We cruised away from The Marina at Ortega Landings in Day Dreams, after storing the RV at Cube Smart in Orange Park. We saw a Carnival Cruise Ship docked along the St John River east of downtown Jacksonville, never saw that before. Our first day was a short one, we anchored in Little Marsh Island off the St Johns River because we can't leave Ortega River at low tide, it's too shallow. We cruised south on the ICW & our second stop was St Augustine in all it's Christmas glory. We stayed on a mooring ball in the south field along with KK Lali and KK C'est La Vie. KK Unforgettable was docked in the City Marina & invited us all over for a Potluck and game night. Melissa & Scott were fun hosts and we played an entire game of Mexican Train Dominoes with all.
I had gotten a new computerized 3D crown from Dr. Bodor, Dr Jason Spiegel's wife, on November 19th & had severe gum inflammation since then. We rented a car & drove back for them to take care of it. Both dentists looked at me and think I am having a severe reaction to something Dr Bodor used in the crown prep. I was prescribed steroids & antibiotics. They paid for our rental car.
Next stop, a short cruise to Hammock Beach. Neil the dockmaster we know & love helped us in. We were docked across the fairway from Satori: Bill & Evelyn. Jill & Glen picked us up & took us out for pizza. After dinner, we walked over to Satori to visit with Bill & Evelyn while enjoying wine & dessert.
New Smyrna was next on our itinerary & we almost didn't make it there due to a bridge malfunction. But we got under it by putting our mast down. We docked at the City Marina for the first time, finger docks are short & they don't have many docks that fit us. The Marina is right downtown so it's a good location. We walked around Canal St and peeked into a few shops.
We anchored out the next night and then arrived to Ft. Pierce. They have great docks and a Tiki Hut restaurant. We were welcomed by KKTapestry with cocktails on their boat. Ft Pierce has a great Farmers Market right adjacent to the Marina. Deb Luhta came to see me and we walked around the Market and had a nice lunch.
Passed up Stuart, stopped for fuel at the American Customs Yachts and then locked through the St Lucie lock before anchoring west of the lock, near a campground. This was our first time anchoring here which turned out to be a great spot: no houses, lots of wildlife and jumping fish. Early morning, anchor up and we entered Lake Okeechobee where the fog settled in for a short time. On the rim canal, along the dike, we saw many gators. We were the first to arrive at Moorehaven's City dock.
We made it through the Okeechobee Waterway easily and kept going to Tarpon Point to anchor in Glove Bight. We wanted to spend a few nights at Cayo Costa and we went in at 1 foot tide, we saw as shallow as 0.7 feet under us. We definitely know we shouldn't go in or out at low tide! Weather had turned cold & windy-typical of our time in Cayo Costa.
We stopped and pumped out at Burnt Store in Charlotte Harbor before arriving at Esther's dock. Esther was there to greet us! We enjoyed our visit with Esther & seeing some of her friends again.
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| My bachelor party gifts |
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| Our hosts |
Doug & I flew to Ohio on Dec 16th and stayed in Elmore with Craig, Cheryl, Jeri & Jerry. J&J are living with C&C because they sold their home in Perrysburg in the spring, then took their new 5th wheeler to Alaska for the summer so they haven't found a house to buy yet. We had a great visit with Paul & Jess too. Jeri & I drove to Tipp City outside Dayton to see Patty & Ray. I was able to see many of my friends: Dianne Banachowski, Diane Hider, Doris & Jerry, Ray, Donna & Claire Z & Dale, my WCHD ladies, Barb, Joe & Sabrina, Jim & Elaine, Linda Kalmbach, Christy McPherson and Robin & Melinda. We drove up to Doug's brother David's house & saw Susan, John, Christina & her two boys and Susan's son, Rich.
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| An Elf & Snowman |
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| Christmas Day in Elmore |
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| Christmas Party |
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| Dianne & I |
When we returned to Punta Gorda, Esther picked us up at the airport. There had been a bad wind storm while we were gone and Esther's dock piling fell up against our boat, did some small damage and knocked our power cord out. Esther & Serg who had helped retie the dock piling hadn't noticed that the cord had fallen out so we lost all our food in our fridge & freezer.
While we were visiting the Toledo area, Jeri took us to Oak Openings Park to show us her latest project. The park is building Tree Houses and Jeri was hired to design the interior of the Main Tree House. Very Cool!
More pics from Cayo Costa Park's wildlife:
We cruised away from The Marina at Ortega Landings in Day Dreams, after storing the RV at Cube Smart in Orange Park. We saw a Carnival Cruise Ship docked along the St John River east of downtown Jacksonville, never saw that before. Our first day was a short one, we anchored in Little Marsh Island off the St Johns River because we can't leave Ortega River at low tide, it's too shallow. We cruised south on the ICW & our second stop was St Augustine in all it's Christmas glory. We stayed on a mooring ball in the south field along with KK Lali and KK C'est La Vie. KK Unforgettable was docked in the City Marina & invited us all over for a Potluck and game night. Melissa & Scott were fun hosts and we played an entire game of Mexican Train Dominoes with all.
New Smyrna was next on our itinerary & we almost didn't make it there due to a bridge malfunction. But we got under it by putting our mast down. We docked at the City Marina for the first time, finger docks are short & they don't have many docks that fit us. The Marina is right downtown so it's a good location. We walked around Canal St and peeked into a few shops.
We anchored out the next night and then arrived to Ft. Pierce. They have great docks and a Tiki Hut restaurant. We were welcomed by KKTapestry with cocktails on their boat. Ft Pierce has a great Farmers Market right adjacent to the Marina. Deb Luhta came to see me and we walked around the Market and had a nice lunch.
Passed up Stuart, stopped for fuel at the American Customs Yachts and then locked through the St Lucie lock before anchoring west of the lock, near a campground. This was our first time anchoring here which turned out to be a great spot: no houses, lots of wildlife and jumping fish. Early morning, anchor up and we entered Lake Okeechobee where the fog settled in for a short time. On the rim canal, along the dike, we saw many gators. We were the first to arrive at Moorehaven's City dock.
We made it through the Okeechobee Waterway easily and kept going to Tarpon Point to anchor in Glove Bight. We wanted to spend a few nights at Cayo Costa and we went in at 1 foot tide, we saw as shallow as 0.7 feet under us. We definitely know we shouldn't go in or out at low tide! Weather had turned cold & windy-typical of our time in Cayo Costa.
When we returned to Punta Gorda, Esther picked us up at the airport. There had been a bad wind storm while we were gone and Esther's dock piling fell up against our boat, did some small damage and knocked our power cord out. Esther & Serg who had helped retie the dock piling hadn't noticed that the cord had fallen out so we lost all our food in our fridge & freezer.
