Kay and Robert Creech's many adventures
January 28 - Robert and Kay report again from Florida
Hi Friends, After leaving the Herb River anchorage in Georgia, where by the way, our anchor drug during the night, we continued south, with our next stop being an anchorage on the Duplin River in Georgia, a favorite stop of our friends Charlie & Miffi from Southport. After an uneventful night there we proceeded south to Brunswick Georgia. There, along with new boating friends Jon and Bonnie, we went out for Pizza at a long time favorite location, Fox's Pizza Den. From there we were in Florida and on to another anchorage on Fr. George River, where we were again up during the night when our anchor drug again. At least we did not get our anchor line wrapped around the propeller Charlie. The next two nights we were at St. Augustine, Florida, where we stayed at Hidden Harbor Marina which is operated by long time friends of ours from Southport, Dave and Haila. Our Southport friends would know them better from the sailboat "Ol' Yeller" from the Southport Marina. Dave & Haila were great host. From there it was an overnight stop at New Smyrna, then Cocoa Village where we saw a night launch of an Atlas Rocket, and in to Ft. Pierce, which has the best farmers market on the east coast that we have seen. Once we get to Florida we begin to see numerous White Pelicans, a bird much larger than the Brown Pelican, and dolphins constantly ridding along under the bow of our boat. Back on anchor the next two nights in Lake Worth, close to Palm Beach, where friends Brantley and Brenda came to the boat for a visit and Brantley took us fishing. WOW, a sailfish just 2 miles from shore, and we were back by lunch time. Kay managed to get in some fishing time also. From Lake Worth we traveled to Ft. Lauderdale, where on the Intercostal Waterway we had to have 8 or 9 bridges open for us. We refer to that day of travel as "bridge day" each time we travel through this area. Jim and Wendy Simon, friends from Southport, were in the area and came by for a visit. And, just to prove how difficult it is to "hide", we have met two other couples from Southport and two other boating couples that we previously have traveled with while in Ft. Lauderdale. While on the river in Ft. Lauderdale large yachts are constantly passing close by. After a few days "rest" here, we will head out for the Keys on Sunday.
January 23 - Robert is apparently in Palm Beach looking at fish!!!
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| 2012 - destination: Marathon
We have started our journey south. On Sunday, Jan. 8th., our friends and neighbors Dale, Chris, and Buddy were on the dock at 7:00 to help send us off. Sad to say good-by but happy to be on the boat traveling again. Our oldest son Joseph and his family were on the boat with us. What a great time we had with the grandkids, Matthew, Joshua, Ashley, Justin and Stephanie our daughter-in-law and Joseph. They did not want to leave us when we got to the Osprey Marina, but kids had to go to school. Diane and Louis on "Bella Luna", DeLois and Lorenzo, Kathy and Billy all on "LiL' David" are traveling with us. We are having a
great time. We are enjoying the new moon. The nights that we have anchored have been so bright and beautiful. There as so many different sights that we are enjoying, like 12 Bald Eagles in South Carolina, sunrise, sunsets and many, many wild life sightings of birds and marine life. We miss our families and friends.
Our destination again this year is Marathon, Florida, around February 1. We plan to start our trip back to NC around April 1.
Kay and Robert
C-Life |
March 27, 2011
Well, it is almost time for us to leave Marathon. The weather here has been great for two months. The high today will exceed 85!
When it cools in the evening, we sit on the front of C-Life and enjoy the music from the bar & grill, one of our favorite groups being Joe Mama & John, and watch sunset. We are not cooking out, aka grilling, as much as we use to, but still enjoy our social evenings at "1 Palm Tree Court" with other boaters.
Kay did find time to make a cake for Larry, a friend of ours, for his birthday.
The water is so clear - we can see manatee, dolphins, small fish, mangrove snapper, pinfish, mullet, and needlefish. We can watch fish eating the growth off the bottoms of the boats. Kay caught a few small fish beside C-Life last week. She could see the fish coming to get her bait.
Robert's big jobs of late were to get taxes done, repaint the blue stripe on the boat, and to stain a new bookshelf for Kay.
We went to Key West last weekend just for the day. No trip to Key West would be complete without a visit to Blue Heaven Restaurant. Obviously the local health department is not very strict, with the chickens and roosters walking around under the tables while you dine. The sidewalks were crowded with spring break, St. Patrick's Day, and tourist out and about. We enjoyed the local "performers" at Malory Square, watched the sunset, and back to the more casual environment of Marathon.
Robert & Kay
C-Life
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Hello from Kay and Robert in Miami 3-4-11
While anchored across from Miami we had a seaplane take off and land several times beside us, as well as a great view of the Miami skyline, especially at night. Our next stop after Miami was Boca Chita National Park, just south of Key Biscayne, one of our favorite stops. You may remember from previous trips, this is an island that Mr. Honeywell, of the HVAC industry, started developing as a personal residence in the early 1900s. I have attached a photo of Mr. Honeywell's lighthouse and of Ibis feeding across the park grounds. Boca Chita is a beautiful island in the Keys. From Boca Chita we anchored out the next evening and then on to Marathon.
We have now been in Marathon for a month and the weather has been just great. We wake in the mornings with temperatures in the low 70's and we usually see low to mid 80's by the afternoon. Only a couple of light sprinkles of rain in the past month, although we may get rain in by Sunday afternoon. We haven't had much wind until this week. The last few days have been rather windy.
As you see from the photos, "1 Palm Tree Court", a nickname we have given to our dock space, is in full swing. We manage to find time for cookouts, activities (Kay playing "lasso golf"), and just visiting with friends, and making new friends. We have had friends from Southport, Roxboro, and Clayton, all towns in NC, stop by for visits, and we are expecting more.
Each morning at Marathon we go for an approximately two mile walk around part of a golf course behind the boats. One of the highlights of the walk are Burrowing Owls that we see almost each morning. Burrowing Owls live in burrows that they dig in various locations in the golf course. I have attached a photo that Kay was able to take of one of the owls at his burrow.
I gave Kay a couple of plants (bromeliads) for Valentine's Day and they are now blooming. Kay must be taking very good care of them.
We miss all of you back home, but we understand it is still cold up there. Maybe we will wait a little longer before heading north. We are currently planning to start the trip back home in April.
Wish you were here,
Kay & Robert
C-Life
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C-Life from Miami
Hi all, We have been very "computer lazy" . We cannot figure out where the time goes. The time gets away from us and we do not spend much time at the computer. I guess that this thing called "Keys Disease" aka "lazy" jumped on us early!
We traveled through Georgia, which is really not very exciting, unless you enjoy low-land and marsh grass. We stopped at Sunbury Crab Company, a new stop for us, and also one of our old favorites, Two-Way Fish Camp, where we had our first meal ashore since leaving Southport, at Mudcat Charlie's, a favorite restaurant of ours.
We continue to see numerous Bald Eagles, 4 at a little island just north of St. Augustine, and again the large White Pelicans as we approached Florida.
In St. Augustine we visited with David and Haila, friends of ours from Southport that had the sailboat "Old Yeller" in the Southport Marina. They are now the dockmasters at Hidden Harbor Marina in St. Augustine. Great to see them again.
In Palm Coast, Florida, we were welcomed by Phil and Sarah Lowe, one of the Port Captains of MTOA, a boating organization that we belong to, with complimentary dockage. We also visited with Jim and Kathy Fisher, boating friends of ours from Maryland. There we also met up with Phil and Alice of "Wonderland", and traveled with them for the next few days to Stuart, Florida. The water is becoming more clear and beautifully green, and we are now seeing manatee regularly. We seem to be seeing more of the diving waterbird, Cormorants, than previously seen. If each of these birds catch a fish or two per day they really put a dent in the fish population!
Then it was on to Stuart, Florida, and the St. Lucie River. There we renewed friendships with Bob and Gail, Don and Bo, and Larry and Margie, all boating friends of ours, who now live in Stuart. Bob and Gail invited us over for dinner and several games of "Hands and Feet", a card game. Maybe I should not state who the winners were, but Bob and I are still smiling over the results. Larry and Margie of "Wanderin' L&M" left with us for Marathon, and we met up with Lorenzo and Delois Johnson from Shallotte, NC, a work friend of ours for over 30 years at the Brunswick Plant, when we left the St. Lucie River. Lorenzo and Delois have a couple of friends, Bill and Cathy, traveling with them.
Our next stop was up the New River at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We stayed there 3 nights watching the huge mega-yachts go by. WOW, what a sight. One of the photos attached is one of the mega-yachts with its dingy neatly stowed, and their helicopter covered on the back deck. There were no less than 7 cruise ships at dock when we left Ft. Lauderdale as well as another 3 or 4 in Miami. While in Ft. Lauderdale Kay and Margie had a "girls night out" with another boating friend of ours from the area, Ellen of "Our Turn". Ellen took Kay and Margie to a four-star restaurant and then worked in some shopping.
We are now anchored across from Miami, again with Larry & Margie, and Lorenzo and Delois.
Two or three more days to Marathon.
Robert & Kay
C-Life
Photos: A pelican sitting on our top (shadow), Kay has picked out a new Palmer Johnson boat, shrimp boat under tow up the New River, Cruise ships in Ft. Lauderdale, Mega-yacht with helicopter
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Our Vice Commodore Woody Wilson has been receiving Emails from Bob Creech while Bob and Kay have been on the adventure of a lifetime. These updates are below along with pictures from the Great Loop. Please enjoy and don't get too jealous, you may have an opportunity to do this yourselves at some point in your life.
If you roll your mouse pointer over the pictures, they will pause so you can look at them closer.
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