Friday, March 2

We will be staying in Stuart through March 21st & spending time with our former neighbors from Texas, who now reside in Stuart, Cherrill Kipple & Jerry Patterson.  We are also going to meet up with our neighbors, Karen & Reagan Giese this Thursday for dinner.  Since, we missed several opportunities of meeting up with other neighbors, at different locations along the way, we are really excited to have a chance to 'catch-up'.

We finally arrived late afternoon at Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart Beach & as we docked we looked across to the next pier & were surprised to see our neighbor's (Carlotta & Ralph Poole) boat .

A boating play ground in Jupiter complete with a swim up refreshment stand, so while we waited for yet another bridge opening, I took a few more photos.

Tiger Woods has one of his homes in Jupiter, if anyone cares!  Caught a pic of the Jupiter Lighthouse for Capt Bob.

This trip took us about 8 hours all together because we never changed speeds from slow to idle mode the entire day.  But, it was the most impressive ride we have had to date. As you will witness in the next set of pictures.  These few pics don't even make a dent in the number of ridiculously large, privately owned, yachts & mansions we saw all the way to Stuart Beach.  Owners of these 'toys' & homes obviously have way too much money!

We had about 15 minutes to get to the 1st of 23 draw bridges we went through as we headed up the ICW to Stuart Beach.  Most of the bridges open on the 1/2 hour, but with so many so close together we encountered quite alot of boat traffic.  This bridge was one of the most unique we saw along the way, Boynton Beach Bridge, it looked like a castle.  It was interesting trying to communicate with the 'bridge operators' along the way.  Some of them, were very friendly & helpful, but others were - let me see what word I would use to describe them without using profanity - they were total 'jerks'!
It almost appeared like they enjoyed not helping boaters who were asking logical questions regarding their bridge.  We even heard one of the operators actually scolding a captain for using the term       "10 - 4".  The operator yelled back at the boater that "he had never heard the term "10 - 4", saying "what's 10 - 4 mean?" He told him to learn the correct response if he wanted to communicate!! Geeeez, good thing it was not Admiral Bonnie that dude was talking to, we probably would still be sitting at that bridge waiting to go through! I guess it takes all kinds!

                                  

Thursday, March 1

 We made it to the Key Biscayne area, but could not get into the state park marina in Key Biscayne, so we stayed 1 night at the Rickenbacher Marina located directly across from a beautiful view of the Miami skyline. Enjoyed a great meal at the Rusty Pelican Restaurant at our marina.  Left on the 2nd heading for the Sands Harbor Marina located in Pompano Beach.

Wednesday, February 29

Made it to Key Largo, enjoyed live music at the Pilot House Marina restaurant.  Scouted the area via a bike ride.  Took this sunrise pic before we headed out Thursday morning, trying to keep ahead of some iffy weather reports heading our way.

Tuesday, February 28

We decided to take advantage of the weather, so we are heading to Key Largo, the Pilot House Marina which will take us about 3 hours traveling via the Hawk Channel.  It was not the smoothest ride, but really not too bad, or maybe I'm just getting used to it. This is a shot of the Pilot House channel entrance.  Note from Capt Bob, if you bring your boat to this area, the channel on the right is well marked, but is the wrong channel, look for the small light house behind the trees.

Tuesday, February 28
 Some parting shots of Hawk Cay Resort, quite an impressive place & expensive.  Fuel here was $5+ per gallon. I thought I would get a pedicure - changed my mind when they said it would cost $75 + a 20% gratuity! My toes look just fine - slap on another coat of polish & we're good to go!  Good thing I learned to cut & color my own hair, can't imagine what that would have set me back!