Wed, March 31, 2010 - Clear Lake, IA

Gale got busy on cleaning out the garage and running errands. Maureen continued her work on the second floor of the house, emptying closets and cupboards. At 2 pm, we took a break and rolled out the Harley. The sun was shining and it was nearly 80°F – a great day for a motorcycle ride. We wanted to make sure the Harley was running properly, burn up some of the old gas in the tank and give it a bath at the carwash. Just before we got away, our neighbor, Denny Daly, stopped by and said he might be interested in buying the Jeep. We invited him to take it for a ride and call us later as we roared away on our 2-wheeled ride.



We took a tour around the lake and pulled into the car wash where Gale checked his messages. A man from Ames who had expressed interest in the Jeep yesterday, was on his way up to see it. He said he was 99% sure he was going to buy it and wanted the vehicle identification number to give to his insurance man. We drove back to the house to get the VIN and then returned to the car wash to clean the bike.

At 5:30 pm, the couple from Ames arrived, took the Jeep for a drive and offered us our full asking price. It was one of many bittersweet moments we will be experiencing throughout the coming month.

Tues, March 30, 2010 - Clear Lake, IA

We really tackled our projects today. After placing ads for the Harley and a rummage sale, we headed to Mason City to pick up the Ford Escort at Exhaust Pros and to pay the property taxes at the court house. After the taxes were paid, we drove to Exhaust Pros. A pipe in the exhaust system of the Escort had a hole in it, so that was replaced. The battery was shot and it needed a couple of new tires, so we drove the little car from Exhaust Pros to Tires Plus where they were going to work on it this afternoon. After a stop at Staples to pick up a couple of small items and lunch at Wendy’s, we were back home shortly after noon. Maureen worked on inventorying her clothes to give to Opportunity Village. Gale did some work in the garage and spent some time at his folks’ house raking their yard and helping them out with other chores.

At 5:30 pm, we took a drive around the lake stopping briefly at Apple Valley to see Maureen’s mom and then to Movie Gallery to drop off the movies we had rented earlier and pick up another for tonight.

Mon, March 29, 2010 - Clear Lake, IA

Brian and Lin had an appointment with their tax preparer at 9:30 am. While they were seeing their accountant, Maureen finished our tax return and e-filed it from home. It was a lot less complicated this year! Brian and Lin returned a little after 11 am with lattes and muffins from the local coffee shop. After our snack, we took the dogs outside to run on this lovely spring day.



At 1:30 pm, we were saying goodbye to Brian, Lin and their dog just as an appraiser arrived to evaluate our townhouse for the buyer’s mortgage lender. We showed him around inside and then directed him to the garages. Afterwards, Gale went right after gathering and inventorying the clothes he was giving to Opportunity Village. At 4 pm, we took Lucy for a walk and headed west on North Shore Drive – her favorite place to run. We were back in the parking lot shortly after 5 pm and joined Gary & Marilyn Huffine, Charlotte Hanson and a new neighbor, Wayne, in a conversation. Wayne and his wife bought Ardith Smith’s townhouse and he invited us in to see where he was with the renovation work. They moved some walls and opened it up which should be very nice when it is completed.

The Huffines invited us over for a glass of wine and we enjoyed visiting with them and catching up on their lives. After an hour or so, Maureen was suddenly overcome with her allergies so we said our goodbyes and went home to put a pizza in the oven and watch a movie.

Sun, March 28, 2010 - Clear Lake, IA

We enjoyed a nice relaxing morning. Gale made omelets and toast for everyone. By 11 am we were on our way to see Maureen and Brian’s mother, Pat, at Apple Valley. Pat had mentioned to us yesterday that she would like to try typing again. She recently had begun writing a monthly column for Apple Valley Assisted Living that was published in a local news magazine. Gale and Maureen had picked up a typewriter at Staples yesterday to see if she would be able to use it. Pat had been a secretary back in her younger days so she knew the keyboard, but she what she didn’t know was if her macular degeneration was going to limit her too much for the task.

After seeing Pat, Gale and Maureen drove back home to work on some moving chores while Brian and Lin went to Oak Hills Golf Course to see the Shermans and the Hanleys, Brian and Maureen’s sisters and families. Back at the condo we started a movie about 5:30 pm and had a glass of wine. At 7 pm we met Tom, Sheila, Tony and Tyler Sherman, Shane Hanley and Pat at the Cancun Mexican Restaurant for dinner. Afterwards, we headed home, finished the movie we had started earlier and went to bed.

Sat, March 27, 2010 - Clear Lake, IA

We slept great last night in our own bed. Maureen was struggling with a head cold or allergies and not quite up to par when she got up so she planned to take it easy today. We visited our parents and ran a few errands. At 4:30 pm we drove back into town to have happy hour with Gale and Mary at their home and then took them out to dinner at the Half Moon. Brian and Lin, Maureen’s brother and sister-in-law, got into town about 6 pm and joined us at the restaurant. After dinner, Brian and Lin drove out to Apple Valley to see Pat before coming out to our place where they would be staying until Monday.

Fri, March 26, 2010 - Clear Lake, IA

We were up early and on our way to the marina parking lot at 6:30 am where a van was waiting to take the five of us (plus two Lucys) to the airport in Fort Pierce, about a 20-mile drive. We were in the air at 8 am, made a stop in Tennessee, and touched down at the Mason City airport shortly after 1 pm. What a convenient way to travel – no waiting, no security, and no difficulties over the dogs. Both Lucys took medicine to help calm them before the flight which did help them sleep but made big Lucy a bit snarly for the rest of the day.

It was nice to be back at home. Gale’s goal for the afternoon was to get all three cars up and running. Our son, Casey, had been here over the winter and we knew that the Jeep wouldn’t start for him, the Toyota had a flat tire and the Escort had a muffler problem. Before the day was over, the Jeep had a new battery, the Toyota had to be “jumped” and the tires inflated, and the Escort was dropped off in Mason City so its exhaust system could be repaired. While in Mason City, we picked up some groceries at Target and headed back to Clear Lake. On our way to the condo, we stopped at Movie Gallery and grabbed a couple of movies and picked up some Chinese food. We stayed up long enough to watch one movie as we ate dinner and then it was up to bed.

Thurs, March 25, 2010 - Stuart, FL

The original plan was to fly out of Stuart with the Holts this morning; however, we got a call from Mark last night saying that we were going to stay another day and leave early Friday morning instead. No problem there – it gave us a chance to enjoy the morning at the condo and spend a little more time with Kathy. Check out that sunrise – the photos were taken from the guest room balcony where we slept last night.



Kathy had a golf lesson at 10 am, so we helped ourselves to some breakfast, read the paper and watched a little TV news while she was out. Upon her return, we gathered up our things and headed to the beach to do a little shelling and let Lucy run. Kathy showed us their boat, White Label, and we talked about her and Charlie’s dream of doing “The Loop” when he retires. Before dropping us off at the marina, we picked up a couple of large sandwiches at a local deli and ate them at an outside table as we soaked up the sunshine.




We arrived at Adventure about 2 pm, just before Mark, Di, and Michael (their company controller) returned from lunch. We settled into our cabin and then helped Mark and Di with a few chores around the boat. At 6 pm, we moved the boat over to the fuel dock and spent the next hour or so taking on diesel fuel. Mark thought that fuel prices would likely be going up between now and the time we took off on our big adventure in May. With a 1,600 gallon fuel capacity, even a few cents makes a big difference in cost!

After fueling, we walked up to Wahoo’s for a little dinner before calling it a night.

Wed, March 24, 2010 - Hutchinson Island, FL

We were up early to finish preparing the boat for haul out. The holding tank was pumped out, flushed with fresh water and treated with chemicals. Blue Heron was first in line at 9 am and by 10:30 am the lift crew had her out of the water, power washed and up on blocks. In the yard, we continued with our tasks, did a couple more loads of laundry and packed what we needed for the trip home.










At 2 pm, our friend, Kathy MacNider, arrived to pick us up and take us back to her condo for the night. Kathy and her husband, Charlie, own a beautiful condominium on Hutchinson Island, a few miles from Stuart, and she was spending the month of March there. Charlie visited on the weekends and we were able to have some time with both of them last Saturday night when they came to our marina to see the boat and then enjoy a meal together at Wahoo’s.

On our way to the condo, we stopped at a lovely beach and let Lucy run to her heart’s content. She was one very happy pit bull as we watched her run, buck, spin, chase shore birds, roll in the sand and play in the water.



At the condo, Kathy gave us a tour and told us about all the amenities provided to the homeowners. We could see ourselves in a place like this someday! The evening was very relaxing and it was fun to catch up with Kathy and all the things going on in her life.

Tues, March 23, 2010 - Indiantown, FL

We left our slip at Harborage Yacht Club & Marina at 8:50 am and headed toward the Roosevelt Bridge as the sun shone and a very light breeze blew from the west. The temperature started out at 60°F but was expected to warm to nearly 80°F before the afternoon was over. It was a lovely day for our first trip on the Okeechobee Waterway. After the train passed over the railroad swing bridge which was just before the Roosevelt lift bridge, we received the go ahead to pass both bridges and began to motor the 20 nautical miles west toward Indiantown Marina where Blue Heron was going to spend the next three months in the yard, or “up on the hard” as we sailors like to say.

Our trip included one lock, St Lucie Lock, with a 14 foot lift into fresh water. The transit through the lock was an adventure in itself! This was the first lock we had ever been in where the water was forced in by a slight opening of the gates. The locks we had come through in Canada or on the inland river system were usually filled by allowing the water to fill beneath the boat through large brick tunnels. We had to hold on tight to avoid being tossed around inside the lock and cleared the lock at 11:15 am.






Just before we arrived at Indiantown we had our first alligator sighting of the trip. There he was, sunning himself on a log resting out over the river. Lucy didn’t see him so we don’t know how she will react to the real thing!



We were assisted into a slip at Indiantown shortly after 1 pm and spent the afternoon on final preparations for the haul out including removing and stowing the sails, covering the windows with aluminum foil, emptying and defrosting the refrigerator, throwing out a few items from the pantry, cleaning the head, emptying and treating the water tanks, checking the engine fluids, doing five loads of laundry and packing a bag to go home to Iowa for a month. By late in the day, we were ready to take a break and relax on the boat as we enjoyed the sunset.

Wed, March 17 to Mon, March 22, 2010 - Stuart, FL

The last week in Stuart was dedicated to preparing Blue Heron for the haul out; but, of course, all work and no play isn’t our style, so there was a lot of good fun in the mix, too.

On Monday, March 22, we joined Mark and Diane as well as their guests for a day of fishing aboard Adventure. The guests included four customers and employees of the Holts’ business, Vi-Cor. Again, the bluefish were active and the guys pulled in enough fish to feed the entire crew and then some!

Tues, March 16, 2010 - Stuart, FL

Mark called before 8 am and invited us to go along with them as they took Adventure out for the day. We were ready in about 30 minutes when Mark came by in his dinghy to pick us up and after all the systems on the boat were checked, we headed out to sea. It wasn’t long before Diane and Ann were busy making Bloody Mary’s. It was a wonderful day of fishing, relaxing, watching dolphins and turtles, eating and enjoying friends.

Mon, March 15, 2010 - Stuart, FL

During the morning, Gale spent some time in the fitness room working out while Maureen updated the blog. After lunch, Lucy and Gale went out to do some fishing in the dinghy and had a great time catching bluefish. A dozen or so took the bait, but only three made it into the boat. The rest shook the lure right out of their mouths and swam away. Bluefish are one of the best fighting sportfish and Gale described the action similar to a large mouth bass on steroids! Gale used the new pole that Brad had purchased for him in Key West and attributed his success to what he called his new “lucky fishing pole.”

Since burgers had already been thawed and needed to be eaten, we enjoyed “surf and turf” for dinner tonight. The fresh bluefish were very tasty!!

Sun, March 14, 2010 - Stuart, FL

It was a beautiful day with a nice west wind and a promise of temperatures close to 80°F. This was the second Sunday in March so it was time to switch to Daylight Savings time. Gale worked out in the fitness room at the yacht club while Maureen and Lucy took a walk. In the afternoon, we spent some time lounging around the pool and enjoying the sunshine.

Late in the afternoon, we dinghied over to Adventure and enjoyed a wonderful fish dinner with the Holts and their company.

Sat, March 13, 2010 - Stuart, FL

We awoke to clear skies and a warm, westerly breeze. Before breakfast, we grabbed our yoga mats and headed out to find Barefoot Dave’s yoga class which was to be held poolside at 8:30 am. It was a wonderful way to begin our day. When the class was over at 10:30 am, we walked to Mark and Diane’s boat to pick up the cell phone and other items we had left last night. Diane was already off and running, so we found our way back to the yacht club and checked out the facilities. We located the laundry, the Captain’s Lounge, the locker rooms with showers, saunas and steam rooms, the fitness room, the restaurants and the “south” pool. We were very happy with what we saw and looked forward to using all the amenities provided.

It was nearly noon by the time we returned to our boat. We had a little lunch and relaxed for a time. While checking our email, we saw that our friends, Don and Ally, s/v Ally’s Cat, were online. Maureen sent a quick email to let them know where we were and to tell them about our upcoming adventure through the Panama Canal. Alice responded right away and we learned that Ally’s Cat had hit a reef off the coast of Belize on their way back from Guatemala and sunk! We were glad to hear that they were home and safe but sad they lost their boat. They had already decided that this was going to be their last big cruise as they had been cruising for nine years and wanted to buy a motorhome to tour the country – they just hadn’t planned on going out quite like that!

We met Mark and Diane along with the Jones family for dinner at Wahoo’s. Mark had brought their Mason City neighbor, Ann Jones and her three kids, Alex, Hannah and Tanner, with him on his airplane today. They had been invited to spend a few days on Adventure with the Holts.

Fri, March 12, 2010 - Stuart, FL

It rained hard much of the night and we awoke to a steady, but warm, rain. We were waiting for a break in the weather to walk over to the marina office to settle up, but it soon became apparent that it was going be a very long wait. We donned our raingear, took care of our business, and left the slip at 11:30 am to make our way back under the bridges and over to Harborage Yacht Club and Marina where we were planning to rent a slip – not only to be closer to our friends, but to treat ourselves to some luxurious amenities at a reasonable cost.

When we arrived at the Harborage’s fuel dock, we tied up and went in to speak to Ronda, the person in charge of doing the paperwork for new arrivals. Ronda gave us a few different choices for slips on the floating docks that we could check out. Before visiting the floating docks, we found Adventure and knocked on the hull to see if Di was home. She welcomed us in for a nice reunion and a short visit and we soon left with an invitation to come back for dinner tonight. After leaving Diane, we walked to the floating docks (at least 1/3 mile away), decided on a slip and made the trek back to the marina office. We spent about an hour filling out forms and signing contracts, all the while watching out the window where it looked like some nasty weather would be arriving at any moment. Finally finished with the paperwork, we headed for our slip assignment, secured Blue Heron for the night, plugged into shore power and got out of our wet clothes. By then, it was close to 2:30 pm.

While Gale warmed up and took a nap, Maureen puttered around the boat a bit and spent a good deal of time trying to connect to the marina’s WiFi. It turned out she had been given invalid passwords so once that was straightened out, everything seemed to be working fine. Just after 5 pm, we put on our walking shoes and headed over to Adventure. Wouldn’t you know, it started raining again as we stepped on the dock!

Diane had invited a few friends over for a good “old-fashioned” Iowa dinner of meatloaf, escalloped corn, mashed potatoes and fresh asparagus. Kate, Phillip and Tom were already enjoying happy hour when we arrived. Kate and her husband, Bruce, are on a Nordhavn in a nearby slip, Tom is currently on a large sport fishing boat, and Phillip has his Beneteau sailboat at the Sunset Bay marina where we stayed last night. In fact, Phillip was the first to welcome us to Stuart as we were pulling in and securing our lines yesterday.

The dinner was fantastic, the company was delightful and the entertainment was superb! Turns out Phillip is a very accomplished singer who has opened for many famous artists throughout his career, not the least of which included Gordon Lightfoot, The Beach Boys and Muddy Waters. Phillip has written many songs over the years and he shared some of his favorites with us this evening.

Thurs, March 11, 2010 - Stuart, FL

The morning greeted us with 20 knot winds out of the southeast and cloudy skies. Increasing winds and possible thunderstorms were forecast for the day so we wanted to take advantage of the favorable winds while we had them and get ourselves to Stuart before any really bad weather. By 8:15 am we had the anchor up and were sailing out of Hobe Sound. Traveling under the bridges wasn’t quite as slow today since most of them opened on request instead of on a fixed time schedule. In addition, it seemed that boaters had decided to stay home because of the windy weather and we had no “traffic” problems in the channel.

We arrived at the mouth of the St. Lucie River in the late morning with winds gusting up to 30 knots. The inlet was rough and the channel markings were somewhat confusing due to the dredging that was being done, but we soon reoriented ourselves and made our way safely through the narrow channel. As we passed under Roosevelt Bridge, the last bridge of the day, we called the Sunset Bay Marina to find out what our mooring ball assignment would be. Gale had spoken to someone in the office both yesterday and this morning before we hauled anchor. He was told that there would be no problem getting a mooring ball – that there were “several” spots available – just call when we were at their harbor. As it turned out, they had nothing available anymore! Evidently, several boats had come in before us in anticipation of stormy weather and they assigned the balls on a first-come, first-served basis. Gale was quite upset! We needed fuel anyway, so we pulled up to the Sunset Bay Marina’s dock to get diesel and fill up the fresh water tanks. In speaking to the young man who was assisting us, he mentioned that he could see two mooring balls that were vacant. Now Gale was really mad! He went directly to the office to find out what was going on. The dockmaster was apologetic and said that the two balls that were vacant were rented to others who had just been out having “work” done and would be returning soon; he could, however, place us in a lay along slip against the dock and would let us have that space at the same price as a mooring ball. Gale was satisfied with this and happy not to have to go find a safe anchorage with a possible storm approaching.

We settled in, checked out the facilities and walked about five blocks towards town where we located the Publix grocery store in a small shopping center. On our walk back, we lingered in a city park where we noted for future reference that there was a canal with a public wall to tie up small boats for a few hours of shopping.

Back at Blue Heron we rested for a time and then headed to the shower facilities. On our way there, we ran into Chip Lucas whom we had first encountered at Grand Harbor Marina at the beginning of the Tenn-Tom Waterway. Chip was the guy who had taken us out in his client’s $3 million Carver Marquis for an afternoon spin. Following our showers, we visited with a few cruisers on the porch of the marina office as we waited for the rain showers to quit. From there, it was a few steps over to the marina’s restaurant, Sailor’s Return, where we shared the lamb shank and vegetable entrée.

Wed, March 10, 2010 - Hobe Sound (north of Jupiter, FL)

Our plan was to continue on the ICW rather than traveling on the outside all the way to Stuart. We weren’t in a big hurry and knew that the homes we would see on this part of the waterway would be some of the most opulent yet. The sky was mostly clear; the temperatures for the day were in the 70’s and the winds were southerly at 5 to 12 knots.









We enjoyed a leisurely day, taking turns at the wheel, and marveling at the mansions along the route. We paused for 18 bridges to be lifted for us – thankfully, the timing worked out reasonably well and we did not have to do a lot of waiting around for the lifts. Just before the PGA Bridge, our fourteenth of the day, Maureen looked up at the huge vessel we had just met on the ICW and noticed the name of the boat was Privacy. A couple of months ago, Jess, our daughter, had warned us to keep an eye open for Tiger Woods’ yacht, Privacy, as he had reportedly gone into hiding for awhile to get away from the news hounds and the public humiliation related to his dalliances. We snapped a photo of the back of the boat before it was too far away and have included it here. After the sighting, Maureen was reading in the Florida guidebook that Tiger Woods, indeed, has a home in this area near Jupiter Inlet and North Palm Beach.

After 42 nautical miles, we arrived at Hobe Sound, ICW mile 1000, at 4:30 pm. We set the anchor, went to shore (small beach surrounded by mangroves) and let Lucy run before returning home for a relaxing evening.

Tues, March 9, 2010 - Boca Raton, FL

The forecast sounded favorable to continue our trip north so we pulled anchor and left Sunset Lake at 7:30 am. We waved goodbye to our friends and set out for Boca Raton. It was cloudy; there was not much wind and the temperature was cool. We had heard on the radio this morning that Miami Government Cut, the major inlet from the Atlantic where all the cruise ships dock, was open to pleasure craft today. Whenever cruise ships are at the docks, there is heightened security and pleasure craft are directed south of Dodge Island instead. The ships had all left during the night or early this morning and we were allowed to pass.


We traveled 35 nautical miles on the Atlantic and re-entered the ICW at the Hillsboro Inlet north of Fort Lauderdale for the remaining 7 miles. By going on the “outside,” we avoided 14 lift bridges. Besides, it was a lovely day on the Atlantic – nearly flat, but for the boat wakes – and we enjoyed the trip. Quite likely, we would not have been able to travel as far today if we had stayed on the intracoastal waterway. As it turned out, we arrived at Lake Boca Raton around 3 pm and found a wonderful place to anchor for the night. Our anchorage was only a few hundred yards from Silver Palm Park and the Palmetto Park Bridge where we found a nice public dock with easy access for our dinghy. Maureen’s brother, John, lives in Boca Raton and was already on his way to pick us up. At 5 pm, we met John at the park where he loaded us up in his vehicle and gave us a tour of the area as we drove to his home where Aura and Aaron were waiting for us. Aaron had only a few minutes before his mom would be driving him to catechism class, but he was happy to see us and we were glad to be able to deliver his birthday card personally. His ninth birthday is tomorrow.



Aura met us at one of their favorite local spots for pizza. Maureen had been craving pizza lately and was very pleased with the dinner. We wished we could have spent more time with them, but felt we needed to continue our northward journey tomorrow. John took us back to the dock where we boarded the dinghy and found our way home to Blue Heron.