December 21: Great to be Back to Banana Bay - New Job for Steve, The Blog

After 7 years, I (Steve) am assuming responsibility for writing the blog. Time for a break for Linda.  I am certain her "input" will be very forthcoming!

It has been a long time since last March when we left Banana Bay. Usually we start getting a little restless by March and feel its time to get cruising again.  Last year was no exception and we happily cruised the Great Loop again with wonderful weather.

We had forgotten, however, how much work and far it is to go from Marathon, FL, up the East Coast and the Hudson River, continuing west on the Erie Canal to Lake Ontario, across to Canada, up to the North Channel, south on Lake Michigan from Mackinac Island to Chicago, down the Illinois River to the Mississippi, across the Ohio River to the Tenness River, and Tennessee Tom Bigbee waterway, then south to the Gulf of Mexico.

After crossing the Gulf of Mexico along the panhandle, we finished the trip by cruising down the west coast of Florida to Marathon Key and Banana Bay - a bit over 6000 miles at 8 miles an hour. I'm certain you get the idea, we are very happy to stay put for a while. Fun to see the large lobster and fish in the nice clear water under the dock.


Also spotted in our marina is something of interest for son-in-law Matt, our paddle board enthusiast. Note the actual outboard engine attached. Looks like a whole new level for you Matt! Unfortunately for the owner, the ducks love to sit on it, hence the messy appearance.

We know we'll be travelling up to the mainland quite a bit this winter. First we'll join The John Franko Family gathering in Naples, FL December 29th. Terri, Scott, Matt and Wendy will also be joining us, we're looking forward to it.

We'll also need to drive north of Miami a number of times to the Cleveland Clinic Florida. Linda is scheduled for hand surgery February 14th at the Cleveland Clinic Florida near Miami. The surgeon will replace the knuckles in her right hand which are pretty bad due to arthritis. She already has two "bionic" knees so why not bionic knuckles?  We are very fortunate to have a Cleveland Clinic branch close by. We made one trip already and several more will be necessary.

Then there is a ride to the Ft. Lauderdale airport and back for a trip to Phoenix in February to watch Matt run a marathon and to celebrate our Christmas with Wendy, Matt, Rebecca and Linda's brother Tom. Tom lives in Flagstaff so it is easy for him to join us and we're excited he's coming.  He always gives great presents!  (A little late for Christmas but you can never have too many Christmas celebrations!)


Given all these road trips,one of our first projects was to find a car.  Rental cars are very expensive in Marathon so we started looking for a "Keys Cruiser". That's boater talk for an old, cheap "beater"car that runs and can be used for the winter in the Keys.

First we rented a car and drove two hours to Miami to look at a couple that were advertised on Craig's List. They were totally misrepresented and a mess mechanically. Since we already had the rental car we came back, drove an hour and a half past Marathon and went to Key West to see a different car we were considering, a 2003 Toyota Corolla.

Pictures showed that cosmetically it was hurting as the owner had said, but he also swore it ran well, had good tires, had a nice interior, the AC worked well and it was dependable transportation. $1,500.  Sounded like what we were looking for. It was dark when we finally were able to meet the seller and we were very tired and anxious to get home to the boat.  We took a quick look and because it was a Toyota, known for dependability, we decided to buy it. Drove it home with no problems.



 One surprise the next morning was when Linda thought to see if we had a spare tire and jack. Imagine her surprise when she lifted up the trunk carpet and there was a big hole where the spare tire should have been!

Glad we didn't see that because we might not have bought it and after the trip to Miami we're happy with the way it runs. I'll just cover the hole with plywood. The seller was correct that it was very rough cosmetically. The first project is to paint the roof, hood and trunk with Rust-ol-eum.  We figure it can't look much worse. More pictures to follow during the restoration.



Of course we had to decorate the boat for Christmas.  I purchased four strings of lights but found that was enough to do only the fly bridge. Off to Home Depot to add four more strings to do the lower railing. After all, if you're going to do something do it right! Will take the complete decoration pictures tonight when it is dark.







There are numerous boat projects for us to work on but so far I am afraid to make a list. We are going to relax and just enjoy being back in Paradise for a while.