Palm Coast, FL

Our destination on Thursday, April 24 was Palm Coast where we docked Zendo for several days at our friends’ Jon and Mary Slattery’s lovely home. Our plan was to rent a car and drive back to Miami Beach. We had sold our house there before we left for our trip and once we received the 10% deposit (on this cash deal with no inspections) we felt it was a safe bet to pack up the rest of the house and put it in storage until we returned from our trip.

That evening John and Mary hosted a delicious dinner at their home and invited another MTOA couple, Barry and Barbara Kipnis. It was a fun evening.

The next morning we rented a car and drove back to Miami Beach to pack up our home for the very last time.  It was a bittersweet time. We owned this home since 1990 and it was very special to us, but selling it is part of our grand plan especially because we do so much traveling. 

We worked very hard for the next couple of days packing, loading pods and trucks and storage bins but we got everything done.  Fortunately, we got to see some of our very good friends including Lange and Addie King, David Brayer, Aileen Brousseau and Michael Haerting and of course Jonny’s mother,  brother Andy and his partner, Ed.  Many thanks to Andy, Ed, Aileen and her son Chris for their assistance in packing, loading and storing some of our items!

We enjoyed a couple of dinners out at our favorite restaurants in Miami Beach and Wilton Manors before we left on Sunday morning to drive back to Palm Coast to resume our journey.

Daytona, FL

We cruised to Daytona on Monday, April 23 leaving at 7 a.m. to avoid the storms that were forecasted for later in the day.  We passed through some lovely undeveloped areas on the ICW. 

 and even encountered a pod of dolphins who followed us for awhile.  

We also passed the picturesque Ponte Inlet Lighthouse.

Arriving in Daytona at 12:50, we docked at the Halifax Harbor Marina.  We were able to stay there for free because our friend Carol gifted it to us after she won a free night’s dockage as a raffle prize at the MTOA Rendezvous.  Because it continued to threaten rain, we stuck close to Zendo and did boat chores that afternoon. We did manage to walk the docks at the large marina where there were several beautiful wooden sailboats (Tatyana 37s) that we admired and we enjoyed chatting with an owner of one of them.

Titusville, FL

We spent a cloudy, threatening day cruising to Titusville on Sunday, April 22. We only traveled 36 miles due to the possibility of inclement weather.  It was quite windy  and we had a few showers on and off during the day.  We arrived at the Titusville Marina at 12:45. 

After lunch we decided to walk the town, but just as we were far enough away from the boat, it started to pour. Happily, the closest place to duck in was the local brew pub, a cool establishment called Playalinda.

It had gleaming vats of local craft beers, a clever decorating scheme and a convivial atmosphere. Jonny was in his element! 

After sampling a couple of rounds and enjoying the decor, we bought a six pack and ventured outside again as it had stopped raining.

Unfortunately, the rest of Titusville didn’t live up to our first impression. The town was tired with many permanently shuttered shops and the remainder closed on Sunday.  So we wandered back to Zendo and tried to get this blog up and running, to no avail.  Finally, we hit the sack so we could get an early start the next morning.

Melbourne, FL

After two days in Fort Pierce, it was time to continue on our journey on Sat., April 24.  But first we had to visit the fabulous Fort Pierce farmer's market which was located in a park adjacent to our marina.  We had breakfast there and bought some beautiful heirloom tomatoes, and fresh bread to take on board.  Sorry to have missed the opportunity to get some photos of the market.

Our next destination was Melbourne (about a 6  hour trip) where we planned to visit with Lynn's cousin who lives in nearby Satellite Beach. 

This was the first day we brought Georgio up onto the fly bridge.  He found a cozy bag to sleep on as well as the magnetic attraction of Lynn's lap! He seems quite content though we wish he would eat a bit more.

We had a nice dinner with Lynn’s cousin Mark at Ichabod’s which was adjacent to where we were docked. Fellow MTOA members Tony and Nancy Adams were able to join us as well. 

Fort Pierce, FL

On Thursday, April 19, we had a beautiful clear day cruising on the "outside" - the Atlantic instead of the intracoastal waterway.  We chose this route because the seas were calm and we could make much better time than cruising the intracoastal with all the bridges and no wake zones.  We had a date with an electrician at the Fort Pierce City Marina because Zendo has an electrical problem that causes more modern electrical posts at marinas to short out when we hook up.  

We arrived earlier than expected and so we were able to join the MTOA group for the last night's festivities.  Unfortunately, we were not able to attend the full Rendezvous due to our boat not being ready for the journey, the problems with the intracoastal being closed and the weather being too rough to travel on the outside earlier in the week. 

One of the new features of this trip is the fact that we have our cat, Georgio, on board with us.  He's the only remaining member of our pet entourage so we decided to bring him.  He had never been on the boat before and he doesn't love traveling in the car but he's doing reasonably well so far with just occasional "accidents."  Just like at home, he sleeps most of the day.

The following day was a work day for both of us.  Jonny spent most of the day with excellent electrician who was able to fix the problem with were having and Lynn spent the day cleaning the Stratoglass inside and out.  We now have much clearer views!

That evening we joined friends Mary and Ron Berringer for a fun dinner at a new restaurant in Fort Pierce called the Galleria.  It was very good and afterwards we stopped for a night cap at a local wine bar followed by a picturesque walk back to the dock.

Our 2018 Adventure - Cruising to The Great Lakes

We’ve begun our next great adventure - cruising up to the Great Lakes! We began this trip on April 18 after spending several days loading Zendo from the dock of our good friends, Hilda and Tony who live on the next island from us. We finally took off at dawn’s early light and left our lovely home on Rivo Alto Island bound for our first night’s stay near Palm Beach.




 We passed under the Venetian Causeway bridge and headed to the “outside” route on the Atlantic. On this beautiful sunny day with calm seas we would make much better time than on the intracoastal waterway.

We reached our destination 9 hours later - a calm anchorage in the Lake Worth Inlet near Riviera Beach and just north of Palm Beach. We maintain a slow but steady pace of between 7 and 8 mph. To illustrate, it takes us about 8 hours to travel 60 miles which would take us only one hour in a car traveling at 60 mph. Obviously, this requires us to really stop and “smell the roses” which we truly enjoy,


Upon arriving at our anchorage we enjoyed the leftovers from Joe’s Stone Crab where we had treated ourselves on the eve of our departure with their famous fried chicken (Bill Clinton’s favorite Miami dish) with all the fixings and, of course, their delicious key lime pie. It's good to be back on the water!

Dinner Key, Miami - Home Again!

The adventure is not yet over!  We left our anchorage in Santa Barbara Lake at about 9:30 on Sunday morning, June 26, bound for our home port at Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove.  Along the way we planned to stop at Hollywood City Marina for fuel.

We hadn't gone very far down the ICW when we felt a sluggishness with the boat.  We both thought that something might have gotten caught in the propeller so we tied up at at a dock at one of the beautiful homes under construction along the ICW in Fort Lauderdale.  Jonny dove down on the prop and discovered the world's largest palm frond tightly wrapped around the prop like a very thick piece of rope!  After about half a dozen dives, he was able to release it.  Before we took off, one of the crazy boaters in this part of the world came barreling down the ICW at full speed.  The wake from the boat reverberated back and forth across the width of the ICW causing us to bang hard against the dock repeatedly.  We had placed several fenders out but the repeated knocking caused one of the fenders to slide.  At the time, we were annoyed but once the water calmed down we proceeded on our way.

A short time later we arrived at the Hollywood Beach Marina and after several attempts to dock against a very strong current we finally tied up and took on fuel.  It was then that Jonny noticed that our rub rail had been damaged and knocked off its groove which had obviously occurred when that boat waked us.  We were very annoyed because it is not an insignificant job to get it fixed.

Traveling on the ICW on a weekend in South Florida is not a lot of fun. There is so much boat traffic and so many inconsiderate boaters that one must be constantly wary.

And of course, there are several bridges that only open on schedule so it's frequently "hurry up and wait."  We contemplated traveling on the ocean side instead of the ICW but our fuel needs prevented us from doing so.

We passed through Haulover Cut where there are literally hundreds of boaters anchored in the shallow waters of the ICW relaxing and enjoying the day.

Buzzing amidst everyone, including those of us underway, were scores of jet skis who take great joy in jumping the wakes of the fast moving boats.  One has to be hyper-vigilant to deal with the inconsiderate wakers and the mosquito-like jet skis zipping back and forth.

We were doing a pretty good job of it when all of a sudden a jet ski headed in our direction and we heard a giant boom!  At the time we were hovering and waiting for a bridge opening.  Lynn rushed below and saw that the rider had fallen off of his jet ski and was in the water. The jet ski was floating upside down and other jet skiers were rushing up to help.  For a moment we thought he might have hit our boat, but fortunately he was unharmed.  The boom was caused by his flipping after jumping a wake. After Lynn was sure he was OK, she admonished him to be more careful and his friends helped him on his way.  Oh, for the tranquility of Bahamian waters!

We made it the rest of the way to our marina without incident passing the City of Miami with the Freedom Tower, American Airlines Marina and many high rises dominating the skyline.

We finally reached  Dinner Key in Coconut Grove where Zendo is docked.  We were greeted at the dock by our dock neighbors and Zendo's former owners, Ken and Fred.  Fred used his new toy, a drone - to film Lynn docking which fortunately went very smoothly especially since she was unknowingly being caught on film!

Ken helped us to tie up and the sharing of cruising tales began!  What a wonderful month of relaxation, adventure and friendship!  Can't wait until the next journey!