Florida showed up.. who could figure...

Today was a Florida day.   The 2nd Florida day in a month.   Well, technically yesterday was almost a Florida day too....
While Michigan is reeling from snow, we are below that magical line where we can bike, walk by the Sea and eat or enjoy restaurants outdoors.    

Don't get me wrong.   Floridians might think we are nuts.   We sat outside by the ICW two nights ago and it was 50 degrees F outside.   Floridians did not join us...   But this is what it looks like to sit at a picnic table at Tide Tables and eat Mahi Mahi. .
It does not suck considering the alternatives. 
Our pool cover broke at home...  Needless to say we aren't sitting by the pool at home...  
This is better ... And about 500 yards from our boat ....   Someone has to do it ..  so we will suffer.  

The Mahi mahi is fresh and the breeze brisk.   Then today turned into a Florida day.  I got to sit on the back of the boat with a friend drinking the mandatory diet Coke and feel TOO HOT.   Yes.  It is welcome.  

We spend the evening yesterday with friends Doug and Donna at their place in Bradenton and took a walk to visit other friends in the Blue Dolphin marina just over/under the bridge.   This place is really nice.   I could live down here half the year I think without much issues.   I'd miss family and church but we get to see friends regularly here and go with them to church.    If we were here regularly it would be easier to be involved.  
.
My aunt used to spend an inordinate amount of time picking up sea shells.  I didn't understand.   Now I do..   The magic of what God does in the ocean is simply beyond imagination.  Yesterday we returned late to our marina to the sight of 1000s of tiny fish swimming opposite our dock at the marina and pelicans and other birds feasting on the convenient dinner.    Creation is amazing.   

While we get sick of all of the seafood, it is amazing that it just grows literally around our boat every day.

Yesterday we had our boat bottom cleaned.   Some barnacles on the running gear and our new (in August) aluminum sacrifices are showing their wear.   They will probably make it back to fresh water so we can get them changed out in Grand Haven when we are home.   Everything on a boat is broken.  We just don't know how yet... 

This week I connected new sensors to the outside of our fresh and two waste tanks.  This gives me a browser based way to tell how full they are....  This is good.   And we received our order of flags.   We needed a US flag, a quarantine flag (for entering a new country before inspection) as well as Canada and Bahamas flags.   Now to follow the protocol when we start moving again in a week or two.   

We have come to the decision that when some of our friends head out back to Michigan and on further south we will leave too.  This means we likely move before the end of our prepaid stay.... But get to the keys more quickly.   We are definitely loving our time in Florida.    Sunday we go to church with friends and then head to stay for a few days with other friends.   We are truly blessed to have friends almost everywhere we visit.  We realize how fortunate we are to have a lifetime of friends who we can reassociate with at a different time and place.   We couldn't have designed or asked for the hospitality we have received....  It's truly a God thing....


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Youngs Point ON to Fenelon Falls ON

Image
We left Youngs Point lock wall this morning about 8am with two hours of cruising to get to our first lock.   What a beautiful day.   We had two lakes to cross.  Clear Lake (which is clear)...   And Stoney Lake which is.... Granite.  The beaches are done and the navigation is critical.  It's a common thing to have solid granite just a few inches below the surface on both sides of the boat just 10-20 feet away.  As long as we are in the designated channel it's fine....   But prop repair and replacement is a big business here... Still... Driving past this kind of scenery all day would never get old... (Until it froze).  Eventually we journeyed through four locks today... And up to a fifth.    Lock 28, 30, 31, 32... And sitting just under lock 33.   Yes we are aware 29 is missing.  28 and 29 used to be a set of two (a flight lock) but in the 1960s they automated it (hydraulic controls rathe...
Read more

Hastings ON to Peterborough ON

Image
Well today was the same.... And really different.   We left Hastings and traveled up Rice Lake for miles and miles.   What a gorgeous area.  Reminds me of the North Channel.  After many miles of cruising up the lake we hit something new.  WEEDS.  So thick they convinced the depth finder we were in 2ft of water..    We were literally mowing them.   And they eventually covered the water so thick you couldn't see the water and birds were standing on it... But that passed.  We just took it slow and ground our way through.  Eventually it turned into river again with fast moving water and less weeds.   It really doesn't suck here.   Such a beautiful area.  Twisty river, beautiful homes and cottages.   After four hours we reached our first lock of the day.  That was a long stretch of moving water.   We would run 10-11mph on the boat and get 6.2 on the water/over t...
Read more

Adventure awaits.

Image
Dan and Katie will be leaving for the Great Loop the first week of October.  We'll be living on the boat from mid-September until at least the end of June 2024.    Our plans are to travel 6000+ miles down the river systems of the midwest, around florida, up the east coast to New York, up the Hudson River, across the Erie and Oswego Canals, Lake Ontario, the Trent Severn Waterway (across the province of Ontario), Georgian Bay, The North Channel, Lake Huron, and then back down Lake Michigan to Grand Haven.   Katie has officially "retired" from NorthPointe Christian Schools.   Dan is taking a semi-leave of absence so that we can take this journey.   We're sure we'll miss our family immensely while we are gone but we do intend to make visits home and take a couple of breaks during our trip to "catch up".   How are we going to accomplish this?    On our newest BOAT, of course.   The Motor Vessel Sea-Ya became our trav...
Read more