Monday, May 6
Got a fairly early start from Sunset Lake.  It was a very peaceful night. No wind or waves rocking the boat, and the temperatures were cool enough for a very pleasant night of sleeping.  The guys started the engines kind of early, in order to charge the 'house' battery.  The boat has a series of batteries.  The only one I really worry about is the one that runs the inverter.  This allows me to be able to use AC power for the skillet, microwave, ipad/iphone charger, etc.  I guess the house battery was run down by either the anchor light, the refrigerator, or both.  After a cup of coffee and wiping down the eisenglass, we headed north.  The remainder of this 'leg' of our voyage will all be on the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW).  The ICW takes you right through the different cities.  There are many canals that join the ICW.  Imagine your neighborhood, but instead of streets, you have canals.  There are many, many exquisite homes/boats that must cost in the millions.  Every once in awhile there will be one or two for sale.  One day, I looked at a realty site online, just to get an idea of what the asking price was. Oh my... $28,000,000!  Beyond comprehension for me.

How the poor people live....

Since we had a light breakfast, we decided to stop for lunch at a restaurant conveniently located on the ICW.  Our meals were large enough that we had enough for lunch Tuesday too!  After lunch, we were back on duty.  Speaking of duty, the way the Captain runs the ship, each of us is required to perform 1 hour at the helm.  We normally rotate on the hour, and only when docking for lunch/gas/overnight, do we alter the schedule.  Tim, Beth, Joe has been the norm.  I admit, there have been a couple of times that a low-height bridge has come up, on my watch, and I asked Tim to take it through.  Some open on the hour and half hour.  Some on the :15 and :45.  All that we don't fit under (anything less than 18'-19') require contacting by radio.  One time Joe was at the helm and we followed 2 other boats under a raised bridge.  He tried to call the bridge operator on the radio and the guy didn't respond.  I'm sitting next to Joe at the time.  We continue on through the bridge and as I look up at the bridge tender, he's pointing at his radio and shaking his fist at us.  Turns out we were on channel 16 instead of channel 9, the channel bridge tenders use in FL.  Oops!  I learned a very powerful lesson about hitting a particular button on the autopilot too quickly also.  I came pretty close to a bridge bumper before re-gaining control.  Whew! A few more gray hairs for the Captain! 

Lunch stop.



Juli-IV docked for lunch.

One of many bascule bridges we maneuvered under.

Monday nights stop was at the Lighthouse Point Marina.  A very nice marina with a very nice restaurant and swimming pool.  We arrived mid-afternoon and after getting tied up and powered up Tim and I changed into our swimming attire and headed to the pool.  Joe had some laundry to do and got busy doing that.  Also, both Joe and Tim caught cold, they think while wading through the streets in Key West.  Joe got it the worst and was really feeling poorly.  There were two couples up at the pool.  I struck up a conversation with them (surprise, surprise).  They were on a 37' Mainship and lived in Georgia.  They vacation aboard their boat and travel back and forth from Georgia to Florida.  They visited with us for awhile and gave Tim some information about stops up the road for us that hopefully will be helpful.  It really has been fun making acquaintenance with new people during our travels.  After swimming, Tim walked to a convenience store nearby to buy a jar of Vicks (his cureall for head colds) and after he returned we went up to the restaurant for dinner.  Ate swordfish for the first time ever. Yummy!  And, I convinced Tim to share some warm bread pudding with me.  It was delicious.  Back to the boat/air conditioning for a restful night. 

The Captain, baking out the head cold.



Sweet little Elisha, just because! Pam and her mom have been sending me pictures!!