Jeff and Lisa’s tiny boat blog

Traxx and the Gopher Turtle!  Last lock for a bit. Goodbye St. Lucie Campground! Crossing Okeechobee when it was smooth. Locking through. St. Lucie Lock. Boat parade at Fort Myers - lol! Hurricane devastation at Fort Myers. Okeechobee after it got rough! Dinner with looper friends at Roland Martin Marina.                               Just a pelican on the water.                                       Another sunset.    We left friends in Punta Gorda and cruised on the Calooosahatchee River to Sweetwater Marina.  We were traveling with our boat buddies, Joel and Jill on Smile with the Risin Sun.  We met them in Punta Gorda and have enjoyed their company.  We arrived at Sweetwater Marina and headed to the bar for happy hour.  The marina was the happening place!  Lots of people around, music and plenty of beer flowing.     The next day, we continued our journey toward Lake Okeechobee.  It takes longer to get somewhere by boat.  For example 60 miles is a long day - about 8 hours.   Ideally

Jeff, David Moyer and Mark Denny - friends  since grade school.                         Gopher tortoise at Cabbage Key.                                         Cabbage Key.                                Fishing at Punta Gorda.                                ICW going to Okeechobee.  Abandoned sailboat in Punta Gorda.           So much damage from Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers.                                  Our journey on Nebo.                          Shells on a tree at Cabbage Key.                      Dinner with loopers at Cabbage Key.                  Railroad bridge opening up so we can pass.                       On top of fire tower at Cabbage Key.                    Vietnam Memorial Wall in Punta Gorda.                                          Osprey Nest.                     Jeff and David Moyer - friends for life!                                  Entering Cabbage Key.               Playing Cornhole with friends at Cabbage Key.                              Another abandoned

      This was our spot for happy hour at Bay Palms Springs.  After Tarpon Springs, our next stop was at Bay Palms Resort and Marina.  This was a boutique hotel/resort with a small, with an retro 50’s theme and an attached marina.  Actually, there were three small hotels but you could stay at one and play at all three.  The main resort was right on the beach, with a pool, beach bar, volleyball and happy hour every day from 4-5pm, which included free craft beer and wine!  You can bet that every day we were there, (4 days), we made it to happy hour!   We didn’t do a lot here - took some walks up and down the beach, caught up on laundry, walked into a few stores and walked to the big, pink hotel, Don CeSar, and of course the happy hour at Bay Palms.  The marina was at one of the smaller hotels with happy hour at the bigger resort which was across the street and down a couple of blocks - but free alcohol was worth the walk! We met people at happy hour who had been coming to Bay Palms for s