We took a trip down to the boat and went out on the water this weekend. It was long overdue for me. I am reminded why we bought this boat in the first place. The weather and the water were just gorgeous.
Our Sea Ray cabin cruiser is too big to trailer, so we spent some of the weekend looking for a smaller boat. One that has caught our eye is the Nautic Star 210 or the 231 Coastal. These are pleasure boats comfortable enough for the whole family, but also great for fishing. We are thinking of kids and grandkids, but also like to fish the shallows.
We went to the Ft. Myers City Yacht Basin. There are people who only stay overnight and there are folk who have lived here as long as thirty-eight years. The marinas and yacht basins are a cool place to hang out and hear some fantastic stories.
The Loopers are people who start out up north and travel down the rivers to the Gulf, travel around the southern tip of Florida or cut across the Okeechobee waterway to the Atlantic and then travel northward up the coast through the intercostal waterways. I’m sure it is an expensive lifestyle, but it would be one of my lottery winning dreams come true to do it at least once.
Loopers often have some of the best stories. These kind folk invited us for drinks aboard their vessel, Hoosier Daddy. Loopers are a special breed. They are some of the most well-grounded people you will ever meet, yet have a sense of adventure than nearly none can surpass.
Biketoberfest has been going on in Daytona for a week. It is one big party for bikers, but the bikers often travel the state which hosts them in various towns and communities with local bike weeks. The transients make Florida a more colorful place come October.
Lots of fun and lots of stories to be told.
Great places for inspiration!
Where do you find yours?
S.K. Nicholls 
Beautiful second picture. I actually didn’t know that the rivers connected like that, so I can only imagine what such an adventure would be like. I’m sure I’d get seasick, but the changing scenery and interesting people would make for great stories.
The closest I came to doing anything like this was when I was eleven or twelve. We had a Sportmaster Ski boat, 19 ft, and we put in in Columbus GA and rode through the locks on the Chattahoochee to Lake Eufaula, Alabama and down to the Gulf. It took us two weeks and we camped on the boat, got stuck on sand bars and cried a lot. I’m sure my dad was ready to get home. My step-sister and I skied most of the way, but fighting the mosquitoes and trying to find a dry place to sleep at night wasn’t very much fun.
Mosquitoes always seem to be a problem when it comes to traveling by water. Though I have to laugh about the sand bar thing. My uncle got a boat years ago and I think at least one of its trips involved getting stuck on a sand bar until the water level rose a bit more. I just remember a lot of things going wrong with that boat.
Ha! If it is a boat, it will break. That’s a rule. You should only buy a boat when you have enough money to replace it part by part.
I think he did at the time. He ended up being better suited for piloting planes anyway.
Greg used to have thoughts of owning a plane. He says he is too lazy though. You miss a scheduled maintenance on your boat and take care of it later. You miss one on your plane and you die.
Yeah. I think there’s less pressure and worry with a boat than a plane. Though it could just be different.
I get nervous when we go offshore too far. I have this morbid fear we will get stranded. Maybe I wouldn’t feel this way in a more dependable boat. Our next boat is not one made for that. We will be hanging around the intercostals.
What about having an inflatable raft and some oars on board just in case?
We have a zodiac inflatable boat boat attached to the back with a 9.8 hp motor easily attached that we can let down into the water. It is a scary thought to be stranded out there in the Gulf in that thing. That’s 600,000 square miles.
I guess you’ll be good as long as you have a pack of emergency supplies and know the general direction where land is. Though you could end up in Mexico and that might not be a good thing.
I’d be dead from sun poisoning before I made it to Mexico. Only 90 miles to Cuba from Key West. We have folk come ashore all the time in all manner of craft from Cuba. Tires roped together, old cars converted to boats, anything that will float. They have to get past the Coast Guard, which isn’t easy. But they do it almost every day. Then there are the square grouper that wash ashore with metal waterproof satchels full of money if you get lucky 😉
Not sure if square grouper is a fish, a person, or . . . I don’t know. A strange camel-like creature?
For some reason, I’m amazed that people are escaping Cuba on a daily basis. I knew it was happening, but didn’t realize it was still going on to that extent.
Bale of marijuana. Square grouper. Made famous in southern regional lit.
Some of the strangest things down there. 🙂
Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend. Loopers–I’ve never heard of that before. What a great way to see the country.
If I had the money I would do it right now. I would love to see the country via the waterways. It’s a lifestyle choice for many. Some do it for half a year and some sell everything they own and then spend the rest of their lives traversing the waterways. The record is nine times around. There are several organizations dedicated to these folk. They network with each other and have their own radio stations.
Maybe you’ll have to do a Kickstarter campaign, raise the money to do it, and then promise to write a book on the experience. 🙂
Wow! What a cool idea. I wonder….but so many have done that. I bet every volume is filled with wondrous experience. Many people blog about their experiences daily. I should read some.
Well, maybe you’ll promise to do your looping in the nude. That oughtta raise a dollar or two… 😉
You haven’t seen this body! Ha! People might pay me to NOT go in the nude 😉
🙂
Love the pics! I’ve never heard of ‘Loopers’ before and had no idea it was possible to travel that route – sounds like fun!
Yeah! It does. It would be a dream excursion for me. We heard some nightmare stories but they all had happy endings. 🙂
When we took our kids to the Harry Potter concert yesterday we saw a boat docked along the St. Johns, which made me wish to climb aboard. Lucky you!
Where I get my inspiration? Books, magazines, real life – just outside my window even!
Way cool. Inspiration is everywhere.
Once, I had opportunity to stay on a house boat on the St. Johns River. That was a lot of fun. Gorgeous sunsets almost every night and fish fries every day.
Always dreamed of doing the loop. Don’t think it will ever happen though. Great post.
I can’t see doing it without at least a million to invest. Fat chance! It would be a dream. We had raw oysters from near Galveston, TX night before last and I thought of you. 🙂
Always nice to be part of the meal.
You are so funny. It reminded me to give him your book, so he is reading and enjoying it now. 🙂
One of my fondest memories was watching fireworks on the 4th of July from a boat off of Jupiter Island. It was a spectacular night.
I’ve never heard of loppers, but I bet they’re a fun bunch! Thanks for sharing your trip with us, Sk!
That’s the best way to watch fireworks unless you are on a mountaintop looking down. That’s kinda fun also. Loopers are a yearly phenomenon come November. that’s when they usually make it down the coast. They have to wait for hurricane season to pass. Everything has to be timed perfectly to do the loop.
Never owned a boat, but had friend with a nice cabin cruiser some years ago.
Love Fort Myers. Haven’t been in years and years.
Love your pictures. Such wonderful sights.
Inspiration comes from the places I least expect. ❤
You have a sense of adventure and strike me as one who would love the Loop and get along great with the Loopers. My brother-in-law lives in Bonita Springs and I know we would live down there, too, if my husband didn’t have such a good job in Orlando. Trade-offs 😦
Trade-offs are sometimes the best we can do. Still it’s nice to boat when you want to. ⭐
As far away from pen and paper as possible, the inspiration is sure to come. 🙂
Yes 🙂
When we lived in Port Vila, Vanuatu, maybe six to eight boats were usually tied up to the dock for long-term stays. The people living on the boats had interesting stories that I mostly heard second hand. One couple was from Alaska. They’d sailed such a long way from there to the South Pacific. I don’t know how long they stayed, but they both found jobs in Port Vila, he as an accountant and she as a teacher at the correspondence school.
Wow! That’s just taking on a whole new lifestyle from Alaska to the South Pacific. I think it takes a special sort of person to up and go like that. 🙂 Thanks for your comments.
The sky in the second picture looks like something from a dream. (Aaaand now I want a boat. 😉 ) Sometimes inspiration leaps out at you when you’re least expecting it – and the most beautiful pieces can be crafted from the most random ideas. Thank you so much for sharing! xx
This is so very true. Like Chris said, when farthermost from pen and paper. 🙂