Saturday

March 11th, 2017

Heading to Fort Lauderdale

via intercostal waterway

Joell at the helm... 

We left our anchorage outside of Miami, heading north on the Atlantic Intercostal Waterway to Fort Lauderdale where we have reservations at Cooley's Marina.  $1.03 a foot, after the Boat US discount...

We expected all higher costs at Miami and Ft. Lauderdale (one marina we looked at is $7-9 a foot).  Guess going where the locals go paid off

Elwood stole Mike's spot...

Just outside of Miami...

Ms Bailey, a 36' Grand Banks, heading under the bridge first...

Assorted buildings as we head north...

Miami

Nice runabout..

The Miami Skyline...

Two boats you see are running with us, Sanctuary and Miss Bailey.

Need I say anymore...

Almost stopped here... they had some nice smokey smells coming from this rundown joint..

Cruisen Tiki's... with some protection from the outboard propeller, 

I suppose it's there if someone falls off there tiki stool...

These are some impressive tugs..

Briny Riverfront Irish Pub's ceiling... 

I thought Barnacle Buds in Milwaukee had lots of stuff..

We ate dinner here on Friday night.

Where do they get all this stuff?

This is the largest "Big Chair" that we've seen in Florida so far...

Girls turn...

had a heck of a time getting them outa there...

Dinner Friday evening...

Wasn't sure if anyone could see me sitting there...

Friday

March 10th 2017

On our way to Miami

This is actually 8' of water but it feels like less...

Miami off in the distance...

This Coast Guard boat kept buzzing back and forth...

We thought we'd be the next target for them to do an inspection on, but they left us alone...

a little closer...

The view from our anchorage...

Myron relaxing on Ms. Bailey, before cocktails over on Sanctuary...

Sanctuary is a third boat that is currently traveling with us and they invited us over at 4pm.

Sunset in Miami...

Sometimes we find that the best is after the sun has completely set..

Good Night Miami...

Thursday morning

March 9th, 2017

Good Morning

A great night at anchorage with a beautiful morning...

Wednesday

March 8th, 2017

Elwood likes to hide in the pillows on the boat...

The night before we casted off to head north..  

Bikes are loaded...

Ken and Vicki gave us a "Fish Fry" going away party...

Here's Vicki cracking open some snacks...

Tom on the left, Mike and Ken...

Vicki snuck in there..

The whole group...

And of course Elwood was there...

Tom and Ken...

Vicki likes Elwood....

Heading under the 7 mile bridge and the old rail road that is now defunct...

Elwood taking a snooze on the boat...

See the trail of muck and sand that a  36' Grand Banks with a 4.5' draft kicks up in 4.9 feet of water...

Skinny water here...

Some of the cuts are quite narrow...

video

video

Miss Bailey anchored for the night...

Our Sunset....nice...

Thursday

March 2nd, 2017

We had a large center console boat roll in today and was picked up by the Travel Lift

http://www.seven-marine.com

 It was sporting three 627 horsepower "7" Engines...

Was told that they go for $100,000.000 each

Great Big Monsters

Here's Ronnie, the Travel Lift operator standing next to them...

and color matched to the boat of course...

Wednesday

March 1st, 2017

Let me introduce: "left to right" 

Ken, Vicky and Tom

These three wonderful people just happened to be here at Marathon Marina when we arrived and have become such good friends...

Ken and Tom were very helpful when I was changing out my rudder seals.  It would of been extremely difficult without them...

Here Ken and Elwood are supervising Mike in the Engine room.

Ken and Vicky live in Michigan and spend winters here on their sail boat then head home for the summer.

Tom, who also is from Michigan, lives year round on his sailboat here at Marathon Marina...

Ken getting ready to do a job on those ribs....

Joell and I in the Big Chair at Sunset Grill and Raw Bar a short bicycle ride from the marina where all 5 of us had breakfast one morning...

A little side note:

On Sunday February 27 we went to a AGLCA (looper) Sunset Celebration.  It was just down the road at the Banana Bay Resort.  There were 142 loopers there.  We met up with quite a few old friends and  made a few new ones.  They had a good band playing.  It was a lot of fun.

We will be leaving this place on Sunday or if strong winds stop us, on Tuesday.  We have met a lot of new friends in Marathon and will really miss them.  One consolation is that most everyone else is also leaving before the end of April.  Only 12 boats stay at Marathon Marina year round.  

We are a little apprehensive and a little excited about moving on.  We are making lists, doing laundry,  and grocery shopping this week.  We will be traveling the first few days with the boat Miss Bailey.  That would be Myron and Lynda from Pewaukee.  Last night we got together to discuss both the inside ICW route and the outside route.  Weather and ocean depth will determine the route we take.  We are now heading up the Atlantic or towards home. 

As always, our blog will be worked on depending on our WiFi connection abilities.