Stuart

Day 257, 27th April, 2010

Jamie, Lynne and the children left shortly after 6:00. There was quite a storm in the night with tornado warnings, but fortunately it looked wet but clear as they pulled out, a long drive ahead of them. Sad to say goodbye but it won't be long before we see them again at Graham and Sheri's wedding in June.

John and I came back to Stuart. Got some groceries, did the laundry, took the car back and generally got stuff ready to leave in the morning. We hear that last night things got pretty crazy here with 60 mph winds!!! Fortunately Periwinkle and the dinghy were just fine.
We'll be homeward bound in the morning!!

Orlando

Day 249, 25th April, 2010

Sea World today! We were all getting a bit worse for wear but managed to last all day again.
Another fantastic place. We absolutely loved the dolphin show. We're all passionately in love with dolphins!! Also the Shamu Show, as well as the sharks, the alligators, the manatees, everything. How amazing! So incredibly well laid out and family friendly.

We could hardly put one foot infront of the other at the end - thank goodness it wasn't far to where we'd parked the cars.

Our last evening together - we enjoyed supper at TGIF's and then went back to the hotel for Jamie and Lynne to pack.

Orlando

Day 255, April 24th, 2010

A day at Discovery Cove. This was fantastic. A beautiful tropical setting with the heated lazy river, snorkelling to see the beautiful fish in the coral pond, a pool of sting rays, and the high light of the day - swimming with the dolphins!!! This really is an amazing place. Lots to do and see but very relaxing. Both Katie and Eric were snorkelling like pros within minutes! We all loved it.

Afterwards we stopped by at Orange Lake again to say goodbye to the Becketts as they were all leaving the next day. See you all in the summer guys!!!

Orlando

Day 254, 23rd April, 2010

Off to Magic Kingdom!!! Our very first time and it was lots of fun. Its truly is a magical place. We all enjoyed the characters, the rides, the shows - everything! It was a beautiful day and one we shall remember.

We arrived back at the hotel around 8:00 p.m., just time for a short swim before we fell exhausted into bed!

Orlando

Day 253, 22nd April 2010

Jamie and Lynne arrived at Orange Lake with Katie and Eric. There was time for a swim in the afternoon before we all had supper together! What a treat! The tongues wagged as we all got up to date with each other and all 8 children had a good time too!

Orlando

Day 252, 21st April, 2010

Drove to Orange Lake after checking in at our hotel and met with the Becketts. Spent a lovely afternoon by the pool. How lovely to be with family again. We've missed them all.

Watched Jen and Garry's 4 hour video of their trip to New Zealand and Australia - just wonderful. It gave us all sorts of good ideas for our trip next winter. Can't wait!!!

Stuart

Day 251, April 20th, 2010

A day home today. Got my hair cut, did some laundry and packed for our holiday!!! Orlando here we come!!

Fort Lauderdale

Day 250, April 19th, 2010

John and I were up early and on the road for 7:30 a.m. Traffic was heavy but we reached their hotel by 9:30. Weather was a bit iffy with big dark clouds but we went out to the pool anyway and the kids had a great time swimming while we sat and chatted.

Jamie and Lynne left around noon as they had to attend the time share spiel in Palm Beach. Granny and Grandad got to stay with Eric and Katie. The kids and I spent all afternoon in the pool. We had a lovely afternoon together just fooling about. It was so great to be with them again.

Jamie and Lynne arrived back shortly after five and we all went out for supper together. Couldn't believe it was 8:00 p.m. when we came out of there and it was already dark. Time flies! Tomorrow they will all be going on a short cruise to Grand Bahama - we'll see them again in Orlando on Thursday!

Stuart

Day 249, April 18th, 2010
Jamie and Katie came to meet us at 9:00 a.m. and took us to Budget to collect our rental car. Then we went back to their hotel for a visit. We all had a swim which was lovely and then went out for lunch together. We said goodbye around 1:00 p.m. as they wanted to check into their hotel in Fort Lauderdale before supper. We planned to meet again the next day.

Stuart

Day 248, April 17th, 2010
Jamie, Lynne and the children left home late Thursday afternoon. We didn't expect to see them until Monday but they made really good time and called to say they would spend the night in Stuart tonight!!!!! They had a great time at Cape Canaveral and then drove to Stuart. We met them at their hotel just before 8:00 p.m. It was so good to see them. All look great and they were having fun. We sat outside by the pool while Eric and Katie had a quick swim in the pool and then it was time to say goodnight.

Stuart

Day 247, April 16th, 2010

Back to the wool shop and found another pattern which will work fine. John came with me. We stopped at the Chinese restaurant on the way home and enjoyed their luncheon buffet for $6.99.

In the evening John and I, Darius and Kathie and Goran all walked up to the Santa Fe Cafe for $1.99 Margaritas and appetizers. That was good - then we went back to the marina and played Mexican Train Dominoes for a laugh. I don't how John managed to win - after the 3 margaritas!!!

Stuart

Day 246, April 15th, 2010

I biked up to the wool shop and bought some wool to knit Abby a little cardigan. Also found some cute buttons to finish off Katie's. When I got back to the boat though, I found Abby's cardigan pattern was missing - will have to go back tomorrow.

In the evening we went to Meet & Greet on the patio and chatted with some other cruisers.

Day 245, April 14th, 2010

Went biking to the Post Office and then biked around Stuart with no particular direction. Its really a lovely town, hugging the St. Lucie River. Of course, we had to stop for an ice cream but came home for spaghetti. Only 5 more sleeps!!

Stuart

Day 244, April 13th

John and I biked up the road to the car rental spots. Visited each for a quote and ended up booking with Budget. We'll collect the car Sunday. Oh, it will be a treat to have wheels!!! Not long to wait now.

On arriving back we dinghied over to Breeze Hunter, intending to invite them for a games' night but got "coerced" into sundowners on their boat. Another fun chat.

Shopping in Vero Beach Outlet Mall

Day 243, April 11th, 2010

Bev and I set off shortly after 9:30 in her car to Vero Beach Outlet Mall. Oooh it was lovely!
Great stores with great prices. I had fun with my credit card and so did Bev!!! I even found a whoe row of shoes my size in Clark's outlet store!! All very exciting. We were getting a bit weary when we got all the way around and were surprised to find it was almost 3:00 p.m. when we got back into the car.

Back at the marina we picked up the boys and went to BJs for wings and beer!!! (Almost as good as Beaver & Bull Dog!)

Stuart

Day 242, April 11th,

Cloudy and blustery clouds. We went for a good bike ride and just managed to avoid a down pour. Thats okay! Let all the weather happen this week and perhaps it will be good next week!

Stuart

Day 241, April 10th, 2010

Again, the day escapes me but had supper aboard Back Roads with Bev and Dave. Delicious lasagna this time! Another lovely evening chatting round the table.

Stuart

Day 240, April 9th, 2010
We are in the "waiting for the kids mode". We're looking forward to seeing the family 19th-26th, and yet are enjoying life here in Stuart. A week has passed since this actual date and I'm having trouble remembering exactly what we have done but I do remember we spent a lovely evening on Breeze Hunter. We arrived shortly before 5:00, just before Lena and Gary from Rum Line. Kathy made delicious spaghetti with salad and garlic toast, and Lena and I brought dessert. It was very yummy and we had a lovely evening together.

Stuart

Day 239, April 8th, 2010

John and I had a little business to take care of first thing so we printed off a business letter and went off to the Post Office on the bikes to mail it off. I love these bikes with their big wheels and handlebars - it just feels great peddling along.

After we'd returned the bikes we were pleased to find the dress had arrived. So the next job was to take it with us and walk into town. I'd seen a necklace I liked in a dress shop and went back there to try it with the dress! Looked good - bought the necklace and ear rings to match. Now I only need the purse!! Gorgeous day, we celebrated with an ice cream cone and then walked back along the boardwalk and had lunch in an outdoor cafe! You know what they say - life is short - eat dessert first!!

All that was pretty exhausting so we went back to the boat to read and snooze in the cockpit.
Until Darius and Cathie arrived to invite us to the Meet & Greet on the patio - so what could we do but pick up the bottle of wine and a couple of glasses, jump in the dinghy and go party again!
This is such a hard life!!

Stuart

Day 238, April 7th, 2010

Wednesday is Ladies' Lunch!!! Poor old John was feeling a bit neglected so he and Dave made arrangements to go to Flannigan's for lunch! Meanwhile 5 of us girls went to Gusto's. They even have tablecloths at Gustos!! Had a yummy lunch there and always a good chat.

Afterwards Bev and I went back to the Mall. Bev finished off her shopping for her little granddaughter and then I went looking for shoes. This is the plague of my life - shoe shopping. However, I was very lucky - found another shoe shop "The Rack Room" with lots of shoes my size. I was able to get a pair of patent leather strappy sandals to go with my dress and a second pair as well for fun! Now I'm really cookin' Sheri and Graham!!

Stuart

Day 237, April 6th, 2010

This morning the girls went shopping again. This time we went to "Stein Mart". What a lovely store. Looks like a regular store but all high end named brands marked down. We all found stuff we liked. I was delighted with my purchase - a dress I really like for the wedding. They didn't have the colour though at that store but a very kind sales lady called around and found the last one at another store and I made arrangements for it to be delivered to the marina.

In the evening, Jean and Bev from El Rio, came over and we got up to date since we'd said goodbye in early January. They have their boat up for sale and have bought a motor home with plans to land cruise!

Stuart

Day 236, April 5th, 2010

Bev kindly invited me along to go shopping. We both have kids getting married this year! Shopping with a girlfriend is much more fun. (Sorry John!) Bev and Dave have their car here which is so convenient. What a treat it is to ride in the car! We went to the mall and ended up cruising around all the shops. Didn't find a dress but we bought some cute outfits for our grandchildren. Thats lots more fun!

While I was gone John biked up to West Marine and bought more cruising books. He says he stopped for lunch at KFC for a yummy chicken bowl!

Stuart

Day 235, April 4th, 2010

We had a much better start today. Right after breakfast we hauled the outboard up onto its mount on the stern rail and then the dinghy up onto the deck. Our 5 weeks in Marathon had allowed barnacles and sea weed to grow on the bottom on the dinghy - what a mess! After much scraping, scrubbing and elbow grease she looked 100% better and we put it all back together again. My clean cockpit didn't look so good afterwards and the whole decks had to get washed off too. However, we were pretty pleased with ourselves when we were done. We were later admonished by our neighbours that we had been altogether too industrious first thing on Easter morning.

To celebrate Easter Sunday, we met old and new friends on the patio at 1:00 p.m., had a quick glass of wine and then went for lunch at "Duffy's" in Old Town. A yummy turkey dinner with all the trimmings for $9.95!

Back at the marina, we said goodbye and were just getting into the dinghy when we heard our names called from the patio. It was Kathy and Darius from Breeze Hunter and Lena and Gary from Rum Runner. Back we went for another glass of wine and caught up their news since Marathon!

Stuart, FL

Day 234, April 3rd, 2010

I had good intentions to start my cleaning after breakfast, but, as usual, got delayed!! I first went over to visit with Bev from Back Roads and get up to date with news! Had a lovely long chat! Back at the boat John had plans to do a fuel and water run so he took the dinghy as soon as I got back. I then managed to get side tracked again, this time with my addiction - Spider Solitaire! I felt truly guilty by the time John returned so told him to get lost again and this time really did get fired into action. Cleaned the cabin and cockpit until everything looked much nicer! John managed to have a good chat on Back Roads too, so by the time he got back we were content to barbecue and read our books!!

Stuart

Day 233, April 2nd, 2010

When John poked his head out first thing in the morning - guess what he found? Tiger Wood's "Privacy" had returned in the night. Its the last boat on the dock! When you see it down here it looks a lot more modest than we thought - there are so many boats this size!

One of the other Canadian boats in the anchorage was "Aeolus", a catamaran with Pam and Jim aboard, originally from London, England. We had bumped into them once before in Tarpon Basin (Key Largo). They pulled up the anchor just before us and we followed on behind all morning.

They were spending the night at Peck Lake. We hadn't been there before so followed them into the anchorage for lunch and a quick swim in the ocean. A pretty little anchorage on the ocean side, just a short walk from the beach. Lots of locals there having a fun day on the beach. The water was warm and gorgeous. We didn't stay long as it was pretty shallow in there and at high tide we didn't want to be sitting on the bottom when we tried to leave! We did have a short chat with Pam and Jim and hopefully may meet again further north.

It was only another couple of hours to Stuart. Unfortunately the bridge for the trains came down just as we arrived. We had to wait over an hour for two trains to go through. In the meantime the river just seemed to fill up with all kinds of different boats waiting to get through.

We finally picked up a mooring buoy around 5:00p.m. Went to the restaurant on the dock for a lovely supper and then got started on the laundry!!

Lake Worth

Day 232, April 1st, 2010

We left early from Middle River, knowing it was going to be a long day. The wind was on the nose all day and there was a lot of motor traffic so sailing, even with the jib wasn't an option.

We were pretty lucky with all the bascule bridges, only having to wait for 3. We passed some absolutely gorgeous houses, of course, how do you like our new house? (I'm joking!)

As we came to the north end of Lake Worth (Palm Beach) the tide was very low. Lots of people were having fun in the shallows, with their boats anchored off Peanut Island. If you look closely this boat is well anchored! Its going to take a while before he can go home!!

We got into the anchorage around 5:00 p.m. We hadn't been there before and it was a lovely spot. John went off to meet the Canadian neighbours and learned that Jack Nicklaus has a house on the north shore of the anchorage and Tiger Woods keeps his boat at the marina there, although it wasn't there just then!