Treasure Island, Florida

Treasure Island Yacht Club is an absolute beautiful place to stay.  The facility is first class and you can't beat the great location.  Our boat is the first one you'll see when entering the harbor and we'll be here for a month. 

 Over two weeks worth of laundry made for a huge cart full that day!  It's cooler and sunny out, but at least beats the snow in Michigan.

Harbor hosts, Nick, Angela, Nicholaus 9 and Eileen 7 Metro gave us a warm welcome right away and have continued to go out of their way to make us feel special.  The following picture is a view from their "beach house" where we attended a lovely dinner one evening.  The five kids played on the beach and had a great time.   

 Pete and Anna Guilick aboard their m/v Blue Yonder a Nordic Tug, along with their cat Moby (pictured on deck here), traveled  north from Sarasota to spend some time all together.  They are fellow "Loopers" and from Nantucket Island, MA.  We really enjoyed their company and made some great memories!

 The kids loved them and they felt like family.

 Madeira Beach made for a fun day of walking around shops and sightseeing. 

 John's Pass is a newly constructed bridge that celebrated a grand opening this weekend (right next to Madeira Beach). 

 Don't mess with Captain Morgan....unless it comes from the bottle!

 We had a rare opportunity to hold an alligator and what an amazing experience it was.  His name was Psycho and luckily he was rather tame at the time we held him.

 It did not feel like you'd think he would.  He was heavy with tough, dry skin....and the kids weren't scared at all. 

 Always willing to take a photo op!

We biked approx. 3 miles one way with Pete and Anna to Johns Pass, beach, park and Publix afterwards.

 The number one appointed grill master of the week, Pete did a great job flippin steaks in the cockpit. 

 There was an open air market and playground in downtown Treasure Island.

 The marina has a free arcade full of all the fun games.  Basketball, air hockey, Ms. Pacman, pinballs, golfing, dance revolution, etc. 

Ryann and I have "face offs" with Guitar Hero and she wins most of the time.

 Eating pizza with the Metro family in their 56' Matthews m/v. 

 The kids staterooms were so large that you almost forgot you were stll in a boat.

 Jaxon found a great hiding spot for a game of hide-and-go-seek!

This boat made me miss my sister, Michelle Marie (see name on lower hull).

 My little buddy and turbo booster, Morgan! Just when I need a jolt of energy up a big hill, she's there for me. We make a great team and have biked many miles each day this entire week.  I love the tandem bikes as its much easier to talk as well.   

 Santa Claus was a crucial visit this year as the kids were questioning how Santa would get to our boat.  Rest assured he promised to be there this year no problem.  He gave them each a new stuffed animal and asked what they wanted for xmas.

 The charter fisherman were fileting their recent catch with an audience of birds gathering for their share.  Look in the middle of the picture to see a fishes fin and all around to see the pelicans dive-bombing their potential lunch.

 An evening boat parade included almost 50 vessels decked out with some creative ideas and lights galore.  Joe Piscapo was playing in the clubhouse afterwards and several hundreds of people attended the poolside dinner prior to the show. 

 I always put my favorite photos on my blog. The sunsets seem to amaze me every night and with the palm trees on the horizon it looks so perfect. 

Another fun evening with the Metro family.  They came to the boat afterwards to watch the light parade and have a cocktail too.

 It was all very well orchestrated like they do it every weekend. 

 Miz Scarlett is an 8 million dollar boat in the parade. It was filled with people and music (it usually has a Smart Car on it).

FYI - my goal is to only post to my blog one time a week.  Thank you all for your support!

The Crossing

Yes INDEED it was a great day as we headed into the Blue Yonder.  Somehow we were able to Negotiate 26 hours of travel into one day.  At times we realized that Life Made Simple isn't always easy.  Thankfully, it was a Warm One and as Craig was playing pirate he said Wood Ya have a Distinctive Time and he tried to get me to Surrender the Booty in the middle of Gulf of Mexico.  I said to him, are you Semi Crazy and have a bad case of Ititeous or Maybe Later  go find Whatz'er-Name.  I would've agreed if he was a little more Clean Cut at the time.  One thing's for sure we live The Goode Life.  
(Craig's contribution to the blog)!

It made for a long few days as we made the 200 mile crossing through the Gulf of Mexico.  When the sun set the night before, we just knew it was going to be a good day.

 Planning was an easy thing for Mr. Safety (Craig) as he looked at worse case scenario and was prepared for anything.  As our friend Pete said, "it's nothing to shake a stick at"!  This trip is to be taken very seriously and our planning proved that to be true.

 We studied charts, talked to locals and Loopers that had crossed, and watched weather forecasts.  Ten days later we left Apalachicola to venture out for the long cruise. 

 We were fortunate enough to travel with The Old Grouch, High Spirits, Dream Fever and Kim Jo III.  Our seas were perfect and flat, skis were blue and warm. Around 4:00 pm we heard a loud BOOM BOOM and we all rose to our feet stunned by the loud noise that we could feel through the hull of the boat.  It was alarming to say the least.  Just as Craig asked me to take the helm (so he could check the bilge for damage), a fellow boater came over the VHF and said he hit something....another hailed to say he felt/heard the same thing.  All five boats were shaken (literally).  We were in a marked "Danger Area" in the Gulf....we're thinking maybe a target practice of some sort took place.  FYI it was at:  LAT: 29.35.9 LON: 84.09.2 area. 

 Ryann ate dinner with her life jacket on and said that she just liked it so much and didn't want to take it off!  That's Mr. Safety's daughter..hahaha.

I wish I had a visual picture to show of how truly dark it is in the middle of the night on the water.  It's hard to explain the feeling of being so far away from shore with only your navigational lights and electronics illuminating.  It was wonderful to have the other boaters to keep you company in the middle of the night.  As soon as the dark skis were upon us, Dream Fever did a roll call on the top of every hour. It was a spark in my night watch and gave me a burst of energy.  Someone was out there keeping an eye on us and us on them.  It was so comforting just like the stars in the sky.


Sunrise was perfect with Clearwater, Florida on the horizon.  After a long night of keeping watch on the boat, there were a million crab pots to traverse.  This is not to be taken lightly at all.  Friends of ours, Dream Catcher, took in a crab pot with their shaft a few weeks ago and after two weeks and $7,000 they were finally back in the water....not good.  Another boat, this past spring caught a crab pot attached to a 20 lb. cement slab (as most of them are) and ripped out the back of his boat...sinking the entire vessel in less than 10 minutes. 

 Apalachicola, the night before we left, was a great stop. We stayed at Water Street Marina and Hotel.  It was very nice and the town was fun.  We went to the local Maritime Museum, biked around town, talked with fellow Loopers, ran some errands and enjoyed the day.  

 Our small little crew made the most of the day.  They slept in the salon, which made for a fun little camp out.  Morgan was up bright and early and was so helpful finding crab pots in the water.  She was quick to spot them, helped with cleaning and watching the little ones....I'm so lucky that she cares so much. 

On Sat. morning after running the boat for over 26 hours, we made our way to Treasure Island Yacht Club.  We were greeted by fellow loopers and given the grand tour by Les, the Dockmaster.  Made some lunch and took the bikes into town for site-seeing.  The time will fly by here as there's so much to do.  Olympic sized heated pool, free arcade and other kids to hang with is just the start. 

We're tired and ready for a good night sleep.  Thank you all for your continued support, phone calls and prayers.  We really appreciate it and love you all very much! 

Panama City to White City, Florida

Tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 3rd is our big crossing day.  We've waited 10 days for a good weather window and we're preparing now to journey almost 200 miles across the Gulf of Mexico from Apalachicola to Clearwater, Florida.  This is a stretch of the Great Loop Route that is no longer inter-coastal waterway (protected waters) and usually done with an overnight crossing.  This time of year it is crucial to wait for a long weather opening to make the run. 
There are many many other boats that will be traveling in the same direction.  Although we will have no cell phone tower and our VHF will not be able to reach shore for help, we will have the company through the night with our friends scattered around.  We hope for a safe passage and good seas!  Once settled on the other side, we will be spending a month in Treasure Island, Florida where many family members will be meeting us for the holidays!    
Heard Michigan had snow today...wow! We actually had icy docks when we woke up!  Miss all of you (but not the snowy weather)..

The following post is from the past week:

Ryann’s big fishing lure find!

 You can always find washed up pieces of boat wreckage on the beach. 

 

Ryanns super powers saved the day with this falling palm tree!

Port side clear view of the friendly dolphins!

Kids had a riot catching baby sand crabs on the beach. They were disappointed to find out that it’s impossible to keep them as pets due to their plankton diet and way of ocean living.

 

Across St. Andrews Bay we took the dinghy to the Gulf of Mexico for a long walk of “shelling and crabbing.”

Port St. Joe inlet from the Gulf of Mexico had a beautiful secluded beach (rated #1 by Dr. Beach in 2002) nd it was a steamy 80 degrees and full of large shells, huge stingrays, tons of crab and this trail….which made it perfectly clear that we weren’t alone and these fresh alligator tracks lead right to the swamp 100 feet away.  YIKES!       

 It’s as if they’re dancing for the camera!

 20 feet from our little inflatable dinghy raft.  The kids know how gentle they are and weren't scared at all.  However, the following day (in the 10 ft. dinghy) we were in the river near White City and were 20 feet from an alligator and everyone moved to the center of the boat and Morgan said "it's not as much fun seeing alligators in the dinghy."  I laughed out loud b/c no one wanted to move a muscle (except Craig driving)! 

 White City (near Port St. Joe) has been our resting place for nine days.  Although we didn’t have phone or internet tower, there’s a free dock with power, water and plenty of action.  The tow boats come fairly close and fisherman are buzzing around all day.  Everyone has been very friendly and a local family even invited us for Thanksgiving dinner. 

 Morgan is the #1 appointed baker of the boat.  Her specialties include: pumpkin pie, apple crisp, brownies, cooking and quickie cherry pie.            

 Jaxons “lighter” collection consists of only those found on the beach that don’t work.  It’s amazing how much he likes to clean, organize colors and arrange in special ways. 

Thanksgiving Day was a great opportunity to spend some quality time playing games, doing crafts and making lots of good food all together.  Jaxon, Craig and Ryann were all recovering from minor colds so we took it easy and enjoyed the day. 

Left is an alive crab and on the right is the one we already ate.

The first boat, Arianna, is a couple from Mobile, AL that’s taking their boat to Guatemala (where my niece and nephew are from)!  The boat in the middle is “Chip Ahoy” from Houghton, Michigan and joined us for many days. Scott and Cyndi have looped many times and were fun to talk to.  Cyndi is a journalist and ended up writing an article about us for the Key West newspaper.  

 Ryann befriended this little lizard on Daddy’s shoulder and brought it aboard to potentially have as a pet, which lasted about 5 minutes until she lost him.  Two days later he showed up on the dock (it had to be the same one - haha)! 

The picture does not do it justice on how extremely large this grasshopper was. 

Anna and Mark from Arianna brought crepes over for breakfast one morning.  So sweet of her to think of us.

A cool, windy seven mile dinghy ride into Port St. Joe ended up being a fun day.  We had lunch, walked the town, met up with some looper friends, found a playground, provisioned and made it back before dark.     

We just can’t get enough of these sweet dolphins.  We’re convinced that they’re smiling at us and can hear our screams when they come.  They’ll swim next to the boat for so long and tilt their heads slightly to look up at us.  Each and every time the kids leap from whatever their doing to watch them in awe. 

I’ve had several people ask why there aren’t any pics of myself (Danielle) on the blog…..so here are my feet on the bow pulpit!

 This blog is really a keepsake for my children in hopes it’ll refresh their memories of all of the great times we shared together.  I don’t take enough pictures or document the many things we do each day, but what I do here will suffice. The girls love playing “store.” When there is free time to be had, the food comes out of the cabinets and the pretending begins!

Massalina Bayou in Panama City was a great anchorage completely protected through a narrow little drawbridge right next to town.  It was quiet and peaceful (until we came haha) and we were able to dinghy up to a local restaurant and enjoy the town. 

 Across St. Andrews Bay we took the dinghy to the Gulf of Mexico for a long walk of “shelling and crabbing.”

More to come for this blog update....I only have a tiny bar of service for phone and internet if I sit far from the boat and don't move...it's taking a long time!  We will hopefully be leaving here on Friday as our weather opening looks pretty good.  More to come..