Islamorada - Riviera Beach

We left Islamorada a day late because there was a front moving though. So we left on a Friday. We anchored out right by the bridge that goes over the Intercoastal in Key Largo. What a boat parade. We got there right after noon and anchored right next to the ICW. Spent the night then got up early and headed for Miami. Crossed Biscine Bay and turned up into Miami Beach area where we anchored in Sunset Lake for 3 nights until another front passed. One that tornado's had done a lot of damage across the USA.

I had listed Summertime for sale with a broker that was in West Palm Beach only a week earlier. Now the average time it takes to sell a boat in Florida is 9 months. So I was not to in a hurry. But this broker told me he knew people who were looking for older trawlers in good shape and that they were hard to find. With Diesel prices up to $4.50 a gallon and expected to go higher. It was a grand to fill up in Islamorada.

We received a call from the broker wanting to show the boat in 10 days. We decided on Riviera Beach Muncipal Marina because all the other Marinas were close to $2,000 a month for our boat. They were a city marina and only $730 a month.

The next morning were went up the ICW through 36 bridges, waved at Carol in Pompono Beach and then pulled into Riviera Beach Municipal Marina late in the afternoon. The next day we started getting the boat ready to show. Our friend that we had met in Key West named Lloyd from Port Lavaca had his sailboat in the marina and loaned us his mini van for supplies.

The day finally came to show the boat. The broker and his customer showed up on time from Tampa. Now we had stayed in St Petersburg for a month and this broker looked familiar. I told Karen we know him. We went to the Tiki Bar at the Marina to let them look the boat over. Karen called the people we docked next to in St Pete to get the last name of the broker we had met while we were there. He confirmed it was him. The broker called and asked us to come back to the boat, Were we met the prospective buyers. We reminded the broker Joe were we had met him, a dock party at the Harbourage Marina.

They wanted to take the boat back to St Petersburg to the marina we had stayed at. They are retired and have a Swan 48 in the BVI but want a place to be able to be in the marina while in Florida.

They called back that night and made us a fair offer which we accepted after a little dickering back and forth. They wanted to close 2 weeks later. They spend 2 weeks in the BVI and 2 weeks in Florida. We spent the next 2 weeks packing up our stuff in boxes. The water line rose 6 inches after taking the boxes off.

We rented a car for a week and went to some fun places like Lion Safari, Jupiter Beach, CitiCenter in West Plam Beach, a Nautical Antiques store owned by the guy in Gavestons' Dad, a few restaurants and bars including the Pirates Well and Guanabanas near Jupiter Inlet. We drove by the other side of the multi-million dollar mansions.

The survey passed and we drove back to Texas in a moving van. There was a problem with the Documentation from the Coast Guard and some additional paper work need to be received, so the final closing was postponed for a week. But we just got that straightened out today.

We had Summertime for 6 years and really enjoyed our adventures with her! Thanks to everyone who shared in our fun.

Islamorada Time

Went back to KW for the Conch Fest where Karen displayed her Jewelry. Met up with Jon & Renee for a few hours at the show. Then we spent the night at our friends house in KW and back to the boat in Islamorada about a 2 hour drive.

The front that came across the US finally hit here with 50 mph winds. This marina is on the north side and it is rough when the wind blows from the north. Most of the time the wind blows from the East so the water on this whole side of the key is like glass. It has a sandy bottom with some coral. What a playground for people who love the water.

We have been exploring some of the subdivisions in the dingy & have seen some Manatee in one of the subdivisions close by.

Karen displayed her Jewelry at the Marathon Seafood Festival with a friend of hers named Holly whom makes belt buckles. They had a good show and we found a new credit card processor which uses a smart phone. Luckily Karen had an upgrade so I got a droid X. I love this thing, I can do most of what I use my computer for and it takes nice pics & video as well.

The same weekend as the Festival Linda & Carol drove down from Ft Lauderdale for a short visit.

We found a great bar/restaurant in Key Largo called the Pilot House. It has glass floors and places you can feed the fish through the floor. Good happy hour and food. We went there with our new friends and dock neighbors Mike & Kay Ann.

We drove up to Stuart Florida to check out marinas, then spent the night at Carol's condo right on the beach in Pompono Beach. The next day we went to the largest marine flea market in the county in Dania Beach.

We went on a glass bottom boat ride in Pennekamp State Park. They have a very nice Catamaran and it was a beautiful calm day. We saw lots of living coral, many different fish and stingrays.

We have had a couple of Manatee come up to the boat in the marina here. One even drank water from our air conditioner water outlet.

We drove back to Houston and dropped off our truck then flew back to Ft Lauderdal on Southwest Airlines. Thanks to Dave Frapart for the hospitality and ride to the airport. We spent Friday night at my sons house in Covington, then drove over to Lake Charles to my Mom's house. She treated us to a play called Aluminum at the Civic Center. While we were gone a tornado touched down on a boat about 150 feet from our boat. It tore the enclosure off a 90ft yacht. Glade it missed us!

Planning on heading north up the east coast around April 1st.

Moved up the Keys to islamorada

Our friend Jeff Gibson (Our Insurance Agent) came down for a night with Michelle we all went out to Sloppy Joes after we watched sunset at Mallory Square. We had a good time sitting by some girls from Pensacola. Karen & Michelle went upon the stage with the band dancing several times.

We went to Miami for a weekend to see the Miami Boat Show. They claim it is the biggest boat

show in the world. It is in four different places. You park and ride shuttle buses. We stayed at 6060 a hotel condo the unites are individually owned. We met our good friends that live in KW Eddie Gonzales & Hillary Porcha. We all went out to eat at Shula's Steakhouse for Karen's Birthday.

Eddie has a Henriquie 42 Sportsfish. He took us out fishing twice. We caught over 70 fish each time. He has been fishing all his life and he has it down. What a nice boat to go fishing on. Their friends from Louisiana Wayne & Debra and Eddies accounting manager Sarah went with us & are in the pics. We're about ready to head in from the North side of the Marquesses this Lobster boat in the pic comes up to us and offers us a bucket of Lobsters for some bottled water. They have been out for eight days.

We finally left KW. Miss it already. We had a nice run in the Hawk Channel from Key West to Marathon. Where we crossed under the Seven Mile Bridge into the Gulf of Mexico and back into the Atlantic ICW. Man is it shallow. Depths on the chart said 5 or 6 feet but at high tide it was like 4 or 5 feet. The water is so clear it looks like it's about 1 foot deep. We saw 5 Sea Turtles and traveled 78 miles in one day. Due to the fact that a front was coming through and it's hard to find shelter on this side of the Keys to anchor. So we decided to make the trip in 1 day instead of 2.

We're at Plantation Yacht Harbor at Founder's Park. The marina is very nice. It has a swimming pool, tennis court, baseball field, basketball court, soccer field, dog park, beach and brand new gas BBQ pits under a large covered patio.

Just so happens we're docked next to the Brian the hot dog man. He takes his floating houseboat out to Snake Creek Sand Bar on the Atlantic side and sells hot dogs, hamburgers, fries and souvenir cup for $3 which includes a free beer. There will be about 200 boats pull up to the sand bar on a nice day. This will be a nice dingy trip for us when we get a nice weekend day.

Race Week January 2011

We went to Margaritaville Cafe to see the Sauce Boss he plays his own Blues Music and cooks a chicken and seafood gumbo on stage while he is playing. At the end of the night he serves up the gumbo for everyone to eat. We met a couple that the girl is from Baton Rouge and her boyfriend is a doctor in KW. Some friends of theirs also came they are from Alabama and own Piggly Wigglys along the Gulf Coast.

We went to see the Shipwreck Museum and I took this picture for Mike Fairbanks who had told me that his family owned a scale company.

This pic is from the tower on top of the Shipwreck Museum once used to spot ship wrecks.

Key West was once the richest city in America due to the Salvaging of ship wrecks. I took this pic because Karen's best friend last name is Ripp.

Know I now who Jeff Richard feels.