Marathon to Fort Pierce & Boatyard April

     After a whirlwind trip back to Texas to finalize our tax return and attend a CME session in Austin, I returned to Marathon, where Kay had spent the week relaxing on the boat.  The wind had been blowing like stink, and was forecast to continue, so we departed and headed north in Hawk Channel between the reef and the keys.  It was very rough the first couple of hours out of Marathon (not ocean rough, but just not a fun ride).  After that, seas subsided a bit, and we pressed on.  The original plan was to anchor off Rodriguez Key, but with the rough north east winds, there was no protection there, so we continued on to Biscayne Bay, dropping the anchor about 9:30 p.m. in the lee of Key Biscayne.
     Then next morning, with cloudy skies and intermittent drizzle, we were northbound through Miami.  Fortunately, the weather and the fact that we were early on a mid-week day kept many of the "amateurs" that make this area so crowded and so dangerous at home.  We passed through Fort Lauderdale and a number of other cities, and finally anchored in Lake Boca Raton.  We spent a day resting, and then met a highly-recommended vendor who was scheduled to change out our water maker reverse osmosis membranes.  After watching how much difficulty he had extracting the old ones, I'm certainly glad I did not undertake this project myself.  Of course, they had been in place 6 years!  He was off the boat at 1310, and we were under the next nearby bridge at its 1330 opening, en route to Lake Worth.  Of course, the President was visiting for Easter weekend, and so there was a security zone in place which slightly slowed our progress.  We still had no difficulty reaching our planned anchorage north of West Palm Beach an hour or more before sunset, and enjoyed a new (to us) anchorage location.
     The following morning we were underway early, trying to beat some of the casual boaters and the rising wind.  We were relatively successful at the first venture, probably due to the second factor.  We arrived at our dock in Fort Pierce about 1330 and secured the boat.  Now for a couple of days of cleaning the salt off!  After a weekend rest, the boat was hauled out at Cracker Boy Boat Yard at 0800 Monday morning.  One work crew immediately set about cleaning the barnacles and slime off the bottom of the boat, and soon a second crew was buffing and polishing the hull.  The transition is unbelievable!  We retrieved the Element from Marathon, and I have worked on some minor projects such as exchanging the engine room fluorescent fixtures for much brighter LED fixtures.  We will "splash" the boat Friday afternoon, and return to our dock.  The boat will spend a couple of weeks there getting the upper structure buffed and polished while we return to Texas, and then hopefully we can begin our northward travels by the middle of May.

Stowaway Boarding!

Bridge to Nowhere &

Boot Key Harbor

Goodbye Paradise

Miami

Hauling Out

Land Transport--75 Metric Ton Travelift

Richard & Boat for

Size Perspective

This is How You

Drive the Travelift

Looking Much Better with Fresh Paint

Everything Scraped Clean

Clean Running Gear

Polishing

Why We Must Go To Texas

Florida Keys and Visitors March

     We have done a little sightseeing in the Keys, and have had some special guests!   Our younger daughter and her family joined us for a week, and then our older daughter and a couple of friends also visited.  All enjoyed the temperate weather, unbelievable sunsets, and laid-back atmosphere of the Keys.  I enjoyed my "cheeseburger in paradise" at the original Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville restaurant in Key West.  Many local Marathon dining establishments are also outstanding.  We've never been around such a bountiful supply of fresh seafood.  No one can do fried shrimp as well as CCYC, but we found one place that is very close!  Of course, with such great access to fresh fish, the opportunity to try many preparations other than fried is unique.  Mahi, grouper, snapper, and stone crab are abundant.
     Truman's "Little White House", Hemingway's home, the Wrecking Museum ("wreckers" waited for ships to founder on the reef, and then salvaged and auctioned the cargoes), the Southernmost Point in the U.S., and infamous Duval Street were Key West attractions.  The Theater of the Sea in Islamorada provided young and old alike with education and entertainment ranging from tropical fish to injured sea turtles to various marine mammals and even parrots.  The grandchildren were even introduced to miniature golf at a course on Ramrod Key, and saw a manatee swim by while dining at the casual Burdine's (world's best and most bountiful serving of French fries) in Marathon.

U.S. Hwy 1, Mile 0

Key West Customs House

Original Margaritaville

Conchmobile--Key West Art

Young & Old

Young & Middle

Key West Harbor Approaches

Truman Little White House

Old Key West Home

New Golfers & Their Pro

Nothin' To It

Guess Where I'm Going

Paradise Found!

Ocean Water is Cold

Great Education

One of Many Sea Turtles

On Your Tiptoes!

I Can Fly!

Next Question, Please

That Thing is Loud

And It Has Claws

A Little Down Time...

More Texas Visitors

Stacy & Friends

...For Everyone

Who Wants to be the Hare?

Marathon & Florida Keys Feb--April

     We are having a wonderful time in Marathon!  The weather is definitely warm...not winter-like at all, with the exception of a very few days in which the temperature did not quite get out of the 70's.  Most days we range from lower 70's to lower 80's, with lots of sun and modest breeze.  While not quite as laid-back as the Bahamas, this part of the county is headed there.  We have seen many friends and met many new friends, and have enjoyed the great marina, with very substantial docks.  The last time we were here was in August, 2011, on our way (just ahead of Hurricane Irene) from Stuart, FL to Corpus Christi, TX, when we spent one night in this marina, topped off the fuel and water, ate in the outstanding restaurant, and then headed west!
     We have enjoyed touring the large mooring field and anchorage in Boot Key Harbor, adjacent to our marina, and have made side trips north to Islamorada to see former Corpus Christi friends, and south to Key West and a few other smaller keys to be tourists.  In Key West, the advertised "southernmost point in the continental U.S." (not quite accurate, but almost) is 90 miles from Cuba, 160 miles from Miami, and 128 miles from the nearest Wal-Mart.  Harry Truman, Ernest Hemingway, and many other notables spent a great deal of their time there, and "Papa" did his most prolific work while in Key West.  It also marks "Mile 0" on U.S. Highway 1, is called the "Conch Republic" in recognition of the great influx of Bahamians in its early history, is home to Jimmy Buffet's original Margaritaville, and is a place where almost everything is considered "protected", from the roosters and iguanas that aimlessly wander the streets to some very unusual residents who do the same.

Marathon Marina

Substantial Docks!

Small White Dot above the clouds

is the International Space Station

Why People Come to Marathon

7-Mile Bridge--Texas Beyond!

Moon Deserves Equal Recognition

Sailboat Next Door

Had a Stowaway

Boot Key Harbor Mooring Field

Boot Key Dinghy Dock

Marina Pool Area

Here for the Duration

(note guitar)

Great Reunion with Former CC Residents

Fort Pierce to Marathon Nov--Feb

     We arrived at Harbour Isle Marina in Fort Pierce on October 26, after a much faster than usual trip from Jacksonville, and settled in for our first winter stop.  One of our overnight stops was at Marineland, a marina we had passed on earlier trips but where we had never before stopped.  We like Harbour Isle, and have many friends that also spend time at the same location for part of each winter.  We retrieved the Element from Jacksonville, as wheels are essential at this location.  It groans and rattles like an old man, and I hope it survives until the end of our boating days.  I set about working on several optional projects for the boat, performing some routine maintenance issues, and repairing the three items damaged by the lightning strike of the boat adjacent to us at Ortega Landing.  One of the projects I completed myself; two others required professional intervention.  As is typical of lightning damage, all were "unusual".  An extraordinarily talented lady has completely re-done our brightwork, and it looks "better than new"!
     We enjoyed the holidays in Texas with family and friends there, and in mid-January returned to the boat.  By February, it was time to move on, and spotting a weather window, we moved south to the Lake Worth anchorage on Feb. 12.  This is just north of the President's Palm Beach digs, but we knew we would not try to pass them in the ICW, but move out into the ocean for the next leg of our journey.  We departed Lake Worth the next morning about 0330.  I had planned to leave early, but not THAT early.  Evidently during the night when I reached over to check the time on my el cheapo alarm clock, I inadvertently advanced the time about an hour, and so when the 0400 alarm went off, we got up and prepared to leave.  Only as we started the engines did Kay ask why the clock on the microwave showed 0315...  Well, since we were up, and could use the time on the other end (we are still on short winter days), we departed anyway, running the first several hours in the ocean before daylight.  We were buzzed by a sheriff's department boat with no running lights on somewhere south of the Trump establishment, but he was presumably satisfied we were of no threat and were far enough offshore.  He never dropped below about 30mph.
     We passed Boca Raton, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and entered Hawk Channel near Key Biscayne.  The travel was ideal, and we did not even run the stabilizers.   Running between the reef and the keys, we pushed on, reaching Rodriguez Key just at sunset.  It was dark by the time the anchor was down, and we had a beautiful quiet night at anchor with about four sailboats nearby. The following day we traveled on to Marathon, arriving early afternoon on Valentine's Day.  It has been 5 1/2 years since we last brought Texas Ranger here, and it is good to be back in this unique marina and town.  There are many friends here, and a number of other Krogens.  We will hang out here a couple of months, and are certain that we can finally put away all winter clothes.  This winter has been much milder in Florida than last year, and we are definitely in the southernmost of Florida's three climate zones.  Family will visit while we are here, and we also anticipate a number of side trips up and down the Keys. 

Look at the Shine!

Marathon Welcoming Committee

Marathon & Boot Key Harbor Entry

7 Mile Bridge--Texas is on the Other Side

The Rest of the Year 2016

     Well, as often go the best laid plans of mice and men, the remainder of the year did not come off as planned.  The plan was to spend most of the summer at Ortega Landing, one of our favorite marinas, in Jacksonville.  That is right across I-10 (1000 miles+, but a straight shot) from Houston, and we hoped the grandkids would spend some time aboard.  Alas, we returned to Texas in mid-June for a family reunion and visit, and immediately got stuck to some rent house projects that kept us captive until the end of September.  We realized that we would not get the boat up to Solomons, MD for the Krogen Cruisers Rendezvous in  early October, and so decided that we would drive to that event.  Just before our departure, we received word that the sailboat in the slip next to us was struck by lightning.  Such reports are often exaggerated, and we asked several folks how they knew it was a "direct hit".  The answer:  many people saw the mast and shrouds "light up".  I suppose that is convincing!  We decided that instead of heading straight for Maryland, we would go via Jacksonville.  We also needed to pick up a few items of cold-weather clothing, and what little we own was on the boat.  It also gave me a chance to do a quick check of the boat for lightning damage.
     We traveled to Maryland, and watched as Hurricane Matthew churned along the Florida coast toward our boat.  The initial worries that it would reach the Chesapeake also played havoc with the docking order and plans for the Rendezvous, but in the end all turned out well, and we had a great time with many boating friends.  Webcam posts and reports from Ortega Landing assured us that all was well with our boat, and we were much relieved.  However, all was not well between Maryland and Jacksonville, and we knew that travel south down I-95 would be impossible.  Therefore, we returned to Jacksonville via Corpus Christi.  By the third week of October (not July, as planned), we were finally back aboard Texas Ranger.  A more detailed assessment revealed several items of lightning damage, but none that would preclude our travel, and we elected to move south to our first winter stop in Fort Pierce, and address the items needing repair there.  We departed Ortega Landing October 24, timing our departure to ride the outgoing river current downstream.

Ortega Landing Marina

Krogen Cruisers Rendezvous