The Final Chapter

C and C 27

Symbol 41

C and C 35

All good things eventually come to an end and so too has our boating, at least on our own boat.

We arrived at a contract for the sale of the boat in Mid-May and returned to the boat on May 27 for a survey and sea trial the next day. As I expected, the survey and sea trial went very well. Other than the new battery I bought in Marathon failing there were no significant problems. The new owner took possession of the boat on June 25, 2015 and we spent a day with him the next week reviewing system operations and maintenance.

This is the first time we have not owned a boat we could go cruising on in over 40 years. During that time we’ve met lots of wonderful people and made many new friends. We’ve gotten to see parts of three countries (USA, Canada and the Bahamas) in a different way from most travelers and learned much about the history of the places we’ve visited. In all, we’ve traveled around 3,000 miles in the C&C 27 sailboat “Ecstasy”, 50,000 miles on the C&C 35 sailboat “Trader” and 16,000 miles in the Symbol 41 “Sun Cat”.

Its been a great experience!
  Steve & Jean

Update April, 2015 - our 2015 cruise

Our 2015 boating adventures  have consisted of another trip to Marathon and back to Bradenton.

We left Bradenton on January 25 after replacing the battery charger. Our first stop again was the Crow’s Nest Marina in Venice. We spent an extra day there waiting out bad weather and replacing the port alternator with help from Doug. Doug and Maggie joined us that evening for dinner and they would travel with us to Marathon. We were trying to make a weather window so we pushed a bit. The route followed should be familiar by now. The following day took us to Fort Myers Beach where we topped off the fuel tanks and spent the night at Salty Sam’s Marina.

Jean, Alice and Carol

The next day we traveled through Marco Island and Goodland to the anchorage at Russell Pass. The weather window held and we had a long but smooth crossing of Florida Bay the next day to the new Faro Blanco Marina in Marathon. We spent the next day getting organized and enjoying the pool. Phil and Alice were staying in Marathon in a condo and Lee and Carol were there in their land yacht. We all went to Phil and Alice’s place to watch the superbowl and I played mexican train with Alice, Jean, Maggie and Carol while we watched the game. The third time is always a charm! This was the third time we had watched the Patriots in the Super Bowl while we were in Marathon and this time they won!

Doug and Maggie left the next day and we spent much of the rest of the week with Phil and Alice and Lee and Carol. We also were able to make contact with Tim and Jan and we all enjoyed a trip to Sparky’s for happy hour.

The Gang enjoying Happy Hour at Sparky's

The rest of the month was a blur. We advertised the boat for sale and had several showings. Phil and Alice and Lee & Carol left but we were able to get together several times with friends Willard & Barbara and Tim & Jan. We also had some company, some of which was a surprise.

We received a text one evening from a Maine number I didn’t recognize, wondering where we were. It turned out it was our friends Clare and Dennis. They were staying at the Hyatt hotel which is a part of the Faro Blanco Resort! We spent much of the next day with them touring places they wanted to see again in Marathon and had dinner with them and Lee and Carol the next evening. The next company was Jerry and Nancy, friends from Centerboard Yacht Club. They were on their way to Key West but we had a nice dinner with them at Tranquillity Resort where they were staying.

Friends from The Villages, Frank & Linda were our next visitors. We were out that evening with Willard & Barbara, dining at the Cabana Breezes followed by a stop at the Elk’s club for dancing. We had expected Frank & Linda the next day but they were able to join us at the Elk’s club. A different way to see the activities in Marathon. We spent the next day with them, doing some touring of Marathon and doing an extensive chart review of where to stop on the Atlantic ICW.

The Faro Blanco marina was new. It actually partially opened in Mid January of this year with the rest opening around the end of February. It was nice that everything was new and he staff was great but there were some problems. The finger pier of the slip they initially assigned us to was only 20 feet long, too short for us to get on and off the boat. In addition, it only had 30 amp power where we use 50. Fortunately they were willing to reassign us to another slip which had a longer finger. There also was no pump out on our side of the marina which they addressed in different ways. It was also very pricey - almost twice what the other marinas were charging - and the location was quite a walk from all of the more useful stores in Marathon. None of our friends were staying near there and in fact there were very few boats there and hardly any cruisers.

We decided to move if we could and were able to move to the Sombrero resort, which is near just about everything and is closer to our friends. It is also located in Boot Key Harbor which made it more feasible to travel around by dinghy. Willard and Roger helped us move the around to Sombrero Resort. Our space there, which was on the wall, enabled us to easily get on and off the boat as well as raise and lower the dinghy. The resort is old and has been through several owners and bankruptcies but it has a nice pool and a great location. Willard and Barbara moved their boat to Sombrero a week or so after. We took several great dinghy trips with them and Roger and Laurie, often ending up at one happy hour or another, and had a number of dinners out, golf games and of course trips to Sparky’s.

Another benefit of the move was we were now in easy walking distance of Blackfin resort where Tim and Jan were staying. We had a fun St Patty’s Day again with them and Ron and Janice, did a rib cook off, went to the seafood festival and the Key’s Fisheries for crab claws, played a little pool and golf and of course went to Sparky’s. 

St Patty's Day at Key Colony Inn

By now one must be wondering what the attraction is at Sparky’s. Sparky’s is a pub located on the water in Key Colony Beach. Their happy hour every day features 25 cent wings, 25 cent shrimp and $6 pitchers of draft beer as well as live entertainment most evenings. Its just a fun place to go.

In early April it was time to leave. Willard and Barbara again accompanied us on the trip back up to Bradenton. They had a mishap with their boat Happy Ours and now had a nice Hatteras 42 named Safari.

Safari under way to Russell Pass

The route back should look very familiar by now. We stopped first at the anchorage at Russell Pass and had a quiet evening after a long day. The next day we went to Smokehouse Bay on Marco Island where we anchored again. Willard & Barbara’s dog Scottie was not doing well so we stayed an extra day while they went to the Vet. We walked around quite a bit, did some shopping and had happy hour and dinner ashore. After that, we did a short run to Naples. Jean and I walked around and did a little shopping. Naples is quite nice. We also found a good happy hour at one of the riverside pubs. Willard & Barbara took Scottie to the vet again and we were all saddened that night as Scottie had died.

Cape Coral was our stop for the next 2 days as we relaxed, walked and swam a bit. Then it was on to the anchorage at Cayo Costa for a beach walk and fresh strawberry daiquiris for happy hour. The next day I almost got the timing right on the Baca Grande swing bridge on our way into Venice. To do something different we stopped at the Fishermen’s Village Marina. Doug joined the four of us for dinner and we followed that with drinks on board Safari.

Statues celebrating end of WWII at Sarasota

A short run the following day took us to the mooring field at Sarasota. There we walked around downtown Sarasota and found the Whole Foods. After a stop at a local pub, we headed back to the boats for happy hour and dinner on Safari. Steve made banana daiquiris, Barb did pork and sauerkraut and Steve did summer squash.

We said goodby to Willard & Barbara the next morning and travelled back to Twin Dolphin in Bradenton. We spent Friday and Saturday cleaning the boat for a showing on Monday and then headed home on Sunday after a nice breakfast with Randy and Neem. We did not know this was to be our final trip on Sun Cat. The boat had run very well on our entire trip and we had had a wonderful time with our friends in Marathon again.

Update 1/1/2015 - Our 2014 adventures

Other than an occasional trip to Bradenton to clean and work on the boat, our boating in 2014 consisted of a trip to the Keys and back. We had company in early January and then took a cruise on the Celebrity “Silhouette” with approximately 70 other couples from our village. The cruise included Grand Cayman Island, Cartagena, Columbia, Panama (we went to the canal but not through it), Costa Rica, Belize and Cozumel, Mexico. Cartagena and the canal were definitely the highlights and we had a great time socializing with our neighbors.

Carriage Ride in Cartagena

After another round of company, we took Sun Cat to Marathon in the Keys where we stayed at the Sombrero Resort marina. However, getting there is at least half the fun so lets review our trip down to the Keys.

The first day was a short but good run, Bradenton to Venice. We stopped at the Crow’s Nest Marina and had dinner with our friends Doug and Maggie. A second days good run took us to Cayo Costa State Park where we anchored for the night. The next day we went to the Pink Shell Resort at Fort Myers Beach. It has several nice pools and one can walk the beach and walk or take the trolley throughout Fort Myers Beach. We stayed there two nights and had a nice dinner with Phil and Alice on Wonderland and Lee and Carol from Carol Ann. We also took on Fuel at Fort Myers Beach 200 plus gallons at 3.759 per gallon!

A 56 mile run the next day took us through Marco Island to the anchorage at Russell Pass. Russell Pass sits off the entry to Everglades City and is in Everglades National Park. Off early the next morning we made the 77 mile run across Florida Bay to Boot Key Harbor and Sombrero Resort where we were met by our friends George and Jane.

South end US 1 -Key West

For the next month and a half we mostly walked around Marathon, worked on the boat and partied with friends. Doug and Maggie came down for a visit and we went snorkeling on Sombrero Reef and did a trip to Key West where the highlight was lunch at Sunset Key.

We were able to spend some time with George and Jane, made numerous trips to Sparky’s with friends, played golf at Key Colony Beach a couple of times, celebrated St. Patty’s Day with Tim and Jan and participated in numerous happy hours on the dock.

We left Marathon in early April, accompanied by Willard & Barbara and their friend Dennis on Happy Ours. The route was a reversal of the trip down with a few different stops. The first day was an exact reverse as we traveled to Russell Pass where we anchored for the night. The weather was good, lobster season was over so the number of trap buoys was limited and the seas were smooth. After a quiet night on anchor, we proceeded to Smokehouse Bay in the center of Marco Island where we again anchored and took the dinghies ashore for a walk. Smokehouse Bay is literally in the middle of the island, protected on all sides, with lots of stores and restaurants to explore.

The next day took us back to the Pink Shell at Fort Myers Beach. We had gotten off early as the forecast was for increasing winds and building seas. We were surprised to find the dockage price had increased significantly but still enjoyed our stay there, walking the beach and trying one of the restaurants. The following day we made a short (11 mile) passage to Cape Coral where Phil and Alice were staying on Wonderland. To get there, we had to pass through a lock. It was only slightly wider than our boat and the rise or fall of the water wasn’t discernible. We’ve done over 200 locks but this was the first one where we did not secure the boat and we never saw the lockmaster.

From Cape Coral, we traveled to the anchorage at Cayo Costa and took a nice walk across the island to the beach. Its a nice but popular anchorage and there were a lot of boats there. After another quiet night at anchor, we proceeded to Venice. It was a good trip except I timed the Boca Grande swing bridge poorly and we had to wait a bit. Venice is a nice place to walk with a compact downtown and nice shops and restaurants. We had happy hour with Happy Ours crew and then dinner with Doug and Maggie. From Venice, it was an easy run back to Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton .

Sun Cat with new paint job

Normally we would have cleaned up the boat and gone home but our insurance company wanted another survey. The only good part of that is it gives us another opportunity to shop the policy to find something more reasonable that we like better. So, two days later we had a surveyor on board and we traveled to a boatyard to have it hauled. I was not pleased with what was left of the paint (it had been 2 years however) but the only problem noted was some play in the port prop which we had fixed right then while the boat was out of the water. Other than that, most of the survey dealt with some of the hoses getting older which I fixed by replacing them.

For the rest of the year, we traveled to Bradenton about once a month, cleaning the boat, doing maintenance projects and socializing with friends on the dock. Cathy made a new cover for the front windows and we had several nice dinners and happy hours with Randy and Neem and John & Cathy as well as Doug and Maggie. We took several afternoons to explore Bradenton as well.

In December we took the boat to a boatyard to have the bottom repainted and one of the 8D batteries replaced. Our trip was delayed a week or so when the steering reservoir burst and I had to replace it with a new one. The new bottom looked great and with 3 coats of paint should last for several years. We also replaced one of the big 8D batteries that are used to start the engines.

Update Janary, 2014 - a summary of 2012 and 2013

Update January 1, 2014

I really did it this time. Its been 1.5 years since I did a blog update! We are still boating, Sun Cat is still for sale and we are enjoying life in the Villages and (once in a while) on the water.  The following is a summary of our 2012 and 2013 adventures. As you will see there was  a lot of good and some tough times in 2012  and 2013.

We docked Sun Cat at a private dock in Stuart for the summer and fall of 2012. It worked out fairly well. We had people checking on it and had the sundeck cabinets rebuilt as well as some repairs to the woodwork in the aft cabin.

2012 was our first summer in Florida and I thought you might be interested in what we’ve been up to here. (This next 6 paragraphs were actually written in August of 2012). After a reunion cruise on a cruise ship with many of our looper friends and a too quick trip to Maine to move our stuff down, we’ve settled into our new house in the Villages and proceeded to get involved in some of the many activities in this crazy place.

In a typical week, I will play pickleball 2 to 3 times, we’ll play water volleyball 5 or 6 times, do water aerobics 2 to 3 times, do aqua zumba twice, play 4 or 5 rounds of golf and go to town square for music and dancing 2 to 3 times in the evening. We’ve also seen several shows (Bill Haley Jr. and the Comets were great!), played Mexican train, Tripoly and Samba at the recreation centers and been to a number of parties both in the neighborhood and at friends.

As you can see a lot of these activities involve water. That’s because the temperatures are generally in the 90’s most of the day, dropping to the 70’s during the night. We also seem to have a daily thunderstorm which cools things off a little for an hour or two. There are around 60 pools here. These include 7 sports pools, approximately 20 family pools and around 30 neighborhood pools and they are building more. We generally travel around by golf cart as almost everything is golf cart accessible including the grocery stores.

As many of you know, son Bill had a difficult spring and was staying with us for a few months until he gets further along in his rehabilitation. He gets a charge about taking his golf cart through the McDonald’s drive through.

Jean went to the “new to golf” school and is playing regularly. I’d like to say we are both getting better but I seem to be hot & cold! There are 4 executive golf courses within ¼ mile of our house. In total there are 28 executive courses and 10 country clubs, all but 2 of which have 27 hole courses. We played “couples golf” last night. This is organized by the St James Village group. They schedule 8 to 10 consecutive T times at 2 adjoining executive courses, put 2 couples together to create a foursome and then have a group dinner after the round of golf. Its fun and a good way to meet more of your neighbors.

Today we went to town square to hear Paul Ryan speak. It was refreshing to hear someone talk about tackling the big issues facing our country rather than the b.s. about tax returns and the crap we hear from the media. As soon as I finish this, we are doing a golf cart expedition to a model train show with son Bill.

We made many new friends during this time. Son Steve joined us for Thanksgiving and we had a great visit with him as well as a fun christmas with son Bill.

In January, 2013, Jean’s sister Gail rejoined us to stay with Bill and we went to Stuart and put Sun Cat in the Stuart boat show. We then took her to Fort Lauderdale where she was again shown at Trawlerfest. After that we went on a cruise to Marathon where we docked at the Sombrero Resort and met with our friends George and Jane and Tim & Jan. We spent the months of February and part of March in Marathon. In mid February, Gail called while we were on a walk to say Bill had had heart failure, been revived and was on the way to the hospital. She called again a few minutes later to say he had died. What a shock! It was strange because when she called the second time we were right where the rental cars were for us to pick up one and drive home. Co-incidence or??? We spent a week home dealing with issues related to Bill’s death. The support from Gail and our friends and neighbors was incredible and really helped us through a tough week. We returned to Marathon and continued our stay there, with somewhat heavy hearts.

We decided to keep Sun Cat closer to home for the summer. We left Marathon in mid-March and proceeded up the west coast of Florida with our ultimate destination being the Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton. A long day took us almost 80 miles to an anchorage at Russell Pass (in Everglades National Park, near Everglades City, Fl. ). The next day we traveled to an anchorage at Smokehouse Bay, which is in the middle of Marco Island. Bad weather was threatening again so we left early and headed to Fort Myers Beach. While there we had a nice dinner with Phil and Alice on Wonderland and Dave and Marla on Adesso.

Our friends Larry and Cathy joined us at Fort Myers Beach and we proceeded up the coast. We had lunch at Cabbidge Key, and then anchored at Cayo Costa State Park where we went ashore and had a nice walk on the beach. THen it was on to Venice for another beach walk and dinner at a nice Italian restaurant (where else would one go in Venice?). Bad weather threatening again so it was on to Marina Jack’s in downtown  Sarasota. It blew hard for a couple of days so we toured Sarasota and went to the Ringling museum. This is really 3 museums in one- a circus museum, and art museum and the house. A full but very interesting day!  Larry and Cathy left us there and after another day in Sarasota the wind abated enough for us to leave, proceeding out into Tampa Bay and then up the Manatee River to Bradenton. We  only stayed a day there, then rented a car and traveled home, feeling comfortable Sun Cat was secure. We spent April, May June and part of July getting involved the all the activities we could, especially golf and water volleyball.

Mike Cathy Steve & Jean  at Marine Corps Museum

In Mid-July, we set out on a trip to Maine. We took the auto train from Sanford, Florida to Lorton Virginia and spent a couple of days in Virginia with our friends Mike and Cathy.During that stay we visited the Smithsonan Air Museum at Dulles Airport and the Marine Corps Museum at Quantico. Both were interesting and impressive. The following picture is the four of us in front of the Marine Corps Museum.

The next stop was New Jersey to see our friends Larry and Sue. While there played a little golf and toured some of the area wrecked by Sandy. After that it was on to Long Island and a visit with George and Jane. We had a nice visit with them and then took the Ferry from the east end of Long Island to Connecticut, saving a lot of driving.Cape Cod was next. We picked up my sister Sue in Providence, RI on the way through and then spent a couple of days with family on Cape Cod before heading to Maine.

In Maine we stayed with Steve & Christine for a week or so. We spent some time sailing the first weekend. On Sunday we had a cookout  at Fort Williams Park with some of our out of town guests (for the event the next day). 

On that Monday, we had a “Celebration of Life” type of service for Bill at the yacht club as he had requested. We were overwhelmed with the number of people who showed up and told stories about Bill. He would have been very pleased!

Cookout t Fort Williams

Steve at the wheel of Trader

Much of the remaining week we spent getting Trader ready for the overnight race to Northeast Harbor (about 100 miles) that we were planning to do on that Friday and having dinner with friends. On the day before the race the weather forecast for the next day was terrible and we learned Trader would be the only boat in her class. We decided not to do the race and instead just do a sail to Northeast Harbor starting the next day. On Saturday, we set off with son Steve on Trader. We had two wonderful sailing days with good winds and lots of sunshine. The first day we made it to Long Cove, Tenents Harbor where we picked up a mooring for the night. The second night we made it to Cranberry Island which is in sight of Northeast Harbor. We watched a beautiful sunset on the hills of Mt Desert Island that night.

As many of you know, I usually send out message generated by our “Spot” that gives a google earth image of our location. When I sent out one that night, I was surprised to hear from our friends Chuck and Claria. They were on a trip and were going to be in Bar Harbor, the other side of the island from Northeast the next day. We therefore planned to meet up.

Mount Desert Island from Cranberry Harbor

Frenchmen's Bay from Cadillac Mountain top

Steve & Steve at top of Flying Mountain

The next day we went into Northeast and got a mooring and walked ashore and reprovisioned. Christine  and her son Justin drove up and joined us that day and we made plans to meet with Chuck and Claria  for dinner. Plans often run amuck and instead of a nice dinner we wound up with a pizza in their hotel room! It was nice to get in a visit anyway.  While at Northeast Harbor, we went to the antique auto museum in Seal Cove, hiked around Jordan Pond and played tourist in Bar Harbor. We also drove to the top of Cadillac mountain, played miniature golf and hiked up Flying Mountain. Cadillac Mountain is where the sun first hits the US in the morning but (of course) we were not there for sunrise! It was a bit foggy that day - this is overlooking Frenchmen's Bay.

After a busy week on Mt Desert, Jean and I drove to Camden to spend a weekend with our friends Peter and his friend Patty. We had lunch at the yacht club, attended an after race party, went lobstering with Peter and had a nice lobster feed on Saturday night. There is nothing like fresh Maine lobster! 

Fresh caught Maine Lobster - Yum!!

After another couple of days with Steve & Christine we headed south again. we went to Long Island where we attended George and Jane’s wedding and visited with many of our looper friends. Then we spent a couple of days in Baltimore, touring the inner harbor and the B&O

 railway museum. While there we stayed at a hotel that had once been the corporate headquarters of the B&O. It was very elegant.

After another nice visit with Mike & Cathy we took the auto train home and got back into the swing of things in the Villages. The rest of our boating for the year consisted of monthly trips to Bradenton to work on the boat.

Update 3/21/2012 Myrtle Beach to the Keys

We are now enjoying Florida.  A lot has happened since the last update and this will be a quick summary of the conclusion of our trip last summer and the holidays as well as this winter’s trip to the Keys.

When I last wrote for the Blog, it was October and we were at Osprey Marina just south of Myrtle Beach.

Sunset at Awendaw Creek

From there, we proceeded down the Waccamaw River in SC.  Our next anchorage was Awendaw Creek, a very nice anchorage just off the ICW about 30 miles above  Charleston, which was our next stop. Bad weather was predicted again but we couldn’t get into the marina we wanted so we opted to stay at St John’s Yacht Harbor, just south of Charleston itself.

It turned out to be a good stop. Flint and Leslie, AGLCA Harbor Hosts greeted us and we spent some time touring and shopping with them as well as using the pool and doing a few boat projects.

Anchorage at Tom Point Creek

The next night was spent at a very nice anchorage at Tom Point Creek. This anchorage was both scenic and sheltered from the winds.

Jean and Claria at the ruins of the church on Fripp Island

A visit to our friends Chuck and Claria at the Distant Island Yacht Club was next. We had a great time with them, attending a concert and playing tourist on Fripp Island. We also left the boat there for a couple of days while we traveled to The Villages in Florida and purchased some property.  Several nice anchorages (and long days) followed as we traveled down the ICW through Georgia. Our stops were Bull Creek, the Wahoo River (one of our favorites) and the Frederica River near Fort Frederica.

Golden Isles Marina on St Simon Island followed. There we met up with our friends Alan and Susann on Kaos. We had a nice dinner with them and helped them get their car to Jacksonville the next day. Then it was off to Fernadina Beach where we enjoyed dinner out with Tom  Jerry. A long day to St Augustine followed. We stayed on one of the City moorings and had a quiet night’s sleep. The next day we were off to Daytona where we spent the weekend at the Halifax River Yacht Club and visited with our friends, Bruce  Ellie. Our friend Peter from Maine also visited while we were there and Ellie provided us all with a great lunch.

Time out and Sun Cat at Cocoa dock

Another long day took us to a marina on the Cape Canaveral Canal where we met up with our friends George and Jane on Time Out. The next day was a short run with Time Out down to Cocoa where we played tourists for part of the day and had dinner out with George and Jane.

Traveling with Time Out, Vero Beach was the next stop. Vero is one of our favorite places. We were able to walk the beach and also did a little shopping. Bob and Sharon drove over from Port St Lucie and the six of us had a nice dinner out.  From Vero, it was a short run to Stuart where Sun Cat was expected to spend a couple of months while we furnished and organized the property at the Villages.This concluded our April to November trip on the "Little Triangle" -Stuart to New York to Ottawa to Montreal to Lake Champlain to New York and back to Stuart. We traveled approximately 3800 nautical miles (approximately 4300 statute miles) on this trip.

While we were at Stuart we were able to get together with a number of our boating friends including Larry and Sue on Susie Q, Mike and Judy on Sea Sharp, Sue and Paul on Sweet Dreams,  Sharon and Ken on Dockers Inn, Jim and Dale on Sweet Pea, Ray and Linda on Summertime and Dennis and Claire on Cinnamon Girl.  Dockers Inn and Sweet Pea had just finished the loop and we helped both to celebrate completing the Great Loop. We also did some boat projects and attended the Stuart Boat Show.  Most importantly, we were able to spend a great deal of time, including the holidays, with son Bill.

Steve & Chris on the beach
In January, Steve and Christine joined us for most of a week and Jean’s sister Gail arrived to spend a couple of months. It was not very difficult to convince her to spend the winter in Florida rather than Alaska! We took them to a nature preserve in Hobe Sound and the marine center in Stuart.

In late January, we pointed the boat south again and headed to Marathon in the Keys, traveling with our friends Larry and Sue.  In Marathon, we met up with Phil and Alice on Wonderland and also visited with Lee  Carol who were traveling in their land yacht. Tim and Jan were also there on Lamb Chop and we all enjoyed several trips to Sparky’s for happy hour, several concerts, a great super bowl party on Wonderland (except the wrong team won) and a number of other evenings out.

Jean & Gail at southernmost US point

Gail drove down and joined us so we took her to Key West – you have to see it to believe it and she'd never been there. We went to the Southernmost point in the US, had a drink at the famous Hog’s Breath saloon, toured the shipwreck museum and saw the sunset activities on Mallory Square.

We drove back to Stuart with Gail and Larry and Sue and stopped for a night to show Gail the fun at South Beach Miami.  We stayed at an old (but newly refurbished) Art Decco Hotel, had dinner at another old hotel on Ocean drive and walked the beach some. After another short visit with son Bill we were back to Marathon for some more boat projects and R and R (as well as Sparky’s of course).  We got a chance to do some biking and walking and even played a little golf and shuffleboard. We took in a visit by several World War II airplanes as well. Our friends Eldon and Dianne on Maine Visions joined Sue Sea Q and us at the marina. It was great to see them again and celebrate their completion of the loop. It was especially fun because I had helped them on their first leg of the trip – Portland to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia- nearly four years ago

An unusual boat in Fort Lauderdale

Lunch with some CYC friends

After a month in Marathon we were on the move again to return to Stuart before Gail leaves. We left a few days early to beat the weather and wound up sitting in Ft Lauderdale for five days waiting for the weather to improve. While there, we met up with Jack and Carol on Triumph and Jerry and Nancy, two couples from Centerboard Yacht Club we’ve known for years. We like Ft Lauderdale as a stop. We did some shopping and walking and it was spring break weekend so we took numerous walks to the beach.

Jupiter Florida Lighthouse

Once the weather improved, we had a good two day run to Stuart, anchoring for the night in north Lake Worth on the way.  We are now in Stuart where we and the boat will spend several months.

The ICW on a nice Saturday morning

Earlier this winter we made the decision to sell Sun Cat. Its been a difficult decision as we have really enjoyed traveling on her the last 5 plus years. However, after cruising for 35 years we’ve now reached the point that we’ve done almost all that we’ve wanted to do with the boat and there are other trips we would like to take by land, sea, rail and air. Time doesn’t allow us to do everything so while we were in Ft Lauderdale we listed her with a broker.  The listing, which has lots of pictures can be viewed at www.curtisstokes.net.  As a result there may not be too many more updates to this blog.

Enjoying the warm Florida weather!

Steve & Jean