A Nice Time in The Gulf of Mexico

Motor Vessel Orinoco rests in the water at Tarpon Springs awaiting a lift to install rebuilt props

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Leaving Tarpon Springs on high tide at about 12:30 PM, the Orinoco sets out to sea on a course of NW to the Panhandle of Florida.  ETA of 2 AM or so through the lighted East Pass to Dog Island and the Intracoastal waterway to Mobile.

 Water everywhere and no land in sight as we churn up the calm blue/green waters into the night.

 Sun sets flashing the sky overhead in shades of orange in contrast to the changing color of the blue water and plunges the boat in darkness on the magic carpet of the sea.
Hello, Moon a welcome light to see in the darkness.

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 The Intracoastal is quiet and peaceful as we head to a rest for the night after all night in the Gulf.

 Maggi is enchanted with dolphins as they splash and swim along side the boat and jump to her barks.

We spent a peaceful night at Pearl Island in Panama City and liked it so much, we decided we needed the rest and stayed another night at anchor.



Navy ship passed us in the choppy waters of a bay in the Intracoastal near Panama City.  It looked like a dive boat with trainees.




Now at Ft. Walton Beach, we rested a day and had a huge thunderstorm as we were securely tied to the city dock.  It certainly cleaned the salt off of our boat but we rocked and rolled in the wind.

Across Florida to Tarpon Springs

Goodbye to Loggerhead Marina and Stuart and our good friends there as the Orinoco leaves to cross the Okeechobee Waterway to the Western side of Florida.  Beautiful waters as we lock through the St. Lucie lock on the way to Indiantown and the big lake Okeechobee. It was a beautiful trip and sunny with adequate water as we floated through the Port Mayaca Lock on the east side of the lake and then followed a heading to the channel around the lake to Moorehaven, tied up and had outstanding Mexican food down the street.
Maggi loved to walk along the waterway on the path in the morning before we left heading West on the Caloosahatchee River.  Some critters were watching the little dog bark on the foredeck of the boat but I made sure she didn't go for a swim.

big hungry alligator awakes to the bark of a little dog

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 Markers on the waterway keep us on course.

Poor abandoned wooden boat sits by the river
waiting for someone to bring it back to its former glory








We continued on the waterway to Ft. Myers, dropping anchor between the bridges for the night.  The next morning we set out to Useppa Island home to fancy vacation homes but nice place to anchor and watch the dolphins feeding in the evening.
The next morning we visited the Cayo Costa State Park that was named for the Cubans who had fish camps here.
Maggi and I took a nice hike through the jungle of trees before getting back on our little dinghy to head back to the mother ship.  People laughed at the dock about our name, One Ringhy Dinghy.

Later that night we left to go out to the Gulf through Boca Grande pass to journey out to Tarpon Springs due to arrive about 2 AM. 


Sunset on the Gulf as we enjoyed calm seas toward the north.

We arrived and tied to the dock at Tarpon Springs Yacht Service Sunday afternoon while we await to get our boat picked up and props sent back to the prop shop.
We do like Tarpon Springs and enjoy being here. Maggi was happy to get off the boat for awhile and walk on the land.

A month in Stuart Florida at Loggerhead Marina

The Orinoco and crew are on the move again after a fun time with friends in Stuart, Florida.  We enjoyed the friends from the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club in the Bahamas and now half of them spend winters in Stuart, FL.
Peggy and Terry have
great hats for our St. Patrick Day

 Judy Law and Fred Reed
friends for 9 years in the
Bahamas and here in FL

Three times a week Patty participated in water aerobics with Judy Law as the instructor.  We had a nice heated pool there at the marina with a hot tub also to soothe our tired muscles.  Patty also walked every day with the Maggi 2-4 miles.  So a good month of nice weather and physical activities to get in shape.

Very good seats thanks to my friend Kim.  Close to Molina.

Robert and I went to two Spring Training Baseball games in Jupiter and the Cardinals won both times.  My friend Susan Carastro who is a veterinarian and owns several clinics in the area got an appointment with one of her vets who is a dermatologist.  Maggi developed a skin irritation and scabs but found out it was a bacteria and she got some antibiotics to clear it up.  Thanks to Susan who is an air racer with her mother every year.  Last year the Three Musketeer Air Race Team beat them by a few seconds for the first time ever.
Old abandoned wood boat of the the side of the
Caloosahatchee River on the way to Ft. Myers from Moore Haven.







We saw several alligators along the river beside the low banks in the bushes.  Maggi stayed close to us on the boat.  We also saw many beautiful dolphins close to Ft. Myers.

Stuart Florida

The crew on the good ship Orinoco traveled the pretty waters around the Keys to Marathon where we anchored out and rode the dinghy in to town.  We enjoyed the friendship and new cruisers we met at Marathon as Pat and George had assembled a reunion of Loopers for a get together for hot dogs and collection of dishes brought by the group.
We met many of our Loopers from our meeting at Alton Marina.  We also saw our friends we met on our first trip to Florida Mary and Jim Russell who are still traveling on their boat.
Old abandoned marina in Marathon.  At over 2 bucks a foot to dock, you would think someone would buy it and fix it up.
Picture of Orinoco in the sunset Marathon

Kris and Colleen our son and daughter in law enjoyed the dinghy rides and time on the water but not too fond of the sea trip.

Loopers we met at Alton are here in Marathon

We left after a couple of days there and saw Kris and Colleen off on the island bus back to Key West to catch their flight home to Ft. Collins Colorado.

Off we went to Miami getting an anchorage in the shadow of the city with its bright neon lights and reflections off the water.

A distant rain shower off shore as the day turned to night.

Ofter the evening in Miami we set off north on the Intracoastal waterway through downtown Miami and Ft. Lauderdale enjoying the scenery of expensive homes and huge fiberglass yachts with crews cleaning and getting everything ready to shove off again.

Now we are in the Loggerhead Marina in Stuart, FL spending this month here so we can fix things and rest.  Many of our Looper friends are here as well as those we met in the Bahamas as part of the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club

More Pictures from as far South as we can go on land

We are still in Key West with Kris and Colleen, our kids from Fort Collins, Colorado. We dinghy in to the dock everyday and see the town. The first day we rented a golf cart again to tour the town and go get groceries.

Yes those are dollars attached to the tree at Willie T's

 Next stop is Marathon up NE close to the
7 mile bridge.
We will anchor here for a couple of days and
go to the Looper get together at the Yacht Club
on Sunday.  The kids will take the bus back to Key West on Monday to catch their flight back to the frozen north.  We will stay another day here at anchor and head up the east coast to Ft. Lauderdale.

Another Day in Paradise

Key West is a fun place to be.  We generally dinghy in for lunch and to walk around.  We tried riding the bus but I would rather walk because the entire island is only 4 miles long!  We rented a golf/electric car one afternoon and went to the grocery store.  The $100 was pretty high for a brief excursion around town but we got the lay of the land.

Maggi Montana enjoys her dinghy rides

One Valentine's Day we had a great breakfast at Harpoon Harry's and enjoyed our walk to the Mel Fisher jewelry collection from the recovery of the Spanish Galleon, the Nuestra Senora de Atocha which sunk in 1622 and salvaged by Fisher off the Keys in 1985. 

This is a friendship bracelet to show hands together.  Given by her love for Valentines Day to signify that together or apart the hands fit together.  Made from some of the silver recovered and a replica of the gold bracelet found in the wreckage.

We had a couple of bouncy days out in the moorings  but generally it is peaceful and away from other people as we are tied to a mooring ball.

 Lunch at Harpoon Harry's is always good and we can sit outside with the Maggi.

Office of Pan American World Airways where they made their first international flight from Key West to Cuba.  Now just a cafe on the corner and Pan Am is just history.
Our son Kris and daughter in law Colleen, are due to arrive Monday for a 7 day adventure with us on the boat.

Key West - As far South as we Can Go

After a nice week in Ft. Myers, the Orinoco headed south in the Gulf toward Key West.  On the way, we anchored in the waters of Everglades National Park home to 18 foot Pythons and huge alligators, deer, and millions of birds.
I insisted on closing the transom door to keep the snakes out at night although we did not actually see any, the thought of the crushing squeeze was enough to keep me awake at night.  The 180 degree swing of the boat at anchor did not cause sleep to occur either.  The tide came in and went out and with it the 48 foot boat swung on the anchor with a change of scenery out our windows.
We took Maggi and the dinghy into the town to check out the food and walk Maggi.  It was so shallow that a big boat would have to go on the full rise of the tide.

Everglade City  Nice houses and not many places to tie a dinghy except here at a rickety old dock with outdoor cafe.  Maggi gets to go to the outdoor ones.

Lots of water fowl.  These white pelicans were almost extinct at one time and here they are in the Everglades.  They like to fly in large groups and can eye their fish prey from 50 feet high.  The brown pelicans are more common and fly individually low in ground effect searching for fish.

Two nights at anchor in the Everglades was peaceful and enjoyable but the snake worry and anchor that was not set entirely secure was enough so off we go in dead calm waters toward Key West.

We arrived at Key West and gladly took a mooring ball for $18.08/day provided by the City of Key West with free pump outs (poop removal) and a dinghy dock a short ride away.  At least we are firmly attached to the ball on a rope and the ball is attached to the bottom of the sea.

 US Army Special Forces train here in Key West.  They have a big facility with hangar off of the mooring field  Yea for the Army

 These houses are floating and thus are called boats here.  Many were nice but some were semi sinking

 Dinghy dock at the main part of town is $80/month but is so very crowded that you have to push other dinghies out of the way.

One down and 5 to go then a free t shirt.  They are all about rum here in the south the Conch Republic.