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

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

Brezzy Naples

We moved to the a City mooring ball after a day in the slip.

Enjoying our time in Naples. A strong cold front has pushed thru and we've had several days of strong NW winds, now moderating to 18 knots. High is59F but sunny.

Naples

Tied up at city of Naples Marina. Dockmaster offered dockage at the $10/night moorings ball rate. Nice. One policy that they enforce--which may be unusual--is that you have to stop by the fuel dock before heading to your appointed slip or mooring ball so that you can have your holding tank pumped out. Sunny, winds NW 10 to 15 knots, temperature in the 60s.

Marco Island

Motored 6 nautical miles to Marco Island;  right as yet another cold front moves over us. Scored hot showers at nearby marina. 406 nautical miles under the keel since leaving Satellite Beach on Feb 11th.

Goodland

Leaving Flamingo it's best to stay in the marked channel; mud flats exposed on the southeast side of Red 16.

Flamingo

Our track from Islamorada to Flamingo thru Florida Bay.

 With another cold front to swing thru in a couple days, and the forecast for winds out of the west under 10 knots we thought we had a good window to head up Florida to Flamingo. As it turned out we had calm to glassy conditions the whole day. Temps lower 70s.  Ran 46 n.m. today, and to get the Yamaha 8 hp a little exercise we motored about a hour under that engine at about 4.4 knots. Fuel usage was 20.45 gallons.
Arrived in Flamingo at 2pm having left the fuel dock at PYH Marina at 8:20am.

Islamorada

Hanging out at Plantation Key Marina due windy,rainy weather. Good news is that its been in the mid 70s.

Plantation Key

PYHarbor marina is located in the larger Founder's Park in Islamorada

 Picked up the anchor at 9am and headed 'down' the keys. While underway we wondered where the Jan & Steve on Jessie M were? We had loosely kept in touch after meeting them in Little Current last summer, and knew they were here in south Florida for the winter. Turns out they responded to a cell phone call and told us they were down in Islamorada. How convenient, just about a dozen miles away!

Key Largo

Anchored in Key Largo Tarpon Basin at 1:58pm after 26 nm. Nice dinghy dock at a recently constructed Monroe county administrative office/park/cultural center site just south of Hampton Inn.


Just about to drop the anchor in about 5 feet of water.