This will be our last full day in Clearwater Beach. We have been here for a full month and are more than ready to move on south. It has been a fun town and we have met some great locals.

The marine company has continued to work hard on finalizing all the engine work and installing a new battery charger and one more special treat! They found the last of the teeth, cleaned all the shavings out of the port engine, and changed the oil again. We received two new water pumps from CAT, and as of Tuesday we are up and running and have a boat again, instead of a raft!

All teeth found and matched up!

We were here long enough for Pompanette to finish making Amy’s new seat. We had the marine company install it Friday, and we are ready to go. This saves us running up to Miami for a week and finding a company to install the chair.

Amy is very happy to be able to see without sliding around on the floor!

As most of you read this, you are digging out of your first real winter storm for this year. We have missed the snow but not the winds. It seems that every couple days we get hammered with high winds and storms. We are not protected from southeast winds, which we seem to get every couple days. We have had a few sleepless nights with the waves pounding on the boat in the slip. Looking forward to moving to a marina that is better protected.

Our winds are supposed to calm later today and go to the east. This will be an offshore wind with minimal waves, we hope! Plan to run 50 miles outside tomorrow to test the engines well before we get too far away from the service company. All should be good!

Plans are to move south with the following stops: Cortez, Punta Gorda, Captiva Island, Naples, Everglade City, and Marathon. This will take us to the end of January.

After that we will move up the Keys before crossing over to the Bahamas.

One last picture of our local bird that eats near the boat all day long.

Now you know why they call them Pelican Poles!

Hope everyone stays safe and warm through this next week.