The Voyage Begins

motorcycle adventures 2 Minutes

All the planning is done.  All the charting, phone calls to Marinas, preventative maintenance, engine checks, electronic checks, pump-out, water, and fuel and oil fill check, provisioning of food, all done.

As I sit on Wakely, 12 hours before launch, my stomach has butterflies.  The combination of a bucket list adventure, the unknown, the anticipation of the experience, the concern that Wakely may experience mechanical challenges, the excitement of a plan that has been in the making for 7 months is here.  I cannot believe that after all this time, the “virus”, the loss of crew, and the addition of a great mate in Stan Thurley, the time has arrived.

We leave tomorrow and due to the Coronavirus closing the entire Florida Keys, Stan and I will be taking the Lake Okeechobee route.  This route will take us across Florida from Marco Island, up to Ft. Myers, and into the Lake Okeechobee waterway.  Tomorrow evening we stay in Clewiston Florida, on the west side of the lake.

Marco to Clewiston

Over the next four days, our itinerary will take us over 450 Nautical Miles from Marco Island on Florida’s West Coast to Fernandina Beach, on Florida’s East Coast and Georgia Border.  As you can see below, we have reservations on three of the four days but nothing in New Smyrna.

Itinerary

The New Smyrna City Marina is closed due to the virus and will not be open until May 15th.

This is where I must thank Jeff Neuberth.  Jeff has been such a great friend and asset.  Being one of the most experienced sailors and boaters that you would ever meet and having cruised the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway numerous time, he has been incredibly generous with his time.  Jeff has spent countless hours on the phone with me, helping plan the route, giving me valuable insight into where to go, which Marina’s to stop at, and giving me experienced people to talk to along the way.  This trip would be much riskier without Jeff’s counsel and advice.  Stan and I are so appreciative of Jeff’s input.

W will be exploring other options for New Smyrna and hopefully, we will find a place to “pull-in” for the evening.  It may be a challenge, but I am confident that something will work out and we will be in a safe harbor at the end of the day.

Keep Cruising!

 

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Published by Paul Kramer

Paul Kramer’s award-winning and distinguished career is characterized by a long track record of building high-performance sales and marketing communication organizations. He brings a high-energy, enthusiastic approach to marketing that is contagious and produces results. His expertise is a unique blend of creativity, technical marketing analysis, and a keen business sense for strategic positioning. He has worked with some of the world's greatest communication companies, including Grey Advertising, Bates Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, D.L. Ryan Companies and Epsilon. He is skilled in all areas of marketing from both the agency and client side of the business. He is especially strong in strategic planning, global marketing, national brand & account management, marketing communications, licensing and business development. In addition, he has a solid thirty plus year management foundation with accomplishments in P&L management, intellectual property, forming and maintaining strategic alliances and building business. Mr. Kramer has documented successes in companies from $10 Million to $100 Million in size, with industries ranging from automotive, restaurant to consumer packaged goods and durable goods. He brings an unusually strong multi-product, multi-market background. The beneficiaries of his marketing acumen include Johnson & Johnson, M&M Mars, Cadbury, Toyota, The Stanley Works, Timex, Wal*Mart, Alcoa, Novartis and more. Mr. Kramer has received awards for his career accomplishments, including a Promotional Marketing Association Reggie for Global Marketing and a Promotional Marketing Association Reggie for Account Specific Marketing. Mr. Kramer is married to Catherine and has two beautiful daughters, Emma and Sarah, and his hobbies include tennis, motorcycling, and boating.

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12 thoughts on “The Voyage Begins”

  1. Paul, We have stayed at Roland Martin on two trips up Caloosahatchie to Lake O. Enjoy. Tom

    Typos courtesy of my iPad

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  5. Have fun!

    On Thu, Apr 30, 2020 at 8:06 PM Cruising with Kramer wrote:

    > Paul Kramer posted: “All the planning is done. All the charting, phone > calls to Marinas, preventative maintenance, engine checks, electronic > checks, pump-out, water, and fuel and oil fill check, provisioning of food, > all done. As I sit on Wakely, 12 hours before launch, my ” >

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  6. This is awesome! Best of luck out there. Glad you have a big comfy boat if times get tough.

    On Thu, Apr 30, 2020 at 9:06 PM Cruising with Kramer wrote:

    > Paul Kramer posted: “All the planning is done. All the charting, phone > calls to Marinas, preventative maintenance, engine checks, electronic > checks, pump-out, water, and fuel and oil fill check, provisioning of food, > all done. As I sit on Wakely, 12 hours before launch, my ” >

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    1. Day one and a success. In Clewiston and all is well. Day one done with no real drama. The Gulf was a little rough with 2’ – 3’ waves that slowed us down, but no problems.

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    1. Not the best way but doable. The best in my humble opinion is down to Key West and then up the east Coast. But with the Keys closed due to the virus, Lake Okeechobee was the only choice.

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  9. Gary,

    Having covered the Southeast and Southwest by bike, the trip up the AICW is truly a special experience. Seeing the United States from the West Coast of Florida to the Eastcoast of Georgia and South Carolina (so far) is a blessing.

    Thanks for following.

    Paul

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