We have arrived at our "summer home"! (Posted 5/22/2010)

Since our last posting we have moved further north and we are now in Stuart which will be our "summer home" and home base for cruising this part of the Florida east coast. We are on a mooring (permanently installed anchor) and have access to the marina facilities (laundry, showers, cruiser's lounge, dinghy dock, etc.). We will stay here for awhile, fly up to Connecticut for a visit, cruise around this area when we return from Connecticut, be here for the Fourth of July and then head further north up to Cape Canaveral area (about 100 miles north of here) as Amy, Mark, Laura and Olivia will be coming down for a vacation at the end of July in Cocoa Beach and to visit the Kennedy Space Center. There was supposed to be one of the last two shuttle launches then but it was delayed until November right after they made their reservations!! But an Atlas V rocket is still scheduled to be launched and we are all looking forward to touring the Space Center and, of course, beach time.

When we last posted to the blog we were in Miami Beach. Since then we first sailed up to Baker's Haulover Inlet to anchor in a beautiful cove sandwiched between a park with a nice beach and the campus of Florida International University. We went ashore to the park and went swimming and snorkeling. The water temperature was probably only 80 degrees, so being the Florida wimps we are we considered it too cold!! :-). We prefer 85 degrees or more!

Here is a photo of the park and beach taken from the boat:

The next day we motored up the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) to Fort Lauderdale. We passed through the Port Everglades port with all the freighters and cruise ships. At one point a freighter was coming into the port from out at sea and passed between us and a docked cruise ship! It was from Vietnam and I just hoped that they didn't hold a grudge! (When I was on the aircraft carrier Enterprise all those years ago we bombed the heck out of Vietnam!!). I got over as far to the edge of the channel as I could to give them as much room as possible!! Fortunately, the crew members on deck (who were probably not born in 1968 when we were bombing Vietnam) gave us a friendly wave as we passed instead of opening fire or trying to run us down!!

Here is a photo of the freighter passing us:

As we passed through Fort Lauderdale we passed lots of mega-homes and mega-yachts. Sorry there are no photos as we were too busy gawking and critiquing the homes and yachts (as in, "That $20 million dollar home needs more palm trees and landscaping!", "I don't like the color of the roof or paint on that one!", "That $10 million dollar yacht is just UGLY!", etc.)

We anchored in what we affectionately nicknamed "Taser Anchorage" because three years ago the police wanted to arrest me and impound the boat for anchoring in their waters for more than 24 hours in a one year period even though they knew their threat was in violation of my rights under Florida and federal laws! Well, since then they have decided to become law abiding citizens like us and they are no longer harrassing cruisers. Sooooo, this time they passed by us without a glance and chased after speed boats violating the speed limit!

We spent the weekend in the anchorage, going ashore to do some shopping and left on Monday to head north again. We anchored for a night in a little cove off the ICW just south of Delray Beach and then to a favorite anchorage in Lantana where we went ashore for Linda to shop at a bead store (she is into beading and jewelry making now, as well as sewing) and to visit a little bakery we like in Lantana.

The next day we weighed anchor and moved on to the Palm Beaches (West Palm Beach, Palm Beach and North Palm Beach) and more mega-homes and mega-yachts, living the life of the rich and famous, daaaaahling!! We stayed for two days and went ashore for more shopping (Linda is seriously deprived of shopping all winter in the Keys so it is best to indulge her shopping needs when possible!!! I determined long ago that shopping for women is a primeval need, like fishing or hunting is for many men, and it can be dangerous to get in the way when a woman's shopping instinct kicks in!! :-)

After two days we weighed anchor and left the Palm Beaches behind. We motored north passing through Jupiter and Hobe Sound (OK, more mega-homes, this time with much more land and gorgeous landscaping!) and on to anchor in a favorite anchorage in Peck Lake (not really a lake, just a very wide place off the ICW and saltwater).

Here is a photo of the small beach. After you cross the barrier island a short distance, you come to the Atlantic Ocean and a much bigger beach!

Today we left that anchorage and headed a short 12 miles up to Stuart where we are now. It was supposed to be a nice, short, relaxing last day to reach our "summer cruising grounds". Unfortunately, it was NOT to be!! As we got out of the ICW and were about to turn into the St. Lucie River, a HUGE power boat made a curving turn around us throwing a huge wake. Because he turned in front of us and around us there was no direction to turn without hitting it head-on. So we took three big waves over the bow, solid water over the deck, washing up the dodger windshield and into the cabin and cockpit. Cabin, bed, rugs, galley were soaked!! I am sorry there are no photos of this for you but we were in "survival mode" and not picture taking mode!! In 4 1/2 years and over 4000 miles we have never had saltwater in the cabin! We were NOT amused!! Fortunately we don't carry firearms or I would be going to jail right now! As you can imagine, there was some "cussing like a sailor" going on!! Soooo... We spent our first day in Stuart doing laundry (quilt, bedding, towels, etc., to get rid of the saltwater which never really dries and trying to dry out the boat! As I write this we are back on the boat, safely moored, had a nice dinner (and I had a much needed rum and coke!), and are looking forward to relaxing a bit and exploring Stuart. :-)