ALABAMA JACKS

A must do in the Keys is a trip to Alabama Jacks. We decided to make a day of it. Our first stop was to the Biscayne National Park in Homestead, FL. We walked around and decided we could see most of it by our boat. Next stop was to Alabama Jacks for lunch. It is on Card Sound and has been around for decades. It is in the middle of nowhere, but VERY popular. It has a fun, lively atmosphere . Makes a good mini road trip!

From there we stopped at Walmart before heading back to the boat. Twas a fun day !

BISCAYNE NATIONAL PARK

ALABAMA JACKS 

CONCH FRITTERS....A MUST HAVE

VISITORS!

Last weekend we had Susan Hill and Rick aboard. We know Susan from 25 years ago in Kingwood. She and Rick now split their time between Colorado and Arizona. We wanted to show them a
"Miami " Winter. It did not disappoint. The first day it poured rain, but we did manage to walk into Coconut Grove for lunch and spent the afternoon watching the Australian Open Tennis.
Monday was terrific. We did a trip down to Boca Chita in perfect weather and conditions. Fred Lowe accompanied us on his boat. We all spent the night and the next day did a trip up to Miami to enjoy the skyline from the water.

Rick and Susan

Crew

Fred Lowe

Captain and the Navigator

A GOOD FIRST WEEK

We have had a pretty good week. The weather has been chamber of commerce perfect.  On Tuesday, we left at 6AM to drive up to Hilton Head to pick up our car. Got back Wednesday afternoon. It is nice having a car here, but we go days without using it. This place is so walkable and the traffic is pretty hectic.

We are enjoying hitting some of our favorite restaurants, Jaguar being at the top of the list.

This afternoon, I took my first pilates class. I am switching over from yoga classes that I usually do here. I am looking forward to learning a whole new form of exercise.

John has been busy replacing the sensor to our gray water pump. It was backing up in the shower. After numerous trips to the hardware store the past few days, he is close to completion on this job. The shower still worked, but we had to pump the gray water out manually. It involved a lot of yoga like bending in a tiny area, and very fussy work. Glad that man is so handy!!!

BACK ON THE WATER....not without a little terror

Well, I wasn't going to do much blogging this trip since so much is a repeat. Until today, it has been a calm, easy going trip. We left Hilton Head to go South on January 4. We have made good progress and are tied up tonight at the Las Olas Marina in Ft. Lauderdale.

Our day started out with raging current and a strong East wind that required us to get extra dock help getting out of the slip in Palm Harbour in West Palm Beach. We really didn't want to drift into the $4 million boat next to us :-((( Today was also the day of 19 bridges. That is always grueling as we had to do a lot of waiting for openings and deal with a couple crabby bridge tenders. The highlight of the day was trying to dock in 25 mph winds while dealing with water taxis and the boat traffic of Ft. Lauderdale. After some very scary moments of turning sideways in the slip, we abandoned that plan and headed out for a T head that was open. To finish off the day, we could not get off the boat....tide too low and dock too high. This day goes on the books in the top 5 worst boating days ever.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow as we arrive in Coconut Grove, our winter home.

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.