Two Days' On the Road'.

I should really sit down each night and write the day's travels up, coz things go by so fast, I forget what happened yesterday!
Fortunately the photos remind me:)

I always like to take a photo looking back at what we are leaving. This is leaving our anchorage yesterday morning outside Cabbage Key at around 10am. We were in no hurry as we only had about 35 miles to travel. It was a slow start due to the fog which descended at around 8am, and didn't clear for at least another hour.

 The scenery is nothing much...just lots of Mangrove islands. FLAT!

Not a great photo, but one of so many Osprey nests in both red and green poles. Lots of young screeching at their poor parents.

This is the Lady Chadwick that brings and takes the tourists from Cabbage Key to other islands along the ICW.

 The water was a stunning color as you can see, and lots of Dolphin, but none of them interested in playing.

 All those green triangles are boats on our AIS system...this system identifies the other boats, so that we can call them if necessary, without having to eyeball their boat names, it is already recorded and they are on the same system. Not all boats have this, unfortunately. It has been invaluable so far, and we would recommend it to everyone!. I took this picture of the chart plotters screen to show the boats coming up behind us.

They had all been in the marina at Cabbage Key overnight, and we had watched them all dock. Because there were major speed boat races on further up the Charlotte Harbor, off Englewood (Sunday), there were all kinds of Boy Racer type speedboats coming along the ICW afterwards, thinking they were racing, themselves! Sheesh....most of them don't know the maritime laws about slowing when passing an anchored boat. We forgave them but we rocked and rolled a fair bit.

Back to the four large boats...

One of their kind was already backing into the marina...which only has room for 4 x 60fters. We aren't sure, but these all were the same breed of boat, so they may have been from a dealer, showing them off at the boat racing...pretty impressive tho!:) This photo shows the four boats waiting for their turn to go down the small channel to the Marina. They peeled off, one by one and went in for the night. They left about the same time we did yesterday morning and followed in our wake for a goodly time.

As the sun was going down on sunday night, we were joined by three more boats, for the night.

We were the last boat to leave on Monday morning.

Lots of fishermen out, on Monday morning, on a glorious day, once the fog lifted.

The chart plotter shows us on the ICW going through Pine Island Sound, which seemed to go on forever.

The four last boats are the flotilla from Cabbage Key, but the foreground boat was coming at us really fast. I had to wave at him to slow down as he went to pass us, and he did drop his speed, but I am constantly surprised at the arrogance of some large boat owners, who think they own the seas...and think they don't have to be courteous to others. His wake was bad enough as it was. I felt sorry for so many of the small boats this guy almost ran/tipped over in his rush to get somewhere!

Lovely waterfront homes along the barrier Islands as we came into Cape Coral.

This island had a few boats parked, and someone obviously stayed the night in their tent:)

A super hot day saw lots of people out on the beaches and most of the small boats coming at us were headed to the beaches, by the look of it. These were only a few of them! I lost count of all the boats heading in the opposite direction. We were headed East along the Caloosahatchee River, by now.

 

The bridge was on our right as we turned off  to go East along the River. This one goes to Sanibel Island from Fort Meyers.

 This is another great illustration of why I am a paranoid First Mate:)  See the numbers on the side of the channel our boat is in?? 0  I believe the water was only between 5.5 and 7ft IN the channel!.

 Same chart, but this one shows that it is just after noon.

 

We didn't have far to go to park up for the rest of the day and our anchorage for the night, behind Lofton Island, between two bridges, just off Fort Meyers city.

This little Island complete with Tiki Hut, is for sale. We have always fancied owning our own Island, and thought this might be fun:)

 

Another bridge...we had four to go under before getting to our night anchor...

 It is now 1.14pm and we were getting hungry. I didn't want to go below and start the genset when we didn't have far to go, so we waited, and ate an apple or two.
The Loopers we had met in Pelican Bay had told Waz where to find this anchorage...behind Lofton Island, and how to get into it. Of course, this involved a skinny channel. I am allergic to skinny channels, but this one worked out well, though there was little room between the red and green poles, but we had at least 8 ft of water to anchor outside the mooring field.

Our anchorage mates for the night. You can see the two bridges, and the city is behind that little Island Lofton Island), which just happens to be for sale too:)

You see all types of boats, and this one rather tickled our fancy.

 

 There was an accident on the closest bridge just after we arrived, and within 15 mins, there was a TV truck on the bridge, along with the 6 other emergency vehicles at the scene. These bridges were on our left...

...and this bridge was on the left. We wondered if the wind tunnel between the buildings was a problem?



Tuesday Morning....

Here we are leaving Lofton Island and about to go back into that little channel. We were at the bottom of the tide, which  gave us pause, but we had no alternative, other than wait for noon to go out near the top of the tide. We made it and did a tight left turn into the ICW channel, and under the first bridge.

Officially...and Theoretically, the Gulf Intra-Coastal Waterway (GICW) finished at the entrance to Fort Meyers, so we are now on the Caloosahatchee/Okeechobee Waterway which takes us  to the East Coast/Atlantic Intra-Coastal Waterway.

Positioned to go under the bridge and on with the day's motoring up the Caloosahatchee River.

It was cool enough to leave all the windows down and zipped, this morning when we left right on 9am.

Leaving the big city behind...Fort Meyers....

 This pelican looked like it was literally hanging out to dry!


Coming up to our first bridge which was a Bascule, or lift bridge.

 We had to slow down and back off as this little tug boat went through before us. We passed them and the driver showed us his muscles..literally, :) as we passed.

Good natured people make for a good start to any day:)

 Interestingly, they are making two new bridges between the original two already there.

 The Power Station just out of Fort Meyers on the Caloosahatchee River.  It may be an oil fired station...we think.

 There were 8 units in all...those huge grid things are the air intakes.

Not far out of Ft Meyers, there were some lovely country estates, and this one took our fancy...yours too???:)

 

We were surprised by some of the prices for the real restate on offer, along the river. One large lot with river frontage was $109k. Would have suited us nicely, thanks:)

Today was a day of bridges and  Locks. This was the first one, where we were passed the ropes from above, and tied them off.

Close enough to the wall, you think?  looking forward...

Looking aft

Our lock mates were a little ahead of us to begin with, but we motored with them for the rest of the day. Very considerate boaters, and we enjoyed the radio interaction with them. They always considered us when calling ahead for locks and bridges to open.

 This little sail boat took a while to get there, and we waited for them to lock through with us. We were a bit surprised that they didn't look like they knew what to do! The woman foolishly held onto the rope with her hands, and obviously hurt herself. Should always put the rope through a cleat to avoid such problems.

Leaving the first lock behind. We were going from salt to fresh water.
We are now on the Caloosahatchee Canal...

And surprise!!! Cattle!! little farms and other livestock. We always enjoy seeing them

...and for the next  65 miles the chart looked a bit like this....

Fun things to look at initially....like this tiny plane...

 These fire engines outside a 55+ retirement village...we knew it was a Seniors village by all the Pontoon boats parked in their marina.

 

 Our second Rail bridge, which was a swing bridge. We had to call ahead and get this one opened for us, and we went through on the heels of the boat ahead, which we spent the rest of the day following, as I said.

 The notes for this bridge said that the staff were slow to respond as they have to walk to the middle of the bridge to operate it....it was true! and we had to mark time while waiting.

 We marked time again...about an hour, actually, while this tow locked through ahead of us. Our buddy boat and we played cat and mouse in the space available to  wait. No point tying up or dropping anchor, though we were given the option of tying up to the Dauphin.

 Coming into the lock. This one took us up 8ft. The order of business was to hold their ropes around a cleat and not to tie off. This was because we were going UP and we needed to keep hold of the end of the rope and keep pulling it through the cleat until they opened the far end and let us out.

The scenery went from lush, tree lined banks to more sparsely vegetated fields. Looking left, we would see Sod farms, banks lined with cane grass, lots of palms in the distance and fields with grazing cattle and horses.

 I have to add here that I was a VERY happy boater most of the day...at least 15 feet of water under us, and at times 22 feet..woohoo!:)

Looking to the right side, the landscape was very different. Interesting!

 The fly bridge control panel with our little fan going full blast. It was a VERY hot day, at around 89F. We drank lots of water today.

 A little blip in the canal...always fun to see what another shallow lake looks like. You know you are in fresher water when the place is full of water hyacinths!

We came into Moore Haven, just before the last lock before going into Lake Okeechobee, together with our buddy boat. We were stopping for the night and went into the holding pond  beside the lock to anchor for the night. The wind was pretty fierce when we put the anchor down, and we then made the decision to go back to the Marina wall, along the river, to tie up for the night.
Our buddy boat here is marking time, waiting for the lock to open, facing back to the channel, the way we have come. The marina wall is just back beyond the bridge.

 Behind us after we anchored, before deciding to move to the marina wall. You can see the wind pattern on the water.


As we came into the marina wall, all the men from the other two boats already tied up, came out to help us. We had a nasty wind to deal with, but we are tied firmly to the marina dock at the bottom of town.

 Once tied up, I was delighted to see this little tug go by us. Colorful, in the late afternoon sun. It was about 5.30pm, now.

The two boats ahead of us. The one in front was parked with us last night in Lofton Island. They are like us, without a piece of dirt to call their own, and are thinking about getting rid of their vehicle (car), because they don't use it ...at all!

 It is a quaint town we are tied up at. There is a lot of truck traffic over the bridge and along the main drag. We went for a walk after dinner, and found a new supermarket where we bought ourselves a rare treat...and ice-cream! Funny how you get used to not eating all the sweet stuff, and we didn't feel too great afterwards!

 Some fascinating old buildings, literally falling apart. It seems that most of the lower town is derelict.

 There is, however, a fantastic children's playground (right).

This place shouldn't be standing, and waz remarked that the fire dept. should use this for practice!

 

 The County Courthouse was totally out of place....interesting how lots of the city buildings look like mausoleums.

Even the sidewalks are derelict!

The doors to the Baptist Church

Another derelict home...on a street of derelict homes...all with occupants!

As the sun went down, we put some laundry on to wash, then dry, and are waiting on the second lot in the dryer, right now.
Being hooked up to electricity means we are enjoying a rare treat of aircon in the salon and the bedroom! :) We can also have a long shower, instead of a quick one, and have filled up the water tank. It costs us $1 per foot, which is small in the scheme of things and some of the cheapest dockage we will find anywhere from now on. There is a town dock, but no facilities, and no power/water etc. You get what you pay for, for sure.

Well, the dryer has finished, and it is time for us to get some sleep. We have a long way to go tomorrow!

Night, Night!