Pecan sold

Our 2004 (hull no. 350) Rosborough RF-246 HSV Sedan hardtop boat is now sold and homeported in Annapolis.

St. Johns River

Anchored in small cove for the evening

Year end cruise along the St. Johns River. Launched on Lake Monroe in Sanford at the downtown municipal boat ramp. Six or so steep concrete ramps in very sheltered basin on the south end of the lake. Free, and overnight parking is fine (we notified the marina and police dept beforehand).

Calm, perfect morning

Water hyacinth (and hydrilla) out of control along the St. Johns River and lakes

Narrow canal off the River

Looking back

Airboat rushing past us

One of the many gators we saw

Turltes warming up in the morning sun

Hontoon Island State Park

Caution! Alligators

$20 overnight stay at Hontoon I. State Park; includes 30amp power

Fog slowly burning off this cold morning. Wallas diesel stove/heater on!

Fog lifting on the River

Nice (lifesize?) metal Tarpon sculpture

Docked at BoatTree marina awaiting railroad bridge opening

17/92 railroad bridge open (I-4 bridge immediately to the east)

14.4 knots at 3,900 rpm in Lake Monroe

Maine

Our tracks through Penobscot Bay showing the various towns and islands visited.

Notes on Maine - Fog

Foggy morning in Buckle Harbor, Swans Island.

What a better way to finish discussing Maine than to end with the fog. We may have been lucky or it may have been the time of year (the month of August 2010) we visited but we actually experienced fog on only four separate days in our travels through the mid-coast of Maine. Our very first day in the water, on leaving Tenants Harbor, we went right into pea-soup fog. But conditions were fine: seas were flat-calm, our radar was operating properly, cruising boats we encountered were using their horns (as were we). All went well up for the run up to Rockland but for the alarm as we had with a crossing situation with a lobsterboat doing 15+ knots only 50 yards away.

Notes on Maine - Lobster buoys

Buoys lining a path on Warren Island (just west of Isleboro Island) in Penobscot Bay. Park rangers and visitors collected these from the island shoreline over who knows what period of time.

Lobster buoys everywhere! We didn't find them to be much of a nuisance...probably because we were expecting to see waters thick with them and also because we hand-steer Pecan. And hey, you can't have lobsters without the buoys (and traps) to catch them, right? So, with non-autopilot control of our Rossie we easily picked our way among the buoys--never snagged one during our travels. That being said, we did have quite a few close calls when underway in the fog. I can't imagine cruising around after dark--that's a 100% guaranteed way to run into these!

What took us by surprise was what we saw along the exposed, and not-so-exposed, shorelines. Buoys wedged under tree roots at the high-tide line; buoys in rock and boulder crevices; buoys lying on pebble beaches. It didn't take long--once we decided--to collect a fair number of these. In addition to having the frayed, cut end of a piece of polypropylene float line attached, many buoys had the spindles, buoy sticks and breakaway plastic swivels attached. (The swivels have a 600 or 1000 lb. test strength are meant to break if a marine mammal get entwined in the float line.)

Notes on Maine - Lobster

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Notes on Maine - Rossies we saw

Notes on Maine - Launch Ramps

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Notes on Maine - MDI

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Notes on Maine - Harbors

Aerial photos

I just received an email with an attachments of 10 sample photos from that helicopter outfit that buzzed us. Here's five of them cropped a bit.

We're steaming along at 12.5 knots northbound in the ICW near Grant; winds are 20 knots out of the NW.

Back in Satellite Beach

Dotted line path showing clockwise journey around Florida, and the locations where we stopped each evening.

Manatee Pocket

Under Yamaha 8 hp power from Indiantown to the St. Lucie Locks; give the little engine a bit of exercise and in fresh water too.

Today we arrived in Manatee Pocket in Port Salerno and thus completing our loop of southern half of Florida. We anchored in the ol' spot off Pirates Cove Marina at 1:20pm. 73F, sunny and wind brezzy out of the west at 27 mph.

Indiantown

Heavy and continuous rain today so we'll be staying put in Indiantown marina. Between rain showers we walked around the boat yard for the following photo 'essay'.

Indiantown

Rim route with wind on the nose.

Entered St. Lucie canal waterway after route 2 or the rim route passage of Lake Okeechobee. Saw lowest depth near Port Mayaca of 4.1 ft. Army Corps of Engineers publishes a detailed sounding survey on their website (conducted in 2009) of the complete Clewiston-Port Mayaca rim and lake route. They don't recommend any vessel with over 4.65' draft to attempt the rim route with the current lake level of 13.25 feet.

Clewiston

In Clewiston at Roland and Mary Martin Marina. Spotted a good number of gators along the rim route around Lake Okeechobee. Best weather yet on this trip. 80s, sunny and dry.

La Belle

Left this morning from an old college friend's home in Fort Myers.

Anchored along the Okeechobee waterway near La Belle in 21 ft of water. Dinghied to town dock: free water and power but have to med-moor if you want it. Finally a warm 78F day. Cross paths with Jan & Steve on Jessie M earlier in the day on the waterway as they headed West on their counter-clockwise circumnavigation of southern Florida.

Cayo Costa

Motored over to  Cayo Costa State Park docks this morning.

Anchored in behind Cayo Costa. Tucked in south of a sandy point with winds NW at 15 kts but sunny and upper 60s. Great pot luck dinner on Robert Sidney this evening.

North Captiva Island

We saw 2 feet at the 'choke point' when entering--eye-ball navigation required because the GPS chartplotter(s) had me directly over the 3 foot marked location. On departure the next day Robert Sidney and Pecan sounded the way out for Polynya, we never saw under 3 feet (good thing for Polynya with their 3'10" draft!)

Anchored in Fosters Bay off North Captivated Island next to fellow Rosborough owners Dave and Barbara on Robert Sidney. Met their fellow Canadian friends John and Lees on Polynya, a NorSea 27. NW around 10 to 15 knots, low 60s, sunny.Tamara is in heaven with the quantity, diversity and size of the shells on the gulf-side beach.

Fort Myers Beach

They were having a nice sail as we entered San Carlos Bay.

Entered San Carlos Bay (Fort Myers area) todat at 10am after leaving Naples mooring field at 6:45am with 44F and clear conditions. . A little bumpy run up from Naples. Grabbed moorings ball at Mantanzas Harbor off Estero Island at 11:50am after a fuel fill at Salty Sams Marina