Edison and his Banyan Tree
Edison's Night Garden
Kathy at the Edison Estate
Leaving Fort Myers Marina
House along the Okeechobee Water Way
Cattle with egret
History of Water Way and the begining of the Everglades
Miles of swamp
Clewiston Lock
View from the Lake looking south
Lil' David in the Port Mayaca Lock
Sign at Fort Pierce City Marina
Manatee on it's back drinking water from air conditioner discharge
Shuttle dropping in from orbit 
Wheels down and on the approach to landing03/20/09 Because Fort Myers is known for being the winter home of Thomas Edison in the early 1900's, we thought we should visit his estate. The house, garages, and other buildings are intact, and many of the trees and plants that he loved are still here. The neighboring estate, which belonged to Edison’s friend Henry Ford, is also open to the public, although it is undergoing renovation. Incredibly, the Ford estate has garage space for only one car; additional ones were stored in Edison’s garages.
03/21/09 (Note to the Lebanon Coast Guard Auxiliary: Dean and Linda live in the Fort Myers area. For several years, they kept their boat in the marina where we are, but have sold it and bought a home nearby. Bob talked to Linda on the phone.)
03/22/09 After a month in Fort Myers, we’ve gone back to cruising! Today we headed east on the Caloosahatchie River with Lil David and her crew Lorenzo and Lois, with their guests Bill and Kathy. Marinas are a little hard to find on the Okeechobee Waterway, so we ended up at the Ortona lock, about 40 miles from Fort Myers. Just before the lock are several dolphins (multiple pilings, or posts, lashed together at the top and driven into the river bottom) that boats can tie up to. Lorenzo tied to two of them and we rafted onto him. It was an interesting operation and we had an audience from the campground nearby.
The scenery today was varied: orange groves, cattle ranches, modest homes, trailer parks occupied by snowbirds from colder climates, and lovely large homes beautifully landscaped.
There were also stretches where we saw nothing but water and the banks on either side of it.
03/23/09 We made a short day of it today, only going 15 miles and passing through one lock. At the town of Moore Haven, there was a municipal dock that was perfect and the price was right: $1 per foot of the length of the boat, including electric and water hookups. It was located in front of a town park, which included a water playland, discovered early by Bob and Bill. Bill ended up soaked in a water cannon battle.
03/24/09 A long day–70 miles, 3 locks, wind 30 mph. We crossed Lake Okeechobee, which is the second largest fresh water lake totally within the continental US. (Lake Michigan is the largest) After passing the town of Clewiston, we looked back and saw two big plumes of smoke. Then we began seeing them ahead of us in several spots. We think the sugar cane fields were being burned off.
About 5:30 PM we arrived in Stuart, FL, the end of the Okeechobee Waterway. We tied up in the municipal mooring field, a new experience for us. To explain to those who aren’t familiar with mooring: the mooring field is a reserved area out of the main traffic patterns of a waterway. In it are floating mooring balls for boats to tie to for the night. The balls each have a rope attached underwater to a big piece of concrete to keep them in place. The first mate (that’s Lois) lies on the bow of the boat and reaches down to the water with a boat hook, attempting to hook another rope attached to the mooring ball. The ball bobs continually in the water. The rope is slimy and may have sharp critters (barnacles?)on it. Attached to the end of the 4-6 foot rope is a ring, through which the first mate slides one end of a line (rope) from the boat. She brings the line end back to the boat and secures it. Voila! It’s time for a cold drink and a chair facing the west to watch the sunset.
03/25/09 to 03/29/09 Fort Pierce, on the east coast of Florida, was our destination today. We traveled by ourselves, as the crew of Lil’ David had something else to do and will join us tomorrow. Our route from now on, going north, will be the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) for the remaining 1500 miles of our adventure. Because it was very windy again today, Bob had a terrible time getting into our slip at Fort Pierce City Marina. At one point, the boat was sideways in the fairway between rows of slips and he could not get turned. With the help of an experienced dockhand, we got in with no casualties.
We enjoyed our stay here. The marina is very busy and all the boaters are sociable. Two restaurants are on the premises, and both had live music Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. On Saturday, a crowded farmers market nearby offered breakfast, lunch, and plants and vegetables. The main street in the business area of Fort Pierce had evening activities, too–one night there was a food fair, another time it was motorcycle night, and the third night was for classic cars (50's, 60's and 70's). We rented a car for the weekend and could go where we wanted to. On Saturday, we drove up to Cape Kennedy to watch the space shuttle return and that was a thrill. Another interesting place was the Navy SEAL Museum, located here because the first "frogmen" were trained in this area during World War II.
03/30/09 What a beautiful, non-windy day on the ICW! We traveled 50 miles and anchored for the night at Dragon Point near Melbourne, FL.
03/21/09 (Note to the Lebanon Coast Guard Auxiliary: Dean and Linda live in the Fort Myers area. For several years, they kept their boat in the marina where we are, but have sold it and bought a home nearby. Bob talked to Linda on the phone.)
03/22/09 After a month in Fort Myers, we’ve gone back to cruising! Today we headed east on the Caloosahatchie River with Lil David and her crew Lorenzo and Lois, with their guests Bill and Kathy. Marinas are a little hard to find on the Okeechobee Waterway, so we ended up at the Ortona lock, about 40 miles from Fort Myers. Just before the lock are several dolphins (multiple pilings, or posts, lashed together at the top and driven into the river bottom) that boats can tie up to. Lorenzo tied to two of them and we rafted onto him. It was an interesting operation and we had an audience from the campground nearby.
The scenery today was varied: orange groves, cattle ranches, modest homes, trailer parks occupied by snowbirds from colder climates, and lovely large homes beautifully landscaped.
There were also stretches where we saw nothing but water and the banks on either side of it.
03/23/09 We made a short day of it today, only going 15 miles and passing through one lock. At the town of Moore Haven, there was a municipal dock that was perfect and the price was right: $1 per foot of the length of the boat, including electric and water hookups. It was located in front of a town park, which included a water playland, discovered early by Bob and Bill. Bill ended up soaked in a water cannon battle.
03/24/09 A long day–70 miles, 3 locks, wind 30 mph. We crossed Lake Okeechobee, which is the second largest fresh water lake totally within the continental US. (Lake Michigan is the largest) After passing the town of Clewiston, we looked back and saw two big plumes of smoke. Then we began seeing them ahead of us in several spots. We think the sugar cane fields were being burned off.
About 5:30 PM we arrived in Stuart, FL, the end of the Okeechobee Waterway. We tied up in the municipal mooring field, a new experience for us. To explain to those who aren’t familiar with mooring: the mooring field is a reserved area out of the main traffic patterns of a waterway. In it are floating mooring balls for boats to tie to for the night. The balls each have a rope attached underwater to a big piece of concrete to keep them in place. The first mate (that’s Lois) lies on the bow of the boat and reaches down to the water with a boat hook, attempting to hook another rope attached to the mooring ball. The ball bobs continually in the water. The rope is slimy and may have sharp critters (barnacles?)on it. Attached to the end of the 4-6 foot rope is a ring, through which the first mate slides one end of a line (rope) from the boat. She brings the line end back to the boat and secures it. Voila! It’s time for a cold drink and a chair facing the west to watch the sunset.
03/25/09 to 03/29/09 Fort Pierce, on the east coast of Florida, was our destination today. We traveled by ourselves, as the crew of Lil’ David had something else to do and will join us tomorrow. Our route from now on, going north, will be the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) for the remaining 1500 miles of our adventure. Because it was very windy again today, Bob had a terrible time getting into our slip at Fort Pierce City Marina. At one point, the boat was sideways in the fairway between rows of slips and he could not get turned. With the help of an experienced dockhand, we got in with no casualties.
We enjoyed our stay here. The marina is very busy and all the boaters are sociable. Two restaurants are on the premises, and both had live music Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. On Saturday, a crowded farmers market nearby offered breakfast, lunch, and plants and vegetables. The main street in the business area of Fort Pierce had evening activities, too–one night there was a food fair, another time it was motorcycle night, and the third night was for classic cars (50's, 60's and 70's). We rented a car for the weekend and could go where we wanted to. On Saturday, we drove up to Cape Kennedy to watch the space shuttle return and that was a thrill. Another interesting place was the Navy SEAL Museum, located here because the first "frogmen" were trained in this area during World War II.
03/30/09 What a beautiful, non-windy day on the ICW! We traveled 50 miles and anchored for the night at Dragon Point near Melbourne, FL.
3 comments:
Cool pics! You sure are living the "good life."
Becky, Winter, and Bobby
re: 3/23 little boys will be boys!
Snow is forecast for the next few days. Sorry that you won't enjoy it.
Post a Comment