Scenes from Miami...

 

Traveling by water always seems to offer something new.  For us something new would be arriving in Miami's commercial/cruise ship port of Government Cut.  We'd been through the waters north of the cut previously as well as spent a limited time south in Biscayne Bay, but never had we actually arrived in Miami via the Government Cut inlet. 

I expected it to be large and intimidating.  I expected it to rival Norfolk.  I would be wrong.  Sure it was expansive but it had much less commercial traffic than I expected and since it was not a port of call for the Navy, no Navy ships were present.  There were, however, several cruise ships in port.  All lined up and awaiting their next departure.

We cruised along bypassing the cruise ships and eventually arrived at an anchorage known as Marine Stadium.  The anchorage was actually a bay dredged deeper in the 1960's and a stadium for seating of 60,000 built on its south side.  The intention was for the stadium to feature boat races and while it was successful for many years, it was condemned following Hurricane Andrew.  While the stadium is now quite the eyesore, the views of downtown remain quite spectacular.

The Admiral

Ft. Lauderdale....

Ft. Lauderdale = Big Boats Yachts

Need we say more?

The Admiral

P.S.  The bridge pictured is 56 feet tall.

Lake Sylvia....

 

Sitting on the hook awaiting weather can be a bit of a bore.  So we found ourselves surfing the web.  One of the websites we've discovered that is always fun to check out is realtor.com.  We sometimes use this to see what type of neighborhood we find oursrelves anchored in.

In the case of Lake Sylvia, we found ourselves in a pretty posh place.  We will start with the house behind us....currently available for a mere $5.8 million (refer to photo 1).  In front of us was a bit more exclusive residence.  The almost 23,000 square foot mansion could be yours for only $17.5 million (refer to photo 2). 

While I'm sure both are as lovely on the inside as on the outside, we think we will stick with Tropical Breeze.  After all, when we get tired of one location we just haul up the anchor and move on.

The Admiral

Leaving Stuart...

 

Well, it had to happen sooner or later.  We finally left Stuart.  It gets hard dropping the comfort of the mooring leash after you've been in a spot for a while.  But as much as we like Stuart, we are really looking forward to some swimming in the pristine waters of the Bahamas.  So off we go.

 

So as a last photo of Stuart, I've selected one of my favorites.  Dave with lobster.  One of the benefits of having a car this season was we were able to go further afield.  So the New England Fish Market became a regular stop for us on our shopping tour.  Beyond the beautiful maine lobster, we enjoyed their crab cakes, scallops, shrimp, snapper, tuna and the list goes on and on.    We discovered a lot about fish this season and learned about what we like and what we don't.  We are hopeful that once in the Bahamas, the fish will be abundant.  Though we will need to catch and filet them before they can be enjoyed.  

 

We opted to go offshore despite the rainy weather that has been plaguing Florida.  The rain had beaten down the waves so while it was rainy on our first day out, the seas were comfortable.  A half dozen dolphin joined in our southerly pursuit and cruised along with us for a while. 

 

We came in at Lake Worth in the early afternoon and dropped the hook.  A neighboring boat complained that we were anchored too close and while we disagreed, we figured it was better to move than not.  It was a  good thing too because in the evening as the winds began to pick up to 25+ knots guess who dragged anchor.  Yep, you guessed it - the neighbor who had asked us to move dragged his hook about 80 feet when the winds picked up.  I guess it was nice of him to warn us.

 

Day 2 offshore was still dreary and rainy, but the winds had shifted a bit more east allowing rolly swells to build.  With the swells came a bit more wind and this enabled us to put the sails up for a while.  We cruised along past Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, and Hillsboro (pictured) before arriving at Ft. Lauderdale.

 

A bit of a blow is brewing so we will be hanging out in Ft. Lauderdale for a few days until the storm passes.

 

Stay tuned for more.

 

The Admiral    

The Gulf Coast...

 

I bet your thinking.... what the heck?  How'd they get all the way yo the Gulf Coast and what happened to all the interesting sightings along the way.  Well the truth is....there weren't any.  The other truth....we took a car. 

But before I tell you about our stay in St. Petersburg, let me tell you about the uneventful trip to get there.  I admit I've had this perception about Florida.  Traveling along the Atlantic Coast, I've assumed that the whole state is covered with very Florida style homes.  You know the ones....concrete block construction, tiled roofs and bright colors.  Well on our excursion into 'inner' Florida we discovered that this is not the case.  Once you get into the interior it is amazing how the scenery changes to farmland - cows, sod farms, orange groves - just like the rural midwest (well mostly).  The houses -  aluminum sided, shingles, salt box style - much like the rural midwest.  So it was an interesting learning for us that there is coastal Florida and then there is the rest of Florida.

Now about St. Petersburg - we probably should have arranged to stay longer, as we found downtown St. Pete to be very nice.  The community has lots of art museums and the Pier reminded us of a mini - Navy Pier with its own eclectic flair.  At the St. Pete beaches we found the sands much more pleasant than the rough sands of  Stuart and Ft. Lauderdale.  The beaches were filled with umbrellas much like South Beach but absent the Art Deco architecture.

All in all, our trip was a great primer and has us thinking that a season along the Gulf Coast is in our future.  But in the meantime, we are focusing on provisioning and all the last minute doings to drop the lines and get ourselves out of Stuart.

More soon.

The Admiral  

Springing Rod...

 

 

Our friend Rod had a hip replacement operation in January/  He had been in the VA hospital/rehab facility in West Palm Beach ever since.  We all went down to visit him periodically.  Pictured here is one such visit which included euchre and a a fast food lunch.

 

Then came the call that Rod was being released.  Dave and I got the pleasure of picking him up and making the big escape from the hospital.

 

Welcome home Rod!  It is great to have you back!

 

The Admiral

Play that Funky Music...

 

While most of the country has experienced lots of winter weather, we've been enjoying an unseasonably mild winter in Florida.  Some have suggested that temps have been about ten degrees higher than normal and we are not complaining.  Shorts and t-shirts have been the daily wardrobe with the occasionally lightweight fleece jacket to keep the morning/evening coolness at bay.

We took one such pleasant day and strolled into downtown Stuart to enjoy music by the Nouveaux Honkies.  A bit of country with a contemporary spin the band had us all grooving to the beat.  We bumped into friends Deb and John along the way - making more the merrier.

The Admiral