cleaning

Its time to start cleaning the boat. As the sun goes down Rob is out there scrubbing the decks. On Thursday we will leave Fort Lauderdale and travel to Stuart, 60 miles North of here. We are going up the Intercoastal Waterway, which is basically a waterway running parallel to the coastline. In Stuart 'Sea Wolff' will be hauled out and put on the hard for storage.

I have started packing away unwanted clothing and washing linen and towels to pack away. We pack these things into big bags and then suck the air out. This will stop the mildew, caused by the humidity.

West End nights

Here we and Joe and Mercia watch the 'Carter Brothers' play at the famous bikers pub, Hog's Breath Saloon.

Food in the Keys is lots of fish, you can even bring your own catch and they will cook it.

Of course everyone sells Key Lime pie!

Fishing and diving are big past times.

Its a wonderfully festive place and we were there out of season, during the week. Well worth a visit. The houses are mostly wooden with balconies.

Time to go back to our boats, here Mike and Lynn on the way home.

Key West, Mallory Sq

Mallory square is on the sea front and is a good spot to watch the sun set. At 7pm all the 'entertainers' arrive. From tightrope walkers, jugglers, escape artists and this video is of a french chap who trained his 4 cats to perform on a tight rope. Its a wonderfully festive atmosphere.

Southern most point

We walked to the Southern most point in the Continental USA. Just 3 blocks from our hotel, past Hemingway's house.
Key west is also the start of the US1 road, or end depending on where you start. It is labeled '0' here as its the start. As you travel North the road markers will say what mile marker your at.

Group

We went to Key West with Joe and Mercia (yacht 'Free to Be') left of me, and Mike ( right of me) and Lynn (yacht Indigo). Here we are visiting Cheeca Lodge, a very upmarket resort on the Island called Islamorada. As you drive down to Key West you cross a number of small islands, all have marinas and hotels on them. Key West Island is the last one and its the largest. Driving south the Atlantic Sea is on the left and the Gulf of Mexico is on the right. The islands are joined by 42 bridges, some long and low, other have a high section in the middle to enable yachts to pass under them. The keys are 126 miles in length.

Key West

We are back from a 3 day trip by car to Key West. Its a really fun place with lots going on day and night. There was everything from the 'clothing optional' bar to the rock n roll bar and country bango music. All had live music so walking down the street was very festive. This video shows the bikers on Duval street, where all the action is. Helmets are optional in Florida, rather crazy to see bikers on the freeway with no helmets!

Boat braai

Yesterday I found an ex South African that makes boerewors! What a find, he delivered some to the boat and we had a braai. There is another SA yacht here now, owned by Joe and Mercia (Free to Be). Here all the men are salivating over the wors (sausage). Mike (yacht Indigo) Rob, Howard (a new experience for him as he is American) and Joe.

The wors was amazing!

Elvis the Alligator, feeding time

This chaps name is Elvis and he is only 7 years old so is going to be a very big Alli! The female with him is 34yrs old. Both were rescued from homes where they were kept as pets till they grew too large.

Me in the park

Rob insisted on a photo of me in my floppy hat. The biggest enemy for me has been the sun, both on land and at sea. As the sun block just runs off with the humidity a hat was the answer.

Pink Flamingos

Aren't they gorgeous. These have a high beta-carotene diet (algae in the swamp) which is why they are so pink.

Flamingo Park, Fort Lauderdale

We visited this Park yesterday, its a mix between a botanical garden and bird and reptile rescue center. This Lizard greeted us with a show of colour. He moved when he blew out his neck so I could not get a clear photo.

Drive-in

We went to the Drive-in last night to watch Iron Man 2!

This place is amazing, during the day its a car park for a huge flea market and at night its a Drive-in theater. There are 14 screens dotted around and parking for about a 50 cars at each screen. You pay $6 per person, drive in and follow the signs to your screen. Each screen has a different movie, most with double features. Sound comes through on the car radio so its clear. The place was very empty. Brought back lots of old memories as I spent many nights at the drive-in as a child. It was fun but as a once off, much more comfortable watching at home.

Shopping via the river

We went for a 40min drive in the rubber duck to a shopping center. Tied the boat to the jetty and went shopping. It was very hot on the water so I had my umbrella up for shade.

There are some huge houses on the water, this is one of them. We are so used to seeing huge boats now they seem the norm here.

Many of the houses and boats are for sale.

Farewell to 'Searenity'

Today we said farewell to our co travellers Santi and Goltz on Yacht Searenity.

Together we have sailed 15 000km!

They will go north to a marina that can take their yacht out and store it on land out of the hurricane zone.

We will be doing that too, but have found a spot much closer on the waterways. Searenity cant get to our spot because her mast is too high and she cant get under the bridges. Not all the bridges open, many are fixed.

We have done lots of research to find a safe, reasonably priced and accessable spot.

Apollo 11

Rob is standing below the stage 1 engines of Apollo 11. It was wonderful watching the footage of the Apollo landing and seeing footage I had not seen before. I remember as a girl making a scrap book of all the news paper cuttings of the landing.

Maybe my desire to travel was initiated back then, not that I have any desire to go to space.

Space Shuttle

The thrust generated by these engines is amazing. The 2 white tanks fall back to earth to be re-used. The huge orange tank burns up while falling back to earth. All 3 tanks just hold fuel.

It was rather sad as the staff told us that there was only one more shuttle trip planned and then it would be shut down. Russia will continue to travel to the space station.

Rob is standing next to one of these giant engines.

NASA

We visited NASA yesterday, a really pleasant experience. They show the launches of the Space Shuttle. This building is where the space shuttle it put together, the tall grey sections are doors that open and its wheeled out on a huge trolley that takes it to the launch station. Remember its upright at launch so that's why the doors are so high.

This plane actually flew a few times, we could see the burn marks in it from re-entry.

We watched

There was lots of enthusiasm and 'gees' at the restaurant. Only 1 vuvuzela thank heavens.

It was a fun game to watch with lots of 'oh no' moments. We all have sore throats from shouting when Bafana scored the goal!!!

Santi, Rob, Goltz, Nadene with John and Peter(ex south Africans).

Soccer World Cup 2010

This is where we watched the opening match of SA vs Mexico. There were about 20 SA supporters and 4 Mexican. It was screened at 9am so we had breakfast, not crabs.

Corvette !!!

LS 3 Corvette, V8, 430 hp, 10km/litre.

Faster than the Porche 911, Aston Martin Vantage and the R8 Audi.

Rob's dream car, he got to test drive a 2008 model. Its got LOTS of voooomah.

It has never to be tested speed, the limit here is 120km/hr and its strictly enforced.

Besides all of that its such a pretty colour.

Florida Beaches

This is a beach on the West coast of Florida. We hired a car (R220 per day for low season) and are visiting ex SA folk in Tampa. We found this little beach restaurant for lunch.

Wonderful beaches, flat seas. There are lots of waterways here so boating is a pleasure and our friends have their boat parked outside the house on the river! So cool.

They tried to volunteer to clean the oil soaked birds further up the coast, to do this you need to first complete a course on hazardous substances $800 and apply for a licence. Wonder how many birds will be cleaned??

Wolffs Family

We have had a wonderful time meeting Roberts extended Wolffs Family here. The photo is of Arno (left) and his son Howard (right).

Arno's father (Herman) was brother to Roberts grandfather (Willem). The two men left/ran from Germany in 1936, one went to New York, the other to Cape Town.

Eating strange things

Here Mike from Yacht Indigo is showing us the frogs legs and I am showing my dinner of North Atlantic Crab. (Maybe the 'Deadliest Catch' crabs) I got 4 legs for $20. Very tasty, lots of meat.

We also ate Alligator tail which was similar to the frogs legs in that they taste like chicken.

The famous pie here is Key Lime pie, similar to Lemon meringue but made with tart, limes and it has no meringue on top.

The best are Krispy Kreme donuts, very light they melt on your mouth.

Rob loves the hamburges and another speciality spicy chicken wings.

We will diet back in SA.

Everglades grass

Dont be fooled the grass is in 2 feet of water, its just open in some areas and along the regular trails its been squashed down.

Everglades

This was the Ali we saw. The pretty bird is a Purple Gallinule. We also got to hold a small Aligator, very soft and smooth.

Coopertown air boat ride

We went for a ride in the Everglades on an Air boat. This video is of one of the air boats. Rather noisy, we wore cotton wool earplugs. It was good fun, like riding through the long grass back home but this time your on knee deep water. Its full of Alligators although we only saw one. Called Everglades because when the Spanish first arrived they struggled to cross the waterloged grasslands and said it went on forever. When your in it, its very easy to get lost as its all flat grass lands with a few raised tree areas.

Shopping

Yesterday we hit the BIG sport shop 'Bass Pro Shop' it really has everything from boats, hunting, fishing, sport clothing, guns....

This Kevlar vest for dogs was the strangest thing we saw. Obviously very necessary.

Rob bought some more goodies for the boat.

South Africans on the Bend

These are the 3 Catamarans on the New River.

Today we did an amazing thing, we visited a huge hardware store called Home Depo. A few items were chosen and we did the checkout ourselves!

You scan your product and put it on a counter that somehow acknowledges it, and then put the money in the slot and your change comes out! The till talks you through the whole thing. Amazing store.

Bought an electrical adaptor as the boat is set to 220V and all USA products are 110V. This adaptor changes it so we can use electrical things we buy here. eg the new cell phone for USA.

pool on the boat

Its so hot and humid we decided to put the pool up on the foredeck. Water is free so we have a fresh water pool!

Great at sun downer time.

Here we are with Lynn and Mike from yacht Indigo. We met them in the Bahamas and have met up here again.

So with yacht Searenity we are the South Africans on the bend!