Well we are home at last.

Well we are home at last.

Thu. 10:30 PM

We arrived home at about 3 pm today. It was really cool to have a helicopter escort us in from the ocean. Ch. 10 sent out the helicopter to film us approaching the Haulover Cut, and on up the ICW to port. They are sending a film crew out in the morning for interviews and a boat tour.

I think my last blog was from Ft. Myers. We had a dilemma in Fort Myers: the lake which was too shallow or around thru the yacht channel and the Keys. We found out that the Sanibel Island Bridge was closed to boat traffic for the next 3 days. That meant we had to back track to Boca Grande pass to get out into the Gulf, then pull another over night run to get us to Cape Sable and across Florida Bay during the day. Or try the lake route.

We had a scout in the form of a Capt. on a boat heading to the Miami Boat Show. He left the day before us and called me on the cell to let me know there was plenty of water to get across. So off we went.

We traveled to Clewiston Marina located on the rim canal and spent the night there. The next morning we set out onto the lake. It was a super day, sunny, warm, light winds. All in all a great day.

Lionel was transferring fuel to the forward tank and forgot to check the levels. Just before the east side lock the starboard engine slowly shut down. We raced to the engine room just in time for the port engine to shut down. We checked and found we only had 3 inches of fuel in the rear tank. We thought we had sucked up some junk from the bottom of the tank and were going to have to change some filters. But as we opened them one at a time we realized we had just run the tank too low. We filled each filter with fresh fuel and cranked them up. Another crisis averted.

We have really been stretching out these last few hundred miles. I remember trying to get in a hundred miles a day. Now it's 40 or 50 and let’s drop the hook.

Our run on the St. Lucia River was pleasant. We anchored in a little fork in the river. The next morning we found we had swung the stern onto a mud bank. No problem, we pulled the hook and she pushed herself off with ease. A slow motor down the ICW to Palm Beach, and a visit from Mike and Brenda, some friends of ours who live in Riviera Beach Marina. The crew went swimming for the first time. We got boarded by the coast guard. Everything was cool. We went out Ft. Worth Inlet into the Atlantic and headed for home.

We had a welcoming committee waiting for us. Flowers, Champagne, The works. We spent the rest of the afternoon showing off the boat and toasting the trip and crew.

Thanks to all who shared in this with us. Your support and comments were warmly received. We will be getting footage of the news clips and Helicopter shots. All that will be sent to the blog master for your enjoyment.

Capt. Bob