April 18, 2010

By on April 18, 2010 in Grateful
Lake Park to Ft. Pierce, FL
Today was an easy cruising day and we simply enjoyed. We cruised by North Palm Beach,

Jupiter,

Hobe Sound,
St. Lucie Inlet,

and north on the Indian River to Ft. Pierce – approximately 50 miles. We started at 8:00 and got to the Ft. Pierce City Marina at 2:00. We fueled up and pumped out and were to our slip and settled by 3:00. We needed 378 gallons – that’s the most yet and the lowest we have let our tanks get. This is another friendly marina with helpful staff and nice facilities – and they give a great discount to Boat US members. Ft.PierceCityMarina also has an adjacent attractive waterfront and park – a good walk for Porter.

We still enjoyed many beautiful homes and yachts, but also long areas of natural waterways lined with homes and/or wildlife refuges.

We saw many homes being built or renovated. One for sale – maybe if we all chip in…..


We did wait for the first bridge to open, but were able to slip under all others.

Best of all – we were joined by two dolphins in the JensenBeach area that swam with us for over three miles. Porter even heard them and watched with ears up and head cocked.


Dolphins really do smile.


April 18, 2010

By on April 18, 2010 in Grateful

Lake Park to Ft. Pierce, FLToday was an easy cruising day and we simply enjoyed. We cruised by North Palm Beach,Jupiter, Hobe Sound,St. Lucie Inlet, and north on the Indian River to Ft. Pierce – approximately 50 miles. We started at 8:00 and got to t…

MVGUMBO 2010-04-18 18:17:00

By on April 18, 2010 in M/V Gumbo

The Pensacola Yacht Club at the entrance of Bayou Chico it is a very nice facility mainly used by sailboats but there were a few power boats also.Pensacola Light House it is still functioning and can bee seen from our anchorageGumbo at the Redfish Poin…

Sister Time

By on April 18, 2010 in Pale Moon

My younger sister, Twyla and her husband, Greg came to visit us this past week. The days just went by too fast, there is so much to see and do that we ran out of time. I am so grateful that they made the effort to come and visit. I could feel my eyes wanting […]

April 18, 2010

By on April 18, 2010 in Grateful

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRYAN!Dear Bryan,We hope you have more fun on your special day than you did on this “almost birthday suit” day. More fun could only mean one thing! (Mark wants Jackie to know that he only gave Bryan one beer…..)Love you lots and are s…

April 18, 2010

By on April 18, 2010 in Grateful

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRYAN!Dear Bryan,We hope you have more fun on your special day than you did on this “almost birthday suit” day. More fun could only mean one thing! (Mark wants Jackie to know that he only gave Bryan one beer…..)Love you lots and are s…

Making good progress

By on April 18, 2010 in Lone Wolf

The generator stopped again on Friday. We were a bit panicked, although as we had the hydraulic alternator online, we were ok, although the batteries did appear to be getting depleted for some reason. Anyhow, we were on the phone a good deal to the gur…

April 16-17, 2010

By on April 17, 2010 in Grateful
Lake Park, FL

WE DID IT!!!! What you may ask??? Well, on Friday, we cruised from Ft.Lauderdale to Lake Park, FL – just north of Palm Beach. What we did was travel through 21 bridges, and only four were tall enough for us to go under without waiting or requesting an opening. Most bridges in this area are restricted so open on a schedule like on the hour and half hour or a quarter and three quarter past the hour. I did some studying and put together a possible schedule and Mark programmed the GPS to navigate to the next bridge. He adjusted our speed to get to the next bridge on time.

It was going pretty slick until the fifth bridge when the bridge tender said the bridge was undergoing some minor repairs – no kidding! There was a man hanging under the bridge, a welding machine and crane on the bridge as well as lots of orange cones and workmen. It took 45 minutes to repair with probably a total of 8 boats waiting. We were allowed through as soon as it was fixed, but it was at the same time as the next bridge’s scheduled opening resulting in all of us waiting another half hour in the narrow canal. All in all it was a minor glitch.

We liked traveling on the ICW and not having to deal with BIG waves. The scenery was magnificent as we traveled through Deerfield Beach, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth which includes Palm Beach, Riviera Beach and LakePark. Just take a look.

At the Lake Worth Inlet there is another port. Just after the port is the Riviera Beach Municipal Marina. Lots of mega yachts – one in the lift – and a mega sailboat.

The Lake Park Harbor Marina is quite nice. The staff is helpful, bathrooms are clean and big, and the laundry room is cheap! There is a small park next to the marina and a larger one farther up the waterfront.

There is that town boat launch ramp near our slip – watching the activity reminded us of our early boating days.

We have to time our walks with Porter to be around low tide – we can step off the boat. At high tide we have to find a more creative way to get off the boat. We stayed an extra day – I got some laundry done and Mark and I walked to Winn Dixie to get a few things. We like it here.


April 16-17, 2010

By on April 17, 2010 in Grateful

Lake Park, FL WE DID IT!!!! What you may ask??? Well, on Friday, we cruised from Ft. Lauderdale to Lake Park, FL – just north of Palm Beach. What we did was travel through 21 bridges, and only four were tall enough for us to go under without wai…

Bahia Mar Marina

By on April 17, 2010 in M/V Gumbo

The marina’s forklift raising a boat, about 28′ long, from the waterThe storage building the boats are stored on racks, three high, inside. Just like bottles in a wine rack.Sunset over the bayou Chico bridge, from our slip.I walked to a food store in t…