Reacquainted with old friends

New York Transplants -- now living in Hobe Sound. We had dinner together in Port Salerno -- my old home town. Actually went past the old homestead. I would not have recognized any part of the town. After dinner they took us through Stuart. To say the area has grown is an understatement. I realized how blessed I had been to be a part of the untouched "wilderness" 40 years ago.

The reconnection of special friends has truly been the best part of the trip. We had a wonderful time catching up, exchanging stories and remembering the stories we'd created together many years ago.

Jupiter Lighthouse

One of our favorite light houses. Jupiter Lighthouse for Jupiter Inlet. Very pretty. Nice setting!

George Bush Bascule Bridge

This was sort of funny. Bridge after bridge after bridge on the Intercoasal going through the Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Palm Beach areas and we see in the guide books, here is a bridge that opens on request! Great, we think, this is one where there will be no delay. No need for planning ahead and trying to align the travel with bridge schedules (which are every half hour on the hour for some, or a quarter to the hour and after the hour for others) But as we neared the hailing distance, Ron requests an opening but is told this day only, there was an electrician working on something on the bridge. "It should be a short wait, captain." The name of the bridge? George Bush. We just laughed. No wonder. Leave it to George Bush to do things his way regardless of what the rest of the world says or thinks or desires!

More Mansions for those of you interested

These kinds of homes went on for miles and miles. Mansion after mansion after mansion. Then we were suddenly out of the wealthy area, had had a few stretches of what used to be the untouched waters edge, and suddenly we saw a steeple. Yes folks, a steeple on prime real estate, along the intercoastal, in Lake Worth. A little further on, we began to see signs of children, i.e. swing sets, trampolines, water slides. We even saw a dog relieving itself on a bed of deep green carpeted grass! Another thing that amused Ron and I was the fact that in the wealthy area, we saw no signs of life. Not one. No people sitting outside. No one (besides lawn employees) stirring in any way. It was as barren and cold as the concrete and stucco base of the homes!

West Palm Beach :-)

Tonights anchorage

Not all anchorages are preferred spots! In this area, for a marina, they want an arm and a leg and part of the dogs tail too or $300 a night just for the privilege of sleeping on your own boat! Plus many of them add an additional fee for electric! Thanks anyway, east coast of Florida, we'll drop the hook! Cost of fuel? You don't want to know that either! If there was a cut from the Gulf of Mexico to Georgia, most Loopers would opt for that route!

A beautiful sailboat

Some of the traffic today

More mansions for your enjoyment!

A few of the gorgeous homes along the ICW

"Helping" with the charts?

Yes, he's helping with the charts. We had a bit of a wind today and his was holding down the pages!

Gilligan's got the look out position today

Miami

Today was a long day. Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area are full of low bridges requiring an opening. Bridges open every half hour starting at the top of the hour; or, a quarter to the hour and a quarter after the hour, depending on the bridge. Most of the ICW throughout this area is either slow speed, no wake, or idle speed because of a manatee area. It took us 7 hours to do 50 miles today. We are anchored in Boca Raton tonight.

White Ibis

This is an immature White Ibis. It was so young that it couldn't figure out how to balance on this tree branch. We watched it for about a half hour before it flew off. I wish I could share the voice with you. Quite a strange bird call.

Miami

Yes, that's Miami in the background. Tonight we are anchored off of Key Biscayne. Tomorrow we will pass through Miami and begin heading north! We will be seeing friends along the East coast and plan on doing some cruising in St. John's River which we pick up in Jacksonville. That begins bringing us south once again, but it's all good. Lot's of wild life in the river. We're told it's worth the 160 mile diversion.

On the "road" again!

We crossed over from Hawks Channel to the ICW once again. We should be inside now until we get to Norfolk, VA.

Farewell to some favorite Loopers

This was our last night in Marathon. We had some special people to dinner. This couple will "cross their wake" in Ft. Laurderdale. We were blessed by their expertise and experiences doing the Loop.

Gilligan invited to dance

Gilligan, dancing on the dock! The Loopers loved this little guy tonight! He's not going to know what to do with himself when we are back on the hook.

Dinner at Marathon

Ron and Roger. And enjoying little buttons! She was a sweet little girl! I'll certainly miss the community we experienced here at Marathon. We hope to leave Sunday, weather permitting. We plan to anchor off of Key Largo the first night out. We'll be entering the ICW (Intercoastal Waterway) from this point on and visiting friends along the east coast of Florida. Our home is coming along nicely. They begin drywalling tomorrow or Friday. :-) "Home" is beginning to feel like a reality again!

Nice to be with family

Last night we had dinner with my brother and sister-in-law and Gilligan got to enjoy the evening with his new "cousin" Buttons. They were very cute together. We all enjoyed the evening frolics! And there were many of those!! :-)

The Dolphin Research Center

Today we went to the dolphin research center. The amount of maneuvers these animals can remember and perform, amazed us both. Such brilliant animals. The education program and services offered by this center does much good. We enjoyed the day tremendously and plan on going back if time permits. If you love dolphins, and we do, you could easily spend a day here watching the care and training of these animals.

Moments after the sun sets

Moments after the sun sets, the animals are again performing, food orders are being called out, people are clapping and cheering and the "circus" continues! It was fun to be a part of it all, ONCE!

Key West Sunset Celebration

Suddenly, all the acts stop. Sales are halted. The crowd gets very quiet and everyone finds a place along the pier wall. In almost a reverence, the crowd is silent as the sun sets below the horrizon. Quite an exhilerting exerience.

Return to Key West

We returned to Key West appox. 5:30 pm. Just in time for the Sunset Celebration. We are told this is a long standing tradition of Key West and always, peple show up by the droves. There are juggling acts, animals acts, food ventors, small booths selling almost everything you can imagine. But ...

Tired but happy

A group of us took the Fort Jefferson Ferry out of Key West for a 70 mile trip to the Dry Tortugas National Park. It took about 2 1/2 hours each way. The fort is a 19th century military post built during the civil war. It also served as a military prison. After tours of the fort, we went snorkeling and saw some pretty amazing multi-colored fish including barracuda that left us alone, and we certainly left them alone. The neighboring island is a wild life sanctuary with a wide array of birds. One of the birds is a frigate bird which attract their mate by inflating a large red sack below their chin. It was quite a sight. I'm sure many people report an injuried bird when seeing this sight. We were exhausted last night but very peaceful indeed.

Dry Tortugas National Park

Dry Tortugas National Park

The Dry Tortugas National Park

Closer shot of the bird

Here you can see a little more of the pelican. The beek was pretty strong when she wanted to move. She didn't weight much at all and that surprised me. It certainly was an interesting venture.

Pelican Rescue

Ron and I were coming back from a bike ride. A pelican crashed on the concrete parking lot in front of the bikes. We noticed SHE (we later found out) had a triple treble lure embedded in her wing. Monofilament line was wrapped around the bird, preventing it from free movement. Something frightened the bird; she jumped into the water and was unable to keep her head above water. (Because of the line wrapped around her) I held the other end of the line, knowing if she swam off we'd never get her again and the animal rescue was on the way. Mike jumped in and got her to the dock but she was flapping around extensively and he couldn't hold her. Ron had Gilligan in his bike basket and we did not need to add him to the mix, so I jumped in to help contain the bird until help could arrive. On this blog is the woman who started bird rescue at Crane Point Museum. We'd taken pictures of her and posted it a few weeks ago. Well, wouldn't you know -- she is the one who came for the bird! It was a very exciting day. . . While waiting for the rescue people to arrive, Mike and I joked that when they came there, we'd each be given a $250 fine for touching the wild life! But the little one would have drowned if we hadn't! Good outcome! Happy day!

Manatee stops for a cool drink

The captain of this pleasure craft was washing down his boat with fresh water. The water flowed from the scupper and as he turned around, he realized he had a little friend (little? friend) sharing in a overflow.

The luncheon yesterday??? Just a diversion!

Would you believe --- yesterdays lunch was to "get me out of the way" so that the preparation could continue! They surprised me COMPLETELY yesterday afternoon! The story was that my brother and sister-in-law wanted to take us to dinner to celebrate the birthday. Where they took us was to this cabana where all the loopers were waiting! It truly is a birthday I will treasure and remember always! (Notice the dolphins on the cake?) I've got a pretty terrific husband! He's been planning this since we got to Marathon. Bless his heart!

Turning 60 in style!

Sometimes being so far away from family and friends can be very hard. Not today! This is all the "Looper" wives and we enjoyed many laughs this afternoon as they all took me to lunch to celebrate six decades of life! I was very surprised and grateful! AND my brother is picking us up this evening for dinner. Gilligan was thrilled and a bit confused when he got not one, or two, but three walks in today! I'll certainly remember turning 60 "on the Loop."