Monday 20 April 2015

April 15-18, 2015 Turkey Creek


an unwanted guest on board


white pelicans


Common Gallinule  … beautiful shore bird


Osprey


Ibis


Cyprus tree


getting closer to Turkey Creek




smoke is from burning sugar cane, there was black pieces accumulating on the boat


turning off the main canal into our summer home


nice and calm
and 16 ft deep


heading down this canal just past the sailboat on the right side


our summer home


Modaki and Tai Chi (Mike Ashmore's boat) … the dark mark on the right bottom is the
alligator


cleaning the rode and chain


whats for supper … right beside the boat … I had a nightmare  last night about alligators


drying the sails


a neighbour lent us a leaf blower to get the dirt and ants off the driveway


making mini pizza's for supper …

we are continuing to get the boat ready for summer storage in the water … the fuel tank is not ready for pick up as of this posting ….

April 13-14, 2015 Indian Town and Lake Obeechobee


Time-2-Go and Moonlight Maid


for sale


still with the foresail on


Indian Town dock


picked up the parcel for Snow Bird


a visitor at the dock, along with an alligator


giving Modaki a good fresh water wash


washing down the sails


we had a visitor … actually 3 Russian Blue cats from the boat beside us


the 49 ft bridge … did we make it


we had one foot to spare … we did go slow


passing thru the lock that is under repairs and has limited openings


a ship wreck on the passage across the lake


one of the Lake Okeechobee channel markers … not the usual looking kind


a lighthouse on the lake


the west side is very marshy and shallow


our free dock for the night


black vultures


these are government employees with all the safety gear on, lifejackets, ear protectors etc. etc.


now the locals, no gear to be seen


our free dock


I got bite again by fire ants …not a pretty sight


one of the shore birds … not too sure of the name


Ibis


these pillars are called dolphins and there is cleats that you can tie bow and stern to


lots of herons


construction on the water way


cyprus trees with the moss hanging


another lock to transit


there is a good anchorage close to this old sunken boat

April 13-14, 2015 … Stuart, Florida

We had 2 good days at Stuart.  We met up with Moonlight Maid again, Allan and Heather and Time-2 -Go, David and Anne Wilson from Port Elgin, Ontario.

Joe placed a phone call to customs at the marina office, and then used my IPAD, thru Google + and Hangouts to phone Rogers back in Canada to get his phone plan re-installed.  This took most of the morning.

Finally out on the Okeechobee Waterway, and in and out of the Lucie Lock. We where the only boat that shut off their engine.  Boy was it hot and stinky with fumes down in the well. Then it was 5 fixed bridges, all around 56 ft, less than the ICW, 65 ft.

We stopped at Indian Town for the night and picked up Snowbirds solar panel that was not working. We will bring it back to Ontario in the car. While we where there we washed the deck and sails and filled our water tanks. This is a very busy marina, a lot of boaters haul out here.  A lot of Canadians.

We left at 8:45 am to make the next lock opening at 11:30, but got there one hour early and anchored to wait for the 1/2 hour opening. Our crossing of Lake Okeechobee was long and hot.  Both of our auto helms refused to work, so it was hand steering for 4 hours.

Joe had read about a possible free dock on the other side of the lake and lucky for us it was available.  It was at a boat launch area, and around 3:30 pm a steady stream of boats entered the water, even at 10:30pm and then they returned at 2:30am with a catch of 14 something, frogs, turtles, but not alligators, closed season at the moment.

There was a lot of different birds here.  We both said it would be interesting to stay a few days, just to watch the water fowl.

APRIL 15-18, 2015 … Turkey Creek

Since July 21, 2014 to April 15, 2015, we have travelled 3,249 KM.

Gold River, Nova Scotia to Lake Worth, Florida, across to the Abaco, Bahamas. Back to Lake Worth, travelled inland on the Okeechobee Waterways to Turkey Creek near LaBelle, Florida

we are at a dock of a friend Mike Ashmore, and summerizing the boat

So far we have removed the diesel tank and waiting on a new one to be made, removed the sails, folded and sealed them in 3ml contractor plastic bags, washed salt out of all the lines, summerized the outboard, cleaned inside and out of the BBQ, cleaned all the stainless outside the boat, washed rain gear and vacuumed packed all lifejackets, bedding, charts etc.,cleaned all anchor chain and rode and repainted the markers, sorted out what goes home and what stays on the boat. We made a road trip to Fort Meyers to buy Vacuum seal bags and Damp Rid etc etc.

It has rained every afternoon or evening since we arrived, and we collect all that we can for our washing and cleaning up, jobs.  The mosquitos are bad at dusk. Did i mention the heat and humidity?  It is over 30 C or high 80 F everyday with not a breath of fresh air .. welcome to Florida in the summer.

stayed tuned for the next adventures ….


Sunday 12 April 2015

April 11-12, 2015 Stuart, on the St. Lucie River, Florida


we have taken a mooring ball at Sunset Marina for a few nights, to stock up on free water, get diesel, do laundry, catch up on the blog, and have showers 


we dinghied up a river to make the walk to Public a bit shorter, and got what we missed back in North Lake Worth


Gypsy Angel, Andre and Elaine, we first met at Salsberry de Valleyfield, Quebec, 3 years ago


Sunday morning we took the scenic walkway to the Green Farmers Market


along the way


under the railway tracks, and two highways


bags of old shells, used for reinforcement , and cultural habitat


the market
it was a good size, and lots of fresh veggies




great live music


orchids galore


on the way to Luna Italian Restaurant, to check out the pizza

 today we are having Moonlight Maid and Time-2-Go over for happy hour, Time-2-Go is from Port Elgin, and lives close to my sister Louise Pepe, and they also know Joe's Step Sister, MaryAnn
it for sure is a small world

the weather here in Florida is extremely hot and humid, with possible thunderstorms every day

Tomorrow we venture further up the St. Lucie River, past Indian Town, and into Lake Okeechobee and getting closer to Modaki's summer home