Sunday, Februaqry 1, 2009

On Thursday, after breakfast, we were going into town. When Nelson and I were ready to go, we went out of the sailboat to get into the dinghy, but there was no dinghy. It was floating away from the boat at a rapid speed. Yes, Ondra had not tied it very good evidently and it came loose. We called Chris on Spirit and he retrieved it in his dinghy for us. Thanks goodness, he was available. Nelson could have never swam that fast. He said he had to teach me how to tie a better knot. We picked Chris and Marie up and took them over to the same place where we had tied the dinghy yesterday and locked it to the fence. We met a couple who had just come in from kayaking and asked them how to get to town. After talking with them, we found out we had a ways to walk before getting into the busy areas. So, we started walking. After a short spell, the same lady came by in her car and took us there. She said she realized it was too far for us to walk so she gave us a ride. We were glad to see her. We walked around for a while and then, caught the City Trolley for several rounds until we decided where we wanted to go. Palm Beach has a really nice downtown area and a pretty waterfront. We ate lunch at a Greek restaurant in a really neat area above other store tops. We climbed 3 flights of stairs to get to the top where they had a beautiful theater and many other restaurants and shops. We took the city bus back to Southern Blvd. but still had a long walk back to where our dinghy was tied. Later, we grilled pork chops on Last Boat and had Chris and Marie for dinner. What a busy day! The weather was great! We had our short pants and short sleeve shirts on all day.
On Friday, we pulled the anchor around 9:00 and headed south toward Ft. Lauderdale. We stopped about 1:00 in Delray Beach at a city dock and walked across the park to an Irish Pub for delicious Fish & Chips lunch. This was a nice break from a morning of foggy and cooler weather. The sun did break through every now and then. It was a day to break out the long pants and jackets again. We went through so many bridges all the way today. We did make it to Ft. Lauderdale, but anchored at Lighthouse Point in Pompano Beach for the night around 5:30. Not a good anchorage but it will have to do as it is getting dark. Motorboats keep coming by very fast and rock our boat every time.
We ate chili and cheese Quesada’s for dinner at Chris and Marie’s boat. I made chocolate chip cookies and took them. Everything was good.
Today, we pulled anchor about 9:00 and motored south about 12 miles and pulled into Ft. Lauderdale for the weekend. What a big place with lots of big buildings. We are anchored in an area called Sylvia Lake across the road from the beach. We are staying on the boat today, just resting, reading, working puzzles, and using the computer. It is nice to have a day of doing nothing. This is nice quiet anchorage.
Sunday, Chris called us about 7:30am to let us know that a boat had left the mooring ball and he had his dinghy there holding a place for us. We threw our clothes on and headed north for about 10 minutes to get to the mooring ball before another boat would get there. We made it and now it will be a lot shorter run on the dinghy to get to places that we need to go. We plan to get some groceries today and just see what is available here at Ft. Lauderdale. I like the mooring ball much better than putting out the anchor even though we have to pay $30.00 a day to stay here. I think Nelson likes it too! I hope to send some pictures this afternoon. Must close this down and get ready to go with Nelson into town.
Nelson & Ondra
Nelson & I walked over to the beach this afternoon and had a late lunch across from the beach. Yes, I had a Mango Margarita and it was great! The beach is beautiful here and people are everywhere. They have nice concrete short walls at the beach front. We enjoyed sitting there and watching the people and the oceanfront. We like it here!