We are winding up our stay at White Marlin Marina in Marathon. Managed to spend some time with our friend Pogi for a week and our friend Neil and his cousin Ann for another week. Good times were had. Hated to see them leave. Our month is about up here and we have a slip reserved at Stock Island Marina in Key West for the next month. We are shuttling the car down tomorrow and will sail the boat down Thursday and arrive Friday. We are looking forward to the stay and the different lifestyle there. We made several trips to Key West the past few weeks and have become friends with CW. Colt, a singer/songwriter that lives in Key West. Hope to see him there again.

We spent the last month split between home for the holidays and Fort Myers Beach. We stayed at Moss Marine for 20 days and home for 10, including the holidays. We loved Fort Myers Beach and plan to return in March to close out the season. My friend Pogi came down on the 12th and we sailed the boat down to Marathon, arriving on the 15th. it was a nice ride but a little rough at the first anchorage south of Marco Island. Not much sleep that night. Second night was in the Everglades up the Little Shark River. Nice anchorage and great sleep recovery. The sail to Marathon was tranquil but foggy and loaded with crab traps. The little floats above the traps were everywhere requiring constant vigil at the helm and lookout. The trip was 52 miles to the White Marlin Marina in north Marathon; a nice peaceful spot. The slip is reserved for a month and then we may head to Key West, but not sure yet. The bus leaves here for Key West at 10 in the morning and we will be on board to check it out.

We moved on from Gulfport which was a nice stay. I put on my wet suit and cleaned the bottom of the boat. It needed it. The next stop was Sarasota and a mooring ball at Marina Jack. This is located in downtown Sarasota, which is beautiful, and a very well planned and executed urban solution to a downtown area. The area was heavily influenced by John Ringling, of circus fame. We did the Ringling tour and it was worth the time and money. One day was spent at St. Armand's which was a real estate project of Ringling. We have never seen so many super expensive cars in one place. Obviously these folks aren't from my hometown! Nice stay, but now have moved on to our holiday home in Fort Meyers Beach. Nice spot near Cape Coral and Fort Meyers and close to the airport. We will be here until at least January 5. Great jumping off spot for the Keys if we decide to go. In the meantime we will fly back home for Christmas and New Years.

Anchored in Gulfport, fl enjoying the sunshine and watching Missouri football. Off to Sarasota in the morning.

Time to update. We were in Carrabelle several days waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf and decided to rent a car and make a run back to Kentucky to pick up our car and bring it back. We returned on Thanksgiving day. The time was spent visiting with Sherrie's son Jason, his wife Maria, and her daughter Caroline and their son Cole ( Sherrie's grandson). it was a good time seeing them.

Once back in Carabelle it became obvious that a weather window was coming that weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Our additional crew was with family for the holiday so Sherrie agreed to make the trip across the Gulf to Dunedin. We went out at first light on November 29. The trip started with a moderate seas and clear skies for the first 50 miles and then was calm for next 50 miles into the night. By about 3 am, the wind started to pick up and so did the waves coming up to 2 to 3 feet with an occasional 5 footer the rest of the way in for the last 50 miles. Pretty bumpy but not dangerous. The wind was on the nose the entire way so we had to motor for the entire 31 hours. We pulled in to Marker 1 Marina at about 2:30 pm and fueled up, had dinner and crashed for about 12 hours.

Dunedin is a nice area close to both Tarpon Springs and Clearwater. We rented a car and made the trip back to Carrabelle to pick up our car and got to explore a bit of the area for the past two days. it is time to move on and make our way slowly south to Cape Coral where we will leave the boat for a return trip home for Christmas. We should get there around the 15th. I cannot post pictures as the files are too large but will work with it or paste them on Facebook.

Moved from Apalachicola to Carrabelle today to stage for the long Gulf crossing to Dunedin. Apalachicola Bay was a little fierce at first and we yawed and rolled until our first course change. Then it was pounding through the waves and chop for a while, spraying the whole boat with salt water several times. Winds were pushing 20 knots. Things finally calmed down a bit after about two hours and we made better time. There were several dolphins along the way and several small shark like creatures feeding outside St. George Island. Moorings Marina came into view at about 2 pm and we filled up boat with fuel and got a slip for our stay. Getting into the slip was difficult at best and the marina staff offered no help in tying up. We finally got it in with no damage done. Looks like we will be here for quite a while waiting for a weather window for the crossing.