Always Something

Monday morning we pulled away from Hollywood Municipal Marina just before 9:00 a.m.  We left the others behind to do some more errands and return the rental car.

Goodbye Hollywood

Some of the high rent district stuff~notice the helicopter!

We dropped anchor in Pelican Harbor near Delray Beach after about five hours and 30 miles of traveling north through the high rent districts today.  We heard "Nauti Nell" and "Jeremiah" calling bridge tenders after we were anchored.  They were several hours behind us and the bridge openings were delaying them more.

More high rent stuff~notice the ski boat in the side.

At about 5:00 p.m., near low tide, we decide we were safely anchored so we ventured off in the dinghy to go a couple miles north to dock at Veterans Park and walk to our favorite~Mellow Mushroom!
We had a great time and awesome pizza.  Unfortunately our buddy boats stayed put once they docked at the Delray Beach Municipal Marina and didn't join us.
By the time we returned to our dinghy, it was extra high spring tide.  The dinghy got hung up under the dock as the water rose. We can only assume the floatation in our Livingston kept it from sinking.  The gas can was layed over and floating.  We needed that gas to get back.  Ray started bailing with our hand pump, but said he would be there all night at that rate with that much water in the boat.  He sent me on a search for something else to bail with.  Well, Delray Beach has these nice solar powered trash compactor recepticles.  There wasn't a cup, bucket or any kind of trash to be found.  So I asked a man that was fishing, sitting on a five gallon bucket, if I could barrow his bucket.  He was hesitant, but accepted my plea to bail out my sinking dinghy with it.  That made the bailing process a whole lot faster and we compensated the man for the use of his bucket.
We put the gas in our dinghy engine with the hopes that it did not get water in it.  It seemed to be fine as we made our way back south to "The Second Noelle".  There was now a catamaran anchored in the harbor with us, kind of close, but what can you do.  We had a comfortable night's rest after being so thankful that our dinghy did not sink.
This morning we pulled up anchor just before 9:00 a.m., which seems to be our unplanned routine.  We did plan for a short day, which is a routine we like.  Our first attempt at anchoring at the north end of Lake Worth where we usually anchor, was not comfortable in the strong SSE winds.  We decided to try a new anchorage that looked well protected not too much farther in North Palm Beach.  We made our way up the North Palm Beach Waterway to the second cove which was described as better holding than the first.  That's what we wanted~good holding in these 20-25 MPH winds.  We were there for 15 minutes when we noticed we drug anchor already.
Anchors aweigh for the third time today. We continued north past the Jupiter Inlet to Hell Gate, just north of Jupiter Sound and across from Jupiter Island.  So far the anchor has held here, and we are protected from the SSE winds by a huge dry storage building.  Our five hour day turned into over eight, but at least we should be able to sleep tonight.
 

Have I mentioned the fun?

Our time in Dinner Key was spent exploring and getting chores done.  Thursday night was exceptionally fun with Linda and Jeff.
On Friday we released from the mooring ball shortly after 8:00 a.m. with the other two vessels not too far behind us.  It was almost a five hour travel day to go 25 miles, one because of waiting for bridges to be opened, and two because of the slow speed zones through much of Miami.  There is plenty to see though.  That is why we stopped in Hollywood, just north of Miami and south of Ft. Lauderdale.  It is an area we have always admired while passing through, and we want to try to do different things on this trip.  Therefore, we are going to skip stopping at Ft. Lauderdale this time.
Friday evening we went to Saloon LeTub, which is a wreck of a hole on the side of the ICW, but were told it was made famous by Oprah Winfrey promoting it.  It was a terrific burger and perfect atmosphere for us with Mike and Twyla.  Linda seems to still be recouperating from last night.
Mike is in need of a new anchor chain since his broke back in Tarpon Basin, now known to us as Tampon Basin for funny auto-correct reasons, so we decided to rent a car and split the cost among us three couples.
Some of us went on a hunt for this specific chain on Saturday morning, which lasted into the afternoon, but alas we found it at the last place we thought Mike would want to buy it.  It all worked out well in the long run.  We got a few supplies too.
Late in the afternoon we biked over to the Hollywood Broadwalk on the beach.  We were supposed to search out a cool place for the evening and the others would drive over and join us.  It was way too touristy for us, so we ended up back at Capone's Flicker Lite next door to Saloon LeTub.  They had good pizza, but it was no Mellow Mushroom.
Sunday morning the girls took the car to Walmart to stock up on supplies, then the guys went back to the marines stores.  After that we dinghied north to Dania Beach.  There we found a very nice marina that we might want to stop at on the way down. Linda and Jeff's dog Mollie had so much fun in the water it was comical.  She is a chocolate lab that splashes in the water and digs holes.  They said she would do that for hours.  Their other dog Snickers wasn't as enthusiastic.  They are the most well behaved dogs we have ever seen.  We have yet to ever hear Mollie bark, and Snickers only yips on a rare occassion when he doesn't like something.  It is amazing to observe them behaving so well even when other dogs around are barking.

Some of the sights while exploring near Dinner Key.

Some of the funniness from Thursday night.

"Sunset" from Saloon LeTub between the storm clouds.  We only got a couple drops of rain.

Happy Easter

Our first Easter text was from Twyla asking who was up for an Easter anchor hunt this morning.  We spent no less than five hours looking for "Nauti Nell's" anchor and approximately 80 feet of chain in Tarpon Basin with no success.  We tried dragging the bottom, we looked through a lookie bucket, we stuck our head in the water with goggles, we tried positioning it via GPS. Nothing.  Therefore we just returned to our boat and enjoyed a delicious feast of prime rib done in our convection oven better than any restaurant we have tried.
Monday morning we said good-bye to "Jeremiah" and "Nauti Nell", leaving them in Tarpon Basin to try to purchase another anchor and continue to look for the lost one.  We traveled 37 miles north to Boca Chita Key.  We once again were in awe of this tropical island paradise that is so close to Miami, yet seems like a different world.  We were joined later by "Destination", a trawler that came over to say hello yesterday in Tarpon Basin. We kept to ourselves and barely got off the boat after a restless night of both of us coughing our heads off.  By the time evening rolled around, we called "Nauti Nell" to find out the progress on their anchor search.  They found it!  They were just about to give up after another three hours of searching, when they were just dragging the grapple hook back and it snagged it!
On Tuesday we left Boca Chita to head for Dinner Key.  We need to stop there because that is where we are having a new cell phone shipped for Ray as his died the day after we left Marathon of course.  Linda spent at least half of the three hour travel day on the phone trying to get that whole situation worked out.  It was supposed to be there today, but now looks like it will be delayed until tomorrow.  Good thing we planned to stay at least a couple nights in Coconut Grove anyway since we have never been there.  We picked up assigned mooring ball number 69 and shortly thereafter went to shore.  The staff was very friendly and helpful.  We were surprised to learn that we could even pull into a designated slip, the same one where you can take on fresh water, and wash your boat.
We explored town and had lunch at Duffy's, the same chain we ate at last year in Naples.  After lunch we discovered a Burgers and Brew, another establishment we enjoyed in Miami Beach last year.  We'll keep that one in mind.
We returned to the boat for the rest of the afternoon, Linda doing a load of laundry while Ray resupplied the water supply ten gallons at a time via dinghy and jerry jugs.
For those of you not aware, we purchased a portable washing machine while we were in Marathon and were able to fit it in the engine room with the extra space available from our smaller engines.  We have yet to find a dryer that will fit, and probably won't, so we just look like the Clampets with our undies hanging in the breeze.
"Nauti Nell" and "Jeremiah" were assigned the two mooring balls behind us, and joined us early in the evening. The girls were anxious to step foot on land once again because they haven't since Friday.  Twyla was promised to be taken out for dinner last night when finding the anchor interrupted that plan, so she wanted to go out.  We all dinghied and walked up to the Sandbar just in time for one round on Happy Hour, and then dinner and more libations to follow.  Thank you Mike for footing the bill in appreciation of us helping to search for the anchor.

Too much fun!

On Thursday, we decided to go to Lignumvitae Key State Park to take the guided tour.  You cannot tour the botanical trail on your own, and that's part of what we stuck around here for.  We were not ready in time for the 10:00 a.m. tour, so we headed across the sound at about 1:00 p.m. for the two o'clock tour.  We found no one there, but assumed maybe the tour boat had to get there. After a while, Jerry, the assistant manager came out from one of the trails to inform us that the tours are only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.  Our typical luck.
We headed back across the sound just in time to see our dock neighbors from Marathon, "Jeremiah" and "Nauti Nell" coming to join us at Shell Key.  Once they set their anchors, we dinghied over to "Jeremiah" with the intention of just saying hello and then explore the Shell Key shore line, especially since we did not want to pass the Marathon dock crud sickness we got once we departed, back to them.  Well, they insisted, so we all went aboard for Happy Hour.  Even Mike and Twyla from "Nauti Nell" after Mike got back from Worldwide Sportsman to buy a new radio once they discovered theirs was not working after getting underway.
Good Friday we all got underway together at about 8:30 in the morning.  As Twyla likes to say, we were like a herd of turtles taking three and a half hours to go 20 miles.  There were a few dolphins that played in our bow wake.  We all dropped anchor in Sunset Cove, very close to the same spot we stopped back in 2009.  Back then we went to Snook's restaurant for a really good time.  Research now found that the restaurant was back after being destroyed by fire three years ago.  Sounded like we should check it out.  We pulled our dinghies up to the dock, but could not find anyone to tell us if we had permission to do that or if we could get ice. We decided to just pull the dinghies up to shore at their parking lot instead.
We walked to US 1 to see what was around.  CVS and Walgreens were right there.  Perfect for getting ice.  Before all that work though we decided we needed a cold beverage.  The place next door looked like it would be great fun, but the downstairs didn't open until 4:00 p.m., but we could get a drink upstairs and bring it downstairs.  They did not allow pets though.  So we went back to our dinghies so Jeff and Linda from "Jeremiah" could leave the dogs, Molly and Snickers in the dinghy at this dock.  Yes, they would put the bimini top up for them.
When we got back to our dinghies at shore of Snook's, a very rude woman informed us that we could not park our dinghies there.  Jeff said, "Well then I guess we can't eat at your restaurant either."  Ha!  Good one!
We had one kind of expensive beverage, then Mike and Twyla dinghied over, so we got another.  Now Mike is a regular patron of places like the American Legion and the VFW, so he does not like paying these prices for beers.  We all decided the best option would be to fill our own coolers and dinghy around at least until Happy Hour when prices would be cheaper.
We had so much fun dinking and drinking as we call it, that we never made it back in time for Happy Hour.  Just as we were returning to our mother ships though, we found out that a man on the derelict trawler/fishing boat, that we saw tow a red tagged (deemed derelict by the state) sailboat over to it via dinghy and tie it to the trawler, was psychotically upset with himself because the sailboat broke away from the string he tied it with and was now adrift.  Mike and Twyla got back to their boat next to him sooner than the rest of us, so they filled us in.  It seems the guy borrowed a dinghy to tow it there in the first place, now all he had was a canoe.  So obviously nothing in his fleet had a running motor.  This was a fairly large sound and the wind was pushing it out into the most open water.  Good for the rest of us, bad for him.  Now we would normally be a good Samaritan and help with such a situation, but thankfully Mike warned us that he was obviously tweeked out on something.
We did all talk about eating back at the cool restaurant, but Linda and Jeff were the only one's that made it.  Those of us who went aboard "Nauti Nell" seemed to have gotten stuck in a vortex.
On Saturday we departed Sunset Cove at about 10:00 a.m.  We thought we could spot the run away sailboat way over in the mangroves.  We traveled only seven miles to drop our anchors in Blackwater Sound, near the Marriot in Key Largo.  We immediately jumped in our dinghy to get more gas for it and to get ice from The Marina Club.  They were very nice there and said we could all tie up our dinghies there.  The other two got gas also, but by that time, we had already ventured off to find this cut canal through limestone to John Pennekamp State Park.  The current through that canal was unbelievable.  Our 3.5 horsepower engine barely got us through in some spots.  It was like white water rafting in the dinghy.  By the time we came back, the rest of the crew was ready to go check it out.
By the time we returned, the west winds were really picking up. We decided to go back four miles to Tarpon Basin which is much smaller and easier to get wind protection from the predicted west to north west winds.
After we took another dinghy tour to scout the place out for tomorrow, we came back to find "Nauti Nell" drug anchor a little bit.  Then we drug anchor a little bit.  We moved a little closer to the western shore and reset.  After a couple of unsuccessful resets for "Nauti Nell", they decided to go over more towards the northern shore since the winds were shifting anyway, and they were hoping to find a different bottom besides this grassy one that obviously wasn't holding them.
After dinner Jeff called us on the VHF radio to ask if we had heard from Mike.  We had not heard from him, but did notice he was pointing in the opposite direction than the wind.  How could that be?  Well, that's because his anchor chain broke.  So Ray put the dinghy back in the water after bringing it up earlier just so we wouldn't have to worry about it tonight.  He headed over to "Jeremiah" right behind us to go bring Mike his spare anchor.  It was a wet and dark, but successful

"Nauti Nell" and the newly named (thought of by Linda) dinghy "Lil Nauti"

Funny dolphin tour boat near John Pennekamp

Helicopter (1 of 2) landing right behind us at the Marriot

dinghy trip
Now, we find all of this extremely ironic because Jeff is the nervous nelly who worries about dragging and almost losing the clevis pin on his anchor chain the other day.  He has been one of only two boats around us that did not drag.  Even the sailboat behind him drug anchor earlier.

"Jeremiah"

Long Day

After getting used to sleeping on a boat that doesn't move much because you were in a no wake harbor for four months, the first night out was a little sleepless.  The winds seemed to oppose the tide, making the stern slap down against the water right underneath our stateroom.  The rain woke us also, but helped give the boat a nice fresh water rinse.  With the windows closed, the generator noise was something we have not been used to in a while.  Other than that it was beautiful though.
We decided to try moving the boat to the next set of mooring balls at Shell Key this morning, just to see if wind protection might be a little better.  After breakfast it was a long 40 minute ride to go 4 miles.  (Sarcasm entered here.)
After a game of Yahtzee, we decided the winds had calmed enough to take the dinghy to shore and explore.  We docked at Worldwide Sportsman, got some gas and permission to leave the dinghy where it was.  We were told only if we stayed on their property.  So we had a delicious variety of appetizers at the Islamorada Seafood Company for lunch, then bought a couple pair of sunglasses at Worldwide Sportsman.  Those of you who have been aboard know how much we needed them.
Next we took the dinghy even farther east to Lorelei.  We beached it and walked another mile east to the History of Diving Museum, a long awaited thing we have always wanted to do.
We walked back to Lorelei and ordered beers, only to see a sign after that advertising Key Lime Coladas, Linda's favorite!
The dinghy ride back to the boat was much longer at a lower tide, having to go around all of the shallows, but we made it.

Can you see Ray diving in the aquarium?

On the move again!

It was a wonderful winter in Marathon, but alas it is time to move north again, although we do not plan on moving any farther than the warm weather dictates as we travel.  Most of our friends are going to be disappointed though to hear that once again this year, we plan on going up the east coast of this lovely country of ours.  We will miss all of you, but will try to visit those we can via travels "home" to Murphy and Chattanooga.  Maybe there will be others as we try to get a vehicle to Marathon for next winter.
The good news is though that we will get to visit lots of east coast friends and family.  Of course you are all welcome to come visit us anywhere in our travels, although our destination is not set in stone.  We were originally going to stay in Oriental, North Carolina where we own a boat slip and could live virtually at no extra cost.  That was the plan before we got contracts on both of the houses Ray built last summer.  For now we will keep our fingers crossed and hope all goes through with those.  If it does, that will give us more comfort in traveling possibly as far as Chesepeake Bay and Washington D.C.  Keep checking in on the blog to find out.  We hope to get to travel with other friends along the way too.
This morning we pulled out of Boot Key harbor waving to a few of the friends still there, anticipating our reunion of great times once again for the winter months.  There were dolphins in the harbor and the Atlantic to wish us safe travels also.  Going around Marathon, we traveled the Gulf side for the first time for us.  We were glad that was our plan, as the little bit of the Atlantic we did have to travel was kind of sloppy on the beam with the south winds.
Taking turns we spotted three sea turtles today despite the light to moderate chop.  A little more than seven hours of travel and Ray grabbed a mooring ball at Lignumvitae Key.  Of course the park is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, because that is our typical luck.  That's okay though because we plan on really taking our time to make our way up the keys.  One, to do all those things we have never done that we always say we are going to do, and two, because Biscayne Bay will most likely be a mad house on this up coming Easter weekend holiday.