From 10,000 Lakes to 10,000 Islands

March 5 - 8, 2013

 

We arrived at the 10,000 Islands National Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday.  It is located west of the Everglades.  When I hear 10,000 islands, I think long sandy beaches.  Once again…… wrong!  These islands are all mangrove created.  There is no beach – at least we didn’t find any.  Even if there was a beach, I would be hesitant to walk on it since we are on the edge of the Everglades.    

 

 

Wednesday morning Brian dropped the dingy in the water, we picked up Bonnie and Jon and spent the day exploring the maze.  Luckily we took along the GPS.  When I say maze, I’m not exaggerating.  One could easily get lost winding through these backwaters.  It is beautiful and quiet except for the constantly circulating tour and air boats.  We did find Everglade City and were pleasantly surprised by the little town.  It is a bit funky – especially the Camellia Street Grill where we ate lunch.
 

This is the sign for the Camellia Street Grill.
Good indication that it's a funky kind of place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our search for wildlife was stunted.  We saw vulchers, osprey, pelicans, blue herons, a dolphin and a manatee, but NO alligators!  And, according to Wikipedia, the name, 10,000 Islands, is a misnomer.  There are only a couple hundred islands.  Still, it is a beautiful natural area that was definitely worth the stop.

 

 

Apparently, these are the guys that know where
to find the allegators.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday night we anchored in Little Shark River.  We have stayed here before and it is a perfect anchorage.  Great protection from the wind on three sides and just the right depth to hold the anchor easily on a sandy bottom.  We are very remote, at this point…..no phone or wifi.  Normally, we can at least get a weak roaming signal for phone calls.  With a clear sky last night and no city lights for miles and miles, the stars looked like we were in a planetarium.  I kept singing ‘The stars at night are big and bright deep in the heart of Shark River’.  Be glad you weren’t here – I can be really annoying.          

Gotta smile – we’re lovin the ride!

              

Crossing Florida On The Okeechobee

March 1 - 4, 2013

After several false starts we left Stuart on Friday, March 1^st headed for the Keys via Lake Okeechobee.  Brian misplaced his credit card on Monday.  Tuesday morning we called to cancel it and ordered a new one that was to be overnighted to the marina.  When it didn’t arrive Wednesday, we called to see what the problem was.  Because it was a lost card, being sent to an address other than our billing address, it went to the fraud department.  No sign of it again on Thursday.  Another call tells us that it is still in the fraud department.  We give up!  ‘The Plan’ was to leave two days ago.  Send the card to our billing address and we will have it forwarded to us.  There is too much out there to see and do – we can’t wait any longer. 

On the waterway, we didn't find any alligators.
These are the best views I could come up with.
Cement being pumped to the road bed of a bridge
and cows walking along the river.

While on the west side of the Okeechobee, we passed a catamaran that radioed us.  It was Pat and Mark on Catrina.  We had docked next to them at the Green Turtle Marina in Grand Rivers, Kentucky in 2010.  He surprised us by commenting on our trip to Hawaii.  First of all, the boating world is small.  It still amazes us when we run into people we know.  Secondly, it is fun to find out who is reading the blog.  I can see how many pages have been read, but have no idea who is reading it.  Most of the time I am surprised at who continues to plow through my rambling tales.

It is almost dusk as we pull into the Moore Haven city dock for the night.  A fellow boater comes to assist us.  He notices that we are from Afton and mentions his sister-in-law lived there.  She was a former client of mine twice (and, a favorite).  Plus, we know their next door neighbors in North Carolina!   

On Saturday we continued across the Okeechobee to Fort Myers.  To cross the state, boats have to go through five locks.  We have gone through many locks in our travels between Minnesota and Florida (close to 400 on multiple trips – one with a drop of 110 feet) and we think we are pretty good at it.  But, these are different.  Once the boats are in the chamber, the doors on the exit end are partially opened and the water pours in or out to equalize.  Sounds simple, but if the lockmaster opens the gate too far, the water rushes past, causing turbulence which makes it extremely difficult to hold the lines that attach us to the wall.  The first lock was a drop of only 15 feet, but when that gate opens and you see 15 feet of water pushing through the opening it is scary! 

Sunday was a short 35 miles to Naples where we met up with Bonnie and Jon.  We  made it by noon and had the entire afternoon to eat a late lunch, walk around town and talk about last month's travels.  Tomorrow we are looking at houses and townhomes with a realtor.  It will be fun to be on the other side of the table.  We are just riding along.  Bonnie and Jon are the ones considering a purchase.  Famous last words...........   

 Gotta smile -- we're lovin the ride! 

We finally saw an alligator today!

 

 PS:  It happened again!  We met with the realtor and her husband today.  While at lunch we discovered that his uncle lived two houses from us in Minnesota!  

 
                           

Beautiful Hawaii

 

February 11 - 24, 2013

Thanks to the generosity of two couples that have been our friends for 21 years – we had a fabulous vacation in Hawaii.  John and Gail invited us to share their rental cottage in Kauai for a week and Jan and Steve let us stay with them in their new home on ‘The Big Island’ for four days.  They both were great tour guides and hosts.  I don’t know when we have laughed so much.  We laughed hysterically – tears ran down our faces and we had to pull off the road to compose ourselves.    

I had always wanted to see Hawaii, but felt a little funny about leaving Florida to go to Hawaii.  I thought it would be redundant.  Well, if you have never been to Hawaii ---- go!  It is so beautiful:  the ocean, the beaches, the lava fields, the flowers, the trees, the volcanic mountains, the waterfalls and the FOOD!  We were on sensory overload.  Two weeks of nonstop fun and two very long plane rides almost killed us.   

John and Gail met us with leis and a
smiley sign....making sure we would
connect!

The ocean -- just beyond our front porch on Kauai

A perfect cottage.  When we move back on land, I'd
love to have a house this size, floor plan and style.
Perfect! 

The spectacular view from Kilauea Light House.

A taro field.  Taro is ground to make poi, a traditional
food of Hawaii.  The natives no longer eat it -- just
the tourists.

  Talented  machete work so I can sample
fresh coconut. 

Exploring a dry cave.

King Kong Mountain.
Do you see the profile?

Wild chickens strut the entire island.  They never stop
calling cockadoodledoo.

The funky Mermaid restaurant near our cottage.

From a lookout over Waimea Canyon.

This was my leap of faith----
I'm afraid of helicopters, but agreed to see
Kauai from the air.  Most of the island is too 
rugged to see any other way.  It was worth it --
spectacular (and, occasionally breath taking).

Views from our flight

The 2200 acre Kauai Coffee Plantation was started
in the 1800's as a sugar company. 

Wild pigs were brought to the island by Tahitians
between 200 and 300 AD.  Now they are pests that
dig up the roads and golf courses.

JoJo's famous shave ice....not shaved.
A snow cone with ice cream in the bottom.
A must try, but maybe -- only once. 

We were so surprised to find a Costco that we had to
 check it out.  Main difference -- a whole aisle devoted to
 different varieties of macadamia nuts.

Steve and Jan's house on Hawaii.
No walls to the front and back and each bedroom
has a private outdoor shower!  Unbelievably beautiful. 

Jan and Steve take us for a morning hike through
the lava fields.
 



Snow on the summit of Mauna Loa, the largest
volcano on earth.  Look carefully -- it is in the clouds.
56,000 feet tall.  13,677 feet above sea level.
The weight of this behemoth has compressed the sea
floor another 26,247 feet.   

The 420 foot Akaka Falls.

We walked through this fabulous rain forest
in the Akaka State Park.  We expected
dinosaurs to peek out of the foliage.

We hoped to see lava flowing like this when we went
to Kilauea.

Instead we saw this at night, and.......

this during the day.  Still pretty cool to see.

This former YMCA camp is now a wonderful lodge
for visitors to the Volcanoes National Park.

An arbor of orchids on Oahu, our last destination.

Waikiki Beach offers expensive shopping on steroids. 
Yowza!

A statue honoring Duke Kahanamoku,
the father of surfing.

The Bishop Museum was built in 1889 and has the
largest collection of Polynesian artifacts.  It was built 
to honor Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop.  

Jewelry of whale teeth secured on braided human hair.

Ku, The War God.

While I took lessons to improve my hula, Brian took
a class on celestial navigation without  instruments.
What a surprise!

Inside Diamond Head's dormant crater.

Walking the warm waters of Waikiki Beach.

We were told that we must try malasadas from Leonard's
while in Honolulu.  We thought they would be the size of
doughnut holes.  They are doughnuts filled with an
assortment of creams.  We ordered a variety of 15.  They
are not doughnut holes.  They are full size doughnuts!  We
ate until we were sick.  They were soooo good!

A definite must see -- the Arizona Memorial.  The
memorial and museums will bring tears to your eyes.

If you read all of this, then you are as tired as we were when we got home.  So many good times.  I couldn't control myself.  I had to share all of it!

Gotta smile -- we're lovin the ride!