Americas Great Loop Cruisers Association Winter Rendezvous!

Before the event, we spent Friday and Saturday doing laundry and cleaning the boat. On Saturday Jen and Mike provisioned. Publix was only a block and a half away, which was super convenient.

Over 400 people attended the event. It included completed, in progress and in planning loopers. We got to share our experiences with planners, bond with in progress loopers and get tips with gold and platinum loopers (completed the loop).

The event was limited to two people per boat so Jen and Kelly took turns attending events and seminars since Mike had to work. Mike attended lunch and evening events including all of Sunday.

At the meetings, they discussed the routes from Fort Myers to the Keys and up to the Carolinas. It included marinas, restaurants and things to do. We also attended a meeting about anchoring which left us realizing we need to watch YouTube videos on hooking up to mooring balls. We will take pictures and videos the first time we do it.

At the end of the day meetings, we participated in the looper crawl. Which is where past, present, and future loopers could tour past and present loopers boat. We gave tours of our boat all three days. Prior to the event Jen made Jello shots to pass out during the looper crawl… they were a hit. We put Bonnie and Teddy in doggy backpack carriers to keep them from being… pain in the butts and obnoxious puppies. The puppies and Harley were on their best behavior, and did very good all three days. It was lots of fun. Loopers loved our boat and it was fun meeting so many enthusiastic people.

After it was over, we were tired from walking to and from the conference center multiple times a day and showing our boat each day.

Overall, it was fun. We made new friends and got to see friends we met along our trip like June and Eugene on ”Barefoot Jones”.

After having great night sleep on the calm waters at Cabbage Key, we pulled up the anchor and headed for Fort Myers. It was beautiful sunny day. We brought the dogs up to the flybridge with us. Bonnie seemed have a hard time. She was constantly under our feet but eventually settled down…. Then it was Harley’s turn to be restless!

Kelly did most of the driving. Jen navigated while Mike worked. The traffic increased the closer we got to Fort Myers. It was mostly small boats such as fishing boats and pontoons. It seems the small boats don’t understand boating etiquette. They zip around fast causing difficult waves to overcome. A couple of times our boat was really rocking. Good thing we put things away ahead of time!

As we got close to the Marina, Mike took over. He did a great job bringing Wishes into the slip. Mike is getting really good at it.

After Mike finished up his workday, we walked around the Marina. We met a nice couple on a 42’ Grand Banks Europa, “Time Makes Two”. Winn and Linda were very gracious and gave us a tour. It is beautifully maintained and we loved the layout. We also enjoyed meeting their dog Clyde!

We also got to see our friends on “Barefoot Jones” that we met in Clearwater. They gave us tips on restaurants, grocery store and a festival.

The puppies were excited as they got to have another sleepover in Jen’s room.

It was cold sleeping. We decided to turn the generator off at night to save on fuel. We put coats on the dogs and all wore our warmest pjs.

In the morning, we followed Sabbatical and anchored across from Cabbage Key. We used our dinghy to get to the Cabbage Key Inn Restaurant and Bar which is on the island of Cabbage Key. We were a little nervous to leave our boat anchored out without any humans on board, as if the anchor were to fail and the boat drift the dogs were not going to be able to fix it… lol

We met up with our friends on Sabbatical and celebrated them crossing their wake for the second time, making them Platinum Loopers. We met their friends on “The Old Blue Chair” and ”Last Laugh”. They all completed the loop and we loved hearing their stories. After lunch, we posted a dollar bill with our names on it in the bar area… See picture below. Cabbage Key Inn is said to be the place Jimmy Buffett was inspired and wrote the song “Cheeseburger in Paradise”.

After lunch we got back in our dinghy and went back to the boat so Mike could finish working.

After Mike finished working, we toured the area on our dinghy. We met new friends anchored near our boat and they invited us over for a drink on their boat after we were done touring. While touring, our motor quit working. Every time we would put it in to forward gear, it would stall… but it seemed too just fine in reverse. It reminded us of the movie Jaws when the shark pulled them backwards and they were taking on water! Our anchor friends nicknamed Mike “Backwards Mike”! After a fun night of drinks and conversation, we drove backwards to our boat for quiet night.

Today we left Marina Jack to find an anchorage on our way to Fort Myers. On our way, we ended behind a boat called ”The Old Blue Chair” (more about them in later posts). In was a beautiful day along canals. Jen drove and Kelly navigated.

Because we missed our planned anchorage, and we anchored in a cul de sac bay across from Pelican Bay. Missing the anchorage was a blessing because we met new friends on a cute Albin, ”Sabbatical”. They were crossing their wake the next day and invited us to lunch to join them.

That night, Jen made Chicken soup. It was really good. Our new friends on Sabatical told us about a rocket launch. It was really cool to see the red tail of the rocket and watch it disappear.

Today, Jen and Kelly spent the afternoon at the Ringling Museum while Mike worked. They have a lot of fun artifacts including costumes, circus equipment and carts.They also made a huge miniature display of the circus layout. The circus was a well oiled machine. They used the railroad to travel to each city. The food/kitchen carts were one of the first to arrive so they were ready for breakfast. It was fun to see the enormity of the operation.

We also toured the home of one of Ringling brothers home including their garden. Jen turned into a little kid when she got to down the slide.

Afterwards, we return the Chevy Suburban back to Kris at Avis. Thank you Kris for driving us back to the marina and the upgrade!

The day started really cloudy and rainy. The 3rd and final day of the Seafood and Music festival downtown was canceled, so we spent the morning hanging out on the boat and getting caught up on blog posts. Mike filled up the water tanks.

As the day went on the rain stopped. We were able to walk downtown for an early dinner at Clasico Italian Chophouse. We got to sit outside on the street and people watch again, which we have truly enjoyed while in Sarasota. There are a lot of expensive cars we got to see go by, most of the custom cars. The food was really good we had, artichokes, fried calamari, oysters, fried risotto balls, and skirt steak gnocchi with cream sauce… YUM!

After eating dinner, we walked and had ice cream from the Fat Donkey… If y’all haven’t noticed by now we really like ice cream. The ice cream was good, but not as good as Main Street Creamery. But like Mike says “Is there really such thing as bad ice cream? There’s only better, not bad.”

Today, Kelly and Jen walked to Avis to pick up a rental for the weekend. Kris from Avis upgraded us to a brand new Chevrolet Suburban with only 83 miles! Too bad we didn’t get it when we drove home for Christmas because we would have had enough room for our stuff and didn’t leave Jen behind…Ha

BTW, living on a boat without a car means a lot of walking. Its a myth that people gain weight on the boat. We are getting a lot more exercise. Mike and Jen have lost weight. Kelly has stayed the same weight.

We had dinner at Kojo. It is a tapas restaurant featuring a modern twist on Japanese food. It was amazing. We had braised pork belly bao buns, fried chicken bao buns, wagyu skirt steak robata skewers, shiitake mushroom tempura roll, kojo roll, king trumpet mushroom nigiri, truffled chicken wontons and for desert we had matcha donut holes! After that, we went to Main Street Creamery for amazing ice cream….then we rolled our happy bellies home. Believe it or not, we still haven’t gained weight!

Today was a quiet domestic day. Mike worked, Kelly did laundry and Jen went for a run. Teddy loves crawling into the laundry basket and laying on the warm clothes while Kelly folds. Teddy loves anything to do with warmth – laying in the sun, warm laundry, sleeping under blankets….

Afterwards, Jen gave Harley an outdoor bath on the back of the boat (stern). Harley seemed to enjoy it!