We are undecided about what we will do this boating season. We have talked about going to Green Turtle again but we have also mentioned going to Washington DC. We are thinking if we do go to DC, we should probably stay in the states, so we can get an earlier start to DC. We’d like to spend May there. But we are not sure yet. Guess we will decide later.
Rocking B, Ken and Margaret’s boat, has been here a few
weeks and we are mooring with them. We have arranged with Salty Turtle, Vic and
Gigi, to be aboard Rocking B to catch our lines. Ken and Margaret are not on
the boat until the beginning of 2017.
Tying up to a dock is different than tying up to a boat on a
mooring. The dock is stationary, the moored boat is not. If we go up to Rocking
B without helpers, I have to take a line from Escape to Rocking B. Let’s think
about that. Ain’t gonna happen! I don’t jump or hop. End of discussion. So we
have Salty Turtle on stand-by as we travel down the waterway. No problems
getting tied to Rocking B. We are secure.
We got here a few days before Thanksgiving and as usual there was the “CLODS and Cruisers” Thanksgiving Celebration. “CLODS” are “cruisers living on dirt”. So they are people than used to travel on boats and now live on land, but can’t cut the lines completely. It’s always a big celebration. The Clods provide the ham and turkey and us cruisers bring appetizers, sides, and dessert. Salty Turtle reserved a table for 8 so we ate with them and two other couples. We estimated there were at least 200 people there and lots of food. We were stuffed. Great time.
We met lots of friends and made some new ones. Of course, it
was good to see Salty Turtle again. They didn’t stay long. Vic is itching to
get over to the Bahamas as soon as he can. Have fun! It was also fun to spend a
little time with Roger and Lori from Reality before they header farther south.
Tom and June from Lady Ella are here. We met them at the dock in Green Turtle
Cay and have enjoyed seeing them. They may do the crossing when we do if they
are ready.
Cathy and Earl from Seeker are here and we spend time with
them. We got included in their Monday night Mr. Manatee burger deal night. Mr.
Manatee is a waterfront restaurant that has cheap burgers on Monday. They also
have a Mr. Manatee burger deal. The burger is a double cheeseburger with a
slice of ham roll that looks like bologna, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and
mozzarella sticks with a side of FF. If you can eat everything you get a free
Mr. Manatee t-shirt. The nights we went, there were probably 25-30 boaters all
telling boat tales at the same time. There was one guy that has perfected
eating the big burger. He said it’s like filling a jar. You put in rocks and
think it’s full until you add sand and think it can’t hold any more and then
fill it with water until it is finally full. So… the rocks are the burgers,
cheese sticks, ham roll and part of the fries, the sand is the tomatoes,
lettuce, and the rest of the fries. Then the water is whatever you use to wash it
down. He has over 20 shirts, so he must have it figured out.
Of course, we spent Christmas back home. We have a rental
car and drove back to spend Christmas. We stayed with Shay’s mom and my dad. We
got to see all our family and friends and had a great time. My family got together at my dad’s, us and
the kids got together at Shay’s moms Christmas morning and then his family got
together that afternoon. We had way too much delicious food and lots of time
together. It was just over too soon and we had to head back to the boat. This
is a sad goodbye, since it will be several months before we get back. Lots of
hugs, kisses and goodbyes.
Richard and Connie on their boat SeaSalt are back at their marina in Fort Pierce; we spent lots of time with them and had a great time as always. Emma and David on Five Flip Flops or FFF got back from their 6 months of trekking. They are getting FFF ready for 6 months of cruising. We had many cheap MCD meals with them. We celebrated Richard’s and Emma’s birthday together again at Bobby’s house. And we welcomed in the New Year at Bobby’s with FFF and SeaSalt with Connie’s “ham junk” which is ham and black eyed peas. Yum!
Shay’s cousin and his girlfriend visited from the east coast
of FL. They had a tour of the boat and enjoyed hearing some of our boating
stories. Sam is interested in a boat, so after lunch on the boat they took the
dinghy for a mooring field ride to check out the other boats.
Our good friends from Mt. Airy, Susan and Moses, visited us and spent a few nights on Escape. They have just returned from a cruise on a big boat and came to see us, since they were in the area. We had a great time catching up, taking long walks and just relaxing. Wish they could stay longer but all good things must come to an end.
Margaret and Ken are back on Rocking B and are working very
hard to get ready to head to the Bahamas.
We have decided to go to the Bahamas, again. So we fill up
with diesel, water, and provisions. I have been slowly stocking up with things
when they were on sale, but I guess I’ll get if even if it’s not “on offer”.
That’s FFF term for being on sale. My inside refrigerator is full of all kinds
of goodies and the freezer is full of meat. We’ve even got stuff in the small
outside refrigerator too. Our credit card is wondering what's going on. We have bought so much stuff! But thank goodness, we won't be using it when we get to Bahamas, so it can recuperate.
As you know, we have been looking for a weather window and
it looks like we will have a good one for several days starting January 19th.
We need to be in Lake Worth and it will take us 2 days to get there. One day to
Hobe Sound and one day to Lake Worth. So, our plan is leave here Tuesday,
January 17th, Wednesday January 18th get to Lake Worth, then Thursday January 19th head out.
Rocking B is not traveling with us, they need another day or
two to finish projects. SeaSalt is not leaving with us either since they have
things going on in a couple of weeks. So it looks like FFF and Escape will be heading
out soon.
We’ve enjoyed Vero Beach and are looking forward to spending
a few months in the beautiful Bahamas.
Since I am posting this from the Bahamas and the internet is
not great, I will post pictures later. Just wanted to let you know what’s going
on.
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