Adventures of Dragon Lady

Yay!  We arrived at Stock Island Marina Village at 12:30.  With a great sigh of relief we tied up to our temporary slip for the next 2 weeks; that’s because we arrived 15 days early!  Yes! We told the marina we would be here by Dec. 15, so we will move to another slip on that date- just across the dock from where we are presently.  We gave ourselves 6 weeks to make the trip- but we did it in 31 days!  We just can’t wipe the smiles off our faces!  We celebrated with a “here beer” at one of the restaurants on the premises and tonight we had dinner at El Sibony restaurant after learning that our favorite restaurant had just closed down.   Bummer!  We'll have our champaign tomorrow night.  I still can’t believe that we made it- it’s a dream come true!

So close to our destination!  One more day to go!  We left our anchorage at 6:45; it was windy and cooler than the past few days.  There was more wave action in the ocean, but we put up our mizzenmast sail and motored, averaging about 7.3 knots (which is about hull speed)- not bad!  We anchored at 1:00 beside Boot Key and the 7-mile bridge.  If all goes well we will be in Stock Island Marina Village tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed!

We have been blessed with beautiful sunnny, warm weather.  We left our anchorage at 7:00 this morning.  It was amazing to see that all the party boats from last night had disappeared.  Where did they go? We left Biscayne Bay and sailed all morning about 2 to 3 miles off shore, paralleling the coast of the upper keys like Boca Chita and Elliott Key in about 12 feet of crystal clear green water- we could see the bottom!  Amazing! There were very few boats on the water in the Hawk Channel where we were sailing.  At 2:00 we put down the hook behind Rodriguez Key next to one other sailboat.  This should keep us secure when northerly winds start blowing tonight.

We left the marina at 6:45; it definitely felt like Florida and the morning just kept getting warmer.  Within 30 minutes we were out Port Everglades and into the very blue ocean.  The only wave action we felt was from the wakes of other boats hurrying to go fishing on this beautiful Saturday morning.  By 10:30 we were passing Miami Beach and by noon we were anchored in a protected cove behind Biscayne Bay.  But now I know that everyone in Miami has a boat- and they are all partying around us.  The wakes are awful this afternoon and every boat has loud music playing as people jump into the water, race their personal watercraft, scream, etc.  I sure hope it settles down tonight!

Today was an easy day.  We left our anchorage at 7:15 and traveled through 8 bridges and still got to the Bahia Mar marina in Ft. Lauderdale by 11:00.  This too is a very up-scale facility with pool, tennis courts, bar and grill, etc.  My first order of business was to do some laundry; at all the previous marinas you had to feed the washers and dryers quarters- but not this one!  Oh no, there is an app on your phone to talk to the machines and feed them from your credit card.  So before I could wash clothes I had to download this app and register it with my VISA card.  At least now I can wash clothes here on the trip back in the spring!  WOW! Here's a picture of the rooftop pool and bar with the pretty people from those big yachts. Our walk on the beach reassured us of a peaceful cruise oceanside to take place the following day.  We then had dinner at Coconuts restaurant on the intercoastal.

Happy Thanksgiving!  We left the marina at Palm Beach about 6:30 this morning just as the sky lightened.   We had 10 bridges to clear, seven of which open on a set schedule.  Sometimes you have to boogie to get there while other times you can meander to meet the openings.  All of these bridges have very low clearance and only very small power boats can get through when they are closed.  So it can be a real challenge to make all the scheduled openings without having to wait here and there.  At noon we cleared the last bridge and entered Lake Boca Raton where we threw down an anchor.  There willl be no turkey and dressing, etc. for dinner today- just leftovers; but I do have a can of cranberry sauce!

We pulled up the anchor at 6:45 under cloudy skies; the wind blew strong all night but abated a bit this morning.  As we headed toward Palm Beach the houses became more and more expansive (and expensive)!  I can’t even imagine living in something this BIG! Then we finally reached our destination, Palm Beach City Marina.  We definitely do not fit in with the other boats (see picture).  There is at least a couple of billion dollars sitting in the water! After we checked in to the marina we took a little stroll into town to exercise our legs.  I couldn’t afford to buy a pair of shoes or a purse here.  Everything was very, very high end.  Bryce said we would never find a McDonald’s in this place! But at least we could enjoy their Christmas decorations.

We are in an anchorage tonight even though we had a confirmed reservation for a marina about three miles up the St. Lucie River from here.   We left Vero beach this morning about 6:45 under cold and windy conditions, but the amount of wind just kept increasing as we proceeded down the Indian River.  By the time we were 3 miles from our destination it was so blustery that it would have been unsafe to attempt to enter a dock- remember, boats don’t have brakes to stop!  So the safest thing was to drop a hook in a little cove in about 7 feet of water.  As I write this blog the wind is roaring outside the boat, but we are snug and cozy in the cabin.  And did I mention that it is COLD for south Florida- 68 degrees right now; however some people think it is hot enough to water-ski (see picture)!

“Do we stay or do we go?”  That was our dilemma this morning.  We knew that a cold front was predicted to come this afternoon with rain and winds.  Ultimately we made the decision to stay here another day and wait out the weather.  Hopefully the rest of the week will be more conducive to travel, as there appears to be a weather window on Saturday where we can travel out in the ocean to  south of Miami.  Then we will sail the next 2 days down Hawk Channel to Marathon in the Keys.

We never intended to spend 4 days in this marina but the weather has been terrible.  This morning we woke up to pouring rain and heavy wind that eventually turned into numerous thunderous storms- not a good day to travel on the water! So we decided it was smarter to stay put for one more day.  Tomorrow we plan to get more fuel and travel to our next destination- an anchorage in the St. Lucie river.  I can’t say we did anything very productive today; just relaxed, read, walked the dog between storms, etc.  Not a bad day!

Lots of rain and wind today so we stayed tied up to the dock.  We ate lunch at the Riverside Restaurant again- fish tacos and ahi tuna nachos. Yum!  We also planned our itinerary for the coming week; you won’t believe how many bridges we have to ask to open for us in the next four days!  We plan to get more diesel tomorrow morning and then leave for the St. Lucie River.  We will be on an anchor for the next many evenings- poor Suzy- no grass for a week.  Good thing she doesn’t mind using a potty pad on board.  If all goes according to plan, we could be in Marathon in about a week.

The weather forecast called for rainy weather, so we decided to stay in the marina and do laundry, pick up groceries, etc.  We are also trying to determine the course of the rest of our trip to Key West- do we continue on the ICW to Fort Lauderdale or go out in the ocean and save some time?  We are still debating that question and the answer will be determined by the weather forecast for the next couple of weeks.

We got up at 3:45 and left our mooring at 4:30.  We knew we had to cover about 70 miles today and had to go through a bridge that won’t open between 6:30 and 8:00 about an hour away.  It was very,  very dark- lots of cloud cover and no moon.  Bryce was at the wheel steering the boat and I was standing at the bow with a big flashlight looking for red and green markers.  Finally at 6:45 it brightened up enough that I could go downstairs and make breakfast. We had light showers on and off all day, but nothing too wet.  The best part of the trip was all the dolphins that rode our bow wave (see picture).   We arrived at Vero Beach City Marina at 2:15 under cloudy skies. Along the way we saw some pretty nice beach bungalows (see photo). For dinner, we went to a little camp restaurant under the bridge. The local catfish also appreciated the restaurant.

We left Halifax Harbor Marina at 6:45; the air was still-not a hint of a breeze and it finally felt warm, the way I think Florida should feel.  We transited some wide rivers today, including the Mosquito Lagoon, the Ponce de Leon Cut, the Space Coast, Haulover Canal and the Little River.  Sounds impressive, doesn’t it!  But I was more interested in the wildlife that hang out in this area- manatees, dolphins, alligators, herons, stingrays, etc.  Unfortunately, we only saw dolphins- but lots and lots of them, even some riding our bow wave. Here's Helen looking out for manatees..... Today Bryce learned how to pick up a mooring ball for the first time.  It resembled a Laurel and Hardy film clip.  Finally got it though so we're resting up to shove off tomorrow at 5 am in the dark. We have to make over 70 miles to the next port Verio Beach before bad weather moves in and we then hole up for 3 nights.

We left St. Augustine at 6:15 this morning under clear skies just before daybreak.  We must have traveled under at least 8 or 10 bridges this morning; sometimes the waterway was wide while other times it became narrow.   We started with chili temps in the mid-40’s but by noon we were down to shirt sleeves and enjoying the sunshine.  We arrived at Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach at 12:45.  This is a huge marina with 550 boats over 6 acres.

We have had a pretty relaxing day just hanging around the city, poking into shops, and eating lunch at Harry’s, a New Orleans restaurant.  Suzy got a new dress at the very up-scale puppy boutique "Fifi's Secret" (see photos)..  Tomorrow we will continue our tracks to the south.

We left the Fernandina marina bright and early at 6:30.  It was cold but picturesque.   However, Suzy didn’t appreciate the scenery but did like the warm blanket cocoon her mother made for her on deck.  Some of the houses on Harbor Island put the ones on Hilton Head to shame.  We guessed they were well over 10,000 square feet each and seemed more like resorts than family dwellings.  We had some drama in the late morning when we had to go under a bridge with a very narrow passage.  The whole river seemed to squeeze through this one section and the tidal current gave us white caps against us about 3 feet high.  We were quite scared that the current would turn the boat and we would be bashed sideways against the bridge pilings.  But we finally inched through.  After a  bit more drama trying to tie up for fueling against strong currents we  finally docked up in St. Augustine around 4 PM.   A...

Hello Florida! We crossed over into Florida at noon today!  But what a day! At about 10:45 we were approached by a Coast  Guard vessel with a crew member on a machine gun at the bow.  They asked our destination and already seemed to know where we were heading even before we answered.  Is this AI in action? We had made reservations at this marina several days ago, but  how did they know?  They told us to move faster because one of their submarines would be coming through in a half hour.  The Coast Guard escorted us for awhile and there were 2 more Coast Guard boats and some Navy vessels in the area.  We moved on to our destination as quickly as possible and arrived at the marina at noon.  A fellow boater at the dock who used to work for the intelligence agencies told us that the Coast Guard boat had probably nuclear scanned us- very scary!  He explained that he had actually seen the  interior scans of his motor vessel that had been t...

We left our anchorage at 7:00 and again meandered through creeks, rivers and sounds.  We barely squeaked through the Little Mud River because of low tide; the depth sounder  had our keel dragging through the mud!  But we made it without incident and arrived at Jekyll Harbor Marina at 1:00.  A quick golf cart trip into town to get groceries, then on to the marina laundry to wash a load while enjoying a brew at the Riverhouse restaurant on the marina grounds! The most fun I have ever had doing laundry!  The area looks more like Florida now with lots of Spanish moss and a sign to look out for manatees. And Suzy met a new friend named Buster..in fact a distant cousin. A nice sunset at the dock.....

We left our anchorage at 6:45 under clear skies with not a hint of any wind.  The ICW meanders through the marshes, sometimes becoming wide but other times narrow and serpentine.  We went through Sapelo Sound and  St. Catherine’s Sound and saw several entrances to the ocean.  We continue to see many of the same boats every day- we are all heading south! Something we did see that was unusual was a small plane-like aircraft that has moth-like wings and can land and take-off in the water (see picture).   We’ve never seen anything like this before!  Does anyone know what it is called?   At 3:00 we anchored in Crescent River where there is quite a bit of current and now there is also quite a bit of wind too!  Cross our fingers that our anchor holds all night!

We were up at 5:00 and left the marina at 6:35 in order to pass through a swing bridge that is closed from 7:00 to 9:00 for commuter traffic.  Here is a photo of the beautiful sunrise we witnessed this morning.   At about noon we entered the Savannah River in Georgia and an hour later we anchored in Herb Creek.  Here is a picture of “The old man and the sea”!