Snowbird Plantings

I'm not sure exactly the reason...... whether it's an opportunity to have a touch of home or what, but most snowbirds seem to plant either some vegetables or flowering plants. We have done that in the past with Hibiscus plants outside our door every year. They really are nice with new flowers most mornings. This year I decided to try something with zucchini plants which has worked out well with a limited crop coming in now. I'm not sure whether there is too much sun or what but I have been disappointed with the crop to this date. We have watered regularly but they are not the large size I expected.

Our neighbors tomatoes
Peppers

Herbs

Hibiscus

Zucchini

Of course, it would be much simpler to just go to the outdoor market or flea market for vegetables and probably pay a normal price for these items but instead we buy potting soil, pots fertilizer, seeds........ which probably works out 20 or 30 times a price for what we do get...but it is fun!

Manatees Redux

We have had warmer temperatures this last week and yesterday after returning to the marina from a less than successful fishing trip we were surprised to see our manatee buddy from the other day back with 5 or six of his friends. Our buddy was easily recognized by the scars on his body and cut tail, but his friends did not seemed to be as marked up as he was which is probably a good sign.

Once again the inappropriate watering of the animals below

These guys would vie for getting the stream of water directed their way as best they could even rolling over like a dog would to get attention. There were a total of six animals that I saw and a variety of sizes although no young ones.

Our neighbor is a skindiver and has enjoyed going to an area called "the horseshoe" which is an area nearby that was dredged out for fill and has become a good place to fish from shore and dive. On his last dive he was fortunate enough to swim with a manatee and its youngster for some time without alarming them.....even allowing him to "pet" the young one. Unfortunately, his wife wasn't able to get a picture.

These guys just kind of jostled for position to get at the water stream

Needless to say these animals brought quite a crowd to the marina and docks. Do you suppose the manatees are watching them as much as we watch the manatees?

Seadoo commercial

This week we had a little excitement when cast and crew for a new Seadoo commercial was to be filmed in waters between Sunshine Key and Bahia Honda State Park. The crew arrived bright and early with a motor home full of coffee and treats, cameras were being prepared and a few young ladies (models) wandering around while all the fishermen waiting for the bait truck watched.


Below were two boats rigged for filming that were unique. The first one below was a specially built catamaran that had detachable wing walkways for directors and tech's with a gimbal mount for the special cameras they were using.
I found it interesting that they used a Seadoo for one of the cameras. Note..... it has a special gyroscopic attachment to keep the camera steady.
And of course there were the models although they kept a low profile when on shore.

At Bahia Honda State Park, they had more crew as well as a helicopter for shooting scenes although we were not able to get close for pictures. All in all it was fascinating to see all that goes into what I assume will be a 60 second blip on TV someday.

Manatee

From time to time a manatee wanders into the harbor and marina area at Sunshine Key and there is usually a lot of people that come down and look at them. They are beautiful gentle creatures in their own way and big! We have been told they weigh as much as 1,000#.
Were not sure what exactly would draw them into the marina but they do love fresh water and will drink from a hose as this one above is doing. It is however illegal to feed them or water them.

These kids were just in awe as we all were and were thrilled to be able to "pet" it.You can see where this one has been hit or scraped on the head from I assume a boat that hit itThis picture shows its tail that has been sliced off presumably from a speeding boat.

During the winter each year there are "Manatee areas" that are protected that are essentially a no wake area for boats. Hopefully, that will prevent things like this tail slice from happening.
After spending the afternoon in the harbor the Manatee left and hasn't been back. Hard to figure where it would go although the waters around here are nice and warm which it probably likes.

Fish Stories

Weather has finally turned and the wind has died down sufficiently to be able to go fishing. One of our favorite spots is to fish the bridge piers. Most all of them hold sizeable fish although we did have a surprise when reeling in a mutton snapper....... a huge Bull Shark came up and tried to take the fish I had caught. I jerked the line so hard I pulled the fish right out of the sharks mouth and it ended on top of the bimini top. Exciting and scary!!!!
On another day, we took Matt and Alice out with us with Marge and Alice catching all the fish! They started with two nice (although not legal) Grouper.....I did catch a puffer fish!Our friend Jim was out with two friends from home and came back with a huge Bull Shark that they caught. It weighed over two hundred pounds and it took them 1-1/2 hours to land it with 50# line.
Incidentally that fish was just a little bigger than the shark that followed my catch up to the transom of our boat.

Stone Crab Traps

Last year our friends Marvin and Joann introduced everyone to the catching of Stone Crabs and the placing of traps for that purpose. Once you have your fishing license in Florida you are legally allowed to put five (per license)traps out for the recreational catching of stone crab. Your marker has to be marked with a R and you need to mark it distinctively so as to harvest only your own traps.. One of the fisheries here offers a complete kit set of traps with ropes , buoys , and everything else you would need for $80.00 ....you just have to put everything together yourself. One complete crab trap ready to go.

The complete set put together and ready to go.

At any rate, once you put the traps together with a cement bottom for weight you then place them with bait out and about in about 5 to 8 feet of water. The bait used can be anything from chicken pcs to hogs feet....yes hogs feet! Actually you can buy hogs feet cheap for this purpose at the fishery supply house. Once the traps are baited and set you wait about a week and hopefully you catch some crabs. Marvin and Joann this year have just collected their first round of crabs claws to the tune of about 5 Lbs worth which more than pays for traps at todays prices. Market price for Crab in the market is $18 to $22 a pound.

We haven't tried it yet (Marge is not too fond of crab) but some of the group is just about to put their traps out. I will keep you posted on the results.

Sunshine Key Area

Thought I would show you around a little. Sunshine Key is actually Ohio Key and is located at the eastern end of the "7 Mile Bridge"which incidentally is a great place to fish. The bridge itself is reasonably new having replaced the old bridge in the late 70's. The older parts of the bridge that are still intact offer places to fish from or walk . The water is relatively shallow and there is usually lots to see including dolphin, rays, fish and after a heavy wind Portugese Man of war jelly fish.The beach off the western edge of the key although not many swim there.The picture below was taken on the old bridge facing the campground. Note the walkers and the always present pelican waiting for someone to catch a fish for him. Note the rail for the bridge is made from old railroad rail from the original bridge which was built for Flagler's railroad to Key West.
The campground takes up half of the Key with the other half being a wildlife sanctuary. There is a large marina with a boat launch, bait & fishing shop, dive shop and fuel station. Below is the water entrance to the marina.
One of the groups that we have seen on a regular basis is the Wandering Wheels bicycle tour group that stops regularly on their ride from Key Largo to Key West. The group is very mixed relative to age and they only go shorter distances stopping here among other places to eat and sleep. They have support vehicles that follow and go ahead for setup.


Although the bicycling is kind of neat, we enjoy our many activities including another dinner and fun at the club house. Here we are with Matt and Alice enjoying.

Sunshine Key

We arrived here at Sunshine Key a little over week ago and it seems like were home. Seeing old friends we have met over the years and catching up on all the gossip has been fun. Time is flying and I haven't been able to keep up with this blog but I thought by posting a bunch of pictures you might get some idea of whats been happening.

At the helm of our new boat

Out in the Atlantic for the first time.

The drawbridge at Boot Key (Marathon)

The old bridge and channel from the Gulf to the Atlantic

Our old boat....now belonging to Alice (above) and Matt from Long Island

Matt & Alice...Grumpy (Marvin) and Joann at the dinner dance.

Three wise (?) men
Dancing the night away

Marge and I with our clothes line project.

Oops! Not my fault the truck was parked at Home Depot and someone was late for work....Really!!

More soon!

Christmas and the New Year

Where to start.....

We flew home for the Holidays and stayed 15 days and nights catching up on everything from Doctors and Dentists to seeing old friends and trying to do far too much. Something different will be planned for next year although I am not sure what yet. It sure was busy!Molly, our granddaughter doing her imitation of the "Grinch"

The kids of course make Christmas something to behold, I even got to play trains with them.

Thats "spiderman Jack" helping Grandpa with the trains

Another special event over the Holidays was our neighbors and old friends celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary with a dinner and many special friends

Art and Jean Laurie

Its always good to spend time with friends but we were anxious to get back to warm climates and pick up that new boat we ordered. Our flight back Friday was delayed but Saturday morning bright and early we were there to pickup our new boat....three hours later our friends the Armstrongs joined us on our maiden voyage.

The "Captain and his Mate"

Next stop is John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park for a few days of familiarizing our selves with the boat with a little exploring on the side, then on to Sunshine Key and familiar waters.

Christmas Break

We left Ft Myers Wednesday for two weeks to fly back to Michigan for the Christmas Holidays. We hope to see as many friends and family as we can then back to the warmer climates. We have bought ourselves a present for Christmas that should be fun. Will tell you all about our new 19' Mako Center Console fishing machine (boat) when its delivered on the 30th.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all

Hank & Marge

Coach Improvements

While at the Monaco plant we met a variety of folks that spend substantially more time in their coaches than we do and while sitting around waiting for the service work to be done lots good things are discussed. One was tire wear which we were particularly interested in because of the blowout we had had earlier this year. We met a former Goodyear employee who told us a lot about the development of the new G670 tire they make for coaches that we had purchased after our problems. It was quite reassuring! One thing we were told was that when parked for any length of time we should indeed protect the tires from UV rays as much as possible. This past week we took that advice and also decided to get the screen shade for the front windshield which also provides some degree of privacy. Our friends the Armstrong's highly recommended them and now that we have them they have proven to be quite nice and with the tire protectors we are just more comfortable than ever.

Installation was a snap...we called RV Sunshade (Gordon Brown 877-422-5679) who came out the next day and set up his van with sewing machine and other equipment and proceeded to measure our coach and make on the spot the protective screening on site.Cutting and sewing

Finished Product in place.

We were very pleased with the end result and Gordon Brown is quite the gentleman. If your interested check out his web site. www.rvsunshadeco.com

Exploring area

We had decided that once landed in Ft Myers we would take a good look around at all the available campgrounds in this area with the idea in mind that maybe one of these winters would be spent here in this area rather than the Keys. First thing we noticed was this campground right on Ft Myers Beach that had beach access and interesting neighbors.....
Marge vetoed that idea right away and frankly it was very congested as well as in the same price category as the Keys. We also spent some time on Pine Island where our friends from Missouri have spent time but the best of the campgrounds there is now permanently closed and the rest are just OK. We finally decided that (for the money) we are in the best of the campgrounds for water access and people here have been very friendly. There are also some very nice high end places and the best of those is the River Bend Motorcoach Resort and it has water access, but again for the money, it is on the same level as the Keys ....I'll take the Keys. I don't mean to harp on the cost but due to the tremendous demand for land in the Keys things have gone from what was $17.00/nite to $110.00/nite for a campsite. Long term rentals reduce the cost but even that has become quite high in cost. I guess I really can't complain too much....we are warm and enjoying the sunshine when others are braving the cold of the North.