Day 297 - 300 April 13 - 16, 2023

 Day 297 Thursday, April 13, 2023

Old Port Cove Marina, West Palm Beach to Stuart, Florida

Florida has experienced record rain and flooding, even closing the Fort Lauderdale airport.  Gas shortages are occurring because flooded roads have hampered fuel delivery.  Today is dreary but winds have decreased.  We left Old Port Cove Marina at 10:20; we only have a 4 hour travel day.  We will spend a few days in Stuart with Danny and Susan on Phil-N-Wild and have a chance to visit with Laura and Joe some more.  Sharon and Grant are traveling on ahead but we will be catching up with them in Daytona.

 

 Lots of beautiful homes along the way.

We passed North Old Port Cove Marina and were surprised to see Mountain Mermaid -- we had traveled with them while in Canada.  

Most of the trip required minimum wake travel due to the number of docks and manatee zones.   We passed the Jupiter Lighthouse and the Jupiter Bridge under construction

.   

Dolphins met us at the busy Manatee Pocket entrance.  We consider them a good omen.  Manatee Pocket is a bay off the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway.  Once again we were met at our slip by Susan and Danny.  Good thing -- the slip was very narrow and the dock quite short and high; the marina dockhand wasn't very helpful so it was great to have help from Danny ad Susan. 

Once settled we headed to the Pirate Cove Tiki Bar with Susan, Danny, Joe and Laura.  Our timing was excellent as it rained buckets while we enjoyed live music, drinks and snacks.  From there everyone headed back to Phil-N-Wild to visit.

  

Day 298 Friday, April 14, 2023

Stuart, Florida

Today we cleaned the boat in anticipation of a visit from friends, Linda and Ted.  They winter in Jensen Beach and spend their summers on Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh.  They arrived by boat  to visit us.  We had a great lunch with them at Shrimpers.  

 

Later we joined Susan, Danny, Laura, and Joe for bowling.  Joe and Laura are members of the Stuart Corinthian Yacht Club that had organized the event.  Lots of fun, but no real champion bowlers....  

 

We worked up an appetite for Mexican and ate at Casa Tequila.

  

Good food and tableside guac.

Day 299 Saturday, April 15, 2023

We got the marina okay to stay until Monday.  Originally we had planned to leave Sunday morning.  Ted picked us up and brought us to their condo.  We had another great visit and an awesome meal.  Linda treated us with homemade lasagna, salad, homemade blood orange gelato, and snickerdoodle cookies.  We are so lucky that we have been able to visit friends along the way.

 

 

Day 300 Sunday, April 16, 2023

Can you believe it?? DAY 300 of our Great Loop Adventure.  It has been 300 days since we left Mooney Bay; only 110 have been travel days.  Our longest stretches without moving the boat have been in Clearwater, our trip home for Christmas and our time in Stock Island, Key West. 

Today we headed to church at St. Andrew Roman Catholic Church.  It had a very formal atmosphere and not very friendly.  They even had a "Church Etiquette" card in each pew which included how to behave and dress for church.  For your information -- men should wear suit coats, ties, no sneakers, shorts or sandals.  Women should refrain from tight fitting, low cut or revealing clothing, no shorts, or sandals.  Our least favorite church experience so far.   

More fun with friends today.  Since we had prolonged our stay we were spending the evening with Laura, Susan, Joe and Danny.  Laura served a delicious pork ragu, salad, and italian sausage with peppers and onions.  She also made brownies and her famous cheesecake, enjoyed over a game of 7's.   Yummy and fun!

 

Tough to say goodbye again.  The four of them will try to visit us in Fort Pierce.