Visiting friends in Fort Lauderdale

I can't tell you how many wonderful people Ben and I have met along our trip. Friendships form fast on a boat and even though we have not known these amazing people for extreme lengths of time, we sure have made some life-long friendships. While on the Illinois River we met Chuck and Vicky on their Grand Banks 42 called Patriot. We hit it off and are lucky to call them friends. While Ben and I spent our winter in Florida, Chuck and Vicky were home in Mobile. They are now in Fort Lauderdale waiting for the wind to die down so they make their way to the Bahamas. They have completed The Great Loop, making them gold Loopers. This means they now can fly the coveted gold burgee. We are flying the white burgee which signifies we are still in the process of completing the Loop. Once we make it back to our slip we will also be gold Loopers and will fly the gold burgee proudly!!  

Our visit with Chuck and Vicky at Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale. This was one impressive ship! After lunch we went to the largest West Marine I've ever been in, it was amazing! We will have to go back!!

While eating in Fort Lauderdale, there were a few helicopters flying over us and lots of activity on the water. Wonder what it could be???

Next we saw a yacht being brought in with several police boats escorting them down this channel.  I looked it up thinking maybe a drug bust, but found out there was a small plane that crashed in the Atlantic earlier and the yacht rescued the three people from the plane that crashed. Everyone was ok. Pretty cool!!

Me with Chuck and Vicky back at our spot in Hollywood. We had a lovely visit with even lovelier people!!

Hollywood - Day 1 - Meg, Props and food!

We left Key Largo at 8:00am making our way north to Hollywood, about 58 miles...slow, long miles. This part of the trip is long because we have many bridges that we have to pass under, some we have to wait to have lifted because our air height (with our antennas lowered) of 21.5ft is taller than the bridge opening. We are traveling on the intracoastal, it was pretty awesome to pass through Miami and see all the cruise ships, huge yachts and the amazing Miami skyline. While I tend to get anxious with large amounts of people/boats and activity...this was a bit overwhelming for me. I love a great big city but I prefer the more subdued atmosphere. We came through on a weekday which I was thankful for. There was still a fair amount of boat traffic, I'm happy we were not traveling on the weekend.

Beautiful City!

Mark Cuban's 288ft super-yacht (white one) the blue one is 100ft!

This is a cool Italian designed boat, called a Wider boat.

This is a 36ft Grand Banks that traveled with us for two days.

It's a jet ski mob!

This is a really cool looking boat...not sure what it is! Wally Boat?

Crocket is slowly working his way into my chair!

And he won! He enjoyed sitting here looking out! He is so funny!

We came to Hollywood to see our friends Meg and Dan who have a place down here. Dan had to travel back to our home town in Illinois, and we only got to see Meg for a day as she too, was heading back to Illinois. At least we were able to enjoy her for a day!! Thank you for a wonderful visit although too short...very blessed we were able to connect! They have a house several blocks away from the marina we are staying, equipped with a pool and fenced in yard. We plan to enjoy their yard one of our days while we are here and they are back in Illinois!

My adorable friend, Meg

Ben and Meg, these two are so cute! Meg came to our boat with a bag of goodies...THANK YOU!!! 

Breakfast in Hollywood FL, on Hollywood Blvd. My cappuccino was amazing and my company was even better!!

Loved being able to see Meg and have her see our floating home!

I mentioned in our last post that we hit a prop making our way here to Hollywood. So, while Meg took me around Hollywood for a tour and breakfast, Ben was at the boat with a diver to remove both props and get them to the prop shop. Looks like we will be here for a week, it seems we are not the only ones who hit a prop. The prop shop is busy! Ben had both props removed (even though our starboard prop was fine) so they can both be tuned at the same time.
So, in the meantime, we will enjoy our time here in Hollywood...exploring, eating and smiling!

Look close you can see the curl to the one blade.

Way to go babe! Now let's hope for no more rocks in shallow water!

Props, Crocs and a fight! Our crazy run to Key Largo!

Traveling to Key Largo!

We traveled 56 miles (49 nautical miles) from Marathon to Key Largo. We left at 9:00am and arrived at Gilbert's marina (which by the way was dumpy) by 3:30. We traveled on the intracoastal waterway which is referred to as "the inside".  It is an inland waterway along the Atlantic coast. It provides protection from the open ocean. 

Gilbert's Tiki Bar, this place is packed on the weekends. There is a long dock for boaters to come enjoy some food and live music. During the week it is much easier to get a spot for overnight docking than on the weekends. We are here on a Tuesday, only a handful of people are here today.

Our other option could be to travel on "the outside" which is the Atlantic Ocean. We both wanted to travel on the outside, it has deeper water and it is a faster trip north. But we've never traveled this section of the intracoastal, which takes us through Miami, so what the hay? why not??

Many boats we know have traveled this section and 90% of them have said they rubbed bottom. Meaning they touched the bottom. This part of the waterway is shallow and so we timed our departure so that when we approached the shallowest section we were at high tide. The intracoastal is mostly sand and some rock and coral. All our buddies fared well, except us...we hit something that was not sand! We felt the vibration and knew we hurt a prop. Ben was able to maintain speed of 8.5 miles per hour without any vibration so the trip was still enjoyable, yet we were anxious to get off this shallow section of the waterway. Ben decided he would dive in the water to assess the damages when we arrive in Key Largo. 

Jammin Jane docked at Gilbert's Resort and Marina. If you look just forward of our boat you see the mangroves, that is where the crocodiles call home!

His assessment proved what we thought, one blade on our port prop had a minor curl. We are not in a spot to take care of it here, but we called to Hollywood Marina (where we are traveling tomorrow) to see about available divers to fix our props. We are in luck, they have someone to recommend!

After Ben finished diving we took Crocket for a walk and passed a sign, (100 ft from where we are docked) that says we are in salt-water crocodile territory, BEWARE! 

BEN WAS JUST DIVING IN THE WATER...100 YARDS FROM THE MANGROVES THEY CALL HOME! I read about these particular crocs, they are very aggressive and territorial. They have attacked kayakers, small boats and the occasional swimmer! Thankfully, Ben was not on the menu today!!

While sitting in the marina tiki bar listening to live music, a huge fight breaks out! I haven't seen a fight since I was in high-school. I did not like it then and still do not like seeing it. Of course alcohol was the contributing factor and thankfully everyone walked away from it. But Ben and I were a bit concerned about what type of establishment we found ourselves in. I guess this isn't something that occurs often here, our waitress assured us. Even still, we ate our dinner, walked Crocket, got on the boat and locked our doors for the evening. 

Captain Josh playing some Willie Nelson. This was minutes before the fight broke out behind the stage. 

Off to Hollywood to see my friend Meg and get our prop fixed! 

See you later Faro Blanco!!!

Faro Blanco Resort and Yacht Club, Marathon, FL

Jammin Jane on the dock wall, in a slip that did not exist...until we showed up!

This is the view of the laundry/restroom/ship store 

Yard to the pool and bar/restaurant 

Our spot for the last two months

It has been two whole months that we have been here in Marathon. We have enjoyed ourselves and this awesome marina so much, that we reserved a slip for a couple months in 2018!! Heck we may even be back sooner!

The staff here at Faro Blanco is top-notch, they go out of their way to make your stay wonderful. We are going to miss all of them so much!! We had an amazing experience! We made friends with many and that really made our stay that much more memorable. Sometimes it is the place that keeps you longer, sometimes it is the people. We lucked out and had both! They made our stay so very special!

We could stay here indefinitely, but it is time for us to start moving north. We want to get back to the Great Lakes before they freeze again! We will be making our way up the east coast, taking our time to enjoy some beautiful stops. We know we will come back this way again so we will make notes of the spots we missed and the ones we need to see again!

So, for now we are saying "See you later Faro Blanco!" "We will be back!"

View from our slip

Gorgeous sunsets here in Marathon

Overlooking the Gulf with the cutest dock girl, Celina. She always put a smile on our faces, was attentive to anything we needed and just an awesome girl!

I'm joined by the famous Josh (assistant dock master) and Nick from Faro Blanco. Nothing but the best from these guys!

Crocket working his magic for a golf cart ride...poor Josh has been kicked to the back seat!!

Overlooking the marina from the lighthouse with the hubby.

Celina taking Crocket for a ride!

I'm gonna miss this girl! Thank you for a great stay!

This here is Devon, she is the master at scheduling and being a really cool chick (from Michigan, of course!! All the cool chicks grow up there!!)

Ben enjoyed hanging with Devon in the mornings while working on the community puzzle in the ship store. 

Our farewell committee member, Nick, handling our bow line.

It is hard to leave this gorgeous place.

What's up Iguana?!?

Ben took this photo from our head, we left the window open and were afraid he was going to come in for an unwelcome visit.

Iguanas are considered an invasive species here in Florida. They cause harm to plants, insects and the burrowing owl. It is believed they came to the Florida Keys as stowaways on ships bringing fruit from South America. While they do not pose a threat to humans or animals, they are destructive with their eating habits of flowers and plants. Many residents find them a nuisance. We have seen a lot of Iguana while here in Marathon the last two months. They never really seemed to bother me UNTIL....
We came back from lunch and found this guy...

For some reason, this Iguana wanted on our boat!

Ben sprayed him with water and got him to jump off the transom (back of the boat).

Ben had to jump on the boat and go inside to shut our window in our head (bathroom), as were were afraid the Iguana would jump in to get away from us outside. There is something creepy about having a lizard, or two, sneaking on your boat all lizard-like! After spraying him with the hose and some aggressive moves by our buddy Brent, we were able to get the lizard off and he jumped in the water and swam away. No sooner did that lizard flee and another one was on the other side thinking about stowing away! We made it very clear that Jammin Jane is no place for an Iguana! 
I now approach our boat inspecting it for that ever freaky green leathery scaled animal.

Time spent with Jackie...

I am blessed to have many friends that I have know virtually my entire life. This girl, Jackie, is one of those special people. Jackie moved to Florida when we graduated high school, many moons ago, and we try to see each other as much as we can. So, fate took over and she was down in Marathon for spring break with her family. Yay! We enjoyed a boat ride and lunch! I'm grateful for the time spent but I always wish it was longer. 

Me with Jackie and her daughter, Baylee, in the middle

Ben showing Nat (Jackie's son) the toothpick trick

Manatee right off the boat!