Miami to Marathon

Miami to Marathon.... Mangroves and Strip Malls

Holy windy!  I know I shouldn’t be complaining about the weather here in the
 “Sunshine State” while others are shoveling snow at home, but wow, what a difference from last 
year. We’ve had one “wind event” after another as a steady stream of cold fronts push across the area.  There have even been several tornado touch downs and water spouts (luckily,  they’ve all missed us).

The plan for this month was to meander our way South with our friends Joe and Connie on Chesapeake, stopping to linger when the mood struck.  Connie and Joe got a head start out of 
Oleta State Park with the plan to meet up a short way down the icw in Miami.  

Once we got going Jeff immediately noticed lots of white exhaust coming out of the boat.  Hmm.  
Within minutes the temperature started to climb and we were pulled off the side of the channel with a dropped anchor.  Ugh.  We were out of commission and needed a plan. Jeff jumped in the dinghy and I got on the phone. Heactually towed us the two miles to the marina I had contacted.  Right down the Intracoastal.  That drew more than a few curious stares! Two knots the whole way. 

An engine water pump was the culprit.  We ended up renting a car to make the drive to Fort 
Lauderdale to get it rebuilt. Jeff crawled into the hole in the floor to reinstall it and a couple of days later we were off again, with much lighter wallets. 

The next stop was further South in Miami.  We anchored in a large anchorage beside the
 loading docks in the Port of Miami.  We watched as each day a new group of massive 
cruise ships arrived, loaded and headed out.  Apparently the cruising business is alive and well.

We continued down to Dinner Key and bounced around on a mooring ball for the night in the very exposed mooring field.  There was an international sailing competition going on and we had 
great fun watching them zoom through the mooring field on their way to and from the 
races.

The Florida Keys

"Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya.... Bermuda, Bahama....hmm hmm... etc. etc
In the Florida Keeeys...  There's a place called....."       What?! NO Kokomo?

Did you know that Kokomo, off the Florida Keys. from the Beach Boy’s song doesn’t even actually exist?  But we did find Key Largo.  That was our next stop.  We anchored out in several different locations behind mangroves, trying to find protection from the strong winds. There we met up with our friends Jeff and Judy, from our home Marina in Penetanguishene, Ontario.  It was great to catch up with them for a short visit.  

Joe and Connie, being on a tighter timeline, had to shove on but Jeff and I decided to stay 
as it was rumoured that a nice sunny day was coming.  We were skeptical but it turned out to be true! We took advantage of that to take in John Pennekamp State Park and snorkel off the coral reefs there.  Just fantastic! (underwater pictures are pending, we have to get them developed)

Continuing South, the next stop was Islamorada, a cute little town half way down the 

keys. Islamorada is one of our favorite stops!

We spent several days there at anchor, exploring the town, taking in happy hour(s)with other boaters 
at Loralei’s (an awesome Tiki bar) and spending the evenings on the boat enjoying the excellent live music wafting across the water from Loralei's 

We saw the strangest thing here.  Just after dark we noticed luminous blobs of something floating past the boat.  We weren’t sure if it was plant matter or animal but there were lots of them, ranging in size from a baseball to football.  It would last for 
about half an hour and then stop.  Very cool.  It was like the whole bay around us was alive with mystery glow in the dark organisms. We tried to get pictures but they didn't show up well.  We both saw them though, every night, so If we're crazy at least we're going together! 

We loved Ilsamorada and would have loved to stay longer but the anchorage there is completely open to the North and the next “wind event” was coming. We needed to find safe refuge. 

We continued South about thirty miles to Marathon, which was also an attractive option as 
we knew our friends from Ontario, Brian and Janice from the boat Fugitive were arriving
 there that day.  We had seen them off on their loop trip last August from our home Marina, 
shouting “We’ll see you in the Keys” and now here we all were.  We had a great time 
catching up and comparing stories over happy hour(s).

Marathon is a very popular stop for boaters because there is a large, protected lagoon in the middle oftown with a huge mooring field of 226 balls.  Unluckily for us, with this storm coming, the mooring field was completely full with a waiting list of thirty-nine boats.  There were boats anchored very tightly in every nook and cranny.  We ended up struggling in the wind to drop two anchors and back up towards the mangroves to tie off with four lines. 

That's where we are as I type.  It's dark and the wind is just howling outside.  The anchor lines are taut and the boat is dancing around, moaning and creaking. But we're holding tight.  On nights like this we take turns getting up to peek outside and make sure we're still secure.              

The plan for next month was to make the crossing across the Gulf from Marathon to the southwest coast of mainland Florida and make our way north to Fort Myers. However, after a few happy hours we've decided to travel with Brian and Janice to Tavernier.  Not at all the direction we were thinking but that's just the way we roll.  We'll visit there for a few days then make our way west.

West Palm Beach to Miami.

January 22, 2016

West Palm Beach to Miami...  Who WAS Art Deco anyway?

Yay!  Our friends Jim and Mimi from the boat Perfect Balance came to visit!!  Looking back through this blog, Jim and Mimi feature frequently as we traveled with them quite a bit last winter.  Unlike us, Jim and Mimi finished their loop trip and are back home in the real world in Hamilton, Ontario, working, with their lovely boat up for sale.  They came down for week and "slept around" with various boating friends.  We were lucky to have them on Gran Vida for three nights, one of which was Mimi's birthday.

We took a slip in Miami so it would be easier to get around.  Venturing into the South Beach area we took in the sites: Lincoln Street (an upscale pedestrian mall), the famous Miami Beach, and the Art Deco district of Miami.  Joe and Connie on Chesapeake were alongside and the six of us had a great visit.

Lincoln Pedestrian Mall

Tourists at Miami Beach
Left to Right:  Susan, Jeff, Jim, Mimi, Connie, Joe

Miami Beach.  Note the Art Deco beach structures

The start of the Art Deco District of South Miami Beach

After Jim and Mimi moved on to visit with other friends we moved to an anchorage at Oleta State Park.  This is a beautiful spot with clear green water and if you didn't look up and see all the tall buildings surrounding it you'd swear you were in the tropical wilderness.  We spent several days here, swimming, hanging out and just plain relaxing on the nice days.  We also had a couple more "wind event" days where it was incredibly windy and stormy out, with occasional tornado watches/warnings issued. For the first time ever our anchor dragged a bit as the strong winds rotated from north through east and then all the way around to northwest, a rotation of about 270 degrees in twenty-four hours with wind speeds up to forty miles an hour. Hang on to your hat!! We reset the anchor just to feel secure and it held like a charm.

Dinghy 'sploring through the mangroves.

Yup, we went through that culvert,
 Hope the tide is not on the way up or we might not get back through it!

Swimming off the boat.
 Jeff was diving in off the flybridge but I couldn't catch it on camera

My knight in shining armour coming to pick me up on shore after a walk.

Vero Beach to West Palm Beach

We've had a minor tragedy here on Gran Vida. We left our beloved Mac laptop under an open window and it got caught in an unexpected rainfall (Que in somber funeral music). We had a small service for it last week outside the Apple store in Miami.  So sad.  As a result we are now the owners of a new cheapo PC.  Let's see if I can remember how windows works....  Oh dear. It's quite different than I remember.

Our plan for the next month is to cruise around and explore all the great anchorages on the southeast coast of Florida as we travel to the keys.  One would think there wouldn't be many in this very populated area but we're being pleasantly surprised.

The first one was Peck Lake where we joined our friends Grant and Cindy on As the Crow Flies for a couple of days. There, safely anchored, we held on tight as what the weather stations were calling a "wind event" blew through.  It was a bouncy night but our anchor held tight.  What's cool about Peck Lake is that you can pull your dinghy up on shore and with just a little walk over a sandy path you are at an absolutely beautiful, almost deserted beach.  Very nice.

Next, Joe and Connie on Chesapeske caught up with us and we traveled together to West Palm Beach.  What a great anchorage that is!  We anchored beside the Flagler Museum and had just a short dinghy ride to the free docks right downtown Palm Beach.  Palm Beach is one of those upscale communities with stuff going on all the time and a free trolley to get you around.  We spent about four days there and took in:

• a free boogie-woogie concert (Jeff even danced with me!!). What fun!
• a great farmers' market.
• a "personal" concert with a fantastic band at Flagler Museum, enjoyed from our flybridge as we were anchored beside the museum.  We had no idea who they were as we were just eavesdropping but I do believe the announcer called them the "Miami Sound Machine".  I'm not sure if I misheard that or if they were THE Miami Sound Machine but they were awfully good.  What a treat!
• a car show of exotic, very expensive cars.
• and what was supposed to be an art tour but turned into more of a happy hour extravaganza.  We're distractable.

Velcro Beach

Life at "Velcro" Beach is drawing to a close.  People call Vero Beach "Velcro" beach because many who are just planning to make a short stop here end up staying.  Not us.  Not this time.  We'll be off in a week or so and to be honest, as much as we've enjoyed our stay here, we're both chomping at the bit to get moving.  I guess we're tumble weeds at heart.

So, how have we spent our time?  Jeff got a surf fishing lesson under the superb tutelage of fisher extraordinaire Grant.  We spent the day with Grant and Cindy at Sebastian State Park.  It appears there are very many catfish in Sebastian Inlet...  OR the SAME one was determined to get caught.  Jeff even took it off the hook by himself (squealing like a girl, twice, three witnesses). Either way, the guys were kept busy and Cindy and I enjoyed some relaxation in the sun.

Christmas 2015

On Christmas morning we were blessed to receive a Facetime call from my granddaughters as they were opening our gifts.  It was such a joy to be involved and to receive such warm thank-you hugs, even if they were through the computer.  Christmas away from home is just weird.  I don't know if I'll ever get used to it.


Fire!!



Today we had some excitement.  While we were happily engaging in our "morning chores" (Jeff organising the lazarette/me scrubbing the summer grunge off our water hose) we noticed a terrible smell.  We looked up to see smoke - lots of it and black - coming from a neighbour's boat. Jeff rushed to the scene and sure enough the boat was on fire and it was very quickly spreading out of control.  Luckily there were fire hoses on the dock and after smashing the glass to get them out of their stands, Jeff and a couple of other guys held things under control (barely!!) until the fire trucks arrived.  It was pretty dicey and could have quickly gone very badly.  Scary!  We feel so badly for the owners, fellow Canadian boaters who were fully stocked up and all ready to head off to the Bahamas in the next few days.  What a heart breaker.  We understand it was an electrical short that caused the fire.  They were out for the day and no one was hurt.

On a happier note, our friends Joe and Connie on the boat Chesapeake will arrive later today to spend a few days and help us bring in the New Year.   Fun!  It will be nice to catch up again.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!

Wishing you all a day filled with peace and joy!!!!

Marina Life in Vero Beach

Marina Life in Vero Beach is pretty pleasant, I must say.  A typical day looks like this:  1) morning coffees, check the news/weather.  2) clean or fix something.  3)  afternoon at the beach, pool or some other touristy activity.  4)  dinner and cocktail hour  5)  an evening of cards, tv, or visiting with other boaters. Pretty laid back and easy-breezy.  I'm loving the heated pool! I'm up to a kilometer a day.  It's one of my favorite forms of exercise.

We needed to pick up our car from North Carolina, which is about 9.5 hours away.  We booked a rental car from Enterprise and as per usual, they were late picking us up.  With a long drive ahead of us we were not too impressed.  After a phone call to politely express our concern they finally showed up and low and behold, to make up for the delay, they gave us a FREE upgrade!!!  Whoo-hoo!!!! We've been lucky with the free upgrades!  We call this Nissan 350Z the "white streak" and it sure made the chore of picking up our car a LOT more fun!  Man, it flies!

Having the Mustang here at Vero Beach opened up more opportunities for us.  We took a road trip to Lady Lake, North of Orlando this week to visit friends Ken and Sharon.  They live in a 55+ community there.  Wow! I had NO idea such places existed.  Their community is close to what's known as the "villages", one of the fastest growing suburban areas in the United States and it's all for ages 55+.



This place is honestly like a Disney Land for seniors.

There are three "villages", each with their own theme.  One is a Spanish themed, one is designed to look like the old West, and the third is small town America, with picket fences and craftsman style buildings.  Each "village" has a central square with a stage featuring nightly entertainment and a walk up bar on each corner.  You just pick up your drink and carry it around with you.  Everything there is modestly priced, it's part of the attraction for the 55+ crowd.  Jeff and I had dinner for two with a beer and glass of wine for under $30.  We were there on a Tuesday night and the place was packed and just hoppin' with crowds of folks in their golden years up dancing, partying, enjoying a meal out or checking out the street vendor booths set up around the square.  There are well over 100,000 people living in the three villages with lots more living in the surrounding 55+ communities and most of them get around by golf carts.  There are golf cart highways and golf cart bridges.  It is quite the place (and I might add that rumour has it that The Villages has the fastest growing rate of STDs in the United States.  Yikes!)  https://www.thevillages.com/ 

Golf cart parking

Ken and Sharon took us for a tour of their community in their golf carts (they have a matching set). In their community the homes are modular and while they're not as high end as the villages (or as pricy!) the place is very tidy and well landscaped.  There are two large clubhouses with beautiful pools and hot tubs. This is a very active community and there are clubs and groups for just about any activity you can think of:  many golf leagues, softball (you should see these ladies whack a ball!), arts, crafts, billiards, bingo, quilting, shuffleboard, pickle ball, photography, etc. etc. etc.  You can be as active as you want to be...or not.  It is very social place and everyone seems so happy and friendly.

Have car will travel. Another day we took a much shorter road trip up to visit fellow loopers Grant and Cindy on the boat As the Crow Flies, which is docked about a half hour's drive upstream from us. We travelled with Grant and Cindy for a while last year as we made our way down the Tenn-Tom and then leapfrogged with them often along the way. We enjoyed a few Happy Hours, dinner out and a lot of laughs.  It was great fun catching up!

Today we dug our little foot high Christmas tree and lights out from it's storage spot under the V-Berth where I had fired it way to the back last January.  So now Gran Vida is decorated up and all ready for Christmas.  Christmas day we will spend the morning at the beach and then join other boaters in the Marina Lounge for a Christmas dinner.  

Thanks for checking in with us.  Warm wishes to you and yours for a Merry Christmas and nothing but the best of the best for the New Year.

And....Here's Jeff's two-cents worth:   This squirrel asked us if we had seen his nuts. (Photo taken in Ken and Sharon's lanai room.  He scared the bejeebers out of us when he landed there.)

St. Augustine to Vero Beach

Our next stop was St Augustine, where we stopped to hang out with our buddies Joe and Conne (M/V Chesapeake).  We spent a night at River's Edge marina and enjoyed dinner out at a local pub and good catch up visit.  They insisted on treating us out to a hearty breakfast the next morning before we shoved off.

With bellies full (thanks Joe&Connie!) and heavy hearts, we pulled up to the pump-out dock at River's Edge Marina in St. Augustine and said our good-byes to our good buddies Joe, Connie and their new dog, Chase.  We set out around noon.

As we left the river and made our turn onto the channel, low and behold, we found ourselves face to face again with friends.  There on a sailboat headed towards us was Jamie and Miriam from the sailboat Odyssey.  We met them way back in the North Channel at the beginning of this trip.  The first thing they shouted out to us from across bows was "WE STILL PLAY THAT CARD GAME!!"  One quiet night anchored in the Turnbull Islands in the North Channel we had taught them Jeff's family card game of Sixty-Five.  Funny.  The boating world is quite small indeed.

We stopped about twenty-five miles down "the road" and anchored in Matanza Inlet.  I understand  matanza means "slaughter" in Spanish. I'm not sure how this place got it's name but it sounds nasty.  Matanza Inlet is the next inlet off the Atlantic south of St. Augustine, a Spanish stronghold as the Americas were being settled.  The Spanish built a fort here to protect from a southern attack.  

Interesting history, but in the 2000's it sure makes a great anchorage!  We spent a couple of days here in the warm sunshine, dinghying over for long walks on the beach and exploring the fort.  In the evenings we enjoyed an amazing star show overhead while listening to dolphins blowing their blowholes while circling our boat, checking us out.  Quite lovely.

The next few days were overcast and rainy.  We just powered on through the rain, taking turns either on the helm or drying out downstairs in the cabin.  Not the sunny, pleasant boating days we like but a reality.  Nothing a couple of good raincoats, warm coffee and a cheery attitude can't handle.

We are now in Vero Beach on the first day of our month long stay.  The pool is heated and we've already been in for a dip.  It is overcast and in the mid-sixties but that didn't stop the Canadians!  The locals shake their heads at us.

Tomorrow we will rent a car and go get Moosie (our pet name for the Mustang).  It is parked in North Carolina, which is a nine and a half our drive according to google, so it will be a two day get-away.