#41 We’re Actually Looping!

Cheryl: Since leaving the Fort Lauderdale area, it finally feels like we’re officially Looping. Up until then, we were retracing the steps we took bringing the boat home from Cape Coral and revisiting Butch‘s memorable experiences on Lucidity. We are now officially in uncharted waters!

Although I’ve traveled by land around most of the Great Loop, seeing it from the waterside is truly remarkable. It’s absolutely stunning seeing the waterscapes, the reflection of the clouds off the water on a calm, clear morning, the mansions, the mega yachts, and the creative live-aboard set ups. I’m most amazed by the animals we see along the way – no alligators yet (except the one in the parking lot). I’m like a kid on Christmas morning each time I see dolphins! I’ve discovered that the Gulf dolphins are much more playful than the ocean side dolphins. We’ve seen tons of dolphins since leaving the Keys, but they don’t play in our wake like the Gulf dolphins did. Cousin Rick says it’s because there are so many boats on this side of the state that the dolphins can be choosy who they play with.

This is the first time we’ve visited with old friends and family since Venice. Mary Ann and Bill were our first “first class passengers”. Such a joy to share our voyage with them! David, Chloe, and Emma were our first visitors from home. We really appreciated them going out of their way to meet up with us. My cousins Mike, Janae, Tanya, Rick, Alexis, and Warren live near the marina we’re in. All but the newlyweds (who are on their honeymoon) have been down to the boat. It’s pretty fabulous showing my family my new lifestyle. Hopefully on our next leg (to Daytona) we will host my cousins as first class passengers.

Our friends, Tim and Beth, from Knoxville are in town to survey what may become their new Looper boat. Seeing the excitement and trepidation in their faces and voices reminds me of what Butch and I were experiencing in 2024. (I’ve come to see Looping (so far) has been easier than I had anticipated. Keeping our relationship the ultimate priority has made difficult situations easier to handle.) Good luck to Tim and Beth as they plan for this incredible journey.

We continue to meet new “friends” along the way. In addition to the folks Butch mentioned, we’ve also met Serenity Now (Cooley’s Landing in Fort Lauderdale) and Bobbin Along/Island Quest/Loving Life (DelRay Beach). Island Quest finished their Loop right after we met them. I can’t even imagine how that must feel.

As we prepare for a short trip home, I’m wondering how I will feel leaving the boat. Will I sink into my king size bed of 10,000 angels and wonder why I tolerate sleeping in a sarcophagus? When I run a load of laundry anytime day or night, will I shutter at the memories of walking a quarter mile and paying seven dollars a load? When I relax on my zero gravity, reclining leather sofa, will I rue the days of sitting perfectly upright on non-contouring armless vinyl? When I cook in my kitchen and put dishes in the dishwasher, will I cringe at the memories of the boat’s 2’ x 2’ counter space and small sink? Will Butch have to drag me out of my house or will I forgo the creature comforts and enthusiastically jump right back into our adventure? Only time will tell but either way, I promise to come back to the blog and tell you what I decide!

Butch: What? It’s time to change the clocks already? Another one of my favorite days of the year and wow, here it is. Sweet! I love it. (Cheryl disagrees) And I kind of love the fact that somehow I managed, for the first time in my life, to mostly miss winter. That’s pretty cool, another new thing for me. So, travel-wise, we’ve been working our way up the East coast of Florida, and the new sights, new people, and new experiences just continue. That is also pretty darn cool. And of course, boat issues. For the forth time I had to hire a diver to cut our props clean; this time it was palm fronds wrapped around the prop shaft. I tried putting it in reverse to shake them off, with no luck, and in time they might have rotted and fallen off, but we were at Vero Beach City Marina, a 5 star Looper marina, (meaning inexpensive, well-run, a free bus, and things to do nearby) and saw a couple of divers working on a boat so I got them to clean up ours. He pulled a big chunk of palm frond off. I felt it when we hit the frond, and from then on I had a slight vibration, so I knew that once again we had picked something up. I hope the Loopers behind us appreciate the fact that I am single-handedly cleaning the waterways of loose ropes and palm fronds. 🙂

As I write we are in New Smyrna, FL, visiting friends and family, exploring the nearby downtown and watching the manatees and dolphins swimming just behind the boat. You can’t get a decent photo of manatees as all you ever see is their backs and then that big tail. Once we leave here we’ll migrate north, with plans to park the boat somewhere near Jacksonville and fly home for a visit.

It’s quite fascinating to look at our Great Loop map, where we have a sticky arrow pointing to home and another one to wherever we happen to be. It’s a long way from Knoxville to New Smyrna, and yet you never actually do that long trip. What you do is go from channel marker to channel marker, one at a time, as the miles slowly pass but somehow quickly add up. We’ve done over 3000 miles on the boat, including getting it home. And still, every day, every hour, it’s simply traveling from one channel marker to the next. You can never see them very far ahead, sometimes you can see four or five channel markers way off in the distance but generally it’s only one or two. But you always get to that next one, and then there’s the next one, and the next, and so on down the watery road, the green squares and red triangles shining like a strange runway towards the edge of the world which never comes.

And so, some photos!

The first news was a wedding we attended, Cheryl’s cousin Alexis and groom Warren. We left the boat in Delray Beach, rented a car, and zoomed up near Orlando for the wedding. (I got three compliments on my jacket.) A good time was had by all!

In addition, I got to see brother Bill and family, it’s been a while so that was a great treat. Bill and Mary Ann even came on one leg of the trip with us, from Ft Lauderdale to Delray Beach. So they have now done about 38/6000th of the Loop!

And this artwork, of a woman who apparently suffers the same heartburn I get now and again:

North bound out of Ft Lauderdale was kind of wild, this is a shallow spot where every weekend hundreds of boats congregate to drink, (pee in the water), and play loud music.

I got to go to Sailorman, a marine salvage warehouse, where everything is BIG!

And we thought we had seen some big yachts in Ft Lauderdale. 116 feet? This one is 358 feet and comes with a submarine.

And of course, south Florida traffic:

Along the way, in fact all the way around Florida, I was amazed at the number of derelict boats we saw. We saw what must have been a 60 or 70 foot sailboat, half-sunk, dismasted, and washed up against the mangroves. That was probably a five million dollar plus boat once. This kind of sad sight is all over:

Vero Beach was a great stop, with a free bus and streets like green tunnels from the live oaks that reached clear across the road.

At Vero we got to scooter through the mangroves, something we did in the dingy in Key West.

Vero Beach also included a launch, this is the closest I have been to one. So far.

And here is a picture that really had me contemplating the mysteries of life. The sailboat is nearly identical to Lucidity, my old boat, it even has several of the same modifications so for a moment there I thought maybe it WAS my old boat. For those of you who don’t own sailboats, this would be like seeing an old flame in an unexpected place. Even though it’s not my old boat, we are parked next to it, so I have a photo of the two boats that changed my life in ways I never would have predicted. I didn’t realize it until I saw this photo, but much of my entire adult life has been wrapped up in these two boats, or at least the ideas and dreams that these two boats represent. For me, this is a photo that carries a lot of weight. (And is that a good-looking sailboat or what?)

The next stop was a marina at the south end of Merritt Island, where we got to visit Cheryl’s friend Donna who lives nearby. Biggest marina yet, 275 slips. When you look down the docks the boats just kind of dwindle into the distance.

And amazingly, it seemed like 50% of the boats there, (all paying slip fees), where derelict. Many of them had five inches of bottom growth and barnacles on the bottoms. Take a close look at this one; the condition of the sail cover and the grime. And he thinks he’s going to sell it?

We did see this guy, flying along with the birds.

And as usual, we met some interesting people at the marina on Merritt Island, including a couple, Jerry and Wendy from Tulsa who had sold the house and bought an Island Packet much like my old one. We had a great conversation one evening; they are in for some great adventures.

Just a guy, washing his alligator. We saw this when we were out for lunch one day with David, Chloe, and Emma, who were down from Knoxville visiting friends nearby.

So today we are here at New Smyrna, where bird island is just behind us.

As well as a mysterious stone relic across the street: https://www.visitflorida.com/travel-ideas/articles/arts-history-new-smyrna-turnbull-sugar-mill-ruins/

As Cheryl mentioned, friends Tim and Beth are also in town, negotiating to buy their Loop boat, which just happens to be in the marina next to us! So we got to catch up with their adventures as they get closer to their own Loop.

And last, I added armrests to the Captain’s chair topside and had to go to Ace Hardware to get some bolts. This is heaven to a boater, an entire row of fasteners of every size and configuration! (It’s the simple things that make life good.)

Turned out great, they look good and it’s way more comfortable. Can’t believe I didn’t do this back home, but I just hadn’t driven the boat enough to realize how nice they would be.

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act upon their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.” T.E. Lawrence