San Pablo Catholic Church, Marathon

We have arrived at Marathon, Florida via Hawk Channel. We had a great sail in about 12 knots under sunny skies from Key Largo to Marathon City Marina. We are on a mooring ball with about 200 other sailboats. The Community Park is adjacent to the marina with tennis courts, basketball, soccer fields, and a skateboard park. Best of all there is a Winn Dixie, Publix, Home Depot and I-Hop within a mile. We have bike paths along both sides of highway 1. We attended Mass at the San Pablo Church which had prayer gardens outside plus Stations of the Cross next to the water. After church we biked to Sombrero Beach which was beautiful with white sand and turquoise water. There are two flat screen tvs in the boaters' lounge so Walt got to see the Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins!

Miami and Biscayne Bay

Steven left us today via taxi for the Ft. Lauderdale airport and on to Rochester where two more quarters await him for his senior year at RIT. After his departure Walt and I headed into the ocean, down past Miami, and into NO Name Harbor where we anchored. It was Thanksgiving Day and the anchorage was jammed with boats, lots of people enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. Around 10:00 at night we had a wind shift with gusts to 27 knots....you guessed it, we started to drag a bit even with 80' of chain out. There were so many boats around us that we decided to pull anchor in the dark and leave the harbor. We anchored just outside in 10' of water and listened to the wind howl all night. We were on anchor watch til dawn but the boat stayed safe! Today we are heading to Key Largo.

Fort Lauderdale

We had two choices today: take the ocean route to Fort Lauderdale or take the inside route and go through 20 bridge openings. Normally there is only one option-the ocean-but the winds were blowing 17-20 knots from the south with thunderstorms, wind gusts to 30, and water spouts. We chose the bridges......Actually the day turned out great. The bridges were all timed so that if we maintained 6.5 knots we basically could run down the ICW with very little delay and so we did. We saw all kinds and sizes of iguanas sitting on the bridge pilings...brazen little fellows! There were mega-yachts dotting the waterway and billion dollar mansions. Once we reached Las Olas Marina at 3:00 there was one mooring ball left (God was watching out for us) so we took it and spent some time touring the beach while looking at the side-walk cafes next to the waterfront. Steve flies back to Rochester tomorrow and we head for Biscayne Bay and the Florida Keys.

Lake Worth

Today we took the ocean route from Fort Pierce to Lake Worth. It was a glorious day with abundant sunshine and winds 6-10 knots so we motor-sailed. We put in to the south anchorage just before sunset and enjoyed a great view of the Palm Beach waterfront and lighted skyline.

Cruisers' Net

Vero Beach is a real cruisers' net.....as the boats come in it is easy to meet new cruisers and re-connect with cruising friends from seasons past. We were happy to see Dick and Libby Mills again here in the basin. We met them two years ago in Green Turtle, Bahamas, and we have kept in touch via our blogs and e-mail. It was a special treat to have them over for happy hour with new friends Frank (also on our mooring ball) and Darick (another Catalina owner) and then to spend time on their boat, Tarwathie, sharing Libby's home made lasagna. Al, Tanya, and their three year old daughter also shared dinner with us. They were the former owners of Tarwathie. The sailing stories were in full swing! Vero Beach is a very special place for sailors. It has a free public bus system that picks you up at the marina and will take you to the beach or to some serious shopping downtown or at the mall. There are 11 different bus lines with transfer stations making it easy to get around town. Every Saturday at 4:00 is cocktail time at the picnic pavillion where you can share food, stories, and boat cards. This year there was lots of talk about going to the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.

Interview today

Steve is all dressed up for his flight to Houston, Texas for his interview tomorrow with Texas Instruments. He has been keeping us busy getting him outfitted for the interviews and then to the airports so that he can fly out to strange places in the southwest for various companies that we have only read about. It's strange to see him in our dinghy in his new suit......usually the dinghy sees us in old shorts and t-shirts with a sandy, salty dog up in the bow!

Vero Beach, Florida

We are in Vero Beach for five days and we are meeting and greeting friends. We enjoyed visiting with Jim and Joyce Ebmeyer from our dock at Katlynn Marine. They are staying with their daughter for a month here in Florida and they drove to our marina to say hi. We had snacks on the boat and then went to dinner at the Riverside Cafe just around the corner from our boat.

Ponce de Leon sunrise

We saw the shuttle lift-off yesterday and it was amazing! We were about 100 miles from the Kennedy Space Center but could really see the red flame from the boosters. The shuttle arched over our heads into a perfectly blue sky.....beautiful. This morning we left Ponce de Leon inlet at 6:30 and were treated to a splendid sunrise off the bow of our boat. We typically don't see really nice sunsets because there is always land to our west. But the sunrises have been spectacular! We'll be in Vero Beach this Thursday where we'll be meeting dockmates Jim and Joyce from Katlynn on Sodus Bay. It's always nice to see friends from home.

Fernandina Beach

Today was sunny and warm so we spent the afternoon at the beach. Steve was on the surfboard for three hours and would have stayed longer but the parentals were getting hungry. The Sunday special today was lobster for $5.00-what a deal! Fernandina Beach is truly beautiful with a board walk, parks, a basketball court, a skate park, and a bathhouse all close to the ocean.

Fort Clinch, Fernandina Beach

Construction on Fort Clinch began in 1847. It was a masonry fort constructed at the mouth of the St. Mary's River to protect the coastal port of Fernandina. The fort was never totally completed, neither did it see any action during the Civil War. With the advent of the rifled barrel cannon, forts constructed of stone and brick were no longer sturdy enough to withstand an assault. In 1935 Fort Clinch became one of Florida's first state parks.