She moves!

Early in February we turned the pointy end south to head for Marathon, where madness and mayhem had already begun (and we were missing it!!).  The Captain was deliriously happy to be moving again, and Serendipity was straining at her leash.

Outta here!

George and Terry (s/v Serena) traveled the first bit with us, and we anchored at Dragon Point in Eau Gallie the first night.  We enjoyed dinner aboard Serena, and bid a fond farewell to our good friends.

Beauty and the beasts

After a few anchorages (and lots of rain), we had to wait 3 hours one afternoon for the Don Ross bridge to be repaired, with no guarantee that it would happen in a manner timely enough for us to reach our anchorage.  The marina closest (and which could accommodate our 6’ draft) wasn’t really public, but when we called they seemed very anxious to have us dock there for the night.  As usual, I asked their rates on the phone and $1.50 sounded like a reasonable per-foot charge.  When we pulled into the cove we were amazed at how large the marina was and how large the boats were.  We tied up and the Captain went to check in.  As he left the boat, I jokingly said “hope they didn’t mean $150!”.  Well, no joke.   Too bad we didn’t have time or the weather to take advantage of the beautiful grounds and pool!  It was late and of course there was the electroshock therapy that needed to be done on the Captain…..

small boats at the marina

must've misunderstood.....

Ft. Lauderdale is one of our favorite stops, so we were glad to tie up in New River at Sailboat Bend.  We rented a car and got some shopping/reprovisioning done, and were able to reach the mechanic to whom we’d mailed our ham radio.  Sadly, it couldn’t be revived, but he had another one that fit our needs.  We walked into Los Alamos for happy hour, where the Captain was happy to see the UT basketball game on the bar TV.

Las Olas

cute little tug

do NOT want his job!

a cold one, coconut shrimp, and UT on the screen....one happy Captain!

small cabin in Lauderdale

We celebrated our 39th anniversary in Biscayne Bay (one of my favorite anchorages) with a beautiful sunset.

starting to relax into the cruising life again

anniversary sunset

We spent the next night in Rodriguez Key, then eased into Marathon on the 16th.  We were met on the dock by Bob and Katie, William and Judy, Bob and Stephanie, and Rick and Therese.  Bob had (of course) made plans (what?  Bob?) to have a pizza party on the dock.  We met some new best friends and reunited with old best friends.  Let the games begin!

Boot Key Harbor!!