stuart and vero beach.

we spent a week in stuart because it cost as much to stay a week as it would have three days! but we also got to see a number of friends who were parked at sunset bay marina and anchorage for the winter, including mark and diana doyle, plus some other friends drove over to visit when they found out that we were in the area.  upon arrival, we were initially assigned a slip on the wall on the outside of the basin - it was not a good place and i was glad that when we registered, they told us that we could move to an empty slip on the inside with a floating dock.  unfortunately, tom said that we would wait to move the next day because it was late, the marina office was closing up and the staff leaving for home.  huh?  it's not like we need help getting into the slip!  he forgot about that part.  so we spent the night and the whole next morning on that wall and banged against it the whole time -  not good at all.  before we moved around noon the next day, our friends, don and jill, arrived from delray so they got to go on a boat ride first while we moved and then we went off for lunch at the sailor's return restaurant which was right on the marina premises.  it was fun catching up - we had not seen don and jill since they sold their B&B and marina in deltaville in 2010 or so.  we have always been eternally grateful to them for renting us their cottage the winter prior to our moving aboard TADHANA - otherwise, we would have been truly homeless! 

our crazy friend, chris, from MD, was suffering from cabin fever with all the snow and ice going on up north so when a weather window popped up, he jumped on his motorcycle and came down to FL, spent three hours with us, then turned around and went right back -  totally insane!  it was good to see him though. 

the marina is very nice - very organized, great for a long-term stay. they even have a bus schedule that takes cruisers to the usual stores that cruisers frequent.  there are parks everywhere and the area is, for want of a better word, very "manicured."  walking down the dock was like going to trawlerfest - and we were one of the small boats.  people were constantly coming and going, armed with buckets, mops and rags, cleaning, waxing, polishing...  you get the picture - these people were not the boat owners.  stuart is a la-di-da place.  there was an art festival going on so we checked that out, as well as the farmer's market.  i went to work and tom worked on some projects and the week went by quickly.  there was live music every night at the bar.  there were trains crossing the bridge constantly.  it was just a busy place.  we dropped the dinghy and went up the st. lucie river a bit towards the okeechobee canal and said - next year, maybe next year we will cross over to the west coast of florida and explore there.

we thought we were leaving on thursday but when the weather forecast started getting iffy, tom went over to the marina office to ask about maybe staying a little longer and it turned out that our week was to end wednesday, i.e. NOW!  the funny part is that i had asked tom earlier in the week if we were to leave wednesday or thursday and he counted out the days on a calendar, got himself all confused, and then decided to ask mark.  both men said thursday.  obviously men cannot count!  in any case, no, we were told we were up on wednesday and that we had to leave because someone else was coming in for the slip that we were in and that they, in fact, were already at the marina!  oh well...  so we left.  hahaha...  but it was kind of discombobulating when you have a mindset to leave on a certain day and then find out at the last minute that NOW is when you are supposed to leave!  the lesson here is to ask the question of people who actually KNOW the answer!

the next stop was vero beach and i was looking forward to that because when we came down south, we stayed at the loggerhead marina which is actually north of vero beach and we never got to see the town.  at the time, there was very little room at the vero beach city marina and tom and i weren't particularly thrilled with the idea of rafting up on a mooring with anyone.  it is a popular place with cruisers which is why it is sometimes called "velcro" beach.  in any case, there was room at the inn this time around which was good because we had just been displaced a day early from stuart.  the weather held off pretty well and we were actually happy about leaving early because if we were going to be stuck somewhere secondary to weather, we both preferred it to be at vero beach rather than staying even longer at stuart since we'd already been there a week.

as soon as we motored in, i knew i was going to like the place - we were back in live oaks and spanish moss country!  vero beach city marina is not very big so one doesn't have to walk miles and miles to get to shore from the slip.  not that it matters, i suppose - i have given up on consuelo making it all the way to shore when she has to go.  people generally understand when i say she is ancient.  the marina has a mooring field as well but i was very glad to be in a slip.  it was very windy and the weather only deteriorated across the days.  one of our SAIL rally ducklings was also at vero beach, as well as some people we knew from urbanna whom we bumped into also at st. augustine.  our friends, dave and sandy, whom we were supposed to visit in oriental, NC but missed because of the SAIL rally schedule had come south in their truck camper to get away from the snow and ice and were in the vicinity so they stopped by for a little reunion and some lunch. 

the city has a bus that goes to the beach so we took advantage of that.  luckily, it wasn't raining in the morning and after lunch, because it was cold and windy, we were pretty much ready to go home and got in just before the rain started.  the temperature dropped like a stone and we were very glad to be plugged in.  i'm surprised that our reverse cycle doesn't get confused.  one day it is A/C and the next day it is heat!  really, if it hadn't been for the nasty weather, the beach area is very pleasant.  lots of little high-end shops to poke into, selling things i could not possibly afford haha!  i also noticed lots of banks and investment firms everywhere. 

i haven't been taking many photos lately, i know.  i haven't been chasing down sunsets either.  i should have taken one of the crescent moon and venus the other night at stuart though but did not have the camera with me at the time.  i took one today at the beach to show the yellow "moderate risk" flag - it was pretty windy but no one was surfing.  as it turns out, i had a couple of other pics in the camera so i guess i'll throw them in here, too.

we are supposed to leave for cocoa tomorrow and stay a month.  TADHANA needs some engine work done and cocoa is closer to orlando than sanford would have been.  we are not going to make it to the st. john's river this year but we will sit in cocoa, FL instead.  everything depends on the weather - today is friday but it is likely that we will not leave vero beach until monday because of the weather.  that's fine, too.  cruising is not just making repairs in exotic places.  it is also making plans and then changing them! 

holocaust memorial at miami beach

check out the chopper on this mega yacht!

yellow flag means moderate risk at vero beach

moving north/consuelo

playing catchup here.  let me start with the boat show - tom and i spent the day at the convention center and just wandered around.  lots of fun stuff to look at but nothing i'd call earth-shattering that i would be interested in spending money on - it was fun to be there nevertheless.  when we got back to the boat, consuelo was acting strange, very tender, like she had injured her neck.  in any case, we took her to shore at the police station and she was moving very gingerly and screamed every time we touched her.  we went ahead and had our valentine sushi at pubbelly.  it was a cold, windy day and we had planned to sit outside but they felt sorry for us and let us sit inside in a corner with consuelo.  it was a very nice dinner.  then we went home and i tried to get some robaxin into consuelo but she was totally uninterested in food which was extremely alarming.  i just put her to bed and hoped for the best.  the next morning, she was completely listless - did not eat or drink - and i REALLY started to worry.  it was so bad with her that tom and i even had THE DISCUSSION.  she looked so horribly frail :(  luckily, mark and diana doyle had driven down to the miami boat show from stuart where SEMI-LOCAL is docked currently and diana came and got us after tom did a search for veterinary services and made the phone calls - i have to say, it was remarkable considering he was a basket case and could hardly talk!  as it turned out, consuelo came away from the vet's with an opiate shot, oral anti-inflammatories and oral steroids.  she had hurt her back or neck somehow and was in severe pain.  it happened while we were at the boat show so we have no idea how it occurred.  she rested and slept the rest of day and night and it was almost miraculous, how much better she was by the evening.  we stayed one more day at the sunset lake anchorage just to give her time to recover more before leaving for fort lauderdale.  the next evening, she was getting up on the couch again by herself.  she was not supposed to jump, but anyone, who has ever had a beagle knows how stubborn they are.  in the meantime, that evening, on her second to the last run to shore, the shifter on the dinghy outboard broke, locked in reverse - we had to row back to the boat!  we thought we had a spare outboard in our old torqueedo which tom had checked last summer - it was working then.  the battery was dead and then it wouldn't charge - seems the charger was malfunctioning - so we ended up rowing again late that night.  the other thing we found while fishing out that old torqueedo from its hiding place was a water leak.  i tell you - when things happen, they all happen at the same time! 

it was a short run to fort lauderdale and we took a slip at the hall of fame marina because we had no outboard motor for the dinghy and TADHANA needed some serious cleaning.  we were FILTHY and i am always unhappy when i feel dirty.  i thought that the hall of fame marina was a dump.  there was construction going on, too, and to get to anywhere good for the doggie to pee is very far.  hall of fame has a north side and a south side and we were assigned the south side which, as we later found out when we walked around the place, was something like the servants' quarters.  the north side was filled with mega yachts!  on a good note though, it wasn't as expensive as i was expecting it to be - not cheap but not outrageous either.  we used the time well - tom fixed our water leak and the dehumidifier dried up everything in that soggy compartment.  i cleaned and cleaned - the story of my life.  tons of laundry.  i also worked - late into the night. 

the next day, we moved on and ended up in lantana at one of the loggerhead marinas which are usually associated with private communities.  it was a very pretty and pleasant place but the slip was enormous, much too big for us, the finger pier was too short and it took us a helluva long time to get tied up because the pilings were so far apart and just not easily accessible.  getting on and off the boat was difficult and more so with consuelo, who had to be carried.  oh, and the wifi didn't work and the staff was not really helpful.  apparently, the marina office is at least a mile away and we were told that if we needed anything, someone would ride a golf cart over.  but, once we got settled in and had things figured out, we were comfortable and it was a nice place to walk around. 

the next morning was cold and windy.  consuelo got up at 6:00 a.m. and i had to take her out.  it was still dark.  by the time we got back to the boat after her toilet, tom was already up and had turned on the heat.  it was 46 degrees outside.  but we got ourselves going as it was to be a long travel day to stuart where we will sit for a few days with mark and diana, do our provisioning with the help of their car, and have the outboard motor fixed.  tom already called a place in stuart so that they could order the parts ahead of time.  getting out of that enormous slip at loggerhead lantana was a great deal easier than getting in it!  in fact, heading north on the ICW this time has been much easier than going south.  a lot of that, i guess, has to do with no one moving around this time of year (or they are all going the opposite way), our past experience and sort of knowing what to expect, and the sun isn't in our eyes for a change.

in the meantime, consuelo is doing great - back to her old self again with the same healthy interest in food.  she still  tires easily though but she is 14 and i make sure that she gets plenty of rest.  we are all just so lucky - i have no problems with letting her go when the time comes but i am VERY VERY glad that it is not yet THAT time.

on another note, another beagle, miss P, won best in show for the 2015 westminster dog show :)

miami boat show

we finally left marathon on february 8, 2015.  like tom said, we finally found the elusive exit!  dolphins joined us as we cruised north on florida bay to tarpon basin (key largo) where we had spent christmas and we met up with our friends, mike and ann of TRAVELING SOUL who were working their way down to key west.   the next day, it was north to miami for us, stopping first at no name harbour on key biscayne to pump out and chat with wally who happened to still be there. from no name, we headed up to miami beach to find an anchorage and wound up at the infamous sunset lake - where one of the waterfront homeowners has taken it upon himself to wage war against cruisers who anchor in front of his house.  the story is that he asked the marine police to tell people to leave and if they don't, he shines spotlights and plays very loud music to annoy the boaters, and then finally, he had a whole bunch (19) of little pico sailboats moored all over the place so that no one could anchor there.  what a sad, pathetic man.  it seems that he has some kind of political pull because what he is doing is illegal.  in any case, all those little sailboats (with no masts) are full of bird poop.  i'm surprised that no one has cut their lines or dumped garbage on them.  the whole thing is way over the top in my opinion - i can't understand why we can't all get along.  i can understand how a few bad apples can make it hard for everyone but this big bully needs to realize that not all of us cruisers are floating homeless here!

different shades of blue, florida bay

back to the big bad city, miami

we are the blue dot on sunset lake

moored little boats saying don't anchor here

so we settled down on the other side of sunset lake where there were no moored little boats preventing us from anchoring.  there is a little landing for the doggie run which is not particularly ideal but it will do in a pinch like late at night or early in the morning.  for consuelo's long afternoon walks, though, we like to leave the sunset islands and go around to the boat ramp/police station/park in town, although we didn't do that the first couple of days because it was so windy.  i have just been working my little heart out here at home while tom has been going to the boat show as a journalist for chesapeake bay magazine.  i have to say - this is the first time we've anchored anywhere where we were completely surrounded by homes, albeit million dollar homes!  makes me long for good old little bay where there is room to breathe.  but this is miami beach and, well, it is different. 

on wednesday, the day before the boat show opening, tom had an assignment at marine stadium for the unveiling of something new by volvo.  i just stayed home and worked but tom  came back mid-afternoon after which we went exploring by dinghy and entered a canal that apparently goes right by the convention center where part of the boat show is held.

collins canal

house along canal

on thursday, the first day of the boat show, i dropped tom off at the landing.  he was going to be gone all day so consuelo and i were on our own and i decided that i simply didn't want to deal with the landing here at sunset lake.  there is no dock - just a concrete wall - and well, simply put, it was going to be complicated for me singlehanding it with consuelo so i decided to take the dinghy around past the sunset islands to the "police station" dock and walk her in the park over there.  i took the 5-gallon jug with me so that i could get some water while i was at it.  unfortunately, i forgot to take my phone with me so consuelo's walk got cut short - i was afraid that tom would call for a pickup and that i'd miss the call, so it was  back to the boat, hauled out the jug and emptied it into the water tank, got my phone, put the jug back in the dinghy and motored back to the police station dock where i filled it up again and then took consuelo for a nice long  walk.  i found the sushi place, the ice cream place and the publix for future reference.  then it was back to the boat for a little bit before tom called to be picked up.  that was fun except - why is my right shoulder so sore?  that jug sure was heavy once it was filled with water and i hauled it twice!  but hey, 10 gallons of water is 10 gallons of water, right? 

on friday, the second day of the boat show, i dropped tom off at the police station dock and brought home another 5 gallons of water and did the same at the end of the day when tom was was ready to come home.  yay!  another 10 gallons.  water is  a precious thing when one is not tied to a dock at a marina.  we hit the ice cream place on the way out.

tomorrow, saturday, is valentine's day and i am taking the day off and going to the show with tom - finally, my turn!  i am looking forward to it :)  our plan is to spend the day at the convention center then come home and pick up consuelo and head to the police station dock, have an early sushi dinner and then home.  years ago, when tom and i used to go to the miami show every year, we always had a valentine's day dinner at sushi rock in south beach.  we would order a "love boat!"  hahaha....  traditions are a good thing and we hadn't followed this one in a while.

we are supposed to leave for fort lauderdale the next day but that will depend on the weather.  cruising requires planning which then changes constantly. 

and still more marathon.

we have been in marathon for over a month and our time here was supposed to be up today, february 1, 2015,  but we opted to stay one more week.  we had no real fixed plans and were supposed to head generally north, see the doyles in stuart, maybe stop for a bit at cocoa which is about the same distance from my brother's in orlando as sanford (original plan) is, and then up to green cove springs by jacksonville to talk to the people at st. brendan's isle, our mail forwarding service, but this week, tom was offered an assignment at the miami boat show which doesn't start until february 12, 2015 and runs to february 16, 2015.  so, we are going to sit in marathon for another week - it will only take us two days (weather permitting) to get to miami - and then make our way up there.  as far as sitting the winter out in sanford, that plan seems to have gone out the door.  well, there is always next year.  we do know that from now on, we will be wintering in the south and that is really all that matters.  no more ice and snow for TADHANA - what a relief! 

we really haven't been doing much at all.  TADHANA has not moved from this wall here at the sombrero resort and marina.  the sombrero reef is just outside about four miles away with moorings to tie up to so that one can go snorkeling but it has just been too cool and windy and the water too chilly except for, probably, norwegians.  we don't have a car so it's hard to get anywhere that isn't within biking distance and, as tom constantly reminds me, his is not a touring bike.  we haven't gone around, let alone to key west, but neither of us are really unhappy about that - better dull than drama!  we've been pretty happy just sitting around quietly doing our work.  it's been mostly that and getting together with the SAIL rally people who are here in marathon - i swear, we will never be rid of them!  hahaha...  i do, however, enjoy the boat talk and we have made some real friends. we had dinner with the beringers of wind dancer, the drag queen boat, the other night at the keys fisheries and had stone crab claws for the first time.  they were simply delicious and i forgot to take a photo.  the great thing about the stone crab is that the potters can catch them, take the claw(s) and put the crab back in the water to grow out new ones.  one more thing is that i have had more alcohol this past week than i have had the whole of 2014!  seriously scandalous for anyone who knows me....  on the other hand, compared to everyone else (including tom), it still isn't very much at all.  i do have to go home afterwards and work. 

well, one more week and then i might actually have something interesting to say.  in the meantime, a few pics: 

manatee with nostrils coming up for air

sunset and the back of consuelo's head

what's left of the sunset, venus and the crescent moon all in one.

pelicans waiting close to the fish cleaning station

our nightly color show