Dessert 1st to the St. John's River

Mike,
I got a ride over from Ormond Beach, got the truck/trailer, retrieved the boat, and brought it back to Astor to flush the motor. We're now at Sparky's
for a late lunch (early dinner?), then back to The Villages.
The trip was a complete success. 307sm And exactly three weeks.
Mary will no doubt have pictures and commentary online, shortly.
Best,
Casey&Mary
 
Now comes the less-than-fun part of the trip ... unpacking, washing, cleaning.

When (re)trailering the boat yesterday I managed to break one of the welded bunk brackets on the trailer (&%$#), so will try to get that fixed before our next trip.

Our 'plan is to be home through Thanksgiving (Tanner's coming for a visit...). Then we depart in early December for the South Florida Loop, and plan be gone through approximately Jan 15th.

For the South Florida Loop we will drive down to Lake Okeechobee, launch, and proceed to Florida's east coast via the Caloosahatchee River, south to the Keys, then north along Florida's west coast to Ft. Meyer's where we take the Caloosahatchee back to Lake Okeechobee. Overall, the Loop will be about 700 miles.

We are constantly amazed by the reception folks give our Brat-boat. (I'll use the term Brat-boat to generically include all C-Dory's, Cape Cruisers, Ranger Tug's and the rest of the Brat Family.) It is truly amazing. I think our boats really fit a niche. Many folks want a boat that is seaworthy, trailerable, comparatively economical, and cruisable. Oops - guess I just described our boats.

Yesterday, while we were in Sparky's Cafe (Astor, FL) a fellow came in and announced to the patron's: "Who's boat is that in the parking lot?" We thought - Oh God, did he hit it with his truck? Mary told him it was our boat and he proceeded to tell us that "...when I saw your boat, it just knocked me down..." (interesting terminology). We proceeded to give him the three minute version of the C-Dory Story. Before he departed he told us at least three times "...if you ever get tired of your boat, CALL me." He gave us his card (he owns a GMC car dealership), we told him about C-Brats. etc. ...and again, he offered to buy our boat. Interesting exchange.

"...if we ever get tired of our boat...." That's a good one.

Best,
Casey&Mary
 
Casey and Mary
Glad you had a great trip. Your next one sounds even more interesting. We are spending Thanksgiving weekend at a Westin Resort in Cape Coral, right across from Fort Myers. Cape Coral looks like an interesting area. Some 400 miles of canals. Your right about the C-Dory. It gets some nice compliments whether you are at the dock or stopped somewhere with the boat on the trailer.
 
Mike Taylor":37wxl9e0 said:
Been following you on Spot....looks like Mary has got you hitchhiking down route 40 to retrieve the truck and trailer.....or did you send her?
Click to expand...

Mike, I volunteered but since my back has been giving me some trouble, Casey insisted that he be the one to hitch-hike over to Astor to get the truck/trailer. I wish I had taken a photo of him with his cute "Astor (please!)" sign.

Finding ourselves without transportation on land during all these boating adventures, we have done quite a bit of hitch-hiking. We've had 100% success and have met some very nice people. Yes, I know, I know...someone will say how horribly dangerous this is...but no more so than touching icebergs from the bow of a small boat, skydiving, scuba diving, flying airplanes, snow-skiing, water-skiing, riding motorcycles or scooters or ATV's or snowmobiles or even just plain BOATING on a small boat in remote places like Alaska. Things that are fun often have an element of risk.

Stan Major":37wxl9e0 said:
Cape Coral looks like an interesting area. Some 400 miles of canals. Your right about the C-Dory.
Click to expand...

Stan, I lived in Ft. Myers for 13 years and while there had a 25' Pursuit walk-around cuddy-cabin. It was a great fishing boat but was used more for island hopping. I was just telling Casey about Cape Coral - There are so many canals that we always described it as the "Venice of Florida". Enjoy your Thanksgiving and your upcoming St. Augustine trip...you will love it! Great marina!

Casey":37wxl9e0 said:
We're currently at Ft. Matanzas. The sunrise is spectacular with the fiery fort outlined in bright morning color.
Click to expand...

This photo didn't do that sunrise justice. It really looked like FIRE. We have had some absolutely spectacular sunrises and sunsets on this trip.

DSC09071-M.jpg

This sunrise was while anchored at Pine Island:

IMG_9517-M.jpg

And this sunset was at Hontoon Island State Park:

DSC08396-M.jpg

For more photos, look at our SmugMug album. http://caseyandmary.smugmug.com/St-John ... p-Oct-Nov/

There are now captions on each photo! One of these days, we may even get around to doing the same for the Alaska photos.
 
Back
Top