Month: March 2018

This update is about the boats.

Paget passed her final Sea Trip last Friday as the new propellor we installed moved the boat at 25 mph at top end with a 20 mph cruising speed.  Just 2 mph slower than the target goal, we’re happy campers and ready to start using the boat around this area.  We are also considering selling her but will take some time to see how much we use her.

And we finally took Apolonia (the 37′ Maxum one) out for a few days.  We motored down to Boynton Beach, 60 miles south of Ft Pierce to visit Diane Burton and Petty Saylor.  They were visiting Diane’s mother in that area.  Enjoyed dinner Saturday evening at Two George’s restaurant, a great spot.  Great cruise but had to pass the Mar-a-Lago compound area and its security.  Not much of a problem and then we had the pleasure of viewing the Palm Beach boat show from the water … amazing … $1.5B worth of boats covering 12 acres on land and water.

A gallery of pictures describe some of the the trip.   Click on first picture to view slide show.

We moved Apolonia (the 37’er) to Fort Pierce Marina last week as we were having trouble getting a comfortable slip at Nettles Island Marina for the boat.  Fort Pierce is a great area, with lots to do and it is only 30 minutes from the Condo.  And the slip we have, a fixed one at the north side of the Marina, gives us easy access to the boat, walking distance to many restaurants, two nearby farmers markets a week, nice dog walk area, as well as a theater that showcases stand-up comics and good music.  Last weekend proved to be fun on the boat there so we think we’ve made the right choice, and we have enjoyed this marina several times on our trips to the Bahamas.

 

The new transmission and engine are in and running.  Here is Paget after sea trials this morning.  We have to rework the propeller a bit to get the correct RPM out of the engine.  This is being done tomorrow.  Early next week we’ll put her in her slip at Nettles Island Marina.  We’re anxious to get her cleaned up and touched up for some fun.

After the Aquia group joined us in mid February, we continued to have a busy but fun time.  On the 23rd we had the annual block party for Club Side Villas, where we enjoyed a bar-b-qued pig and plenty of other food, all with great music and camaraderie.  Following that, Rob and Kathy Laird, Canadian boat travel mates from 2013, stopped by for a week.  They had decided to sell their sailboat and are leaving it at Nettles Island Marina.  We drove them to Orlando after showing them the sites so they could settle in back in Canada, crossing their fingers for a quick boat sale.  On their last days they even considered buying a home in Florida so we gave them the tour, including showing them the showcase place that Gary and Pat Ralston bought.  After the showing, the six of us enjoyed sunshine and lunch at Mulligans in Vero Beach.  And during this time we did not fail to join our Trivia group at Shucker’s Restaurant for the Monday night Trivia.  All in all a great February with temperatures in the low 80s.  I’m smiling.