February was for working on Paget. She is now basically finished; painted, varnished and with new cushions. I must spend a couple days cleaning up some painting errors but she is 99.9% done. We are now discussing what to do with the boat.
In late February, after talking to George and Polly, we decided to go to their new home in St Petersburg, FL and help them with travel to medical appointments. Polly had to have eye surgery and George had several cancer treatment appts. We decided to take Apolonia, making it a boat trip also. We left Port St Lucie 29 February and headed out. After crossing Okeechobee Lake we stopped at Rowan and Martin’s Marina then Legacy Harbor in Ft Meyers. While in Ft Meyers we visited with Randy and Barbara Semper, good cruising friends from Aqua Harbour, VA. We continued the trip and arrived at St Petersburg municipal marina on the 3rd of March. We moved in with George and Polly and enjoyed their company and hospitality. We became the automobile drivers for a week. Luckily Darrell and Claudia Edgar had time to come to St Petersburg so we could visit with them for an afternoon. We had a good lunch at a local eatery and enjoyed catching up with friends from Aquia Harbour. George and I had to move Apolonia to Gulfport Marina on Wednesday the 11th as our reservation at St Pete Marina ran out and they had no room for an extended stay. The move was a great 1.5 hour on the water for George and I. During our stay in St Pete we met George’s daughter Liz and her partner Tom, as well as Fred and Linda, friends of Randy and Barbara. Good week!
On Saturday the 14th we left Gulfport, starting the trip home. Our first stop at Venus, FL was very upscale. What a town. The next night we planned to moor alongside Lazy Dolphin at Randy and Barbara’s house and dock. We pulled into Gasparilla marina and picked up Randy to guide me to their place, while Carey rode with Barbara to get lunch ready for our arrival. Randy and Barbara have a small lock that must be passed to get into the canal system at their community. It was a beautiful ride to their dock and a lot of fun to move thru the lock. We stayed overnight and headed out the next morning for Sweetwater Landing on the way to Lake Okeechobee. We had a fantastic visit with Randy and Barbara. Sweetwater Landing was fun and we were able to have a good meal complying with distance requirements put out for the corona virus protocols. St Paddy’s day, the 17th, we decided to get home, pulling a 145 mile day to moor in our slip at the City Marina at Ft Pierce, FL at 7:15PM. Below are a few pictures of the last few days.
