New Friends, Old Friends and Gators

 We have now completed 5,000 miles of our almost 8,000 mile journey.  Along the way we have met wonderful people making new friends and reconnecting with old friends.

I am between Mark and
Happy at the world's best
food truck.

Jody and Tom next to Braveheart.

Our trip down the Florida west coast included wonderful visits with new Rosborough (maker of Salty Paws) friends. We met Bahama-born Jacquie in Tarpon Springs.  She gave us some great cruising suggestions about “don’t miss” places.  Mark and Happy met us for dinner in Dunedin and the next day prepared a great lunch for us at their fantastic food truck, Happy’s Bayou Bites, that features delicious Cajun style food.  The fried oysters were to die for.  Jody and Tom hosted Salty Paws at their dock next to Braveheart, their Rosborough used to complete the Loop a year ago. 

Wendy and Bob next to their boat
Cloud Nine and Salty Paws.

Finally, we spend a wonderful evening with Bob and Wendy in North Fort Meyers while Bob took the lead in helping Bill install new door slides, just in time for us to avoid losing our side doors overboard!

In front of a Tarpon Springs sponge
boat with Duane and Diana.

New friends also included Loopers Duane and Diana on their boat Bella Donna.  We had done the Gulf crossing with them and were pleased to share meals in Tarpon Springs, on each of our boats and the restaurant on Cabbage Key, made famous by Jimmy Buffet, who, after a great cheeseburger, wrote Cheeseburger in Paradise. 

Adding our dollar bill at
Cabbage Key Inn. $10,000
drops off each year and is
given to charity.

NYE - Burkes, Geants & Websters.

Old Maine friends included Sue and Allan who hosted us for 4 days over Christmas on Cape Coral and took us for a wonderful kayak paddle on Sanibel.  In Naples we ran into fellow Indian Pointer at the dock, and Lee and Jane later hosted us for dinner.  We spent New Year’s Eve with the Burkes and Geants, old friends from Bill's Hannaford days.

Kayaking with Sue and Allan.

Our stops included Caladesi State Park and Cayo Costa State Park, barrier islands off the coast.  Like many of the places we’ve been, the water was shallow and would not be passable for a deep draft boat.  Our shallow draft allows us to go many places that larger boats cannot go.  On both islands we walked down beautiful, deserted white sand beaches on the Gulf and gathered shells. 

On the deserted beach at Caladesi.

Wind and waves occasionally plagued our travels.  We were able to find the only open slip in well-protected Dunedin Municipal Marina as we waited out two days of 20-30 knot winds.  It was also very windy when we anchored in Gulfport, and it cut our visit to the funky town short, but we were able to finish our Christmas postcards.  The wind was also ferocious as we approached the dock at Cayo Costa and we struggled to tie up.  I was concerned for a moment that we would not be able to hold the boat to the dock before tying our lines and Salty Paws would take a lonely journey.  Just as we got settled, our new friends, Duane and Diana, glided in behind us without any trouble. Lesson learned about getting the bow secured first in high winds. We had them over for dinner and had a rousing card game of Old Hell.  

The shells were everywhere
at Cayo Costa.

Too many of the waves are brought about by fellow boaters.  No offense meant, but the boaters in Florida seem insane.  Speed limits are often 25-35 mph in the boat channels and the boats are doing all of that, creating huge and very uncomfortable wakes.  We battled the wakes into Naples, 2^nd in the nation in millionaires per capita.

Double rainbows greeted us as we arrived in Naples.

Pelicans greeted us at the Naples
dinghy dock.

We relaxed for 4 days in a mooring field and explored the ritzy downtown, Tin City and the food trucks at Celebration Park that included Cousins Lobster from Maine.  We also left early enough on New Year’s to miss the speed boats.

Kayaking in the 10,000 Islands
surrounded by mangroves
and oyster beds.

The weather has now turned glorious (sorry fellow Mainers and other Yankees!) and the seas have calmed.  After Naples, we anchored in the 10,000 Islands, part of Everglades National Park.  We were mostly alone, except for two boats that were being boarded by the Park Police.  We found out the next day from the very friendly police that the captain of one of these boats was now in the slammer for, let’s say, unlawful movement of certain substances.  Anyway, we had a very peaceful, still night at anchor.   We took two kayak trips through the maze of Islands, with Captain Bill always aware of where our boat was. In the morning, I spotted a mama raccoon and her two young ones carefully maneuvering along the shore on the mangrove roots.  We also saw many beautiful shore birds, including ibis, herons, eagles and osprey.

The iconic but slowly dying
Rod & Gun Club.

The next day begins one of our top experiences. We weaved our way through the mangrove islands, accompanied by dolphins and pelicans, to Everglades City (pop. 426) and docked alongside the historic Rod & Gun Club. What is known and widely published is Barron Collier’s impact on the town.  He was a wealthy entrepreneur who earned his fortune in a railroad advertising company, making advertising posters to be put up in passenger train cars. After falling in love with Florida, he bought up a million acres in the Everglades with the plan of draining the Everglades and building a highway from Tampa to Miami called the Tamiami Trail in exchange for more land.  He grew the town of Everglade City and paid his workers in script which would only be used in Collier-owned stores. The Tamiami was completed and we saw evidence of the effect on the landscape when the natural flow of water is disrupted. On one side of the road are lovely fields of cattails and on the other, a dying swamp.

We toured the local museum, which is a tribute to Barron Collier.  We then got the other side of the story from the museum director, and none of this info is alluded to at all in the museum.  Because of

About to begin our 9-mile paddle downstream through the
mangroves and back to Salty Paws in Everglades City.

Bill's favorite picture!

Ducking the mangroves in the narrow channel.

the isolation of the Everglades, the “Gladesmen” did whatever they could to make ends meet, legal or otherwise.  In 1983, 300 federal agents surrounded this little island town and arrested every man in the town that could be found, including the mayor. The fisherman, known as saltwater cowboys, had for years been involved in smuggling in contraband, especially marijuana, bundled in packs known as “square grouper,” dropped off in their crab boats from freighters which had come up from South America.  Many spent more than eight years in prison and any that were sentenced to less than eight were considered snitches.  These men are all still living in the town, and this 
history is still too raw to be publicized.  Who knows how they are now making their living!

On our second day in town, Bill contacted Dillon, a kayak outfitter, and arranged for us to be shuttled inland to the headwaters of Halfway Creek.  Dillon assured me that the alligators would not bother us.  I was finally convinced after my usual period of anticipatory terror and sleepless nights. We set off with a map, alone in our tandem kayak.  Within 3 minutes, Bill spotted the first alligator and we quickly saw 3 more. As promised, they each quietly slipped under the water as we approached.  The 8 mile trip was incredible.  The most impressive section was a 2-mile stretch of canopied water with only a few feet to the tangle of mangroves on either side.  Bill paddled while I sat in the bow looking ahead as Bill maneuvered around the hanging vines.  So many birds, such quiet, just awe inspiring.  We did see 1 more alligator in this section, but again, he just slipped into the water.  We will never forget this.

Craps pots are frequent along the West Florida coast and are
typically positioned in strings of multiple traps, each with
a small round buoy.

Now we are off to the Florida Keys!