JG Marine Services: Seaz The Day: Ft Myers, FL - Mobile, AL

    6/5/24 - Arrived in Ft Myers. The rental I had asked for was a full size sedan... Chevy Malibu or similar. I wanted room, plus decent fuel economy, hopefully better than an SUV. Well this is what I got upgraded to, as they didn't have the care they were supposed to have. Drove the 5 1/2 hours to TN with the top down... Very nice. We had plenty of room for luggage and well decent mileage too! Great ride to Florida! We got our provisions, had the owners pick us up at the rental drop off, and we settled in to head for Tennessee the next morning.

    6/6/24 - Took the GICW to Venice, FL to The Crow's Nest Marina and Restaurant. This is almost always a stop both directions. There is a bridge that must open just north of it, so we generally use the inlet here making it very convenient. If you want fancy, go upstairs... if you want a little more reasonable meal, eat downstairs in the bar. I have done this trip so many times, I really didn't take as many pictures as I should... but I've shown most of them before. Instead of sunset out on the Jetty, I grabbed sunset pics from the Flybridge... plus a grounded sailboat that doesn't know what side of the marker to be on... it was low tide, he was gone in the morning :)

6/7/24 - Ran on the outside up to Clearwater inlet, then down the last of the GICW to the Anclote River (Tarpon Springs, FL) , fueled up for the crossing, and docked at Port Tarpon Marina. Decent place, just not down by the sponge docks. So we launched the dinghy, took a tour, and had a great meal at Rusty Bellies. Only place to eat that has docking for customers. I took the menu picture, and sent to a friend of mine outside of Chicago that is greek... said Hey guess where I am. He replied in 5 seconds Tarpon Springs you ___ I'm so jealous!  Some days I just love my job!

My deckhand for the trip,  General P.I.T.A. (IYKYK 😅)

 

6/8/24 - Crossing from Tarpon Springs to Carrabelle, FL. Pretty good weather, a little lumpy to start... but Hey General P.I.T.A. had to have something to complain about! 😅 Great cruising across, and into The Moorings of Carrabelle. Great stop, fueled up, and ready to take off along the panhandle at first light!

6/9/24 - Started off with a wonderful sunrise over out port rear quarter as we headed out of the river to the restart of the GICW in the panhandle. We had a LONG day, gaining an hour moving from eastern to central time... continued on to an anchorage next to the hwy 231 bridge in Choctawhatchie Bay!

6/10/24 - Once again, up with the sun and underway. We had another 130 miles to make Mobile, AL... and we did. We got in to Dog River after hours, but tied up at the fuel dock, paid and fueled the next day. Jack from Pirate is still there, got to visit with him for a bit! Done with the coast, tomorrow we head up the river!