CHRISTMAS

Kelly, Dan and Michael are here at Indian Rocks Beach for Christmas. The beach is wonderful. Instead of cooking this year, we had a wonderful champagne brunch at Don Cesar's, a wonderful elegant hotel.

Indian Rocks Beach

We have stopped for the holidays and are staying at the Holiday Inn Harborside. Fitzcat has been decorated. Kelly, Dan and Michael have arrived from Boston.

Cayo Costa State Park--Pelican Bay

We raft up with Terry and Bob, friends on their boat Second Wind.
Lagoon just off of Pelican Bay

Fitzie loves to ride in the dinghy with Don. We are exploring Pelican Bay.

Bob, Terry, Don and Fitzie riding in the tram to go to the beach at Cayo Costa SP.

A view of our boats rafted together.

Ft. Meyers--the western end of the Okeechobee Waterway

We celebrate our wedding anniversary with our friends Bill and Carolyn.
Above is a view near their apartment.

Our anniversary lunch.

We are docked at Shell Point, a retirement community where Bill and Carolyn live. There are manatees in the canal. This is a frustrating attempt to photograph them.

Crossing Florida via the Okeechobee Waterway

Much of the waterway is very pastoral--lots of farms and cows. Certainly not the high rise condos of both western and eastern coasts.

After crossing Lake Okeechobee, we enter the swampy, grassy areas around the edge of the lake.

We meet new and old friends at the Franklin Lock and share our experiences.

Rainbow over Fitzcat at the Franklin Lock.

The beauty of cruising.

These are pictures from the our slip near the St. Lucie Lock. We also cooked Thanksgiving dinner here. Although we could not find a small turkey that would fit in our oven, we cooked a chicken instead and stuffed it like a turkey.

The Okeechobee Waterway

Here is a map of the Okeechobee waterway. Lake Okeechobee is the second largest lake within the US borders. Lake Michigan is the biggest. However, Lake Okeechobee is only an average of 10 feet deep and much of it is swamp and grassland.

Before leaving Stuart, we have dinner with friends Sharon and Larry. Sharon had knee replacement surgery on Tues. and is doing very well.

When we are in Stuart we really enjoy hanging out with our friends Brenda and Roger. Don and Roger always seem to have a project--two heads are better than one. This time it was the autopilot.

Don celebrates his birthday in Stuart. Our good friends Larry and Sharon from Lead Free Too took us to dinner in Stuart. It was Don's 77th birthday.

Fitzie has been a great boat dog so far. Here she is on watch while we are motoring in the ICW.

This is how we do the laundry. We have to haul it ashore in the dinghy.

New friends Margie and Bill and their dogs. They rafted with us in Vero Beach. Fitzie had a great time with new friends too.

new dinghy

This is a picture of our new dinghy. Fitzie is riding in a little carrier strapped to Don.

Heading South

We have been cruising south rapidly since we launched Fitzcat in Bayboro, NC. Today we are in Titusville and are finally warm. The temperature is expected in the 80's today. It is difficult to describe the trip. AS we travel, we have gone through the marshlands and low country of SC, GA, and FL , but also through cities along the coast. Wildlife is abundant and we have especially enjoyed watching waterbirds, eagles and osprey.