Fun and Work

Over the past 4 days we have tackled several repair issues and played with our old boat friends, Steve and Linda, who were our dock mates at E 55th St Marina in Cleveland. Steve and Linda sold their house about the same time that we did and moved aboard there trawler, Yesterday's Dream, on which they have been living and cruising down the Mississippi, across the gulf, and are presently in Marathon Key where we are.

Among our dirty jobs was re plumbing the holding tank, probably the worst job on a boat, and one that no friend should have to help with. However, we are blessed with our good friend Steve, who knows how to fix everything and has a very willing spirit. The hands in the picture are not ours, although Joy did her share of the dirty work! Also, fixed was some loose electrical connections, a sticky valve, and the ladder on the stern of the boat. Thank you, Steve!

Afternoons are for relaxing and playing, so Joy and Steve went out kayaking, while Joe and Linda did some relaxing. There is a picture of the private island off Steve and Linda's marina with a cabin for rent for $2,800 a week. We also saw an iguana, about 2 feet long, sunning himself on a ledge by the water.

The first 2 days in Marathon, we anchored and waited for a mooring ball, starting tenth on a waiting list. There are 250 moorings in the harbor, so by day 3, we were able to move onto a mooring for the next 2-3 weeks; a good spot to be in. Marathon Marina community has free yoga three mornings a week that I am excited about and a buddy board where boaters planning to cross to the Bahamas can meet each other and cross together.

Today, we went out with Steve and Linda to the reef to snorkel. Joy and Steve got in the water with the jelly fish, full body swim suits for protection, and snorkeling gear. The fan coral was beautiful with lots of multi-colored fish. We saw several barracudas, all minding their own business. Later in the evening we watched the Super Bowl until halftime, when we returned to our boat. Of course, we had to critique the commercials and knew we were getting old when there was nothing in the halftime show that appealed to any of us. Tomorrow we take the $3 shuttle to Key West to visit with Francis and Linda, and Linda's sister and husband.

Jen, Mark, Erin and Adam

Well we took a couple of days off the boat to visit with Jen and her family. They flew down to Florida, first stop was Vero Beach to visit Melody and Hank. Melody was married to Robert Gabriel, Joy's father, for 20 years. So Melody is a grandmother that our kids grew up with. They enjoyed the pool, it was 76 degrees. Fine for Erin and Adam, a little cold for Melody. After two nights here, we met for lunch on Sunday, and drove them down to Stuart where Sally and Manny live.

Had two great days with Sally and Manny featuring a visit to the Loggerhead Marine Center in Juno Beach where injured sea turtles are cared for plus a nice afternoon on Juno Beach. See attached photos for turtles and beach activities.

However all good vacations have to end so Tuesday afternoon it was off to the airport in two cars ( not enough room for the bags in the minivan we rented). They flew back to a rain forecast, thankfully no snow or ice. The big storm went north of the DC area.

Today is Wed, Feb 2 and we are off again going south to Marathon, Fl. Two day trip.
The mooring area is full, hopefully someone will leave so we do not have to anchor out the whole time. Mooring is much preferred, cheap cost and much better holding so one can sleep better at night. Anchoring is okay if you get a good set, but then you are always wondering if you will drag and break loose while sleeping.

The Frankos are in Marathon, and we look forward to seeing them soon.


Joe

I am adding a quick update from Joe's recap of our visit with family. Today we were greeted by a mother and baby manatee (see picture), feeding just behind our boat where we were anchored. They move very slowly, feeding on grass, and then rising to the surface to breathe. We could have reached out and touched them.

After leaving the anchorage and crossing Biscayne Bay, we were out on the Atlantic crossing down the outside of the Keys. We saw a few dolphins and many Portuguese man-o-wars, floating on top of the water like blue balloons with their tentacles streaming below. Our anchorage tonight is Rodriguez Key, just west of key Largo, and very peaceful.

Joy

Sailing, peacocks, and banyan trees

We awoke this morning to the sight of a hundred or more sailboats headed out in Biscayne Bay for part of the World Cup racing, from Lasers to wind surfers passing by our boat. What a beautiful sight to see. The wind surfers were like butterflies, just flying across the anchorage. The wind was cooperating with a good 15 knot breeze this morning.

After spending the morning doing boat chores, we dinghied ashore to spend some time exploring Coconut Grove, small artsy town, just south of Miami, where Dinner Key is located. Those of you from Cleveland remember the guitars on several street corners, painted by local artists, and last year in New London, NH, there were Gnus. Here in Coconut Grove, there are peacocks, painted by local artists and then auctioned off to local businesses as a fund raiser. I have included a couple of the peacocks. The park near the marina is called Peacock Park, but I haven't seen any live peacocks yet.

Walking along the Main St there were these fantastic Banyan trees with roots that grow everywhere, including in the stone walls. I couldn't help but think that Swiss Family Robinson built their house in a tree like these. I had to call my sister, Sally, to get the name of the tree, so hopefully, I have the right name. By the way, the first time I was in Coconut Grove was in the mid-80's. Sally had just moved from Albany, NY to go to school at Florida International University and she was renting a house here. I never thought that I would be back decades later with our own boat in the Bay.

Joy

Dinner Key Marina - Miami, FL

Well here we are at Dinner Key Marina, owned by the City of Miami. The marina is on the south side of he City and actually in Coconut Grove. After arriving today, we took the dinghy over to the office, and took a walk around town.

Found great brownie fudge at Johnny Rockets, so we had desert before dinner.
Joy found a couple of hair salons, but the price was double of what she normally pays, so no appointments were made.

The marina here is cheap, about $22 per day, which includes tax. The have a shuttle service from 9 am to 5pm, and a pump out boat that goes around. We will be pumped out before we leave for Key West.

Tried to sail down the coast line today, but no wind so we had to use the motor.
Joy got real close to a large container ship(see pictures). It was a little scary as we could have been pinned in between two large vessels, but she pulled it off and we had no problems.

Met a delivery captain today, Debby Thomas, 31 years in the business. She has been here at Dinner Key for a couple of months.

Jen and family arrive tomorrow, they should be glad to get out of the snow. They have no power, should be on by the time they get back on Feb. 1

Joe

Windy Weather in Hollywood

Well today we woke up to winds. Winds so strong that we had a change of plans. We had planned on motoring back north to go up the New River to visit Alex and Faune in Ft. Lauderdale at Cooney's Landing Marina.

The long and short of it was that we decided that the wind was too strong to risk taking High Spirits out of its dock space as the fairway was very narrow, the wind was blowing against the wrong side of the boat. We would have had to back out and turn against the wind in a narrow space. So we rented a car and went to visit Alex and Faune via automobile.

A short 25 minute drive and we were there on their boat versus a 4-5 hour boat ride.
Picture of Faune in their huge galley. After some drinks and snacks we walked down the Ft. Lauderdale River Walk. Alex remarked how empty the entire area was. When they were here 4 years ago, there was hundreds of people going to bars, restaurant, etc. Now it was a ghost town tonight.

When we arrived at 4 pm or so, we watched this huge megayacht, probably 150 fee long, get moved around Sailpoint Bend by two Tow Boat US tugs. The tugs were both in front and behind this yacht. It was interesting to watch. Hard to get the feel for the size of the boat except to say the tugs were about 30 feet long.

Joe


PS Tomorrow we tackle the job of changing the primary and secondary diesel fuel filters.

Sugar Reef Restaurant in Hollywood, FL

Our destination today was the Loggerhead Marina in Hollywood, through more bridges, and past Ft Lauderdale and Port Everglades inlet where all the cruise ships pass to sea. We will return to this area in a day or two to spend a couple of days up the New River in Lauderdale along the River Walk. After getting settled at the marina and relaxing in the afternoon, we took a cab ride to Hollywood Beach and the boardwalk. Strolling past numerous tourist shops and burger joints, we found a lovely restaurant, Sugar Reef; thus the title of today's blog.

Monday nights on the waterfront are slow, so we had a lot of attention from our waiter, who was originally from Bolivia, and the owner/executive chef, a native from France, who spent time in several countries. The owner presently oversees the menu and food preparation, and on the side cooks for a few people on their private islands in the Bahamas. This restaurant gets our top award for the food and presentation, as well as a friendly atmosphere! See the pictures! Fish stew with coconut and green curry for me, pork tenderloin for Joe, and Key Lime pie for both of us. The fact that they had an early bird special is what drew us into that particular restaurant, as well as the decor.

Of course, when we got the cab (Friendly Cab Company) to come back to the boat, he didn't know how to get us back, and was less than friendly to say the least. After asking several other cabbies, he finally figured out how to get us back, as we were very little help.

If its Sunday, it must be Pompano & Family

I am writing this early Monday morning to record events of Sunday, Jan 23(an odd day
so it is my turn to write).

We started off on an easy cruise down the ICW, easy in the terms of only going about 25 miles but we had 9 bridges to pass under. The majority of the bridges are on schedules and some of them on upon request. They have the scheduled bridges timed to open at staggered times so you do not have to wait too long if you get into the flow of the openings. The request bridges are a little different. You just call them and request an opening.

The only semi scary thing about the bridges is timing your approach so you do not get too close in case there is a bridge malfunction. You do not want to be too far away as that takes longer for the bridge to cycle, but it would be much worse to get pinned against the bridge if it does not open. There can be 2-3 knot current pushing as along even coasting,so several times we had to circle.

The family activity yesterday was dinner with Marsha and Steve. Marsha is Joy's second cousin on Gabe's side of the family. I had already mentioned them in the past but decided to include a picture of Joy and Marty( her nickname).

They took us to a delightful Italian restaurant in the next town north of Pompano. Along the way we drove past our time share place, La Costa Beach Club. We still have this one week in June, tried to sell it but no luck. Perhaps we will keep it.If anyone wants to use it is the first or second week of June, Sat to Sat.

The other items we noticed yesterday: BIG HOUSES and BIG YACHTS. It is something else to see a 110 foot yacht parked outside a 5,000 square foot mansion on the ICW with perfectly cut grass, a pool, and kids play equipment. I have to wonder where all this money comes from. And there is still new construction going on along the ICW.

Way too much house for two people to live in, it is not our cup of tea.

Today we are either going to Loggerhead in Hollywood or a one day delay to the New River in Ft. Lauderdale. Kind of depends on the weather over the next couple of days and availability of a spot at the Municipal Marina in Ft. Lauderdale.

Jen and family arrive this upcoming weekend.

Joe