While Capt Bob is waiting for the weather to turn around so we can start our cruise across the Gulf Stream and Bahamas Bank and hopefully reach Exuma Sea Park by Thanksgiving, I get to enjoy this sweet face! Amelia, my my 7mth old grandaughter, and she is as sweet as she looks!

Buddy started digging into his gift bag from Stillwater Vet Clinic as soon as we secured Veda L to the dock in Miami, he said "for goodness sake Mom, the sun is hot, do I have to get my sunscreen out myself?

Buddy enjoys his bow seating while cruising through the canals of Pompano Beach past waterfront mansions wondering if there are any "rich cats" around.

The bow of Veda L enters downtown Miami, pretty weird boating through Miami, but very cool!

Beware any Pirates of the Caribbean or any wanna be "galley wenches" that might have an eye for my Capt!

I had a little fun in Photoshop with this palm tree!

Between Fort Meyers and Sarasota we had Mama and her little baby face dolphin leap alongside Veda L, they were making dolphin squeaks almost as loud as Janet was squealing! While in Venice, Janet and I went to the beach, very shallow water with surf, so as I played around and floated in the surf Janet walked out about 50' I turned around to see a fin passing behind her, I yelled at her to come in, she laughed, I said "shark", she laughed, I said "I am not kidding" she did not see the Dolphin gliding behind her in a very shark like way, scared the B-jeezus out of me! Dolphins are supposed to porpoise through the water....not glide like sharks! I told her it would have made a very interesting obituary......

We took a stroll around downtown Fort Myers and found it to be delightful, great architecture, and palm trees that were so beautiful they looked fake.

The art center is made of corals and limestone, very cool! Used to be a Federal building.

A Banyan tree across the street from Fort Myers Municipal Docks where we stayed, if I look a little sweaty....another 90 degree and 90 percent humidity day.

This morning while getting ready to leave Carrabelle, another fabulous sunrise!

Why can't I stop taking sunrise photos, I am a flippin sunrise/sunset lunatic!

This was taken last night when we THOUGHT we were going to have a smooth as butter ride across the gulf, then God laughed and kicked it up a few notches!

This 14' alligator was on the other side of Scipio Creek, and I was hoping he would come closer for scraps as the fishing guides were cleaning fish at the end of our dock, but he disapeared into the marsh, his eyes were huge yellow dots even from a distance, I think his name is Lumpy.

Bob shuckin' oysters out at the Binkley estate about a 1/2 hour out of Carrabelle Fl, a big bonfire, a sack of oysters, good company, fresh shucked "peas"with bacon that Barbara made a pot full of, DELICIOUS! We need to get her recipe, but where will we ever find "field peas" in MN? Capt Greg Binkley (tow boat Capt we met on the Mississippi years ago) puts a grate full of oysters over the fire, waits for one to "pop" then Bob and Greg shuck them with a heavy glove and oyster knife, another night that money can't buy.........friends.

The infamous Capt Greg Binkley aboard his new sailboat "Passages" I of course had to place our friend Mr Raccoon on his cockpit deck to surprise him, "damn, there's a coon on my boat!" He fixed us up with a gunny sack of oysters which we will start to eat today, think we will start our morning with "Hangtown Fry!" and I see a bottle of champagne and some raw oysters on the aft deck for dinner this evening! Maybe an oyster po'boy for lunch?

The boat ahead of us Seabreezes left this morning at 7am for Clearwater, we opted to wait it out as we want a wider weather window, we may just wait until Tuesday afternoon as that is when the window seems to open enough for us to skip across the Gulf of Mexico, and we may go all the way to Ft. Meyers. This was the sunrise that we woke to this morning, as we watched our neighbor glide off the dock toward the Gulf.