January in Florida

We flew to Texas on December 6th and enjoyed our Christmas with our kids and grandkids.  

We drove to Oklahoma City to attend a 100th birthday celebration for King's Aunt Florence.  It was great to visit with relatives and also meet new members of the family.  We are blessed with a wonderful family.

Our cousin Jerry remembering great times with Aunt Florence.

We flew back to the boat in Dunedin, FL on January 6th.  On the 10th, our dear friends, Dave and Leslie flew in from Colorado to spend a week on the boat.  We had a wonderful visit.

Pelican on our slip the morning that we left Dunedin Municipal Marina.

We picked up Dave and Leslie at 5:30 a.m. at Tampa Airport, went out to breakfast and then walked around the Dunedin town square Farmer's Market and Art Festival.  We enjoyed tasting the fare and the lovely weather.  We said good-bye to the pelican at the Dunedin Municipal Marina.

Gulfport Municipal Marina was our Sunday afternoon destination.  We located a sports bar, close to the marina, for watching the Broncos Playoff game.  Unfortunately, the game did not go our way, but we had a good time.  Take a look at the big sandwich Dave ordered.

On the Florida ICW, lots of dolphins run along side the boat.

Dave and Leslie in their usual 'sunny' position watching the upcoming bridge opening.

A beautiful house on the waterway.

Dave, Leslie and King buying shrimp bait for King's new hobby, fishing.   This was a very convenient stop, just past the bridge and right on the waterway.

The bait worked!  We anchored in a lovely cove and Dave and King caught catfish and sea trout.

  

We anchored at Cayo Costa State Park and rode the dinghy ashore.

A very pretty park. The park volunteer gave us a ride to the beach (Gulf side).

Strolling along the beach.

Lots of colorful homes along the waterfront.

We first met Todd and Paula, from Ocean Breeze, in Leland, MI and then saw them again in Grafton, IL.  They have a winter home in Cape Coral, FL.  They came to City of Cape Coral Marina and we visited their lovely home and ate dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant.

Ocean Breeze is docked at their home and ready to go to the Keys.

Banana tree with a bunch of hanging bananas (above the pink chair).

King and Todd enjoying mussels and pizza.

Dave and Leslie's daughter, Nicole, her husband, James and their three boys have just moved to Ft Myers, FL. We think this is a good thing because we will see Dave and Leslie more now that their kids are in Florida.  They all joined us for a day-long ride from Cape Coral to Burnt Store Marina in Punta Gorda, FL.  King has new fishing equipment and he enjoyed fishing with the boys.  They caught seven fish in about 45 minutes.  The boys had fun reeling them in!

 Sunset from the back of Blue Moon