As I went back over our pictures I realized the pictures tell a story of their own - how geography changes, how people live in other parts of the country, what it is like to travel in places you've never been to before. So here is the story in pictures!!
We lived about five years on our boats, both Good Karma. The last Good Karma, a 45' Cruiser Express Yacht was the best. We can't imagine a prettier boat. We couldn't say no when presented with the opportunity to share her with Curtis and Michelene.
It has been a glorious adventure. But now it is time to regroup and figure out what we want next. We are not done with boating. Just not sure what is next.
I appreciate sharing our adventure with all of you. I got great pleasure talking with all of you who came up to us at marinas, at parties, at docktails or in emails to say how much fun you had traveling with us. We love you all!! We will be back!!
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| Day 1 April 4, 2017 Leaving Ft. Pierce |
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| Leaving Ft. Pierce at sunrise |
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| Love Ft. Pierce City Marina! |
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| Kermit and his co-pilot |
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| Jack is very happy!! |
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| The first bridge in Stuart FL - start of the Okechobee Waterway across to Ft. Myers; evidently not much to see on Lake Okechobee because I don't have many pictures; it is a big lake, not much to see but water |
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| Moorehaven FL - tied up to city dock |
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| Day 2 April 5: Waterway between Moorehaven and Ft. Myers; We left at dawn, a little misty |
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| Leaving Moorehaven |
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| Surprising amount of livestock along the river |
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| Not a very wide river but much prettier than the eastern portion between the lake and Stuart |
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| Alva FL, this is the amazing Rialto Marina, no longer open to the public; we had a wonderful time there with One September on the Loop in 2012 just before they closed |
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| Entering Ft. Myers |
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| Ft. Myers - we just had drinks with Kris and Dennis Kada - sorry no pics |
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| Kermit looking for a cigar shop |
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| Day 3 April 6: Leaving Ft. Myers - we saw this before, still funny |
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| The ICW northbound out of Ft. Myers |
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| Near Venus FL local police were having a fishing tournament with kids; there were dozens of communities represented |
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| Venus FL, looking at the inlet to Gulf |
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| Arrived at Marina Jack in Sarasota |
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| Dinner at Fish Camp - delicious |
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| Walking home we encountered a wine dinner in the street, about to start |
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| Sarasota |
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| Sarah and Bill Vellucci and Lucy - we had a lovely day in the park |
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| Such a beautiful park right on the water - Marina Jack is in the background; it was a perfect day |
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| Marina Jack - we stayed about 4 days due to bad weather - lots of wind made the Gulf too rocky to cross |
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| Tues April 11, Day 7: Until one morning we woke up and Kermit spotted a weather window. After a pump out, we were off. |
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| Instead of heading up to Tarpon Springs we left out of Siesta Key to make the crossing all the way to Carrabelle while we had the weather window |
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| Along the way, why not change some fuel filters in the Gulf of Mexico. We did it in Lake Ontario. Why not? |
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| 270+ miles across the Gulf of Mexico, we anchored at sundown off Dog Island |
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| We put down anchor almost in the dark |
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| A shrimp boat working in the night |
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| Passed right by us |
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| While that big red full moon rose over the bay |
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| Day 8: We fueled up at Carrabelle then headed down (up?) the ICW. We stayed off the Gulf because it was lumpy again |
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| Stayed at Panama City that night with the craziest tied up ever |
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| Day 9: leaving Panama City early |
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| We headed out to the Gulf |
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| We picked up a hitchhiker along the way; he stayed, eating bugs and checking himself out in the shiny surface (gotta be a male) then flew off into the surf. I hope he is ok. |
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| You gotta do something to fill up the time |
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| Headed back into the ICW around Pensacola |
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| Love those white sand beaches |
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| And pretty communities in the ICW |
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| And cute little islands - this water is a zoo on the weekends |
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| Tied up at Orange Beach for dinner with Mary and Charlie, two of our favorite people from the Loop - and very experienced boaters |
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| Day 10: left Orange Beach to head across Mobile Bay towards New Orleans; water got progressively worse all day; we could hardly see this tow |
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| More water - it was a long day |
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| We pulled into Chef Menteor to fuel up at this cute tiny little place. Very strong currents. It was hard to tie up. We learned after we pulled out that Bunny & Evan Evans visited here and the food was great. We wished we would have stayed. |
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| But we didn't stay. We left then got stuck behind a railroad bridge when the train derailed. We thought we were being so clever when we went into Lake Ponchatrain to get to New Orleans the other way. No pics of Lake Ponchatrain. We were too busy sweating over 3 foot depths. Then to learn that the lake entrance to NO was closed. So we circled back and spent the night at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico, right where we had been 3 hours earlier. Tough day. |
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| Day 12: Entering New Orleans waters, this is a flood gate |
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| The things you see |
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| Lots of railroads around here - most gates are open |
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| The first lock. This was one of the very few pleasure boats we saw the entire trip. |
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| on the Mississippi |
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| Mississippi River view of New Orleans |
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| Riverwalk, famous for an important scene in The Pelican Briefs |
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| We anchored here while exploring why an engine light was on; this is on the north (?) side of the Mississippi |
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| Then we moved to the south (?) side of the River. Kermit is putting down the anchor in about 45 feet of fast moving water. Not our best day. Thankfully nothing was wrong with the engine. |
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| Lock 2 leaving the Mississippi and getting on the Western Gulf ICW |
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| This lockmaster has a sense of humor |
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| This is an old city and it looks it |
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| Very industrial |
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| Amidst the industrial are enterprising folks taking tourists for those swamp rides in air boats. Very loud. |
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| This is what you look like when you take one of those boat rides. |
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| More commercial traffic |
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| This building was on fire!! We saw it from miles away. |
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| Yup, it is burning |
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| Dead boats, my favorite |
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| The water is very close to the land. Did I just say that? |
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| Tows everywhere. A tow is a tug boat with one or more barges in front of it. |
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| At this community we heard over the radio that if we didn't slow down someone would shoot us. Really. We slowed WAY down. |
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| The natives are not particularly neat. |
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| Commercial oil equipment is EVERYWHERE - this is dry dock. When drilling begins again in earnest when the price of oil goes up, then these rigs will go out again. |
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| A floating bridge |
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| The natives are not particularly friendly either. That lady is not waving hello. I think there is only one finger showing. We didn't stick around to check. |
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| Yes, we need a fence to keep people off our valuable property. |
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| This is advertised as a very nice 4* marina. We kept moving. |
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| Look at the impact of water on houses here. And the current. |
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| More tows. The tow boats are VERY well cared for, unlike the houses. |
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| A nice house is worthy of a picture. |
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| Time to drop anchor. We are exhausted. |
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| This was a nice quiet cove. Much better than that "marina". I think this is Black Bayou. |
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| Day 13: Can you believe all that happened in one day? |
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| We believe this is housing for oil crews but we are not sure. Anyway it is empty, in drydock. |
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| This is a lock. Really, it is! No sides. Not sure why we had to stop. But this lockmaster was a real pip. Took a long time to get through this lock with the flow through sides. |
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| See? Flow through sides but yet it took forever. |
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| Entering Morgan City LA for fuel. |
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| John at Rio Fuel was great! |
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| See another pleasure boat is also photo worthy. We waved like maniacs because it was the first one we'd seen in over 200 miles. |
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| This is the turnoff for the route to the Tabasco plant at Avery Island. Kermit said no. He didn't even slow down. |
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| Another lock with flow through sides. |
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| The angels who let us fuel up on a fuel barge. |
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| Kermit fueling up. Only 50 gallons per side so we didn't drip. |
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| I wish I knew exactly where this was. If you are on the Gulf ICW, keep your eyes open for flashing blue lights indicating fueling in process. They will help if you need it! Thank you!! |
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| It was Easter Sunday. People playing in the water. You realize there are also alligators in that water? Would you go in the water? |
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| Rigging for an oil rig being towed around |
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| Anchorage on Easter Sunday is along a route that could get traffic. It didn't everything was quiet. This is on the LA/TX border. |
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| Kermit setting the anchor. You can see the main ICW waterway in the background. |
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| Day 15: We left early. Jack a little sleepy, doesn't notice his new friend. |
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| We are in Texas so there must be cows. |
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| Approaching Galvaston Bay, we are starting to see civilization. We are very glad to be out of LA |
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| Looks touristy to me. |
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| Wish we could have stopped. This is a marina in the back. No fuel. Still no fuel since Morgan City, actually Abbeville but we didn't need fuel then. That is a LONG way between fuel stops. You can see what is important to us. |
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| There is a little marina in there too supposedly. |
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| Jack is ready to get off. |
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| Galvaston Bay is big and shallow. |
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| Fishing on Galvaston Bay - still no pleasure boats |
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| Starting to see Kemah in the distance. |
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| The boardwalk with amusement park. We are here! |
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| It is quite a distance from the entrance to Kemah to our target marina. Very shallow |
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| Looks like any place we saw but this is Kemah |
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| Kermit already scoping out our next boat. |
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| The lighthouse is not near the bay. Huh? |
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| Ok Jack, say goodbye to Good Karma and get into your carrier. |
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| It rained buckets just after we arrived at The Woodlands to visit Rich and Joy Preble. We are SO glad we pushed on. Otherwise we would have been anchored out during this bad storm. Good Karma. |
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| We scrubbed and cleaned out all our stuff. Loaded everything into a mini-van for transport. |
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| Jack had NO room. |
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| There she is. Clean and ready for her new owners. |
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| I call this "Still life with chicken". The last load. |
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| Katherine and Kermit, last photos with our girl. |
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| She is wonderful. |
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| But now she is Texas Two-Step with Curtis and Michelene Bainim. |
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| We wish them all the happiness. Fair weather and calm seas. |
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| We headed back to Ft. Pierce to pick up the stuff in storage. Here we are after one last piece of key lime pie at the Tiki Hut at Ft. Pierce City Marina. We love you guys! |
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| We traveled 2 days straight to get from Houston to Ft. Pierce. We dropped off the mini-van, transferred everything to the big black truck, picked up a u-haul trailer. |
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| Then loaded everything in the trailer and headed for Cleveland. |
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| Some things you just can't erase from your head. |
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| Kermit and Jack are two tired guys. |
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| We drove 2 more days to get to Cleveland. At least the weather cooperated. |
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| Our new apartment in Cleveland. Now we unload. |
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| Jack getting his bearings. Our apartment is lovely but feels like a hotel. It will take some time to get situated. |
It has been a glorious adventure. But now it is time to regroup and figure out what we want next. We are not done with boating. Just not sure what is next.
I appreciate sharing our adventure with all of you. I got great pleasure talking with all of you who came up to us at marinas, at parties, at docktails or in emails to say how much fun you had traveling with us. We love you all!! We will be back!!
