Photos

We are making our slow journey up north to Titusville. The weather has been very cool but I expect no sympathy from our friends and relatives in the north and in the UK. There is not much to tell you so I will share some photos I have taken which I thought might be conversation pieces.

I thought this was pretty. The purple climbing plant is called bougainvillea and it only grows in warm climates. The only time I have seen it in Maryland was as an indoor plant at one of David's friends. It was growing in their sun room and was probably over 8 feet tall.

Mrs Osprey refused to leave her nest to show me her chicks. Boy, did she keep an eye on me. I was stood on the roof of the boat to take this photo.

The next two may be difficult to see because they are a little dark. Both houses have very high hedge fences on either side. I would guess they were at least 15 feet. They must have a very large hedge trimmer!!

A view of Palm Beach.

Street lights also went up and down with the bridge.

Another view of Palm Beach. The famous golf course must be on the ocean side as we never did see it on the Intra Coastal Waterway side.

Moving house!!

Paradise found!!!

David would like this boat. It had its own tiki bar and water slide.

Another lovely home with bougainvillea.

Me, practicing my night shots.

We spent last night at  Pine Island

Will stay tonight at Eau Gallie Yacht Basin  as we are running low on water, will stop at a marina to refill, perhaps also get some other supplies.

Heading north

I thought I would try and keep up to date with the blog and not leave as much time in between them.

We stayed last night in a creek off the Intra Coastal Waterway in Hollywood, birthplace of a great friend of Gary's, Chuck. However, we did not see any "Chuck was born here" signs. Sorry, Chuck!!

Today, was a travelling day along a large canal with lots of beautiful homes (many millions of dollars some of them) and huge boats. I took some photos of the homes and boats just to show you them. We even saw a very large ship made for carrying boats to the islands in the Caribbean. What was surprising was the amount of houses for sale. I guessed 1 in 10 but that may have been generous. If David had been with us he could have researched some of the sale prices. I look at these homes and wonder how they are furnished inside.

One of the boats we saw had a helicopter pad on the back of it. It was  moored beside one of the biggest boats we saw. We did see a boat for sale which was air conditioned and had its own inground pool. We think you could have got quite a cheap price for it!!

The boat with the helicopter on it is behind the rather large boat.

Hmmm, now which one shall I choose.

Going cheap, any takers. May need some work!!!

Oh my, do I buy the house or the boat!!!

This one reminds me of the homes in Tuscany, Italy because of the cypress trees.

This one looks just like the home my Mum and Dad just sold - NOT!!!

 I have not taken many photos of wildlife today but I did take a photo of a distant frigatebird.  He has the largest wing span in proportion to body weight of any bird and can soar for hours often dipping down to the surface to pick up fish from the water. They lay only one egg and during courting the male inflates a bright red throat pouch to attract his mate. Frigatebirds never alight on the ground or water due to their short legs and narrow wings making it difficult to take off except from a height, such as the limb of a tree or a rock. The photo is not very good, I'm afraid but he was nice to see as they only live in the Florida mangroves.

FYI: Did you know there is no such thing as a seagull? There are different types of gulls but not seagulls.

I did get a bit of a laugh when I saw a Tow Boat US getting towed. We actually have Tow Boat insurance because if we did not have it it would cost us over $1000.00 to be towed (that was what was quoted when our 21 foot boat broke down so heaven knows how much it would be for the Kingston Rover). We have actually used the service once since leaving Maryland.

Anybody want to buy a floating church? This one was for sale.

We passed through Miami yesterday. Not too much to see except tall buildings, buildings being built and cruise ships.

I had to "crane" my neck to take this photo. I do not think I could work up there on the top floor as I am not too keen on heights.

OK, last photo of the day is of a bridge in Boynton Beach. The bridge looked as though it should have been in Disneyland.

We stayed the night within 5 mins of the bridge. Near Ocean Avenue Bridge

Happy Spring

We are leaving Marathon and heading back to Titusville via the east coast of Florida. This will be new ground for us so I hope to see new things and meet new people.

What can I tell you about our stay in Marathon?

Google map link to our marina location in marathon fl


Well, first of all we had a scare in the night (3am) about 4 days ago. We were sleeping soundly in the starboard cabin when Mia starts meowing at the top of her lungs. Crikey, I thought, she is having a heart attack (so was I !!!). I got up (she's my cat!!) went into the living area and what am I looking at despite my bleary eyes? It was a lovely ginger cat with a red collar. You hussy, I said to Mia who by the way was still yowling with all her fur stood on end. The cat had fallen through one of the sky lights bringing the screen down with it onto Mia's bed. I had her bed placed under the skylight to give her some air during the night. I tried talking to the newcomer who wanted nothing to do with me and tried to get out of the boat through a skylight at the back of the boat. The screen stopped him (it is easier to push the screen down into the boat than push the screen up out of the boat). So this poor terrified cat jumps up several times, bangs his head on the screen but cannot get out. The only way out is through the same skylight he dropped through. Finally, it clicked (he was a male cat so it took him a while) and he jumped up and out of the boat. I calmed Mia and went back to my sleeping husband. All's well that ends well. Not quite. The cat in his fear sprayed my furniture so now I have this male cat smell in the main cabin. I managed to wash the furniture x 2 and get rid of most of the unpleasant smell by airing it outside of the boat. Gary, unfortunately got the sniffles afterwards (he is allergic to cats) but is OK now.

We have met many nice people on Marathon and I say a big thank-you to them, if they should read my blog. Tom and Elinor were especially kind to us. We went to the "Symphony" with them as well as Key West. Another couple joined us, Mary and Walter. We all had a lovely time as the weather was perfect. We had lunch together and an ice cream later on in the afternoon then Gary and I went our own way whilst the others drove back home. I stayed behind because I wanted to see sunset (Key West is know for it's sunsets).

Gary and I toured The Little White House which was a very lovely home where President Trueman stayed many times during his presidency and afterwards. Gary is from Trueman's home town of Independence, Missouri so this house was of interest to both of us. I had toured the Trueman House in Independence which was quite modest and not at all palatial. The house in Key West was part of a Naval Base so was secured safely enough for a president to visit. The house was very nicely furnished, had a veranda all the way around and felt warm and comforting inside. We had a very good guide who made it even more interesting.

The harbour at Key West was so clear you could see parrot fish with their big lips and tarpon. Tarpon are big fish that are not good to eat but make for good fishing. Apparently, they put up a good fight for the fishermen. I would too if someone stuck a hook in me!!

We went to Mallory (yes, Chris) Square for sunset which was not the most spectacular but was still fairly pretty. I took some photos and then found out that my camera had deleted all the photos I had took that day. Blasted thing, boy was I miffed. So much so, I think I am going to look for a new camera. I love photography and want to take photos on our Big Loop Trip. I am thinking of a Canon or a Nikon. I have a Pentax at the moment ( my third one) and have had other problems with them in the past. Dear Gary is trying to retrieve my photos for me so keep your fingers crossed. Otherwise, I do not have many photos to show you. Unfortunately, Gary could only recover a few of the photos and the photos of sunset are too small for me to do anything with. I am disappointed as a couple of them were quite nice. Luckily, Gary had a camera with him and took a few photos of the sunset.

Whilst in Marathon, we went for a dinghy ride around the marina and into the mangroves. We saw some lovely homes, a boat from Alaska (it must have come overland otherwise it would have had to have come through the Panama Canal), another Endevour (this one was a sail boat though ours is a power cat), lots and lots of anchored boats and a bird that could not read!! We also saw a very strange looking houseboat which looked as though the owner had built another deck on top.

 

One of the other highlights of the Keys happened whilst we were moored at Caplain Key. Caplain Key

 The water was 78 degrees so we decided to go swimming. Being a wimp I let Gary go in first to tell me how cold it was (not that he tells me the truth!!). Whilst he was in the water we had a visit from a pelican who came very close to both Gary and the boat. Well, you know me and nature, I was in my element ready with my camera. I decided to feed the pelican bread because I had no fish. I got a nice photo of him with beak open trying to catch the piece of bread, which he did not like. He then flew onto the dinghy making him even closer to me. From there he flew and stood on the thin cables across the front of the boat followed by me, with camera, of course. He must have sat on the cable for at least five mins and then flew onto the ledge in front of the cockpit making him about 4 feet from me. I clicked away furiously and will show you some of my favorite photos.

"Ooh, I'm losing my balance".

I had always wondered how pelicans were able to stand on branches, now I know. They have very flexible webbed feet that can bend and grip.

He's watching me watch him.

How can you resist those beautiful eyes?

Someone needs a pedicure!!

Gary's the one in the foreground!!

The last photo of the day was taken using the underwater camera. I am not sure what the long black thing is but when I touched it, it was slimy.

People have been requesting a photo of myself so I will oblige:

The Google map links were done using the exact coordinates from the GPS so should show the position of the boat.