Homeward bound !
Sunday March 16 – the Anchorage – Key Largo
Our last week literally flew by ! We got the new enclosure delivered and it is wonderful to have a clear view again ! Tues. Jon brought Crew and the car back to Palm Coast. Jon called me when he got home and told me he did not want to leave Crew at the sitter’s because the sitter had a new dog from the shelter that Jon did not feel comfortable with. Sure enough he called me a couple of hours later to tell me that the sitter had called, the shelter dog who was a terrier /pit bull mix had attacked Crew, and also bit the sitter. The other dog was returned to the shelter. Crew ended up with a stich in his lip and is on antibiotics. Poor Jon really felt awful because he really did not want to leave Crew in the first place. We talked about it for quite some time, and decided to leave Crew at the sitters, but it has been hard for us not being able to check on him personally. The sitter has assured us that Crew is back to normal and acts as though nothing happened, I just pray it has not changed his demeanor around other dogs now. Our friend Bob pointed out that most pits go for the throat or lung area when they attack, and that Crew must have been fast to have only gotten bitten on the lip – I can not even allow my self to think about what could have happened if the sitter had not been right there when the attack occurred…..
Jon got back Thurs. and we began the process of getting Sundance ready to go. We snuck in a date night Thurs. at Lazy Days which is a consistently good restaurant. Fri. PM we went out to eat with Terri and Dave at Castaways and I had delish sushi. We wrapped up on Sat. which included a big grocery shop. We will have restaurants for dinner each night going home, but you would think we were going out to sea for a month with all the food we bought ! Last night George and Pat organized a cocktail gathering so we could say some good byes, then we went out to dinner to a Thai restaurant with George and Pat, and 2 other couples that will be starting the great loop this year. Yes – back to the Great Loop. I have Jon at least talking about it now. Although he usually only talks about all the reasons he does not want to do the loop, he is at least talking about it and I think that must be a start in the right direction. We will really have to focus on getting Moondog ready this summer if we are actually going to make a go at the loop in 2015.
Terri dropped off chocolate oatmeal cookies that I easily could have polished off last night they were so delicious !!!! We then settled into bed and were startled when our boat started to violently rock – Jon said it felt like a tidal wave ! I ran topside to discover Donnie and Karyn hysterically laughing as Donnie continued to rock our boat !! We said our good byes to them, and then slumbered off.
Friends gathered at our dock at 7:00 AM to see us off, including throwing flowers in our wake for both safe passage and safe return ! I love that custom. It was sad to leave, but real life calls us back including getting our ceiling repaired from the tornado damage, and then getting ready to head up to Fernandina for the MTOA rendezvous. Since we set the clocks ahead last weekend, it just got light enough to head out at 7:00 AM. We like to get up and out so we can arrive earlier at our destination and relax a bit. It was a longish day to Key Largo, but we were docked, cleaned and ready to relax by 4:30 PM. Across the water is Gilbert’s with live music till later this evening so we are sitting out enjoying the live music, the boat traffic, and getting ready to head to dinner. Tomorrow will be our longest day to Ft Lauderdale, plus bridges to contend with but hey, it will be St Patty’s day and what a great place to be to celebrate !!
Sunday March 16 – the Anchorage – Key Largo
Our last week literally flew by ! We got the new enclosure delivered and it is wonderful to have a clear view again ! Tues. Jon brought Crew and the car back to Palm Coast. Jon called me when he got home and told me he did not want to leave Crew at the sitter’s because the sitter had a new dog from the shelter that Jon did not feel comfortable with. Sure enough he called me a couple of hours later to tell me that the sitter had called, the shelter dog who was a terrier /pit bull mix had attacked Crew, and also bit the sitter. The other dog was returned to the shelter. Crew ended up with a stich in his lip and is on antibiotics. Poor Jon really felt awful because he really did not want to leave Crew in the first place. We talked about it for quite some time, and decided to leave Crew at the sitters, but it has been hard for us not being able to check on him personally. The sitter has assured us that Crew is back to normal and acts as though nothing happened, I just pray it has not changed his demeanor around other dogs now. Our friend Bob pointed out that most pits go for the throat or lung area when they attack, and that Crew must have been fast to have only gotten bitten on the lip – I can not even allow my self to think about what could have happened if the sitter had not been right there when the attack occurred…..
Jon got back Thurs. and we began the process of getting Sundance ready to go. We snuck in a date night Thurs. at Lazy Days which is a consistently good restaurant. Fri. PM we went out to eat with Terri and Dave at Castaways and I had delish sushi. We wrapped up on Sat. which included a big grocery shop. We will have restaurants for dinner each night going home, but you would think we were going out to sea for a month with all the food we bought ! Last night George and Pat organized a cocktail gathering so we could say some good byes, then we went out to dinner to a Thai restaurant with George and Pat, and 2 other couples that will be starting the great loop this year. Yes – back to the Great Loop. I have Jon at least talking about it now. Although he usually only talks about all the reasons he does not want to do the loop, he is at least talking about it and I think that must be a start in the right direction. We will really have to focus on getting Moondog ready this summer if we are actually going to make a go at the loop in 2015.
Terri dropped off chocolate oatmeal cookies that I easily could have polished off last night they were so delicious !!!! We then settled into bed and were startled when our boat started to violently rock – Jon said it felt like a tidal wave ! I ran topside to discover Donnie and Karyn hysterically laughing as Donnie continued to rock our boat !! We said our good byes to them, and then slumbered off.
Friends gathered at our dock at 7:00 AM to see us off, including throwing flowers in our wake for both safe passage and safe return ! I love that custom. It was sad to leave, but real life calls us back including getting our ceiling repaired from the tornado damage, and then getting ready to head up to Fernandina for the MTOA rendezvous. Since we set the clocks ahead last weekend, it just got light enough to head out at 7:00 AM. We like to get up and out so we can arrive earlier at our destination and relax a bit. It was a longish day to Key Largo, but we were docked, cleaned and ready to relax by 4:30 PM. Across the water is Gilbert’s with live music till later this evening so we are sitting out enjoying the live music, the boat traffic, and getting ready to head to dinner. Tomorrow will be our longest day to Ft Lauderdale, plus bridges to contend with but hey, it will be St Patty’s day and what a great place to be to celebrate !!
Tues. AM sunrise - they are as beautiful as the sunsets here in the Keys !
Sundance with sunrise back drop
Nothing says good morning like a cup of joe in Tervis mug watching the sunrise…..
Our marina couple doing their AM rounds for breakfast
Our attempt at a selfie at Lazy Days
The guy next to us took pity on us and took our picture for us !
Terri and I at Castaways
Our little cocktail going away party - thanks George and Pat !!
Bye Jim !
Bye Bob !
Bye Sue !
Bye Terri and Dave !
Terri took this picture of us leaving Banana Bay
Leaving Banana Bay - sad :(
But there was a masterpiece of a sunrise
My captain - complaining how hot it it was
Me - freezing and wrapped up - it was really windy today !!
Fishing
Oh the color of the Keys…...
Entering a stretch of mangroves
If the gnats are out - it must be a weekend day….
Bringing lunch to my captain
Love the ribbons of color !!!
Monday Happy St Patrick’s day – Bahia Mar Ft. Lauderdale
We were up and off at first light. The weather was predicted to be iffy with high winds. It was high winds, but luckily South East which pushed us right along on our quarter – stern. We approached Miami without incident albeit a record breaking hot 88 degrees today for Miami ! Our decline started at a bridge of course where winds had picked up to 25 to 30 with shallows on each side - so no room to maneuver. Jon did a masterful job of holding for 20 minutes for the bridge to open, and just as it opened and we started forward with current in our favor, a tow boat with boat under tow appeared and we had to back up into the wind and current to let the tow boat through first – uuggghhh…… We did Ok again until the Julia Tuttle when we followed behind a sail boat that obviously did not know the height of the bridge, and it got stuck with it’s mast stuck in the underside of the bridge. We felt somewhat bad for him, but it is important that one knows his mast height when approaching bridges. The sail boat proceeded to block passage under the bridge, forcing us again to back up into the wind and current again. The sail boat was able eventually to tie off of to the railing and get close enough to the rail for us to pass under the bridge. This in turn made us late for the next bridge opening blah blah blah !!! We finally arrived in Ft Lauderdale at Port Everglades just as a mega cruise ship was pulling out. As we were passing we got waked tipping rail to rail by a huge sport fishing boat. To our dismay a sheriff patrol boat screeched over his bull horn for us to slow down we were in a no wake zone – No kidding Dick Tracy we were only going 5 knots and were not the source of the wake !!! Next we headed all the way to the left of the channel which was the wrong side, but we were trying to give a very wide berth to the mega cruise ship. Again Dick Tracy screeches over his bull horn that we were headed to a restricted zone and needed to follow the channel toward the bridge along with a snarky comment “Captain – try looking at your charts “ !!! Look at our charts ? Really ?!! Why didn’t we think of that ? We were trying to be safe with no intention of entering the restricted zone. I realize that the sheriff did not know our intention, but we did not need some snarky guy telling us to look at our charts !! I am very respectful of authority but these guys were way out of line and it took all I had not radio them with my opinion of them ! Anyway, only another mile to our marina, at this point the wind was blowing a steady 25 with gusts to 30. As I have lamented over and over, we are a single screw trawler with limited response on our rudder. So we called the marina who assured us there would be a dock hand on site to help us into the slip. Surprise surprise ,we arrive no help. Here I go again, I tossed my stern line on the dock and was ready to jump off with my spring line in hand when the wind grabbed us and blew us off the dock too far for me to safely jump . I ran to the stern to retrieve my stern line when I discovered to my horror, it was stuck on the dock. At this point I yelled to Jon to stop backing up, and with my greatest heave ho ever, some how managed to pull the boat close enough to the dock to jump off and secure the spring line. While this is al going on, Jon yelled to the boat next to us who had a couple just sitting there watching us. to please come help. As I jumped off our boat, a guy did waddle off the boat and watched me. I was not happy to see they were flying a Great Loop burgee and I am hoping this is not sign of what we can expect on the Great Loop ! I did get us finally secure, then set off for the three mile hike to the dock office to register and unload my wrath. This was our 6th time a this marina and very time we come they promise help, but never once have we had assistance. I really was really upset and let them know. I returned to our boat. About a half hour later the Dock master appeared at our boat with 2 bottles of wine, and informed us there was no charge for our slip. To his credit he did make lemonade out of lemons, but I don’t know if I am up for a 7th attempt to get in with no help in bad weather !! After we settled down, we headed to Coconuts for a quick and early night and scored a fabulous table on the water where we toasted and celebrated ol St Patrick !!! We are really beat tonight so I am heading to bed at 8:30 PM ! Tomorrow we are up and out at sun up and headed to North Palm Beach. We are planning to have dinner with our ball player Austin Nola who is at spring training in Jupiter with the Miami Marlins. So it was a difficult day for us, but we are no worse for the wear, and continue onward and upward !!
We were up and off at first light. The weather was predicted to be iffy with high winds. It was high winds, but luckily South East which pushed us right along on our quarter – stern. We approached Miami without incident albeit a record breaking hot 88 degrees today for Miami ! Our decline started at a bridge of course where winds had picked up to 25 to 30 with shallows on each side - so no room to maneuver. Jon did a masterful job of holding for 20 minutes for the bridge to open, and just as it opened and we started forward with current in our favor, a tow boat with boat under tow appeared and we had to back up into the wind and current to let the tow boat through first – uuggghhh…… We did Ok again until the Julia Tuttle when we followed behind a sail boat that obviously did not know the height of the bridge, and it got stuck with it’s mast stuck in the underside of the bridge. We felt somewhat bad for him, but it is important that one knows his mast height when approaching bridges. The sail boat proceeded to block passage under the bridge, forcing us again to back up into the wind and current again. The sail boat was able eventually to tie off of to the railing and get close enough to the rail for us to pass under the bridge. This in turn made us late for the next bridge opening blah blah blah !!! We finally arrived in Ft Lauderdale at Port Everglades just as a mega cruise ship was pulling out. As we were passing we got waked tipping rail to rail by a huge sport fishing boat. To our dismay a sheriff patrol boat screeched over his bull horn for us to slow down we were in a no wake zone – No kidding Dick Tracy we were only going 5 knots and were not the source of the wake !!! Next we headed all the way to the left of the channel which was the wrong side, but we were trying to give a very wide berth to the mega cruise ship. Again Dick Tracy screeches over his bull horn that we were headed to a restricted zone and needed to follow the channel toward the bridge along with a snarky comment “Captain – try looking at your charts “ !!! Look at our charts ? Really ?!! Why didn’t we think of that ? We were trying to be safe with no intention of entering the restricted zone. I realize that the sheriff did not know our intention, but we did not need some snarky guy telling us to look at our charts !! I am very respectful of authority but these guys were way out of line and it took all I had not radio them with my opinion of them ! Anyway, only another mile to our marina, at this point the wind was blowing a steady 25 with gusts to 30. As I have lamented over and over, we are a single screw trawler with limited response on our rudder. So we called the marina who assured us there would be a dock hand on site to help us into the slip. Surprise surprise ,we arrive no help. Here I go again, I tossed my stern line on the dock and was ready to jump off with my spring line in hand when the wind grabbed us and blew us off the dock too far for me to safely jump . I ran to the stern to retrieve my stern line when I discovered to my horror, it was stuck on the dock. At this point I yelled to Jon to stop backing up, and with my greatest heave ho ever, some how managed to pull the boat close enough to the dock to jump off and secure the spring line. While this is al going on, Jon yelled to the boat next to us who had a couple just sitting there watching us. to please come help. As I jumped off our boat, a guy did waddle off the boat and watched me. I was not happy to see they were flying a Great Loop burgee and I am hoping this is not sign of what we can expect on the Great Loop ! I did get us finally secure, then set off for the three mile hike to the dock office to register and unload my wrath. This was our 6th time a this marina and very time we come they promise help, but never once have we had assistance. I really was really upset and let them know. I returned to our boat. About a half hour later the Dock master appeared at our boat with 2 bottles of wine, and informed us there was no charge for our slip. To his credit he did make lemonade out of lemons, but I don’t know if I am up for a 7th attempt to get in with no help in bad weather !! After we settled down, we headed to Coconuts for a quick and early night and scored a fabulous table on the water where we toasted and celebrated ol St Patrick !!! We are really beat tonight so I am heading to bed at 8:30 PM ! Tomorrow we are up and out at sun up and headed to North Palm Beach. We are planning to have dinner with our ball player Austin Nola who is at spring training in Jupiter with the Miami Marlins. So it was a difficult day for us, but we are no worse for the wear, and continue onward and upward !!
We were off the dock early this AM
Had a nice full moon
the markers were at least visible
Welcome to Miami
Jon conceded that he may be interested in doing the Great Loop in this pirate boat
The cruise ships were packed in like sardines in Miami
Here is the sail boat that stuck under the Julia Tuttle bridge - worse part his home port was Miami so he should have known better !
Here is the cruise ship we were trying to get on the port side of to give him wide berth to turn out the canal -
There was allot of boat traffic all over !
Finally in Ft Lauderdale - doing a little celebrating before we head out for an early dinner - boy do we look tired !
My favorite leprachaun !
Thurs. March 20 th
We woke up and got ready to leave yesterday morning until the sun started up and we were presented with a bright red sky. We always follow the advice of Red sky at night - sailors delight, red sky in morn – sailors take warn ! We checked our radar and sure enough a line of storms was heading toward us. We ended up waiting got the rain to pass, and were able to head out at about 9:00 AM. On our way out we passed our Palm Coast neighbors Jill and David who were anchored by the Los Olas bridge. It was a very long day with bridge hold ups and we did not get to our marina till 5:30 PM. The day ended on a good note though because Austin came over about 6:30 PM and we had a wonderful visit and dinner. Yesterday AM we were up and off of the dock just before sun up. It was another long nine hour day. Unfortunately when the days are that long Jon actually likes me to drive some of the time. It is really a bit bothersome for me as this takes time away from the busy things I am doing like planning our next vacation, thinking of new angles to get Jon to agree to the great loop, thinking about what I would like for birthday this September, you know important things. So, I had to drive but I survived. We got into Vero Marina and tidied up then headed to the Riverside grill for diner. They were packed but we decide to wait for an outside table as it was happy hour and we were all for getting happy. We did get our waterfront table but big mistake – it was hot ! this in turn combined with a spicy fish taco had me seating worse then during my personal summers. The worse thing is that my new short is suppose to be straight, but with all that heat going on I find that it gets curly and flippy – not the look I was going for !!! Different day, same schedule. Up and off before sun up, nine and half hour on the water, and yes I had to drive again, then into Titusville about 4:30 PM. We did shake up the routine a bit today by buying fuel. We had originally planned to take seven days to get home, but we decided to spend longer days on the water so we could knock a day off. We should be getting home tomorrow by 6:00 PM. I am anxious to go get Crew and make sure he is OK, and we have to tackle the ceiling repair from the tornado before we head back out for a couple of weeks to the rendezvous in Fernandina.
We woke up and got ready to leave yesterday morning until the sun started up and we were presented with a bright red sky. We always follow the advice of Red sky at night - sailors delight, red sky in morn – sailors take warn ! We checked our radar and sure enough a line of storms was heading toward us. We ended up waiting got the rain to pass, and were able to head out at about 9:00 AM. On our way out we passed our Palm Coast neighbors Jill and David who were anchored by the Los Olas bridge. It was a very long day with bridge hold ups and we did not get to our marina till 5:30 PM. The day ended on a good note though because Austin came over about 6:30 PM and we had a wonderful visit and dinner. Yesterday AM we were up and off of the dock just before sun up. It was another long nine hour day. Unfortunately when the days are that long Jon actually likes me to drive some of the time. It is really a bit bothersome for me as this takes time away from the busy things I am doing like planning our next vacation, thinking of new angles to get Jon to agree to the great loop, thinking about what I would like for birthday this September, you know important things. So, I had to drive but I survived. We got into Vero Marina and tidied up then headed to the Riverside grill for diner. They were packed but we decide to wait for an outside table as it was happy hour and we were all for getting happy. We did get our waterfront table but big mistake – it was hot ! this in turn combined with a spicy fish taco had me seating worse then during my personal summers. The worse thing is that my new short is suppose to be straight, but with all that heat going on I find that it gets curly and flippy – not the look I was going for !!! Different day, same schedule. Up and off before sun up, nine and half hour on the water, and yes I had to drive again, then into Titusville about 4:30 PM. We did shake up the routine a bit today by buying fuel. We had originally planned to take seven days to get home, but we decided to spend longer days on the water so we could knock a day off. We should be getting home tomorrow by 6:00 PM. I am anxious to go get Crew and make sure he is OK, and we have to tackle the ceiling repair from the tornado before we head back out for a couple of weeks to the rendezvous in Fernandina.
Red sky in morn - sailors take warn - our view to the east
Our view to the west - we decided to stay put for a bit
It did pour, but then the rain stopped and we were off
Jill and David on Shibumi at the Los Olas bridge
We arrived in North Palm Beach and Jon pointed out that this seemed to be the perfect boat for me - I agree !
Austin and me
Dinner with Austin
Good morning North Palm Beach
I have my chair set up, coffee set, and now I am ready to watch the sunrise from the stern of our upper deck on the boat.
Still a pretty full moon
This will be Jon and me
Vero dog park
Leaving Vero …..
Yet another spectacular sunrise - I never ever tire of sunsets and sunrises
Great place to nest
Pelican on the prowl
then in for his dinner
Yep, the captain interrupted my busy mind and me drive
Glad to be in port, watching the sunset
Sundance at the Titusville Marina
Dinner time !
Day is done, all is well
Friday 3-21-14 Home Sweet Home !
Happy first day of spring ! Up and out early again this AM. We had quite a trip through Haulover canal – it was dodge the manatees day ! We saw 16 alone of them with in a 2 mile stretch ! Must have been spring fever but there were a lot of boats out. I am not saying that Sundance is slow, but at one point there was a couple paddling an outrigger that travelled in our wake for about 8 miles !! It was overall an uneventful day which is a good day. We pulled onto our dock at 5:30 PM. I made a bee line to pick up Crew. Poor guy had part of his mug shaved, and you can see he had a pretty good rip to his lip. It is not completely healed yet so he is still on a no running and catching thins restriction and he is not happy about it !! We are happy to be home, and looking forward to a busy spring….
Happy first day of spring ! Up and out early again this AM. We had quite a trip through Haulover canal – it was dodge the manatees day ! We saw 16 alone of them with in a 2 mile stretch ! Must have been spring fever but there were a lot of boats out. I am not saying that Sundance is slow, but at one point there was a couple paddling an outrigger that travelled in our wake for about 8 miles !! It was overall an uneventful day which is a good day. We pulled onto our dock at 5:30 PM. I made a bee line to pick up Crew. Poor guy had part of his mug shaved, and you can see he had a pretty good rip to his lip. It is not completely healed yet so he is still on a no running and catching thins restriction and he is not happy about it !! We are happy to be home, and looking forward to a busy spring….
At least we still have a bright moon for this early AM departure from Titusville
Bridge at Titusville
I know, I know - another picture of a sunrise but some sunrises are more spectacular that others, this morning's sunrise was one of God's good ones !!
The sunrise was so beautiful that even the birds took pause to marvel !
Finally up !
Haulover canal
They needed this sign today - we counted over 20 manatees by time we got home ! In comparison, we usually only see one or two.
You can spot manatees by circle patterns on the water
This couple paddled this boat behind our stern and kept up with us for over 8 miles !!!!
I was just in the middle of thinking about what I was going to make for Easter dinner in 2017 when Captain interrupted me and asked me to drive again - uugghh
Birds at the bar for happy hour
We are getting closer to home
Friday afternoon and the weekend traffic is kicking up
Almost there !!!
Poor Crew - you can see on the left side of his mouth where he had part of his mug shaved so they could stitch the tear to his lip. He is not happy that he can not run around and play ball till his lip heals.