There are many kinds of windows but weather windows may be the most elusive.  While waiting for the winds to die down, we returned to Sunrise Bay anchorage in Fort Lauderdale on December 23.

Sunrise Bay anchorage is very close to Hugh Taylor Birch State Park and we were able to take the dinghy to the park dock.  This allowed us to get off the boat on a daily basis and explore the walking/biking trails, the beach and Fort Lauderdale.

I have to admit that I really missed having a white Christmas and we really, really missed all of our family and our friends.

We continued to wait for good weather and were still at Sunrise Bay anchorage on December 30 – Jacques’ birthday – he was really hoping to be in the Bahamas but, as a birthday present, there was a glimmer of hope that we could be going soon.

On New Year’s Eve we moved the boat to Hollywood Beach Marina where we met up again with Irene and Rex and rang in the new year with them (okay – we rang in the early part of the night and were in bed by midnight).

Finally, the news we had been waiting for – after checking with multiple weather forecasts, January 1 was the day.  In order to make the best of the weather window, we were advised to leave late morning.  So, at 10:00 we set off from the marina – it takes about an hour to get to the Atlantic Ocean on the Intracoastal Waterway from Hollywood Beach.

The first two hours were very calm. Then we encountered the Gulf Stream which has a strong north current. The ride got a little bumpy and stayed that way for about two hours.  Then, as the weather forecasters had predicted, the winds started turning and dying down – the rest of the trip was quite smooth.

We did not travel with any other boats but about mid-way through our cruise we heard another boater on the radio who initiated a conversation. We learned they were on a sail boat from Nova Scotia!  We could not see them for quite awhile as they were far in front of us but we arrived in Bimini at about the same time as we were travelling faster than they were.

Due to our late departure we arrived at Alice Town in Bimini after dark (about 6:00 p.m.).  The dockmaster was extremely efficient at guiding us in and getting our lines secured – I think he was one of the best dockmasters we have seen so far on our trip. The Customs office was closed, but they knew we were arriving after hours and showed up at our boat about an hour after our arrival.  We cleared customs and immigration with two very pleasant gentlemen in the comfort of the salon on our own boat!  Very civilized.

Happy New Year!

We left Stuart, Florida on Saturday, December 14 and cruised down the east coast of South Florida on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).  One thing we have noticed on the ICW is the number of bridges.  They are every few miles and sometimes there are two or three together.  We lowered our antennas so we could pass under as many as we could without requesting a bridge opening.  However, there were a few that we could not fit under. Some of the bridges open on request, but many more open only at specified times (on the hour or half hour for instance). Getting the timing wrong can mean a long wait (and there is nowhere to wait, so usually we just turned around and cruised back the way we had come and then turn around again to arrive at the bridge at the correct time).  One bridge opened before the designated time and we had to rush to make the opening. 

There are also a lot of boats, especially on the weekends. And boats of all sizes.

We made our way to Miami, anchoring at two spots along the way. 

There has been some heavy rain in the last few days. Here we are on the waterway and notice the car driving on the street.

In Miami we anchored at a large anchorage not too far from an opening to the Atlantic Ocean.  Our intent was to cruise to Bimini on Wednesday, December 18 – the only favourable weather window thus far.  However, we ran into a squall just as we entered the Atlantic Ocean and the waves were too big for us.  We aborted that trip and cruised to a marina on Biscayne Bay to wait for the next weather window which was expected to be several days (or weeks) away. 

We rented a car.

Good thing we did not have to do a lot of provisioning as it would have taxed Jacques’ excellent packing skills (and they are legendary – right kids?).

We travelled to Marathon in the Florida Keys for an overnight visit and stayed with our friends Doug and Lynne on their boat.  They know about Florida winter weather so have the right idea and are staying put until the end of March. We also went to the Dolphin Research Center and learned a lot more about dolphins.

On our return to the marina (we stayed there for five days), we noticed we had a leak in the head (bathroom), which necessitated an all-day plumbing repair.  To keep this blog on a family level, I will not repeat any of the words uttered as the repair was being made!

After that we needed a break from the boat so went to a movie – the first one we have seen since before we left home (Ford versus Ferrari – we recommend it).

We met a lovely Miami family as they took a stroll along the dock by our boat (they didn’t think we were Canadians as they didn’t hear us utter the word ‘eh’ – we assured them it is a normal part of our conversation!). On their advice, we visited Wynwood Walls in downtown Miami.  It is a unique outdoor destination featuring huge, colorful street murals by artists from around the globe.

Alas, it was time to return the rental car and get underway by boat again.  There are still no weather windows that will allow us to cross to the Bahamas.  We have decided to cruise to Fort Lauderdale to meet up with some other Canadian Loopers to spend Christmas together.  They are also waiting for that elusive weather window.  We plan to anchor at Sunrise Bay anchorage until we can travel again.  Luckily, there is a State Park very close by and we can take the dinghy to land.

We want to take this opportunity to wish all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas! 

And yes, we are dreaming of a white Christmas (and so are Floridians, it seems).

We reluctantly left the anchorage at Cayo Costa State Park – it is so beautiful there!  We left very early on a Saturday morning to avoid the expected weekend traffic and for several hours it was very tranquil on the water.  Got a little busier as we got closer to Fort Meyers though – lots of people making their way out onto the open water. On our way, there were dolphins frolicking near the front of our boat; I went to the bow to have a look – just as I got there one jumped out really high out of the water spraying water all over the deck.  No photographic evidence – I was quite startled (and didn’t have my camera).

Fort Meyers was a great place as I was able to get my first haircut since August!  There is a floating hair salon located at the marina and lucky for me they had one available appointment left – I was in!

Thomas Edison came to Fort Myers in 1885. As you know, he was a well-known inventor and, like so many others, in search of a warm escape from the cold northern winters. In 1914, Henry and Clara Ford, along with their son Edsel, visited Fort Myers at the invitation of Thomas Edison. They enjoyed the visit so much that two years later, Ford purchased the home adjacent to the Edison Winter Estate. Both homes are open to the public. It was fascinating to learn that Thomas Edison had over 1,000 US patents (a feat not yet matched by anyone).  Although everyone thinks Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he actually perfected an idea already conceived by others.  He was convinced he could develop the first practical incandescent lighting system, and with a team of inventors and staff he did. And of course, Ford was a car inventor.

On the Caloosahatchee River we saw our first alligator!

We picked the best day to cruise Lake Okeechobee, the largest freshwater lake in the state of Florida. It is a very shallow lake (sometimes only seven to eight feet in places) and when the wind blows apparently it can get very nasty.  We had calm waters and a sunny day.

And for the entire cruise across the lake (about two hours) we had dozens of seagulls following our boat.  We think they were looking for food stirred up by our wake, but we are not sure.

There are five locks on the Okeechobee Waterway which takes you from the west part of Florida to the east.  After the commercial locks on the rivers, we were not looking forward to doing more but these proved to be very easy and we didn’t have to wait at all!  In fact, due to the water levels, the Port Mayaca Lock had both doors open and we just cruised right through. 

You never know what you are going to see when cruising – look very closely at the picture below!

We arrived in Stuart on Tuesday, December 10 and were greeted on arrival by this friendly fellow just hanging out on the dock.

We made a purposeful stop at Apex Marine in order to have our props taken off and refurbished.  We had hit a log on the Mississippi River a few months ago that wasn’t causing any issues, but last week we made a miscalculation and hit a shoal.  So, time to have a look.  For the first time ever, we had a diver work on our boat.  We went the diver route as it would have been over a two week wait to get the boat hauled out. 

Stuart is the home of fellow loopers, Denny and Arden of Dream Seeker, who we crossed the Gulf of Mexico with.  We had a fabulous evening with them at the Dolphin Bar and Shrimp House.  This restaurant has a lot of ambiance and also has a connection with Frances Langford, a singer who was in the movies and entertained the troops during World War II (alongside Bob Hope). She appeared in 28 films including the Glen Miller Story where she played herself.

Denny and Arden also took us touring.

Tampa was a great stop since I got to meet Karmin!  Karmin and I worked together for several years but never met in person, so here was our opportunity. We had been planning this meeting for months as Karmin kindly agreed to be our shipping address so we had our mail forwarded and ordered other necessary things for the boat (including a shipment of maple syrup!).

We went for dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant where the fencing was made out of motorcycle mufflers.

After two days in Tampa we cruised an hour and a half to Apollo Beach where we visited Carol and Elwyn, Loopers we had met during our time on the Trent Severn and in Georgian Bay. They live right on the water and we were able to dock our boat right behind their house (where as you can see, our boat is somewhat dwarfed).

Elwyn and Carol graciously welcomed us to their home and showed us some of the sites of Apollo Beach.

We visited the lovely city of Sarasota where, again our boat was dwarfed. We are starting to see much bigger boats.

We only spent one night in Sarasota, but really enjoyed this stop.  The city is beautiful – their waterfront park is absolutely spectacular.

This 27-foot statue called ‘Unconditional Surrender’ is based on an iconic photograph that was taken at the end of World War Two.  As the story goes, in a moment of pure joy, a US Navy sailor kissed a random nurse in New York City’s Times Square.

We continue to see dolphins!  Some interesting facts we have learned:  dolphins require large amounts of food to survive and can eat up to 30 pounds of fish a day.  Their skin is at least ten times thicker than that of a human, and to keep it sleek for easy movement through the water, dolphins regenerate a new outer layer every few hours.

There is varied scenery on the intracoastal waterway and there are a lot of bridges.  Many of them are high enough that we just pass right under, but there are other ones where you need to call the bridge operator and request an opening.

While we have seen some big homes on the waterway, there have also been some more modest homes.  In fact, some subdivisions are designed so that everyone has waterfront access.

We are currently anchored at Cayo Costa State Park on the west coast of Florida.   It is Florida’s largest undisturbed barrier island.

Next we will start making our way to Florida’s east coast.

We crossed from Alabama into Florida on November 19 on The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, a navigable inland waterway running approximately 1,690 km from Carrabelle to Brownsville, Texas.  We entered the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway at Oyster Bay (on Mobile Bay) and travelled approximately 350 km to Carrabelle.

We have been enjoying the dolphins – they seem to be everywhere!

We anchored out along most of the route but stopped in both Apalachicola (where we enjoyed some oysters) and Carrabelle (home of the World’s Smallest Police Station).

Carrabelle is the spot most boaters wait for a weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico to Tarpon Springs.  We had been watching the weather reports for over a week and several sources gave Monday, November 25 as a good day to cross. We had a final meeting on Monday morning with several other boaters and determined that the weather window was indeed favourable.  We left with two other boats at 3:00 p.m. for an overnight crossing.  It is 269 kilometres (a 20-hour trip at our optimum speed of about 8 to 9 knots).

The first 12 hours of the cruise were glorious – calm seas, beautiful sunset, billions of stars, great travel companions (fellow Loopers on Dream Seeker, and non-Loopers on Bight Me). 

At approximately 2:30 a.m. the winds started to pick up (exactly as forecast) and by 4:30 we had waves of about three to four feet.  An uncomfortable ride for about four hours but very manageable (we had seen worse on Lake Michigan). I had prepped the boat for bumpy conditions and everything that could be secured was.

We timed our trip so that we would have enough daylight to see the crab pots and avoid them (hence the overnight cruise – you do not want to arrive at Tarpon Springs in the dark – or you will be without props)!  We arrived at the marina in Tarpon Springs at 11:00 a.m. – tired but exhilarated!   

We are in no hurry to leave Tarpon Springs. We have a good spot at the Municipal Marina which is right in the downtown core. Tarpon Springs is the ‘sponge capital of the world’.

Greek immigrants were lured here by the sponge fishery in the early 1900s and the city is very influenced by Greek culture – we have sampled some Greek restaurants and heard a lot of Greek spoken on the streets.

We celebrated American Thanksgiving with our friends Doug and Lynne.

Christmas is in the air, but it is sure strange to see Christmas lights and hear Christmas music and it is warm!

We actually set our alarm and had a few early mornings in order to plan our passage through the last few locks in a timely manner.  On leaving Demopolis, and even though we got up early and communicated with the lock master, a tow got ahead of us and instead of nine boats at 6:00 a.m. in the lock, we were 14 boats at 8:00.

The scenery has been changing the further we venture south.

We stopped at Bobby’s Fish Camp – a very isolated spot. They did have a restaurant and we enjoyed a feed of catfish on arrival.

November 16 was an exciting day as we exited the river system that we have been on since September 11 (when we started on the Calumet River near Chicago), and cruised out onto the open water of Mobile Bay. It took us about 45 minutes to traverse through Mobile Harbour before we saw Mobile Bay. 

It was so strange to see open water after being on the rivers for more than two months.  One thing that shocked us though was how shallow the water is in the bay.  Once we got out of the shipping channel and were crossing to Fairhope, the depths got very shallow very fast.  At one point we saw 2½ feet – not the lucky number we really like to see. Eventually, it got deeper (about 5 to 6 feet) and stayed that way across the bay.  The entrance to the marina was shallow as well – we were stirring up mud as we docked the boat.  We came in at low tide so that had something to do with it; there was a recent full moon which also had an effect.

Pelicans dive bombing into Mobile Bay for their snacks kept us entertained on the approximate two hour journey to Fairhope.

We started cruising on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway on November 18 and stopped for lunch at Lulu’s – a restaurant owned by Jimmy Buffet’s sister.

We have been travelling with our friends on DougOut since Demopolis. 

While we haven’t yet been into our shorts and t-shirts the days are starting to get warmer (although the nights are still very cool – plus 12 on our boat this morning).  However, we are certainly enjoying the sunshine. Next up:  Florida!

Lately marinas are few and far between so we have been doing a fair bit of anchoring. It has been quite cool at times, even dipping below zero on several occasions. The generator has certainly come in handy – providing us with much needed electricity for heat when we have been at anchor.

From our anchorage near Bevill Lock we took our dinghy to the visitor centre and visited ‘The Montgomery’, a snagboat that was in service from the mid 1920s to the early 1980s. Snagboats were working boats that cleared snags and obstructions from the rivers and waterways.

There was a very unusual tree at the visitor centre which we learned is a crepe myrtle. The roots and the bark are very different and beautiful.

One morning, after a night at anchor, fellow loopers in the small ranger tug managed to hook a log on to their anchor chain. They are in week one of their loop and this was only the second time they have anchored. With cooperation from another boat (Canadians!), they were finally able to dislodge the log and our five boat convoy was able to get to the lock on time.

The scenery continues to be stunning.

We are at Kingfisher Bay Marina in Demopolis, Alabama (one of the few marinas on the way to Mobile). The weather forecasts have not been pleasant. There was a recent freeze warning along with strong winds from the Arctic. Wearing shorts and t-shirts has not been an option for several days. While at the marina, Jacques took the opportunity to do some maintenance.

Remember those tall ships we saw in Chattanooga? We saw them again in Demopolis.

Our friends from DougOut arrived with their parrot, Mitch. They have completed their loop, but are now heading to Florida for the winter and, because they loved their time in Canada so much, plan to summer in Canada again.

We continue to search for warmer weather and so will keep going south. I know it is warmer than at home but we thought it would be warmer than this in Alabama!

We are on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (otherwise known as the Tenn-Tom). It is a 234-mile man-made waterway that extends from the Tennessee River to the junction of the Black Warrior-Tombigbee River system near Demopolis, Alabama.

We continue to pass through locks – there are 12 in total on the Tenn-Tom. So far, we have had quite good luck in getting through the locks in a timely manner. The lock-masters are very accommodating. Things, however, don’t always go smoothly when you are in the lock.

Not all marinas are created equal – it looked like this is where boats go to die.

We had an unexpected visitor while we were at Columbus Marina.

On two separate occasions we have been awakened in the middle of the night by thumping sounds on the boat. Both times we did some investigation and could not figure out what was making the sound. We finally learned that the thumping is likely carp banging on the bottom of the boat so they can knock off the algae and have a feast. Who knew?

We are finally heading south after a month on the Tennessee River (and not a moment too soon as we have had three nights of below zero temperatures and (*gasp*) one morning there was thick frost on the boat – enough to make snowballs!).

Florence, Alabama turned out to be one of our favourite stops.  We met some fellow Loopers (Jim and Marilyn on Spinning Dreams, and Dick and Sandi on Amazing Grace) and spent a great day together checking out some interesting spots.

We toured the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio where artists such as Cher, The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, and Bob Seger recorded. Believe it or not, Keith Richards spent two hours in the bathroom at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and wrote Wild Horses.  (If you check out the Muscle Shoals Documentary, Keith Richards actually talks about this.)

We visited the FAME Recording Studio, also in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, that was started in the late fifties by Rick Hall. Some of the greatest artists in rock music history recorded here such as Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Otis Redding, the Osmonds, Jerry Reed, Alabama, Mac Davis, the Gatlin Brothers, Bobbie Gentry and many others. It was amazing to see the studios and hear the stories.

Many well known artists have come out of Alabama (Hank Williams, Lionel Richie, Jim Nabors, Nat King Cole, Tammy Wynette, and more) and were featured at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

In Tuscumbia, Alabama, the Helen Keller Museum tells the story of how she lost her sight and her hearing at the age of 19 months. It was her introduction to Anne Sullivan at the age of seven, in 1887, that changed her life and gave her a voice. The breakthrough came when Anne and Helen were at the water pump and pouring water over Helen’s hands while Anne was tapping out an alphabet code into her other hand.  Once Helen grasped that first concept there was no stopping her.

She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1904 and dedicated her life to improving the conditions of the blind and deaf-blind around the world.

After three days in Florence we cruised to Iuka, Mississippi and for the first time we were in a lock with a tow. The tow enters the lock first and then the pleasure craft afterwards.

At the Shiloh National Military Park, we continued our learning about the Civil War.

We have travelled over 4,000 kilometres so far.  Only about 6,000 left to do!

We are in Alabama but still on the Tennessee River.  We are very slowly making our way west to the Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway at which point we will start to head south.  As hurricane season is not officially over, we are not yet in a hurry to venture south.

In Scotsboro, we visited the Unclaimed Baggage Center, which, according to the website, is one of Alabama’s top tourist attractions hosting over a million visitors a year from every state and over 40 foreign countries. We did find some good bargains on books!

We stayed at Ditto Landing Marina near Huntsville for four days and enjoyed our stay immensely. Not only do we meet other boaters – we also have the opportunity to meet the locals – we spent a fantastic dinner out with Amanda and Jack of Huntsville and an afternoon of brewery hopping with Linden and Yvette (who we met totally by chance).  

We toured the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

Due to scheduled maintenance on the Decatur railroad bridge, we got an early morning start as the bridge is closed daily from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Before the bridge could open, we had to wait for a very long train to pass – then the bridge operator opened the bridge for our small flotilla of five boats at about 6:40 a.m.

Next stop: Florence, Alabama.