Miami Yacht Club and Key Largo

Several days ago we arrived in Miami spent three night at the Yacht Club. We met several people from NS including retired RCMP member(Ralph Weaton) that Lane knew quite well. Also Jim Duncan, a former Yarmouth boy, his dad fished the NS waters. He is 79 and looked liked a 60 year old.


Today we travel to Key Largo, and anchored in "tarpon Basin", is was 52 stuatue miles. Along the way we were passed by a very large number of cigarette boats, man were they loud and going the speed of sound. We saw them later just in Key Largo, and they were having a photo shoot with the slim girl models parading their bodies. later they came by us again, helicopter flying over them and us. I think that we were in some of the shots?? But we could not keep up with them, and they were long gone!!!

Had a nice BBQ, and relaxed on the boat, the stars are out and its flat calm. Tomorrow we are going to check out the sites at Key Largo....more later.

Time for one last cocktail and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

FORT LAUDERDALE

Good morning - finally got internet access.  We spent another lovely day motoring to our next stop which was Lake Worth - where we anchored for the night.  What a trip through the ICW - very slow going as lots of "slow zones" and "idle only" zones due to manatees and boats against private dockages among hundreds of million plus $ homes.  Unbelievable - you just can't imagine or see it on TV to really take in the richness down here.  Yesterday we left Lake Worth on to Fort Lauderdale - with a cruising day much like the last one.  We are tied right in downtown Fort Lauderdale at the municipal wharf next ot the 3rd Avenue Bridge, amongst the skyscrapers.   Today promises to be another fine day - yay.  We are heading to Watson Park near Miami Yacht Club today to relax for two days until I (Carol) fly out on Thursday. Sigh.   Take care all and see you soon.
SCLT

INDIANTOWN MARINA

What another great day of motoring in Florida.  Continued up the Caloosahatchee River to the Caloosahatchee Canal - through 3 locks.  You would not believe the alligators!!  We saw dozens of them.  No swimming on this trip!!  The weather was perfect - sunny and in the 70's with a slight breeze.   We settled in to the marina around 6:00 pm - I must say that Scott manoeuvered us in to a tight spot, aft in first.  Very impressive.  We will be heading for Stuart tomorrow.  The crossing on Lake Okechobee was uneventful.  The locals advised there was a slight chop - well, the slight chop was about 2 inches.  I guess a heavy chop would be 4 inches!!  So no complaints at all.  It is another clear night with a full moon.  Take care all.  Hope Chico is doing well and not missing us too much.  SCL&T (Esperanza Crew).

PORT LA BELLE MARINA

Hi all,

Arrived at our destination for the night.  Port La Belle Marina - 50 cents a foot!!!!  We went to the inn just up the street for happy hour and now back to tuck in for the night.  It was a great motoring day.  Even got to see an alligator when we got to the marina.   It was a beautiful day again and promises the same for the rest of the weekend.  We will be off tomorrow nice and early and will check in then.  The river we motored up on the ICW was the Caloosahatchy (not sure of spelling) River.  Take care all.  SCLT.  Lane & Tina are both red as beets - tsk tsk.

TARPON POINT MARINA AND RESORT

We arrived at our first stop of our journey to Miami - Tarpon Point.  Another beautiful day of motoring with sunshine and calm waters. We again enjoyed several dolphin shows.  They would come up to the side of the boat and follow us for a while, jumping in and out of the water.  It is so fun to watch.   We are heading out this morning again after breakfast to Moor Haven.  It calls for another beautiful day.  But -- we won't be swimming - we heard the news about thousands of sharks in Boca Raton off the coast - so we will be staying well away from the rails - ha ha.  Hope you all have a great day. - Scott, Carol, Lane & Tina.

THE NEXT LEG OF THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Good morning.  We have been having problems boasting on the blog until today.  Tuesday \Lane and Tina arrived.  We picked them up at the hotel and back to the boat, after stopping to buy groceries and have lunch at Ali-gators.   \Scott, Lane and I tried the alligator - a little chewy and not much taste really - but at least we tried. We enjoyed a wonderful evening with Jimmy and Joy and took a pontoon boat ride over to new friends - Ray and Bernie from Michigan \(they are Jimmy's son's in-laws who are renting a beautiful home for a couple of weeks.  We all went to the Elks club for supper yesterday - taco night - yum! Then back to Jimmy's place where all but me enjoyed a stay in the hot tub.  We are leaving today around noon and on to Fort Myers by supper.  Then off to Stuart and Lake Ockechobe to cross over Florida towards Miami by the end of the weekend.  The weather has been sunny and warmer every day (up to 79 yesterday) - so let's hope that keeps up.  Hope you are all well.  Kisses to my Chico - hope he is being a good boy.  love Carol and Scott \(and Lane and Tina).

MONDAY -VALENTINE'S DAY

Hello friends, It was a lovely Valentine's DAy.  Scott and Chris  & Merle and I went shopping (heaven!) for two hours.  Merle and Scott went to West Marine where Merle picked up a Garmin handheld 76 CX plotter and a book on intercoastal waterway.  Chris and I shopped at Beals's - awesome.  Merle looked at a beautiful C and C Constellation 48 footer.  We then did Valentine's Lunch  at Red Lobster.  Kinda  disappointed -compared to the TV ads.  But Merle and Chris treated - very nice.  Forgot to mention that yesterday we had an awesome show by the dolphins - they followed the boat for 40 minutes --diving and following.  It was sooooo awesome.
We had a lovely Valentine evening with Jim and Joy -and now are relaxing with a cocktail before retiring.  Should have some awesome pictures to show you when Chris emails me her pictures tomorrow.  Take care all. Give kisses and hugs to Chico.  love Scott and Carol

AWESOME DAY FOR A CRUISE

Hi all,
What a great day we had.  We had a boatful of friends and went to a marina to water up, fuel up and most importantly -- empty the head tanks!  We had ourselves, my best friend Chris and her husband Merle, along with Scott's cousin Jimmy, his girlfriend Joy, and their friends Blair & Marcia and Tom and Karen.  It was sunny and a bit cool - but beautiful none the less.  We ate at the Marina at Harpoon Harry's - very good.  Scott skippered with no problem in and out of the lock, although we left at low tide and did go aground a couple of times - all good - now the keel is clean.  Chris and Merle are staying the night so we are just relaxing and enjoying cocktail hour while the sun sets.  Time to go relax with my drink.  Take care.

TRIP TO HEAVEN WAS HELL

Good morning everyone!  I am finally here with my honey but it was not easy.  Who knew what hell to pay for the pleasure of Scott's company??  First my flight was cancelled on Thursday - but had to spend 8 hours at the airport in order to get something arranged to get out on another flight the next day.  Note to self:  NEVER USE US AIRWAYS when travelling by air!!  Then had to get up at 4:00 a.m. on Friday  to be at the airport for 5:30 a.m..  IThank you Doug!)  The flight was delayed again , but finally off the ground two hours later.  However, for this flight I had to make two connections - one in Phillie and one in Charlotte, NC before getting to my final destination.  Due to the late departure it did not look good to catch my connection in Phillie.  But made it by a hair - the Phillie airport looked really nice with lots of shopping - but alas, it was not to be.  I had to shuttle to another terminal and run the length of it to make my connection - but I did it.  It was not pretty, but there you go.  Made my last connection without too much stress.  Arrived in Fort Myers at 4:30 pm (13 hours - including the time change - from when I awoke in the morning.  I could have driven to Florida in two days for heaven sakes!  Any way, had a funny feeling when I got to FM.  And my feelings were correct.  Apparently my luggage decided it had had enough and stayed in Phillie!!!  Can you believe it?  So there you have it.  But my stray luggage did catch up with me late last night - delivered to Scott's cousin's.  Bittersweet - I was kind of looking forward to having to go shopping and replace all my stuff!!  Woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day.  So it was worth it in the end.  Oh yeah - it was great to see Scott too.  We shall enjoy the day and make up for lost time (wink wink).  Will keep you posted on our adventures. Cheers, Carol

Paint Complete

Well with all this nice weather and time sitting around I have managed to complete the painting of Esperanza she looks as good as new. Well until the birds come back. Now is back to the inside work. All systems are go for departure next week. Heads working great engine, and generator running great so should be nothing holding me back. Except the weather.

ALLIGATORS

Well I was warned about alligators in the channels around south golf cove but had not seen any until today. While doing so boat work I stopped for a beer and sat back with a smoke and off the bow was a gator. It gives you a good reason for not falling off the boat.

Well a rain day turned out nice and sunny  80+

the gator is in front of the big tree reflecting on the water.

Headless no more

After 3 attempts at snaking the hose for the back head I gave up and decided to take the end of the hose at the holding tank off. Will I cant remember the last time I vomited but its been a long time. What a mess to clean up.
Well thanks to Jim and Ton the aft toilet has been rebuilted. There was a broken wire on one of the brushes and re-taped the bolt holes for the intake water pump it's running as good as new. Thanks to Jim I saved $150.00 on the forward head and $400.00 on the aft. Its great having a machine shop at your home.After taking the rest on the day off I have to start cleaning and get ready for the starboard side painting tomorrow.