Our goal for this day was to find an affordable marina in Ft. Lauderdale where we could get off the boat and pick up a repair part we had ordered. Bahia Mar, a very famous marina right in the heart of the decadence that is Ft. Lauderdale wanted $7.00 a foot with a $500.00 minimum! So that was out. Per our trusty Garmin we found a city run marina up the New River at about $1.20 a foot. Unbelievably reasonable for the area we were in. Traveling up the windy New River we passed many beautiful homes and yachts.
Dave's favorite.
8 bedrooms/8 baths
that should do it
pretty corner
I like this tiny one.
Huh??
We traveled on up the river and huge yachts were also trying to get around the bends. They were being towed and we thought it was because they were not working but we found out later that they have to be towed out of there because they are so large it's difficult for them to navigate in tight spots.
We had an appointment to meet a fuel barge upriver to fuel up. Saving 30 cents a gallon really adds up when you are buying large amounts.
Rather surprised the Florida DEC allows this?
We traveled back down river to our city marina slip. What they didn't tell us when we made the reservation is that there is a very strong current (almost a whirlpool) going on at certain times and it's not wise to try and dock then. Naturally we pulled in at the peak of the current action and Blue Moon has a few battle scars to show for it. Nothing we can't rub out and re-varnish luckily.
The guys scrubbed the gleaming salt crystals off the boat while Karen and I cleaned the interior. It's amazing how grimy a small space can get and how quickly cluttered. But we are relentless and keep at it.
This marina was a great find, not only cheap but right on Lauderdale's Riverwalk. Many restaurants, a park, an art museum and Science Discovery Center. Later in the day our buddy Dick Donk (really!) and his cousin Eddie (really!) stopped by. Dick is a Ft. Lauderdale snowbird and has a cottage close to ours in Pt. Breeze. It was nice to catch up and tell him some of our Great Loop stories.
We walked around the restaurant district and had a nice meal sitting outside. I went to the restroom and on the way back to our table realized that the pocket that I had my iphone in had a hole in the bottom and cellphone was not there! Huge panic time! I ran back to the restroom, not there. Asked the bartender, nope. Dave and John were calling my phone and Dave heard it ringing. A guy on the street had it. Not sure if he was on his way down the road with it but THANK GOD Dave got it back for me. What a huge pain it would be to try and replace it while on a boat trip. Police reports and all that nonsense. It's ridiculous how attached we are to those things but we are. I mean, how could I get those all important facetime updates every 10 minutes??
Saturday, March 1, 2014
We decided to stay another day. It was a perfect 80 degree, low humidity March day in Florida (sorry to those of you at home). We had sterned in to face the riverside so we could watch all the amazing boats go by. We all kind of did our own thing until later in the day some friends from Pt. Breeze who also are snowbirds stopped by the boat for docktails. Paul and Phyllis, Tom and Linda are all veteran boaters so we told them some of our travel adventure stories and heard some of theirs. We ate at a large outdoor Irish Pub facing the water. They had a pretty good band and it was a perfect evening.
Thanks again John!
Tomorrow we may try and make it all the way to our final destination in Jupiter but will wait and see how the day goes.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
We had to time our departure to avoid the swirly current at our slip. The river was pretty narrow in spots to get us back to the ICW.
A 120' private boat hailed us on the radio to let us know that he was approaching us going downriver and it was a pretty tight fit. Reminded me of the barges on the Mississippi.
We again passed by more and more opulence and after awhile it seemed almost obscene. We've noted for years that we see these amazing mansions on the water but rarely see the owners out enjoying them but rather the service people taking care of them. Probably just another possession in the inventory to many of the owners.
Likewise the yachts. We see the crews aboard washing and waxing and a captain at the helm but no owners?
The name of this one is "Told U So".
BUMMER
Slow down !
This was the perfect storm for an extremely congested day of travel on the ICW between Ft. Lauderdale and Jupiter. A stellar Sunday during Spring Break in partyland. We weren't sure when we left in the morning if we could make it all the way to Jupiter with all the boat traffic and bridge openings but we perservered and made it well before dark. For Dave and I it was the completion of a huge goal we set for ourselves when we left last July so we were both anxious to get it done! What a long strange trip it's been. (you knew I was going to say that, right?)
When we were bowing into our dock the sun was directly in Dave's eyes and the port side of Blue Moon has a war wound to repair. Again, Dave can fix it! After all the miles we've traveled in the last 9 months, the last few days have taken their toll on our boat. It's pretty amazing that just the two of us made it through 33 river locks, windy anchorages, difficult docking situations, currents driving us into pillars, etc., without a scratch! I was so concerned that I would not be physically or mentally able to crew for Dave alone but somehow we managed. It is nice though to have John and Karen along because they are such experienced boaters and know just what to do in tricky situations.
We just read the blog of a fellow looper that we met a few times along the trip route. He and his wife are in the Exumas (Bahamas) and suddenly he is having heart problems and had to be choppered back to Miami Hospital so basically their trip is over now. They will have to have a captain bring their boat back to the mainland. They had sold their home to do this trip so its rather a sad ending. I guess our little boat boo-boo's are really nothing.
So travel while you can ya'll; you never know when it's over.
No comments:
Post a Comment