NEW SMYRNA BEACH to ST. AUGUSTINE / Thursday thru Saturday, February 25-27 (Days 35-37)

Admiral's Log:     8:00 am Thurs., 2/25/16
                           Temp:   50
                           Winds:    12 mph
                           Speed:   6.6. knots    

Today, we cruised through Mosquito lagoon and the barge canal from Cape Canaveral to St. Augustine. We could see the NASA launch pad off in the distance.

                  Tons of seagulls (flying rats, as Mike calls them) followed us for miles.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

Lion's Gate Bridge, right by our Marina

We arrived at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina at 3:30. Bonnee and I walked around a little, washed sheets and towels while Mike fixed chili for dinner, after enjoying "Docktails" on the cockpit of our boat.

These pillars are made of Palm Trees

Saturday the guys went to Tiffany's and the grocery while Bonnee and I cleaned the inside of the boat. We all walked to St. George Street, the historical district dates back to the 1600's, with lots of landmarks and cute shops and restaurants. We had tacos for lunch and I found a print of the lighthouse.

Man playing the Didgeridoo with his dog; he's got on sunglasses and hat, sits perfectly still. 

 We walked to the Sailor's Exchange store which is sort of a junk store of boat stuff. But we did find a screen we needed for a port hole.

 When we returned to the boat, the guys washed the outside while Bonnee read and I worked on the Blog while I had a decent internet connection.

Bonnee's cousin Bill, who has a sailboat at another marina, joined us for a delicious dinner at the Columbia on St. George Street.

N. PALM BEACH, VERO BEACH, CAPE CANAVERAL to NEW SMYRNA BEACH / Monday - Wednesday February 22-24 (Days 32-34)

Admiral's Log:     7:40 am Mon. 2/22/16
                           Temp:   68
                           Winds:   calm    
                           Speed:   8.4 knots

Finally a calm day to cruise. Bonnee and I even donned our shorts, hats, shades and sunscreen. At 3:30 we arrived at Vero Beach and Bonnee and I walked four miles. Felt we needed to walk off some of the food we'd been consuming! We took showers at the Marina, best water pressure so far! 

The Co-Captains

Enjoying the sun, finally! 

Ocean Grill

 We also took Uber for the first time to the a classic Vero Beach restaurant called the Ocean Grill. While we waited for our table we walked around a bit and discovered "Casey's Place", so of course we had to take a photo of Casey in front of his restaurant. Bonnee even got a T-shirt. Bonnee and I split an order of stone crab which were delicious. Mike hadshrimp stuffed with crab and Casey; the meat and potatoes guy, had steak. They said theirs was OK. We did indulge in dessert as well, which we all shared. Pecan pie, blueberry cobbler and lava cake.

This was a cool mural, don't we look like naturals?

Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse

Shark Cloud

Cute little tug along the ICW

The Co-Captains shoving off from N. Palm Beach

Admiral's Log:   7:40 am Tues. 
                         Temp:   65

                         Winds:   8 mph

                         Speed:   8 knots

We left Vero Beach for Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral. We traveled along the Indian River most of the day. It was pretty cloudy and windy. We saw a little Looper Boat, "Salty" with his dog.  

Old Salty and his dog.

Sunset at Harbor Town Marina

We arrived at 2:15 at Harbor Town Marina. Not the nicest one we stayed at but it was cheap, and the people were nice and helpful. Since we were going to be here for a couple of days, we rented a car and went to Publix. We fixed spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

Just by coincidence there was to be a Space X rocket launch this night. We were so excited we would be this close...but not to be, it was scrubbed. Not due the wind which we thought, but it was too cold according to Space X website.



Wednesday we headed to breakfast and tour the Kennedy Space Center. But we had a little glitch along the way. Our rental car pooped out on us. So we were waylaid about an hour while Enterprise brought us another car. Bonnee and I got cute T-shirts from the restaurant. 

3D Movie

The day started out kind of rainy, but cleared up pretty quickly. None of us had been there before, so we were all very impressed. We saw a 3D movie a couple of short movies and walked around the Shuttle Atlantis. There were several interactive displays as well. 

Actual module and arm from a shuttle

Rocket Boosters

Atlantis

Capt'n Mike

Countdown Clock to Launch.

So mistreated, ;-(

We made a quick stop at Publix, returned the rental car, made a delicious chicken dinner and waited for the launch that did not happen. The guys volunteered to clean up for us. 

FT. LAUDERDALE to NORTH PALM BEACH / Wednesday thru Sunday, February 17 to February 21 ( Day 27-31)

Admiral's Log:     7:10 am Wed., 2/17/16

                           Temp:  61

                           Winds:   5 mph

                           Speed:   8.3 knots

Joe left today after his meeting and Mike and I took off in the boat to North Palm Beach. I'm going to miss Joe's help and wit. But hopefully Barb and Joe will meet up with us later on this journey.

 It was a sunny but quite cool ride. I had on earmuffs and a jacket. We got to Old Port Cove Marina at 2:15. No wonder this is a 5 star marina. Great location, lots of shopping and restaurants nearby, many within in walking distance. It has a courtesy van, great internet, floating docks and moveable cleats (boaters will appreciate!). They also have four washers and dryers (another boater plus) and two nice baths and showers. We had a late lunch at the marina restaurant. I had a roasted beet salad with mozzarella and Mike had tuna on a croissant. I washed sheets and towels and we had leftovers for dinner. 

Thursday I did more laundry, then we walked to Publix and had the courtesy van pick us up since we had bags of groceries. We then walked to West Marine and got in our 10K steps. Mike replaced a couple of blower fans and I worked on my Blog. Then we had a Mexican dinner with Katy and Daniel.

Friday we rented a car and went to Walmart, West Marine again...and the UPS store to ship a couple of things.  The boat was a salty mess and the marina offered boat washings; the dock hand was there for over 2 hours, Mike said it was worth his time. We picked up our personalized fender covers we had ordered shipped to the marina.

                                            

Katy suggested we buy Apple TV so we could use her Netflix account, so we went to Best Buy (rental car was coming handy). We watched a good movie called "Field of Shoes", a true story about VMI and the Civil War while we ate Teriyaki chicken and fried rice.

Today is Saturday the 20th and we have officially been gone 1 month! Hard to believe. So maybe I can make 11 more.

We went fishing with Katy, Daniel and their friends today. It was still kind of overcast and a bit windy and the water was not all that warm, so we were not sure how the fishing would be. It started a little slow, but we finally ended up catching 12 large mouth bass and 8 peacock bass. Peacock bass are really colorful, thus the name. They originally came from South America to eat the tropical fish people let out of their aquariums into the rivers and lakes. 

   

     

We had dinner with Katy, Daniel and their friends, JP and Kristen at the Sailfish Marina Restaurant. We thought the food was decent, but kind of overpriced.

Sunday, while we still had the rental car, we made a quick trip to an Italian market and Publix and guess where? West Marine, I mean Tiffany's! We should buy stock in that darn company. Friends, Bonnee and Casey Jones arrived around 11 to join us for a few days as we head north. The guys returned the rental cars and filled the boat with water to get ready to leave in the morning. We grilled steaks, with baked potatoes and green beans for dinner. 

KEY LARGO to FT. LAUDERDALE / Saturday, February 13 to Wednesday February 17 (Day 23-27)

Another day to myself. I could get used to this....We all left at 7:30. I drove Joe's car and got to Ft. Lauderdale at 9:30, Mike and Joe arrived at 3:30. 

Joe had a Cub Cadet meeting at the Riverside Hotel on the New River and we were lucky enough to get dock space there for the next four days. 

They said it was a nice day on the water. 

Blow up of one of the kites. Cute!

Mooring field

Cool Kites

I wandered around Las Olas Boulevard, lots of cute shops and restaurants. I had a yummy breakfast crepe. I also drove to Wal Mart and Best Buy for a couple of items. By the time I was done the fellas arrived. The river has a ton of boat traffic; taxis, fuel boats, booze cruises, tour boats as well as pleasure craft. 

For dinner, we cooked the fish we caught along with corn on the cob and cole slaw.

Fuel Boat

The boat on the right was Evel Knievel's Boat before he lost it in a bet in the early 80's.

On Sunday we went to the Miami Boat Show. Oh my gosh the boats! There were two shows that weekend. We went to the free one on Collins Avenue across from the famous Fountain Blue Hotel. There were hundreds of boats; from Sport fish, to trawlers to mega yachts. We walked around for nearly six hours. Mike found his dream boat. I told him he had already found that...moi of course.

Mike's Dream Boat; a Fleming 55

For dinner we ate at an Italian restaurant, Tuscan Grill on Las Olas. 

Monday was house keeping, run errands and relax day. The guys went to West Marine and the liquor store, while I vacuumed (someone has to do it). I got in five thousand steps, read a bit, then we fixed pork chops on the grill, roasted beets and potatoes and steamed asparagus. We all agreed it was a mighty fine dinner!

                            

                         Took from the back of our boat.

Manatee Tracker

We had a nasty storm blow in Tuesday morning around 5 which woke us all up. The wind was howling and we could hardly see across the canal the rain was coming down so hard. Later, when we watched the news we found out a tornado had touched down near us and two boats capsized with people in them. Luckily everyone was ok.

That afternoon, the weather cleared and we walked down the Ft. Lauderdale Riverwalk. It was very nice, at least a couple miles long. We also went to the local science museum and watched a 3D movie about the US National Parks. It was narrated by Robert Redford and was very cool. 

The goofy guys

Iguanas are everywhere

Joe had dinner with his Cub Cadet group, so Mike and I fixed pasta and watched the Tampa Bay Lighting.

HAWK'S CAY to KEY LARGO / Friday, February 12 (Day 22)

We finally had a decent day to head back north. The sun was out, the winds were 10 knots but the seas were under 2 feet, all signs said GO. The guys took the boat for a pump out and fuel. I left in Joe's car to meet them at Gilbert's Resort in Key Largo. Just to show you how long it takes in the boat; I left at 7:30 and they left at 8:30, the same time I got to Key Largo! They did not get to Gilbert's until 1:45!

So I had another day of time to myself. I'm getting spoiled and will miss these opportunities when Joe leaves! I got a pedicure and got in a two mile walk. Went the the library to use the WIFI and update my blog. And finally good old standby, Publix! Going to miss them too when we get further north.

Boobie Menu

As I pulled into the parking lot I could see the boat approaching the docks, good timing! Once we got tied up, we had lunch at the "Keys largest Tiki Hut", so they say. We all had salads to save room for the fish we caught yesterday. We got a kick out of the "boobies" drinks.

Three Boobies

            

Our boat is right next to the Tiki Hut!

"Keys Largest Tiki Hut"

After sunset viewing, we were going to have the fish we caught for dinner, but Joe thought the ribs from the Tiki Bar looked pretty good. And he was right, they were! So we had them to go and ate on the boat, while we listened to a local band play cover songs. Mike said they did not need to quit their day jobs. We were a little worried when we heard they were scheduled to play until midnight. But when we went to bed at 10, we were not bothered, thank goodness, because it was to be another early departure.

Cheers!

Just gorgeous!