Boca Raton

The Swimming Pool

Tonight we are sitting in the Boca Raton Special Dining Room writing our blog posts.  We finished a lovely meal and the guest services rep just brought me a complementary bowl of vanilla ice cream (with caramel topping).  I'm telling you that life here at this Yacht Club is really special!   I pinch myself that we actually are here.  Our first night is free and the second night is only about $50 with our yacht club privileges.  We plan to stay 2 days here and then go onto the two Ft Lauderdale clubs.

After a pleasant 4-hour trip on the Intercoastal Waterway, we arrived here at 2 pm.  The dockmaster gave us an easy parking space slip - we are surrounded by  huge mega yachts and our boat looks like a little toy.  There is a huge mansion across the waterway.  I wonder who lives in it ?

(Two "small"power boats were waiting at the Camino Real Bridge, our last bridge before the turn to RPYC  as we slowly approached. When the bridge opened they roared off turning the narrow canal roiling the water. A sportfisherman headed our way up on a plane trying to make the bridge opening. We were in a washing machine spilling water over the sides. It was all we could do to maintain steerage.  This is one no wake zone that needs enforcement! - Richard)  

Mega Yachts surround us here

We went for a little dip in the gorgeous swimming pool - we were the only ones enjoying it until 2 teenage boys joined us.  This Yacht Club was completely rebuilt and opened less than a year ago.  The furnishings are gorgeous and everything has that new smell.  I love the Ladies Room - all done up with sparling stone trims and modern wall paper.  I guess wall paper is back in! 

Tomorrow we are getting our folding bikes operational and will ride around Boca.  More later with pictures.

Cruising to Lake Worth and onto Boca Raton

Today was an early wake-up call and we were on the water by 6:30 a.m. so that we would have time when we arrived in Lake Worth to pick up some groceries and do some laundry.  We cruised south about 65 miles and passed the towns of Lake Pierce, Jupiter, Palm City to our destination of Old Port Cove Marina.  This marina gives you a complimentary bottle of wine upon check in and has people on staff to drive you to Publix or West Marine or wherever you'd like to go during your visit.  NICE!  It was a great day on the waterway and Jupiter is especially pretty because of the turquoise blue water that laps the shore here. 

We had some tense moments docking the boat because there was a cross wind in front of the dock that blew us backwards and sideways.  Our headsets were not working properly so Richard started yelling.  When he yells, I freeze.  So, anyway, I hit an anchor on another boat and I have to pay for a new anchor because I bent one of the prongs!  Yikes!  Another exciting day on the water!

We both are anxious going into unfamiliar marinas and find this the most challenging part of dealing with our boat.  We finally settled on a tee dock at the end of the fairway here and enjoyed a nice dinner on the boat.  Tomorrow's trip is only 35 miles and we plan to stay at Boca Raton for 2 days.  We've heard from friends, Jackie & Bob, who will meet us on Sunday at Ft Lauderdale's yacht club.   We really enjoy meeting up with fellow boaters and cruising with friends.

Cruising on to Vero Beach

Today we traveled north for 42 miles (about 4-1/2 hours cruising) on the intercoastal waterway to beautiful Vero Beach.  At this point of the waterway we are in the Indian River and it is a beautiful turquoise blue.  The local waterway police really enforce the speed limits here and we had to slow down as to not wake the fishermen in the river.  It was a gorgeous day on the water and the scenery was very pretty.  We arrived a Vero Beach Yacht Club in the early afternoon. 

View of the beach from Waldo's

When Mary & Bill arrived, they suggested that we hop the free city bus and stop at Waldo's on the beach.  Waldo's is on the National Registry of Historic Places  - much of the place is built of driftwood.  There is an eclectic mix of architecture and decorations.  The founder, Waldo Sexton, liked to collect bells and other interesting antiques, mosaics, paintings and sculptures. 

Us at Waldo's

We had a great table overlooking the Atlantic and treated ourselves to drinks and chicken wings.  Yum!  We are saying goodbye to our friends since they are going all the way to the Chesapeake.  We plan to stay another day here and then head south.


The next day...

We explored more of Vero Beach and really enjoyed their fabulous art museum, which just happened to be a short walking distance from the marina.  There was a visiting exhibit by an artist, Larry Kagen, that featured art that created shadows on the wall.  It's hard to describe the unique creations,  but it was amazing.  We were also wowed by Deborah Butterfield's exhibit of Horses.  She created the horses from bits of wood and pieces of metal.  The wood was then made into copper and then painted to look like wood. 

We had just finished the art exhibit when we noticed a crowd going into the Riverside Theater for a matinee performance of the musical, Saturday Night Fever. We snagged some of the last tickets and really enjoyed the show - the Beegee's music was great!

Spring Cruise on Indigo Star

Cruising on Indigo Star on Florida's east coast

It was finally time for us to take our first big cruise on our 40 ft. trawler, Indigo Star!  We decided to do a circle around southern Florida by leaving Punta Gorda and going across Lake Okeechobee to the east coast of Florida and continuing south toward the Keys and up along the coast to Charlotte Harbor to home.  We figured we could enjoy the scenery and our reciprocal yacht club privileges (free night at any Florida Council of Yacht Clubs) at the different venues along the way.

We started off the day after Easter on Monday, April 17.  We had gorgeous cruising weather as we headed down Charlotte Harbor to the Intercoastal Waterway south to Fort Myers.  We stayed at our first yacht club, St Charles, and enjoyed a dip in their heated pool.  Bleu Kitty is along and he went for a walk down the dock on his leach, turning heads as he saunters by.  We met two couples on Catalina 350's who had come in from the Bahamas.  They mentioned that they saw our "old" sailboat, Eagles Wings, now called Chase.  Unbelievably, it is still "on the hard" in the back of Indian Town Marina! 

The next day we traveled down the beautiful Okeechobee Waterway to our first of four locks that we had to traverse, this one being the Franklin Lock.  Locking through is really not too hard.  You have to pull the boat into a chamber that fills slowly up with water.  This one raised us on the river a few feet.  After spending the night there, we traveled onto Moore Haven City Dock.  This is a little town in the center of the state that is surrounded by farmland.  We slept soundly there.  At 7 am, we were ready for the opening of the lock that took us to Lake Okeechobee, a huge lake that was easy for us to travel through.  It was very calm as we exited the lake, through the railroad bridge that caused us some consternation a few years ago.  At that time, we were coming back from the Abacos, Bahamas in our sailboat.  We had to wait a long time for Billy the Tipper.  Billy is a local guy who put about 9 water jugs on the side of Eagles Wings so that our mast (53-1/2 ft) would tip and get under this bridge.  (I believe at that time the railroad bridge was about 49 ft high.) 

We locked through our last lock that brought us to the St Lucie River.  This was our largest drop in elevation - almost 12 ft!   Richard misunderstood the lockmaster thinking that he was supposed to drop the line.  Oops!  the bow of the boat was almost turned around in the lock.  Fortunately, I (Joanne) hit the bow thruster and was able to straighten the boat out before we did any damage to our boat or to others.  We breathed a sigh of relief as we patted ourselves on the back that we made it to Stuart on the other side of the state!

Posing with boating friends, Mary & Bill Yeomens and John & Marilyn Jorgenson

We caught a mooring ball (boater language for tying up in the Sunset Bay Marina).  We then got our dinghy down and went a few hundred yards to the dinghy dock to then check in at the marina.  We pay $30 a night for using the facilities, which is reasonable for the East Coast.  Our friends, Marilyn & John were waiting for us at a pretty shaded outdoor porch area.  They had white wine and appetizers all ready for us.  We had a great time recounting our adventures on the water!

We enjoyed a great Italian diner with them at a local Stuart restaurant.  This is a great little town with a wonderful downtown area, full of cute shops, eating areas and of course, ice cream and gelato places!  Yum! 

Today we traveled a short distance (about an hour) to Harbour Ridge Yacht Club.  We are getting our "free night" of luxury here.  Everything is gorgeous in this club.  We enjoyed a great dip in their heated pool and will eat at their little bistro tonight.  Life is great on the water! 

Displaying our club burgee before enjoying pizza in Stuart

More...the Yacht Club was great!  We had a delicious dinner, swam in their lovely pool and then we cast off and returned to the Sunset Bay Marina because our other boating friends, Mary & Bill were arriving.  We all went out for pizza and here we are posing with our club burgee, PGIslander's.  We also toured Stuart and enjoyed their little history museum.




  

Quick Trip to Houston

We turned my new car North up I75 and then West on I10 for a quick trip to Houston. We left Friday afternoon after a Friendship Force meeting and arrived Saturday evening at Betty and Richard's condo on Clear Lake.  Their renovated condo is on the A+++ side of beautiful.  After catching up with Betty & Richard we moved over to Sharon &Jerry's house  where we stayed for three nights.

Although Sharon is undergoing chemo for lung cancer she is quite feisty. They are in the beginning stage of purchasing a 5th wheel and a big pickup to pull it to some of the National Parks.

At Dickinson BBQ

We attended Palm Sunday Mass after which we cruised through our old neighborhood in Dickinson. Our old house is in fine condition and the wooded subdivision is as beautiful as always; it definitely counts as the "American Dream." 

We stopped at Dickinson Barbeque to pickup brisket sandwiches, coleslaw and potato salad for Joanne's long time friend, Barbara who has cancer. While Joanne and another friend, Lynn, visited with Barbara, I wandered through Fry's electronic store.

Then we followed Lynn through miles of bumper to bumper traffic to a very nice nursing home where her husband is staying.  He can't eat so he is tube fed. He was sitting in a wheel chair, the first time he was out of bed in a month. Although Lynn didn't think he would recognize us, he did. He even asked us about sailing.



Joanne with Maureen

Monday we visited an old New Lifer, Maureen, who proudly told us she is ninety-two. She resides in a top-of-the-line assisted care facility.  Thrilled to see us, she was in high spirits, very bright and positive.
Joanne wanted to wander around UTMB in Galveston so we drove down there and then drove up to Waterford Harbor.  Four boats were still there on Pier 18 just like when we left ~nine years ago. One is named "We're Here." Yes, it is still there!

The Original, a Mexican Restaurant in Galveston

Rose Garden at UTMB

 
 
 












Sharon & Jerry with Richard & Betty enjoying dinner

Top Water Grill has the best fried shrimp!

No trip to Houston could be complete without dinner at Topwater Grill.  Joanne & I both had the corn chowder and fried shrimp.  I don't eat a lot of fried food but Topwaters fried shrimp is the best anywhere by a long shot. Exception made. We also stopped at Hillman's Seafood on Dickinson Bayou for Texas gulf shrimp and crab meat to bring back with us.

Two days of driving, two days of more driving while visiting followed by two more days driving back seems to have been to much for me as I contracted a cold, at least I hope it is a cold and not the flu.

Paver at St Mary's in League City with our names and our Wedding Date

Our boating adventure is scheduled to begin Monday after Easter. I hope I will be up to it. Lots of work to get ready!

Charlie's 80th Birthday

Charlie Lives on Lido Just Up the Block from Us - Over One Hundred in Attendance