Marathon to Stuart, Florida

March 16---Day 121
Leaving Marathon, Bob did try fishing. Luckily, I didn't plan on fish for dinner !

Here are some scenes from the water. We were out in Hawk Channel which is on the Atlantic side of the Keys.










Sailboat going south...







This is one of the turtles we saw along the way..









Later, we entered the Intracoastal Waterway (inside route), passing under this bridge.










Birds sunning on one of the pilings under the bridge.







There are shallow spots next to the waterway, so we had to keep a watchful eye...they say not to boat where birds are walking !






These birds each took a post---not too many openings left !





We decided to stay in a marina that night and enjoy the air conditioning...it was beastly hot that day. So we stayed in Plantation Key and enjoyed long showers and all the comforts of home---A/C, cable tv, etc. Did the laundry. The next day it was blowing pretty good so we decided to rent a car and explore the upper keys that way instead of trying to get into each place by boat.





Our first stop was the Wide World of Sports in Matecumbe Key.








Outside of the store, there is a pond with several large tarpon like this one in it.




Inside, in the center of the store, there is the sister ship of Hemingway's boat. Bob had to check out the helm...












There are just a few fishing reels for sale in here !!!








This elevator shows some of the decor of the store.










Even the floor of the elevator had this beautiful wood inlay.

We also visited the memorial to the people who died in the huricane of 1936. Nearly 500 people died or were never found.

Another suggestion was to visit Robbies's Fish camp.. this was supposed to be prime viewing for giant tarpon. There were tarpon but with the choppy water, didn't show well. But this bird was interesting, and waiting for hand-outs...

After anchoring out for 2 nights, we had decent weather to cross Biscayne Bay headed for Miami. On the way, we passed these Stilthouses ---I saw about 4 of them toward the Atlantic side of the bay.

Here we are nearing Miami..sailboat, power boat, plane...this will be a busy place.

We're getting close.....

This sculpture of the man blowing the conch shell is one of the first sights in the harbor.

And then this pirate ship---little did we know we would see it many more times that evening !

Sure enough, when we were anchored near the Venetian Causeway bridge, this boat went by every 2 hours or so !

Here is the view of downtown Miami from our anchorage.

We saw this blimp flying over the golf course where the PGA tournament was going on. According to the news, Tiger Woods' yacht was docked in Miami, but we didn't see it...we kept a watch out with no luck.

We did see a lot of other yachts though...like this one with it's own helicopter and power boat! That must be hard to take...

While we passed this boat on our left, there was a kayaker on the right side...what a stark contrast !

Here we are entering the channel where the cruise ships leave from in Port Everglades (Government cut) to go out to the Atlantic.

Here are a lot of big yachts docked...but not in the mega yacht category. There were plenty of those too !

Here are a couple of the mansions on the waterway. At first we were struck by their opulence, but after seeing one after another, we grew numb to them... What was surprising was the number of these that were for sale, or were going up for auction.

This island in the middle of the waterway is Peanut Island which is now a state park. During the Kennedy administration however, it was the the bunker for the President during the Cuban crisis.

This was one of the prettier bridges that we had to go under--this was in Palm Beach. There were many bridges that we had to wait to open so we could go through...

Here, we're waiting for the south bound boats to go through so we could go..These were heading for the upcoming boat show in Palm Beach...if you look closely you'll see there is a bunch of them behind the bridge. All together we counted 30 going south that had to wait for the opening...there were only 2 of us going north.

Here is another one of those houses with the yacht in front.

As we went further north, the houses seemed to get more realistic--still big but not as opulent. This was as we were nearing Jupiter.

Even more regular houses with a lot more green space and trees.

Here is a fishing boat coming in for the day. You can see the pelicans following to get the extra bait and remnants from the fish cleaning. There was heavy traffic on this Easter week-end, more so with students on holiday.

Finally, the Jupiter Lighthouse. We were glad to be getting near Stuart where we would take a dock for the night and fuel up. Hopefully we can go to church on Easter Morning.

Goodland to Marathon

Leaving Goodland where we were held up by high winds, we headed for Little Shark River where we anchored for the night. Nothing there except several other boats. We saw this spoonbill as we were leaving Goodland.








We went through the Ten Thousand Islands...here are just a few.









This is the channel to Everglades City.















It was a pretty channel to the dock in front of the Rod and Gun club where we spent the night. This was a private club at one time for the rich and famous. Had lunch there on the porch and then walked up town for an ice cream cone.


















Here we are in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Sunset picture looking at the Boot Key Bridge.








This is our neighbor...see his dock with all the comforts of home--wind generators, solar panel, direct tv. He does a good job with his laundry. There are many many live-aboards in this harbor plus about 200 mooring balls for transients which are always full. We anchored and then dinghied in to the grocery, etc.









We intended to stay only 2 nights in Marathon, but then we heard about the big Seafood Festival on the week-end held in the park right next to the marina. It was worth staying for....enjoyed golden crab and also stone crabs. They were so sweet, no sauce needed. Ended up taking some peel n eat shrimp and fish spread back to the boat where we shared with Jeanne and Jerry from Morning Star,and Beth and Darrel who just arrived.


This charming 83 year old lady was one of the volunteers working the tables (not a very good picture). We visited with many many people from the East Coast there.







More scenes from the Festival.















March 16
We leave Boot Key and the Berge's behind...heading for somewhere in the Northern Keys. Bob says he's going to catch a big fish on the way !

Burnt Store to Goodland

We stayed at Cape Harbour in Cape Coral the first night where we had free dockage. The developer here is the same one as at Burnt Store so that's a little perk...There are a couple of restaurants, and several shops in the complex as well as the condo residences so it was a fun place to walk around.

Rumrunner's Restaurant at Cape Harbour.

Here is the Sanibel bridge where the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway ends....

On to Marco Island...one of the

condo's in the entrance. We

anchored in Factory Bay for the night and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

The next day it was on to Goodland---about 10 miles up the Marco River. It was shallow so we went up on the incoming tide but unfortuntely, the wind was against us. But all ends well, after only stirring up a little mud, we arrived in Goodland. This is a real houseboat on the end of our dock. We were greeted by a group of dolphins but the pictures don't do the justice. But you can see the nice view we have from the cockpit....

There was a lovely walkway from the marina in to the ship's store and laundry/showers through the mangroves shown here.

Going in to Goodland, we were going to find out what this town was known for....There are about 500 people, 3 bar/restaurants ( or maybe restaurant/bars) 1 gift shop, one fresh fish store, 4 streets, and a couple of motel/lodging places. Also one Baptist Church but we were told they don't turn anyone away.

We ate at the Little Bar and had a great grouper sandwich with sweet potatoe fries on the porch. They have a couple of outdoor dining areas too along with inside dining. We decided that Goodland should be known for the funky art work some of which are shown here.

We never did find the yard where the owner has recycled the old 50's toilets (the green, yellow, gold, pink ones) to line her driveway as pots for flowers.

We are spending a couple days here because of the HIGH winds. It seems weird to take a walk, read a book in the afternoon, and even take a nap ! Tomorrow, maybe to Everglades City.

Burnt Store Marina

One of the fun activities we took part in was the Golf Cart Parade which Judy and Dennis invited us to ride along with them. I missed getting the angel on top of the cart though ! (Note: I have a camera !)

Some of the other entrants in the parade...there were 30 or so in all.

A fun time was had by all...I was amazed at the number of people out watching the parade....Here are just a few.

Other winter activities for me were bridge, the quilting group. For Bob, there was the weekly sailing race, poker and working on the boat stuff. For us, there was dance classes, our building socials, yacht club get togethers. Of course, I forgot the camera for all that.

In January, Mike C visited so we went to Sanibel and Fisherman's Village and he helped Bob on the boat. Mike K, Marni and Annika followed for some R&R. February brought the Knutsons who also helped us move on to the boat and get the condo ready for Kitter and friends who will be staying there in March. Before we left, we visited David and Lynn in Tampa where he was attending a meeting.

On March 5, we left Burnt Store Marina to begin the rest of our "Loop". We expect to be back in Lake Michigan in August.

Salvaged pictures from Tarpon Sprngs to Burnt Store Marina

These shrimp boats got into a little jam here !

As we left Tarpon Springs, we started on the Gulf Intracostal Waterway.

In this part of the trip, there are more and more homes and condos along the way. And, with that, there are many more amenities such as this tour boat, the golf course, etc. I never did see whether the golfer did retrieve his ball....

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One of the bridges along the way....and there were many !

Here we are on our last night at anchor. We left for Burnt Store Marina early the next morning. It was great to be on land for a while. I felt like I was walking crooked for a few days.....like a drunken sailor !