Hooray! We arrived at Ike & Babs canal on Sunday morning around 12:00 and are now docked right behind their house. We plan to be here for Thanksgiving and part of next week. Nelson is working on finding out the damage to our forward sail stay so we can get it repaired. We are planning to leave here next week on a rental car and return to NC to visit with family and friends and also enjoy the Christmas Holidays with them. Nelson went up the mast this morning to check out the damage and thinks it is not as bad as he expected. He had his nephew, Eric and one of Ike's friends hoist him up the mast. They had the hard work, but Nelson was exhausted also when he came down much later. Not a good thing to do when you are 65 years old!
We are enjoying our visit with Ike and Babs and also Eric and Diane. The weather here is beautiful and we have been in shorts everyday thus far. I will probably not be writing on the glob until we come back after the New Year New and continue our trip by boat. Hope each and everyone of you have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy being with friends and family. We are thankful for sharing this holiday with Nelson's brother and his family here in Florida.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Beautiful late sun setting and the smoke in the background
Handsome and tired captian of Last Boat
Love the sunsets on Lake Okeechobee
One of the five locks we went through after going over to the west coast of FL
Did not get a picture of the four alligators we saw through alligator alley. They each got into the water as we rode by.
Trip from Clewiston to Fort Myers
We had a beautiful day on the water today. The weather was in the 80s and we had very little wind which means, we motored all day.
We pulled away from Rowland Martin Marina this morning around 7:00 going west. We went by another forest fire around 9:00 and we ended having to wash the boat down to get rid of all the black ashes which landed on our boat as we went down the water way. We only saw smoke and no fire. Must have been a big one.
We went through three locks on our trip today. The first one lowered us 8 feet and the other two about 2-3 feet more. All we had to do was motor into the lock and hold on to the rope beside the wall to keep our boat from moving while we were in the lock. Most locks take about 30 minutes. We had to wait 30 minutes to get into the last one because it had already taken in another boat coming east.
We had a mild accident today trying to get through the Alva bascule bridge. Due to current repairs being made, the operator only opened half the bridge and it was not totally opened and the operator said we could pass if we liked. We questioned whether the left side was opened enough for a 55 foot clearance and he didn’t reply. Well, we tried and did not make it cleanly. The top of the mast hit and it appears that only the wind direction and wind monitor were broken off. We were lucky, but we will have the mast looked at by professionals soon to make sure there are no other damages. We are anchored just five miles outside of Fort Myers tonight in a nice anchorage and will be in Cape Coral by midday tomorrow.
We cannot believe we have completed out trip in just 21 days and we were visiting four of those days.
Hopefully we will be there tomorrow with no more mishaps.
We pulled away from Rowland Martin Marina this morning around 7:00 going west. We went by another forest fire around 9:00 and we ended having to wash the boat down to get rid of all the black ashes which landed on our boat as we went down the water way. We only saw smoke and no fire. Must have been a big one.
We went through three locks on our trip today. The first one lowered us 8 feet and the other two about 2-3 feet more. All we had to do was motor into the lock and hold on to the rope beside the wall to keep our boat from moving while we were in the lock. Most locks take about 30 minutes. We had to wait 30 minutes to get into the last one because it had already taken in another boat coming east.
We had a mild accident today trying to get through the Alva bascule bridge. Due to current repairs being made, the operator only opened half the bridge and it was not totally opened and the operator said we could pass if we liked. We questioned whether the left side was opened enough for a 55 foot clearance and he didn’t reply. Well, we tried and did not make it cleanly. The top of the mast hit and it appears that only the wind direction and wind monitor were broken off. We were lucky, but we will have the mast looked at by professionals soon to make sure there are no other damages. We are anchored just five miles outside of Fort Myers tonight in a nice anchorage and will be in Cape Coral by midday tomorrow.
We cannot believe we have completed out trip in just 21 days and we were visiting four of those days.
Hopefully we will be there tomorrow with no more mishaps.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Pictures of our trip today 11-19-10
1. 6 large barrels of water & 2 small to heel our boat over enough to get under the railroad bridge
2. one of the two locks we went thru today
3. Beautiful sky with smoke from forest fire while crossing the lake
4. We passed a dinner cruise boat on the narrow canal with no cruisers
5. The railroad bridge which is an historic site and we had to
be heeled over to get under
6. Billy getting the barrels and water in them to heel our boat
over
7. the canal we traveled today
Stuart FL-Clewiston, FL
Hooray! We are across Lake Okeechobee and docked at Rowland Martin Marina in Clewiston, FL.
What a day! We pulled anchor in Stuart this am and motored into the St. Lucie Canal. We had to go thru a lock in the canal that lifted our boat 13 feet above the water we had just traveled. It was scary watching all that water coming thru the doors and holding a rope to keep our boat off the lock walls. We started very low in the lock but came out very high. It is amazing how the water levels change from one body of water to another. The water was very shallow as we continued our journey down the canal but we managed to make it through and stopped at the Indian River Marina for fuel and made a call to Billy, the man who was to meet us to heel our boat over to get us thru the railroad bridge just before going across Lake Okeechobee. We had to wait to get into the marina because the docks were crowded and we also had to wait about an hour for Billy to meet us at the bridge. I felt sorry for Nelson as we were in a very narrow canal and he had to keep the boat in the middle and we had lots of wind which made it difficult. Nelson did a great job today with the boat. We never ran aground and we had many chances. When Billy arrived, he put 6 large and 2 small barrels of water on the port side of our boat to heel us over. We were really leaning and yes, we made it without any problems. When he pulled the plugs on the barrels, our port side of the boat got a real washing. It took us three and one half hours to get across the lake. It was twenty-five miles across and the water averaged 7 feet most times. But, then as we were getting closer to the end, we saw 1.2 feet. Glad it wasn’t that very often. We are thankful to have this part of the trip over and look forward to getting to Cape Coral in the next two days.
What a day! We pulled anchor in Stuart this am and motored into the St. Lucie Canal. We had to go thru a lock in the canal that lifted our boat 13 feet above the water we had just traveled. It was scary watching all that water coming thru the doors and holding a rope to keep our boat off the lock walls. We started very low in the lock but came out very high. It is amazing how the water levels change from one body of water to another. The water was very shallow as we continued our journey down the canal but we managed to make it through and stopped at the Indian River Marina for fuel and made a call to Billy, the man who was to meet us to heel our boat over to get us thru the railroad bridge just before going across Lake Okeechobee. We had to wait to get into the marina because the docks were crowded and we also had to wait about an hour for Billy to meet us at the bridge. I felt sorry for Nelson as we were in a very narrow canal and he had to keep the boat in the middle and we had lots of wind which made it difficult. Nelson did a great job today with the boat. We never ran aground and we had many chances. When Billy arrived, he put 6 large and 2 small barrels of water on the port side of our boat to heel us over. We were really leaning and yes, we made it without any problems. When he pulled the plugs on the barrels, our port side of the boat got a real washing. It took us three and one half hours to get across the lake. It was twenty-five miles across and the water averaged 7 feet most times. But, then as we were getting closer to the end, we saw 1.2 feet. Glad it wasn’t that very often. We are thankful to have this part of the trip over and look forward to getting to Cape Coral in the next two days.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Pictures of our boat and Florida travels
Last Boat getting new bottom paint before going south!
Mya was interested in pumpkin carving also
Jackson carving his Jack-O-Lantern with his Dad's help
Mya was a cute cupcake for Halloween! Jackson was a skeleton!
A small Ferry boat on the ICW
Robert & Susan Cole on sailing vessel, SuzyQ, traveled with Last Boat from Wrightsville Beach to Titusville, FL. They became very good friends and were great boating companions. We were at the oyster roast at Isle of Palm, SC.
Robert and Susan Cole from Kansas City, MO
Their boat was named SuzyQ!
One of many beautiful sunsets we see every night
Isle of Palm restaurant where they had the oyster roast and we ate a delicious meal
What a beautiful sight on the ICW
One of the many beautiful houses in Charleston, SC
Robert & Susan Cole's boat "SuzyQ"
Another cute picture of the pumpkin carving
Jackson caught this eel on Last Boat in Spooners Creek, Morehead City, NC. The end of fishing that day!
Jackson carving his Jack-O-Lantern with his Dad's help
Mya was a cute cupcake for Halloween! Jackson was a skeleton!
A small Ferry boat on the ICW
Robert & Susan Cole on sailing vessel, SuzyQ, traveled with Last Boat from Wrightsville Beach to Titusville, FL. They became very good friends and were great boating companions. We were at the oyster roast at Isle of Palm, SC.
Robert and Susan Cole from Kansas City, MO
Their boat was named SuzyQ!
Their sweet boykin spaniel, Abbey was six months old and was becoming a good boating dog.
One of many beautiful sunsets we see every night
Isle of Palm restaurant where they had the oyster roast and we ate a delicious meal
What a beautiful sight on the ICW
Looked like a steam boat
One of the many beautiful houses in Charleston, SC
Robert & Susan Cole's boat "SuzyQ"
Another cute picture of the pumpkin carving
Jackson caught this eel on Last Boat in Spooners Creek, Morehead City, NC. The end of fishing that day!
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