Salty Sam's Marina in Ft. Myers has a Margaritaville kinda' vibe. Blue Moon docked there for the night. Dave and John found a fresh seafood store where the shrimp were harvested just hours earlier. They brought some back and we grilled them and of course they were fantastic as compared to the rubbery frozen ones we are forced to buy at home. Karen continues to dazzle us with her gallery offerings and is spoiling me as usual.
During the night when the boat traffic calmed down and it was quiet we all heard a strange snap-crackle-popping sound (just like Rice Krispies!) coming from the hull of the Blue Moon. Dave got up to investigate but couldn't find the source. It sounded like a constant water leak or an electrical popping sound. Neither one very desirable on a boat! Weird.
Next morning we wanted to walk to the farmer's market for some fresh veggies but it was about a mile and a half away over a very long bridge and we are always anxious to get up an moving again in the morning so we took off instead.
Friday, February 21, 2014
The ride to Naples was "outside" in the Gulf of Mexico. This was our first real gulf experience since the big gulf crossing up north in December. It was a light chop and a very pleasant ride. Our dolphin buddies continue to amuse us.
It just so happened that Carmen was facetiming us when these guys showed up. We held the phone where she could see them jumping and you could hear her squeal with delight in the phone! Perfect timing for once!
We arrived at Gordon Pass, the inlet to Naples and started up the canal into the city marina area. We have covered over 2,000 miles in Blue Moon since we left last July and the rudest, most inconsiderate boaters we have encountered by far are the south Floridian macho guys who are apparently overcompensating for some personal short coming by blowing past other boats and rocking the shit out of them with their huge wakes. I can only imagine what it will be like in Ft. Lauderdale. :( Seems the more $$ people have the ruder they are and there is LOTS of $$$ in Naples.
O.K. More positive stuff. Naples is absolutely gorgeous; the Beverly Hills of the East coast. Opulence reigns here and you can see it in the 30-40 million $ waterfront homes. We had a dock assignment at the Naples City Marina and mistakenly stopped at the Naples Yacht Club. Since marinas do not go out of their way with signage it was a simple mistake. Walking to the harbormaster building to register Dave and I remarked on all the multi-million dollar boats docked there but figured since it was Naples after all, that was normal. Wrong!
We started to realize our mistake and then quietly moved to the correct dock at the Naples City Marina which in NO WAY resembles the yacht club. Again, no apparent sign! I think its a private joke among marina owners to make it as confusing for transient boaters as possible.
The docks were in poor repair, dirty and the bathrooms and laundry were sub-parr. Some docks were abandoned and pelicans had taken them over. With all the $$ in Naples apparently very little goes to the city marina to attract transient boaters. Go figure.
Again, being without automobile, we decided to take a trolley ride around the city. It was pretty much a ride through Friday rush hour traffic. The downtown area of Naples is reminiscent of a European town. Very pretty. Those darn Bentleys and Ferraris kept cutting off our trolley driver!
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During the night when the boat traffic calmed down and it was quiet we all heard a strange snap-crackle-popping sound (just like Rice Krispies!) coming from the hull of the Blue Moon. Dave got up to investigate but couldn't find the source. It sounded like a constant water leak or an electrical popping sound. Neither one very desirable on a boat! Weird.
Next morning we wanted to walk to the farmer's market for some fresh veggies but it was about a mile and a half away over a very long bridge and we are always anxious to get up an moving again in the morning so we took off instead.
Friday, February 21, 2014
The ride to Naples was "outside" in the Gulf of Mexico. This was our first real gulf experience since the big gulf crossing up north in December. It was a light chop and a very pleasant ride. Our dolphin buddies continue to amuse us.
It just so happened that Carmen was facetiming us when these guys showed up. We held the phone where she could see them jumping and you could hear her squeal with delight in the phone! Perfect timing for once!
We arrived at Gordon Pass, the inlet to Naples and started up the canal into the city marina area. We have covered over 2,000 miles in Blue Moon since we left last July and the rudest, most inconsiderate boaters we have encountered by far are the south Floridian macho guys who are apparently overcompensating for some personal short coming by blowing past other boats and rocking the shit out of them with their huge wakes. I can only imagine what it will be like in Ft. Lauderdale. :( Seems the more $$ people have the ruder they are and there is LOTS of $$$ in Naples.
O.K. More positive stuff. Naples is absolutely gorgeous; the Beverly Hills of the East coast. Opulence reigns here and you can see it in the 30-40 million $ waterfront homes. We had a dock assignment at the Naples City Marina and mistakenly stopped at the Naples Yacht Club. Since marinas do not go out of their way with signage it was a simple mistake. Walking to the harbormaster building to register Dave and I remarked on all the multi-million dollar boats docked there but figured since it was Naples after all, that was normal. Wrong!
We started to realize our mistake and then quietly moved to the correct dock at the Naples City Marina which in NO WAY resembles the yacht club. Again, no apparent sign! I think its a private joke among marina owners to make it as confusing for transient boaters as possible.
The docks were in poor repair, dirty and the bathrooms and laundry were sub-parr. Some docks were abandoned and pelicans had taken them over. With all the $$ in Naples apparently very little goes to the city marina to attract transient boaters. Go figure.
Again, being without automobile, we decided to take a trolley ride around the city. It was pretty much a ride through Friday rush hour traffic. The downtown area of Naples is reminiscent of a European town. Very pretty. Those darn Bentleys and Ferraris kept cutting off our trolley driver!
We hopped off the trolley at LaPlaya Hotel for a drink and to meet up with Al and Kim. Kim is the daughter of good buddies Ron and Sue back home and they have a home in Naples. Later they invited us to their gorgeous waterside home for more cocktails and pizza. They are very gracious hosts and we all had too much wine and a very good time and ended up drunk dialing Kim's parents!. Later Al drove us thru Naples at night and continued our tour all the way back to the boat. He restores vintage Chris Crafts for fun and they are as near perfect as a boat can be when he is done with them.
After we all settled down again to go to sleep we all heard the snap-crackle-pop sound again. It seemed louder this time and was really starting to disturb us. Dave and John inspected every nook and cranny of the boat but to no outcome and the mystery continues.
Next morning a three hour very smooth gulf ride brought us to our anchorage in the Everglades National Park. We cut through Indian Key Pass and went up the Barron River a ways to find the perfect spot among the mangroves; a rather ideal setting.
Karen and Dave took the dinghy to Everglades City to re-provision and I read for awhile! ha-ha Dave! When they got back Dave and I took the dinghy there. What an adorable little fishing outpost! There is a old hotel there that was built in the 1860's. This place was rugged yet classy and I'm sure a real
hopping place during prohibition with the Cuba to the U.S. route; much like the drug route north today. A perfect place for Ernest Hemingway to sit in the corner and write.
While we were in town John and Karen went online to research "funny boat noises". Amazingly enough there was internet in the everglades! After a short while they found the source of our snap-crackle-pop mystery! Unbelievably it is a little marine critter called a Pistol Shrimp! Googling it we found that there are over 500 species of these little monsters. They have two claws that create a cavitation bubble as it snaps shut. This bubble, very briefly, reaches temperatures approaching that of the sun; 4,700 degrees celcius. A loud popping noise is then created. So, what a relief that was! Its always nice to know that there's nothing wrong with the boat when you are in the middle of no where!
Although the Everglades bugs tried to feast on us near sunset we still managed to dine on the back deck and enjoy the the strange, alien setting we were in. I'm still waiting to to clean and cook a fresh catch but so far the boys have not produced!
A silly Johnny Knoxville (of Jackass fame) movie called "Bad Grandpa" amused us after dinner. Usually I can not get through a whole Jackass movie but this one was pretty cute and actually heartwarming near the end.
Lying in bed we could still hear the snap-crackle-pop but knowing that the boat was o.k. and it was just some very hungry shrimp let us relax and sleep.
The temperature and humidity are rising but look where we are! Apparently during the spring the bugs are so vicious here that people stay away. So far we can handle them with a little bug spray. Still have not seen the famous 2" everglades flies and don't really care to!
Tomorrow its on to an anchorage in the Shark River (!) still part of the National Park.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Flying fish really do fly! We saw the first ones today but it's near impossible to get a picture of them. Will keep trying. Karen and I fried ourselves on the bow during the gentle ride to Shark River. When we got there I was happy to see a couple boats anchored out for the night. It is really off the grid out there. No cell phone service and certainly no wi-fi.
Dave tried his luck at fishing again and caught a ladyfish off the stern. Not suitable for eating so we threw her back. A fish still the same!
John and Karen went fishing with the dinghy and after hooking a log, a pole and a tree, John pulled up this flounder:
After he threw it back we realized it was an excellent fish for cooking while looking through our fish book.
We made a yummy taco salad for dinner with some Key Lime pie and again listened to to the pistol shrimp munching away all night. You could even hear them when Dave took out the dinghy. Little buggers are everywhere!
Monday, February 24, 2014 Day 222 since we left home last July!
Deciding not to sacrifice 3 days by going to Key West (been there and bought the t-shirts already years ago) we headed for Marathon in the center of the keys. Leaving Everglades National Park the gulf was again perfectly flat and at one point there were dolphins to the left of us, dolphins to the right of us and also two swimming under the bow at the same time! We were squealing like 4 year olds!
The crab pots were everywhere so we really had to keep a good watch. Amazing how the fisherman put them IN the channel.
Nearing Maraton it was decision time. Try to get one of the 225 mooring balls in the harbour or get a slip at a marina. When we got closer we could see that all the mooring balls were filled! (about 95% sailboats). It was like a parking lot! No ball for us! So, we anchored next to another looper power boat and still had to pay $22.00. That's the first time we've ever had to pay for anchoring!
We walked into town and had a drink at a really nice place and Dave and John started talking to the guys next to us. They were from Hamilton, Ontario and knew all about Pt. Breeze. We have run into so many people from New York this week. I wonder why???
Marathon is shabby funky but just right.
Later we walked to a fish shack on the gulf and I had the best coconut shrimp ever. We had to again find our way back to the boat in a very dark harbour with some shoals thrown in just for fun but we made it.
Tomorrow is snorkeling day on a nearby reef and the first day in the Atlantic Ocean!
