Windseeker Travel Log with Joe and Libby

We launched the C-Dory over at George Rd/McVittie Island Landing, Bracebridge, ON about 20 minutes drive from our RV Park. A very nice uncrowded public launch - no charge and with plenty of free parking! We headed almost due west, passing between Eilean Gowan Island and Browning Island, to the west shore of Browning to visit a friend of a friend, Frank Sloan. Frank has an amazing 'cottage' and we enjoyed bloody marys on his deck enjoying the gorgeous west view out towards Old Woman Island. Frank just listed his place for sale, and if we had a couple spare mill, we would love to take it off his hands :-) The house is hidden in the trees but the boathouse visible in the photo at the right would be all we need! Of course the real moneyed folks might want to buy the sprawling estate which is Old Woman Island which is for sale for a mere $13.9 million. Many more photos on our gallery page.

Today we pulled up stakes and headed north on the next leg of our route, Lake Muskoka. This is not a name that rings very familiar with many Americans... well not with US residents, anyhow. But to North Americans as a whole, in particular Canadians, the name is synonymous with summer paradise and opulent wealth. The Muskoka Region which includes Lakes Muskoka, Rosseau, and Joseph - a.k.a. 'cottage country' - is the world's second-fastest growing recreational real estate market after Cote d'Azur, France, according to Christie's International Real Estate. Countless celebrities including the likes of Tom Hanks, Goldie Hawn, and Steven Spielberg, all have summer cottages in this 'Malibu of the North'. These mega mansions that have spring up here have been dubbed McCottages. We'll be here for 4 days, and there will be many more photos on our gallery page.

We had our last day of sailing out on Lake Simcoe yesterday. The wind was a decent 10-12 with some ups and downs. No wind today so we elected to pull the boat out and derig her for the trip to Georgian Bay on the next leg of our summer adventure. Libby leaves tomorrow AM to fly home for a visit and when she gets back in a week or so, we'll prepare to head north again. I am staying behind to be with Corey and will be able to sail with some friends I have made at the marina while she is gone. These friends all have their own boats, so I am unlikely to find anyone to go out on my boat with me. And since I don't make a practice of sailing alone, there's no sense paying for another week's slip fees. We've had an excellent month here... we sailed 10 of 21 days we had the boat in the water!

Today is July 4th, American Independence Day! It doesn't really mean much up here in Canada... they already celebrated their equivalent on the 1st. Winds are forecast to be weak today, so we're going to take the C-Dory motorboat over to the marina and put her in for the day and take a relaxed motor cruise around the lake. I don't imagine we'll see any fireworks tonite so I thought I would put on a display here!

Today is a stormy day... not the best for folks celebrating Canada's equivalent of the 4th of July. Certainly not for boating. We went out for brunch to our favorite local eatery Hot Stacks, a friendly little restaurant in nearby Cookstown. We shared a delicious omlette and pancakes. Their Reuben sandwiches for lunch are irresistible as well. We got back to the coach just before the skies opened up in a torrential downpour complete with thunder and lightning . As we opened the door we were greeted with the familiar sight. I just LOVE this photo. Classic Corey, the recliner monster. Other than pee breaks and food, this guy would be content to spend his entire life in this position.

Monday and today, Wednesday, offered more great sailing on Lake Simcoe. And yesterday Tuesday, I sailed again with the local sailing club for the Tuesday night beer races. More fun and sailing comradery! Today with NW winds in the 12-14 range and beautiful blue skies and comfortable temperatures, Libby and I sailed up out of Cooks Bay as far as Snake Island at the mouth of the bay, about 7 miles as the crow flies from our marina. We had superb sailing out on the main part of lake and very few other boats. That's Snake Island with the iconic watchtower on the point. It took us several hours to tack our way out there, contending with wind changes as we passed through the mouth of the harbor. But we were able to sail a single one-hour reach back to the marina.

We've just come off three days of the doldrums... little or no wind. We attempted to take the C-Dory out one day, only to discover that the steering cable had seized up. Sigh.... Fortunately our marina has a repair shop and the guy there ordered a new one for us and should have the C-Dory back up and running next week. But today the wind returned and so we once again had superb sailing,.. almost as good as the excellent day we had last Wednesday, June 22. With fairly steady SW winds in the 14-18 range this afternoon, we sailed out towards the north end of Cook's Harbor in the company of 6-8 other sailboats and a number of kiteboard sailors for a Happy Belated Father's Day. As the winds began to pick up to 20 or so in anticipation of some storm activity tonite, and the windsurfers appeared, we headed in.

Rigging our boat at Lake Simcoe has been a comedy of errors (almost a tragedy at times). Our last booboo was not securing the jib halyard so as we began rigging our sails after finally getting the boat launched, we realized we had no way to get the jib halyard down. We were able to borrow a bosun's chair and this morning, using the main halyard, I hoisted Libby up the 25' mast to grab the halyard and bring it down. Brave Girl! Then we finished rigging the sails and went out for a very pleasant afternoon sail. More photos on our gallery page.

Happy Dad's Day to my dear ole Dad... wish he were still with us to celebrate. Corey is my son these days and sent me this little fathers' day card to wish me well. Or click on the one at the right to watch a cute little animated father's day card which captures my life in the present... hopefully how we'll be spending the afternoon if the weather cooperates.

Eastern Canada is in the midst of a hot spell right now, as is most of the U.S., and there's not much wind. Change is due Monday with some rain, then Tuesday is much cooler and windy again. So we are avoiding the heat of the day to get our boat ready for sailing. Last evening around 7pm after it cooled down, we took the boat over to the friendly little Cook's Bay Marina, stepped the mast and got her ready for launch. This morning early we launched her at the marina boat ramp and motored around to our slip and got our mooring lines & fenders set up. Then we came back to the KOA to cool off and will return again this evening to setup the boom, the sails and get all the fine points ready for sailing, hopefully tomorrow, when there is a call for modest wind mid day according to Windfinder.com.

Today we took a drive up through the city of Barrie 20 minutes north of our KOA campground and then drove on to Georgian Bay (right), on the eastern side of Lake Huron which we have selected as our second summer destination. We went up to check out the campground we selected online for that part of our Canadian visit and also the huge Wye Heritage Marina on Midland Bay, where we have secured a slip for our sailboat for the time we spend there. Georgian Bay is a huge body of water, but Midland Bay on Severn Sound is a small corner nook of Georgian Bay, nicely tucked back from the big open water and should be perfect for our Catalina 22.

After a somewhat unnerving drive north thru downtown Toronto on the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) today, we pulled into Cookstown near Cook's Bay, the southernmost bay of Ontario's Lake Simcoe, our first planned summer sailing stop. We are planning to spend a month here staying at the local KOA and renting a slip at Cook's Bay Marina, a popular sailing marina. We're about 15 miles south of the lovely city of Barrie, which we also look forward to exploring over the next few weeks. And in July when we move on to Midland, Ontario for another month on Georgian Bay, we're less than an hour away!

Well we cruised up from Chautauqua Lake this morning, passed thru Buffalo, NY and ran some last minute U.S. errands, and then drove across the Peace Bridge into Canada. We pulled into Jellystone Park, in Niagara Falls, Ontario about 3 in the afternoon with pleasant weather around 70 degrees... that's Fahrenheit, eh? The photo at the right is from our trip to Niagara Falls in 2003, when we here for a software conference and brought our son Patrick, then 11 years old. We all took a helicopter tour over Niagara Falls which was pretty spectacular. No need to try and top that this trip. See our gallery page. We'll head on to Lake Simcoe tomorrow.

This morning we pulled out of the KOA Campground near Cuyahoga Valley National Park and got to All Seasons RV in nearby Streetsboro bright and early to get our new hydraulic jack installed. We were back on the road by noon and headed up to Chautauqua Lake just an hour south of Buffalo, NY. Because we had to wait for the part to be delivered, we're behind schedule by several days, so we're only going to stay here at Chautauqua Lake for 2 nights. Unfortunately strong T-storms are expected tomorrow so we won't get to take the C-Dory out on the Lake, this time but we can drive around the lake a bit anyway and get an idea of the area.

After a couple of stormy days, today was a beautiful spring day and we took the opportunity to drive through part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park enroute to the 65-foot Brandywine Falls, one of the most popular attractions. You walk through a forested wooden boardwalk and down a series of stairways to descend into the gorge where the falls is located. This time of year, the forest is alive with an almost surreal symphony of Cicada's song which is almost as loud as the waterfall!

Today we took a joyride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, one of the oldest tourist excursion railways in the country. The train travels northbound and southbound through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park from Independence, Ohio through Akron, Ohio with stops at smaller stations along the way. The roundtrip is approximately three hours long, but the purchase of an All-day pass allows you to hop off the train for a couple of hours, explore the park or nearby attractions and reboard to return to your starting location. We had to leave Corey at home so we just did the roundtrip, but had headsets which transported us back in time with an entertaining and informative Mark Twain style narration for the whole trip.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is our next stop on our way to Ontario, Canada for the summer. Cuyahoga Valley is a national park which encompasses the rural landscape along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland in NE Ohio. Picturesque 65-foot Brandywine Falls is one of the most popular attractions in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The 1.5-mile Brandywine Gorge Trail lets park visitors explore beyond the waterfall.

Secretariat was arguably the greatest racehorse of all time. As a three year old, he won the 1973 Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmost Stakes, making him the first Triple Crown winner since Citation in 1948. He set records in each race, two of which still stand today! Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by a phenomenal 31 lengths, the greatest margin in the history of the race, and was still accelerating in the final quarter-mile of the race. No other horse had won the Derby in less than 2 minutes before! This powerfully built, gorgeous chestnut Thoroughbred, nicknamed Big Red by his owners, stood at stud at Claiborne Farms and is buried here. You can watch this brief edited footage of this great horse's last romp before his death in 1989. ‹SNIFF› . I just love this magnificent horse... his edited story is here.

Today we took a guided tour of Claiborne Thoroughbred Horse Farm, one of the oldest and most successful horse farms in the Lexington area. Our tour took us around and through both stallion bams where we met a number of champions and got to feed them peppermints. Fully half of all the Triple Crown winners in history were bred here. Secretariat, the greatest Triple Crown winner (1973) of the last century, stood at stud here and is buried here. I took a photo of his stall which also housed other greats like Unbridled, Easy Goer and Bold Ruler, the sire of Secretariat. More photos on our gallery page. Later we cleared the dust away with a visit to The Woodford Reserve Bourbon Distillery in nearby Versailles, KY.

Today we celebrated Memorial Day with a visit to Old Friends Farm, a retirement home for racehorses in Georgetown, KY near where we are staying. Pictured at right is owner and founder Michael Blowen feeding a carrot to one of his favorite horses of the 110 here at this facility... War Emblem, a famous stallion who captured the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2002, but stumbled coming out of the gate in the Belmont Stakes and missed his bid at the Triple Crown. War Emblem was then sold for $17 million to Shadai Stallion Station in Hokkaido, Japan where he entered stud in 2003. He was pensioned in 2015 by the Yoshida family who paid $50,000 to transport this superb Thoroughbred to Old Friends. More photos on our gallery page.

Today we went back to visit both the International Museum of the Horse and the American Saddlebred Museum at the Kentucky Horse Park. Both are very interesting with many exhibits, videos and educational displays. Man o' War, who some have called the greatest Thoroughbred race horse of all time, lies at rest here at Kentucky Horse Park along with several of his offspring. This bronze statue stands as a memorial to this most memorable racehorse. Foaled in 1917 Man o' War won 20 of 21 races as a three year old in 1920 and had a pace of 24', greater than Seattle Slew or any other famous Triple Crown winner. Later at stud, Man o' War was a top sire who produced more than 64 stakes winners and various champions including Triple Crown winner War Admiral, also named Horse of the Year in 1937.

Our first day in Lexington was a beautiful early summer's day. We drove the 15 minutes to spend the day at the renowned Kentucky Horse Park, a working horse farm and an educational theme park opened here in 1978. A marvelous life size mechanical horse stands in front of the visitor's center... push a button and watch it run. Kentucky Horse Park is also a retirement home for aging race horses, and some derby winners live here. This is a photo of Libby and me by a bronze statue of Secretariat, the beloved American Thoroughbred racehorse who, in 1973, became the first U.S. Triple Crown winner in 25 years with an astounding win of the Belmont Stakes in record breaking time by a phenomenal 31 lengths. Many more photos on our gallery page. Secretariat's phenomenal story is here.

We pulled into Whispering Hills RV Resort just north of Lexington, Kentucky today to spend a week enjoying the Bluegrass State and visiting horse farms and other sights in the area. As we drove through Lexington we passed a lot of horse property with the classic 3 and 4 board fencing. Libby and I have both spent a lot of time with horses in our past and have been looking forward to visiting the ground zero of Thoroughbred Horse Racing. With our great love of horses, we expect this visit will be most rewarding.

Just a short hop heading northeast from Nashville is Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. It is billed as the world's longest known cave system, with more than 400 miles explored (and potentially hundreds more still not found and surveyed). We thought we would make a brief stop and celebrate the Centennial of the National Park Service and take advantage of free entry to yet another National Park using our America the Beautiful Senior Pass. We'll tour the famous cave tomorrow and view some of its breathtaking formations, and then drive around the park a bit, before we continue north to Lexington, Kentucky on Friday.

Today was another sunny warm day, our last day here in Nashville, and perfect for taking our little C-Dory out for a spin on the beautiful Cumberland River. The Cumberland is a large river which runs right thru the heart of Nashville. We launched at the Rockland Recreation Area near the Old Hickory Lock and Dam in Hendersonville, just east of Nashville. We cruised down aways, enjoyed a picnic lunch out on the water, then continued on for 15 miles or so to where the river narrows before turning back. On the way back we pulled into the Harbor Island Yacht Club briefly before cruising back to the boat launch.

This afternoon we took our C-Dory motorboat over to Long Hunter State Park on J. Percy Priest Lake just east of Nashville. The park has a nice free boat launch ramp and no crowds on a Monday. We dropped the lil Scamp in the water and tooled around for several hours, running from the Park over to the widest basin of the lake up towards the north end and over to Hamilton Creek Sailing Club. Lotsa sailboats there, but it's kind of a small area and I am not sure the wind is too reliable here. Very pretty lake, but I don't think we would ever come here for a sailing sojourn. Better lake for pontooning... matter of fact this was the location for the filming of the great Pontoon music video by Little Big Town.

Sunday was a nice sunny day, and low traffic in the city, so we took the opportunity to drive downtown. We had a tip from someone to park up around 7th and Broadway near the church where parking costs 1/3 what it costs down in the honky tonk "District" and it's only two blocks up from where the "District" begins at 5th and Broadway (photo at right). The "District" has several dozen bars or honky tonks, all lit with their signature neon signs, all with live music blaring out the open windows. We stopped into the notorious Tootsie's for a couple beers and some good live county music.

Tonite we made our pilgrimage to the Grand Ole Opry to see Carrie Underwood and a whole lineup of other well known Country Music performers. We sprung for good center seats in the front of the mezzanine - we were fortunate to get them as Carrie is doing 5 performances and Saturday night was the only one which had a few tickets available. Winner of the 2005 American Idol award, Carrie Underwood is one of those rare performers that cuts across music genre lines. Ya gotta love Carrie.

Today we took a Grayline tour of Nashville and learned a bit about the history of this iconic city and got a good overview. We stopped at the Ryman Auditorium, original home of the Grand Ole Opry before it moved to its new location, drove down Broadway past all the Honky Tonks, thru Music Row where so many of the famed music recording studios of Nashville are located, and made an hour and half stop at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Nashville has long been on my bucket list. I love country music... I had my own country band for several years back in Oregon in the 90's. Everyone says "You'll love Nashville" and from all we have read, I expect that will be true. We have a nice roomy space at Lazy Acres RV Resort just north of the city in Goodletsville. Watch the blog and photo gallery for lots of interesting posts over the next week.

After visiting the Titanic Museum, yesterday in nearby Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, today was earmarked for a river cruise along the Tennessee River which forms Lake Tellico. We launched the C-Dory at the nearby Yarberry Recreation Area Boat Ramp in a pretty state park along the river. We cruised around the point under the Highway 321 Bridge and down the river, past several marinas and homes along the Tanasi Golf Course. We passed many beautiful lakefront and hillside homes along the way. A marvelous way to end our brief visit to this beautiful part of Tennessee. More photos on our gallery page.

We've moved on to Tellico Village, a lovely community on Tellico Lake... visiting some friends for a few days and seeing the area. Today we visited Cades Cove, a broad, green valley surrounded by mountains and one of the most popular destinations in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It offers some great opportunities for wildlife viewing in the park. With our friends we drove the 11-mile, one-way loop road which circles the cove. Rich with history, there are three old log churches, a working grist mill (under renovations), barns, log houses, and many other faithfully restored eighteenth and nineteenth century structures. We did spot a small black bear right by the roadside foraging in the forest.

We had our final day of sailing yesterday on Lake Murray. The wind was not stellar... kind of up and down, although we did hit speeds about 6mph at one point (hull speed is about 8mph). But the sunset more than made up for the lack of wind. Lake Murray is a marvelous lake and I have a feeling we will be back. This morning, we got over to the marina early as threats of t-storms were in the forecast. We hauled the boat out at the dam boat launch, dropped the mast and got her all ready for our road trip... we leave Friday for beautiful Tellico Lake in eastern Tennessee just west of the spectacular Great Smoky Mountains.

After a wonderful week in Charleston when wind forecasts were on the weak side for Lake Murray, we got back to our Lexington SC RV park day before yesterday. Yesterday there were T-storms around so we stuck close to home and took care of a few projects. But today the forecasts were perfect, calling for 12-15 in the afternoon and that is exactly what we had. Winds picked up late and with Libby at the helm we actually hit a speed of 8.1 mph on the GPS on a broad reach! We came in because the winds were picking up, and we don't really like gusting over 20. We sailed way out to Counts Island across the lake and had perfect conditions.

Today is our last day in this fair city... the weather cleared up beautifully and we headed into downtown Charleston's Museum Mile one more time, this time to visit the historic Edmondston-Alston House located on East Battery, on the Charleston harbor waterfront. This historic residence was built by shipping merchant Charles Edmondston in the 1820's and sold in 1838 to Charles Alston, a successful South Carolina Lowcountry rice planter. Alston's descendants still maintain residence on the third floor of this gracious old mansion. We took a guided tour of the house and learned about its history and the families who lived here in the past two centuries. Tomorrow morning we'll head back up to Lake Murray.

We attended a dinner theater / cabaret performance of "Lady Legends of Song" by sister act Gracie and Lacey at the North Charleston Center for the Performing Arts. Two very lovely and talented ladies, singing and dancing and evoking much of the glamour of yesterday which has all but vanished in modern music.

Today we visited the Charleston Tea Plantation located on historic Wadmalaw Island in the heart of the Lowcountry of South Carolina, just about 12 miles from where we're staying in our coach on John's Island. Neither is technically an island anymore, as they are interconnected with roads and bridges. We took a brief narrated old time trolley tour of the plantation and a video tour of the plant where the tea leaves are processed to make nine their special flavors of tea, including their original American Classic Tea. More photos on our gallery page.

Today, Sunday, we took a very informative hour and a half narrated cruise aboard General Beauregard, a small cruise ship in the Spiritline Cruise Fleet. We toured all around the harbor, past White Point Gardens at the southern tip of the Charleston peninsula across the harbor and out thru the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge to Fort Sumter at the harbor's entrance then back around by Mt Pleasant. More photos on our gallery page.

After passing by it yesterday in our boat cruise along the Ashley River, today we drove back and toured Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. The gardens at Magnolia Plantation are of great beauty and variety - they were opened to the public in the early 1870s shortly after the end of the Civil War. Although the home was destroyed during the Civil War, the beautiful gardens were spared. Some parts of the gardens are more than 325 years old. Many more photos on our gallery page.

Today, we toured Magnolia Plantation which was originally a rice plantation built by Thomas Drayton for his wife Ann. The original plantation home, located along the Ashley River, was destroyed by fire, and the fully restored plantation house is based on what was built after the Civil War. Magnolia is best known for its English style gardens with their azaleas, camellias and live oak and bald cypress trees. You can also watch a nice video tour and introduction to the home and gardens.

Today we drove over to the WO Thomas Jr. Boat Launch, a.k.a County Farm Landing, and launched the C-Dory for the afternoon. We headed up the Ashley River away from downtown Charleston towards Middleton Place, Magnolia Plantation and Drayton Hall, which was really the only one visible from the river. The water on the Ashley River is slightly brackish dues to the tides from Charleston Harbor. Up beyond Magnolia Plantation, we encountered a pod of Dolphins playing in the river and following our boat.

Today we took a historic city tour aboard an air conditioned tour bus with Charleston's Finest Historic Tours. The hour and half guided your drove us all around downtown Charleston pointing out many of the historic districts, homes, government buildings, restaurants and parks. We got out of the bus for a brief stop at the Charleston Harbor Waterfront at the Battery, a landmark defensive seawall and promenade which was named for a civil-war coastal defense artillery battery at the site. The Battery and its large public park stretches along the lower shores of the Charleston peninsula, bordered by the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, which meet here to form Charleston harbor. Some beautiful historic homes line the shore here. More photos on our gallery page.

Charleston is one of those legendary cities you hear about all your life... and we are finally here to see it live and in color. Should be an exciting week. Tomorrow we're going to take a historic city tour aboard an air conditioned tour bus. We'll also visit some plantations, sample some of Charleston's fabled cuisine, and do some touring on the Ashley and Wando Rivers with our C-Dory. Should be a fun week. Then we will return to Lake Murray for a final week of sailing before we begin our trek north.

Here I am back out sailing in the middle of Lake Murray, this time in 14-18mph winds. It was another excellent day, the best yet here at beautiful Lake Murray. It backed off at times and sometimes we only had 6-8mph for a little while, but it was mostly at least 10-12 or better, out of the northwest. You can see Corey down in his little cubby at the back of the cockpit. He'll nap for a while and then he wakes up refreshed and comes back up on deck, especially if "in flight snacks" are served! See some more cool photos on the photo gallery.

Today was our 8th day here in South Carolina and our 3rd day sailing on Lake Murray... and the best day so far for wind. It was 15-18 at times out there... from the south and southwest - a bit gusty at times but very enjoyable. We sailed about 3 1/2 hours and covered about 15 miles as shown by the dotted line on the chart at the right. After coming out of our Marina and Yacht Cove, we sailed on a single reach over five miles more or less due west all the way out past Counts Island and around Lake Point before turning back. A great sail! You can explore this phenomenal boating lake yourself in this detailed hi res chart of Lake Murray.

Happiness for a Septuagenarian is to be out sailing on a new lake on his birthday. Sailing out of our slip at Windward Point Yacht Club, we took the Anne Marie out for several hours this afternoon on Lake Murray. Winds were a little up and down... we had 10-12 mph at times and only 5-6 at others, but it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and a dozen other sailboats were out enjoying the breezes with us. Lake Murray is a beautiful lake indeed. We're looking forward to spending the next month here and exploring all South Carolina has to offer.

Like the great Jim Croce song goes... "Moving me down the highway. Rolling me down the highway. Moving ahead so life won't pass me by." Six months and a week after we arrived in central Florida, we're finally movin' on! After a brief interim stop in Brunswick, Georgia, we're headed for Columbia, South Carolina and beautiful Lake Murray for a month of great spring sailing. With our 'entourage', we'll make quite a 'splash' when pull in now... Truly 'ship faced aquaholics'.

Today was our last day of sailing Lake Monroe for this season. We sailed close to 40 days during our stay here and had many excellent days... like today. Lake Monroe does not disappoint. We had a nice steady 14-16 in the late afternoon for several hours under mostly clear sunny skies.. A great way to finish out the season. That is the old Mayfair Hotel, one of the prettiest spots on the lake, one which hails back to the glory days in the first half of the 20th century when wealthy northerners flocked to the area for winter sunshine. We'll pull the boat out of water Friday as we prepare to head north to our next stop on the 2016 tour... Lake Murray, South Carolina. It's a little hard to tear ourselves away from the great conditions here, but adventure awaits!

The Windseekers were honored by Time Magazine as Persons of the Year for their unwavering dedication to RV living, travel and fun. Traveling in their mighty Allegro Bus, with their trusty Catalina 22 sailboat, The Anne Marie, in tow, and their intrepid Westie, Corey Courageous, they have covered the west coast, east coast and points in between, in search of the finest sailing lakes in the USA. In spring of 2016, their 'Glorious Quest' continues, as they go beyond borders to explore some exotic sailing locales in Ontario, Canada.

Well as our stay in Florida comes to a close, I guess we can count ourselves lucky we have had no encounters with bears or gators. Gators are everywhere in Florida... but tend to lay low in the winter months. We saw a few gators on the boat tours we took, but never saw one sailing. But Wekiva Falls is right next to a wild bear preserve, and bears are plenty active year round around here. So everything around here is "bear proofed" to keep the big critters out. Well we won't complain we haven't had any "close encounters". Still it pays to be cautious.... stay "alert for signs of fresh bear activity" like the humorous sign at the right says.

I am actually 1/4 Irish... me grandmother's name was Sweeney on me father's side... and Libby also has Irish blood on her mother's side. So we celebrated with some green beer and a toast to Irish Spring soap, one of the more successful commercials I did many years back in 1979 while I was an actor in Hollywood in the 70's and 80's. You can watch the 30 second commercial on youtube... or watch a whole collection of my television commercials HERE.

Today was our maiden voyage on board our new C-Dory... we've dubbed the lil guy C-Scamp. We had the pleasure of going out on nearby Lake Dora with a local C-Dory afficionado, Cliff Harbin, from Mt Dora. Cliff was able to show me some of the subtleties of operating the C-Dory. The boat handles very well and the Honda 50 motor purred like a champ. We were out running for 3 hours and burned just 4 gallons of fuel. We launched at Gilbert Park in downtown Mt Dora, cruised across Lake Dora, and took the Dora Canal to Lake Eustis and then up the Haines Creek Canal to the Haines Creek lock. It's a very pretty ride.

We have long been considering the option of bringing a little powerboat with us in our travels. The idea is that while we live for sailing... and that remains our main focus... we can only over so much ground in an area in the sailboat and there are many cool little lakes or rivers we would love to explore for a day or two. But we are not going to expend the time and effort necessary to rig and unrig the sailboat for that. And perhaps the lake doesn't have good wind for sailing. So this way while we are camped in an area for a month or more for sailing... we can mix it up a little and trailer our little powerboat to other boat ramps to explore distant parts of the lake or river. Today we picked up this cute little C-Dory boat in the Tampa area and brought her back over to Wekiva. Read all about our new baby on her own website.

Today we took the day off from sailing, even though winds were once again excellent, and took a cruise down the St John's River which feeds Lake Monroe and flows north to Jacksonville. We boarded the Barbara Lee at the marina for a luncheon cruise to travel 12 miles down the scenic St John's River and back to experience some of the quieter parts of central Florida only reachable by boat. The Barbara Lee is an authentic sternwheel paddleboat owned by a local family which has been taking visitors up and down the St Johns for decades. The luncheon was excellent... surprisingly elegant with most enjoyable live entertainment. A very pleasant afternoon.

Sailing Paradise for sure. Every day this month is just great. After 3 days sailing in a row this week, we took yesterday off and went to the gym... and were back out today in solid winds in the 14-18 range. You can see by the heel of the boat to starboard and the spray over the bow, it was a rousing day on the lake. This is the kind of day I just love! We had one other sailboat out today to play with.

Found this photo online and had to post it on the blog... Anyone who is an avid sailor can probably relate! And anyone married to an avid sailor can definitely relate! My wife certainly knows this only too well!

March is shaping up to be another perfect sailing month at Lake Monroe just as it was last year. Ah Spring and the month of March. In like a lion, out like a lamb. Today was perfect 12-14 mostly with some periods of higher wind. Consistent all afternoon. The ten day forecast on Windfinder.com shows plenty more of the same in store. Today the skies were mostly clear with the occasional patch of clouds... Libby likes to look for Westie heads in the clouds and we spotted this profile today!

Today we celebrated Leap Year with a quick trip up to Ormond Beach for the day to visit my sister and her husband Jim. Libby and I took Corey for a walk on the beach and then went out for dinner with Jim and Cecilia to a local Mexican eatery for some tasty food and drink. Olé!

We drove about an hour and a half up to Marion County, Florida, often referred to as "Horse Capital of the World." There are more than 70,000 acres of Thoroughbred breeding and training farms in Marion County. Both of us horse lovers, we visited several of the most famous ones. We drove around the 4500 acre Live Oak Stud Horse Farrm owned by Charlotte Weber, heiress of the Campbell Soup fortune. And we received a pass to drive all through the magnificent Bridalwood Farm (right), recently purchased by Leslie Malone and her husband John, Chairman of Liberty Media Corp. We also visited Ocala Stud, another famous Thoroughbred stud farm just outside Ocala, where we were permitted to wander through the horse barns and admire all the magnificent studs, brood mares, and race horses in training.

Today was a very gusty wind day and we had family visiting, so we got together and all had lunch at St. Johns River Steak and Seafood Restaurant in Sanford right at our marina. We all sat in the protected screened patio lakeside, protected from the winds and enjoyed some fresh fish and other epicurean delights. From left to right it's me, Libby, Angela and her significant other Paul Lettieri, my first cousin, my sister Cecilia and her hubby Jim. You can see the reflection of the lake in the windows behind us. A good time was had by all!

We were out on Lake Monroe all afternoon today in 70 degree sunshine with the wind blowing a consistent 12-15 out of the north. A bit much for Corey so he stayed back in the coach and relaxed for the afternoon. Libby took a one minute HIGH DEFINITION video with her Iphone which I uploaded to Youtube. You can watch full screen on your computer by clicking on the thumbnail at the right, or CLICK HERE.

We returned from south Florida on Monday, and spent Tuesday getting settled back at Wekiva Falls RV Park. Today we took the boat out for some excellent sailing late afternoon in the 8-11mph range. Here I am at the helm with Corey, enjoying the warm Florida February breezes.

Today we drove over to the nearby Everglades Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale. Nicknamed the "Gateway to the Everglades" the park is run by Broward County and offers reasonably priced airboat tours which take millions of tourists annually zipping across the "River of Grass" every day all day, leaving every 20 minutes. The hour long tour includes narration including the history and lots of info about the Everglades by an experienced 'Gladesman'. We saw lots of wildlife including birds, large iguanas, and as you might expect, alligators in the wild. Your ticket also includes a free professional photo (right) and a ticket to see the Gator Boys alligator 'wrestling' show which was very entertaining. More photos on our gallery page.

We drove once again thru horrendous traffic, to the Marlin Park Stadium shuttle station. The Boat Show offers free shuttles in big air conditioned luxury coaches down to the marina. There were hundreds of power boats and mega yachts at the Virginia Key location but we caught the water taxi over to the Bayside Marina where the sailboat were on display. Every size and model of Jenneau, Bennetau, Catalina, and many other makes of both monohull and big Catamarans were at the docks open to walk aboard and inspect. The traffic back to the RV Park was exhausting... 1:45 hours to go 20 miles. That did it for us. We're done.

We are on our way in the coach to the big Strictly Sail Boat Show in Miami for the next few days, held at the beautiful Miamarina at Key Biscayne. This show is one of the premier sailboat shows in the country and includes everything from entry-level day sailors, cruising sailboats, race boats to mega-catamarans, with something for every taste and every budget. We're not interested in a new boat at all... our Anne Marie is the perfect sailboat for our lifestyle - we just like to look. We'll also meet up with my old friend Jesse Briggs from my Key West days in the early 70's... he lives in nearby Ft Lauderdale. We're hoping the spring sailing weather will settle in by the time we get back.

Well after a dearth of good sailing weather over the past month, it is good to be back on the water. We haven't been sailing since I was out with my brother last on Jan 2. Most of the time weather was either too chilly and no wind... or rainy... or just too much wind. And we had the boat out of water for repairs for about 10 days as well. We got her back in the water on the weekend, and today, Tuesday, the weather was again cooperative with pleasant temps and good wind in the 12-14 range earlier building 14-16 by 4 pm or so. We hit speeds on a beam reach above 7 mph. Now THIS is why we're spending the winter here in Florida. Hope to get many more good days before we leave April 3. Today was Groundhog Day, and Punxsutawney Phil hitched a ride (right). Apparently he didn't see his shadow back in Pennsylvania, so it looks like we'll have a welcome early spring.

So our boat repairs have been completed. Another clear indicator of what B O A T stands for... "Break out another thousand!" Ah well she has been a good vessel and this mast step issue was my own fault. And we got a good solid repair. We took her back down to the marina, rigged her in the parking lot and launched her on the marina boat ramp. Here I am stepping the mast, the most challenging part of the process. It's actually easier than it looks... Libby is on the other end of the line leading from the top of the mast, hoisting it with a block and tackle pulley system achored to our car roof rack... I am just guiding it and keeping it on center.

Back to reality, El Niño is having its way with us right now with over two inches of rain predicted here for today and more tomorrow. It was a good time to have our boat worked on. Unfortunately, a couple times in stepping the mast this summer, we didn't follow proper protocol and as we were hoisting the mast, it slipped and fell off to the side, exerting undue upward leverage on the mast base. This damaged the mounting area and we now have some discomforting cracks in the overhead of the cabin under the mast base. While there is no damage showing on the topside as yet, I decided to have it repaired and reinforced by Bruce Crane, an experienced local sailboat repair guy. We should have her back in the water on the weekend.

We're having some work done on our sailboat right now. It's a good time to do it, since the central Florida weather isn't particularly conducive to sailing at the moment. For most of January the weather has vacillated between sunny cooler weather and little or no wind, to stormy weather with extremely high winds. Perhaps El Niño is to blame. Anyhow we are busily making all our plans right now for a summer in Canada at Lake Simcoe, then on to Georgian Bay on Lake Huron (right), then back to the Thousand Islands on the St Lawrence Seaway, and finally at Lake Champlain in Vermont. More photos on our gallery page.

Today we drove over to Melbourne Harbor on Florida's east coast and met up with some old friends we knew from Oregon, Caroline and Larry Lewis, who are now embarked on a parallel lifestyle, of sorts, to our own... living aboard their 40' Passport Sailboat, Thalia, and cruising the east coast, heading for the gulf coast. We had a scrumptious lunch at a local Melbourne eatery, Grill's Riverside, and then rode out in their dingy to have a look at their beautiful yacht. We shared a few beers and listened to stories of their adventures over the past couple years. Click here to read their blog of their travels all the way from Maine to Florida and the Bahamas.

I was mustering up the energy to wash the coach this morning, something I normally do myself, but as Libby and I were taking Corey for a walk, Topo's Detailing was driving along our road. I talked to them and struck a very reasonable deal for them to wash the whole coach including scrubbing the roof, something I don't relish doing. They also told me they could polish the alloy wheels and make them look like new, so I let them do that and may as well wax the coach while they were at it. Corey and I just sat and watched. I drank my morning coffee and Corey mooched! They did a terrific job. I gave them a nice review on their.facebook page.

This is the reason we're in Florida this winter! Saw this photo of a car taken in an ice storm in Syracuse, NY, not far from the Thousand Islands, showing what they call the "lake effect" up there near the Great Lakes. Not the kind of lake effect we go up there for... it's where we spent last summer and where we'll be headed again in June. But not now! Yikes!!! Ok now THIS is a shot of me in winter a couple years ago in my car! Which one would YOU choose?!?

My brother Frank and I had the pleasure of sailing together on New Year's Day and again today... several hours each afternoon on Lake Monroe in pleasant winds in the 8-10 range and comfortable weather in the 70's. Corey was excited (sort of) to go along too. Frank is also an avid sailor and has owned several large sailboats in the past. He just purchased a new Seaward 26RK which he will be keeping on Lake Champlain next summer. We'll be stopping off there early summer to sail with him before we head on to the 1000 Islands. Today evoked memories of sailing together last summer on Lake George (photo at the right with Libby). We had no one aboard to catch a photo of the two of us sailing this time around so I resurrected this great photo of Frank sailing our Catalina 22 with Libby taken last summer.

I only stayed back home in Vancouver a week, as we left Corey here in Florida with a pet sitter. We were not sure how well he would handle it and didn't want to leave him too long. He seemed to get along fine but I think he missed his home on wheels and his routines. Here he is asleep communing with his Gracie pillow (our other westie who passed away in 2014 at age 16) and with his stuffed toys. That's his snooze buddy Roger Rabbit. Cute stuff!

Happy New Year to all our friends out there across the continent. After a brief visit home to wet and cold Vancouver, we are pleased to be here in Florida with our beautiful Tiffin Allegro Bus 43QRP Motor Coach. There just isn't a better place in the US to spend the winter months if you want to stay warm and go sailing. We'll be here until April when we'll start heading north on the first leg of our planned 2016 Windseeker Eastern US Tour. Please be sure to bookmark our blog and check in often. I send an email reminder every month or so when we are underway, but I update the blog much more frequently.