Home from 27 day Spring Cruise

New Route home going under Sanibel Bridge

The forecast was for high gusty winds that would stir up the seas.  Therefore, we decided to forego another day in Naples and head for home.  At 10:30 a.m. we started the engine and took off on a gorgeous balmy day into the turquoise blue waters of the Gulf.  We traveled to the Fort Myers area where we took a new route, under the Sanibel Bridge and around to the Inter-coastal Waterway.  We motored approx. 7 hours and turned into Ponce Inlet, Punta Gorda.  As we approached our dock, Richard said, "Look who's here!"   It was friends, Marilyn & John, who caught our dock lines and provided us with coconut rum punch to celebrate our journey.  That was so nice of them and then we all headed out to Manatee Pizza for sustenance. 

House along Naples shoreline

Marilyn took this picture of us coming into our home dock

As we recounted our experiences, we told them the best part was meeting up with friends and cruisers along the way.  We also enjoyed visiting 8 yacht clubs - they all have a different "feel" but are like going to a nice hotel or resort with beautiful facilities, pool(s) and restaurants.  The friendliest yacht clubs were St Charles (Ft Myers) and Coral Ridge(Ft Lauderdale) because members and the staff were extremely nice to us. Our most memorable meal was lobster night at Vero Beach.  We really liked Vero Beach because of the free public transportation that is available and the museum and theater.  We also learned how to use Uber, which is a great app to download on your phone.  You can charge the ride to your credit card and it is VERY reasonable to get to where you want to go locally.  The drivers were also very friendly!

Richard compiled these statistics (being the scientist that he is!):

• In 27 days, we traveled 684 statute miles
• We ran 87.5 engine hours
• We ran 39.8 generator hours
• We visited 8 yacht clubs in the Florida Council of Yacht Clubs where we received 8 free nights and stayed 6 more nights that we paid mostly modest amounts of money
• We moored (caught a mooring ball) for 4 nights (costing about $30 night)
• We stayed in 1 more public marina
• We stayed at Moore Haven City Dock and Franklin Lakes Park (modest cost)
• We set our anchor out for 3 nights
• We used approximately 369 gallons of fuel for the engine and 40 gallons for the generator, and got about 1.85 miles/gallon or 1.6 nautical miles/gallon
• Diesel fuel prices varied but mostly it is about $2.65 per gallon