Week 28 – Week 36: December 12 – February 12

We met a number of people who reside in Florida when we began our loop journey in June. In addition, a number of the loop guidebooks have Florida as the starting point and that means you are able to complete your loop before the winter season. Those of us who need to continue north need to locate a place where it is warm to wait until Spring to continue to our home port.

Many winter in various places – west or east coast of Florida, the Keys or perhaps a side trip to the Bahamas. One thing we learned was that unless you made reservations close to a year in advance, you would have difficulty finding long term dockage and having a place to settle for a month or more. It was hard enough for us to secure dockage for the winter on the west coast and then plans changed because the yacht club we were to stay at voted in a new board with different ideas and no longer wanted any liveaboards – even short term transients – in the marina. Scrambling by calling back every marina where we were on a “wait list” eventually resulted in securing a place in Fort Myers that worked out very well. We thought about a trip to the Keys but with the lack of slips, the high cost for any openings at the last minute, plus the open water, we decided to stay put in Fort Myers for six weeks to two months. It actually made sense to stay the full two months since our friends from New York were arriving in early February to spend a month in Port Charlotte and we wanted to spend some time with them.

The Marina at Edison Ford was a safe, secure place to stay and worked well. We were within walking distance to downtown Fort Myers that is a hub of activity with special events practically every weekend. We met a number of other former and current loopers at the marina and a number of snowbirds who would also be there for the winter. We also have a number of friends and yacht club members who winter in Florida and Fort Myers was a mid-point to see some of them.

To accommodate our family when they arrived for the holidays, we rented a vehicle. The cost for one week was outrageous because it was holiday season so for a little more, it made sense to rent it for a month and then have the opportunity to explore the area on our own. While Fort Myers has a good public transportation system and a free Trolley to downtown, we were limited as to where we were able to go and the one month rental made it easy to explore the area and visit others.

Our daughter and son-in-law arrived at 1:30AM on Christmas Eve. It would definitely not be a traditional Christmas and we weren’t sure what we wanted to do. We had a few options – cook on the boat, try to find a place to eat out or attend a pot luck Christmas dinner at Legacy Harbour Marina for boaters. Since they would not know any of the boaters, we left it up to them. They thought it would be fun and our son-in-law said they could “pretend” to be loopers. Legacy sponsored the dinner at $10 per person to enjoy turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, gravy and dessert. Boaters were asked to bring a dish to share and a wrapped gift (one per boat) for a boater grab bag up to $25. We played a version of Dirty Santa and we came away with a useful gift – $25 gift card to West Marine. Thanks to Pam and Mike on Sea C Rider for inviting us to participate in the dinner! Everyone had a good time and it was the first time we shared a Christmas dinner with 50-60 people!

In addition to this holiday function, our son and daughter-in-law rented a house in Cape Coral from 12/28-1/4 so we were able to spend time with our family for the holidays. When they initially rented the house they were told that it was pet friendly (Kodey could stay!) and there was a dock out back where we could dock the boat for the week. Of course the owners never mentioned all the low bridges in Cape Coral and the clearances – even the highest vertical clearance in all of Cape Coral would not be high enough for us so we left the boat in Fort Myers and stayed at the house. Fortunately, we found out about the bridge clearances early on after they rented so this was not a surprise. The house was equipped with a pool and hot tub, and two kayaks for use on the canal out back. It was strange to be staying in a house with no “rocking” for the week. Access to the use of a full kitchen and large bath facilities was a pleasure. We spent the week enjoying family and participating in typical tourist activities – exploring downtown Fort Myers, enjoying the holiday lights and museum at the Edison Ford Winter Estates, shelling on Sanibel, a trip to Manatee Park where few were visible, a dolphin tour with only a glimpse of a dolphin, walking through Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve, visiting IMAG History & Science Center, and a visit to the Shell Factory and Nature Park. We had a great time over the holidays with family.

At the end of January we attended Looper Palooza sponsored by AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association) and hosted at Edison Ford. We attended the one day route briefing seminar for loopers in progress that provided a wealth of information about either crossing the Okeechobee or going around the Florida peninsula to head north. The presentations were conducted by former loopers and they shared not only their knowledge but personal experiences. We left with much information and a listing of marinas from Fort Myers to Southport, NC. In addition to the seminar, we also went to Legacy Harbour Marina to tour the boats who signed up for the Looper Crawl. There were 14 boats who participated and we met a couple who competed their loop in 2010 and actually spent a few nights at our home yacht club in Peekskill. It was also nice to reconnect with loopers we traveled with at the beginning of our trip.

Visiting with old friends, Rosemary & Neil, Grace & Mike, and yacht club members Barbara & Tim and Anne & Jim plus exploring the area’s restaurants, libraries, real estate open houses, re-provisioning and spending time with boaters at Edison Ford, dinners, grilling, experimenting with my instant pot (made lasagna in the instant pot for the SuperBowl), SuperBowl and Oscar parties, all added to a full schedule over the past few months. We also took advantage of the down time to paint the salon, a task we have talked about for years. The light blue paint made the salon look much brighter.

Our last week at Edison Ford was spent in preparation for leaving in order to cross Lake Okeechobee and begin our journey north. While it is still too early and too cold to head home, we will take a side trip and explore the St Johns River before crossing into Georgia.

We left Edison Ford on February 12th and traveled the Caloosahatchee River to the Okeechobee Waterway and stayed overnight at the LaBelle free dock. We only had one lock that day and there are five more before arriving at the ICW. I will definitely be happy when we finish the locks.

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