COCONUT GROVE, ISLAMORADA, MARATHON & KEY WEST

He Said:  Good-bye Lauderdale.  As per our last blog we were planning to depart Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday the 14^th and we did just that.  As much as we enjoyed Fort Lauderdale we felt it was time to head even further south.  We left Tuesday AM and headed toward Miami.  This is about a 5 hour trip.  We decided to skip the famous South Beach and travel a few extra miles to Coconut Grove.  Passing on South Beach also got us a little further south towards the Keys.  We also decided since we were in our 20’s about 30 or 40 years ago, maybe that scene didn’t have our name on it.

Miami Skyline

We arrived early afternoon in Coconut Grove and settled in on a mooring ball.  We spent the next 3 nites in Coconut Grove.  This city was very cool, but was no Ft. Lauderdale.  It has lots of chain type businesses and a lot of commercial type buildings in the downtown part of the city.  Also no beach type scene, but we did enjoy it.

On Friday the 17^th we packed up for a long day heading to the Keys.  We knew our trip would be a good 7 or more hours to Islamorada in the middle Keys.  Once you get this far south the water color seems to turn to a more turquoise shade - really beautiful. Our trip was all of 60 miles and this is a little longer than the 40 to 50 which we normally enjoy - remember we are traveling at about 8 to 9 MPH, depending on currents and winds.  We only spent 1 nite in Islamorada.  This is kind of a stop over type place on the way towards Key West and Marathon.  We found a fun happy hour at Lorelei’s.  This pub was on the water and we enjoyed our visit there.  

Lorelei's on Islamorada

We left Islamorada on Saturday morning and headed to Marathon.  We had paid in advance for a visit from the 18^th of January until the 18^th of February.  We arrived in the early afternoon after about a 5 hour travel day.  Our trip was very smooth although we left the ICW and headed into the open water.  Since leaving Norfolk Va. about 4 months ago we have not traveled in the Atlantic Ocean.  We jumped out for about 23 miles.  The waters were very smooth, thank heaven.  We do have some less than terrific memories of the BIG water.  All went very well and we are very happy about it.  Check out the photo and description below.

The splash above the flag is a dolphin, but the cool thing is the dolphin underwater between the flag and anchor.  You may have to enlarge the photo to see it.  The water is so clear.

We took the dingy off of Meant To Be and checked out the area.  Here in Marathon there are about 8 marinas.  We are staying in Burdines.  We were on a waiting list, believe it or not, with 3 other marinas.  Burdines had availability and we jumped on the opportunity.  This is a very small marina with about 4 restaurants within a 10 minute walk.  Most everything else, including groceries, is about 2 ½ miles from the marina.  For 5 bucks Mr. Cab will take you anywhere in Marathon.  The area between the 7 mile bridge and the other end of town is about 8 or so miles.  What we don’t like so much about it is there is no real city - just Highway 1 running from Miami to Key West (about 150 total miles). 

Our first Marathon sunset

Since we will be spending the next 30 days here, we are both looking forward to kicking back in the 80 or so degree weather and not having to plan everyday as to where we are traveling to.  We have been back to a normal type of life, watching some TV, cleaning up the boat, eating in, taking our walks and just being kind of boring I guess.  

To liven things up my brother Terry and nephew Todd got into town at nearly midnite on the 24^th.  On their first full day, we dinghied to the beach with our cooler, chairs and towels.  After about a 40 minute ride to Sombrero Beach Mr. Dinghy was pooped out.  We had a great day; the weather was perfect and the water was beautiful.  We then headed to Happy Hour with $2.00 shrimp cocktails at Castaways - about 200 yards from the marina.  They have a golf cart to wheel your drunk ass back home, but the walk has only 1 right turn in it.  Yes, even I can find the boat when it’s that close.

Marathon sunset

 

Because my family only has 3 full days here we thought we had to make the most of every minute.  Having said that, we jumped the morning bus to where else??  You got it - look out Key West.  The bus ride was about 2 hours and for us couple of old farts it cost us a whole $1.50.  Pat killed me at 4 bucks - she needs to get older so I can afford her.  We had a blast in Key West, mostly walking Duvall Street and also mostly drinking.  Poor Pat left the 3 of us kind of bar jumping between Sloppy Joes and the Hog Breath Saloon.  After a few or so drinks we made our way to Mallory Square for sunset.  We hung out too long and kind of missed the sunset, oh well.  We caught the 8:30 bus back to the marina and arrived back here at about 11:00ish - a long but fun day.

Lunch in Key West at Caroline's - Jack, Terry & Todd 

World famous Hog's Breath Cafe

The following morning I had promised the boys we would go out on MTB.  Normally once we are in a slip for a month or so we stay put.  I figured between the 4 of us we would have no problem pulling out of the slip - things went perfect.  We headed to Sombrero Reef for a fun day of fish watching, snorkeling, lunch, and looking at the beautiful water.  The trip out went perfect, but by the time we tied up to a ball the stinking water was way too choppy to hang and swim around.  About 1.5 hours later we headed back to the marina - gr8 effort but not what we were hoping for.
    

Check out the turquoise water - beautiful!

 
After returning we jumped on the dingy and headed to Sunset Grill - about a 15 minute dingy ride in the ocean, but it was smooth and we hung the shoreline just in case.  The Sunset has a great happy hour along with an 82 degree pool.  It was nice hanging with a cocktail in a cool little pool.  We have spent almost no time in pools since leaving Az. over 8 months ago.  We went to dinner that nite, then the boys had to get up at 3:15am to catch the bus to Miami for their flight back to Columbus.  With the chill factor they lost about 100 degrees in about a 2.5 hour flight - how bad does that suck??  It was 80 here that day and with the chill factor it was a beautiful 20 below in the Columbus.  I realize how lucky we are but for people who live in bad weather states I am still not sure what keeps them there.  The winters in both Az. and Florida are tuff to beat – summer, of course, is a different story.  Had a blast with my family here and looking forward to Pat’s folks rolling in here in about a week from Vegas.  Should be fun.

She Said:  We hated to leave Ft. Lauderdale, but at least it was an easy departure.  The 5 hour trip was a pleasant one - there wasn’t a lot of traffic and there were fewer bridges to contend with.  We passed downtown Miami and Miami Beach and headed to the Miami suburb of Coconut Grove on Biscayne Bay.  The water was the clearest we’d been in since embarking on the ICW.  The entrance to Coconut Grove (Dinner Key Channel) was confusing, and there was a lot of sailboat traffic.  But when we finally made our way into the harbor we quickly found our mooring ball.  This was a huge mooring field (225 balls) and a long dinghy ride into the marina.  It wasn’t our favorite set-up, but we only planned to spend a day or two. 

 

Coconut Grove sunset

Coconut Grove has some fun history.  Until 1945 it was the hub of Pan Am’s Latin American “clipper ships.”  The original two hangars are still on Dinner Key.  Coconut Grove is currently the home of the U.S. Sailing Center, the winter training site for the U.S. Olympic sailing team.  We saw a van that said “Melges USA, Zenda, WI.”  Buddy Melges is a gold medal Olympian, an America’s Cup winner, and boat designer from my 2^nd home – Lake Geneva, WI.   His house was just down the street from my mom and dad’s – I even bought something at one of his garage sales.  It’s always fun to see something hometown and familiar and realize how it fits into the bigger picture – in this case the Olympics!  I got such a kick out of it I took a picture of the van and texted it back home.

Coconut Grove is a regular town with a Ritz Carlton, Cheesecake Factory and Applebee’s (to name a few) – a little bit of everything.  We found a fun place on the water – Monty’s., but not much else.  There was a grocery store within an easy walk so we stocked up on a few things.  Overall, a good place for a night. 

 

The trip to Marathon (our next destination) was 100+ miles – that meant we needed 2 good travel days back-to-back.  The weather was so bad we had to stay 3 nights waiting for a good weather window.  Bad weather and mooring balls aren’t the best combination.  The waves were so bad that we couldn’t get off MTB 2 of the 3 nights we were in town.  On Thursday we decided to leave the next day.  Since Friday was forecasted to be a better travel day than Saturday, we decided to leave as early as possible and get as far as possible.  So we called ahead to the fuel dock, checked their hours and said we’d be there when they opened at 8am Friday. 

 

Friday we radioed the fuel dock at 8:05am for assistance, but there was no answer, so we decided to tie-up without assistance (a first for us).  To make a long story short, the fuel dock finally opened after 9am and we were underway around 9:30am.  That put us a good hour plus behind schedule and we had 65 miles to go at an average of 8MPH.  We were taking the “inside” route (Florida Bay side) where the water is shallower, but calmer.  The weather was beautiful and the water was calm and clear.  If not for the crab and lobster pots, it would have been a perfect day on the water.  We ran faster than we usually do (which was good for the engines, but bad for fuel economy) and made it to Islamorada our first night.  We hoped to anchor that night, but the winds were forecasted to be in the 20-25 MPH range, and we don’t like to anchor in those conditions.  We grabbed a slip and walked to Lorelei’s – our first of many Tiki bars in the Keys.  Later, we headed to the Shrimp Shack for dinner and had shrimp and grits.  It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had – excellent!

 

Lorelei's

We had less than a 40 mile trip on Saturday, but we would be going “outside” (the Atlantic) and the winds were forecasted to pick up in the early afternoon so we wanted to get an early start.  The water was deeper so we expected fewer lobster/crab pots – WRONG.  We were constantly looking for pots and Jack was constantly dodging them.  The weather was great the entire trip.  The water was so clear we were afraid we were going to touch bottom – but the depth was 10’+.  We finally arrived in Marathon.  Yeah! 

 

3 pelicans in the mangrove trees.  These things are HUGE.

My excitement was short lived when I saw the slip we were pulling into.  I was standing on the bow of the boat surveying the situation and I said to Jack, “That can’t be our spot.”  The people on the neighboring boats said, “Yes, it is.”  Uh-oh.  The slip is 15’5” and our boat is 13’10”.  That gave us less than 20” of wiggle room – not nearly enough in my estimation.  Captain Jack earned his stripes that day as he pulled us in bow first without ever touching a pylon.  It’s amazing how far we’ve come in 8 months!

I must admit, Marathon is not what I expected.  I was hoping for a mini-Key West.  Instead, I got a small town along US66.  Everything is very spread out and we’re almost at one end.  And the end we’re at isn’t the high rent district.  Lots of trailer parks (and not the double-wide variety), Cubans and burned out hippy-types.  There are several eating/drinking establishments within an easy walk, but the closest thing to a town center is 2.5 miles away.  And the town center isn’t much - a couple fast food places, 2 grocery stores, a K-Mart, and not much else.  It will be fine once I realign my expectations.

Typically when we stay in one place for a month, there’s not much to report.  We live pretty much like we did back in Phoenix, and that’s basically what we’ve done since arriving in Marathon.  Our boat neighbors for a few days, Mike and Lori from Ft. Myers, FL and Bloomington, IL, were great and we plan to meet up with them in Ft. Myers in March.  We’ve spent most of our first week here getting the lay-of-the-land.

Jack’s brother, Terry, and his nephew, Todd, both from Ohio came down for 4 nights.  We had a great time.  We took the dinghy to Sombrero Beach for the afternoon - 4 people in our little dinghy must have been quite a sight.  On Sunday we took the bus to Key West.  I left the boys in the bar and did some window shopping.  The bartender at Sloppy Joes told the guys that Jimmy Buffet’s recording studio was just down the street, so we were on a mission to find it.  We walked past is several times before figuring out which building it was.  We barely made it to Mallory Square in time to see the sunset.  It was a long day, but a lot of fun.  We plan to make the trip to Key West at least 2 more times while we’re here. 

Shrimpboat Sound - Jimmy Buffet's recording studio

Todd checking out the fishing charters as they arrive at Key West Bight

 

Sunset from Mallory Square, Key West

 

On Monday, we took MTB out for day trip (the first time ever).  There’s a reef at the Sombrero Lighthouse – about 5 miles off shore.  There are mooring balls to tie-up to so that your anchor doesn’t damage the reef.  It’s a protected, patrolled diving area.  Unfortunately, the water was really choppy.  I was feeling nauseous – especially when I was in the cabin.  None of us got out to snorkel - I think getting on and off MTB would have been a challenge.  We stayed out there about 1.5 hours and then headed back to the marina.  We took the dinghy to Sunset Bar and Grill later in the afternoon.  It’s a fun place that opens up their heated pool to their restaurant and bar patrons.  Overall, a fun day – especially for our Ohio family that left behind sub-zero temps.

Sunset Grill - Jack, Todd & Terry catching some rays!

The weather’s been great – 70s and 80s.  We’re settling into life in Marathon and have extended our stay through March 1^st.  My mom and dad are visiting for a week in early February.  I haven’t seen them since my niece’s wedding in July, so I’m really looking forward to their visit.  Our friends, John and Debbie, who we met at the very beginning of our ICW journey, are arriving 2/01; we’re really looking forward to spending time with them again.  We are planning a few outings while here, but generally we will probably be sending fewer and shorter blogs while in Marathon.  

STUART, PALM BEACH & FT LAUDERDALE

He Said:  Hello Blog Readers.  Hope all is going well in your world.  We are having a gr8 time since the weatherman has been pretty friendly to us - some rain and wind but overall some nice warm weather.  It probably sounds like I am all about the weather, and it’s a fact.  When the weather is nice our world rocks, when it sucks it can be challenging on the boat.  At the end of the day it has been a terrific trip.

On Monday Jan. 6 we departed Vero Beach (which we really enjoyed), but it was time to book.  We woke up to a little fog but not a big deal.  We headed to Stuart with about a 6 hour day in front of us.  After pumping out, watering and fueling up in Ft. Pearce we were ready to continue south.  As we left the marina it felt like the boat had lost some of its steering ability, and right I was.  Our starboard engine would only throttle to 500 RPMs - not so good.  This is another reason people love having twin screws.  If one engine fails, you run on the other.  The only tuff part is docking and maneuvering the boat without both engines.  We survived.  As we pulled into Stuart we called the marina and decided to jump on a mooring ball which is much easier than cruising into a slip with only 1 engine.  All went well at the end of the day.

I will not go into great detail, but that same nite our dingy boat got loose.  It didn’t help that we felt like we were in a flipping ocean. The worst part is that after a full season of watching college football I missed the BCS Championship Game.  I watched all the BCS games except for the FSU/Auburn Game.  After hearing about what a great game it was, maybe it was a blessing that Michigan State beat us.  FSU may have laid a big hurt on the Buckeyes.  The reason I didn’t catch the game was that we had no transportation into the marina, no dingy, no swimmy in choppy water.  Maybe if the Bucks were playing I would have dove over and freestyled into the dock -  just kidding!  Here is the great news – we found Mr. Dingy the following morning.  What luck.

The next few days were windy, windy, and mo’ windy.  Although Stuart is very cool the stinking wind was holding us as prisoners.  We were planning on leaving on Thursday, but believe it or not the wind was way too strong for us to take a chance.  Remember we take no chances.  Did you forget who my partner is??  Thank god she has a lot more smarts than you know who.  That nite we only got 8 plus inches or rain.  If we left, we would have been in Palm Beach.  How about this, they only got 22 inches.  15 inches in just 3 hours.  This is not a typo.  It rained like a mother f#@*er!!  You know how I hate cussing, so maybe I need to be more careful with my sharp tongue.  Forget about it.

Not sure if this boat was a victim of the record setting rain and wind!

While we were holed up with the wonderful wind we did get some work done on the boat.  We had a heating/ac mother board thing happening, and we had it fixed.  We also got the starboard engine repaired.  It was very simple and pretty cheap so we were very happy with the end results.

We prepared to head S. on Friday AM to Palm Beach and had a nice 6 hour trip.  We walked to some pub with my name in it - gr8 food and drinks.  When we arrived the duo was playing “Pirate Looks at 40”, some more JB and a bunch of Zac Brown music - tuff to beat. We spent that nite in Palm Beach then headed the next day to Ft. Lauderdale.

Jack in front of his namesake bar - Grumpy's!  Jack loved the wings.  Pat loved the grouper.

Look out here comes the Clampetts - Jed and the family. We cruised into the marina about 4PM on Sat., hoping to catch some NFL games that day and we did.  The reason we kinda look like the Beverly Hillbillies is that our little 42ft. Carver (total length) all of a sudden became a 42ft. dingy.  Holy shit where did all of the $$$ come from.  Between the hundreds, maybe thousands, of mansions we passed and the money in this marina we felt like the Jed Family.  Of course on top of it we had to bring the stern (back) of the boat in first. I don’t know if we are getting better or just beginner’s luck, but no problemo.  The most nerve racking part of this is the average boat in our area was probably 75 ft. and maybe only worth a million or 2.  Like I said, no problem - just a lot of HOLY SHITS.

Mansion built by Mr. Flagler as a wedding gift for wife #3

Now we are hanging in Lauderdale, and it rocks. We watched some NFL the next few days and spent a few days enjoying the 82 degree sunny weather.  The beach was about 500 yards from the boat.  Any 20 year old that is living in cold weather should check it out, they probably would never leave.  Sunday was the biggest beach scene I think I have ever seen.  Young people, old farts, sun tan lotion, surfers, cars cruising everywhere, Harleys, cocktails, and just plain fun in the sun.  Then there is me flopping around in the water trying to look cool.  (Sorry to say, but I fit into the old fart category from up above.)  We of course found some fun beach bars for a few cold ones.  I am sure you all find that hard to believe.

A beautiful day on Ft. Lauderdale beach.  The water was warm and wonderful.  As you can see, the beach was crowded

We had a wonderful Sunday nite.  Our boat broker from Boston spends his winters down here in Lauderdale.  Scott and Robin had us over for a great dinner and fun evening.  Scott picked us up at 7pm on Sunday, and we got back to the boat at about 1am.  What a great nite.  The following day we kind of got prepared for our departure on Tuesday - laundry, pump-out, and of course groceries.  We are planning on leaving Tuesday AM for the Miami/Coconut Grove area then a few days later we will be in the Keys.  It is amazing we have been gone almost 2/3 of a year - from Boston in May to Miami in January.  Not bragging, but sometimes we honestly amaze ourselves.  What a trip!!

We stayed here 5 years ago for a couple nights before a cruise.  This was Jack's introduction to the ICW.  Had to stop by for a cold one.

We took this same picture 5 years ago.  Jack's still looking good.

Looking forward to my brother Terry and nephew Todd meeting up with us down in Marathon Key.  Should be a blast.  That’s it for now.  Tired fingers.  

Later, Captain Jack

 

She Said:  It was an easy departure from the ball in Vero Beach, and we were quickly under way.  We had a little drizzle along the way, but pretty uneventful until we arrived in Ft. Pierce for fuel, a pump out and water.  Our GPS and charts showed one approach, but there were no markers where they were charted.  Come to find out the harbor was under a massive updating project and a brand new channel was dredged.  The marina talked us in and all was good.  We departed Ft Pierce happy with our 2.4 MPG, but our happiness was short lived.  We were no sooner back on the ICW when Jack said we had no throttle on our starboard engine.  It was running, but he couldn’t get it out of idle speed (about 500 RPMs and we typically travel around 1200 RPMs).  We had a mechanic lined up in Stuart to look at a couple other issues, so we decided to limp the remaining 25 miles on one engine and have the problem addressed in Stuart. 

We had a slip reserved, but Jack wasn’t comfortable pulling into a slip with only one engine.  We called the marina and they were able to accommodate us on a mooring ball.  Stuart is 8 miles off the ICW on the St. Lucie River (part of the Okeechobee Waterway that cuts through the state of Florida) – it was a very scenic trip.  It was a beautiful day when we arrived in Stuart – we opened all the windows and hatches.  We met up with Eric (from Cocoa) and sat at the outside marina bar and had a happy hour drink with him.  Suddenly, the winds picked up and we all decided to head back to our boats to “batten down the hatches.”  We planned to meet with Eric later that night at the marina lounge for pizza and the BCS Championship Game.  The winds kept getting stronger and the water choppier.

Jack and I were seriously debating whether a dinghy trip back to the marina was really a smart idea or not.  I went to the back of MTB for a final assessment of the situation.  I couldn’t see the dinghy.  It was dark, and I thought maybe it was on the side of the boat.  No such luck – she was gone.  It was highly unlikely that someone came alongside MTB and stole the dinghy (especially in the rough water), so the most likely scenario is that I didn’t tie her off properly.  I’ve been tying the dinghy for months, and if anything Jack grumbles because I tie it too securely.  But for some reason that wasn’t the case this day.  The constant tugging on the lines due to the rough conditions apparently dislodged my tie-off.  We definitely we’re watching the BCS game that night.  Instead I was on the phone with the local police.  They couldn’t have been nicer.  Office Fitzgerald came over to the marina, met with Eric and together they looked for the dinghy – based on winds and current.  Unfortunately, the dinghy was no where to be found.  

Stuart was gloomy like this during our entire stay.

 

It was a rough night on the ball, but it was better than being slammed against a dock all night.  Jack was up with the sun and on a mission to find the dinghy.  He had the binoculars and was scanning the shoreline when he saw a dinghy on a beach in front of a house.  All these dinghies look alike, so I wasn’t letting my hopes get too high.  There were still whitecaps on the water, but when the marina opened they sent out a good sized boat to take Jack out in search of the dinghy.  Sure enough, the dinghy Jack saw was ours – it was embedded in the sand beach.  Because the dinghy was imbedded in the sand it kept it from floating out into the river when the currents changed, but it also made it really difficult to dislodge.  So I went out with Jack and together we got the dinghy back to MTB.  What an experience. 

While we were rescuing the dinghy, mechanic #1 called to say he was on his way to fix our heat/AC unit.  Because he had a used part, we were able to get the whole job done for less than the price of a new part.  The day was starting off on the right foot.  We went into town – we’d been on MTB for too long.  We had lunch and did some grocery shopping.  At 3:00pm mechanic #2 showed up to look at the engine problem.  He checked a couple things and quickly found the problem – the bolt that held the throttle mechanism together had come off.  An easy fix.  We had him look at a couple other things, and he determined everything was just fine!  It was an excellent day!  But the winds and water conditions continued to deteriorate throughout the day, and we were stuck on MTB for another night.

The weather conditions improved, but not to the point where we could leave.  We kept busy all day and ventured out in the rain to meet Eric for dinner.  It was an early night since we planned to depart the next morning.  We woke up in the morning to fog and drizzle.  The forecast was for more of the same so we decided to stay put – why have a miserable travel day.  It’s a good thing we stayed put.  That night there was an unpredicted, hellacious rain storm.  The worst of the rain was 22” (15” in 3 hours) in Palm Beach where we had reservation for that night.  There were initial reports of a tornado, but it ended up being only 80 MPH straight line winds.  We only had 8 inches in Stuart so we felt lucky to have stayed put.  When the rain let up, we bailed out the dinghy – what a mess. 

The weather was good the next morning so we unhooked from the ball (like many other boats) and headed out.  Departing from a ball is the easiest departure, and we were underway in no time at all.  The Roosevelt Bridge, which opens on demand, shouldn’t have been an issue, but it was.  We had to wait about 30 minutes because two trains were crossing.  Not the quick start we hoped for. 

There are 3 bridges here.  The first bridge (blue) opens on request.  Behind it is a RR bridge that is open unless a train is passing.  The back bridge has 65' clearance.  This is how we started on trip between Stuart and Palm Beach

The trip to Palm Beach was the most densely populated stretch of the ICW that we’d been on.  There were lots of houses – and most of them were BIG houses.  It was amazing.  (The next day, the mansions were even bigger.  I was also surprised by how much new construction there was.  Unbelievable!)  We had reservations at a working marina – it didn’t offer much, but we were only looking for a cheap, easy access place to spend the night.  We were pleasantly surprised to find Jack’s Grumpy Grouper a short walk from the marina.  It was a cute, fun place and the grouper was excellent.

This is a dredging vessel - it's what keeps the ICW at navigable depths.  It's interesting to watch

Although we had only a short distance to travel (35 miles) we left early Saturday morning because we heard that this part of trip would be slow.  Let me tell you, slow is an understatement.  There were 6 bridges in 10 miles – and about ½ of the bridges are low enough that we have to wait for them to open.  With our antenna we need 23 feet of clearance – if we could have lowered the antenna it would have helped a lot.  Bridges weren’t the only issue.  The water is warmer so that meant more manatees and that meant slow speeds.  There were also slow speed zones because of narrower water channels and dense population.  And finally, we were slowed down because it was a busy, congested Saturday - there were stretches where the speed limit slowed to “minimum wake” on weekends.  All and all, it was a long, slow travel day.  To top it off, the marina gave us wrong docking instructions which had us going in circles around the Las Olas Bridge in Ft. Lauderdale.  When we finally got to our slip, Jack docked us stern in like a champ.  We were happy to be spending the next 3 nights in the heart of Ft. Lauderdale.

A typical Saturday on the ICW near Ft. Lauderdale: boat traffic and bridge openings.  Most bridges open every 30 minutes.

Ft. Lauderdale was a lot of fun.  We were about 2 blocks from the beach and there was so much going on – bars, restaurants, beach, and people watching.  This was the most activity we’d seen since NYC.  We went out for dinner at Quarterdeck our first night.  It was a long day on the water, and we called it an early evening.  The next day was action packed.  The sun was shining so we spent a few hours on the beach – the water was clear, blue and the warmest we’d experienced.  We walked around and checked out the Bahia Cabana – a marina bar/restaurant we went to 5 years ago; Coconuts – an oyster bar that gets its oysters from the Rappahannock River (where Jack had his first oysters); and The Elbo Room – featured in the beach movies of the ‘60s.  As great as the day was, the evening was even better.  Our boat broker from Boston, Scott, was in Ft. Lauderdale with his wife, Robyn.  They have a condo a short distance from our marina and they invited us over for dinner.  What a wonderful night – the food and conversation couldn’t have been better.  We didn’t get home until 1am.  We would have liked to have spent more time with them, but we were both leaving Ft. Lauderdale in a couple of days.

Welcome to Ft. Lauderdale!

What a dive.  The Elbo Room from the '60s beach movies

Our last day in Ft. Lauderdale was spent provisioning and doing a final load of laundry.  We ran into friends from Cocoa Village; they were staying in Lauderdale for a month and had a car.  They dropped us off at the grocery store making provisioning much easier.  The weather forecast for the next few days wasn’t good, so we decided to skip South Beach/Miami and head directly to Coconut Grove.  It’s a good place to wait for a good crossing to Marathon.  I’m really looking forward to month in the Keys!

COCOA AND VERO BEACH, FL

He Said:  Hello Everyone.  Merry belated holidays from Florida.  Pat and I enjoyed Xmas day by watching some football and just hanging on the boat.  We had a nice dinner with ham and some other goodies then decided to head into town just to see if we were missing anything.  Our friend Eric joined us, and we found the dumpiest little bar in town that was actually opened Xmas nite.  The place had about 10 locals in it that had nothing better to do that nite - just like us!  One thing they had going on was I think they must have started their celebration about 10 hours earlier - it looked like a good old drunk nite to me.  We stayed for about an hour then headed back to the boat for a pretty early nite.  This was the first time in 10 years that we didn’t spend the holidays in Vegas with Pat’s family.  It was a little different, but it is what we signed up for.

The following few days were spent riding the city bus into the beach area and enjoying the city.  We made our way to Walmart on Thursday at Merritt Island which was a little distance on the bus but no big deal.  We caught some lunch then did some of our fav shopping at our fav store.  We are really Target fans but as you travel the east and southeast there seems to be many more Walmarts.

Friday we headed back to Cocoa Beach and hung out in about 84 degree temps - that’s what I’m talking about!!  We enjoy those beach days whenever we can find them - each day in Florida is not exactly hanging in Paradise.  This is winter time and we need to remember that.  We went to Coconuts on the beach for a few cold ones then back on the bus to the marina.  Pat needed a break from me so Friday nite my new buddy Eric and I walked over to the nearest bar from the marina, about 200 yards from the boat.  Linda’s Pub was fun but neither Eric nor I had enough to drink to sing karaoke.  For some strange reason I would rather make an ass out of myself in front of friends as opposed to strangers, go figure.  Without college FB each Saturday poor Pat needs to find other ways of getting away from me.  Normally it only takes her saying “why don’t you go grab a cold one and I will see you when you get back” works perfect!  Saturday we spent on the boat and then headed out with some other boaters we met and ended up at Norman’s - good music and a nice outside patio.  Norman’s is about 50 yards from Linda’s.  Maybe in Cocoa you need to name your bar a person’s name, don’t know.  After our last couple nites hanging in bars with people’s names, Pat and I laid low.  We grabbed pizza in town and headed back to the boat early that Sunday nite.
 

Coconuts on the Beach - our first Florida beachfront restaurant

Our plan was to head to Vero Beach on Monday AM but you have already heard enough about the weatherman running our lives.  We were prepared to live by 8AM, but it was way too windy. We had a terrific spot at a great marina in Cocoa, but we were in the last spot directly in front of the marina.  We had a neighbor on 1 side and a big ass dock on the other.  With the winds and current this made it nearly impossible for our exit due to the big dock being on my port side and having to back out.  I spoke to the dock master and he said if you do not have to get out of Dodge maybe hang out a little longer.  Easy decision.

Hello NY Eve.  We had no clue what to do because we planned on being in Vero Beach and we knew they were having a bonfire on the beach for us boaters.  It sounded cool, but we couldn’t get there.  Oh well, we are getting very used to changing our plans.  So I walked down to Linda’s to check on the NY Eve ordeal.  I went with cooker man Johnny and, of course, had to have a few $1.00 Bud Lites - at that price it is impossible to say no thanks.  Later that eve 6 of us went to Linda’s for the festivities.  Check it out - 25 bones per couple and all you can eat.  Not our normal deal but Linda’s son made the food, and it was great.  Drinks were cheap, company was good, champagne was good and my hat looked stupid on me.  Oh yeah, plus it messed up my ‘do.  They had a combo of Karaoke and the same dude played Mr. DJ.  It really was a fun nite.  We walked back to the boat about 1AM and called it a nite.  I’m still looking for the entire group that phoned us at about 3:30 in the morning.  I may have picked it up but as I recall my head hurt too much.  Hey guys, don’t start your own band unless you want to go hungry.  I do actually know who you are.
 

Happy New Year!!

So finally on Wednesday the 1^st we headed down the road, less wind so time to travel.  This was the first NY Day ever that I didn’t sit my lazy ass in front of the tube for a day of bowl games.  The good news is we got to Vero in time to find a pub near the marina to take in the Rose Bowl.  Congrats to Michigan State, what a great game.

The next several days we sort of hung out and enjoyed Vero Beach.  Our little Riverside Cafe received a lot of our business - location, location, location.  We could walk to the bar in about 10 minutes or so.  We could also dingy over, but the ride back was a little dark and lengthy.  Plus we had to travel thru a bridge and the dingy man is not so used to that, but it worked perfect.  

Sunday the 5^th was a beautiful day so we traveled back to the beach and hung out.  Mulligane’s on the beach had live music on the patio so I parked my rump on the beach about 50 ft. from Mr. Guitar.  He played some Motown, Jimmy B., Eagles, Van and other fun music for old farts.  Later that afternoon it got cloudy and rainy and we had about a 25 minute walk back.  We ate on the boat and called it an evening.  Our stays here in Florida have been a lot of fun but the weather has been a little crazy. One day mid 80’s, next day maybe 60.  Oh well, overall pretty darn nice.  We really enjoyed the 80 plus degree weather in Vero, but it was time to head on down the road.  We’re planning on leaving Monday morning and heading to Stuart.  Hope all is going well in your world.
 

Vero Beach - you can't see it, but the water is a pretty blue

Take Care,  Jack

PS. Those of you who know how much I follow Ohio State Football, I didn’t mean to forget our Orange Bowl Game.  Although we sort of forgot to show up I still need to shout out to Clemson in their victory over us.  Glad I didn’t go thru all the stuff to get to Miami.  I don’t know where our defense disappeared to, but they forgot to show up again.  Oh well, like I have said earlier, it is just a game.  Keeps me from going crazy.

 

She Said:  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

It’s been a fun week in Cocoa.  What a great place – the marina facility and staff are excellent, the boaters are really friendly, the town is steps from the marina and there’s convenient bus service.  We had our most social week since boarding MTB – we were invited to a neighboring boat for happy hour, we had people over for happy hour and we went to dinner a couple nights with other boaters.  It was really fun.    

There are 2 towns – Cocoa and Cocoa Beach (think I Dream of Jeannie).  Cocoa (where we stayed) is on the ICW and Cocoa Beach is on the Atlantic.    It’s an 8 mile bus ride from the marina to the beach.  We spent a nice day on the beach and at Coconuts.  At the north end of Cocoa Beach is Cape Canaveral and the cruise ship docks. 

 


Downtown Cocoa - very quaint and picturesque

 

At our marina there was a Manatee zone.  Manatees swim just below the surface of the water and were being killed off by speeding boats and boat propellers.  As a result their population dropped to around 600, and in the mid-70s were declared endangered.   The population was estimated to be over 3000 at the beginning of the decade and there’s controversy whether manatees should still be considered endangered.  We saw a manatee that had a transmitter attached.  You’re supposed to report these sightings – which we did through the marina.  The staff at the marina said they’d never seen one before so I guess that was pretty cool. 

The plan was to leave Cocoa on 12/30 and spend New Year’s Eve in Vero Beach.  But the weather got really windy and we decided to stay put.  We had a great slip at the marina, but it was a difficult spot to get out of even in the best of conditions.  Add strong winds and it was way outside of our comfort zone.  The next day the winds weren’t any better in the morning.  When the winds calmed down in the afternoon, the marina staff decided to manually turn MTB around making our departure easier (especially in the wind).  It was quite an effort and the docks were full of spectators.   

The good thing about our delayed departure was spending New Year’s Eve at Linda’s Lounge and Café in Cocoa.  A group of six went for dinner, dancing, karaoke and celebration.  It was a really fun night with great people.  We got back to MTB around 1:00am.  At 3:30am the phone woke us up to a choir of partying Phoenicians singing Feliz Navidad!  It sounds like a good time was had by all – thanks for sharing your New Year’s Eve party with us. 

We made an uneventful departure from Cocoa on New Year’s morning for Vero Beach.  There were lots of playful dolphins along the way which made the trip fun.  There was also RAIN.  I guess it was better traveling in the rain than just sitting on the boat.  We planned to stay on a mooring ball 3 nights and ended up staying 5 nights – that’s why Vero Beach is also called Velcro Beach – because people stay longer than planned.  The mooring field was the best one we’ve been in.  It’s large, really well protected and scenic.  The marina boaters organize several events during the week - it’s a great place to spend a week. 

New Year’s Day meant the Rose Bowl, and we dinghied into the marina in search of someplace to watch the game.  It was still raining so we walked to the closest restaurant – Riverside Café – and had a fun night watching the game.  We hopped the free bus to the beach the next day and spent a perfect day relaxing in the sun.  84 degrees, a light breeze and low humidity – this is the Florida I’ve been looking for.  The next day was an entirely different story – rainy, windy and cold!  Being a weatherman in FL is definitely more challenging than being one in Phoenix.  The bus service in Vero is great and we got a lot of errands done.  Friday night we were back at Riverside Café to watch The OSU Buckeyes lose their 2^nd game in a row.  Jack was only slightly suicidal, but it was still a long, cold walk home. 

 

Vero Beach on a sunny afternoon

We had our 2^nd great weather day while in Vero and enjoyed another fun day at the beach.  This is the first time we’ve been in a tropical Florida setting – there are palm trees, the water is pretty and overall the temps are good.  The downtown Vero Beach area is really nice – lots of cute shops (the most adorable clothes) and restaurants.  We went to the farmer’s market – tomatoes, corn and strawberries are in season.  Later that night we went to the Food Truck Frenzy.  I always think food trucks are going to be fun, but I’m usually disappointed – this was no exception.  

As much as we enjoyed Vero, it was time to leave.  We have reservation in Marathon beginning 1/18 and we still have about 250 miles to travel.  Next stop – Stuart.