A Plan is Not a Schedule

November – December 2019

We arrive in Fort Myers mid-November, planning to stay about 6 weeks before heading to the Bahamas in early January.  As we like to say, “a plan is not a schedule”.  Unfinished boat projects combined with too many cold fronts prompted our decision to stay in Fort Myers for another 2 months.

We settle in at the Marina at Edison Ford, celebrating Thanksgiving at a beachfront restaurant and taking Dory to a nearby dog beach.

Pineapple Creme Brulee at Parrot Key Caribbean Grill, Ft. Myers Beach FL

Dog Beach Park, Big Hickory Island FL

At Christmas, we enjoy the extensive decorations at Edison Ford Winter Estates, next door to our marina.

Edison Ford Winter Estates, Holiday Lights

Edison Ford Winter Estates, Holiday Lights

Thomas Edison's office, Edison Ford Winter Estates, Holiday Lights

While in Fort Myers, we have reconnected with numerous boaters we have met previously in many locations:  Brunswick GA, Wrightsville Beach NC, Southport NC, Belhaven NC, Oswego NY, Kingston ON, Tobermory ON, Chicago IL, Paducah KY and several stops coming down the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.  There are even a couple of boats here from our home marina in Kemah.  We’ve enjoyed docktails, dinners and dog park visits with Dory’s new friends, and met many new people as well.

Docktails, The Marina at Edison Ford, Fort Myers FL

Barkingham Dog Park with Edith and Bee

Dory has also made new two-legged friends!

Centennial Park, Fort Myers FL

Centennial Park, Fort Myers FL

January – February 2020

Our slip at Edison Ford will not be available starting in January, so we move less than a mile away to Legacy Harbour Marina.  We are fortunate to get a slip here as we have been on a waiting list at several Fort Myers marinas.  The good – our cruising friends from Houston are docked a few slips away.  The bad – our slips are more than ¼ mile from land.  We’re getting lots of exercise, at least.

Sunrise, Legacy Harbour Marina, Fort Myers FL

Fort Myers has a vibrant riverfront downtown with events every weekend.  We’ve enjoyed Art Walk, Music Walk, Seafood Festival, Art Festival, a parade and a car show.

Fort Myers Car Show

Fort Myers Car Show

Dory has discovered coconuts!  She carries one back and forth on the dock, entertaining all the boaters along the way.  And, yes, it's heavy.

Dory with Coconut, Legacy Harbour Marina

March 1 – 6, 2020

Our planned March 1 departure has been delayed again.  We subscribe to Chris Parker’s weather service to help us plan our crossing to the Bahamas.  He is predicting at least another 2 weeks before winds and seas calm enough to cross.  So no reason to rush to the Florida east coast when we are settled here and have our car with us.  We have decided to leave our car in Fort Myers while in the Bahamas as we hope to not spend enough time on the east coast to need it.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Finally, today our forecast service says the current cold front (50s and windy today) will be the last for the season.  Weather patterns are changing and we should not see any more fronts coming this far south.  Hooray!  We will leave on Tuesday morning, as soon as winds lay from this front.

Our original plan was to cross Florida, following the Caloosahatchee River, across Lake Okeechobee, then along the St. Lucie Canal to Stuart.  We would go south to the first cut offshore and cross to Freeport.  As the weeks flew by, water levels in Lake Okeechobee have continued to drop and now are too shallow for us to cross safely.

Plan B:  cruise south in the Gulf to Marathon in the Florida Keys.  From there it will be easier to cross to Bimini.  So we are in the final throes of stocking 3 months of food on board (there will be few grocery stores where we are going and prices will be 2-4 times home) and making plans to leave.  Our Houston friends, Steve and Susie on All Talk II, will cruise with us.  At this time it appears we will have calm seas for our 3-day passage to Marathon with stops in Marco Island and an anchorage in the Everglades.  We will wait in Marathon for a 2-day weather window, before moving north to an anchorage to stage for the crossing to Bimini.

Bahamas Plan (Note – No Schedule!)

The Bahamas is comprised of 700 islands and over 2,000 rocks and cays, sprinkled over 100,000 square miles of ocean.  Clusters of islands define the main cruising areas of Grand Bahama, Abaco, New Providence (Nassau), Eleuthera, Great Exuma, Berries, Andros, and others, with open ocean crossings between.  Marinas are few and far between; we will be anchoring more than half the time.  Harbors are mostly exposed to wind and tidal currents so moving between island groups and from anchorage to anchorage is dependent on calm winds.  

The Bahamas

Hurricane Dorian clipped the far northeastern island group of Abaco and the eastern end of Grand Bahama in September 2019, causing extensive damage.  The rest of the Bahamas was unaffected.

We plan to visit Bimini, the Berries, Eleuthera and Great Exuma.  We will not be stopping in Nassau (New Providence), Andros, Abaco; Grand Bahama (Freeport) is now on the maybe list due to our route change across Florida.

We hope to cross to Bimini by the 3^rd week in March and return sometime in June but weather windows cannot be predicted this far in advance.  We can better predict our schedule (there’s that word again) once we get past Bimini.  Stay tuned …