Arrived in Marathon

Hi Everybody

We arrived in Marathon today about 1 pm or so after a short sail from Indian Key.  However I woke up at 4 am and really did not get back to sleep

On our last day in Coconut Grove, Joy went to visit the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, built by James Deering in the 1920s.  I went across the street to the Miami Science Museum. We both had a good afternoon.

Picture of the gardens at Vizcaya

On the first day of travel out of Coconut Grove we drove through Stiltsville, a bunch of "house" built in the middle of Biscayne Bay.  I need to do some research on why these houses were built but here is a picture of one of them

Just did he research, there were 27 structures built starting in the 1930s.  Now the remaining 7 structures are part of a National Park.  Visit by permits only.

That is it for now, time for dinner

Joe

Small boat racing in Biscayne Bay, Coconut Grove, Miami, FL

We are in the anchor field and have a great view of the small single and double sail boats going out and coming back from their regatta races.  Attached are several pictures and a video that hopefully you can see.

Also today, Tuesday, we went to see the movie Birdman, up for several Oscar awards.  It was interesting but I think Theory of Everything will win for Best Actor.

Took it easy this morning as we have a 10 minute dinghy ride into the dock from the anchor field.  Only going in and out one time of day, so that means eating lunch in Coconut Grove.  Today we went to the Bookstore in the Grove Café and had some delicious Cuban food for lunch, before the movie.

Here is short video.  Hope it loads

That is it for now.

Joe

Sitting in the Wind and Raid - Dinner Key

We are sitting in the anchor field at Dinner Key, Coconut Grove, FL.  Coconut Grove is part of the City of Miami, on the south side.  In fact the City Hall is the old Pan Am terminal for the aquaplane fleet.

Arrived yesterday after a 6 hour trip from Ft. Lauderdale.  Got a couple of boat picture.
Based on information from one of our boater friends the large blue boat, 200+ fee I length, belongs to Steven Speilberg, Famous Movie director

We ended up taking the dinghy over to have dinner with Charlie and Jane, 40 Tartan called IBIS.
They are from NYC and are retired.  They worked on the theater industry mostly on lighting.

The darker part of their  dodger is the bottom half of a new solar panel built with flexible solar cells.  Charlie installed it over the last two weeks. 

Not much to do today as it is too windy and raining to go to shore.  Tomorrow should be better, time to do some errands, pick up some meds at CVS and go see the movie, Birdman, which got of Academy award nominations.


Joe

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