In the land of The BIG boats

Travelling south today we ended up going outside from Lake Worth to Port Everglades,  the Ft Lauderdale area.  The story today is:  how about these big boats, who owns them, what size are they.

Took several pictures,

First one is a huge sail boat that was at the Rybovich Superyacht Marina,  We anchored just off their property in Lake Worth.

this is a two masted sailboat about 200 feet long.  Sorry we did not get any closer

After a nice long ride down the Atlantic Ocean,  skipping 21 bridges that we would have either had to open on request or get there at the right time of the opening schedule, we ended up coming into Port Everglades.

PE is a major port and here is one of the oil tankers that was coming out as we were going in.

 

There was about 100 feet of separation between us and them

 

However this is a commercial boat.  As we started up the river to the mooring field we came across a magnificent ship that has a most interesting feature.  The side of the ship opens up so you can access all your water toys,  like ski boats, jet skies, etc

 

 

 

That is enough of big boats for now. We will be here for a couple of days to hang out with Mark and Sue on Merlin.  Then on to Miami and Coconut Grove mooring field


Joe

Sailing South

We are back on High Spirits after a Christmas break of four weeks.  Got to see our children and grandchildren for Christmas and afterwards.

High Spirits had some work done on her after we returned to the Hinckley yard in Stuart, FL.  Had two new coolant hoses installed, seems to have stopped our coolant leak and need to add coolant every other day or so.  Had the new solar panel controller installed and away we go.

We stayed at Sally and Manny's house for a week while the yard completed the tasks.

Finally left Stuart, stopped for an afternoon and evening at Peck Lake, and now have been two days at anchorage outside of Palm Beach Sailing Club and Rybovich Supermega Yacht Center.  Wish I had my camera when we went ashore today.  It is something to see a 200 foot motor yacht in the air, held up by a 200 metric ton travel lift.  Unbelievable.

I did get a picture from our anchor spot of the large ships

 

I am guessing that this mast is over 125 feet.

 

 

Joy and I walked 6 miles, 3 down and 3 back, to have lunch at a French Bistro restaurant in West Palm Beach. Walked past a lot of houses with either large hedges or walls.  There is sure a lot of money down here in the Palm Beach area.

Our new selfie!!

Joe

Life in Fort Pierce

Arrived in Fort Pierce today after a nice visit with Melody and Bob.   They are in the process of selling Melody's house and moving to her condo.  There are piles of stuff that they are trying to sell through a couple of garage sales.

On the way south today to Fort Pierce from Vero Beach we have a picture of a sail boat in front of us and a power boat being towed by Tow Boat US. 

Wanted everybody to see how blue the sky was today after several days of overcast.

Unlucky power boat guy heading north.  Hope he has insurance as getting a tow costs several hundreds of dollars.  That is why the word  BOAT spells Break Out Another Thousand.

Speaking of another thousand we still have not solved our dinghy engine problem.  Starts but stutters to a stop in 10 seconds of so.  Have now replaced the fuel hose, fuel tank and brand new gas yesterday.  We think the problem is in the carb or the fuel pump.

Fort Pierce has a great Christmas display,  Joy took some pictures of the lighted trees.

Leaving on Friday for Stuart, then north on Wed Dec 17 by plane and car

Joe

ORION LAUNCH

Today was the Orion launch.  It had been postponed from yesterday due to technical issues and there was a rumor that a boat was out in the range safety area where it should not have been.  The official reason is weather, high winds, and some valve issues on of the engines.

Anyway, we watched it from the second floor of the Cocoa Village Marina along with about 8 other boaters.  We all got up at 6:30 am or so, some people even had coffee with them.  Joy waited until afterwards to brew her own.

You only could see it for about 30 seconds, then up in the clouds.  The noise was loud just like a shuttle launch. Here in Cocoa the cable company carries the NASA cable channel so that was on in the clubhouse and you could watch the flight longer from the ground and also from the camera on the rocket looking down.  Saw the stage separations.

Then on to Travis Hardware where we bought a new lock for the dinghy cable and some wire to create tie downs for our Y valves in the heads.  Going to put locks on them so that we will not get in trouble if stopped.  Friends got stopped two days ago up in New Smyrna  Beach.

Still having dinghy engine problems. Followed Manny's suggestion and got some starter fluid to spray in the engine air intake.  Engine ran fine with the spray then died out.  Figure we have a fuel problem, not getting gas to the engine.  Possible source of trouble is leak in fuel line so that air is getting into the line and stopping the flow of fuel.  Also bad gas could be a source, but gas is only 4 weeks old.

Tomorrow is Christmas holiday here in CV.(Cocoa Village) with an arts festival all day, Christmas singing and Christmas movies in the park. Bring you Popcorn and chair and watch "The Grinch that Stole Christmas".  Should be fun

More later.  Leaving for Vero Beach on Sunday

Joe

on free dock - New Smyrna Beach,FL

Today and tonight we are tied up at the free dock at New Smyrna Beach, FL.  The dock is round so it makes for an interesting landing and tie up.. We are closest to the dock at the center of the boat so just the ends stick out.

We had an easy two hour trip, 2 hour trip as we only had to do 11 miles today.  Last night we stayed at Seven Seas Marina, a nice older marina/boat yard just a short walk to the beach, drug store, miniature goal, and supermarket, in Daytona Beach Shores.  Hit all of the above places, plus Joy walked out on their long fishing pier to chat with the locals.  Going to try her hand fishing this afternoon.

On the way to Daytona Beach Shores we passed by this large tug boat that looks like people are living on it as they had all their laundry strung out on the starboard side.

The weather has turned much warmer, in fact it is now in the 60s at nights instead of the 40s or 50s.

We continue to move south, aiming for Stuart, Fl to tie up for the holiday season.  Since we did the overnight from Charleston, we have now time to enjoy the small cities along the east coast of FL.


Joe

Marineland, FL

Here we are in Marineland, FL.  Probably the small town in FL, recent population is a count of 10.

This is an actual town that was really big a long time ago when Marineland was started in the 30's by the movie picture industry to shoot underwater films.  Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges also was shot here.  The were dolphin shows and other attractions. In fact, 300,000 people a year stopped in, the second largest attraction on the east Coast of Fl after Miami

We are in the marina, has about docks for 20 boats. Be here until tomorrow, have to go out at half tide as the water is a little skinny at low tide,

that is Joy on High Spirits.  Washing down the deck. We are going on a beach walk shortly

They also have a Farmer's Market here every Sunday from 10-2 pm.  Plus live music

About a dozen stands selling everything from fresh fruit to dog matts.

 

The hat shop

 

 

Joe

 

Last night in St. Augustine

We returned to St. Augustine after a four day vacation from High Spirits visiting Sally and Manny at their home in Stuart.  Had a great Thanksgiving dinner at Melody's house(she is Joy and Sally's stepmother. Married to their father, Robert for 20 years).

A short 3+hour car ride back to St. Augustine, and a shopping trip to the grocery left us with 10 bags plus all our clothes to load into the 4 pm tender run out to Mooring #1.  We moved from the last mooring ball in the field to the closest one before we left.

Got the dinghy put together, went back to shore to see the lights and have dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant. It is interesting here as all the tourist are at one side of town, with 45 minute waits to eat, while there are 4 very nice restaurants at the oldest part of town near the marina with no waiting lines.

Picture of  Cathedral Square with all the lights on.

Leave tomorrow at 11 am to ride the tide into Marineland.  One of Yesterday's Dream(Steve and Linda Franko's) favorite places.

Trying to make Titusville or Cocoa Beach for the Dec 4 launch of the Orion spacecraft.

Probably  need to make a reservation.

Joe