Bryan and Stella's Great Adventure

Finally, Bryan got some time off and made it to Rock Chalk.  We all wanted Trisha (and so did she) and Frankie to come as well.   But Frankie is just 1 year old, and that is a difficult age to spend time on the boat.  So Trisha was a great wife, and told Bryan to take Stella and go.    We are missing Trish, but have had a great week.  

So what does one do with a 3 year old on a boat?   Well, we think we found a perfect solution.   A new marina opened up on Ft. Myers Beach called The Pink Shell Marina.  It is part of the longtime resort of the same name on the western end of the beach.   The marina is brand new and with your dockage comes full privileges to the resort, its heated pools, spa, restaurants, and most of all the beautiful beach.  This turned out to be a perfect place to entertain all of us, but especially Stella, as she made her first trip ever to a beach or the ocean.   Shelley and I loved having both Bryan and Stella here with us on the boat for the week, as we got in some good "Grandparent" time.

We also took Rock Chalk over to North Captiva for a great day of shelling on its very unique beach.   Not many people get to this island as it has almost no settlement on the island, and the only way to get there is by boat.   Therefore, the shells collect on shore by the millions, piled high in mounds on the beach.  It is the best place ever that we have found for finding shells.   As you can see we captured a few.

Plus it is always fun in Pine Island sound to play with the dolphins.  As we motor our way through these beautiful waters, the dolphins are plenty, and eager to play.  The key is you have to take the boat up to speed where it makes a 4 ft. wake.   The dolphin will ride that wake, hardly moving their tail, for miles.   Then if we speed up a bit more, they just love to surf the wake and flop on their side.  Over and over they will jump out of the water looking at us right in the eye, and then make a big pop as they splash into the water.

All in all it has been a great week.   We love having our kids and grandkids get the time to break away from their lives and enjoy our boat and our lifestyle.   Trisha you were missed, but thanks so much for letting Bryan and Stella spend some time on Rock Chalk.  We had a great time.

Happy New Year 2013

 I am woefully late in my postings, but I have a good reason.   We have been very busy in Austin with Christmas, then back to Rock Chalk just in time for the Wurth family to join us for New Year's in Clearwater.  

It was a bit cold, especially the first day that the Wurth's arrived in Tampa, but we used that as an opportunity to go see The Hobbit.   From there we worked our way from St. Pete to Clearwater Beach, then up to Caladesi Island State Park.

The weather cooperated there and we had several nice days exploring the island and spending New Year's on the beach.   Not bad.  The water was a bit cold, but that did not stop Max and Rylee from getting in for some body surfing.  Yikes!!


 Leo and Rylee were very good at building forts and castles in the sand, until Max or the ocean would destroy their hard work.  Leo is also the expert in finding the best shells, along with Shelley.   Those two could find Shark Eyes, which are very rare and hard to find.

Craig is intently navigating through the Intercoastal Waterway on our way to Clearwater.    He is ready for his own boat.

Mema, Pepa, Max, Leo and Rylee

All in all we had a great time with the Wurth family on the boat.  Next week, our son Bryan and his daughter, Stella will join us in Ft. Myers Beach for 4 days.   It has been warmer down here vs. Tampa Bay, so hopefully that warm weather will last.  


More later on where we are going this winter and spring on Rock Chalk (assuming we can make a plan).   It is boating after all.     Marc and Shelley