March 23, 2024 - Manatee Pocket, Stuart, Florida

Saturday

Kip made breakfast and we watched the weather.  The clouds were dark, but not much rain.  

So, we went to shore to try and find a grocery store.  Kip said he ran into a small problem when he went to shore earlier in the morning...  

It seems a small fish decided to jump into the dinghy but then it couldn't get out.  Kip threw it into the water and about a second later a pelican grabbed it and swallowed it in one gulp.  

We were told that there was a Walmart store not too far, but we didn't want to walk there.  We stopped at Pirates Cove and Marina to look around.

The rest of the day we just hung out.  It turned out to be a decent day with minimal rain.  All of the clouds created a beautiful sunset!

March 22, 2024 - Manatee Pocket, Port Salerno / Stuart, Florida

 Friday

Kip was up early, but I slept in a bit.  It is sprinkling and a bit windy, but not bad (as of yet).  Our daughter Ashley said that Thursday night Deerfield Beach had tornado warnings.  Good thing we left on Thursday.

Kip was on Facebook looking at the Great Loop website and found a video of us driving through Jupiter Island!  

We didn't do much today:  read books, napped, worked on plans for the coming months, etc.  

Kip booked a flight for me to go home on Sunday to take care of some family things.  I am hoping to be back in Stuart in early April.  

March 21, 2024 - Lake Boca Raton, Florida to Manatee Pocket, Port Salerno / Stuart, Florida

Thursday

We left Lake Boca Raton around 7:00 a.m. so we arrive near Stuart by late afternoon.  The weather states that the winds and rain will be coming tomorrow, so we don't want to get caught in that.

 

We went past the Palm Beach Boat Show and took these pictures so you could see the types of boats for sale.  They are quite large and fancy!

Kip wasn't sure we could get a mooring ball in Stuart, so he decided to stay at the new mooring ball field in the Manatee Pocket.  After a brief bit of confusion at the mooring field (the guy told us to use mooring ball #5, but it wasn't there), we settled in on mooring ball #8.  There are restaurants in this area, and a not so good guitar / singer guy was entertaining patrons at one of them.  We had dinner, I let Kip beat me in cards (😃) (not really, I took the first few hands, but after that...  it was all Kip) and tucked in early.  

So far, the weather hasn't been too bad - quite gusty but not much rain.  We will see what tomorrow brings.

March 19-20, 2024 - Loggerhead Marina, Hollywood, Florida to Lake Boca Raton, Florida

Tuesday

We left Loggerhead Marina and headed toward Deerfield Beach so we could be closer to where Ashley and family are staying.  We pulled into a park to see if there was a dock we could park the dinghy at, and Mike called us saying "Are you guys driving by the park?  We can see you."  They just so happened to be at the park where we turned in.  Can you see Ashley waving on the dock?  Claire turned her back to us and hid her eyes because she was afraid that we would get hurt bringing the boat into the dock.  😏

We stopped, docked the boat, and spent an hour playing with the kids at the playground.  The girls also wanted to go inside the boat to check it out.  Once inside I gave them an Easter treat, then they wanted an apple, and played in the vee bunk.

We left the dinghy dock and continued 2-1/2 miles to Boca Raton Lake, anchored and got settled, and met Ashley and family for dinner in town.  After dinner we had Kelwin's ice cream and went back to the boat.

Wednesday

Today we are meeting Ashley and family at Deerfield Beach.  We went 20 minutes in our dinghy to the dock we scoped out yesterday and walked over the bridge to the beach.  We set up the umbrellas and chairs, etc., and the kids went straight to the water.  Claire is not at all afraid of the waves and spent hours jumping them with the adults going in with her.  Natalie, once shy about going into the water, is now running to the water and going right in.  

We said our goodbyes and went back to our boat via dinghy.  We are leaving tomorrow, so we unloaded the motor from the dinghy, loaded the dinghy on the back of the boat, and took care of a few other items so we can just leave in the morning.  Kip made supper while I updated the blog.  We will probably hit the hay early since we plan on leaving at first light tomorrow.  

March 18, 2024 - Loggerhead Marina, Hollywood, Florida

 Monday

We got going early this morning and are so excited because we are meeting Ashley, Mike, Claire, and Natalie at the beach.  

We left the boat on our bikes at 9:00 a.m.  We set up the umbrellas and sent Mike a pin to where we were.  They arrived with a cart full of stuff and two excited kids.  

The water was beautiful, there was no sea grass on the beach, and there wasn't any man 'o war to sting us.  We couldn't have asked for better conditions!

We played in the water and in the sand, looked for shells, ate snacks, swam some more in the big waves, and had pizza and tacos from the restaurants along the broad walk.  

All good things must come to an end, so we packed up around 2:00.  We helped them get the kids and their stuff back to their car.  Kip and I biked back to the boat.  Kip started the process of getting things ready to leave in the morning and then we both took a nap.  We had to shower the sand off before going to bed and had dinner.  

We had a wonderful day with them and hope to see them again before they leave for home. 

In the morning we plan on heading north to lake Boca Raton to anchor for a couple days.