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Oct. 15 – Cape Coral, FL

By on October 16, 2014 in The Pearl
Glove Bight – Anchorage

“What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?” —Robert H. Schuller

The eastern half of the Okeechobee seems prettier to us, a little less remote, but still very rural. The first part of the day we saw lots of farms and ranches, but the closer we got to Fort Myers the more we saw large beautiful homes on the water. Our last two locks went smoothly and before we knew it we were in Fort Myers and back to familiar cursing grounds. We stopped for fuel at the yacht basin but decided it was too earlier to stop for the day…we’re on a mission to get this boat home. We usually enjoy having a few hours or most of the afternoon to explore an area, but this is a delivery cruise not a sighting cruise. We spent almost a month on the east coast of Florida in 2011 and thoroughly enjoyed it. There are lots of places we’d love to see again and even more we missed, so we’ll need to come back again one day and spend more time in the area.

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Oct. 14 – Moore Haven, FL

By on October 15, 2014 in The Pearl
Moore Haven City Dock

“The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage.” —Carrie Jones

Today we headed across the state of Florida on the Okeechobee Waterway. We’ve done a lot of locks, but I was a little nervous when we entered our first lock today on Texas Pearl. I worried for nothing because we did just fine on all three locks…just like old pros. We crossed Lake Okeechobee with a little wind, but our ride was still comfortable and it was an uneventful day. We even got docked, lines tied and electric connected, before the rains started. The Moore Haven City Dock is nice with picnic tables and grills with the city hall and library right across the street, but it didn’t look like there was anything else around. So we had a peaceful evening on the boat.

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Oct. 13 – Port St. Lucie, FL

By on October 14, 2014 in The Pearl
Tarpon Bay Yacht Club

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”―Mahatma Gandhi

We had another short day planned so we had time to enjoy coffee on our aft deck again…this could become a nice habit. Today we went down the ICW and took a right into Stuart and the beginning of the Okeechobee Waterway, from here to Fort Meyers will be all new cruising ground for us. When we came through in 2011 we went down to the Keys and back up the east coast.

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Oct. 12 – Ft. Pierce, FL

By on October 13, 2014 in The Pearl
Harbortown Marina

“The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul.”–Wyland

We only had 40 miles to travel today so we enjoyed a slow morning with coffee on the aft deck while the sun painted the sky in beautiful pastel colors. It’s moments like these that we really love being on the water. We are back in Ft. Pierce docked just down from The Pearl. The last time the two boats will be together…I wish we were close enough for a group picture.

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Oct. 11 – Melbourne Beach, FL

By on October 12, 2014 in The Pearl
Hog Point Cove

“It’s not about time, it’s about choices. How are you spending your choices?” – Beverly Adamo

The weather was so nice today that we decided it would be cool enough this evening for us to test out the anchor on Texas Pearl. After a beautiful day on the water, being entertained by dolphins most of the day, we dropped the hook in Hog Point Cove just south of Melbourne. There wasn’t anything special about the anchorage except it gave us plenty of room if the anchor dragged. The anchor held on the first try and we had a nice breeze to keep is cool.

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Oct. 10 – New Smyrna Beach, FL

By on October 11, 2014 in The Pearl
New Smyrna Beach City Marina

We had another successful day on the water and the boat ran well, we really are enjoying the comforts of the larger boat. There isn’t a lot to report on today…we were just here a week ago. The only unusual entrainment we had today was

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Oct. 9 – St. Augustine, FL

By on October 10, 2014 in The Pearl
St. Augustine Municipal Marina

“You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” –Christopher Columbus

Today was day one of a new adventure. We pulled away from Lamb’s Yacht Center this morning after spending almost seven months in Jacksonville. It was a great place for what we needed this summer, but it felt wonderful to finally be on the move. It’s about 1700 miles from Jacksonville, FL to Rockport, TX so we have a lot of time to get to know this boat.

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Oct. 8 – Refrigerator Replacement

By on October 8, 2014 in The Pearl
Lamb’s Yacht Center

The refrigerator replacement became an even bigger job than we expected and we can see why the previous owners just used the nasty, smelly, rusty, energy sucking one. On Monday we moved the boat to a face dock near the parking lot, so the refrigerators would be easier to exchange.

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Oct. 5 – Jacksonville, FL

By on October 6, 2014 in The Pearl

Lamb’s Yacht Center

“If you wait to do everything until you’re sure it’s right, you’ll probably never do much of anything.” –Win Borden

 We had a wonderful weekend getting to know the new boat a little bit better and catching up with good friends. Pam and Donny drove down from Charleston to spend the weekend with us, what a great time we had. We spent Friday afternoon and evening visiting on the boat…catching up with each other’s activities since we last saw them in March. On Saturday while the guys poked around on the boat and finalized details for replacing the old very nasty refrigerator, Pam and I went to the Riverside Arts Market under the and wandered through the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens.
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Oct. 2 – Back in Jacksonville

By on October 3, 2014 in The Pearl
Lamb’s Yacht Center

Wow…what a busy few days we’ve had. The Pearlis tied snuggly in her winter home at Harbortown Marina in Ft. Pierce. We arrived Wednesday, another pretty day until late afternoon when it got very warm…way too warm for the first day of October. By the time we got a pump out, filled with diesel and secured the lines in the slip we were completely soaked. I really enjoy cruising in cooler weather a whole lot better. There was a reason we left Texas and went north. Hopefully next year we can enjoy a cooler fall. 

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