Our first stop after leaving the Palm Beach area was at Cape Lookout in North Carolina, just south of Cape Hatteras. We’d stopped there en route to Boston mainly to wait out a storm that would be passing through the Boston area, but it turned out to be an excellent anchorage. We toured the Cape…
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Time to Leave
When we arrived in Palm Beach mid-March, we booked a slip at Soveral Harbour Marina for two weeks, expecting to have a brief stay there, get some yard work done and continue north. Soveral Harbour, and Palm Beach in general, worked out so well as a home base that we kept extending our stay. We…
Nordhavn 47/52 Rudder Upper Bearing
Boats are full of compromises, and advances in one dimension can bring problems in another. Nailing the full equation of longevity, strength, and serviceability often is truly challenging. A perfect example of this challenge is the Nordhavn 47 and 52 rudder upper bearings. The early members of the Nordhavn 47/52 line used fixed race ball…
Cracker Boy Boat Works
When we hauled out in Whangarie, New Zealand near the end of 2013, we didn’t expect to go more than 2.5 years before the next haulout. We finally lifted Dirona again at Cracker Boy Boat Works in West Palm Beach. In the nine days that followed, we cleaned and painted the bottom; re-applied Propspeed to…
Navy UDT-SEAL Museum
The modern-day US Navy SEALs originated in World War II as Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) that provided hydrographic reconnaissance and underwater demolition of obstacles prior to any amphibious landing. The Navy UDT-SEAL Museum stands on the site where those first divers trained, at Fort Pierce, Florida, an hour’s drive north of Soverel Harbour Marina. Click…
Kennedy Space Center
The Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral are synonymous with America’s manned spaceflight program. It was here in 1961 that NASA launched the first American into space, Alan Shepard, as part of project Mercury. Later would follow the Gemini and Apollo programs that ultimately put a man on the moon and, more recently, the Space…
Jupiter Exploration Program
We decided to execute on the mission of sending two people to Jupiter and safely returning them to Florida. We got back in the same day, hardly used any fuel, and didn’t even have to go into orbit. Jupiter, Florida is about six miles north of Soverel Harbour Marina—we went by tender along the intracoastal…
Fort Lauderdale
After our Naples trip we drove south to Fort Lauderdale twice, once to visit North Trail RV Center and the other to attend Fleet Week Port Everglades. In between, we visited Stuart to the north to check out a couple of boat yards. Trip highlights from May 5th through 9th follow. Click any image for…
Naples
Earlier this month we rented a car and made a road trip to Naples, Florida to have lunch with a friend. On the way there, we made a couple of stops to take in some Everglades wildlife. We didn’t see the elusive Florida Panther, but we did see plenty of alligators. Trip highlights from May…
USS California Distinguished Visitor Embark
Last Thursday Jennifer and I were down on Las Olas Blvd in Fort Lauderdale having an enjoyable patio dinner when my phone rang. “James, this is Suzanne Speight, Public Affairs Specialist with Navy Region Southeast. I have one position available to embark on the the USS California.” That sounded pretty good. I’ve never been on…
