Boating in Louisiana

There are lots and lots of boats in Louisiana.....but not our kind of boat or boating. 

First on the drive we notice the cemetery's are mostly crypts above ground, here is a typical one.  I had only seen this before in New Orleans and wanted to see it again, so now we don't need to go to New Orleans.  The drive thru New Orleans was brutal, lots of traffic going very fast and after we discussed it we realized neither of us wanted to go their at all.

So on to Houma where I had researched a RV park with a boat launch.  Turns out I had chosen badly, RV park was a bare parking lot.  We spent one night here.

 

 

Next we found a marina except that they don't have provisions for transient boaters.  But we talked them into letting us stay on their dock with no services for the launch and park fee. Gave us a dramatic sunset.



 

We did spend a day boating, going up a bayou and also out toward the gulf into Terreebone bay.
Fran got a great picture of white pelican's.  By the way we saw white pelicans on banks lake in washington state where they sometimes spend the summer.

This is outside Houma, which is south and west of New Orleans.  Fish camps are quite popular, now fish camp sounds like a simple shack, some are but some are quite elaborate.  Most are raised up on piles to get above the storm surge from hurricanes.  All have some water access to a bayou with a dock.  The more elaborate ones have a hoist to raise the boats up out of the water to prevent marine growths.

Lots of Boats..either commercial fishing boats from 20 to 100 feet long for shrimp, fish, oysters.  Or private fishing boats, skiffs, flat bottoms, to center consoles with 300hp outboards.  But no marinas like in Washington state or Florida thus our boat doesn't really fit. 

We are now near Delcambre ( pronounced Del-camp) and again my research has been wanting.  The rebuilt town marina does not have restrooms or showers but only dockage, electricity and water.  But since we don't need electricity and water why don't we just anchor out...but wait, there are no good places to anchor out even with all the water. 

So for the next couple of days we will be waiting out weather forecast of thunderstorms in a RV park.

Road Trip and RV park

Yesterday we pulled the boat out of the water and started another road trip.  Today we are near Crestview Fl, 45 miles from the westernmost florida boarder.  Outside the motel we stayed at last  night they had a sculpture of a alligator.  They almost lost a customer when I said to Frances, look they have an alligator. Back to central time zone.

At RV park in RV mode.  Frances showing off Quilt she is working on while we boat and drive.

On the road again

From LaBelle we returned to Ft Myers to the Paradise Marina.  Monday was a day of more sightseeing and provisioning.  Then this morning we pulled the boat out of the water at Rosen park and began driving.  Destination is outside of Houma La.  Tonight in a motel and tomorrow we start staying at RV parks.

Caya Costa to Central Florida

Yesterday we went from Caya Costa to Downtown Ft Myers.  Caya Costa preserves the original florida barrier island, no resorts, but it does have palms and what the resorts try to copy in landscape.  We transversed the GICW, crossing lots of shallow bays, to downtown Ft Myer' revitalized riverfront area. 
Grebe parked next to $$$ yachts in Ft Myers, just where she belongs.

Todays trip went from the coastal region to interior river.  A couple of firsts for Grebe, Lock and Swing Bridge.

Frances and George in the Franklin Lock waiting for more boats.  The Ballard Locks in Seattle have a lift of 15-20 feet.  This lock had 2 feet!

Next a swing bridge, we use the radio to ask for opening. The guy goes out to the road to see when to stop cars, puts the car barrier down, then walks to the center of the bridge to operate the swing mechanism.

Tonight we are at a free town dock in the central Florida town of LaBelle.  Had a great dinner at Log Cabin BBQ after a very hot walk.  Pretty popular place, by 5:30 they were out of Beef (at a BBQ place) and by the time we finished our dinner they were out of the bananna pudding.  But just opened up Coconut cream pie.  The walk to and from dinner was under the amazing oak trees, covered in spanish moss, ferns, and "elephant ear" type plants.

 

The town dock is next to a bridge, we watched a truck full of oranges go by.  Tractor Trailer sized, open top, packed with oranges.  I am pretty sure these are for juice, the ones at the bottom are for sure.



 

 



At Caya Costa park

Left the Ft Myers Beach mooring ball and proceeded up the GICW to Caya Costa State Park.  Frances spent 1 solid hour beachcoming for shells while I rode the bike around the island trails.  Able to see a aligator tail but they don't move much.  Tomorrow back towards Ft Myer and up the Okeechobee waterway that goes west to east all the way across Florida.

Back in Ft Myers Beach

We are back in Ft Myers Beach on a mooring ball.  Mooring field is 1/2 empty but we have a watch bird.  A double breasted cormorant drying his wings on the mooring ball.

We left our anchorage this moring at 8 so that we could beat the rough water caused by wind waves and this strategy worked pretty well.  We had rollers but very mild wind waves on our passage from Naples to Ft Myers Beach.

A couple of days ago we had a beach all to ourselves, but today a totally different beach scene but Frances still picks up shells. at Ft Myers Beach.

Biking in Goodland

We stayed last night at the Calusa Yacht Club marina in Goodland Florida.  very nice place.  We got a ride to a restaurant and walked back to the marina, its pretty close.  This place like many others is made from mangrove swamps by digging out canals, using the dug materials to build up the land.  So nothing seems to be more than 4 foot above sea level.  Got up late and took a bike ride around the town.  meet some "loopers" who were hanging out here to wait for nicer weather.  A short ride down the ICW this afternoon to set us up for tomorrows passage.  We will go out in the Gulf to get to Ft Myers Beach.  Plan is to leave early before the water gets rough, this is a short (2 hour) jump.

George ready for biking.

Anchored among the mangrove islands just south of Naples Fl.  Just off the GICW.  We got our screens up before sundown and as I am doing the blog the little critters are lighting on the screen trying to get in, it makes me itch just thinking about it.  So a little OFF sprayed on the screen to make it less desireable to them.  We are not yet to the summer where the guide books talk about "intolerable Mosquitos"

Goodbye Keys

We left Book Key harbor on sunday morning. A week on the mooring ball, with only one day out in the boat. Somehow we thought we would spend more time cruising.  But it was still very  good.  We had lots of activities and most of them we enjoyed with Ann and John on Jascat.  But time to move on, every stitch of clothes washed,  groceries bought, water and fuel tanks full, poop tank emptied.  We headed west and took a look at some of the islands further down the Keys.  There are lots of islands and unless there is a road connecting them to the mainland there are no houses. It gets very shallow here and finding a deep enough passage becomes very difficult.  Once past there we headed north to Little shark river where we anchored for the night.  Monday we continued north to Goodland where we are now in a marina.  These two days have been difficult for us, it is open water exposed to the gulf and although it is not super rough we get rocked and rolled a lot.  Plus there is very little to see, some birds and occasional a Dolphin.

As you may have seen in some of the photos I made a Secchi Disk to measure water clarity. There is a lot of variability;
Panama City 3-5'
Ft Myers 4'
Everglade city 3'
Everglades in salt 3'
Everglades in fresh water 5'
Marathon in bay side 3-5'
boot key harbor 2'
West and north of Marathon 7'
Frances is now using this to describe my communications.  For example " your clarity index is 1" when I am particularly obtuse.

We have eaten at two restaurants that have a kitchen, ordering place and then picnic tables overlooking the water, both have been very good.  At Marathon, Key fisheries is walking distance to the Marina and we had a lunch and dinner there with Ann and John.  A frequent guest at Keys Fisheries

 Seeing the bottom in 7' of water west and north of Marathon.

The captain scored big time with the crew of Grebe when we stopped at a deserted beach where the only footprints were racoons and birds.  It is covered in shells. Very exposed so we could only stay for a little while with Grebe anchored off and we rowed the dingy to shore.

Crossing from Cuba to USA

While having lunch at a Cuban style Deli we noticed a boat on the side of the patio.  I asked about it.  In Feb of this year five men crossed from Cuba to Florida, made it to land, and thus received refuge status.  Boat is of sawn frames and heavy planking.  Open with small cuddy.  A single cylinder engine with small car transmission.  Fuel tank looks to be about 5 gal.

 

Prop is welded from pieces of metal.

Check out the flexible connection between the engine and transmission, bolted on pieces of tire.

A week in Marathon

We have spent a week on a mooring ball in Marathon Florida.  They have a mooring field for 226 (or so) boats, about 90% full and a nice set up for cruising boats, with club house(wifi), showers, laundry, and pump out at the mooring ball.  We have been hanging around with My sister and her husband Ann and John, on their Gemini catamaran sailboat.  Ann and John have rented a car and we have gone on a driving excursion to Key West. 
This is a view of part of the mooring field from out boat.

We took Ann and John on a short ride in our boat along side Vaca Key.

We went to the turtle hospital that helps recover hurt turtles and had a tour and up close to several types of turtles.

Lots of places in Florida have canals that let lots of people have waterfront property, but no street ends like in Washington to allow public access.  This is from the back of a strip mall looking down a canal, our boat is in the far background.

Dolphin Tricks

While leaving Flamingo Florida yesterday we watched a Dolphin herd some fish by swiming around them in 3' of water.  When one of the fish leaps out of the water to escape the dolphin jumps out of the water and catches the fish in the air.

Everglades Wilderness Waterway

We are now on the mooring ball at Boot Key Harbor, on Vaca Key (town of Marathon florida).  We spent three days going down a portion of the wilderness waterway in Everglades national park.  It is a wilderness and thus no cell so there were no blogs during the trip.
Some highlites;
1. its really shallow, we learned a new measures of shallow water operation.  The depth sounder shows depth 1/2 foot shallower than it actually is.  Depth sounder at 4' = full speed, 3' slow down and tilt motor up slightly, 2' slower still with motor tilted up but still giving propulsion, 1.5' get motor out of water and drift over the shoal.  We hit bottom on the prop a couple of times and dinged up the prop a little.
George checking depth and clarity.

Bottom visible when you get shallow.

2. its very tight in a couple of places.  There were two creeks connecting bays that were trouble for us.  about 12' wide (boat is 8.5' wide) and winding, with overhanging trees.  We got caught up a couple of times and when we were done the boat was covered with twigs, leaves, and branches.
3. water varies in clarity.  most places you could see the bottom at 2', but a couple were clear to 4-5'. 
4While eating lunch we watched a pelican eating his lunch;  flying, diving, and orienting the fish for swallowing, over and over.  too far away for pictures but great to watch.
5  we saw a dolphin swim by in 3' of water, normally you only see them surface to breath but its so shallow he left a wake.  I suspect he was lost and looking for an exit.  But its real confusing, all mangrove islands look alike, without the chartplotter we would have been lost quickly.
6. While going thru Alligator creek, we see an alligator sunning himself on the bank!
7. when we get to Flamingo at the south end of the everglades we see a crocodile in the canal next to the marina.
Sometimes its hard to see the channel until you get very close.



The park provides camping areas.  some on land but many are raised covered platforms called Chickees!

The park puts in signposts to help guide travelers.  these are not NOAA standard navigation markers but post with simple signs.  Without a GPS it would be very difficult to go from one to the next.

We spent two nights on the waterway and used an anchor and a stern tie to the trees or bushes.

 

 

 

At the dock in Everglades City

Went inside and outside from Marco island to Everglade City.  Inside was great but we got beat up on our hour transit across an bay that was exposed to westerly winds. We are on the dock at a very nice motor home resort/marina.  Its expensive but we made the timing work for us.  We arrived about 2pm, played in their pool, used their towels, washed our clothes (no quarters).  Tomorrow use their pump out and buy gas and leave late.  In Panama city we were early for their season, here we are at the end of their season and most of their guest have already left to go back north.
Last night we met up with Ann and John Barton behind Marco island and shared a great dinner.  John is writing a blog also, follow his trip at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/Jascat/
This is John welcoming us to anchor.

More birds on a shell island.

For lunch we nosed the boat up on a oyster bar alongside a river.  The river/tides makes a mound of oyster shells and the mangrove trees take root and make it land.

What navigation aids, all I see is bird nests!

Navigation aids are on the GICW to guide boater to the channel.  But birds like them as well.  Osprey's come back year after year and build onto their nest.  Sometimes the numbers on the aids are totally covered.

and again.

Today we had a couple of firsts.  First offshore trip, we went off shore about 1.5 miles to get to 20 foot depths where there is no inside passage. Also the first time on this trip where shorts and Tee shirt was worn.

Tonight we are behind Marco island on anchor after passage both outside and inside from Ft. Myers Beach.  The inside passage goes past many fancy and some modest homes.  Lots of them have full screen to allow outside living. (intolerable mosquitos according to the guidebooks).  This one is two stories high and covers a swiming pool.

Inside has lots of Manatee zones.  Some very slow, some with limit of 25-30MPH.  Of course our max speed is 15MPH.

Today we stopped at Mound Key Archaeological State Park. The Calusa indians lived in south florida but were exterminated by diseases brought by the Spanish.  Thus very little is known about them or their culture.   Like some other Indians they built mounds, but how or why is unknown.  Here is a trail up to the top of a mound on Mound Key.  Its made of sea shells and oyster shells.

This park is only reachable by boat and is not very popular.  We were the first visitor in 3 days.  it it reacheable through a curving opening in the mangrove trees.

On the Mooring Ball in Ft Myers Beach

Finished provisioning today and got the truck and trailer parked for a month.  Down the Caloosahatchee River from North Fort Myers to Ft Myers Beach.  Because this is part of the Okeechobee waterway which is part of the Gulf ICW, the normal rule for bouys is reversed.  Normal is red right returning, so going down river should have had Green on the right, but no The Gulf ICW is red right returning where returning means heading towards Brownsville Texas.  Thus the red is on the right going down this river, until we turn off the Gulf ICW then Green on the right.  I needed to pay attention, plus having red green color blindness makes the colors problematic already so I mostly use shapes,  Red is triangle, Green is square.
Looked under the Docks and yikes the cross braces are gone.  But the docks seems sturdy.

This area of florida is crisscrossed with man made canals so that lots of homes can have a dock and access to the water.  We went up one that had mangrove trees on one side.

And Houses on the other.  Some palatial but others fairly modest.

Provisioning and Sanibel Island

Weather today is pretty cold for Florida.  Waitress at tonights rib dinner apologized for the cold weather.  By the way, pretty good ribs but not as good as Ben's.  Did provisioning at Publix market, stuffed it into the fridge and everywhere else.  Boat is very loaded for cruising.  Able to spend some good time with Ann and John who have their boat in the next slip.  We will be connecting all the way to the Keys with them.  Plan to move to Ft Myers beach mooring field tomorrow.

Went to Sanibel Island with Ann this afternoon.  This island is well known for its abundance of shells and it didn't disappoint.  George and Frances on the beach.

Ann on the beach,

Typical Beach.

The places with a "beach" in the name (Panama city beach, Ft Myers Beach, etc) clean up the beach with machinery to pick up dead fish, seaweed and other undesirable stuff.  So those beaches are pure white sand with a few shells.  This beach is as it washes up from the Gulf, so along with shells are dead fish, seawead, sticks and other interesting stuff.

The have so many shells that they can use them like other places use gravel.