November 18, 2024 Fairhope Docks, Fly Creek to The Wharf, Orange Beach 29.3 NM, 7.4 kn, 4:14 h. Following our friends on Jubillee III with Kingdom falling in behind, we departed Fairhope Docks about 6:20 AM. The forecast called for 3-4 foot waves which fortunately, we never encountered.They were closer to 1 – 2 feet which made for a pleasant cruise. We saw our first dolphins of our loop! What awesome and graceful creatures! We arrived safely to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and cruised past Lulu’s to our home at The Wharf in Orange Beach, for the next month or so while we travel back to Ohio for Thanksgiving and to Winter Park for Christmas parades, babysitting and birthday celebrations. Our first cruise on the intracoastal called for another celebration with Jolie, Kevin, Julie and Bill at Yoho Rum and Tacos about 200 steps from our dock. Their 12-6 happy hours could spoil us for the next month! While at The Wharf, we enjoyed bike rides through Gulf State Park to the beach, live music at several local venues and lots of looper camaraderie. Doug’s cousin Erik and his lovely wife, Tiffany joined us for dinner at Villagio’s and we thoroughly enjoyed catching up with them. We had so much fun that they came back to join us for dinner again after Thanksgiving along with Doug’s sister and brother-in-law who joined us aboard for 5 days after Thanksgiving. We didn’t get to cruise as much as we would have liked with our them but we had a blast exploring Orange Beach, including a fun afternoon at the FloraBama and decorating Hiatus Too with Christmas lights! When we returned from our trip to Winter park, we met some new loopers and caught up with some others we’d met in the past, discovered a Speakeasy and finished up maintenance and electrical work in preparation for our next leg down the gulf coast.

December 12, 2024 The Wharf, Orange Beach, AL to Pensacola Marine Center, FL. 25.7 NM, 7.7 kn, 3:35 h. So excited to be back to cruising, we departed The Wharf bright and early. We arrived in Pensacola in time for a nice bike ride and wonderful lunch at The Fish House, followed by a stroll through the Palafox historic area. We made a stop at Joe Patti’s Seafood on our way back to the marina and were overwhelmed by the many choices available and decided to make dinner reservations rather than fix dinner aboard. On our second attempt to leave the marina (we had found ourselves inadvertently locked in without a gate code!) we made it to Pearl and Horn for dinner and it was worth the effort. One of our top 2 meals on the loop so far! We would highly recommend if you are ever in the Pensacola area. Thank goodness Harbor Host, Ben, had stopped by. our boat earlier in the day and left us his card! We were able to call him for the code to get in and out of the marina.

December 13, 2024 Pensacola Marine Center to Baytowne Marina Sandestin 54.9 NM, 9 kn, 6:06 h. The morning started out a little sporty with some 2-3 foot waves splashing over the bow as we cruised across the bay. The seas calmed as we came into the intracoastal and Choctawhatchee Bay was like glass. We had a learning experience at our first piling dockage. Fortunately, after the dockhand and dockmaster were also unable to lasso the piling (I did feel a bit less incompetent after that), we switched slip to one with shorter pilings and successfully tied up for the night in time to explore and have a happy hour snack. We enjoyed live music later at the Marina Bar & Grill and then went to hear/see the dueling pianos at Rum Runners at Baytowne Wharf Village. It was an entertaining and fun evening!

December 14, 2024 Baytowne Marina Sandestin to Emerald Harbor Panama City 49.4 NM, 8.7 kn, 5:55 h. My lucky day! Doug took care of looping all of lines back around the pilings to the boat to make for our easiest departure ever. We had a great cruise and Seth & John made tying up at Emerald Harbor a breeze. We had a delicious and interesting lunch experience within a short walk from our dock at Gene’s Oyster House. AND there was a Christmas lighted boat parade that we went to before a wonderful dinner at Ferrucci’s.

December 15, 2024 Emerald Harbor Panama City to Moorings of Carrabelle 77.9 NM, 9.6 kn, 8:23 h. We departed Emerald Harbor around 7 AM as planned. While we were cruising, we looked ahead to what we wanted to do in Apalachicola and realized almost everything was closed because it was a Sunday. We decided to power through to Carrabelle (another 28 NM) which made for a longer day than expected. It was an uneventful cruise through narrow rivers and channels. Moorings found some space for us on a face dock between a couple of other boats and Doug did a great job parallel docking. After securing the boat (tying up, connecting shore power and water, and closing the flybridge canvas) we walked over to The Fisherman’s Wife for dinner (their last night open before their 2 week holiday vacation). We sat near some fellow loopers, Don & Fran on Legacy who are from Cincinnati and had a lovely conversation. We joined other loopers for docktails after dinner, Good Intentions & Stone’s Throw, and discussed our upcoming crossing of the big bend area. During our Carrabelle stay we toured the town seeing the world’s smallest police station and eating at the Seafood Shack and Harry’s Bar.

December 17 & 18, 2024 Carrabelle to Clearwater Harbor Marina 152.9 NM, 8.6 kn, 18:04 h. After topping off our fuel (298 gallons of diesel) and emptying our holding tank, we departed about 4 PM for Clearwater. Our friends on Expotition joined us just past Dog Island and cruised along behind us as we made our way across the Gulf. We had a beautiful sunset with a small green flash not too long after we began our journey. After sunset, the stars came out and were spectacular! Moonrise was beautiful and although it dimmed the stars, it made seeing for navigational purposes much easier. I stood watch from 6 – 9 PM, and from 3 – 6 AM, and Doug got up at 6 AM to take us in to Clearwater Harbor. Around 5 AM as I was thoroughly enjoy the peace and calm of a beautiful night, the fog rolled in and decreased visibility. Once the sun came up we continued on through the fog, dodging crab pots along the way. Some dolphins came out to play off our bow and I went out to watch them from the bow, absolutely awesome! After settling in to Clearwater Harbor, which would be our home for the next couple of weeks, we joined the crew from Expotition for a celebratory breakfast. We hope to see them again somewhere along our loop! Later in the afternoon, we walked out to Clearwater Beach for lunch at Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill, the grouper rueben was great and we had a chance to meet our boat broker’s brother who is a bartender there.

December 19 – 22 Lots of fun in Clearwater! Scott & Becki brought us breakfast and we had a great visit with them, taking a walk around the marina, the park and the town with Winifred. Fran & Rick came over from Riverside to see the boat, enjoy a docktail and dinner and we enjoyed catching up with them. On Friday, Cathy, Tyler, Kylie & Jackson drove up for a visit and we enjoyed having lunch with them. Later we listened to the Clearwater Rock Orchestra play Pink Floyd’s, “The Wall” album, at the amphitheater nearby and enjoyed it from a distance. Saturday, we really got in the holiday spirit with a Jolly Trolley trip to Tarpon Springs for lunch and baklava and a Rockapela Christmas concert @ the Capitol Theatre, a short walk from our marina. Rockapela was the band on the tv show, “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?”, and they still have several of the original members. It was a hoot!

December 29, 2024 Our last day in Clearwater, Jenny, Dan, Lillian, Delia and Abigail came to visit! We enjoyed showing the girls our boat and playing on the playground by the marina, Later we enjoyed lunch at Frenchy’s, Kilwin’s and Three Daughters Brewery in Clearwater Beach. They brought us some boat cookies aka Aunt Joanne cookies, which are a family tradition when boating, and we were happy to share our goodies!

December 30, 2024 Clearwater Harbor to Twin Dolphin Marina Bradenton 42.8 NM, 9.4 km, 4:49 h. After waiting for the fog to lift, we departed Clearwater about 11 AM. We ran in to fog again as we neared the channel, It was very heavy fog and slow going until we reached Tampa Bay and headed in to Bradenton. Not the best conditions for cruising but there were clear skies and light winds when we arrived at Twin Dolphin and filled up with diesel and pumped out for the first time since leaving Carrabelle. Cathy & Tyler arrived and joined us aboard for a few nights and our friends, Mike & Kirsty, from Middletown came by for docktails and dinner at Pier 22. A good time was had by all!

December 31, 2024 – January 4, 2025 We enjoyed a 5 night stay at Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton. It was a nice marina with a great pool and facilities. Conveniently located to downtown Bradenton on foot, Palmetto and Emerson Point Preserve on Snead Island by bike and Anna Maria Island by car, we loved exploring the area for a few days. We celebrated New Year’s with Cathy & Tyler with sunset cocktails on the roof at Oak & Stone, dinner at Cafe di Lorenzo and a band & street party in downtown Bradenton. Doug and I rang in the new year on the flybridge after our guests went to bed and saw fireworks from all the surrounding areas. It was a great start to what we hope will be another amazing year! Our guests left on the 2nd and we stayed a couple of more days visiting the Farmer’s Market, exploring the Riverwalk and taking care of a few things on the boat until it was time to move on.

January 5, 2025 Twin Dolphin Marina Bradenton to Crow’s Nest Venice 45.3 NM, 8.7 kn, 5:26 h. We left Twin Dolphin a little after 11 AM and had smooth cruising to Crow’s Nest Marina in Venice. We chose to take the outside route on the Gulf rather than the intracoastal and skipped the bridges, boat traffic and minimum wake zones. We saw dolphins and LOTS of crab pots along our way. Upon our arrival, Mike and Boyd from Crow’s Nest helped us tie up to the pilings and were wonderful! There is still a lot of damage to this marina and the South Jetty Beach nearby is still closed due to the hurricanes last fall. After a walk to the Venice Beach Pavilion on the Esplanade and through Heritage Park, we returned to the Crow’s Nest for a lovely dinner and a relaxing evening. Due to high winds in the forecast we decided to spend 3 nights here instead of 2. On our bonus days in Venice we had a wonderful time. We enjoyed lunch at Dockside, strolling around the historic downtown, riding the Venice Bike Loop and visiting Babe’s Ace Hardware for supplies to make fender boards so we are better prepared for the next piling fixed dock.

January 8, 2025 Crow’s Nest Marina Venice to Pink Shell Marina Fort Myers Beach 55.6 NM, 9.6 kn, 6:04 h. Today we decided to cruise outside due to reports of at least 4 vessels hitting a submerged boat in the MIDDLE of the channel along the intracoastal plus the hassle of bridges that would need to be opened. It was a pretty smooth ride with 2 foot waves on the port quarter until we turned into the channel to go back in from the Gulf, then things got a little roly poly with waves on the beam, Doug had contacted SeaTow for local knowledge post hurricanes and we had no problems navigating in to the marina. Pink Shell has nice new floating docks and has recovered well from Hurricane Ian 2.5 years ago. The rest of Fort Myers Beach is still under clean up and reconstruction as far south as the bridge at least. Our friends, Russ & Laura (from Key West back in the day), came by to visit and we went to dinner with them at the JWB Grill. It was good to catch up. We were surprised by a dolphin feeding frenzy near our dock on the way back to the boat, it was quite a noisy, messy, startling spectacle!

January 9, 2025 Pink Shell Marina Ft. Myers Beach to Naples City Dock 29.4 NM, 9.8 kn, 3:16 h. Another good day on the Gulf until the turn into the channel where it was definitely rocky for a few minutes. Thanks again to Doug planning ahead and SeaTow’s local knowledge, it was easy to navigate. We had a beautiful cruise up the bay to the dock and tied up in time for a nice lunch at The Dock at Crayton Cove. As soon as we sat down, we looked at each other and said, “we’ve been here before!” Everything looks a little different when you arrive by boat I guess. After lunch, Doug biked to West Marine for an EPIRB (taking the search out of search & rescue if we ever need it!) and a quick stop at Skyline for a couple of chili sandwiches. I opted for a stroll to 5th Avenue and enjoyed the sunshine. Karen & Dave Harrison came by for a docktail and we all went to Bleu Provence for dinner. It was a wonderful evening with old friends.

January 10, 2025 Naples City Dock to Rose Marina Marco Island 13.8 NM, 6.4 kn, 2:25 h. Once again, SeaTow and local captain knowledge made navigating easy. Winds and current made things sporty both at the Naples fuel dock and coming in to Rose Marina, waiting for other boats to depart and navigating a narrow inlet around the Black Pearl who we docked behind. After tying up, we walked to the Snook Inn for lunch and the Pennington’s stopped by to visit and see the boat It was fun catching up! They gave us a ride to Doug & Kim Gaker’s where we had a wonderful dinner and watched Ohio State beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl. The next couple of days we enjoyed Marco Island while waiting for a good weather window to cruise to Stock Island in the keys. On Saturday, Kim and Doug stopped by to see our boat, take us to lunch at the JW Marriott and to visit their boat. We had a great afternoon! On Sunday we rode our bikes out to Tiger Tail beach for a walk. It was a beautiful peaceful day at the beach.

January 13, 2025 Rose Marina Marco Island to Stock Island Marina 97.2 NM, 14 kn, 7:11 h. We left Marco Island as the sun came up and decided to cruise a little faster than usual since we had such a long way to go. It was a relatively smooth cruise with lots of crab pots and lobster pots to navigate around. There were a number of boats that passed us in the distance including the Key West Express. Several dolphins came out to play, watching them never gets old! Things got a little sporty as we rounded the corner by Ft. Zach and were pretty bumpy the last 6 or so miles to Stock Island. We had plenty of depth and Doug did an excellent job backing us in to or slip. It’s a pretty calm and sheltered marina and we should be pretty comfortable here unless the winds are blowing hard from the north. Rob. Kristen, Jack, Natalie and Mikey stopped by on their drive down to Key West to celebrate Mikey’s 21st birthday and offered us a ride into Key West to celebrate with them. Of course we took them up on the offer and joined them off and on during their visit. It was fun celebrating with them at Schooner Wharf, Captain Tony’s, Hogs Breath, The Green Parrot, The Tree Bar and all of the Key West favorites. We made it to our first Southernmost Docktails on the 15th at The Galleon – Pirate’s Cove. It’s always a treat to catch up with our fellow loopers. We’ve arranged to have our canvas replaced while we’re in the keys for 7 weeks and we’ve enjoyed riding our bikes up to Geiger Key Marina and in to Key West as well as around Stock Island. It’s beginning to feel like we’re on vacation! And we have some resident manatees in our marina, so exciting to watch them!

January 23, 2025 While exploring the Key West Botanical Garden we discovered a collection of Cuban Chugs (Cuban Refugee Boats) in the gardens. This collection of handmade and modified boats used by Cuban refugees is the only known collection of this size anywhere. The name “Chug” comes from the sound of the ingenious use of any motor available to power these boats including lawnmower and car engines. Under the now defunct United States “wet foot, dry foot” policy, Cubans who made it to land were allowed to stay. Those taken at sea by the Coast Guard were returned to Cuba. The courage and determination to cross from Cuba to the US on these homemade boats boggles my mind.

January 25-31, 2025 More fun in the keys… Dinner at Broil on Cudjoe Key with our friends from Free Flow, beautiful restaurant, great food! Sunday morning croissant delivery courtesy of our friends, Shelley & Jeff! Sunday Funday at Geiger Key Marina & Fish Camp with the Davises. Dinghy ride to the Perry Hotel and Marina (where Becki & Scott are staying) for happy hour and a swim. Reminiscing and making new memories in Key West with our good neighbors! Taking Scott fishing around Stock Island. And a tour of the National Weather Service Building in Key West with some of our fellow Loopers!

February 1, 2025 Stock Island Marina and Yacht Club to Conch Harbor Marina 8.1 NM, 7.5 kn, 1:20 h. After topping off our diesel (190 gallons or so) we departed Stock island and had smooth cruising all the way to Key West Bight and Conch Harbor Marina. We are so excited to be here for a while. It’s beginning to feel a lot like we’re on vacation although there are still boat chores and maintenance to be done.

February 2 – March 2, 2025 Key West!

Our first Sunday in Key West, we went to Mass, enjoyed crepes for brunch and listened to afternoon jazz with Barry Coda and the Sharks at Green Parrot. While listening to the music, our friends, Deb & Bob on Gypsy Soul, who were our dock mates up in Sturgeon Bay, showed up! It was great to catch up with them after not having seen them since Burnham Harbor in Chicago. Later in the day, I stepped off our boat and looked across the dock to find that our friends on Her’s IV, Margie and Doug, had snuck in and docked right behind us! What a great surprise! We were SO excited and happy to be with them again and we thoroughly enjoyed sharing some of our favorite Key West haunts.

A few days later our friends, Mary and Tom on Mackinac Passage III arrived and joined the fun. We had them over for the Super Bowl and introduced them to Skyline Dip. After the Super Bowl we streamed Steven and Abey’s wedding live from India until we were so exhausted we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer.

Kathy and Jack came from Middletown to join us for some Key West fun and we had a great time listening to music, catching up with Middletown happenings and celebrating Valentine’s Day. Sadly, they left the day of the Pat Dailey Tribute concert (Reese Dailey & Roy Fogg) at the Key West Theatre. It brought back so many happy memories of days in Put-In-Bay and February’s at the Canal Street Tavern in Dayton.

Next up, Lauren, Ross, Isla, Cleo and Archer arrived for a week of fun in the sun during their winter break. We rented a 26 ft. runabout for some island hopping (or a progressive picnic on the boat) and a swim to a sandbar. Next up, we visited Bahia Honda State Park and went to the beach before continuing on to our Dolphin Family Splash at the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon which was very cool. Blue Heaven for breakfast and a visit to the Butterfly Conservatory were a great start to another day followed up by an afternoon kayak adventure at Ocean’s Edge with a dip in the pool afterward to cool off. We visited the playground at Truman Annex, The Eco Discovery Center, the USCGC Ingham Maritime Museum and the Key West Lighthouse. Our visit culminated with a whole key lime pie from Blue Heaven which we all thoroughly enjoyed!

After we said farewell to our Georgia family, we said hello to our friends, Jolie and Kevin, on Kingdom as they arrived in Key West for a month. We enjoyed cocktails and a beautiful sunset, the Artisan & Farmer’s Market at Higg’s Beach, the 60th Annual Key West Art Fair, Pirate’s Punch and Dallas Remington at Captain Tony’s, pizza from Angelina’s and drinks from the Tree Bar. Not to mention beautiful sunny afternoons at the pool at Dantés.

After a day of torrential rain and flooding we met up with our friends, Julie and Donnie from NOITDONT at Hog’s Breath where we listened to some great music. We met Maureen and Dan from Pipe Dream (new loopers) in the laundry and they joined us for Tuesday afternoon at Schooner Wharf along with our friends from Kingdom and Mackinac Passage III. After his set at Schooner Wharf, Gary Hempsey came over to visit on the boat and we made plans to see him again when he’s playing up in New York this summer.

Joanne and Jim arrived from California for a visit to Key West and we did it all! Hemingway’s House and the 6-toed cats, breakfast at Blue Heaven, Key West Lighthouse, the Southernmost Point, Louie’s Backyard, the Key West Cemetery, E-bikes, Ft. Zach, Truman’s Little Whitehouse, Gary at Salty Frog’s, Gabriel at Captain Tony’s, Jesse and Jill at Green Parrot, Randy Robert’s show at LaTeDa, the Schooner Wharf Art Fair…so much fun!

And our last (but not least) visitors in Key West were my first flight instructor, Ryan and his lovely family. Ryan, Maureen and their sons started the loop in the fall of 2023 and really inspired us (now that we were retired) to quit thinking and dreaming about the loop and just do it. And so here we are!

Our last evening in Key West we spent with our friends from Kingdom. We were very sad to leave them and Key West behind but we hope to catch up later along the loop.