A railroad swingbridge near where we anchored for the night at Cape Haze.
Hosing the salt off the boat at Tarpon Point Marina at Cape Coral, FL.
We missed Larry’s son, Scott, because he had already returned to Michigan. His wife…
December 3 After anchoring at Cape Haze for the night, we made it to Cape Coral

Saturday, December 11, 2010
It’s been since Tuesday that I’ve written anything in here. Sorry. We have been busy, though. Wednesday was spent doing boat chores. Then there was a Harbor Christmas Party in the Tiki Hut. Our slip is right in front of the Tiki Hut door. That ma…
STUCK IN HOUMA DUE TO WEATHER
As I have said before, every now and then, you make a plan, and God laughs at your plan. Well, New Orleans seems to have temporarily escaped us. Traveling in winter has its advantages and its disadvantages. Certainly the instability o…
South Lake Worth/Palm Beach
Well, today we saw a lot of change from further north. The weather is decidedly milder. We don’t know if it is just a general warmup, our location further south, or a combination. We suspect the latter. We understand that it is forecast to get cooler on Monday.
The wealth is staggering. Our banner photo shows a marina with maybe a hundred mega-yachts, some of them shrink-wrapped (now that’s a lot of plastic sheeting!). Such yachts are rare further north but much more common here. The photo to the right shows tens of beach condo buildings.
We found people that are very helpful here. We stopped for a pump-out since the Vero Beach pump out had not been working as well as many along the way. New Point Cove Marina did not have the correct fitting for our boat. One man drove Ken to a hardware store to find it and, when they didn’t have it, worked for an hour to try to make their fittings work and get out enough to let us continue our journey. There was no charge (though other marinas we called along the way charged $ 15).
On the other hand, the go-fast boaters don’t even consider the damage and the unpleasantness that their wakes create. (See photo right.) We couldn’t even figure out where he was going in such a rush. This photo was taken about two miles from the north end of Lake Worth; there was no place further for him to go. We are continuously thankful for our stabilizers.
Up to this point in our trip, bridge tenders have been courteous and helpful. Not down here. Jupiter Federal Bridge: “If I open this bridge for you, it is going to cost you a lot of money.” (Referring to fines for requesting an unnecessary bridge opening. It was necessary for Escapade.) “What is you port of documentation and your documentation number?” We arrived at the PGA bridge about two minutes after its scheduled opening. He hadn’t opened it because there was no boat traffic before us. He made us wait for a half hour until the next scheduled opening. Yet for a mega-yacht he new (007) he said he’ll just open it when 007 got there. We arrived at the Parker Bridge about 7 minutes before the scheduled opening. Bridge Tender: “There will be a delay like there has been all day.” Ken: “How Long?” Bridge Tender: “One to Thirty Minutes, I have workers on the bridge.” Then later: “We will not open until the next scheduled opening (45 minutes later).” Still later: “We will only open the north span.” When she finally opened half of the bridge, we still had to wait for the oncoming traffic–small boats that could easily have gone under the closed portion of the bridge so that the 4 larger boats that had accumulated there could proceed.
We had planned on a short day. With all of the delays, we used the full day. We are not happy with the prospect of dealing with 20 bridges between Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. We hope that the weather permits an outside passage.
MORGAN CITY TO HOUMA, LOUISIANA
We departed Bayou Petite Anse fairly early after taking the time to lift the dinghy out of the water and otherwise stow its parts as well as the outboard. It was extremely cold this morning and our hands hurt bad by the time we were done. B…
Tarpon Springs, FL
I didn’t know that Tarpon Springs was a Greek town until I noticed the name “Nikolaos” on some of the fishing boats docked alongside the main street of town as we came into the harbor. One of our grandsons in named Nikolaos.
Tarpon Spring…
Steve and Liz Pay a Visit
We spent the past week showing Stan’s brother Steve and his wife Liz around some of our favorite stomping grounds in Barra de Navidad and Tenacatita. They flew in from San Diego for some respite from the cold, cold weather up there!Our first order of…
Enjoying For Us, December ’09-March ’10
Okay, so now we’re officially boat owners! Beautiful, isn’t she? This is For Us at her winter home at Harborage Yacht Club in Stuart, FL. Thanks to the folks at Kadey Krogen Yachts (referred to hereafter as KKY), we were able to get a…
Yuck Weather
Its been a week since returning to NS, and I have not seen the sun for nearly a week, it was out today, about 1/2, and now its gloomy again.Oh how I yearn for that warmth
Skip boat
Some time ago, when I was planning on getting rid of the wood from my deck, Rob suggested I float a skip across the river, fill it, then float it back again.I think you guys in the US call skips dumpsters? I’m not sure.At the time, I was taken with the…