It's a wrap

We had a great time in Savannah. Plenty to do and see there. Jess's friend Patty had us over for Easter dinner. We ate at Paula Deen's restaurant, which was a great disappointment. Visited the Owens Thomas House, which is part of three museums that one can visit with a package deal from Telfair museums. The week we were in Savannah also happened to be a music festival week and our friends Chic and Linda Frosch had two spare tickets for a concert with Emmylou Harris. Country music isn't our favorite, but it was a good time enjoyed by everyone. A visit to Tybee Island mandated a lunch at the Crab Shack for a shrimp boil and steamed oysters.
Our trip came to an end on Friday April 5th with an early morning retrieval of the boat on the trailer and on the road by 7:00 am.
See you next year!

Paula Deen her food is like her picture, cardboard.

Emmy Lou Harris. Can you see her?

Easter tradition continues with coloring eggs.

The egg bunnies Patty on the left and Jess on the right.

Jess and I got creative and decorated strawberries and blackberries we called it bunny eggs and turds.

Standing out front of the Crab Shack in Tybee Island

Oh yeah, you can feed the alligators at the crab shack.

On the road! We stay at campgrounds while traveling.
It is a lot easier than taking you stuff out of the boat
just to sleep in a hotel.

South of the Boarder. This is an icon that has been here since
I was a kid and before that. A bit honky tonk, but after seeing signs for 100
miles one has to stop at least once in their lifetime to take in the culture.

Our Journey Nears Its End

We launched the boat today at a Ramp in Thunderbolt, GA Thunderbolt is a municipality adjacent to Savannah and access to sights and things are close by. We left Lighthouse Point yesterday after a wonderful month there and met great people and had a blast. We will definitely make it back there. I will report back later in the week with pictures and activities. For now here is a shot from the back of our boat.

A trip to Ft. Lauderdale

We are taking a few days to visit Ft. Lauderdale and experience the city. We left our "home base" in Lighthouse Point yesterday for a nice easy ride down the ICW. We passed some pretty big homes and even passed by our good friend's house, Donna Addessi, and said hello. When we got to Lauderdale we checked in at the City Marina. It is centrally located, two blocks from the beach, a walk to the water taxi and a two mile walk to the Las Olas Blvd shopping.

The water taxi is a great way to see and learn about the history of Ft. Lauderdale. Did you know that Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan) created a facility in Ft. Lauderdale to give kids in the cold winter climates a place to come and practice swimming? They loved the place so much they would come back during spring break to have fun and relax,  hence the beginning of Ft. Lauderdale Spring Break.

As we meandered through the many canals of Ft. Lauderdale we passed homes and yachts of affluent people such as Steven Spielberg, Burt Reynolds, Wendy of Wendy’s, the owner of Subway, the owner of Papa John's,Morone Chevrolet (a big car dealer in FL), a Toyota dealer who has two black Labs named Cash and Flow, an unnamed plastic surgeon and it goes on and on. Below are some pictures




A typical yacht docked outside a home





15 Street Fisheries is a restaurant, but you can feed the fish after dinner and I don't mean Mafia style.





If you look closely there is a restaurant behind that yacht! it has a green awning.





See what i mean? Pretty big isn't it?





Here we are in the Las Olas City Marina





Steven Spielberg's Yacht.
 I belive it cost $200,000,000 and you can rent it for $1,000,000 per week.
What a Bargin!



A day cruise down the ICW

Yesterday we decided to take a trip up the Intracoastal and anchor out in Boca Lake and have lunch. This trip takes you through the heart of Boca Raton. Definitely big bucks in this area. Probably a few less since Bernie Madoff, but you wouldn't know it looking from the water. Below are some pictures of homes, and boats we passed along the way

The pink tower is Boca Resort & Club. A lot of history here.

I wonder what his fuel burn is per hour? See the boat behing him and to the left? That is his also.

Homes of Boca on the ICW

A little stubby, don't you think?

I think the house is a bit bigger than the boat, but not by much.

always busy on the ICW

I think his dingy may be bigger than our boat.

Relocated to Lighthouse Point

We have left Palm Island Marina and are now on the East Coast in Lighthouse Point. The Town of Lighthouse Point is adjacent to Boca Raton and Pompano Beach. It is a very nice community and our marina, The Lighthouse Point Yacht and Racquet Club, is convenient to most shopping. The East Coast is very different from most of the West Coast. It is very busy and built up. Perhaps the West Coast learned from the planning and zoning “errors” of the East Coast.

This marina is well appointed and has everything one would need and want. Although it is a private club they allow us visitors (also known as transients) use of the facilities and partake in events. Somehow the term transient reminds me of people in flop houses in Manhattan who wait at soup lines for meals. Sometimes criminals on shows like Law & Order and NCIS are transients in one of those hotels. Actually when you look at our boat among the others we are near,  we are “THE TRANSIENTS”. I expect them to ask us to wear bells so that people will know to stay clear of us when walking the docks. Kidding aside the people are very friendly and welcoming. One great thing is no one stops and starts asking about our boat like they always did every day at our last marina. I have a feeling they may stop by and give us food and clothes and offer to take us to the free medical clinic.

We will be staying here for a month and will keep you posted if anything of interest arises. Below are some pictures of the marina.

Pool

Other shot of pool with Tiki Bar in background

Like the book Where's Waldo the people here play Where's ILLUSIONS

There she is

Our dock, Where's ILLUSIONS

A few more photos

My friend Dave Deem sent me a few more photos of our Useppa trip.

Egret waiting for dinner

You can feel the power when you can stop traffic to make them open the bridge for you.

No we are not mad at each other

White Pelicans

Now she is happy

I keep telling Dave that the fish bite better when the shinny thing is in the water

Dave still not listening to me

Charlotte Ann - Dennis O'Connor's boat

Touching base

It has been a while since I last posted, but unless something of interest happens there is no sense in boring you.
Today we took a day cruise with two other couples to Useppa Island. This is a private island and the only way you can visit here is to be a club member or the member of a club having reciprocal privileges. The marina we are staying at is a member so we have the opportunity to visit. The island's history goes back tomindian inhabitants, the civil war and also government occupation during some wars. In later years it used to be a fish camp for tarpon. Tarpon are the most spectacular fish to catch. They can run as big as over 200 lbs and have been known to accidentally jump into a boat. They are strictly catch and release. They migrate up to this area in May and Boca Grande has a huge tournament at that time.
Useppa eventually was bought by several people and has since become what it is today. There are very few homes and each has a wonderful view of the water. The island was hit pretty hard in 2004 by hurricane Charlie and many of the homes were destroyed as well as the collier Inn, but the owners rebuilt and it remains a great destination while cruising.

Trying on some threads on a visit to Boca Grande



This is Ginny Jess's sister wife while cruising



Illusions at the dock at Useppa

Dave Deem and I literally sitting on the dock by the bay



This is Denny O'Connor an interesting guy and his wife Charlotte. They have been married 50 years. You can tell by the way they posed for the picture. Dennis started as an electrician, then a plant manager for GM and then a medical doctor. A good friend to have. In one visit he can fix your switch, organize you and take your blood pressure.