage was somewhat of a nail biter. It wasn’t anything like the cruising guide described and didn’t look like the chart at all (The charts have not been updated since 1989!). The GPS said we were in the right place but it had put us in the woods a number of times on the way down so we couldn’t completely rely on it either. As the depth sounder started to show depths under 5 feet, we got more concerned when the channel continued and the lake wasn’t in sight. After 1000 ft (the guide showed 200 ft), it opened up into a big lake 6-10 feet deep and totally protected. It turned out to be a great anchorage and the tide was up when we left, increasing the depths on the way out.

The next day was warm and sunny again and it was back to shorts. We spent that evening at Briar Creek off the Tensas River Cut-Off which is approximately at mile 12 of the Tenn-Tom. Gypsy Time and us were joined there by Linda and Ray on Summertime.

From there it as on to Mobile. The trip through Mobile was interesting and a little tense. We had to dodge a couple of tows in the channel. Then, as we passed through the commercial area we were joined by three tugs which were moving to dock a large ship which had just come in. At one point we had a tug in front of us, Gypsy Time behind us followed by two tugs and then Summertime and a large ship moving toward us. Once we got by that we had another tow and then two more ships. We eventually turned into Dog River Channel and then went into Dog River Marina where we spent several days.

The first day Howard and Dianna on CHorse rented a van and invited the six of us to go with them to Bellingrath Gardens and Mansion on Dauphin Island. It was outstanding. Bellingrath acquired the original bottling franchise for Coca Cola in the Mobile area and his wife turned what had been a fish camp into a splendid garden and they built a beautiful mansion. The gardens were full of mums in bloom and being from New England it was neat to see roses in bloom in November. The property was being decorated for Christmas and there were lights everywhere. We wouldhave liked to have gone back to see it at night but it isn’t open yet.

The mansion was even more impressive. The Bellingrath’s had no children and they left everything to a foundation which apparently still owns the bottler as well as the property. Therefore the money was available to maintain it in an excellent condition. Even better, everything from the furniture to the china was original to the house and some of the collections were impressive. During the depression, when people were selling things just to eat,Mrs Bellingrath was buying and developed a reputation of paying top dollar for the things. Therefore she got offered many outstanding items, most of which were on view in the house. We all really enjoyed the visit.

Bellingrath House and gardens

The sequel to that visit was also interesting. When We rode with Howard to return the car, the individual from Enterprise who drove us back to the marina had gone to college on a Bellingrath Foundation scholarship.

That evening we had a nice dinner at the local yacht club with Pat and Pat from Salty Dawg, John and Pat from Gypsy Time, Linda and Ray from Summertime and Howard and Dianna from CHorse. The next day, Pat and Pat took us to the Boiling Pot to sample one of their PoBoy sandwiches. Pat said two people would have trouble finishing one and he was right. There must have been a pound of shrimp in those sandwiches! That afternoon, while the rest went shopping, Jean and I toured the museum of Mobile which focused primarily on Mobile’s history. It was another good museum. That trip was followed by a good happy hour on Salty Dawg where we were joined by Tim and Jan from Lamb Chop.

It was time to leave Dog River but most of our friends stayed behind to get work done on their boats. Hopefully they will catch up in a few days. We left in mid morning accompanied by Summertime, crossed Mobile Bay and started east on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. We anchored in Roberts Bayou which was a very protected anchorage and highly recommended by Skipper Bob. We went into the Pirates Cove restaurant at the entrance of the harbor which was described as a funky must stop and lived up to its reputation. After we walked in around the dogs we were greeted by three more loopers who were also anchored there. Two of the couples had been told by a mutual friend to watch for us.

The restaurant was having its songwriter’s festival which meant live music by several musicians. In addition, there was a wine tasting going on and we partook well. The food was good and the wines and music were excellent. We wound up staying almost 5 hours.

Yesterday we proceeded further east, crossed the Alabama/Florida border and stopped at Pensacola where we plan to spend the week. Our adventures in Pensacola will be described in the next update.

Attached to this update are a few Tenn-Tom scenes.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Steve & Jean
Aboard M/V Sun Cat