Summer Chaser Adventure 2016

A couple of months ago, we talked about taking a 3 week trip up the East Coast of Florida with our good friends and neighbors Vicky, Russell, Alex, and Drew on Aquaholic.  Our intention was to try a new approach to boating, going slow.  The intent was not only to enjoy the beautiful surroundings of Florida, but to cut our fuel costs by more than 50%.  3 days before we left, we started to plan, including where we were going to go (procrastination at its finest). 

The preparation for this trip was nothing compared to last year.  Last year everything had to be accounted for including boat supplies, spare part, personal items, and virtually all meals and libations for 56 days with varying 6-10 people, as the prices were high and the availability was scarce in each of the islands we visited in the Bahamas/Exumas.  This year, the philosophy was, ehhh, we are in the US, we got this! 1 trip each to Costco, Walmart, and Publix and we were ready to go.  The Stephen’s family went from an across country RV road trip to being on the boat in less than 72 hours.

So on Tuesday morning after an hour long thunderstorm delay, we headed to Ft. Myers, our 1^st destination.  We averaged 8 knots and burned less than 6.5 gallons an hour (compared to going 17 knots and burning 48 gallons an hour).  We arrived in Ft. Myers around 4PM with crackling thunder and lightning to welcome us to our 1^st destination.  Just like with most afternoons in SWFL during the summer, you look in one direction and see beautiful skies and the other direction (where we were headed), skies that are ominous.

 

We did however find a new drinking bowl for Sydney (the cup holder of the table).

 We docked in a torrential downpour and waited out the rain on the top of Aquaholic with our 1^st cocktails of our trip.  Once the rain stopped, we walked into downtown Ft. Myers and went to have some sushi.  Our fantastic $5 dirty martini’s and sushi dinner hit the spot.  Our 6:30AM departure the next morning put us all to bed at a reasonable time.  We headed towards Clewiston through the Okeechobee Waterway, which spans 134 nautical miles (154 miles) across the state of FL, the next day.  Bridges and locks are in our future.