March Winds in like a lion beating up on Sevilla and her crew

Waves at Jensen Beach

We are getting slammed by yet more ferocious winds northeast to southeast which seem to funnel under Sevilla, lift her up and then pound her bottom.  When right up against the finger pier, there is a lot of chafing on the starboard side.  I had to adjust the fender a couple of times today while Glen is playing golf.  It seems that the wind blows 15-20 knots nearly every day, rotating around from north to east to west to north about every 24-36 hours.  It is warm and sunny out, but the winds make it tough to enjoy.  I am told it is a March phenomenon here.

It got so bad last weekend that I insisted that we leave the boat for 24 hours; I was having weird dreams while being shaken hard all night.  So we headed for Fort Myers on the Gulf side of Florida, away from the east winds.  On the way, we took a little nature tour of the area around Lake Okeechobee, actually quite close to us.  We stopped at the Dupuis Management area--22,000 acres of publicly owned land purchased in 1986 through the “Save Our Rivers program that enables state water management districts to purchase, restore and protect environmentally sensitive water resource lands.”

Formerly the “White Belt Ranch,” named for the Dutch white-belted cattle there, John G. Dupuis managed a working ranch where thousands of head of goats and sheep also grazed. 

We talked to Katy, the naturalist there, looked at the exhibits, picked up some of the many informative pamphlets, and took the Dupuis auto tour.  We saw examples of Pine Beetle Restoration to try and stem the bark beetle invasion that started in the 1990s.  One of the methods is to thin the forest to improve forest health, as well as to treat the trunks of high-risk trees with pesticide to ward off beetle attacks.  We were also struck by the vast areas that were burned intentionally by the land managers in “prescribed burns” every three years. 

The ferocious winds of the past several weeks along with the terrible drought in central Florida have caused the closure of I-95 in places on some days.  The fires help me appreciate the difficulty of the land managers’ job. 

  There was a lot to see along the Northeast  Everglades Natural Area from Stuart to Indiantown and along the south side of Lake Okeechobee.   We discovered a favorite of Glen’s fishing shows—the Roland Martin Marina and Fishing Resort, where championships in bass fishing took place.  We enjoyed a lunch on the deck there, watched some guys in a weird looking floating contraption out on the lake.  Maybe some kind of "swamp buggy" constructed for the Everglades?We drove the road around the Lake for a bit and tried to see the channel where the bass boats entered and then came down into the Marina.  We have actually met sailors who brought their boats across Okeechobee from the ICW to get to the west side of Florida. 

We were trying to make it to Fort Myers Beach, but the traffic was backed up for several miles on Friday afternoon, so we settled for a little fishing motel called the “Tahitian.”  Surprisingly good for $55.00 a night, our room had  nice queen beds with excellent mattresses and a bath tub for a change.  We spent the money we “saved” on a fabulous meal at a nearby gourmet market/restaurant, “The Sandy Butler.”  That was a find.  Glen had a Pear and Gorgonzola salad to accompany his Blackened Sea Scallops—“pan-seared and served over a pool of ginger caramel sauce.”  I had to try the Crab Bisque, and the special with Colorado Rack of Lamb, “seared and finished with a cabernet reduction,” and  a Black Grouper topped with lump crab meat, lemon butter sauce and served with lemongrass couscous and French beans.  We finished with a delicious Tiramisu.   (Yes, we do have photos somewhere in cyberspace.  Later)

On the way back to Stuart on Sunday, we stopped for lunch at the "Country Diner" in Alva for some country fried chicken and mashed potatoes.  Good home cooking.

I’ll leave the visit to the Henry Ford and Thomas A. Edison winter homes in Ft. Myers to a later Blog entry.  This is enough for one day.  Don’t want to tax our readers’ patience.

Hope all is well,

Maureen and Glen

Stuart, Florida

March 6, 2011