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| Our first Florida beach we had seen in a very long time! |
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| Irish Band at McK's - pretty good! |
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| Haulover Canal - several manatees! |
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These guys came buzzing by us - not sure who they
were - unmarked but looked important! |
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| Boca Chita - one of our favorite stops |
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A rainbow to remind us how
lucky we are! |
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| Beautiful sunset at Lorelei (Islamorada) |
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Rick and Terese there to welcome us "home" and help us in!
|
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| Wild horses on Cumberland Island |
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| Bald Eagle? I think so. |
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| Another picture of the beach at Marineland. |
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| Another beautiful shot at Boca Chita |
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| One of our stops in Daytona |
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| Orange Alley - no oranges but it was rather interesting |
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| The sign said so - but we're weren't sure where "here' was! |
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| Deer on the balconies? |
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| Not much of a garden either? Confused yet? |
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| Nice museum |
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| Part of the walkway in Daytona |
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| Nautinell tucked away in the Yacht Club |
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| Very friendly place |
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| Jackie Robinson Ballpark just a short walk from marina |
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| Memorial to Jackie Robinson |
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| Beautiful Biscayne Bay |
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| Little Gingerbread House along the way |
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| Must be getting close to Ft Laurderdale/Miami area |
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| Yachts everywhere |
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| These are just a few of what you see along this stretch |
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| Really? |
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| Hard to imagine what these are like inside |
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| Yep, knew we were close! |
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| They get bigger and bigger! |
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| And the homes too! |
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| Look how little the people look in the "garage"! |
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| This one was beautiful! |
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| And then there are the container ships |
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This was a remote controlled dinghy
The guys on the other one are controlling it. |
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| Check out the third story balcony - antlers! |
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Remember this area well! Hollywood Beach!
Home of the 20 ounce hamburgers! |
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| Go Fast Boat - this one was prettier than it looks here |
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| Now this guy was pushing some water! |
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| Love this place! |
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| The Boca Chita National Park |
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| Beautiful area |
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| We had it all to ourselves tonight. |
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| Beautiful sunset over Biscayne Bay |
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| Sunset from Lorelei on anchorage |
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| Sky just kept getting prettier! |
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| Say goodnight..... |
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| Just a little shallow - each bird has his own perch! |
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| Back in our winter home - Boot Key Harbor - Marathon |
W
ell, we made our
trip south to the Keys where we’ll be spending the winter months. It took us twelve days to go a little over
500 miles. We don’t travel fast but we
are like the tortoise – we just keep moving on….. It has been said by an infamous boater – Captain
Ron – “If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen out there!” No truer words have been spoken. Now we love our times at the docks – meeting
new people and enjoying old friendships.
But the true “adventure” begins when you cast your lines free. This was one of those “adventures”. Don’t get me wrong – nothing “serious”
happened, we might have had a few near misses
- but all is well. And we have
now landed in our slip in Marathon where we will enjoy ourselves for the next
few months. The adventure has now turned
into a party! It’s all good!
Below are my so
called “journal entries” of the last twelve days. I hope you enjoy the reading and get an
insight into our lives on NautiNell!
November 10,
Tuesday - After three months (we had only planned to
stay a couple of weeks) we left the Brunswick Landing Marina. It was after 2:00 p.m. by the time we loaded
the scooters, filled the fuel tanks and several other duties which included
tightening a belt on the starboard engine.
The good thing was that diesel was only $1.95/gallon! That is the cheapest we have seen it ever!
We weren’t alone on
our trek. Gary and Diane (Moonshine)
left our dock right behind us. Our plan
was to stay on anchor off Cumberland Island.
They stopped off earlier. We would
have easily made that distance but darkness was quickly approaching. These short days make for short
journeys. So we stopped and dropped a
hook just north of Kings Bay (Crooked River – 703 mm) where nuclear submarines
and other Navy ships are at port. Anchored
down by 5:30 – then cocktails and taco soup (crockpot ready) for dinner. Perfect!
Very nice anchorage - we didn’t move all night!
November 11,
Wednesday – Very foggy this morning. We
didn’t leave until around 9:30. We were
only going about 35 miles to a free dock in Jacksonville so we didn’t have to
hurry too much. Jim King Park 739 mm –
nice dock – no electric but there was water.
And it was FREE! Moonshine
traveled with us today. We got the last
two spots available at the dock. Lucky! We’re now in warm and sunny Florida! We plan to go to St Augustine tomorrow. We should see Richard and Kathy (Rambler)
there. We had a nice happy hour with
Moonshine. We then cooked burgers on the
grill. A nice evening all around.
November 12, Thursday
- There is a change of plans. We left about 8:30 to go on to
Marineland. It’s only about 55 miles so
we shouldn’t have any problems. We’ve
never stopped there before so we decided to bypass St Augustine and travel a
few more miles. That will make a shorter
day for tomorrow when we travel to Daytona.
It was a nice day – definitely warmer!
While we were traveling our broker called and wanted to show the
boat! That wasn’t expected! But since we were going to be in a marina
that night, it was pretty good timing.
We made it to Marineland about 3:00.
The dockhand there was very helpful and friendly. Moonshine came in with us. We rested a bit then walked over to the
beach. It was so beautiful! We hadn’t had a chance to enjoy a beach in a
very long time! Now tomorrow at 10:00 they are showing the boat! We picked it up some but they’re going to see
what it’s like when you’re traveling! Sheeh!
November 13, Friday
- We were up early but not to leave – we
were cleaning up the boat a bit more so we could show it at 10:00. We’ll be on our way as soon as that’s
done! We’re going to Daytona only about
35 miles away. We had planned on trying
to get a space on another free dock but our buddies – Ron and Julie (Diversion
II) got us into the Halifax River Yacht Club!
Always wondered what it’s like in a real “Yacht Club”. Haha!
Anyway we left the dock about 11:15 after a quick showing while we
walked the beach. It was another nice
day. Moonshine decided to hang out at
Marineland for the weekend. We got to
Daytona by 2:45 and tied up in the Yacht Club (mm 830.7). It turns out we get to stay there for free
for two nights! We only had to pay for
the electric! Very cool! It’s nice to have friends! A big thank-you to Ron and Julie! We owe you big time!
We walked to McK’s
Irish Pub only a couple of blocks away.
After all, it’s Friday night and we’re in Daytona! It was Happy Hour - $2.00 wells! The special was corned beef and cabbage. It was wonderful but way too much! We brought home enough to make sandwiches for
the next week! We met a nice couple from
Minnesota there. They were fun to talk
to and to listen to! I love their accent! We also saw a couple of other bars we want to
check out tomorrow.
November 14,
Saturday - How nice it was to sleep in a
bit this morning. Not traveling
today! We walked over to the One Horse
Saloon and did a little sightseeing. We
would have loved to have had the scooters down for some transportation but it
just wasn’t worth the effort for only one day.
So we ended up back at McK’s again.
This time no corned beef though just appetizers. Still had $2.00 well drinks though! This is a really nice place. We’ll be leaving in the morning though for
Titusville.
November 15, Sunday
- We were up early and ready to leave
but no Dockmaster to help us out. It was
tricky getting in here and now the wind had started so we really wanted to wait
until we had a little help. Finally
about 9:30 he showed and helped us out with no problem. We had 47 miles to go today to the City
Marina in Titusville. We figured since
we had just stayed free for a couple of days we could splurge again for a
marina. It turned out to be a nice day. We thought that it was going to be too windy
but once we got moving on the ICW all was good.
There was typical traffic for a weekend but eventually they all passed
us. J We made it and tied up by 3:30. It was really getting windy now. We tied up to the T dock after having to turn
completely around. That was a little
hairy! But all was good. We could even pick up one TV station –
CBS! So I got to watch The Good Wife!
November 16, Monday
- We left the marina about 9:00 headed
to Dragon Point near Melbourne where we’ve anchored before several times. Only 37 miles. However we changed our minds when we got
there because it was a really nice day.
First mistake – changing horses in midstream! Should have known better! Beware! We had another 25 miles to go to 3 different
anchorages that were listed in the Guide.
That was giving us several options.
However, NONE of them proved to be suitable! So we had no other choice but to go on to
Vero Beach Marina to pick up a mooring ball.
That was 12 more miles. It would
be getting dark but we figured we could handle it. The problem was when we got to the marina
there were no mooring balls available!
Some were even rafted off two or three boats at a time! We went all the way back in in hopes we’d
find something. We decided we’d just
have to drop a hook back there somewhere.
The problem was – it was dark, it was windy, it was raining, and there
was not enough water to anchor! Plus we
were ending up way way too close to another boat! I think we scared them a bit!! They had some choice words for us. But we really didn’t know what we could do. We couldn’t go back out in the dark! Finally after several attempts and several
words we decided to see if the fuel dock was open. By the grace of God, it was! We tied up there for the evening and settled
up with the marina the next morning. Total
mileage today was 75 miles. We did
manage to apologize to the people in the boat we upset. All is good!
They apologized to us also saying they should have offered to raft up
rather than just yelling at us! Oh well,
we have some new friends now. However,
the next time we decide to deviate from our plans, we will remember this
episode! Boating has its moments!!
November 17,
Tuesday - Up early waiting for the
marina office to open. Still a bit
shaken up thinking about what could have happened. Oh well, what is done is done. We paid for our dockage and were on our way
about 8:30. No problems. They charged us
for a slip which was fair. We had a 48
miles journey today. Planning to anchor
at Hobe Sound. It was a very busy day
with lots of traffic and windy but no rain.
We made it to Hobe Sound anchorage (1000 mm) by 3:00 p.m. Still a little shaken up about last night we
were happy to find a decent anchorage.
Of course it would have been nicer had it not been blowing 20 mph! A sailboat anchored beside us. We had passed him earlier. He was French and spoke little English. Interesting!
Imagine being in a sailboat, sailing around in a foreign country and
doing it alone. Anyway, the anchorage is
good and we had a good rest. By the way,
Hobe Sound is quite an exclusive area.
Beautiful homes with well-manicured lawns and of course, huge boats
outside their homes. According to Google
- Tiger Woods, Celine Dion, and Burt
Reynolds are among its residents. I
wonder if we anchored in one of their front yards!
November 18,
Wednesday - It was pretty windy last
night but we held! We left about
8:00. It was a long day. We only had about 63 miles to go but we had
several bridges and several no-wake zones to contend with. At one of the bridges we had a 45 minute wait
because of construction. About 3 others
we had at least a 20 minute wait each!
With all the waiting on the openings it took us 9 1/2 hours to go 63 miles! Finally we made it to the Las Olas Marina in
Ft Lauderdale about 5:30. Of course the
marina office was closed and it was raining.
Luckily, we had Katie and Bob (Floating Stone) and Richard (Rambler)
there to help us into our slip. Tomorrow
we head to Boca Chita – a National Park just south of Miami on Biscayne
Bay. Now it’s time for a good night’s
sleep!
November 19,
Thursday - After a nice night at the
marina we left about 10:00 with Rambler leading the way. He planned to stop at No Name Harbor. Katie and Bob left earlier and were heading
on to Key Largo. They had been at Las
Olas for almost a week waiting on the weather.
We only planned to go to Boca Chita which is about 45 miles. We stopped at the Hollywood City Marina to
get some fuel. ($2.45/gal). Still not bad compared to past years. We didn’t have any problems and made it to
one of our favorite spots about 4:30. We
had it all to ourselves. Well, except
for all the mosquitoes! We’ve been there
a few times before and never had problems with them before but they were thick
tonight! We still managed to kick back
and enjoyed being “almost” to the Keys!
Tied up and safe! We love this
place!
November 20, Friday
- We left about 8:00. We were headed to Lorelei’s Anchorage
(Islamorada) – about 55 miles. We were
anxious to get out of the mosquitoes so Mike waited until we were out in to the
open water before he entered our route into the chart plotter. Well, guess what! Here we are out in Biscayne Bay and the chart
plotter froze up! We tried everything we could think of. This meant no rhumb line to follow, no depth sounder,
no compass! Luckily we had a backup compass and a sounder
and we pulled out the paper charts. Just
like to old days! Following the charts
and dead reckoning to the markers. We
did that for 55 miles! And of course,
avoiding the crab pots that were everywhere! We made it to our anchorage about
3:00. It wasn’t forecasted to be but it
was really windy! We finally were at
anchor so we could call Garmin Tech Support.
After a few phone calls, we were able to do an update. It worked!
All is good!!
November 21,
Saturday - We had a great anchorage at
Lorelei’s. We hardly moved at all once
the wind let up. We weighed the anchor
at 8:00 a.m. We were anxious to get
going the 38 miles to Marathon! After 12
days of traveling, we’re ready to be in our winter home. We decided that since the forecast was light
winds we would go out and travel the Hawk Channel. It would be a little closer and shouldn’t
have as many crab pots. So we went out
at Channel Five Bridge. Well that wasn’t
such a great idea. It was really pretty
lumpy out there. The waves were mostly
on our beam. That isn’t really much
fun. And there were still crab pots! However, we still made it about 12:30. It took us about 4 hours but it wasn’t all
that bad. (Maybe it was…..) After all, we knew that at the end of today’s
journey we’d be in Marathon finally! Oh, and of course, it was raining when we
got there. Our friends helped us in one
more time – in the rain! But it wasn’t
dark!
Now this adventure
is over for now. It’s time to party and
enjoy our friendships in Marathon. We’ll
be here probably through March. And then
again, if we haven’t yet sold NautiNell, we’ll be off again on another
adventure!
Stay tuned!
Till next time!
Admiral “C”
