January 25, 2007 to March 7, 2007

Fort Myers, Florida to Stuart, Florida

We're B-a-a-a-a-a-ck!!!!! Welcome to 2007 and to the continuation of our Great Loop trip. It's been a long time since we've written but—we're glad to be back with you and on our journey.

We returned to the boat in late January after spending some time on Cape Cod during the holidays. Since January, we've really been using the boat as a hotel—staying in marinas for weeks at a time. We have our car with us and are exploring different towns and aspects of Florida. We've been having a wonderful time—although we're not spending much time on the water. By the end of March we will make our way back to Jacksonville—to ‘cross our wake'. This will mark the official end of our trip—all 6,000+ miles!!!!! We do plan, however, after crossing our wake, to continue to travel the St. Johns River.

For this update and the next, I will NOT be providing a day-to-day outline of the trip. I will also NOT be providing our dinner information—I've forgotten most of what we ate but, unfortunately, the pictures of us will tell the story!! I will provide highlights of our adventures complete with fun photos.

As soon as we got back to Fort Myers and to Ocean Flyer, we got in the car and headed out. Our first stop was a small town called Crystal River where we ‘swam with the manatees'. Manatees, also called sea cows, once ranged from North Carolina to Texas but now live almost exclusively in Florida where they are protected by both federal and state law. Manatees can be 8-10 feet long and weigh almost 2,000 pounds. They have round bodies, two front appendages, and a large round tail and a square, whiskery snout. Since each manatee eats 50-100 pounds of vegetation a day, they act as underwater lawnmowers, helping keep waterways open.

Swimming with the manatees was a fun adventure and one which was recommended to us by several other Loopers. In Crystal River there are several warm water springs which many manatees call home. We went with a professional diving team, complete with wet suits, fins and snorkels and swam alongside the manatees. It was a blast!!!!! We had several manatees that let us ‘play with them' which was great. The team normally includes 6-8 tourists but Jean and I were the only two to go out this particular morning. As we swam with the manatees, the diver also videographed the entire thing. So—of course, we now have a DVD of the entire adventure.

After leaving Crystal River we made a brief stop at Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs became an important center for sponge fishing when Greek divers came to the area in the early 1900's. Although the industry has diminished, the Greek influence is still evident in the remaining sponge boats and in the dock area.

While walking around town, we also got to see another ‘trike'. These are the three-wheel motorcycles that Jean thinks are wonderful. So….

From Tarpon Springs, we went to Tampa where we had a chance to see Denny from Daddy's Farm. He officially ‘finished' the Loop in January and we visited with him and his wife at their home in Tampa. It was great to see him and his dog Buddy, his faithful companion during the trip.

From Tampa we made our way to Bradenton and spent a few days visiting with friends. This was also a fun time. It was great to see our friends and to reconnect—we laughed a lot and played a few table games.

From our friends' house, we visited the Ringling Museum which was quite interesting. The Ringling Museum is a complex of several buildings. Everything is part of a 66-acre site, decorated with statues and dotted with banyan trees (one of which was a gift from Thomas Edison) and Cuban laurels. There is the mansion, an art museum, a circus pavilion, a visitors pavilion and an education building.

The art museum was built in the Italian Renaissance style, with an inner courtyard studded with reproductions of many world-famous sculptures, including a bronze cast of Michelangelo's “David”. The art collection included significant holdings of American, European and non-western art with masterpieces from the 17 th century baroque period. The Museum also hosts several special exhibits and we were able to see very special presentations.

We took a guided tour of the Ringling Mansion, called Ca d'Zan which means “House of John” in Venetian dialect. The house was completed in 1926 at a cost of $1.5 million. The 32-room, terra-cotta mansion resembles a Venetian palace. Marble, tapestries and elaborately carved and gilded furniture dominate the interior. The mansion sits on a magnificent spot overlooking Sarasota Bay. John and Mable Ringling were strongly influenced by Italian artists and design. Their taste for the opulent was very clear and their home clearly reflected this aspect of their personality. Here are two pictures of the living room—notice the ornate ceiling.

I also took some pictures of the dining room—which was equally opulent and garish.

In the master bedroom, John Ringling had these very ornate beds made to reflect the gold and decorations found during the Italian and French Renaissance.

Two of the nicest areas on the property are the terrace and the gardens. As I mentioned earlier the mansion sits perfectly on Sarasota Bay with spectacular views. You'll see that the terrace is also very ornate and made of marble but… set against the sky and the water it was just beautiful. The gardens are also very calming and manicured.

After visiting the mansion we made our way to the circus pavilion. The pavilion houses quite a bit of memorabilia including old circus banners, many newspaper clippings and several of the circus ‘cars' used in the parades. It's important to keep in mind that in its heyday, the Ringling Circus played in 150 different cities in the U.S. every year. In all but 20 of those cities they stayed ONLY ONE day!!!!!! There was a video that showed how the workers managed to get four ‘tents' up and down each day including the food tent which was needed to feed 1500 circus personnel three meals a day!!!!! The video was pretty fascinating as was seeing the logistics of the daily activities.

We also saw an entire exhibit dedicated to the circus clowns. What a blast. One exhibit in particular had the very small car which held many clowns in every circus.

P. T. Barnum once said, “Clowns and elephants are the pegs on which a circus is hung”. In circus advertising, the clown has been presented in many ways, from an iconic symbol to the star of the show.

One unique display on the grounds of the Museum is a miniature replica of the circus. This one-of-a kind replica was created by Howard Tibbals over a period of more than thirty years. The ¾ inch-to-one-foot scale model occupies 3,800 square feet and contains 8 main tents, 55 railroad cars, 152 circus wagons, 1500 performers and circus personnel, and over 500 animals. Tibbals' attention to detail is incredible and this display attracted many, many visitors. Take a look here.

After going through the miniature display, we went to an upper level and looked down on the model—it was gorgeous.

I have a million fond memories of the circus when it played at Boston Garden. My mother would always take us to the circus as well as the rodeo. I can still picture the trapeze artists, the clowns and the elephants. These outings were very special occasions and I remember them vividly and fondly.

We returned to Ocean Flyer after four days of car travel and were glad to get back on board. We missed the boat. The marina we stayed at was excellent—Legacy Harbour Marina in downtown Fort Myers. We were also expecting that Bonas IV would be joining us shortly; it would be fun to see Bob and Nan again. Dale and Miriam from Through the Years were also at the marina so it was definitely nice to see some familiar faces.

We watched the Super Bowl with Bob and Nan and were happy that Indianapolis won. We were rooting for Peyton Manning and the Colts even though they did knock our New England Patriots out of the playoffs .

Fort Myers is a very historic town and we spent a day walking through the homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. These estates were very interesting, especially Edison's botanical gardens. The property is filled with exotic flowers and plants and a forest of banyan trees. These trees are oversized and their roots extend in every direction. One of the trees is said to be the largest in the continental U.S.; it was a gift from Harvey Firestone in 1925.

We saw an entire section of banyan trees all interlocking and looking majestic.

There were flowers everywhere including this beautiful trumpet flower. There was also a HUGE bougainvillea bush which was at least three stories high.

Edison loved Florida and spent his ‘working vacations' in his Fort Myers house from 1886 until his death in 1931. Here Edison perfected such earlier inventions as the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera and the storage battery. While Edison lived here, the area was primarily cattle farms, and Edison built his beautiful house on the Caloosahatchee River. The house has recently been renovated by the state and looks gorgeous.

While on the property, we also took a tour of Edison's laboratory which he actually built himself. The laboratory has been restored to its original condition—it was pretty impressive.

After a few more days, Sheryl and Barry Lilly on SeaQuel arrived in Fort Myers and Jean and I spent some time with them. Sheryl and I took a two-hour walking tour of downtown Fort Myers, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Fort Myers is known as the city of palms and its streets are lined with majestic royal palm trees. This city has more than 70 varieties of palms and a profusion of exotic flowers and tropical fruit.

One of our first stops on the walking tour was at the Federal Building—a very impressive building in the middle of downtown which had just recently been restored. Opposite this building was this pretty fountain.

Fort Myers has some very interesting buildings in its downtown district—including this very, very narrow private residence, a nearby bank building and a charming restaurant.

While downtown we also saw this beautiful mural painted on the exterior wall of a downtown building. It was drawn to represent the many facets of Florida's history including the Civil War and Florida's railroad era.

Within a few days, Jean and I headed out on Ocean Flyer to cross central Florida by wayl of Lake Okeechobee. We left Fort Myers headed for Stuart on Thursday, February 8th on a beautiful sunny day with very calm waters. We were off the dock at 8:30am with clear blue skies—it was gorgeous. It was nice to be on the water again although the trip to Stuart would only take two days. Our first day was scheduled to take us to Clewiston, the halfway stop. The second day would be spent crossing Lake Okeechobee. I took these two pictures as we left our marina in Fort Myers.

Thursday's early morning temperature was a warm 62 degrees. We quickly passed under the Edison bridge—it was so good to be underway again. We had not been moving on the boat since arriving in Fort Myers on December 15 th .

Unfortunately, from a scenery perspective, one of the first ‘things' we saw on the shore was this HUGE power plant. This plant stretched forever—its size was awesome.

The first part of the trip was very slow due to the amount of ‘no wake zones' which we went through. For about 10 miles we were in slow motion passing by houses with docks and boats. We finally came to some open water and were able to pick up some speed.

The scenery was gorgeous, although the waterway was narrow and somewhat shallow. The water level in Florida's lakes and canals has been very low this season.

As usual, I took a picture of the waterway from the bow of the boat—a view I'm particularly happy to see.

Florida's waters have many, many bridges and this route was no different. Here's a picture of one of the swing bridges that we went through.

There were three locks to go through today—most of which were pretty easy. The first lock, the Franklin Lock, had only a three foot rise!!!!!! The Florida locks are not very difficult—they're small and easy to manage.

The scenery was very different with every mile that we covered today. We saw many large orange groves which were really beautiful. They are arranged in perfect rows with equal distances between each tree. The trees are cut in a square shape so that the orange picking machines can go up and down the rows easily. I didn't get a good picture—although the view was very interesting.

We also saw quite a few large cattle farms along the way—complete with cattle grazing at the water's edge. The farms are very extensive and serve to remind us that Florida was once a HUGE cattle farming state.

As we came through the last lock of the day, the Moore Haven Lock, just before reaching Clewiston, we were struck by the landscape. We were going through an area which has been ‘treated' by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps wanted to eradicate the exotic casuarinas trees which are NOT indigenous to Florida. In the process, all vegetation was eliminated. These next pictures show the destroyed area—it was desolate.

As we continued along on our way to Clewiston, we saw this boat on its side. I love the name.

We made it to Clewiston by 4:20 pm and got tied up pretty quickly. The marina at Clewiston is the ONLY place in town for transients. We were on the water for about nine hours and didn't have much daylight left. The marina is situated along a very narrow channel with barely enough room to turn around—which we needed help to do so we wouldn't hit the rocks along the banks. But…we got turned around and settled in for the night.

On Friday, February 9th we left early, at 8:00am with calm waters and a somewhat cool temperature. As usual, the skies were a brilliant blue—it was gorgeous. We would be crossing Lake Okeechobee which is unusually shallow for such a big lake. The water levels continue to be pretty low. There's going to be some winds this morning so we expect that the Lake will be even shallower.

Lake Okeechobee is the second largest freshwater lake located wholly in the continental United States (after Lake Michigan). Likened to a saucer full of water, Lake Okeechobee is shallow, with normal depths from 11 to 17 feet, depending on the season and annual rainfall; in periods of prolonged drought, it falls below 9 feet!!!!! Originally the headwaters of the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee is now the centerpiece of South Florida's water resource system. The Lake is completely enclosed by an impressive levee system, officially named the Herbert Hoover Dike.

The entrance to Lake Okeechobee is immediately after you exit the marina so we were grateful for the fair weather. This next picture shows us approaching the Clewiston ‘Hurricane Wall'. This wall is usually open but is closed to prevent flooding during a hurricane storm. In 1928, a hurricane came through Clewiston, flooded the town and killed 2800 residents.

These next pictures show the gorgeous morning sky—gray but lovely—and the beginning of our Lake Okeechobee route.

We had been told that the lake water was low and that we needed to go very slowly during the first ten miles. We were very thankful for the advice—at many times during those first ten miles we had only one foot of water beneath us!!!!! Our lake crossing was only 25 miles so we made it to ‘the other side' in no time. While underway, Jean got some help from Bobie in steering the boat—he now wants to be called co-captain!!!!!!

Immediately at the entrance to the St. Lucie Canal is the Port Mayaca Lock—which was open today—so we went right through. The lockmaster was there directing boat traffic but we didn't have to wait to pass—it was great.

About one mile past the Lock, we saw a bald eagle!!!!!!

We quickly realized that the St. Lucie Canal was quite picturesque. There were houses but they were on large pieces of property and set back from the water. There were sections of the canal which were very wide—more like a lake than a canal.

As I've mentioned before, Florida has many bridges for boats to pass under—some of which present problems—especially for sailboat owners. Sailboat masts are frequently 50-60 feet high which prevent sailboats from passing under many fixed bridges. But...in crossing the Okeechobee, a unique service is offered to sailboat owners. A local marina sends out a boat loaded with many large plastic barrels. The barrels are placed on one side of the boat's deck and then are filled with water. When the sailboat lists enough to fit beneath the bridge, it is towed under it!!!!!! Quite masterful. This sailboat was being filled with water kegs as we passed by. Crossing the Okeechobee across central Florida saves hundreds of miles of travel compared to going around the southern end of the state via the Keys.

At 1:30 pm we went through the St. Lucie Lock—our LAST lock of the Loop!!!!!!!!

What an event—we applauded each other and laughed our way through the lock. We reminisced about our many lock experiences!!!! During our Loop trip, we have gone through over 125 locks and this was our last. What fun!!!!!

The trip was easy and we were in Stuart by 1:30pm. This is a very busy harbor with boats everywhere. There's a low bridge immediately inside Stuart Harbor which the bridgetender opened for us.

We went to a new marina where we were expecting to stay for a month. But… it wasn't quite finished and was missing some facilities. So…after staying there just one night, we left—but not before seeing this beautiful evening view of the harbor and bridge.

The next day we went to the Marriott Resort and Marina on Hutchinson Island. This marina is rather deluxe—complete with restaurants, pool, golf course, and private beach!!!!!

No sooner had we arrived at the Marriott when we got into the car and left for a two-week journey. We were headed to Key West by way of the Everglades—using the Tamiami Trail as our main route. At one of our first stops—a visitor's center—we saw some alligators—and we would see many, many more before our trip was over.

We also saw many birds—especially Great Blue Heron and Egrets. It's amazing to see how close the birds get to the alligators—too close for my comfort.

Along the way, we also came across the memorial site for ValuJet Flight #592 which crashed in the everglades on May 11, 1996 killing all 108 people on board.

Further along in our travels, we saw a sign alerting us to an opportunity to ‘feed the tarpons'—so in we went. We always like to do as much as possible in the areas we visit. So—here's Jean feeding the tarpons.

The next couple of days we spent visiting Key West. We've been to Key West before by boat but this time we came by land. The weather did NOT cooperate as we had cold temperatures and rain for the first two days.

Key West is the southernmost city in the continental United States and once served as a base of operations against pirates. Because of its proximity to Havana, about 90 miles south, the town was later a haven for Cuban political exiles. San Carlos Institute on Duval Street dates from the late 19 th century, when it was used as a meeting place for the local Cuban community. City Cemetery on Margaret Street is the gravesite of the victims of the USS Maine, whose sinking precipitated the Spanish-American War. Key West is also famous for its sunsets, nature and arts.

We took a tour of Fort Zachary Taylor. The park, which now covers 87 acres, is a national landmark that played a significant role in Florida's early development. Construction of the fort was begun in 1845 and, in 1850, was named for U.S. President Zachary Taylor. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Capt. John Brannon occupied the fort, placing it in Union hands. Key West was an important outpost for the Union because numerous blockade-running ships were detained at Key West Harbor and guarded by Fort Taylor's cannons.

As a result of some recent excavations, volunteers uncovered a number of guns and ammunition from Civil War times. It was later determined that this ‘finding' represented only a fraction of the buried arsenal, which is the largest collection of Civil War cannons in the United States. I took a picture of some cannonballs set up for display and also a picture of the Fort with one of Key West's docking areas in the background. Key West hosts many cruise ships and their dock is adjacent to the Fort.

This next picture gives you some idea of how busy and packed the Key West marinas are on any given day. There are so many boats and a limited number of available slips—getting a spot is not easy. We were lucky to be there by car!!!!!

One of the highlights of the visit to Key West was a one-day side trip we took, by ferry, to the Dry Tortugas. The Dry Tortugas, located about 70 miles west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico, are a cluster of seven islands composed of coral reefs and sand. With surrounding shoals and water, the islands make up the Dry Tortugas National Park, an area known for its bird and marine life and its pirate legends. I took these pictures as we approached the Fort.

Fort Jefferson is its central cultural feature and is the largest 19 th century coastal fort. First named ‘The Turtles', Las Tortugas, by Spaniard Ponce de Leon in 1513, these reefs soon read ‘Dry Tortugas' on marine charts to show that they had no fresh water. This picture shows our guide—quite a character.

We also saw some Magnificent Frigatebirds circling above the fort. They were beautiful to see—soaring over the fort so effortlessly.

As we walked around the fort the views were spectacular. From every stop we could see the aqua water—it was brilliant in its color. The sun was shining, and the sky and the water seemed to come together in a glorious blend of blue and green.

There's a small island which lies just outside the fort. It can only be reached by water and there's a tremendous amount of birdlife which call it home. A very large colony of Sooty Terns breeds here. The views were great!!!!

Fort Jefferson housed many cannons, some of which are still buried on the grounds. The architecture is also interesting in that there are many arches throughout the entire fort. These arches were built by hundreds of prisoners, sent to the fort to serve their prison sentences.

There were several small seaplanes that bring tourists to the island. Additionally, the ferry we took goes out to the fort daily.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Dry Tortugas—it was fascinating.

On our way back to Key West, as we were very close to town, I saw this gorgeous sailboat in the harbor—it was beautiful.

From here, we continued on our way to the Everglades National Park where we saw a gazillion alligators!!!!!! The Park, the largest remaining subtropical wilderness in the nation, is a diverse and intricately linked series of habitats sheltering a variety of plants and animals, many of them threatened or endangered. The Park contains more than 1.5 million acres of natural habitat, half of which is water.

The Everglades was originally a slow-moving freshwater river, 50 miles wide and a few inches deep, fed by Lake Okeechobee. Much of the region is a labyrinth of mangrove waterways and sawgrass marsh dotted with hammocks and salt prairies. Except for the pinelands and the highest hammocks, any spot can become a swamp in the rainy season.

Trees and flowers are much the same as those found in Cuba and the West Indies. At least six varieties of palms grow within the park. The Park is home to more than 350 species of birds, 60% of which leave during the summer. The Everglades is among the few remaining places where the manatee and rare American crocodile are assured a permanent sanctuary.

We spent quite a bit of time in the Park and stopped at the various trails and took part in a ‘walk' led by a Park Ranger. In one section, we walked through a thick tree path which led to an elevated tree bridge. The bridge provided excellent views of the park.

In another section, called the Hammocks, we were told to watch for tree snails—something new to both of us. Formerly, 52 color variations of Lignus tree snails graced the hammocks of South Florida. They came from the West Indies, settled in separate tree islands and after many years of inbreeding, formed the many multi-colored varieties. During the dry season, tree snails sleep half their lives away. They seal themselves tightly to a tree trunk and estivate—a type of hibernation. Breaking the seal kills the snail. We finally saw some and they were beautiful. These pictures do NOT show their true colors.

While we were on one of our walks, I took this picture of Jean.

In every section of this Park we saw alligators—even this one that greeted us at the visitor's center.

The real alligators weren't far behind!!!!!!

There was no lack of birdlife in the Park—especially Great Blue Herons and Anhingas.

We stopped at a place called Flamingo where we took a boat ride through some of the Everglades—it was pretty interesting. One of the highlights was to see a crocodile. There are about one million alligators in Florida but only about 200 crocodiles.

I also took this picture of one of the waterways we traveled while on the boat.

After we finished the boat trip we came out to the parking lot and saw these Skimmers—making their way across the road!!!!!

We left the Park and headed to Fort Lauderdale to see some friends and to spend some time at the Miami Boat Show. We had a wonderful time with our friends and spent three entire days at the Boat Show. We looked at many boats—just looking!!!!!!!

We also met up with Sally, one of our friends from Cape Cod who lives near Fort Lauderdale in the winter. She took us to Coral Gables to visit the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden which was just beautiful. The 83-acre garden was founded in 1936 and features rare tropical plants, palms, flowering trees and vines, exotic orchids and striking vistas. The garden has a tropical rain forest with plants from around the world.

Just as in St. Louis, these gardens were hosting a Chihuly glass exhibit. We saw several of the same types of glass garden ornaments as in St. Louis, but also many new ones. We loved the entire gardens and the exhibit. One of the first displays we saw was the Carnival Boat—this was beautiful.

This glass sculpture was massive and the yellow color was magnificent. It's called the Allee and Overlook. This piece sits 12 feet above the lower grounds and its vista extends beyond several lakes and the Lowlands to the very end of the garden—nearly 40 acres.

These garden sculptures looked so real and were called the Shell Reeds.

We also saw some real blossoms that looked unreal—they were so beautiful and their colors were so vibrant. The Florida climate offers an environment for many exotic flowers to blossom and flourish.

We came across another section of gardens where Chihuly had created glass reeds to enhance the vista.

Throughout the entire gardens, we saw many glass flowers—just look at this one—it was so tall and magnificent.

This next section was a major exhibit that stretched across an entire planting. These red reeds were beautiful. These glass features were called ‘the Lin Lougheed Spiny Forest of Madagascar'.

This next glass piece stood very high and had brilliant colors. It was placed just outside the gift store and could be seen from quite a distance. It was just called, ‘Citron, Green and Red Tower'.

This last piece was hanging from one of the oak trees in the garden and we completely missed it as we were walking around. It wasn't until we were leaving when we realized that we hadn't seen it and went back for a look-see. It was gorgeous and called, ‘Chartreuse Hornet Polyvitro Chandelier'.

We returned to Stuart on Saturday, February 24th on a beautiful sunny day. On Sunday, we went downtown to an Arts Festival which was excellent!!!!!

Jean and I spent another two weeks in Stuart—both relaxing and doing some sightseeing. Stuart is an adorable small town with a beautiful waterfront area and historic downtown. Early the next week, Bonas IV and SeaQuel arrived along with some other Loopers. It was nice to have some friends around. Since this marina is also a resort, the facilities were excellent. Here's a picture of the marina and in the second picture Ocean Flyer is on the left.

We also had time to get to the beach—and it was gorgeous!!!!!

One fun thing we did while here was to go for a tour using Segways!!!! These are the two-wheel people movers that are available in many cities for fun and enjoyment. Our friends MaryAnn and Bill were visiting so they joined us!!!! I thought for sure that I'd fall off and break my neck—but—they only travel at 6mph and it's pretty hard to fall off. You manage the forward motion with your upper body and slow down and stop by moving your body ever so slightly back away from the handlebar. It's pretty easy and we all enjoyed it greatly. Here are some pictures of all of us on the Segways—having a blast!!!!!! The ‘guy' in the picture with us in the sunglasses is Guy, the owner of the Segway tour company.

From Stuart, we're heading to Melbourne and then on to New Smyrna Beach. This last picture is a view of Bonas IV and SeaQuel as the three of us left Stuart headed to Melbourne.

Watch for our next and final update—when we'll officially end our Loop trip!!!!!!