Monday March 31: Hanging Around Hollywood - Waiting ....

So we're still in Hollywood waiting for the winds to calm and be from some direction other than the north.

It looks now like it might be Wednesday based on several forecast sites - but who knows if it will hold. Looking good though ... we'll see!

In the meantime there has been plenty of bike riding. Publix, Winn Dixie and Walmart are all in one place that is a nice 3 mile one way ride through a mix of housing which varies from normal sized older homes to the newer who-needs-that-much-room homes. One would think that with the shopping trip with the car the other day we wouldn't need any more supplies but there always seems to be something we forgot to buy!

This morning was a trip across the ICW for breakfast on the Hollywood Beach Boardwalk - and of course we had to wait for the bridge! I can see how cars could get annoyed by us when we need to have a bridge raised.



Peter, of course, wasn't watching and missed the arm coming down in front of him. What a jokester! I'm surprised the bridge tender didn't yell at us for horsing around at the crossing! (You'll note he is laughing as he poses for us with his bike flopped over - no shortage of entertainment when he's around :-) )

The breakfast place they picked out was very good and right on the beach. Restaurants, condos and motels line this boardwalk for almost 2 miles - what a great place to bike ride.

The old bandshell is still here with music nightly. Perhaps we'll take in a show one  of these nights.

And this city takes it's beaches seriously! No footprints permitted, thank you.

Big tractors like this pull a weighted tube around to smooth the beach every day. Plus the city has planted more palm trees - probably doubling the number that were already growing on the beach.

You can tell the new ones because they still have the wooden stakes to keep them straight until the roots take hold. Plus they have to be watered. Lots of tourist $$ for the area.

After breakfast and a ride down the boardwalk, it was time to untie and head to the fuel dock. The holding tank needed pumped out anyway so we filled the tanks with diesel - now we are ready to go.

While we are off of the dock, might as well move to the same dock as Peter and Cheryl so now we're just a couple of boats down from them. Easier than being on different docks since each dock has it's own keyed gate.

So for now, we are enjoying the days and just waiting .....

Friday March 28: Where Is It We're Going??

Funny about where the Bahamas are actually located. I always thought of them as being somewhere south of the US but not too far south.

Turns out they are really east of southern Florida! Who knew?

So to travel to the Northern Bahamas (Abaco Island and Cays), we wanted to leave Marathon to be in a better position to cross to the west end of Grand Bahama Island.

To actually go there, we leave from Port Everglades and head northeast. 65 nautical miles. 75 statute miles. About 11 hours of travel based on an average speed of 7 mph.

And we'll hopefully get a push from the gulfstream as we go. The gulfstream can be up to 25 miles wide and traveling north at speeds up to 3 knots. Now THAT is what I would call a nice push!

So perhaps our 11 hours won't really be that long :-)

Time to shop for supplies!!

Steve was like a kid in a candy store at Sam's Club! And I was on sensory overload just walking around the place. Probably the largest store we've been in for a while for sure.

It actually wasn't as successful as we'd hoped but still we were able to get some things. Peter and Cheryl scored on a few items as well. Next stop? Walmart of course.

Everyone did much better here. Sam's has large quantities and a not very good selection of low-fat or low-sodium option. Walmart is better. Publix is the best.

By the time we were done the car was loaded.

And I mean inside and out!

It was all Cheryl and I could do to see each other in the back seat and it really made being a back seat driver hard for me :-)

Now. Picture the stuff and the 4 of us in the Chevy Mazda2 pictured left.

You see the issue, of course. Trying to explain that to the rental guy was a test of patience. First he "couldn't find" our reservation but he did have cars he could rent us "for a bit more". Did I have the confirmation number? Of course not.

Quick - call our computer resource called Wendy, have her log into my email and get the number. Success! Oh, now he can find the reservation - right there it is. Amazing ......  So there is your car - as he points to the tiny red Chevy Mazda. No, no, no ... no. That just won't do. That is not the size we rented. But that's all he had - except for the 5 small suv's sitting there. Of course they would be an extra $20. So you want us to pay $60 to rent a car for 1 day that we will drive probably 30 miles? No, no, no ...no.

Steve and I were sounding like a broken record. In the end we finally made off with a mid-size that would hold the four of us and our expected purchases. And the guy tried to get an extra $10 for that on as it was an upgrade from what we reserved!

Ok. Print up the paperwork. The rental guy: total comes to $54. No, no, no .....no. Us: the cost is around $42. Finally got that changed and we were on our way.

Worst car rental experience we've ever had. Oh well, it's still a beautiful day .....

Wednesday March 26: Hollywood, FL

It was a long 60 mile day Monday as we made our way to Miami with weather that was cool with off and on sun. We weren't sure where we were going to stay other than anchor out somewhere but not sure where.

Sadly we passed by state parks at Boca Chita and No Name Harbor (both of which we've stayed in the past and enjoyed) but we were concerned about the weather for both Monday night and Tuesday.

Both state partks would have left us traveling the upper half of Biscayne Bay with weather forecast to be rainy with north winds moving in later in the day.

So Steve checked Active Captain and found a nice "anchorage" right near downtown Miami. Used to be that anchorages were thought to be a nice, secluded, get-away-from-it-all spot. Not tonight! What he found was a nice little deep spot just off of the ICW.

It was perfect! Follow the white deep water channel in and anchor in the deeper water near shore.

Anchor held on the first try. We're liking this 90 feet of anchor chain!

By the time we were in and set it was 5 o'clock already, winds were mild, temp was nice. Sit back and enjoy the sunset.

The view at night was fun - having been at Banana Bay for 3 months, I almost forgot what it was like to be in or around a large city. The evening view was quite nice for a change :-) It ended up raining most of the night - it was a good decision to continue as far as we did.

And it's never hard to tell when we're in the Miami area - just have to check out all of the large yachts lining the shores. By the way, we were called a yacht today! There was dredging in the channel and I was going very slow as I wasn't quite sure of where to go. The dredge captain called on channel 16 to the "yacht approaching". I looked around to see who was behind me before I figured he must mean us!! I'm sure they call every boat a yacht but first time for us :-)

It's so different traveling through southern Florida (well, the whole Florida coast for that matter) than it is traveling through the Keys.

Tall condo building lining the waterway (often on both sides with more being built every year), bridges every 2 miles or so and way more boaters than we've seen in 3 months - and it was a Monday! We have a rule: never, never travel through Miami on the ICW on a weekend. Guess how we figured that one out ....

Even the rooftops have lush landscaping. Maybe some of those folks never make it down to land?

It was a short 15 miles to the Hollywood City Marina on Tuesday.

Peter and Cheryl (who are a mile south of us at another marina) came by dinghy for a short but nice reunion - sadly the picture of their arrival was blurry :-(

We last left them in Georgian Bay last September when we were on Guppy and they were on Deja Vu (well, that's not quite true as they drove two hours to Severn Falls to bring us a part for our engine - such friends :-))

Now as soon as we get provisioned and the weather decides to cooperate, we'll head off to the Bahamas...... but it looks like it may be a while.

We'll see. Nice sunset again - taken off the back of Yesterday's Dream.


It was quite the lazy morning today. I think we're both still catching up from the travel. Not sure why, but it is tiring.

So the thought was we'd ride to Publix (about 1 1/2 miles) to pick up a few things. Off comes my bike, park it on the dock, wait for Steve to bring his bike.

I turn my head and my bike has blown off of the dock and into the water!! Who knew it was so windy??

Fortunately, Steve was able to hook it with the boat hook and pull it up. Guess I learned a lesson about how to not just stand my bike on the dock on a very windy day!




What a difference between riding around here and riding around Marathon! The streets are all lined with palm trees. No bike path but the side street on which we were riding was pretty quiet.


On the way back, Steve spotted this duck? goose? that was kind of weird looking in an interesting way.

Not sure what kind of bird this is -- any suggestions??

Dinner tonight? Peter and Cheryl are coming by dinghy. I think they are bringing the salad and Steve is making some kind of pasta.

Life is back to normal :-)

Monday March 24: Leaving Banana Bay Behind ....

It was a bittersweet morning yesterday as we pulled out of Banana Bay for the trip north.

Many of the neighbors with whom we have spent time the last three months came to wish us well (throwing the traditional flowers in our wake at the dock) and see us off.

We are anxious to see what the Bahamas are all about but we will miss those that have become friends here over the four years we have wintered in this marina. The decision to leave wasn't made until yesterday morning so sadly we weren't able to say our goodbye's to everyone.

But we'll see them next year!!

It was one of those crazy calm days when you couldn't tell where the water ended and where the sky began.

Seemed like a trip to the ocean side was in order!


After traveling a couple of hours to the nearest crossing point from bay side to ocean side, we cut south and then headed east to Alligator Reef.

Funny how the reefs are named. Most of the names come from ships that were wrecked on a particular reef. Alligator Reef, for example, is named for the ship USS Alligator. For more info, click here.

The snorkeling was ok but visibility was limited and the water was kind of murky. But there were some GIANT parrotfish hanging around under the boat. Definitely a good stop.

We spent the night anchored behind Pigeon Key - just south of Key Largo - a 55 mile day. A good distance for the first day of traveling!

The coolest thing: there were green glowing jellyfish floating past the boat! Steve had stepped out of the cabin sometime after dark and spotted them. Really fun. The weird thing was if I shined the light on them, there was nothing there .....

Nice sunrise - and I was actually up :-)

Off to Miami ........

Saturday March 22: Vacation is Over :-(

We sent Christi, Will, JP and Kaitlyn off to the cold weather of St. Louis but not before a few more experiences here in the Keys.

You can't, of course, be a boater if you don't play Mexican Train. So that was on the agenda for the usual evening's entertainment.

The AWESOME team of JP, Kailyn and me crushed the competition for the first game. This game took all week as we played only 3 rounds or so each night. But last night? Christi was on fire - winning the short 3 round game with a score of 0 points - going out all 3 hands. We all refused to play another round with her ......

Big fun of the last couple of days was the trip to the Dolphin Research Center. This time an up close and personal affair with the dolphin by Kaitlyn, JP and Steve!

Things went well with nice petting and handshakes and then the all out fun started with a splash fight!

Guess who won :-)

Yep - the dolphin. I think everyone was soaked by the time they finished.

A stop at the Island Grill for a late lunch topped off the day.


Next task was to open the coconut. This year the kids and Steve actually found two of them - both with milk inside (unlike last year when they "found" a coconut at the grocery store....) They picked what was the most likely one to be able to be opened and Steve and Will went to work.

The key was to find something vice-like to hold the coconut while Steve sawed away at the husk that covers the nut inside.




Christi was right to be concerned about the closeness of Will's fingers as Steve cut away but no trips to the emergency room necessary - thankfully. Must have been the masterful control of the saw on Steve's part!

In the end? Success - after an application of a pry bar and a hammer.

Aahhh the taste of fresh coconut......

The meals each night were super  -  seafood for Steve, Christi, JP and me. Pulled pork for Kaitlyn (she LOVED this - good thing the take out restaurant for it was just next door!) and some kind of non-seafood for Will.

A special dinner for their last night: lobster - Maine not the Florida variety.

There was no lack of eating on this vacation that's for sure and everything was so good.Nice job Chefs Christi and Steve!

Christi kindly shared her special cupcake with everyone - it was unbelievable good.







There was time for one last dinghy ride this morning and one last look for the green flash last night.

Alas, no sighting of the green flash for them this year but they are believers because they saw it last year.



Even without a green flash it was a beautiful sunset.

The end. A great time was had by all.

Now if it would just quit snowing up there in St. Louis ......

Thursday March 20: The Fun Continues!

Kaitlyn with her matching goggles and fingernails!

I'm once again wondering where the time has gone. Tomorrow is Christi and Will's last full day to be here in the Keys - the time has flown!

Having Kaitlyn and J.P. around reminds me how much energy kids have - perhaps I will be able to develop a method to bottle this energy, sell it and become a millionaire :-)

I have to add that it has been a wonderful respite from the work on the boat. Either work for this boat or work for Guppy.

We are up in the morning and off to spend the day in a leisurely fashion rather than up in the morning and getting started on the latest project.

I have spent more time in the pool in the last week than I have for the last month! It's been great :-)

The weather has for the most part been quite nice. One of the past days was perfect for kayaking on the bay side so we used our two inflatable kayaks and were able to borrow a couple of other kayaks from boat neighbors.


It was a tour of the neighborhood in search of the monstrous iguana that live in the canals very near here to Banana Bay.

It was a group? pack? pod? flock? Whatever. It was a fun time and many iguana were spotted along the canals.

There was a hike among the hammocks, alligator viewing and enough interesting information along the trail to make it a learning experience as well!

The Keys Fisheries was on the list for lunch places. After lunch, Steve and I received the "Franko's Florida Keys Adventure and Dive Guide" as a gift from the Toracks - who knew that we published dive maps!!

Never saw any of these down here before - it was a fun find.



Yesterday was the perfect day for a trip on the Bay side. The object was to fish and see dolphins. The fish didn't cooperate and neither did the dolphins but we still had a nice day.


Kaitlyn caught the first fish of the day (longer than 3 inches at least!) with Will, J.P. and Steve quickly following suit.

None were keepers but at least there was a bit of catching going on.








One of the weirdest things was a huge flock of commerents along with the occasional pelican.  I was hoping this was an indication of schools of fish in the area but sadly it didn't turn out that way.

There was more kayaking today - this time at Sombrero Beach. The wind was out of the north so the south facing beach was perfect.

And it's so easy to deflate the kayaks, pack them in the back of the car and we were good to go. Except I forgot the pump to reinflate them :-(

Will and Steve zipped back for the pumps and all was good. Kaitlyn and J.P. took a spin down the beach and then turned the kayaks over to Will and Christi for a turn.

But there was still time for a divide and conquer to pare down the list of things to do. Christi and Kaitlyn went to the turtle hospital while Will, J.P., Steve and I visited the small but interesting Air Museum at the airport.

The neatest thing was you could sit in the cockpit of this plane from the 1940's (it still is flown on occasion). Grace Kelly was a passenger in this very plane when she was at the height of her acting career!










The small built by hand kit plane was a perfect fit for J.P. - maybe he'll end up being a pilot - who knows!


Tomorrow being the last full day will need to be a full one, right? I mean after all there are still a number of things on THE LIST :-)

I'm thinking it's going to be a late start though ........