Nov 25, Stuart, FL

We moved another 65 miles today. Clewiston had a bit of fog this morning as we got underway. Going home today!

We crossed Lake Okeechobee today using 'route one' which is the direct route across the lake. Water levels are back to normal and we had 7 feet of depth all the way. Conditions on the water were easy as there was almost no wind and the waves were less than a foot.

Flat calm in the early morning as we leave Clewiston.

The sugar plant in Clewiston is processing sugar cane.

Seagulls look for what they might find in our wake
as we motor along.

We entered the Myacca Lock and just cruised through as the water level in the lake and in the St Lucie canal were the same.

Myacca Lock opens for us
as we exit the open waters of Lake Okeechobee.

We passed Indiantown and then transited the St Lucie Lock, where we descended 14 feet into the St Lucie River.

Derelict sailboat near Indiantown Marina.

St Lucie Canal is tranquil and beautiful.
We did spot a couple of alligators.

Ready to enter the St Lucie Lock. We will decend
14 feet from the level of Lake Okeechobee to sea level.
This is the last lock of our trip.

We cruised past the new Stuart City Marina, located where the Stuart Anchorage used to be located. The new marina looks well occupied and we hope it will be a nice addition to our community.

New Stuart City Marina.

Next we went through the Old Roosevelt Bridge (14 feet clearance - we need 22 feet) and had to wait for an opening. Everything looks good.

Waiting for the Old Roosevelt Bridge to open.
Almost home!

We then cruised around through very familiar waters under the Sewalls Point Bridge and through Hells Gate to home. We officially crossed our wake at 3:30 pm at green marker 13A (about mile marker one of the St Lucie Waterway) in front of our house.

We have the best welcome home we could ever have.

Katie, Sydney, Linda
Ashley and Walker.

We are back home after three summers of cruising some 7750 nautical miles (almost 9000 statute miles) on the 'great loop'. For us it was a voyage of discovery to see the eastern USA from the water and has been one of the great adventures of our lifetime.

We thoroughly enjoyed living aboard KOKOMO II and loved having family and friends join us along the way. We saw many interesting sights. We learned new things almost every day. We kept a record of our travels to remind us when we want to remember. We got very familiar with the systems on our boat and like what we learned. We thoroughly enjoyed the cruising, the towns, the museums and the restaurants. We enjoyed meeting the other boaters who were doing, or had already done, 'the loop'. Everyone seemed anxious to pass on information to make our trip more enjoyable. We didn't count the marinas or the towns or the locks, but there were many.

We will miss the AGLCA (America's Great Loop Cruisers Association) group and the daily e-mails with helpful hints and advice. We enjoyed flying our AGLCA white burgee while traveling (signifying we are on the loop) and will fly our gold burgee from time to time (signifying we have completed the loop). We will continue to look for these burgees on other boats. We are ready to offer information and advice to others who are thinking about making all or part of this trip of a lifetime.


Our 'Great Loop' is complete!!!!!

Linda and Owen Schwaderer
November 25, 2009

Nov 24, Clewiston, FL

We moved 65 miles from Ft Myers through the Caloosahatchee River, through three more locks, into the rim canal of Lake Okeechobee to Roland Martin Marina in Clewiston.

Leaving Ft Myers and heading east on the Caloosahatchee River a railroad bridge remains open for us.

Private home and cluster of buildings. A beautiful 'fish camp'.

All glass 'greenhouse' done in the English style.
Wonder if they grow orchids?

Newer home with a great family room of glass
under that overhanging roof.

River boat at LaBelle.

Cypress trees as we enter the rim canal of Lake Okeechobee.

There is a lock at Clewiston between Lake Okeechobee and the town.
When closed, the lock prevents flooding in the event of a hurricane.
When open, it is the way into the Roland Martin Marina.

There is a new 'tiki' bar restaurant at Roland Martin's Marina that makes it very convenient to have a nice bite to eat without having to go into town. The 'tiki' bar even provides the bug spray to keep the mosquitoes under control.

Nov 23, Ft Myers, FL

We moved 35 miles south and east into the Caloosahatchee River to downtown Ft Myers.

Peaceful and quiet near our marina in Boca Grande.

Some interesting homes at Boca Grande.

Beautiful day on the water with no wind and a perfectly flat calm GIWW waterway.

We pick up more dolphin as we cross Pine Island Sound.

KOKOMO II is a magnet for the dolphin.
Several groups came for the 'free ride' today.

The GIWW takes us past Cabbage Key, one of the homes of Jimmy Buffett's 'Cheesburger in Paradise'.

Useppa Island.
Barron Collier's hunting camp, now a very private club.

LADY CHADWICK tour boat leaves Captiva Island.

We turned east and entered the waterway that starts at Ft Myers with the Caloosahatchee River, goes through Lake Okeechobee and enters the St Lucie River ending at Stuart. This waterway is 135 miles from one side of Florida to the other.

Island in the waterway as we leave Pine Island Sound.

Approaching downtown Ft Myers.

Legacy Marina in Ft Myers.

We saw Norm and Jody Powell on THE RIGHT COMBO as we tied up at the dock at Legacy Marina. They have been here replacing a fuel pump and were getting underway at 2pm as we arrived. Their plan is to get to Lake Okeechobee tonight and home to Miami tomorrow. They will be running. We know how they feel. We are also ready to complete our 'loop'.

Phil and Alyson Burnett live in St James City on Pine Island near Ft Myers and join us at Legacy Marina for dinner downtown. Ft Myers has done a great job of redeveloping the downtown area and we have a delightful evening at a sidewalk cafe.

We're pointed east and heading home!

Nov 22, Boca Grande, FL

We moved from Sarasota, south in the GIWW, about 50 miles to Gasparilla Island and the small town of Boca Grande. We see some interesting sights along the way.

Beautiful home just south of Sarasota.
There are lots of pretty homes along the waterway.
This one was outstanding!

A group of rowers practicing in rowing shells.
They do not have much 'freeboard' so we give them a very 'slow pass'.

Going through a narrow opening swing bridge.

Sea Tow towing a sailboat.

A single dolphin (porpoise) begins playing in our wake. He is propelled along and seems to enjoy the 'free ride'. Then another and another and another.

The first dolphin playing in our wake
since before Panama City.

Then two.

Then three.

Then four.
Several times we count at least six.

The dolphins stayed with the boat for at least a half hour. We were going a constant 8.4 knots in water that was about 8-10 feet deep in the channel and 2-8 feet outside the channel. Maybe they were attracted by the music.

There are few bridges linking the mainland to the barrier island. Here a car ferry helps out a few miles south of Venice.

Abandoned railroad over the water led to from the mainland to Boca Grande. Reminder of the days when some travelled by private rail car.
Boca Grande was a playground for the very wealthy.
Including JP Morgan.

Cormorants need to dry their wings from time to time.

Our marina tonight is the Boca Grande Marina (formerly Millers). Linda and Owen think they were here about 1970 when they went fishing for tarpon with Jack and Linda Prescott in a chartered boat in the Boca Grande pass. Linda caught a hundred pounder in the middle of the night with the flood light showing the fish jump and the silvery spray flying off the fish as he tried to shake the hook. An unforgettable sight and very nice memory.

Boca Grande Marina.
Sure has changed and the charter fishing fleet is gone.

Gasparilla Inn.
A Boca Grande landmark. Very well maintained.

Refurbished train station, now shops and a restaurant.
A project of 'looper' Tom Dabney.

Boca Grande is the tarpon fishing capital of Florida when the tarpon are here. There will be hundreds of boats in 'the pass' fishing 'elbow to elbow' looking for 100 pound tarpon. Tarpon season begins in late April, hits it's peak in May and June, and continues into july. The pass at Boca Grande is an exciting place to be.

We took a drive around the island and found a lot of upscale residential building has occurred in Boca Grande in the last 40 years since Linda and Owen were here in the 1970's. The style is mostly old Florida architecture with white or grey wood siding and metal roofs and built up on stilts over a carport to protect against hurricanes. The railroad has been replaced by a bike path running the length of the island.

Nov 19-21, Sarasota, FL

We moved from Bradenton another 30 miles south through the protected waters of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway (GIWW) to Sarasota.

We pass by Ca d'Zan, the Ringling home in Sarasota, as we motor along going south. Stunning sight from the water.

Our marina the first night is Marina Jack, a large city owned marina, located right downtown on the mainland side (east) side of the waterway almost at the foot of the causeway leading to Longboat Key, St Armands Circle and all those expensive Arvida developed residential properties that make Sarasota famous.

Sarasota mainland skyline.

Approaching Marina Jack.

Preparing to dock at Marina Jack.

We visited the 66 acre Ringling Museum complex just north of town. The entire property was willed by John Ringling to the State of Florida upon his death in 1936. Property includes the Ringling home, Ringling Museum of Art, Ringling Museum of the American Circus, miniature circus display, gardens and performing arts center. What a property!

Our first stop was Ringling home, a 36,000 square foot home designed as a Venetian Palace, complete with the origonal furniture, that has been beautifully maintained. Designed by New York architect James Baum, the home was finished in 1926.

Ca d'Zan from the front.

Spectacular living room is two stories high.

Ceiling detail makes use of stencils.

The ball room has an elaborate ceiling of danceing pairs from all parts of the world.

Game Room Ceiling.
John and Mable Ringling appear in Venetian Carnival costume.

Our next stop was the Circus Museum which is preserving and showing the various items that were used in making the circus.

Clown costume.

Human cannon.

Emmett Kelly clown gear.

There are several workshops where volunteers work in building and restoring circus gear.

Shop building a camel.

Finished tiger.

John and Mable Ringling's first private Railroad Car built by the Pullman Company in 1905.

Next we visit a minerature circus. The Howard Brothers Circus is a replica of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1919-1938. Complete with 8 main tents, 152 wagons, 1300 circus performers and workers, more than 800 animals and a 159 car train all at a 3/4 inch to the foot scale. The model occupies 3800 square feet and is estimated to contain some 40,000-50,000 individual pieces. The 'Worlds largest miniature circus', was created over a period of 50 years by master model builder and philanthropist Howard Tibbals.

Howard Tibbals,
the man who made the miniature circus.

Midway.
Scale is 3/4 inch equals 1 foot.

Big Top.
Figures are about 4-4.5 inches tall.

The Ringling Museum of Art (also on the property) houses a large collection of Italian paintings and sculptures.

Ringling Museum of Art grounds and buildings.

Sculpture garden features a bronze 'David'.

Marina Jack is a very nice facility in a central location. It is very nice to have a car with s to see the sights as almost everything is beyond convenient walking distance.

View from our boat at sunset.

Morning view of KOKOMO II and Marina Jack.

Tourist boat with palm trees on top.

The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota showcases epiphytes (plants that grow in trees) - orchids, bromeliads, ferns and aroids. There is a koi pond, bonsai and pleasant walkways with all the plants and trees labeled. We asked about the Koviachi orchid from Peru but it is not here.

Interesting bromeliads.

Place your head inside and hummmm - it resonates through your whole body. Neat.

Koi pond.

Waterfall and gong.

Our second night we moved 4 miles south to the Field Club, a private Yacht and Tennis Cub that is located on the property of the former home of Stanley Field, part of the family of Marshall Fields.

Field Club.
Private, quiet with very nice facilities.
Among the nicest of our whole trip.

Field Club from the street. Probably drove through the gate house to enter the estate.

The origonal Field home and gate house have been preserved and tennis courts added. The complex is beautiful and we feel very away from the hustle and bustle of Sarasota.

Field Club.
Sunset from our boat.