USEPPA TO FORT MYERS

NEXT TO THE FISH STATION

We left the dock at 8:15.  The wind was blowing on our portside beam and pushing the other side into the dock against the fish station.  Yep, forgot to tell you that our slip was right beside the fish station.  In fact, the afternoon that we arrived, right after we thoroughly washed and dried the boat, every nook and cranny of it, some guy came right up and just a few feet away started cleaning his fish.  He was not more than two feet of the boat!  You know what that's like, a messy job with fish scales and guts flying everywhere.  Luckily the wind was blowing away from the boat so the splatter went elsewhere.  I have to admit the guy was pretty considerate and very careful.  He even moved our dock mat and both pairs of shoes that we left on the dock so they wouldn’t fill up with fish debris.   But, ...what a frigging stupid place to put the fish cleaning table.

The experience reminded me of when we were in the Queen Charlottes off the coast of British Columbia a couple years ago.  We were in this remote marina, a place called Sand Spit, and again, we were assigned a slip right by the fish station.  How we lucked out twice now with that honor I don't know.  Of course up there they are pulling big juicy salmon out of the sea by the multitudes so the fish station was busy, busy, busy.  

Day after day during our stay at Sand Spit we watched from the comforts of our salon as just a few feet away they were gutting, slicing and throwing guts over the dock into the water as one after another beautiful salmons were being filleted.   Scavenging birds were dive bombing and bombing too with what you can imagine.   Yes, if you're wondering, we would the boat would get splattered with fish guts and bird poop but up there you expected it.  After all, you were out in the wilderness, with the hunters and hard core fishermen but here in Useppa, this upper crust place visited by ivy league types, it was out of character.  The location of the stand seemed to be, well, just not very thoughtful and it certainly wasn't very hospitable to put a paying guest right next to it and for that matter the ferry landing either.

STRATEGY FOR LEAVING

Anyway, knowing the wind would be pushing the boat into that rough edge of the wooden dock beside the fish station, we planned our getaway early this morning.  So now it was time to initiate "operation getaway."  We got the lines ready by looping them all back to the boat so I could get them off quick and easy.  All maneuvers could be done quickly from inside the boat.  The stern lines were cleated back to the inside of the cockpit and the bow and spring lines on both sides were also looped back for quick removal.

NO HELP PLEASE 

As is usually the case when it becomes obvious that someone is leaving the dock people nearby start to notice and look out their windows and many times offer to help.  I could see the guy in the boat across from us stirring, maybe getting ready to lend a hand but I didn’t want any help today.  Funny and as unfriendly as it sounds, the reason I didn't want any help as we had "it" figured out and adding another person to the mix, well, was just going to get "it" mixed up.   I didn't want to deal with another person, having to talk or chit chat while trying to get the job done quickly before we scratched the side of the boat. 

TROUBLES DOCKING

Also, to be very truthful, I wasn’t too impressed with this guy's idea of help as he about created a catastrophe for some other boater that came in yesterday.  That story is well worth repeating because I found it so incredible that some one on the dock could be so quickly and easily be the reason for another boater to almost have a complete disaster.

So, here's the story...... 

Of course we’ve had nothing but wind since we've been here (what else is new this season?) but the harbor had been pretty well protected, at least from an East blowing wind, but nevertheless we observed several people having difficulty getting into and out of slips during our stay.  One poor guy in a big trawler had to make 5 (Yep 5, we counted them) tries to get his big rig up just to the side of the dock, not even a difficult finger pole slip.  It looked like a simple docking to us but over and over we saw him swing around and give it another try but he could never quite get the boat up to the dock.  Finally several people came to trawler's aid and literally pulled him to the dock with about some good hearty 10 foot lengths of lines and only succeeded by pure brut force.  But, sorry I got side tracked, that’s not the incident I’m speaking of.   I brought it up just to explain the winds and trouble people were having and why we had a game plan this morning.

UNFRIENDLY OR JUST SHY?

As I said there weren’t many boaters here during our stay.  Most arrived at lunch time and left in the afternoon.  During our stay there was only one other boat staying overnight like we were.  The boat was docked right across the dock from us, only a few feet away.  It was kind of odd because the couple really kept to themselves.  They barely said a “hello” back even when we were the only other over nighters here.  During the entire stay even though we were only a few feet away, day and night, they never spoke to us other than to give us an acknowledging nod. 

It was such a contrast from all the friendly people we've met along this journey.  We didn't mind really as it was nice to have some down time to ourselves too but it just felt so darn awkward and weird. 

Anyway, one afternoon late, another trawler came in.  It was after hours and the dock master was long gone.  There were four people on the board, a husband and wife and two teenagers, a boy and a girl.  The daughter was poised on the bow of the boat with neatly coiled line in hand and the son was ready likewise in the back cockpit.  The mother and father were up in the fly bridge.

THE STORY

The captain-father brought the boat in to the dock at an appropriate 45 degree angle.  He had a strong tail wind bringing up his hind quarter.  Under perfect conditions it would have been better to come into the wind towards the dock but there was no room for him to turn easily.  The wind was pushing him in a little faster than he probably would have liked but so far he was doing just fine.   As he brought the bow sprit up to the dock, the daughter began in earnest to lop the line over the dock post so that she could secure the bitter end back to the boat, tightened it up and cleat it off.    She missed the first two attempts but I think she would have gotten it if left to try but that's when our un-talkative neighbor came to the mighty rescue "ordering" her to give him the line.

GOOD SAMARITAN? PLEASE NO MORE HELP!

Once she obeyed and threw him the line he immediately wrapped the bow line around the post.  Ordinarily that would be OK but he tied it too short and it sprung the stern out away from the dock.  Before you know it the wind caught the tail end of the boat and began to swing it outward.  I could see the mistake right away but felt hesitant putting in my two cents worth as I watched in horror.  This guy realizing there was a problem began to loosen the line a little and was fumbling with it, trying to maintain control (or lack of control) of the situation.  The poor captain had lost any control of the boat by now and could not muster up enough power to get the stern back in the direction of the dock.  If it that wasn't bad enough the Samaritan added to the mix by shouting orders to the captain to reverse engine and turn the wheel this way and that way.  The poor captain looked so foolish and confused in this predicament which really wasn't his fault.  The situation was quickly becoming utter chaos. 

At this point I'm at a loss really as to what I thought would be a way out of his predicament.  The captain really couldn't do anything because this guy had his bow hog tied to the post.  He was just flapping around.  I think if it was me I would have told the guy to throw the line back to release the bow and quickly backed the boat right back out the way I came so I could regroup and try it again without the help of the guy on the dock.  But it was even getting too late to do that by now and everything now seemed in the hands of this idiot. 

I watched with mouth wide open unbelieving the situation before my eyes and wondering what was going to happen.  How many boats or docks would he hit trying to get out of this predicament?  The idiot was still "in charge" and still shouting up orders to the captain on the fly bridge telling him to shift the gears into reverse and turn the wheel to starboard.  This method would have worked in normal circumstances but obviously not in this wind, it was too strong.  Finally it became obvious to this thick skulled baboon that his method wasn't going to work but instead of releasing the line and maybe suggesting he back out of the area and start over, he held fast to that line and kept re-looping it and adjusting it and at one point almost was crushed between the bow sprit and the post.  I had to yell at him to "WATCH OUT!"   He then quickly moved out of the way but didn't even get even a little "thank you" as he was in charge and couldn't admit a mistake. 

Soon the boat was perpendicular to the dock now and coming close to slamming into other boats across the way.  The baboon now instructs him to let the boat go with the wind and let the boat swing around.  Between the force of the boat and the tight wrap he had around the post I feared something was going to give, to pop, whether it was his bow sprit or the post he had wrestled.  I wondered if I could lend a helping hand but really didn't have a clue as to what I could do in this crazy situation.   I was flabbergasted at the predicament this guy got the captain into and so quickly.  My eyeballs by now are so wide that they are ready to pop out as the boat swings hard and crashes loudly into something behind the boat.

CRASH! 

What did he hit?  Oh my gosh.  But there was no time to look as the idiot has now finally loosened the line a bit and has managed to pull this big boat a few feet forward now in the new direction and again, I just as quickly he tightens the line up again so there was no way the captain could get the stern over to the dock again on the opposite side.

WIFE IS HYSTERICAL    

The wife is hysterical by now, totally embarrassed and humiliated and is profusely apologizing to us on the dock and at the same time thanking "us" for all our help.  Help?  The poor captain has managed to keep his cool throughout and is trying his best to deal with the baboon on the dock that has taken over complete control of his boat which is preventing him from docking the boat.  Looking back on this I don't think the captain had much experience or he'd be yelling at this guy to get the hell outta here.  I know Larry would have. 

I finally see an opportunity to help.  I yell to the boy in the back cockpit to throw me the stern line so I can try to pull their stern over to the dock.  When I get hold of the line I yell at the Samaritan to loosen the bow line that he earlier almost decapitated himself with so I can pull their stern in to the dock and get it secured. I expected a rebuff to my request but instead he amazingly and finally loosens the tight hold on that bow.  We are finally then able to get them settled up to the side of the dock.   The wife is still going on hysterically and I try to calm her down by acting like it all was no big deal.  I could only think to say things like, "this happens all the time or the wind is terrible, you couldn't help it"  but really I wanted to say this jerk did you in.

 

I left as quickly as I could.  You'd think the Samaritan would have fled for the hills by now after almost wrecking their boat, the marina and coming close to chopping himself in half, but there he was still insisting on giving them instructions like where to hook up their power up to and etc.  Several minutes later I could see they were finally taking a deep breath but still very much wrecks and embarrassed.  I think they thought it was the fault of their father and his lack of ability to run the boat but really in my opinion it was this guy on the dock.  Who would think that some baboon on the dock could take your line and put you so quickly out of control and into danger of causing damage to your boat, other boats and even the docks?  It makes you think the next time you throw that line to some unsuspecting person on the dock doesn't it?

BIG EGO ALWAYS GETS YOU IN TROUBLE

Funny thing was that this idiot never let on that he didn't do the right thing.  It was the old ego in action again that I see so many times in boating.  Why do so many people have to play this role as the experience "captain" impossible of making mistakes when really boating is a daily learning experience challenged by the variations of weather and conditions. 

SELFISH INTENTIONS?

The more I think of it, the more I actually believe that maybe he was acting in a selfish manner instead of helping.  The only logical thing that explains his actions to me was that maybe he thought he was protecting his boat by forcing this guy to swing in the complete opposite direction from his boat rather than letting him quickly back out close to his boat in this wind.  He should have let the guy back out and try again instead binding his bow to the dock.

NO WAY, STAY AWAY!   

So, now you may understand why I would not let this guy even touch one of our lines this morning as we left the dock.  He came out of his boat and was standing there anxious to offer "his services" again but I avoided all eye contact and since we weren't on anything but barely nodding terms for the last couple days, I felt no obligation to have any kind of farewell chit chat with him.  So as I began our calculated plan of releasing the dock lines in  a certain order and quickly pulling them in, one momentarily got jammed, but before he could get his hands on it I gave it a hefty tug and it slipped right through his fingers and off we went!  Whew!

TEAMING WITH LIFE

So, out the channel we went heading for Fort Myers and getting close to the end of this season's journey.  Once we left the protection of Useppa and Cabbage Islands we were back in it again and by that I mean rough seas.   Off to our port were some dolphins in a feeding frenzy.  One wonderful thing about boating in Florida is that you see an amazing amount of wildlife.  It seems to flourishing here.  It makes the Pacific Northwest and well just every where else look dried up as afar as abundant sightings fish, dolphin and birds.  The place just plain feels alive. 

SEAS THROWING UP AGAIN

Soon we were surrounded by a wide landscape of white caps and the seas were building into rollers.  We just couldn't believe it.  The boat was handling it all just fine but this place sure retches itself up.  We felt a bit like we were boating through surf and waves at the beach, as one roller after another approached us steady and constant.  Several were followed by some amazingly deep troughs. 

The ospreys were still stoically holding down their forts on top of the channel markers standing firm to the strong winds.  The wind was blowing a good 20 knots and the current was building against it.  We had several rogue 4 foot waves and for such a small body of water we were surprised.   Who would've thought that this shallow area called Pine Island Sound would be so powerful?  These seas just seem to throw up when the wind blows.  It's a shallow area and it doesn't take long for the waters to stir up.  I checked the paper charts and had to laugh at some of the old obsolete notes on them like:  "4' reported depths in 1979"!  I fail to see the relevancy of that kind of information for my peace of mind.   Why do they keep those notes when they are so outdated?

TIRED OF TURNING THE CHEEK

It was a crazy ride all the way to Fort Myers.  The seas and winds never let up and even the protection of land as we finally headed up Caloosahatchee River didn't provide much relief as it blew straight towards us down the river.  Still, as always, the Florida boaters were out in full force as if nothing was unusual and of course waking the crap out of you regardless of the extra added weather dangers.  It's a typical scenario that has just become plain laughable to us now.  We're kind of over the anger of people waking us and just drive more defensively preparing for the damage or offensively calculating how to pay back (if that is even possible) if we get the notion that the soon to pass boat is intent on waking us.    Who would ever think that we would be thinking of behaving like that but you can't help becoming like them after awhile.  I guess you can say that one can only turn the cheek so many times.

NEVER TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED

Somehow I thought the trip today was going to be easy but I should know by now to never take anything for granted when boating.  How could I have become so complacent?  I guess since we were retracing a path that we traveled a few days ago that it would be simple.  We knew the terrain, where the markers were, which ones were bent or replaced with a nun, knew that the water was deep enough, no more guessing,  but once we turned to take a new route, the cut to the river, the tension started to build all over again for me. 

LINE UP THE RANGE MARKERS

We were heading up a river and you'd think that would be easy.  I should've studied the route before we headed out I guess.  We were wobbling in seas on our beam and the winds were blowing spray over the windshield hindering visibility and if that wasn't enough we were thrown into a really shallow stretch with multitudes of range markers.  So as we were lining the range markers up we noticed several boaters following the leader going the opposite direction from us that were way off the range markers and out of the channel!  They were all over the map.  Must be the luck of local knowledge.  We instead stuck to the range markers.  The great thing though was that this whole stretch was a NO WAKE ZONE!  Yep, there were no wakes to deal with while getting through this area.  What a relief!

NO RESPECT FOR THE MARKERS

You could see the varying colors in the waters indicating shoals that seemed all around us.  Permanent markers were replaced by nun.  They are typically moved according to the whims of the moving shoals.  Though we were going pretty slow and being very careful we sound came upon an even slower boat, the  Super Nova who was flying a British flag.  He was going what seemed a snails pace.   Sometimes he wandered out of the channel a bit and we wondered what and where he was going.  We stuck to our guns and respected the range markers and other navigational aids though it seemed unimportant to several of the boaters around here.  Super Nova wandered left and right and at some point we questioned whether he had some kind of weird local knowledge otherwise why would he waver so much from the markers and take such chances? 

We followed him a long way up the river and finally he hailed us on the radio, "blue hulled boat behind Super Nova."  Larry answered back, "this is the Knotty Dog behind you".  After they switched to a working channel the captain said that he will slow down so we can pass him.  Hmm, how much slower can he go as he was already crawling?  I checked the chart but we still had a narrow stretch ahead with another round of range markers to line up to.  This surely isn't the best place to pass another boat.  Larry said we'd pass him as soon as we were out of the range marker area.

LEGACY HARBOR MARINA, FORT MYERS

We really didn't want to pass him as we were in no hurry but I guess he thought we did or didn't want us tailing him any more.  We passed him finally but by now we were pretty far up the river and very close to today's destination which was Legacy Harbor Marina in Fort Myers.    We had checked the marinas out when we drove to Palm Beach a week ago.  I was home sick for some floating docks and docks with cleats.  Surprise, they had both!  This marina was located a couple blocks west of the downtown area but close enough to walk to and it was closer to Edison's Summer Home which we definitely wanted to visit when we got here.  It seemed to have everything we needed and was in the right location.  We were going to be doing laundry and cleaning up the boat while in Fort Myers as this was our last stop before putting the boat in storage until next fall so we wanted to be in a nice marina with facilities.   This place seemed to have all of the above.

So just minutes after we passed Super Nova (what a name) we hailed the marina.  It seemed kind of ridiculous to pass him when in just a few moments later we would be slowing down in front of them getting ready to go into our marina.  Immediately after Larry hailed the marina, Super Nova hailed it too.    It sounds like this was their destination also. 

PUMP OUT

The dock master answered back and gave us instructions to come in.  Larry thought he had read in the cruising guide that they had pump outs at each slip so he double checked with him.  Good thing he did because they DON'T.  The dock master answered back with a big audible sigh of exasperation and directed us to the pump out dock first.  Oh great, two dockings today, not my favorite thing to do. 

BOAT HAS A MIND OF ITS OWN

I was getting a bit stressed at our dockings in recent weeks.  I haven't mentioned much about it because it seems I frequently go on and on about the woes of docking and thought I could cool it for awhile.  But to tell you the truth I've stressed out more than usual.  This boat lately just seems really hard to dock.  I don't know whether it's the local currents, the strong winds or the difficult slips, as we've certainly had our share of all three and sometime all at the same time, but instead of getting better with practice is seems to be getting more difficult. 

Sometimes we start to back in and we head straight for the corner of the dock, not where we are supposed to head.  I end up yelling out at the top of my lungs to "go forward!  NOW!" or we'd surely have had a few unwanted encounters at the docks.  Miraculously we miss impact by sometimes not more than an inch each sometimes and my nerves are definitely getting frayed.  It's been a puzzlement to us now for a couple weeks.  Instead of getting better we're getting worse.  Sometimes we ask if we are getting to old for this or then I worry about Larry's eye problem and wonder if that has something to do with.  But it's a "no" on both cases, as you've never too old and Larry contends he can see just fine.  So what's the dang problem?

Well, it turns out that there WAS a reason we were having a problem.  So keep reading and we'll tell you why the boat seemed to have a mind of its own.  I couldn't blame Larry because I was having just as hard of a time maneuvering the boat as he was.  I didn't even want to try to dock the boat, no way.  That's not normal for me as I always want to try to dock the boat or drive it.  I love the challenge and the feeling of accomplishment of running the boat, but this boat lately, no way.  So, with all that in mind, again, we head to the dock for the pump out.

We had a hard time getting the boat up to the side dock first of all because the wind was blowing like crazy.  I threw the lines to the dock master but we just couldn't seem to get the boat to the dock easily in the wind.  The dock master was putting on quite a demonstration huffing and puffing as he tied our lines to the dock.  I'm sure it was tough going with the wind working against him.  I jumped on the dock to help.  For some reason the boat just wouldn't go where Larry wanted it.  We got the pump out done and I got the impression that the dock master doesn't normally participate but obliged helping us this time.  

Once that dirty job was done he gave us directions to our slip which was going to be on the other side of the marina.  He said to give him some time as he had another boat to help get to their slip (Super Nova) and also needed time run to the other side of the marina which is a big u-shape with no short cuts.  I guess we were really putting him through the motions of his job today poor guy.  He was the only guy there and seemed to be running up and down the docks to accommodate everyone today. 

Finally it was our turn as we sighted him across the marina waving us to come and pointing downward to indicate the slip.  I in my nervousness couldn't keep from reminding Larry about the wind direction.  He was annoyed and like me I'm sure he was getting antsy about the docking too in this wind.  I said the wind is going to catch you the minute you make your turn to back in so you better go up the aisle farther and then let it carry down before you back in.  The wind was blowing a good 20 knots so it wasn't going to be easy. 

"I know, I know, just let me do this!  Don't bother me!" It was his way of cutting me off short and I understood completely.  I get nervous and can't restrain myself from throwing out these annoying opinions. 

So we head up the channel to our slip and Larry makes the turn.  It's too quick in my opinion and we get caught in the wind and as he is backing into the slip we are heading straight towards the side dock.  "Stop!  Go forward, forward, NOW!!!!!!"  Just in the nick of time he got the boat to go forward and we missed the end of the dock by an inch.

"Go up farther in the channel this time.  The wind is catching you!"  Why can't I keep my mouth shut?  Larry is feeling defeated as he tries again and again and each time it seems the wind catches him and he heads towards the dock corner. 

"I know, I know" he says not wanting to hear another word from me.  I empathize with him as I wouldn't want any part of this docking in this wind and with this boat, no way Jose.  I couldn't do it.  The dock master senses the tension between us and says "not a problem, take your time" which was very reassuring and calming.  This time Larry gets it right and backs in just fine.  After we get settled we discuss what went wrong. 

It just seems like the boat goes a different way than it should.   Larry says he doesn't understand because one minute he thinks he's backing in one direction and then the next minute I'm yelling that we're going to hit the dock.   We both feel discouraged and wonder why can't we get this down?  We think maybe it's just time to go home for a rest and regroup. 

(Just a little foot note here to explain a few things.  When we pulled the boat out for storage a few days later we discovered why the hell we've been having such a difficult time!  The trim tab flap, or which-a-jigger was broken.  It's a big flap that was hanging down under the water just in front of the swim step on the starboard rear side of the boat.  No wonder the darn boat wouldn't back any where we wanted.  Larry was immediately vindicated for all those darn dockings!!!  Now I'm amazed that he was even able to get into the docks after seeing this thing hanging down the back of the boat.  Geez!!!  We'll go more into it with pictures and why it broke when we get to the storage place.)

A FRONT IS BREWIN'

Okay, so now we're in the slip.  It soon becomes obvious there's a Front a brewin'.  So what else is new?  It figures though as a front would be following all that wind we had today.  You could feel it in the air.  We needed to get the laundry done before tomorrow's prediction of rain for tomorrow.  So load after load was done in the marina laundry room.  All was washed, dried, folded and carried back to the boat. 

THOROUGH CLEANING AND ETC.

The work didn't end there though as cupboards were cleaned, reorganized and unused things were packed in bags that needed to go back across country to take home.  Walls were washed, chrome polished, nooks and crannies vacuumed and notes were made and measurements taken for things we needed to buy or have made for the boat.  We haven't done much to give Knotty Dog our personal touch as we really like the great job previous owners did or at least if it wasn't so great it really matched our tastes but now that we've been on the boat for a few months, we'd like to add a few personal touches here and there, like replacing the carpet runner and getting more comfy pillows to lean up against when watching TV and etc.  I love that expression, "and etc.," as it always leaves room for more with no restrictions.

ENJOYED FORT MYERS

We took lots of walks too as Fort Myers is pretty interesting.  They have a neat walk along the water front park that posts signs saying "absolutely no pets" which we totally ignored condemning the rule to being ridiculous.  No one seemed to mind or enforce that we broke the rules.  We also liked the little downtown area that is being restored.  When complete it will be a fun place to visit.  It looks like they will have plenty of shops and outdoor cafes.  In the meantime there are several good restaurants all within walking distance and the people are friendly. 

EDISON'S WINTER HOME

In the other direction is the Edison Summer Home.  Larry was anxious to see it because he wanted to tour Edison's laboratory.  But, sorry to say, the minute he discovered it was not Edison's "real research lab" but a "botanical research lab" where he studied plants and their possibilities to be converted into rubber for the war, his interest dwindled and so opted to take care of Ziggy while I went to see the home, take pictures and report back which is what I did.  The house is situated on a great plot of land overlooking the river and looks just like it did back in the early 1900's.  It gives you a glimpse of how people lived in Florida back then as they came to Florida hoping to escape the cold winters back home.  It was exciting also to actually step foot in Edison's lab, to see his desk and chair and tables loaded with test tubes and funny gadgets. 

BACK STREET DISCOVERY  

But, more importantly to Larry I think, was the discovery of this great little neighborhood coffee house tucked back into a residential side street.  They made the most delicious homemade donuts!!  We knew we needed to get up the river soon as we were surely going to explode eating those irresistible donuts which required a daily tasting of each different flavor. 

A nice brand new grocery store is nearby the marina too which was handy.  We weren't stocking up but it was good to know how convenient and nice it is when we come back in the late fall. 

ONE NEGATIVE 

We had a very pleasant stay in Fort Myers.  We had only one negative thing happen during our stay.  It happened the last night we were there.  A couple that were in a sports fisher a couple slips down from us had what I'd call a knock-down-drag-out fight that night.  They were yelling and screaming at each other and both were drunk as skunks.  Someone called the police on them because she was accusing the guy of hitting her but mostly from what I could see was that he was just standing outside in the cockpit, or should I say wavering outside in the cockpit looking really stupid in his inebriated state.

I couldn't help notice the name of the boat the next morning.  It was an odd name and graphic that I had noticed each time we walked by and now I think I understood the meaning of it.

A LITTLE BIT EXPOSED

Oh, and one other noteworthy comment we'd make about the marina was that during the weather Front the boats out on D slip were exposed to the river and it was a wild ride out there.  The boats were bobbing up and down like rocking horses on the high seas and the waves were breaking over the dock.  Since they were long floating docks they were rolling up and down like a roller coaster.  I imagine the people sitting the storm out in their boats must have been sea sick to endure that.  The next morning we met up with some of the boaters on D dock and they said they were leaving because they couldn't take it anymore.  So, something to keep in mind if you decide to lie up for awhile at Legacy Marina.

Ever see a prop with so many barnacles on it??

 LAST LEG OF THE JOURNEY

Well, our chores are done and it's time to go.  Our journey was nearing its end but we still were anxious to see the last leg, the river that cuts across Florida.  It crosses the mid section of Florida allowing boaters to cruise from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back again.  You could say it's a mini Panama Canal so to speak as it has locks, dredged canals and even a lake in the middle.  It should be interesting.