MAXIMO POINT ANCHORAGE, GULFPORT, FL

19-20 April, 2005. We finally crossed Tampa Bay to get here just in time for Mary's arrival from Denver, CO. Our friend, Jay, who we met when we lived in Tampa back in the late 90's, came to pick us up and take us to Bob's house. Jay is renting the "mother-in-law" apartment on Bob's property. Rocky, Mary and I stayed at Bob's house for 2 nights. Gail and her fiancee Marc were also there most of the time and we had a great time hanging out by the pool.

When Rocky and I first arrived in Tampa on Christmas Day, 1997, from Denver, it was raining. Either January or February, 1998, the rainfall totaled something like 27 inches for that month, breaking the record set in the 1880's by something like 10 inches. That was our introduction to Florida after driving from Denver (including a fierce Oklahoma ice storm). Shortly after we arrived in Tampa, we met Bob and Billy, who threw these great pool parties. We also met Gail, Jay, Rich, Hippie Don, Timmy and a lot of other great people.

We are currently in constant touch with Gail, who was living in a house that Bob owned in Zephyrhills (yes, the spring water). We were at a hurricane party at the house in Zephyrhills when we won the first 24 foot sailboat on ebay. We had evacuated Michael, Natalie and Roxanne from Ft. Pierce (on the Atlantic coast) and Timmy was with us also. We even called Hippie Don but he was on his way to Michigan for a month so we didn't get to see him. It was nice to be back among so many good friends after our journey from Chesapeake City, MD. Of course, we had a great time visiting Michael, Natalie and Roxanne in Ft. Pierce before going through the Okeechobee Cut to the Gulf Coast of Florida.

CORTEZ BRIDGE ANCHORAGE, ANNA MARIA ISLAND, FL

16 to 18 April, 2005. We left the marina and anchored here again to wait out the weather before crossing Tampa Bay. We discovered that our dinghy was gone from the dinghy dock one day after spending some time on the island beaches. We thought it had been stolen but discovered that some kids had thrown a dead fish in it and released it. It had drifted to a nearby private dock where we recovered it. We now lock our dinghy to dinghy docks. I went back to the Sea Horse one night. I hung out after they closed and didn't get back to the dinghy until almost 6 am. It was pretty rough to dinghy against the current after a long night of drinking but I finally made it back to the boat. When we got a favorable weather report and set out, we were delayed by an accident on the Anna Maria Bridge (just after the Cortez Bridge). Two openings were cancelled due to the accident. We encountered several asshole motorboaters throwing up huge wakes right next to us but once we were through the second bridge, the ride was fairly comfortable across Tampa Bay.

CORTEZ COVE MARINA, CORTEZ, FL

A few of my buddies. Don't worry, I let them go.

Manatee, Cortez Cove Marina

The SV Cosmic Debris, Cortez Cove Marina

15 February to 15 April, 2005. Our longtime friend, Gail came down to Anna Maria Island so we could seek out a marina to stay at for awhile. We found Cortez Cove Marina on the other side of the bridge from the anchorage. $10 / foot / month with electricity. We call our boat 26 feet (actually 26'8") so for about $550, we spent 2 months here with electricity, showers and free laundry facilities. Actually, I jumped ship for one of those months to stay at our friend Rich's house. I was hoping to get some work done on my manuscript. I actually experienced a little culture shock at the apartment on the corner of Himes and Waters in Tampa. Endless traffic, constant sirens and millions of people scrambling around with stress in the air. I did manage to get some work done. But mostly, I just needed a break from the small boat we've been living on for several months. Rocky and I are best friends but sometimes, you just gotta get away.

Gail made us promise to be in the area by 20 February because she had a surprise for us. We had no idea what it was. When we arrived at her house, she produced Jason, the salesman from Harbour North Marina in Maryland where we bought the boat. We had become good friends with Jason and we finally knew why his plans to visit us had sizzled out. It was a great surprise and, in my opinion, one of Gail's greatest moments. She had another great moment when some guy was standing in the median shading his eyes from the sun. Gail drove right next to him and popped him a hard salute. Embarrased, he pulled his hand down and Gail did the same as if the salute was returned. We were laughing so hard we almost had to pull over.

Cortez is a great little town near Bradenton. We crossed the bridge on our new fold up bicycles many time to return to Anna Maria Island and rode the bus into downtown Cortez for Wal-Mart and all you can eat Chinese food on many occasions. Michael even came over from Ft. Pierce to visit. I particularly enjoyed the Sea Horse Oyster Bar and Grill just outside the marina. $1 drafts and good people. The first few times I went there, I spent less than $10 a night and had a blast. The last time I went there, I brought $5 and when I ran out of money, Dave, the owner, shoved a $20 bill in my hand so I would stay. Now that's service! I even did 'Help' by the Beatles and 'Satisfaction' by The Rolling Stones during Karaoke one night. If you're ever in Cortez, Florida, go to the Sea Horse. They've even got all you can eat King Crab Legs for $24.95.

Arno, the owner of the marina was a great guy, as were the other boaters living there. Many of them were musicians doing gigs in the area. There were several manatees living in the marina. We met Win and Christy who made the cover and centerfold of Motorboating magazine recently. They deliver yachts for a living and have sailed extensively throughout the region, including Central America. Rocky helped get Win's laptop up and running. Win then let Rocky copy NOAA charts for the entire world. To purchase these charts individually would cost somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000. Once we get a good GPS system to tie them into, we've got the entire planet covered. We can use them as is, but a GPS system would produce real time results for any trip across the globe.

CORTEZ BRIDGE ANCHORAGE, ANNA MARIA ISLAND, FL

10 to 14 February, 2005. There were a lot of derelict boats anchored here. There is a dinghy dock next to the Anna Maria Pier and lots of cool stuff on Anna Maria Island. The island beaches here are beautiful with lots of beautiful bodies to look at. There was a convenience store, several good restaurants, even a grocery store and post office on the island. I highly recommend Anna Maria Island to anyone traveling through the area. The main beaches even have concession stands. The water was finally getting warm and we got our first taste of salt water in several years while swimming here.

FREE DOCK, VENICE, FL

9 February, 2005. The free dock here is right next to the Venice Yacht Club. There's supposed to be room for 4-5 boats but this huge yacht (that in my opinion, could've afforded to be in a slip at the Yacht Club) took up nearly the entire dock. There was just enough room for us to get in. The Game Warden who patrols the area to insure that the 72 hour limit on free dockage is enforced, asked us about the registration for our boat which we easily produced. We purposely didn't put the stickers on our hull because we knew, by law, that it wasn't required. He recommended that we put the stickers on the hull so we did. He claimed that he was doing us a favor by not writing us a ticket but we were fully aware of the law in this regard and it simply wasn't required. After cutting through all the BS, we came to like him. I even sent him a Civil War CD a few days later because he was a Civil War buff. There were a lot of snooty people in condos there but we enjoyed our stay.

CAPTIVA ISLAND, FL

8 February, 2005. This was a nice anchorage. I must admit that I'm finally catching up on this blog and simply don't remember anything in particular about this anchorage. I do remember that we saw lots of dolphins here but we've been seeing dolphins everywhere. There are so many nice anchorages on the Gulf Coast. The Atlantic coast doesn't even come close to the beauty and the beaches of the Gulf Coast.

FRANKLIN LOCK AND DAM, ALVA, FL

Johnny B just waking up

Rocky

Rocky

Rocky on the phone

Rocky

6 to 7 February, 2005. It was nice to get to the other Army Corps of Engineers campground for $8 / day with electricity and showers. The nearest convenience store was about 5 miles away but one of the RV campers there let me use his bike to ride there. We didn't do a whole lot here. Mostly just took the time to relax. I did have an old friend stop by and we had a great time.

FREE DOCK, LABELLE, FL

4 to 5 February, 2005. Another free dock with electricity. Docking here is done Meditteranean Style (either bow or stern straight in- and no finger dock or anything to step off the side of the boat. You drop your anchor to keep from swinging too much. We docked stern in and found that our outboard was getting slammed up underneath the dock whenever a wake would come through- so we pulled forward. It was very difficult to jump from the boat to the dock and vice versa. There was a post office here so we were able to get out a few orders. There was also a U-Save grocery store a few blocks away but we were stocked up so didn't need it. There was also a laundromat a few blocks away with a bar inside. I got laundry done and the foreman for Florida Aluminum and Steel bought rounds of pitchers so I was able to have a few beers for free while doing laundry.

The bridge just before the dock here opens on request (like most bridges) and apparently we got lucky getting the bridge tenders attention. A guy who knocked on our boat had a Bayliner Buccaneer like ours and we talked for awhile. He said that he once had to actually climb up the ladder to get the bridge tenders attention after trying his radio, his cell phone and using his horn. The bridge tender had the TV up so loud that he didn't hear this guy. Then, another guy in a sailboat who docked next to us here said that after numerous attempts to contact the bridge, he actually called 911 because he thought something might have happened to the bridge tender. The 911 operator was able to contact the bridge tender and let the guy through. I think this bridge tender needs a new job.

CITY DOCK, MOORE HAVEN, FL

Moore Haven Lock

Moore Haven Lock

Lake Okeechobee, Rim Route

Lake Okeechobee, Rim Route

Johnny B, Lake Okeechobee, Rim Route

Johnny B, Lake Okeechobee, Rim Route

Lake Okeechobee, Rim Route

Lake Okeechobee, Rim Route

Burning downed trees from the season's hurricanes

1 to 3 February, 2005. Well, we're out of Lake Okeechobee. We stayed 3 night here but only had to pay for one at 75 cents per foot. This place has a great grocery store nearby (B & B Grocery) with lots of great deals. We bought a lot of food here, including a package containing several cloves of garlic and several jalapeno peppers for 33 cents. They have carts of damaged cans for pennies on the dollar too. We also found a Goodwill store and bought a Presto WeeFry Skillet for $2.99 and a Dustbuster for $2.99. The skillet is great because we don't have to use up our propane to cook when we have electricity. We can even heat up the coffee pot on it.

We met Lance, a homeless guy whose mother's property was confiscated by the government for some dumb reason. Very nice guy. He was staying at the video store owned by his friend who was currently out of the country. The front window was smashed out and apparently he had to contend with rats in there. Even though he was down on his luck, he bought some ribs and chips to cook up for us on one of the grills at the dock. He even bought the beer! It was fun to grill and drink beer all day for a change. We were issued a key for the shower here and we let him use it. The night before we left, the water pump on the dock sprung a leak and gushed water over the dock for an hour or so until someone came to turn it off. We had read about a 90 year old woman who had bought the bank building here and had a trimaran (triple-hulled sailboat- possibly for sale). I went into the "Anne Tiques" store that she owned but she was in Texas. Apparently, her husband owned the boat and didn't want to sell it.

TOWN DOCK, NEXT TO SLIM'S FISH CAMP, BELLE GLADE, FL

Johnny B

Free Dock

Bird mating dance

The misspelled No Swiming sign and warning for the single alligator that stalked the bathroom

A rare Florida Pelican

Slim's

View from bridge that leads to Slim's

Bridge that leads to Slim's

Free Dock

The Buccaneer

The Buccaneer in paradise

Some record fish on display at Slim's

The Buccaneer hiding out

The hand-crank bridge that leads to Slim's

20 to 31 January, 2005. As soon as we passed through the lock and into the lake, the waves were hitting us from the side and we rocked pretty hard. The shelves in the boat were falling over even though the waves weren't all that big. Rocky took the tiller and I worked on the computer. We saw at least 20 monster alligators in Lake Okeechobee- some at least 12 to 15 feet long. Scary but also very cool. About 2 hours into the trip, we arrived in a protected channel and the trip smoothed out. Before arriving at the town dock, we passed under a manually operated bridge. This poor guy breaks out a long metal pole, inserts it into the bridge gears and begins walking the wheel. After we were docked, I was able to ask him if they paid him well and he said that they did. The town dock here is in the middle of Slim's Fish Camp. The marina here is totally destroyed but there are many campers and fisherman around.

We were able to hook up to the free electricity at the fish cleaning stand here. Free dock with free electricty- priceless. This place is a bird watcher's paradise even though most of the birds are pelicans. I walked the 2 to 4 miles into town (Belle Glade) several times for supplies since the small store here is not only limited but they don't accept credit cards. I see lots of turtles in the creek along the way. Somewhere along the line, I threw my lower back out (still don't know how) and I could barely stand or walk for several days. Even after nearly a week, it still hurts but I'm much more mobile. Rocky caught 2 catfish here that he cleaned and cooked. And on January 30, a pelican collided with a transformer that cut power to he entire camp. When the transformer exploded, so did the pelican. Power was restored that night. Also, I was able to open a new ebay sellers account so when the first of the month arrives, we can start posting on ebay again. Hopefully they won't make the connection to our many accounts over the years and cancel it. Michael and Natalie traveled the 80+ miles to visit us here too. It's always nice to see them.

PORT MAYACA, FL

17 to 19 January, 2005. We tied up to the dolphins (large pilings) here for three days. They are just before the Port Mayaca lock that leads into Lake Okeechobee. Apparently, the lake can get pretty mean, pretty quick since it is so shallow so we were waiting out the waves. At one point, we put the 6 HP engine on the dinghy and took it back to Indiantown Marina that we had passed on the way. We needed smokes. We din't realize that it was 10 miles behind us so when we arrived after 2 hours, it was already getting dark and we were quite cold. We stopped at a small inlet just before arriving at the marina that had some very nicely formed whelk (I think) shells. It was hard for me not to collect them for either my mom, Gail or our friend Mary in Colorado. The tiny inlet is on the north side, just west of Indiantown Marina if any of our fellow boaters are interested. When we got to the marina, they welcomed us into the clubhouse and made us coffee. One of the men even gave me 2 beers. He ended up driving us into town so we could do some shopping. We decided that bthe trip back would be grueling in the cold and dark so we threw $70 we couldn't afford at a hotel room. We dinghyed back the following morning. We finally received an agreeable report on Lake Okeechobee waters and headed into the lock.

ST. LUCIE LOCK AND DAM, ST. LUCIE, FL

St Lucie Lock's resident alligator

St. Lucie Lock Recreation Area

Resident alligator

Resident alligator again

Rare flying animal, St. Lucie Lock area

The Buccaneer below the pavillion and fire pit

The Buc in its slip

The Buc again

Roxanne as Popeye

The Buc inches from the rocks

Roxanne being dinghy

The Buc AGAIN

Some sunk boat nearby

Johnny B making hamburgers

Roxanne jamming out

Michael being stoic

Michael still being stoic

2 to 16 January, 2005. Once again, our Golden Access Pass comes into play. As far as we know, this is the only Army Corps of Enginners Boat-In campground on the entire east coast. We got half price with the Pass ($8 / day) and stayed for the limit of 14 days. This place is immediately after the lock, with 8 docks. We met several people here, including Richard, we helped us dock. His catamaran was docked next to us for most of the time we spent here. I began to wonder just how much standing room he could have in his boat since the center of a catamaran is so far above the waterline. When he left, a very unpleasant man and his wife took the spot. This man treated his wife like dirt. Rocky and I were both on the verge of speaking up on several occasions. One day, his wife was in the dinghy, scrubbing the tow line and he told her to pull the plug to drain the water out. She informed him that water would come in if she did that but he insisted so she pulled the plug. When the water started coming in, he snottishly commented, "well, what do you want me to do about it?" I did hear her tell him one day that she felt sorry for him for being such a miserable man. It was nice to know that she wasn't completely beaten down. It was a great day when they left.On the other side of us was George. He was very cool but we didn't see him much- usually just when he came and went to shower. Another guy named Rich was on a double-masted sailboat that he never sails. He was a nice enough guy but very negative and basically unhappy. He came to build fires at the common fire pit in front of the docks.

There was also 2 young couples who were also on a 27 foot sailboat. I really only met Jeffrey from that group. I couldn't imagine 4 people on a boat this size. They would sail around the small body of water there to pass the days while waiting for engine parts. One night, after sitting around the fire with Rich, Jeffrey and I walked the 2 miles to the convenience store for a 12 pack of beer. Jeffrey had a small bottle of 140 proof liquor with him that he sippped on during the walk. When we got rung up at the convenience store, Jeffrey offered the cashier $5 instead of the $5.89 (or whatever) that the beer actually cost. She didn't appreciate it much. After taking the beer behind the counter, she told us to leave before she called security. I tried to apologize for Jeffrey but she wouldn't listen. When I stepped outside, Jeffrey had slammed the rest of the liquor and threw the bottle behind him. Not good. He was already too drunk before that. I managed to apologize to the cashier and she finally sold me the beer.

On the way back, Jeffrey got a little wild. At one point, he grabbed the open 12 pack and began running through people's yards. When he returned, the 12 pack was three beers short- he had dropped them somewhere. From there, I had to hold him up while we walked back. Suddenly, he just took off running ahead. I tried to find him all the way back to the campground with no luck. I went back up the road to search for him and found him laying in the grass just as a cop rolled up. His face was covered in blood and there was a puddle of blood on the sidewalk nearby. The cop was totally cool. He called the paramedics and they took Jeffrey to the hospital. I informed his boat mates and they got himk back to their boat either that night or the following day. He didn't have a cuncussion or anything but some pretty nasty scars are sure to persist. Rocky and gave them some aspirin, acetominophen, ibuprofen, naproxen and some bandages. There is an alligator that hangs out on the other side of the dam and I got a few pictures. It's about 7 to 8 feet long. Michael, Natalie and Roxanne came out for a few visits and we took the boat a few miles west for the fun of it. They enjoyed the trip, as did we. It was nice to stop somewhere for 2 weeks.