Whisky Business has LEFT the building!

May 5 & 6

Wednesday morning at 8 AM we cast off from our home marina for the last 5 months and headed out into Charlotte Harbor on our way to our anchorage 40 miles away in Fort Myers. Easy 30 minute drive by car…

seven and a half ours later averaging 9 or so miles an hour we arrive. It appears we took the looooooonnnngggg way.

In Charlotte Harbor we saw lots of “islands” of this stuff. Always steered around it. Did not want to clog the water intakes for the engines.
The chi chi private Useppa Island on the left. Only 2 ways to get on that island. Own a home there (we don’t, nor do we know anyone who does) OR tell ‘em your going to the library. My understanding is since the Useppa Free Public Librart gets federal funding, the local authorities MUST let you visit. Great country or what?
On the right of the image is cool as hell Cabbage Key. Only accesible by boat the island boasts a really fun restaurant with a great cheeseburger (not the one in Paradise) and the mandatory brazzillions of one dollar bills on the walls and ceiling.
Close to Fort Myers we see these guys fishing. You can see the really shallow area between them.

If you had an extra $2-3M in your pocket, this is the boat you would buy.
If you look closely, to the left of the image you can see 2 people waving from the dock. We had anchored in an area called Glover Bight last night. Twenty minutes after dropping the hook my phone rings. Yacht broker extraordinnaire Bill Molnar calls. He sold us Whisky Business when it was known as Dustcutter. From his vantage on the dock at Tarpon Point Marina he recognized Whisky Business and gave us a shout. He didn’t see the name on the transom, he just recognized one of the many Jefferson’s he has sold. His lovely wife Debbie is with him and that is the ONLY reason there is a photo of him here!
A refreshing shower on the swim platform after a long hot day.
No way in hell is Debbie gonna let me take her photo!
We just love our Weber Q grill. I installed a 20lb propane tank in the dock box and ran the hose to the grill through a hole in the side. If there is rain in the forcast it will use those little 1 lb. Coleman propane tanks and we cook on the aft deck.
After grilled chicken legs and corn on the cob for dinner, 2 episodes of Yellowstone, it was lights out…at 10PM.

Up at 6:30 this morning. Performed an engine room check, made coffee, putzed around the boat and were off at 8AM for the 70 mile run to Lake Okeechobee.

View from the windlass. Kinda cool how the chain links all line up. Do you have any idea how long it took me to get ‘em to do that? The large round black buttons are foot controls for lifting and lowering the anchor and chain.

Up early, performed an engine room check and made coffee. Had all day to run the 70 miles to Lake Okeechobee.

Underway at 8 again today and it was a hot and sweltering day. When we started this Loop thing back in 2018, coming down the rivers the wind always seemed to be at our backs. Went through gallons of water. Same today. All day, the wind was out of the west and we were going east, just like the damn wind.

This big ol red fender is just big enough to keep the bow of the new dink from hitting the lock wall. We were in 2 locks today. One of ‘em lifted us a whole 18 inches.

Insert video here
You must log on to http://mvwhiskybusiness.com to view the video. Dunno why.
Our trip through a Bascule bridge. The bridge operator must walk from their hut to the middle of the bridge and operated it there. They are literally at the center of the bridge as it turns. We asked this operator if the ride made her dizzy.

We took a number of pretty interesting photos today. Take a look…

We had to turn the boat around to get this shot. After we went by it dawned on us what this is. A landing strip. Couple of planes. On the far end of the strip is a hiway. This end of it ends in the river. Back in the late 70’s I got my private pilot’s license. Not sure if I would have attempted a landing here.
One crazy tree, right?
Saw a LOT of cows today.
Great home on a point.
Our resting place for the night. Buck a foot, helluva deal. Even had a pool. Secured the boat and jumped in.
Looking at a 6:30 departure in order to catch the first lockage of the day to get across the big Lake Okeechobee.
Night all.

8 thoughts on “Whisky Business has LEFT the building!”

  1. Glad you’re back out there. Know when you’ll be in the intercoastal waterway around Wilmington, NC?

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  2. I am sitting on my (sail)boat in Michigan planning to start the loop in September. My heat hasn’t been working and it’s about 45ﾟ. Wind at my back would be a beautiful thing for the whole trip! Funny how perspective is everything😁!! Safe travels, love reading about it, look more forward to DOING it.

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  3. Hello guys Sitting in the same place when I took your Picture on a drizzling day last years you passed thru magnet.

    Still riding with you all and appreciate your Pics stories and blogs👊

    Hope to meet you both sometime!😉 Warmly Greg Gordon

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

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  4. Thanks for allowing me to follow you trips, much enjoy! I replaced all my canvas and got new vinyl seat covers, threw away all isinglass, replace the black front glass cover with white cover, reduces the inside temp greatly, I’m turning the davit from forward to sideways so as to permit the dingy to have full beam access. My wife’s dad only drank Yellowstone. I’m an Old Forester 86 fan. My Brother in law is Don Jones, he is now Pres. of ATA College, schools in 4 states, retiring soon and has a home on the intercoastal next to West Palm Beach. Said to say HI!!!

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