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As usual, behind again but I want to write about the last couple of months before we take off out of Florida and head north and we should be doing that is a few days if the weather gods agree.

After leaving Deb and Tim we continued a little further south along Great Abaco Island and explored that area. We spent about a week in Boat Harbor, just the other side of the peninsula from Marsh Harbor, one of the bigger towns in the Bahamas. As usual we didn’t plan to spend so long there but there was just one storm front after the other and it was nice and protected so we stayed. The boating community there is very nice and welcoming. They gather together most nights for cocktails and twice a week have an appetizer potluck as well.  I was able to do yoga with them almost every day and enjoyed that as the opportunity does not often present itself. There were 3 different instructors, one was a lady who did it as her business. Then there was Susan (who lived on a beautiful power boat just up from ours with 3 decks), she was very relaxed and gave a great class. The other person was an older gentleman. He was not very limber but knew all the moves. It was great working with him as you realized any one of an ability can do yoga.  We were there when they did their Margarita Madness beach party and joined right in. We helped set up and decorate and then of course we partied.They even got Hartley to dance!

They have this traditional race called the sand ski race where 5 ladies line up on two long  skis with rope tied to the bottom and must move in unison across the sand. We came in second!!

We left there and went to Mermaid Reef, just a tiny reef, but protected and we got in some snorkeling and saw some nice fish. We then went into Marsh Harbor  and met up with Tim and Deb for an evening. It was very tricky getting in and out of the harbor as it was very shallow, we had to watch the depth gauge all the time and it read mostly 0.1 feet below the keel.

We then started our trip back staying at some of the places we had been to on the way down and at least one new place, Spanish Cay.

It is a private island that has some vacation homes, some condos for rent and a small hotel and of course a restaurant and bar. On the ocean side of the island they built a wooden wall with a concrete base I guess to keep the waves back from the island. You can tell who won in the picture above, all there is left is the cement base. Mother Nature always wins. There are only two full time residents of the island, the lady who runs the marina desk and her husband who does everything else. She also is the waitress at the restaurant. I think they bring in a cook for the day. The island also has its own airstrip and that is how it gets its supplies. The islands are small and while we were there Bobbi showed up. He is a captain and one of the things he does is sail  with people who have just bought a boat but have little experience and need some coaching before their insurance will let them solo with their new boat. We had met him in West End the first days we were in the Bahamas as he coached a couple on a very big catamaran. So fun to run into people you know.

We eventually made if back to West End and crossed the Gulf Stream back to Riviera Beach.
Riviera Beach is a small town on the east coast of Florida , just north of West Palm Beach. (West Palm Beach is where President Trump spends a lot of his weekends but we haven’t been invited to the Florida Whitehouse yet!) The marina is brand new having been finished in 2015, I think. The docks are floating docks with nice edging to keep the boat from scraping as we dock. The cleats that we tie the boat to are all metal and smooth. (As you can tell from my great excitement some marinas do not have floating docks, but fixed docks, some have jagged docks with nails sticking out ready to grab your boat and some have rusted cleats that eat your dock lines!!)

Right across from the marina is Peanut Island.

It is actually a man made island from the sand that has been dredged out of the bay. It was supposed to have a peanut oil factory built on it but a hurricane and the depression came and that ended that idea, but the name persists. We took a ferry ride out to the island and took the tour.

There is an old Coast Guard station

with a small museum but the most interesting thing there is the nuclear bomb shelter that was built for JFK when he was president and had a home nearby. Apparently they were worried if Washington D.C. was bombed the radiation might get here. Two guys built the facility in 10 days and buried it in sand. All very hush hush. Pretty basic, JFK was glad not to have to use it from many points of view.
The other great thing about Peanut Island is that it is just across the way and we can easily kayak to it and around it. Hartley’s kayak got kicked by a manatee just off shore from the island. He thought he was paddling over a rock but in fact it was a live “rock” and let him know it.
Riviera Beach also has an active port where they load the ships,especially the ones that take supplies to the Bahama islands. It is quite an operation. The trailer trucks pull in, line up perfectly in their little marked spot, a special kind of crane like vehicle slides over the trailer part of the truck, lifts it with big magnets and takes it away. As soon as the truck has had its load removed it drives away. Most of the trucks only spend 5 to 10 minutes in the yard. Amazing. A railroad track also goes into the yard and a different kind of crane unloads it again using magnets to lift the trailers. We often go for a walk in the morning and fall into the trap of watching the goings on in the yard as we cross the bridge that goes over the yard.

Further along on the other side of the bridge is Manatee Lagoon. It was built by Florida Light and Power.

They have a big power plant there and the warm water that it puts out is very attractive to the Manatee. Right now the Manatee don’t care as all the water is warm, but in the winter they tend to congregate there when the water is cold.

Now for the other half of the story. We spent about 3 weeks in Fort Myers which is on the west coast of Florida. It takes about 3 hours to drive there, a little better than 4-5 days to sail there. If we were to sail to Fort Myers there isn’t much choice of where to stay as most of the marinas either require you to go through a bridge that is only 65 feet high (our mast is 68 feet tall) or are for boats that draw less than 6 feet. We draw 6 feet. (means we need a little more than 6 feet of water to float. )We stayed with my Mom and enjoyed the visit. I always get more exercise in when I am there as she keeps me moving. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday there is an hour of water aerobics and on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday she runs (so I run!).  Since Mom will be going to the Senior Games in Birmingham, AL in June to run the 5 K race we had to do some hill running. Birmingham apparently has hills and there are none in Fort Myers, FL or in Florida period, so we had to run the bridges to simulate hills! We also walk the beach (extra).

My brother also lives there and we got to visit him and his girl friend Patti. They are in the midst of redoing their kitchen, the granite is beautiful, can’t wait to see it in the fall.

I addition to  that we did the doctor visit thing. We are using Fort Myers as our home base for medical issues. I am doing fine but Hartley has a few things that need attention. Fortunately nothing urgent so he will get that done in the fall (ears, thumb etc.).

Oh I almost forgot the most exciting part, my birthday party. Mom threw a party with a combo theme of my birthday and Cinco de Mayo. We had lots of fun.

Oh, oh ! also Mom’s picture was in the June issue of Runner’s World.

Our boat needs some attention too. We have two 90 gallon   stainless steel water tanks than are under the floor in the main salon and one ruptured.

As Hartley says the tanks were put in and the boat built around them so to replace them is no easy job. They will have to cut up the floor, lift it,  and then destroy the tanks in place. Then we have to replace the tanks with something else. We could put in aluminum, fiberglass (built in place),  or plastic molded tanks. They will have to be smaller so that they will fit down the companionway hatch. We have a watermaker so a little less water capacity is fine. We will probably end up with 3 or 4 smaller tanks which actually is great as if one tank goes bad we still have the others. Anyway part of the point of the trip this summer is to find a good place to have this done at the best price. We have had some recommendations from sailors we have met along the way and are stopping at several of them to get quotes and a feel for who we think might do the best job. Well just about ready to go. Will update soon.