Key Largo, FL

On Friday Bill and I rented a car and drove from Ft. Lauderdale to Key Largo. Dave and Molly are at the Ocean Reef Club in Largo and graciously invited us down for the weekend. What a place! Friday night Dave beat Bill 6 to 1 at yahtzee. Molly gave us a tour of the reef in the golf cart on Saturday afternoon; we even stopped at the Ocean Reef Club museum. We went out for a sunset cruise in the small boat and Molly and I came back and spent several hours in the hot tub while the boys went to the bar. We had planned on returning to Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday morning but decided to stay another day. And we are so glad that we did! Dave, Molly, and their friends Ron and Steve took Bill and me out fishing for the afternoon. It was amazing. First we caught the bait (ballyhoo). We caught some with the rods and Ron caught others (many more) with the net. The water was beautiful; green and blue. In addition to the ballyhoo, we saw little yellow fins and sargent majors in the water. It was the perfect day; sunny and calm. Truly awesome.

After we caught enough bait fish, Dave drove the boat into deeper water. Ron and Steve put the bait on and set up the rods and then we waited. After a short time we had a fish on. Bill caught a sailfish, his first blue water catch. The sailfish was between 30 and 35 pounds. It was awesome. Molly took some great pictures.

After a little while longer, there was another fish on and it was my turn to reel him in. With (a lot!) of Ron's help, I managed to catch a black fin tuna. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be but Ron showed me how to get into the rhythm of reeling, waiting, reeling, waiting, etc. When the tuna was just about up to the boat, a shark came from behind and bit off its tail. But the shark left everything else (the good parts!) and Ron filleted the tuna up right then and there. I learned that it tuna doesn't get any fresher when the meat is still warm when it is filleted. Next was Molly's turn. She caught a (whole) bonito tuna. It was an awesome day. One of the most fun times we have had in a long time. It was a totally new experience for Bill and me and we were lucky to have the best of the best teach us. Dave and Ron are so knowledgeable.

We headed back to the dock around 5:00. Ron hung the flag to indicate that the boat caught one sailfish. It is upside down because the fish was released. Molly grilled the fresh tuna for dinner. The whole weekend was (of course) full of her fabulous meals.




We had an awesome weekend. It was so nice to see Dave and Molly, to hang out, see some of Largo, and to meet their friends. Life really doesn't get any better - great friends, amazing food and hospitality, learning and experiencing new things, hanging out and having a really, really good time.



Of course we took a million pictures. Click here to see the web album.




We are back on Mary Elizabeth in Lauderdale now. Bill replaced the fuse on the bow thruster and finished the last of the turnbuckles. We have a few other things to take care of before my father flies in from Boston on Wednesday -- which we are both looking forward to!

Bill in Lats and Atts

Bill is featured as one of the Feb 2009 "Boat People" in one of our favorite magazines, Latitudes and Attitudes. Pretty Cool! Lats and Atts is a great magazine about cruising. Here is the link to their site http://www.latsandatts.net/magazine/

Teak is done!

Here are some "after" pictures of the teak. Albin and Nigel did a fabulous job. It took them a little over a week to get the whole job done. Amazing. sv Mary Elizabeth looks better than brand new. The teak is perfect, and we are very happy with the work that the guys did.

Yesterday we had a boat mechanic stop by to do some engine work. He is coming back tomorrow to fix the stuffing box. Today Bill has been working on replacing all of the turn buckles. They have all oxidized and turned green (see the old and the new below).

So that's about all that is going on. It is another beautiful day here in Ft. Lauderdale; a little 'colder' today -- high 60s low 70s. We have met several of the folks on other boats in the marina. When we first got here there were very few boats. Now the marina is almost full. Lots of people spend the winter in Ft. Lauderdale. And this is a great marina to stay in.

Trip to Boston

I flew to Boston on Wednesday and had a nice time at home. I rented a car and was able to go to Newburyport to have lunch with my Uncle, go shopping with Mel, hang out in Weymouth with my parents and stay at Andrea and Kristy's house in Somerville. We got some snow on Saturday / Sunday so I didn't make it up to New Hampshire to see my grandparents. It turned out to be the right decision since there was a 59 car pile up on the highway! Here are some pictures of the trip. The snow was pretty, but it was cold!

Andrea and Kristy

Me, Andrea, Amy getting ready to shovel my parents driveway.

Shoveling.

Teak

The work on the teak was started today. Here are some "before" and "during" shots. You can tell from the first two pictures how badly the brightwork needed to be done; it is worn away in many places. The first thing that Alvin (who was recommended by a friend of a friend) did was to tape all the areas around the teak. He also began sanding. All of the teak is sanded by hand and then layers of sealer, oils, varnish, etc. are applied. It is a big job, even though we only have a small amount of teak compared to many other boats. It should take about a week.

Bill and I enjoyed exploring a little of the area where we are staying. We are one block from the Ft. Lauderdale beach, which is lined with restaurants, shops, cafes, etc. The beach was very crowded, and we enjoyed people watching during lunch on the water.

The Marina is next to the Hall of Fame Swim Center. Right now there is a week long diving and swim competition going on. Our bow is adjacent to the diving pool, so we have enjoyed watching these athletes perform some incredible dives!

I am sitting topside enjoying some last minute sun before flying to Boston. Hard to imagine in a few hours I will be in a winter coat, scarf, gloves, and boots!

We're in the Hall of Fame...Marina

Well, today was an interesting day. We did some errands in the morning, filled the tanks, and the guy who will be working on the teak stopped by to give us an estimate and check out the boat. We left the New River around 11:30. Bill did a great job of leaving the slip and turning around in the narrow river in between all of the water taxi / tour boat / pleasure craft traffic. We motored back towards the New River and enjoyed the scenery.

There are many stunningly huge mega yachts docked in Ft. Lauderdale. Between the amazing homes and the v-e-r-y large motor yachts -- the wealth is just unimaginable. There are literally dozens of huge boats docked all over the place. See below...

So... we thought we would be staying at Las Olas Marina for a week or so while the work is done on the boat. We called ahead and got no answer from the marina. We did eventually get a call on the VHF from the New River Dockmaster (the place we left earlier in the day) who gave us a slip assignment (New River and Las Olas are both municipal marinas and are all on the same team). The first slip they told us to go to was about 30 feet. We called back and got another slip. Meanwhile the current was roaring and unfortunately the one dockmaster was at lunch and was unable to catch our lines. No worries. I was all set to hop off and tie us off, and Bill was in the middle of a great docking. Then we lost our bow thruster; the fuse was shot. My friends, on a 52 foot single screw boat, a bow thruster is key --especially docking in a tight spot, stern to, with the current with us, and a bridge to contend with. So... we eventually got into the slip; we were cockeyed for awhile and had to pull the boat in (yeah, it weighs several tons so that wasn't fun) Somehow I managed to kneel in a pile of fiberglass (or something?) so my knee / shin / ankel is all sore and itchy. Anyway, we eventually got sv Mary Elizabeth in her slip and tied up all safe and sound. However --- as I was turning off the electronics, I looked at the depth finder -- which read 6.5 feet. And we were at high tide. So... needless to say, we could not stay.

We called around to another marina since there are a dozen or so in the area and ended up at Hall of Fame Marina. The staff is great and someone was able to catch our lines. Bill did a great job docking without a bow thruster. And the marina is awesome. We are one block from the beach, our slip is plenty deep, the marina is secure / gated, they have laundry facilities, and they recycle. So, things work out for a reason, I guess.

Ft. Lauderdale / New River

Ft. Lauderdale has been really nice. As I mentioned, we are docked downtown up the New River. Tomorrow we are going to move the boat to Las Olas Marina (also in Lauderdale but on the ICW). We are moving for a couple of reasons... First, there is a lot of boat traffic on the New River. And it is skinny. So we get waked. A lot. Second, we are right next to the SE 3rd Ave bridge (I took the above picture from the bridge. Oh and the gray building to the left of the boat is the Ft. Lauderdale Main Jail), which opens about 50 times a day and is loud. Third, Las Olas is a secure marina and will be easier for the guys to come and work on the boat.

What we have seen of Lauderdale is nice. We went to the Downtowner last night to watch football and have dinner. There was a live band and we had a good time. Today we have hung out enjoying the sunshine (it has been really nice - 80 degrees!) and watching more playoff football. I went food shopping and we will continue the new tournament on the boat... Skip-Bo. The standings currently are; Bill 5, Lauren 2. I have some catching up to do...


We have received some really nice emails (via our gmail account) from readers of the blog. Thanks for following along on our adventures.

These last two pictures are of these cool / weird statues that are in the park next to us. Can't quite figure them out.

More pictures....

More pictures from the trip from Boca Raton to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida via the ICW in the sv Mary Elizabeth.

Playing with the new camera....

So, Bill and I got a new camera for Christmas. And of course we have been taking a million pictures and having fun. Here are photographs of just a few of the many amazingly huge homes we saw along the ICW between Boca and Ft. Lauderdale. Wow.

(click for larger images)

And here are pictures of some of the lawn ornaments and statues that we saw. I love the statue of the guy taking a picture....

(click for larger images)

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

sv Mary Elizabeth left the dock at Boca in time for the 10:4o bridge. We had a nice motor down the ICW and up the New River in Ft. Lauderdale. It was a pretty uneventful day; several bridges, more beautiful homes, amazing yachts.

We are docked up the New River at the Ft. Lauderdale Municipal Marina - adjacent to the SE 3rd Ave bridge (which happens to open on signal and often). There is an incredible amount of boat traffic (water taxis, tour boats, fishing boats, b-i-g yachts, etc.) so we get waked every five minutes or so. The New River is narrow so when there is traffic both ways the boats come close since Mary Elizabeth is docked along the river. This is one of the most unusual places we have been -- we are basically docked in front of the Ft. Lauderdale jail --- but it is very lovely all the same. When we got in around 2:00, our first order of business was to get a pump out (the pump out station at Boca was occupied by another boat for the last five or six days we were there... we were overdue!) We ended up having to call a truck to come and pump us out since the pumpout stations here at the docks aren't operational.

Once that was taken care of we checked in with the dockmaster and then walked around and explored a bit. We are docked along what is called the River Walk and is within walking distance of several restaurants and a movie theater, which will be fun. It is a neat place; full of life, lots of people. We came back to the boat and played five rounds of Skip-O (Bill 3, Lauren 2) until dinner.

Happy 2009!

Happy New Year to everyone! Hope you all have a fabulous 2009!

Bill, Cindy, Boyd and I celebrated the New Year here in Boca. We had a low key night on the boat. Bill cooked and we hung out. There were fireworks somewhere close (although we couldn't see them) at midnight. The resort did a 'thing' but we didn't participate.

We have had a very nice past couple of days, although I have been lazy about blogging. Bill played golf, I went to the beach, we had dinner with Cindy and Boyd in Boyton. We ran out of propane and filled the tanks, went to the movies again (Marley and Me) did some errands, went to the Laundromat. I got a haircut, we had two crazies try to pick up / off load people on the finger pier at our bow before security ran them away. We watched all of the season four episodes of Lost, which my mother gifted Bill for Christmas. (She also gave him these cool napkins below)

Boca has been really nice, but we are ready to leave. Tomorrow we head to Ft. Lauderdale. While work is done on the boat, I have plans to fly to Boston for a few days. Then its destination Bahamas!!

Blog of the Day Award

With the Sea as our Livingroom; the Chronicles of life aboard sv Mary Elizabeth has received the blog of the day award! Cool!