...Did a little snowbirding in Key West again this winter. Left N. Alabama Jan 3rd heading to Fort Walton where the boat is moored. 2 nights on the boat, then lit out for Key West Jan. 5th....all total stayed 49 nights on the boat arriving back in Ft. Walton last Saturday....3 nights in the cottage on the ICW where the boat is parked, then back home to N. Ala yesterday...sitting here now watching the radar, waiting on snow, and wondering why the hell I left Key West.
The ride down to Key West last month was a breeze...good weather all the way...Ft. Walton to Carrabelle via the ICW....to Clearwater across the Gulf was like riding on the lake that I'm looking out my window at right now...to Venice and then Capitvia Island via ICW....then back out in the Gulf to Key West....4 nights and 5 days total to our destination.
Parked at A & B Marina in Key West, as we did last year, for 34 nights...Lots of the same boat people were back this year....also met many newbies....all in all, 1 big party for a month....happy hour starts at 4 PM daily except Sundays when we held "Safety Meeting" on one boat starting at 11AM. Titos and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice were served in abundance at these meetings. My nap time on Sundays rarely went past 2PM.
It wasn't all drinking and partying as I rode my bike around the island daily each morning. Same route every day, 12 miles around the island. Of course I also used my bike to run errands in "Old Town".
If this pic posts, that's the light green bike is sitting on the back of my boat...yes, I know it's a girls
The trip home took 7 nights, as we were delayed by weather and choose to take the long way back to the panhandle. After deciding to cruise back up the east coast of Florida instead of the west and cutting through the Okeechobee waterway to Ft. Myers, we were fortunate enough to have met a couple of guys that helped plan our trip. The first leg was to Key Largo where one of the guys was able to get us in to the Ocean Reef Club...an exclusive members only resort marina...got to see how the people who have lots and lots of money spend their time. From there to Ft. Lauderdale where the other guy allowed us to stay in his slip at Lauderdale Yacht Club, another member's only private club. Both stops very enjoyable.
Next came the bad weather as we headed further north on the Atlantic from Ft. Lauderdale to Stuart FL. where we would then travel west through the Okeechobee. Didn't make it to Stuart via the Atlantic as 1-2 ft. waves changed to 2-4 and finally 4-6 ft. We ended up bailing out a Jupiter and travelling the ICW to the ditch and on to Lake Okeechobee. Hobbes, I missed your bridge this time as we were outside.
After staying a night at Roland Martin's Marina on Lake Okeechobee, we headed to Ft. Myers....got back outside on the gulf and headed north to Venice. From there to Clearwater through Tampa Bay where the weather changed on us. Arrived in Clearwater on Tuesday afternoon and had to wait until Friday morning to cross the gulf again back to Carrabelle....Not pretty....2-4 ft. waves most of the way. Glad to get back in the ICW at Apalachicola.
All in all we travelled over 1000 miles.
Hope this isn't too long.....
