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.