BACK TO HILTON HEAD IN 10 DAYS

We had a great trip back to Hilton Head. Weather was perfect and we had fun along the way. We got to see Jim and Linda Montague for dinner in Palm Beach, and Steve and Ann Bolin for dinner in Eau Gallie. 

The day we left Bruswick, GA, we saw more boats on the ICW than ever before. Everyone was heading North. Turns out, 4 boats all ended up at Kilkenny for the night. Three of them were Nordic Tugs. We all had chatted along the way on the VHF radio. That evening we all enjoyed dinner together at the Marker 107 Restaurant. 


Our new buds that we met on the water. 

Stopped at Hammock Beach Resort on Easter Sunday. Did a 7 mile walk and enjoyed a Goombay Smash Poolside.

  Now, we clean up the boat that is covered in salt after one very rough day with lots of sea spray. It made a big difference not to have a dog and cat onboard that dislike rough seas.

We will head back to Texas soon, with a stop along the way in Atlanta to see the grandkids !

STARTING OUR WAY NORTH

Left at 8AM this morning to head North. The Winter sure went fast! Unlike the past 4 Winters here in Florida, this year was windier, cloudier and cooler.Probably thanks to El Nino.

Today and tomorrow are the days of the many bridges...ugh!!! It involves so much timing and so much waiting for the openings. This is hard when there is current, many waiting boats and narrow areas for doing circles. This was a BUA day.....beer upon arrival :-(
We were hoping to go on the outside passing Ft. Lauderdale, but the weather is not cooperating. 

TODAY'S NOVEL SIGHT

BACK TO THE BLOG...FINALLY!

Yes, it has been a long time since I last posted. Here is a list of what we've been up to!

Greg and Sue Vreeland visited, and we did ovenights to Boca Chita and South Beach.

John and I took advantage of being so close to Miami and saw Kinky Boots and Toruk, Cirque du Soleil.

Drove over to Cape Coral to visit Bill and Ginny Pettinati . Got to see their new house.

Drove from Cape Coral up to Hilton Head to drop off our car. Rented a car and drove back to Coconut Grove.

BUSY WITH FRIENDS

Last weekend, Brotherhood friends Mike and Frankie were in Coconut Grove for a Classic Wood Sailing Regatta. Turns out Frankie would rather watch than sail, so John had the privilege to fill in as crew. Click on the link for more details.
https://www.woodenboat.com/washingtons-birthday-regatta-20th-anniversary


Wednesday afternoon, PA friends stopped by for the night on their way to Naples. Was good to catch up and enjoy some good food and wine :-)

Eric and Cindy

On Thursday, Tom and Leanne Meacham came up from the Keys where they are spending the winter on their RV. We took an overnight trip to Boca Chita. Low and behold, as we entered the harbour, Mike and Frankie were there. They were heading down to the Keys on their wooden sailboat. We had a grand time that afternoon and evening!!!!!

ENJOYING HAPPY HOUR

SUNSET EXTRAORDINAIRE

BOCA CHITA LIGHTHOUSE

MIKE WITH HIS BANJO SINGING PIRATE SONGS

SHELLING ON BOCA CHITA BEACH

REMNANTS OF CUBAN BOAT PEOPLE WE STUMBLED ACROSS ON THE ISLAND, VERY INTERESTING, MADE OF STYROFOAM

BOATS HAD LOTS OF WATER BOTTLES, ALL SAID "PRODUCT OF CUBA"

THE HAPPY GANG...LEANNE, TOM, ME. MIKE AND FRANKIE,
CAPTAIN JOHN WAS TAKING THE PICTURE

FINALLY A NEW POST!

IN THE GARDENS OF MAI KAI

  Gosh, it has been over 2 weeks since I posted last. Time flies and we have been busy. 
Did a return trip to South Beach and spent the night. We sat along Ocean Drive and did some people watching, went out to dinner and stopped in at a piano bar . We stayed at a boutique hotel, The Gale, and were close to everything. Pricey room, but no chair or window! 
That same weekend we drove into Miami to the Arsht Center to see MOTOWN. It was fabulous!!! It is great being so close to a big city. It only took 25 minutes from our theater seat to stepping onto the boat.

Later that week, we went to a wine tasting at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. 
Last weekend we were really busy. We took the water taxi that left from our marina to the Miami Boat Show. It was at the Marine Stadium this year on Key Biscayne. It was fun going by water. We only bought some Rescue Tape while there. We also hit the Yachts in the Water show and went aboard some great looking boats. Ended the day at the famous Rusty Pelican for an adult beverage before taking the water taxi back.

MARINE STADIUM IN THE BACKGROUND

HEMINGWAY'S BOAT

We took Knotugal up to Fort Lauderdale last weekend for a Brotherhood of the Coast party. We stayed on the New River again. Friday night was a pirate party with everyone in pirate attire. Saturday afternoon we had a raft up with the group in Lake Sylvia. That evening we attended the Polynesian Dinner Show at Mai Kai, a restaurant that has been around for over 50 years. It is a must do tradition in Ft. Lauderdale. Sunday morning there was a brunch at a lovely home along the New River. What a fun time!

NEW RIVER

MAI KAI SIGHTS

PIRATE PARTY WITH THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE COAST

 The trip back to Coconut Grove on Sunday was not so good. The ICW was hugely busy as it was President's Birthday weekend. Lots of boat traffic of all sizes. Had to wait a 1/2 hour at the Broad Causeway Bridge with about 12 other boats. It was somewhat of a nightmare :-(

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY

Miami is not escaping El Nino. While it has been warm, we have had lots of rain...way more than other years. These are all day rains. Much to my surprise, I found a 500 piece puzzle onboard.

I just love doing puzzles and now I have a good, guilt free  excuse to do one :-))

FRIENDS AND FUN!

Ken and Debbie Sherwin came to visit last weekend. As usual, we had a great time. We spent Saturday in South Beach. We did lots of walking and looking. Had great weather for it.

WORLD CUP SAILING, MIAMI MARATHON , AND BIDEN !

 Can't believe I haven't made a post in over a week. We are busy continuing to explore the area. We walk almost everywhere and  enjoy that. The Sailboat Regatta really is a big deal.The participants are still here as it is a World Cup and all these sailors of the 49er Class are competing to be in the Olympics. We have had quite a bit of rain and very high winds, but they still go out in it!

OVER 700 SAILORS HERE FROM 67 COUNTRIES COMPETING FOR A SPOT IN THE OLYMPICS

Yesterday, was the Miami Marathon. It went right by our marina, so we walked along that part of the route on our way to yoga. 

COCONUT GROVE SEGMENT OF THE MIAMI MARATHON

Yesterday afternoon, we cultured ourselves and went over to the Theater at the Biltomore in Coral Gables. We saw "It's Only a Play", a Tony Award winning play. The exciting thing about all this was that Joe Biden was staying at the Biltmore. He had flown home from Turkey, but could not land in DC due to the blizzard. As we tried to park, there was a long line of cars with their hoods and trunks open, along with numerous policemen and secret service. There was also 2 bomb sniffing dogs. All the surrounding side streets up to the Biltmore had dozens of motorcycle cops stationed at them . Have to say , this was way more exciting than the play.

BUSY WEEK

After settling in, we rented a car and drove up to Hilton Head on Wednesday to pick up our car. We got back Thursday .Since then, we have been frequenting our old haunts. Rained hard all day yesterday, so we walked to the movie theater to see the Benghazi movie....a boy flick, for sure. 

Today on our walk, we saw all the many, many sailboats for some North American Regatta. There are over a hundred 20 somethings here for this big race. Lots of excitement here for this event.

ARRIVED OUR WINTER HOME!

Got into Coconut Grove around noon today. We got a great slip and are thrilled to be here. Life is good :-))

NEW RIVER, NEW ADVENTURE...FT.LAUDERDALE

Continuing on our way South, we went up the New River in Ft. Lauderdale for the first time. This was an adventure, for sure! Dumb thing is that we did it on a weekend. LOTS of boats, all shapes and sizes. There are several ship yards up the river, so they tow mega yachts up there for service. This was an unbelievable experience. We stayed at the town docks for 2 nights. We were parked between two bridges that required opening for anything over 16'. The bells and sirens were going all the time. It was a very noisy place, but VERY interesting. 

RAILROAD BRIDGE

THIS IS THE 156' YACHT THAT BELONGED TO JOHNNY DEPP, NOW BELONGING TO J K ROWLING, OF THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS.....IT WENT RIGHT PAST KNOTUGAL WHERE WE WERE DOCKED...SOLD FOR 38 MILLION

THE RED STRIPE IF THE TOP OF KNOTUGAL, THIS IS WHAT I MEAN ABOUT TOWING YACHTS UP THE RIVER FOR SERVICE

WE DID AN ALL DAY WATER TAXI RIDE ALL OVER FT.LAUDERDALE AND LAS OLAS...WE ATE ALONG THE RIVER AND HAD A BALL!!!

We have had a lot of fun the last 2 days, but not without pukeable moments. It is very scary navigating bridges and dodging these huge yachts on a narrow waterway.

DAY TWO WEST PALM BEACH

 started the day with a bike ride across the ICW to Palm Beach.

FLOWERS IN LOBBY OF THE BREAKERS HOTEL

BOAT BIKES

FOUNTAIN IN FRONT OF THE BREAKERS

THE ONE AND ONLY WORTH AVE....HIGH END SHOPPING. LOTS OF VERY RICH PEOPLE

ROLLS ROYCE, OF COURSE

We finished off the day with a walk to City Place and saw a movie. Dinner and drinks in the plaza afterwards with fabulous people watching! Took the free Trolley back to the boat.

A LITTLE R & R IN WEST PALM BEACH

Last night we made it to the Marriott Resort on Hutchinson Island south of Ft. Pierce. Our good friends, Jim and Linda, who are spending the winter on their Nordic Tug in Stuart picked us up in their car and we went out to dinner. Had a great time getting caught up at Prawnbrokers.

Today we arrived at WPB. We got here just after noon and will be here through Saturday morning. We have had some long days, so we'll smell the roses for a while.

HAVEN'T RUN INTO THE DONALD YET

BOAT LIFT FAIL

ANOTHER FLAG PUT IN A HARD TO PLACE SPOT. IT HAS WAVED HERE FOR YEARS!

ROCKY ROLLY NIGHT

Our night in New Symrna Beach was a wild time. We were tied up on the face dock with our bow into the 30knot+ winds. It was so noisy from the waves slapping and just all the wind generated noises, that I thought I was sleeping in an MRI chamber :-( 

Had a good 70 mile ride down to Eau Gallie (Melbourne area) today. Strong winds from the NE that fortunately were behind us.

NEW SYMRNA BEACH

Long day from St. Augustine, but the sun was out and cruising uneventful except for a bumping into the bottom in Matanzaz Inlet. Got off after a bit.

HEADING TO FLORIDA WINTER 2016

We pulled out of our slip in Hilton Head on Wednesday, Dec.30. We had an hour and a half delay due to fog, but it worked out ok. We arrived Kilkenny,GA around 4:30 ,thankfully before dark. While there, I decided to do a load of wash onboard. Bad news is that we forgot to turn on the grey water pump and all the water from a couple previous showers and the laundry came up through the shower drain. Our bathroom, and both staterooms were flooded.It made us sick as we had just had all the carpet replaced and our boat was looking pristine. We sopped up what we could with the wet vac and turned on the heaters full blast. Eventually, we had to pull up our newly laid carpet for it to dry. Four days later, it is finally dry and relaid.

Our goal was to arrive Jekyll Island the next day, New Year's Eve. We made it there for a wonderful evening at the grand old hotel enjoying their pub, and the friendly people we met there. The hotel was decorated beautifully for Christmas.

Friday, we cruised to Jacksonville Beach and Saturday made it to St. Augustine. We are spending 2 nights here. Love this town. It is fun finding new restaurants and just walking around. Currently, it is pouring down rain, so we'll get some inside stuff done.

NEW CARPET

OLD GLORY ABOVE A MARSH