On the AICW

Hello From St Augustine!

We are now 15 days into our loop and have covered approximately 350 miles. Since our last post, we have completed the Okeechobee Waterway and started our way up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW). We have made stops in Fort Pierce, Eau Gallie (Melbourne), Titusville, New Smyrna, Marineland and are now in St. Augustine. We have met some wonderful people - both fellow loopers as well as just other fellow boaters. In New Smyrna we got our first taste of true looper camaraderie when we were invited to join four other couples for a nice dinner out.  Loopers come from all over the US and the world and from all types of backgrounds. Some are very experienced and some are newbies like ourselves.  It makes interacting with other loopers both fun and educational.

Along the way we have seen alligators, dolphin, egrets, pelicans, turtles, sand pipers, and iguanas. On our tour of St. Augustine today, the guide was excited to point out peacocks....oh ho hum - we have seen way too many of those at home! We have seen run down old Florida shanties and multimillion dollar estates. We have also seen amazing yachts as well as rotting hulks of vessels abandoned on the river banks. We even got to see a launch of a SpaceEx rocket! Fortunately, we have had mostly clear skies and flat seas although there is a good thunder storm display right now.  

Karen and I are getting more comfortable on the boat although we still get nervous docking, especially in wind or current. I am still doing most of the driving and Karen is working the lines.  At our last two marinas, we were told we looked smooth and competent as we came in. Boy - I wish I could say that was how we felt! Once we are tied up and engines are shut down it's time for a high five and big sighs of relief. Tonight is our second night on a mooring ball. We love these as they offer the serenity of being away from a marina but without the worries of being on an anchor. They are also far less stressful to tie up to than a dock. 

Some of the highlights of the last 10 days...

The Navy Seal Museum in Fort Pierce was fantastic. Fort Pierce was the site of the training of the original navy "frogmen." You cannot come out of that place without feeling patriotic and inspired by the courage, fortitude and skills of these highly trained soldiers.

Riding our bikes on New Smyrna Beach was a lot of fun. We did it twice! Cars are allowed on the beach there, like in Daytona. When the tide is out there is a large expanse of smooth hardened sand that works great as a riding surface, even with thin road tires. On the second day we rode about 4 miles each way on the sand to see the light house at Ponce de Leon inlet. Juan Ponce de Leon was the governor of Puerto Rico and the first European to explore and chart Florida in 1515. At 4"11" tall he was actually above average height for Spaniards of that era. He ultimately died from wounds suffered in a skirmish with native Americans who did not share his enthusiasm for European settlement of Florida.

The marina at Eau Gallie was a picture perfect setting.  It looked more like a small town in the north east than Florida. The marina locals were as friendly and helpful as could be. If we had come through here a few years ago we might have been tempted to stay. 2-3 years ago you could have have purchased a nice waterfront home here  for $350,000.  They are now well well over $1,000,000.

Although we just got here today, St Augustine is shaping up to be a highlight as well. Originally founded in 1565, this picturesque city, it is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in North America. The old fort and the Bridge of Lions are just two of the many highlights of the city. We are moored tonight just south of the bridge which is beautifully lit up at night. 

And of course.... the miles and miles of beautiful, peaceful scenery and fresh air. Still beats a day at the office.

On the negative side.... No See Ums.  These 1 mm devils are next to impossible to see but they have a vicious bite. So far Karen has been pretty much left alone by them but my legs are a bumpy itchy mess. Just picked up some repellant so looking forward to less buggy nights.

Our amusing anecdote ... On New Smyrna Beach we met a guy from Indiana. He was in Florida to deliver an antique truck he had restored. When I asked what year the truck was... 1973! If a 1973 truck is an antique, what does that make us?!!!

Too many pictures to post but here are a few.  And check out our Relive videos linked below.

https://www.relive.cc/view/veqzmm2Q476

https://www.relive.cc/view/v7O9BBNEVQ6

https://www.relive.cc/view/vwq1BRXPZBv

https://www.relive.cc/view/vMv8JgLM8N6

We Have Started Our Loop!

Pardon me my friends, it has been over 3 weeks since my last blog. Yep, a lot has happened! We spent all of March living on our boat at the home dock of Martin, the salesman who sold us our boat. We cannot thank him and his wife enough for their hospitality. This time gave us an opportunity to get used to living on the boat and learning her systems. Martin is also a licensed captain and he took us out a few times to help us learn to maneuver and dock Off Leash safely. It can be very tricky docking a boat her size, especially if there is wind or current. Large power boats are a totally different beast from the sail boats I am used to. It seems different captains have various preferences for how they like to handle dock lines but the one consistency of docking among all experienced captains is...slow and easy. I can do slow... but it's not yet easy! Our plan is for both Karen and I to learn to handle the boat but, until I feel very comfortable handling the boat, we are concentrating on me driving and Karen handling the lines.  She is doing great and handling the lines is far more physical than driving. I cannot say she doesn't panic now and then but, for Karen, that's normal and she bounces out of it quickly.

We also continued to spend a fair amount of time with Alison, keeping her company and helping her with her house and dogs while she was waiting for Dylan to finish his work in Eugene and join her in Florida. And Hooray - he finally got here this week, just in time for us to leave. Karen's brother, Jack, and his wife, Kathy and dog, Twill, joined us on the boat for a few days.  It was great having them aboard. Jack is very knowledgeable about boats and was helpful to us in getting the boat ready.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate for us and we were never able to take them out for a cruise on Off Leash but we did at least take a dinghy ride to lunch!.

The Big News.... We finally cast off our lines and started our Great American Loop at 9:29AM on Saturday, April 2, 2022! We were getting antsy to leave and had been waiting for the right weather window. We monitor 4 weather apps and for the whole week they were predicting winds and thunder storms and we would wake up to clear skies and mild winds. So, we finally declared Saturday would be the day. We were up at 6 am to get an early start only to be socked in by fog. So we waited and waited and waited until the fog lifted and made our get away! 

We are now 4 days in and so far, so good! Our first day was  a 38 mile run from Cape Coral to Port Labelle. On this run we got to experience the first of the hundred plus locks we will transit over the course of the loop. We were pretty nervous about it as this was our first lock but this lock only raised us about 18 inches so it was pretty easy. Labelle is only 12 miles from Alison's house so she and Dylan  joined us for the 22 mile 2nd leg up to Moore Haven. Day 3 presented us with the challenge of crossing Lake Okeechobee, the second largest fresh water lake in the US. We had heard plenty of stories about how difficult it can be if the weather gets bad and, like every day, there were potential thunderstorms forecast. Fortunately, the weather cooperated and we had a beautiful, safe and easy crossing. By the time we tied up on the St. Lucie river we had been on the water for 7 hours and traveled 62 miles. But we had fun rocking out to tunes and Karen even got in a little yoga on the bow. 

We are also using the Relive App to video document our travels.. You can follow us on Relive and we will post some of those videos on our blogs. Links to our videos for day one and three below...

DAY 1 VIDEO

DAY 3 VIDEO