Riviera Beach - Miami - Key Biscayne

Miami skyline

Ft Lauderdale - boat show preparations

Colorful skyline




Lots of yachts and yachts.......

yes, it's a boat!

And it goes on and on......

One of the bridges opening for us

Did I mention the skyline?

Can you say concrete jungle?

Corner lot

I'll take this one!

Or maybe this one?

Maybe I'll take this one..........

One of the many canals along the way
the houses and boats just go on and on......

Ft Lauderdale getting ready for the boat show

What can I say?

Taxi anyone?

one of the many freighters along the way

Lots of cool designs

Just a little house by the water.......

 

(October 15)  Our plans were changed on Monday morning.  We had planned to head to Lake Boca Raton for an anchorage; but when the Captain checked the engines and generator, he found the generator was leaking water.  The pump that was rebuilt back in the Bahamas only about 100 hours ago had failed again.  Mike was able this time to find a part close by – well about a two mile bike ride anyway – that’s close…. At least he was able to get another repair kit and then he installed it himself.  It did take most of the day but at least he got it fixed.  This time we didn’t have to pay Basil from the Bahamas and also have the part shipped overnight. 

I took advantage of having some “spare” time so I caught up on the laundry and cleaned the boat.  What fun!  Ha!  After all the work was done, we headed to the TIKI Bar for dinner.  Had a great prime rib!

(October 16) Finally, Tuesday morning we were able to leave.  Once we had everything loaded we were on our way down the ICW.  We only had about 30 miles to go but we had several bridges.  Several of these bridges are too low for us to clear so we have to wait for them to open.  Most of them open on a schedule.  We really only missed one – the first one. We had to wait about 25 minutes.  That wasn’t too bad.  The others went rather quickly. 

The scenery along our way today was awesome.  You wouldn’t believe the homes that are built along the waterway.  Huge homes with beautiful pools, well-manicured lawns and enormous boats moored beside them.   You definitely wouldn’t believe the economy is in trouble by the looks of this area.  And we’re not even to Miami yet!

We made it to Lake Boca Raton in about 5 hours.  The anchorage here is beautiful and quite calm.  We had a great evening sitting on the sundeck and admiring the cityscape - lots of condos and lots of huge boats.  The water is also slowly beginning to get clearer. 

Tomorrow we should get an early start.  There are several more bridges from here to Miami.  If we time them right – we should have no problem making it to No Name Harbor.  We stayed there last April when we were trying to stage our crossing to Bimini.  It’s a very well protected harbor – looking forward to spending time there again.

(October 17) – A slight change in plans – we didn’t get all the way to No Name Harbor – we anchored in Sunset Lake in Miami just north of West Venetian Causeway – more on that later.

We did leave early enough from our anchorage in Lake Boca Raton.  We made the first bridge and off we went like a herd of turtles.  It’s hard to make any time when you are restricted by so many bridges.  Between the bridges and the no wake zones – we just putted along. 

You wouldn’t believe the homes along the ICW.  Like I mentioned yesterday the homes were truly beautiful – however, once we were in Ft Lauderdale, they became truly unbelievable.  Then we hit Miami – between the homes and the insanely huge mega-yachts – wow!!  It’s amazing  - but it is strictly a concrete jungle on water all the way to Miami.  I kept thinking about how different our voyage had been just a few months ago when we traveling to the Abacos.  I had felt so small in that dark almost black water with no land in sight.  Now here we are among all this abundance.  What a difference!

We decided that we should get fuel and we had been told about the Peterson Fuel Delivery out of Ft Lauderdale.  They have two barges that they run in this area – and the fuel is supposed to be cheaper than in any marina.  We called them and found the location of one of the barges.  Just down a little ways from where we were in the Dania Cutoff Canal.  We headed down there and found Carlos without a problem.  Carlos was rather interesting and made for a fun fuel stop.  He was an old surfer dude that was avid about cleaning up the waterways.  He said that he had already collected about a ton of garbage whenever he is out on the water.  Good luck Carlos!

We decided to stop a little short of our planned anchorage in No Name Harbor.  It had been a long day.  We found this amazing anchorage in Sunset Lake.  For those of you that might want to know – it is just north and east of the West Venetian Causeway Bridge.  We turned to the east and went past six islands that would have been fairly good anchorage areas – but kept going past them and then making a turn to the north.  The first canal that didn’t have a bridge to contend with you turn back east.  Go a little ways and the canal opens to a beautiful lake.  It is well protected from all directions.  There is room for at least 12 boats to anchor here – and we were all by ourselves.   For those of you using Skipper Bob Anchorages book – check out MM 1088.4 (2) - Venetian Causeway.

Tomorrow we again plan to stop at No Name Harbor where we will be able to unload the bikes.  We can then get to Winn Dixie where we will be able to do a little re-stocking.   Depending on the time and the weather – we will either spend the night there or move on to Boca Chita Key.

Another update – Thursday – (October 18)  - We ended up with a great anchorage last night in Sunset Lake.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  We waited out a short shower this morning and then another 30 minutes for the bridge to open (last one!) and we were on our way through Miami.  It was a little confusing once we got under the bridge – markers going in all directions.  One thing we knew we didn’t want to do was to go out the Government Cut.  That was obvious.  We figured in out and didn’t have any problems. 

More concrete – skyscrapers – it’s amazing.  We had a very short trip today – made it to No Name Harbor in about 1 1/2 hours.  Perfect!  Tied up to the wall – had lunch – unloaded the bikes and off we went to the local Winn Dixie in Key Biscayne.  It’s only about a mile or so ride.  We were back in a couple of hours – then we moved the boat out to anchor.  You’re not allowed to stay on the wall all night – only for the day.   We sat on the sundeck and watched the sunset – we also saw some leopard stingrays.  Finally, we’re back in the “tropics” again!  We even saw several iguanas on our way to the store.

Tomorrow we are going to travel another 10 miles or so to Boca Chita Key.  We spent last Easter weekend there waiting for the winds to subside so we could cross to the Bahamas.  Now we’re just taking our time going to Marathon so we thought we’d stop in.  Maybe all the crazy Cubans will be back.  Who knows!

Till next time!

Admiral ”C”

BTW  GO CARDS!!!

 

 

Manatee Pocket and on to Lake Worth

Manatee sculpture - Manatee Grill

Beautiful sky at our anchorage

Jerry and Jenny of "SweetGrass"

The gang back together!

SweetGrass leaving our anchorage and heading north

Ferry boat taking passengers to Peanut Island

Welcome to Peanut Island

Beach along the Island - what a view!

Another view from Peanut Island

View of the Inlet from Peanut Island



The Lagoon on the Island
Museum in the background

Always a smile on the Captain's face when
we're riding in the Whaler

A whole new meaning to the term
"House boat"

The "Bahama Celebration" heading out from port
What a sight!

SweetGrass and NautiNell
on anchor

We spent four nights on the hook in the Manatee Pocket near Stuart.  It was a great anchorage – both holding and location.  It did take us a while to find the best spot though – there are two anchorage basins #1 and #2.  First we planned to stop at #1 but wanted to check out #2 first because it was closer to the town.  Boated over to #2 only to decide it was too crowded and a little short on water.  Back to #1 – and then back to #2 only to end up at #1.  Finally!  Glad we got that straight!  HA!  Glad the spots were only about one-half mile from each other!

Like I said it turned out to be a good anchorage.  We unloaded the dinghy and did some exploring.  We managed to stop at Shrimpers for Happy Hour.  Big surprise!  Great place – we made plans to definitely get back there for dinner before we left. 

The next morning Mike took a boat ride (fishing) but first he fixed the float switch on the bilge pump again.  Darn thing!  At least it pumps!! 

The “Chapman School of Seamanship” is located here.  They must have been having “hands on” classes today in towing.  It must be kind of like our Franklin Tech – wow – getting school credit in boating! Anyway there were several boats out here in the basin towing other boats and vice versa.  All the crew had on their orange “mae wests”.  It was fun watching them.  I kept trying to get Capt. Chappy to tell them “he wrote the book” but we wouldn’t do it.  We checked out Manatee Island Grill for Happy Hour this afternoon.  Met some nice locals – all watching the baseball games. -  Rooting for Giants – sorry, but I’m true to the Cards.  Most seem to be Yankee fans anyway. 

SweetGrass (Jerry and Jenny) made it here late afternoon on Thursday.  It was really good to see them.  We met along the Loop.  We really got to know them when we were in Delaware City.   They are heading north back home to Charleston where they will cross their wake.   We literally were two ships passing in the ICW!  We had a few drinks on our boat and spent the evening catching up on each other’s new adventures and reminiscing about the old ones.

Friday morning we all dinghy-ed over to town and checked out the Fishhouse Art Center.  It would have been really nice but not all the stores were open yet.  Guess it’s a little early here yet – according to one of the artists everything will be open in a couple of weeks.  Snowbirds haven’t all returned yet….

Anyway, it still was nice – we also found a nautical consignment store.  The guys went crazy in there.   Jenny and I ventured on – but didn’t find any real bargains.

Jeff and Linda (Jeremiah) made it here around 5:00.  Mike picked them up in the dinghy.  We all had drinks on the boat and visited until dark.  All six of us then went over to Shrimpers for dinner - (told you we’d make it back there for dinner.) We had a wonderful dinner.  It was just like old times – all Loopers having a great time over a great meal.  I laughed until my side hurt!  Finally Jeff and Linda headed on to Vera Beach to see their grandbaby.  Both SweetGrass and NautiNell planned to leave in the morning. 

Saturday morning about 8:30 or so – SweetGrass headed on up North.  It was great to see them.  We really hope to see them again.  We should go through Charleston this Spring on our way up to Norfolk.  Hopefully we will get to spend some time with them. 

We headed out (south) about 9:00.  It was so windy!  We thought about staying one more day but the weather forecast included winds for the next few days.  It wouldn’t be bad on the ICW and the winds were coming from the NNE so they would be behind us most of the way.  It wasn’t really pleasant but it wasn’t bad. Everything was fine until we finally got to Lake Worth.  We had planned to anchor somewhere close to Peanut Island.  The wind was so strong – we couldn’t find a good place to anchor.  Either it was too crowded or we just didn’t think we would hold.  SO we decided at the last minute to try Riviera Beach Marina.  We had quite a time getting the boat in to the slip.  The wind was really blowing and we decided that morning to tow the dinghy rather than put it on top.  NOT AGAIN!  It was not a bother to tow and we thought we were anchoring.  We figured we would just have to unload it again when we got to anchor at Lake Worth.  What we didn’t figure was that the wind would be so bad that we would go into a marina and try to get in to the slip with the dinghy getting in the way.  It tried to pull it up close to the boat but I just couldn’t get it close enough.  No damage though – just frayed nerves and maybe some “yelling”.  Just a little – but some.  J  Cory, the kid at the dock did a lot to help. We got in safe and sound.  The wind continued to blow the entire night.  We sat out on the boat and listened to the music coming from the Tiki Bar at the marina.  Happy to be in the marina.

Sunday morning the wind was still at it so we decided to stay another day.  We rode our bikes up to the local Walgreens – Yea! They have a liquor department!  We were able to stock up on a few things.  We had lunch at the Tiki Bar – music all day.  Neat little place.  We watched the live stunt on TV by the guy – Felix Baumgartner – parachuting from outer space!  A little crazy don’t you think?  Why would someone want to do this? Highest manned  balloon flight and then he jumps out of it!  Oh well – it was cool though seeing him land on his feet after falling over 23 miles from space sometimes at over 700 mph!

After that we went by dinghy over to Peanut Island.  It's just across from the marina.  Peanut Island is really a very nice area.  The facilities there are very well maintained – there is a maritime museum there that includes the JFK Bunker used during the Cold War.  We walked all around the Island – I really enjoyed it.  We would have stayed longer but it was starting to look like rain. 

We relaxed on the boat and made our plans to leave in the morning.  We are planning to anchor out in Lake Boca Raton.  Hopefully the winds have died down!  AND we will be putting the dinghy up on the roof before we leave!

Till next time!

Admiral “C”

 

 

 

Change of plans - and more pics from Ft Pierce

Neat "Ft Pierce, FL" sign - recycled items

Mr. Manatee putting the finishing touches on his landscape.....

More sculptures - they are so cool.

Traveling along the ICW

This little shrimpboat is not going anywhere
Just outside Shrimpers Raw Bar and Gill

Inside Shrimpers - very cool place

Here are some more pictures from Ft Pierce - we really enjoyed our stay there.  Hopefully we'll make it back next Spring and hit the Farmers Market.

We have another change in plans - like I always say - our plans are always made in sand.....

Anyway, we changed our minds about traveling the Okeechobee Waterway and then going down the west coast of Florida to the Keys.  Instead, we are going to continue down the east coast of Florida on down to Marathon.  Due to time constraints and in order to save a little money - it's the best way to go.  We had hoped to make it over to the west coast and then on up to Venice for a week or so.  Sorry, Jeff and Linda - we'll have to wait to see you guys in December when you make it to Marathon.

We still plan to be at Sombrero (Dockside) Marina for November, December and January.  We look forward to meeting up with some old friends.  We also are looking forward to making new ones.

We left Ft Pierce this morning and are currently on the hook in the Manatee Pocket near Stuart. We had a great day along the ICW.  We took the dinghy over to Shrimpers Raw Bar and Grill for Happy Hour.  Neat place. 

We are going to stay here on the hook for a few days.  We spoke to Jerry and Jenny of "SweetGrass" who are currently in Miami and are heading north back home to Charleston.  It looks like they will be able to meet us here in the Manatee Pocket on Thursday.  It will be really good to see them and catch up on everything. 

Till next time!

Admiral "C"

On Our Way to Marathon – finally!

Are they searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

They are working to build a breakwater for the marina here in
Ft Pierce.  The marina was pretty much taken out by
a hurricane in 1994

This is a major project - we've learned alot by
watching from our sundeck

12A Buoy - great place to eat!

Art sculpture in the City Park

Great day to see Ft Pierce by bicycle

Neat sculptures in the City park

We spent the last couple of days at Cocoa getting everything ready to travel.  Since we’d spent over two months here it seemed we had a lot to do.  First and foremost – Mike had worked hard to get it where we would be able to put the Whaler up on top where the other dinghy had ridden.  That was quite an ordeal!  Then, of course, we had the new “scooter”.  We knew we could leave it here in storage but we really didn’t want to.  SO Mike was determined to find a place for it on NautiNell, too.   After a lot of R & D and experimentation – Mike finally designed a way to get it up on the top next to the Whaler.  It really wasn’t that much trouble once he had it all figured out.  We did, however, have to move the boat over to an area where we could load it from the side.  Thanks to George and Sara for the help.  I wish we could have taken pictures when the davit was lifting the scooter, but all hands were needed for safety – at least that’s what we thought at the time.  Now that it’s done – it won't be that big of a deal next time.  Let’s hope!

I want to give a big shout out to George and Sara (La Dolce Vita).  They were good neighbors at Cocoa.  We really enjoyed our visits.  And thanks for the trip to the local Publix.  We never turn down a chance to stock up our cupboards. 

Friday morning we had everything loaded and headed out around 9:30.  It was an easy day down the Intercostal Waterway (ICW).  It felt good to be on the move again.  We had planned on stopping earlier but we changed our minds.  However, when we were ready to stop – there were no good anchorages that we could find.  So we finally stopped about 5:00 p.m. at Vero Beach City Marina.  We stayed the night on a mooring ball.   It was a nice night.  We had dinner on the sundeck and we really enjoyed the change of scenery.

The night didn’t turn out so good though after all.  The breeze seemed to just stop – and the humidity rose.  And with that – came the bugs.  We didn’t have our fans and we didn’t get much sleep.

To top all of that – We had quite a surprise when Mike checked the engine room the next morning.  He found about 12 inches of water in the bilge.  Twelve inches!  And the bilge pump had not kicked on!  This could have been really serious!  That’s a lot of water!  A hose clamp had broken and there was a tiny steady stream of water coming in.  It was really a good thing Mike had checked the engine room that morning.  We had no idea that the water was coming in.  Again the humidity was terrible and here Mike had to work on this first thing.  He did finally get the water pumped out once he fixed the pump (wire had broken loose) and then proceeded to install a new hose clamp.  (Lucky we had one on the boat)

We finally left the mooring ball about 10:30 a.m.  We had planned to leave about 8:00 and have a nice short travel to Ft Pierce.  There is a great farmers market there every Saturday.  Since we had such a late start we missed the market.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

We had lunch at the Tiki Bar and came back to find that the air conditioner was not cooling.  Poor Mike!  Back down in the engine room he went.  Do you think that it might have had something to do with the pump being submerged in the 12 inches of water? 

I had to include an email that Mike had sent to some of his buddies – it really explains how this situation went down …….  In his own words……..

Left Cocoa Beach Saturday, grabbed a mooring @ Vero Beach, leaving out early this am - checking batteries and found LOTS OF WATER in the bilge, further inspection showed a broken hose clamp on the hose containing the drive shaft, additional inspection revealed a broken wire on the forward auto bilge pump! The combination creates lots of water in the bilge, like 12 inches!

I have recently replaced the pump with a 1600 gal per hour and it pumped water for 1/2 hour. probably not to volume since there is some lift but none the less LOTS OF WATER! Got all that straightened out, and traveled on to Ft. Pierce into city marina. Turned on the air before we went to lunch and when we came back wasn't very cool. the circuit breaker had tripped , then tripped again ... started the chase, no water pumping out the side , turns out the water in the bilge had got into the a/c pump. Remove the pump...it's under the water heater...take it apart ok ..check all lines, ok ..test with new power source, pump is good… put back in place, no pumping ...more checking... switch good...start with wiring ...find relay box....open up ...get shocked...cuss...turn off electric power...find black fuse holder with blown fuse....ride bicycle 1 1/2 miles to West Marine (uphill both ways) ...buy fuses $2.49 ...install...pump works now better than ever, and I know more about a/c than I wanted.

It’s a little rainy and cool so don't need the air,  figures.

I will be putting double hose clamps on the shaft hoses today!

Couldn’t have said it better!  -

We stayed here in Ft Pierce for a couple more days than planned.  We found a place to eat  - 12A Buoy.  It has really great food and was a really neat place.  We rode our bikes around town and found a funny little local bar – Buckshot Bay Rockin’ Café.  We hit it at Happy Hour.  Quirky little spot -  just like the ones we love.  

We plan to leave in the morning and go as far as Manatee Pocket.  We hope to be on anchor for a few days – these days in marinas get a little expensive.

Till next time!

Admiral “C”

 

Having a Big Time in Cocoa

My favorite at the car show - wow!

 

Pacer "HotRod" - yeah, I said "HotRod"!

Classy Franklin

If you can't afford the big one - the guy said these would go over 50 mph!

So many cars to see

Having fun on the sandbar on the Barge Canal

View of one of the Cruise Ships from the sandbar

Just catching some rays in the Whaler

This is the "burger boat" at the sandbar
"Island Oasis"

You can't see me - I'm invisible......

Yeah, we know there's gators in there somewhere

Getting ready for Comedy Night

Couldn't resist - our "finest"
in line at the donut tent!

Flash Mob!
That was so much fun!

Hali and Me after the Flash Mob
She's our Zumba Instructor and Owner of
"Come On Get Happy"

Mikey standing in line at the BBQ Truck
Had to have some of those ribs!

Sitting in on the drum circle
Don't you love the hat!!

View from the Manatee Park
Just after sunset

Lovin' the scooter!

We’ve been having a time here in Cocoa.  Our time is growing short though.  We will be heading south in a few days.  We will be traveling most of October –crossing over to Venice via the Okeechobee Waterway and then down the west coast of Florida.   We plan to spend the winter in Marathon.  We’re on a few waiting lists at this time.  Surely something will open up by the time we get there in November.  :-)

You won’t believe what I did yesterday!  I can check it off on my bucket list.  Flash Mob!!  There was the Space Coast Festival going on over in Cape Canaveral.  There were 14 bands, vendors and lots of things going on all day.  The local Zumba Dance Studio  - “Come On Get Happy” – (yes, that’s the name) organized a Flash Mob.  We practiced all month at the studio during our Zumba classes.  There were at least fifty dancers that showed!  It was so much fun.  We all gathered at the main stage and when we heard our cue out we came.  What fun! 

Mike had some fun at the Festival too.  He sat in on a drum circle.  That was right up his alley.  We hung out most of the day listening to the music and checking out the food.  Great day!

 Last Saturday the Village held their annual car show.  It turned out to be pretty good.  There were lots of neat old cars and hotrods there, including a Pacer Hotrod.  Yes, a “Pacer Hotrod”  – I know those two words don’t usually go together – but that is what it was.  There was also a “Franklin” and an “Essex” – cars that you don’t see very often.   It was a beautiful day and we had a great time walking around the Village.   

On Sunday, we finally got to take the Whaler for a ride.  We went out the Barge Canal toward to Atlantic over to Cape Canaveral.  It was about a two hour ride each way.  We went to the Lock but didn’t go through it.  The Lock only raises about 12 inches!  Anyway, there was a great sandbar right up from the Lock where there were lots of boats hanging out.  There was a boat there selling hamburgers, hotdogs, etc.  Oh, and fruit smoothies – he couldn’t sell you alcohol so if you bought a smoothie, he would “GIVE” you a shot of tequila to put it.  Funny!  It was a great ride – the Canal had lots of cool flora along the banks giving way to lots of wildlife.  We knew there were alligators back in the brush but never did we see one.   Maybe that was a good thing!  We spent the day and got back to the boat tired and sunburned.  What a great day!

The other night was Comedy Night at Ryan’s Irish Pub (our favorite hangout).  We decided that we needed to check it out.  It was a little hokey but it was fun.  They have this room above Ryan’s called the Shamrock Room.  It’s pretty much an attic – but cool.  It just cracks us up that it’s Ryan’s IRISH Pub – but they specialize in Pizza, Spaghetti, and other fine ITALIAN dishes – in fact – a great Stromboli!

We’ve met several boaters here at the marina – recently two new couples – George & Sarah Hulse and Floyd & Elaine Tapp.  Both couples are from Owensboro, KY.  Don't think they knew each other before they met here.  What a coincidence!  We have spent some time with them having a few “docktails”. 

Mike has spent a lot of time getting the space ready for the Whaler on NautiNell.  There was quite an adjustment to be made for the Whaler from where the inflatable dinghy used to sit.  After lots of R&D – he finally got it figured out and the Whaler is now safe and sound up on the roof where the inflatable used to sit. 

Now we have to figure out just where the new scooter is going to ride.  Not sure about that yet.  But one thing is for sure – we are “lovin” the scooter!  It has really freed up our boundaries.  We can pretty much go anywhere we want now.  Mike is going somewhere on it every day!  He’s got it just about fixed up to his liking. 

We’ve had a great time here in Cocoa.  We will be leaving soon but we hope to come back this way again.  If you are ever in this area – definitely check out Cocoa Village.  It’s a great little place.

 

Till next time! 

Admiral “C”