Christmas Day in Marathon!

Even though we were unable to spend the Holidays with our family we were not alone. The manager of the marina and his wife put on a turkey dinner and all the trimmings for around 200 cruisers. The picture is only a few of the many that my camera would capture. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day. We each brought a dish to pass and our place setting and beverage the rest was supplied. It was great to have the camaraderie of so many who like ourselves were missing family.

We have been doing some major cleaning from the moisture of our cold trip South. It's amazing how mold can grow without the need of a food source. We'll be glad to be done.

The wind is blowing today and the air is very cool. We hope it will warm up like the weatherman promises for Wednesday. We along with our friends on Interlude, Tom and Cathie are planning a short cruise to New Found Harbor. We will spend News Eve there if the weather permits.

It's getting very rough in the harbor and we need to get to shore in a little while. I'm sure it will be a wet ride.

Marathon For Christmas!

The weather was beautiful in No Name Harbor and as I have stated before one of our favorite spots. You can see how beautiful it is by the picture of Larry and I overlooking the ocean. We took our trip up to the top of the lighthouse for the spectacular view. Words or pictures cannot due it justice and it is just as beautiful each and every time for me.















This is one of the many iguanas that roam free in the park. We saw several on more than on occasion.















Tuesday we set sail for Boca Chita Key. It was another beautiful day on the water. We only had a few miles to travel and opted to do it under motor to charge the batteries. This is another one of our favorites. The picture is of Tropical Gale Winds and Interlude peaceful at dock on the wall. No anchoring here you must tie to the harbor wall. We very much enjoyed our stay this time but the bugs were a killer. They have had so much rain this season and of course being a state park no spraying happens. Must be natural you know. Ouch!!














This little guy came for a visit on our lifeline and as you can see he isn't camera shy!

We left Boca Chita on Wednesday and had planned to anchor at Rodriquez Key and the next day go to Indian Key and explore. Our plans got changed due to a storm coming in for Friday. We anchored at Rodriquez Key and had a somewhat bumpy ride at anchor during the night. The picture is of the ominous morning sky as the sun was attempting to rise over the ocean. You can see we got a very early start, which gave us an early arrival time in Marathon, around 1:30 PM. Unlike the day before when we had a wonderful sail this time we had a very bumpy motor. The waves tend to come at you from the side and roll the boat in an uncomfortable fashion. The wind was not great enough this time to counter act the motion. Needless to say my stomach didn't like it much. I was very happy to get into Boot Key Harbor.

When we got settled at our mooring ball, we went to shore to check in. It was great meeting up with friends we haven't seen in awhile. The improvements that were made to the marina over the Summer were wonderful. I'm sure we will enjoy our stay here again this season.

The weather that chased us here a day early came with a vengeance yesterday and we are still having high winds today but nice sunshine. The temperature has cooled a bit and may cause us to ware a jacket but there isn't any snow. We were told that Virginia is getting hit with a storm and is expected to get several inches of snow. That's the main reason we are here and not there or in NY for that matter. We have become real wimps, but that's OK.

As always my days are beginning to run together. I'm not quite sure if that is due to age or the fact of moving around on a regular basis. I'd like to guess the later.

We had a great ride down to Miami on the ocean. The waves were about the same as from Lake Worth to Fort Lauderdale but they were not confused. When they come at you with steady rhythm it is more comfortable. We came into Government cut and followed Interlude to an anchorage we have not been in before. It was very protected and next to spoil islands that now house the rich and famous. I'm always amazed at how we Americans can take dredge material from the bottom of the waterway and make islands out of it.

We spent a day and a half anchored at South Beach Miami. The day we arrived the sun was shining and warm. The second day was cloudy and raining off and on. The day we arrived we went for a dinghy ride but for the most part stayed on our boats and visited with Tom and Cathie. The second day we went to shore. Cathie and I went to the laundry and Tom and Larry hung out til it was time to come and retrieve us. We then went back to shore for a walk and some lunch. The picture is of the four of us at an outside cafe. From left to right Tom, Cathie, me (Gail) and Larry. The sky was threatening and we didn't stay long at shore. In fact it started to rain on us as we were dinghing back to our boats.

This picture taken from the anchorage is of the spoil island Hibiscus in the foreground and the city of Miami in the background. Off to the right is a monument to Flagler. It resembles the Washington Monument in Washington, DC but it has statures around the base.

This is a closeup of the Flagler monument as we were leaving the anchorage this morning.

This is a picture of one of the two boats we saw on our way to Key Biscayne this morning. There is to be a Christmas boat parade tonight. In fact we had planned to anchor in one of our favorite spots today but were told that at 5 PM we would be told to leave because of the parade. We decided not to stay if we would have to leave. We back tracked to Nixon Beach to anchor, tomorrow we will go to our favorite spot, No Name Harbor.

Boats are coming in to anchor where we are so We hope we have a front row seat for the parade. Cathie and Tom have joined us on our boat for wings and a visit.

Warm In Fort Lauderdale!

Sunday the rain finally stopped and the sun came out. The picture is of the three of us rafted to the mooring ball. From left to right Seaquel, Tropical Gale Winds and Interlude.

We met Gretti and Richard and had a great lunch and visit. It was good to see them, we didn't see much of each other this Summer in Deltaville. They left to go to New England as soon as their boat was ready. I don't know when we will arrive back in Deltaville but they plan on May. Hopefully we will get together before they take off for the Summer.

After lunch we went for a walk to the ocean and met up with Cathie and Tom. It turned out to be a beautiful a day. It was windy by the ocean but you would not have known inland.

This little guy was scurrying along in the sand as we went by, as you can see he kept his eyes on us the whole time I was taking his picture.

A little further down the beach this guy was marooned in the sand. I didn't help, I don't like to get stung.

On the walk back to the marina we came across this guy making his way across the road. He was big, as you can see in comparison to the nuts beside him. We didn't touch him either don't know if he bites.

Monday morning we all vacated our mooring at 7 AM and headed for South Lake Worth to anchor for the night. As we started out the channel our chart plotter failed to power up. Here we go again. The night before Larry broke a tooth, what next. Well it didn't take long before we found that out. Our hot water tank popped a hose and drained most of the water into the bilge. That took care of the water Larry put into the tank the day before. We just need to get into the habit like before of tuning off the breaker for the water pump. Too late for this time.

We let Tom know we didn't have a chart plotter and wanted to follow him though the skinny water, no problem. We have paper charts and we use them also but it is amazing how one can become complacent with modern day convinces. Larry put in a call to our electronics guy after he was unable to trouble shoot it himself. Some of the secrets they just don't let us in on.

Monday night we had a great anchorage and a peaceful nights sleep. When we woke in the morning we all decided to go out the inlet to the ocean and travel to Fort Lauderdale on the out side avoiding 20 bridges. It was not quite what NOAA had predicted. Gee I'm surprised! The wind was on our nose which we knew but it was stronger than predicted and the waves were bigger. It was uncomfortable till things settled down in the midday. We arrived at the channel at 2 PM and had the anchor down in Lake Sylvia by 3 PM. Not bad!

Sally and Andy left us at Hillsboro inlet, about 10 miles before Fort Lauderdale inlet. They are going home for about two weeks to get ready for the Bahamas. They say they may see us in Marathon. It was fun traveling with them and we look forward to seeing them again.

While we were coming into the channel our electronics guy called with the magic code to reset our plotter and it worked. Yeah! It is good to be back on the grid. We are still not sure what caused it but it's fixed and that's what counts.

We relaxed and visited with Cathie and Tom on our boat. Today we are planning on a shopping excursion into the city of Fort Lauderdale. We'll stay tonight and in the morning we will go outside again if the weather permits and travel to Miami.

I forgot to tell you, don't be jealous, the temps are in the 80's. It feels so good after being cold for so long. I hope Winter this year is a warm one!

Rain, Rain, Rain In Vero Beach

It feels like weeks since we arrived in St. Augustine this past Monday. We have traveled every day since except for today. We along with Cathie and Tom S/V Interlude are on a mooring ball together waiting for the sun to shine here in Vero Beach. It has continually rained on and off since we left New Smyrna Beach on Wednesday. The media made such a fuss about the impending weather while we were at the city marina in New Smyrna that I was unable to get together with my Aunt Dot. It was, according to the weather channel, supposed to blow in tornadoes. The schools closed early as did other businesses but nothing happened other than a little rain. When they down play the weather we get hit, when they blow it out of proportions we get nothing. It's hard to know what to believe. Hopefully we will get together with Dot in the Spring or sometime this Winter.

We got into Vero Beach yesterday around 12:30. After securing both boats to the mooring ball (they raft three boats to a ball here), we met up with our friend Gretti. She loaned us her car to do some provisioning. It rained hard off and on all day. It stopped while we were in Wal*Mart only to open up as we were going to the car. We had a wet dinghy ride out to the boat. I can tell we are true cruisers now, we have been very wet several times in the dinghy. At least the temperature is mild around 70.

It's 3 PM now and we haven't been off the boat yet today. It has rained off and on all day. I was going to go to the Farmers Market this morning with Gretti but that was a wash. We had also planned to go to a Christmas Parade tonight but that isn't happening either. If we go in at all it will be to take a hot shower.

Our friends Andy and Sally S/V Seaquel plan to get to Vero today. We will complete our threesome when they arrive. At least we can visit being rafted up.

We plan to stay tomorrow so we can enjoy some of the charm of Vero in sunshine. We had planned to go to lunch with Gretti and Richard today but changed it to tomorrow. Lets pray for some sunshine.

I felt we needed something bright in the gloom of today hence the flower picture, taken in Beaufort, SC.