HEADING SOUTH - FLA East Coast to Keys to Naples to Wesley Chapel & Home

May 7^{th –} JETTY PARK

On the road again……….. for a short trip (two weeks) around Florida.  Packing the MH for this trip is only slightly less stressful than packing for the long haul out of Florida!  What you need is what you need!...or what you think you need!

Our itinerary for May is Jetty Park at Port Canaveral for a few days to catch up with some great friends who live in Cocoa.  Then down to Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Jupiter for a mid-trip stop with our ultimate destination being Curry Hammock State Park in Marathon, Florida to catch up with some other great friends.  We’ll circle over to the west coast and head up to Wesley Chapel to visit Dave’s sister and celebrate his son’s birthday.

So our first stop was Cocoa where we met up with Venus and Charlie.  In the past this trip was accomplished when we came down in our sailboat for the “Cocoa Cruise” out of the SYC but this year, the cruise weekend fell the weekend before my son’s wedding so there was far too much to do during the “final countdown” and we skipped the cruise.

In planning our trip to the Keys, we decided a layover at Jetty Park was in order so that we could catch up with our friends.  We have never stayed at Jetty Park but heard many of our friends raving about it.  However, when leaving out on a cruise ship from Port Canaveral we have seen the campground as we left Port Canaveral.  It is a good spot and the close proximity to Cocoa Village was a real plus.

We got down here around 1PM after getting completely lost by following directions from Bing.com.  Called Charlie and he turned us around to head back to Port Canaveral as the park is located on the south jetty.

We settled in quickly and headed over to Charlie & Venus’ house off the SR520 causeway off Banana River Road.  Their house sits at the end of a canal and is absolutely charming.  Whatta view.

We were having a “bonus” visit because not only would we get to visit with Charlie and Venus but also Steve and Debbie and Dawn …. All  our sailing friends.  Dawn’s husband Phil is in the Bahamas on their 40’ Catalina and Dawn is getting ready to fly back over and sail back with their boat.  Coincidentally, they met up with some of our sailing friends out of NSB, all anchored at Green Turtle.  “I hate them!” 

Steve and Debbie have a 36’ Catalina like ours.  We bought their 23’ Starwind sailboat years ago and had a blast with that sailboat “gunkholing “ around the disappearing islands.  With the keel up, it drew about a foot of water and with it down it was 6’.  We moved up to larger boats as we evolved into the “cruising lifestyle” which, it seems, we are abandoning to the “land yacht”.

Venus and Charlie have also moved from water to land with their mini-Winnie.  Steve and Debbie are die-hard cruisers and heading for the Bahamas in a couple of weeks.  Dawn and Phil are back into it after a long hiatus of “work”!  Don’t you hate when that gets in the way of life!

I had worked with all these folks for years and years so there was lots to catch up on and the visit was superb.  Billy was adored by all and he got more than his share of rubs, ball chasing throws and generally great attention.  Great way to start the trip.

May 8^th, 2013 -  Cocoa Village .... Grapes and Oil

The weather continues to be beautiful, low 80’s with cool nights but it is starting to heat up for the weekend.  Love bugs are out in full force and the front of the MH was covered with these pesky bugs.  They appear every spring and fall and migrate around the state.  They travel on top of each other “doing the diddly”, lay their eggs and then die!  Whatta life!

OLIVE OIL…….VINEGAR…………YUMMY!

We headed into Cocoa Village to the “FROM OLIVES AND GRAPES…..”  on Oleander Street (www.fromolivesandgrapes.com) so that I could pick up some wonderful balsamic vinegars and interesting olive oils.  I love this store and have been coming for the past five years …. usually when we’re down on the boat for the “Cocoa cruise”.  Since we missed that trip, I had to make up for it now. 

This store is like a wine tasting shop except you taste olive oils and vinegar.  Their white balsamics are infused any number of ways; their dark balsamic are also infused and rich and the olive oils come infused with various flavors as well as very, very, very good olive oil from Spain.

Last year I purchased Blood Orange olive oil and paired it with Lemongrass Mint white balsamic.   This year I picked up a wonderful Espresso Balsamic and paired it with Persian Lime Olive Oil and some more Lemongrass Mint and Cranberry Pear white balsamic.  Also picked up a bottle of Nocellara Organic Olive Oil. 

Their suggestion for blending olive oil with balsamic is to start with the Olive Oil and whisk the balsamic using an immersion blender because it will become very, very thick.  Also for cole slaws, pasta salads they suggest adding 1/4 to ½ cup yogurt or a dollop of brown mustard.  Can’t wait to try that!!!

We returned with our oils and got ready to visit the tall ship in port at one of the cruise terminals.  Of course, Dave had to read the back of his eyelids before we could venture on.

SPANISH FOUR MASTED SCHOONERS

Two tall ships from the Spanish Navy are in Port Canaveral.  Today we toured Juan Sebastian de Elcano which is the Spanish Navy Sailing Training Ship, one of the oldest and biggest sailing vessels afloat.  It was very impressive to see.

She was launched in 1927 and has circumnavigated ten times.  “Elcano” is the Midshipmen Training Ship carrying out a six-month training cruise where the Midshipmen learn and work on the vessel.  On board is the Captain, Executive Officer/Commander, Chief of Studies/Lt Cmdr, 20 Officers, 51 Midshipment, 20 Petty Officers, 140 Seamen and sailors and 6 civilians.  She is approximately 330’ long, with a 40’ beam; and a 20’ keel.  Her mast is 144’ so doubt there would be any bridges to go under!!!!! With a 20’ keel, the ICW is out of the question!

Wish the lines on our boat looked this good and orderly!

Elcano is also a floating embassy with her presence in foreign ports .  From Port Canaveral they will head up to Newport, RI and then over to Spain. 

Their crew must have been picked for their good looks or else the Spanish are incredibly good looking!  Every one of the officers could have been models, and were also very informed about the ship and were available to answer any questions we had.

 Nice job of flaking the sail!

The afternoon was really, really nice with a great breeze blowing off the water.  We hopped on our bikes and did a ride down to the beach.  It is very close to the campground which is why it is such a hit with camping families.  The ocean was like glass as a result of the easterlies blowing …. Great time to be crossing the Gulf Stream!

Getting ready to dive-bomb Billy!

This park is full of birds.  Actually the Port Canaveral/Merritt Island area is a bird sanctuary.  It seems the Mockingbirds have taken over most of the trees with their nests and they are very territorial.  As I was walking Billy around, one Mockingbird started dive bombing Billy.  He was pretty oblivious as he was engrossed in certain blades of grass that commanded his attention.  

The bird swooped down from the fenced and bounced off his rump before landing on the sign post.  Billy turned around as all of this happened but still didn’t “get it” that the bird landed on him.  Anyway,  I looked up and there was a nest in the tree we were standing under so guess the bird was justified!  We just walked off, with Billy concentrating on the grounds around him.

May 9, 2013

Today we were going to head down to Jonathan Dickinson SP for two days but Dave got a call from his sister who said she was coming down to visit her daughter who lived in Merritt Island.  So, we extended our stay here at Jetty Park to meet Marge and her daughter and grandkids for lunch at the Grille at Port Canaveral.

  

After lunch we took a quick drive around the cruise ship ports and then back to the CG at Jetty Park.  

As the afternoon lengthened, the two cruise ships in port, Carnaval and Disney Dream headed out to the Bahamas.  They come right along the Jetty.  The Disney Dream played It’s A Small World with their ship’s horn as they passed the park and headed out to see.  You could hear the bands playing and imagined the passengers downing Pina Coladas and getting ready for the cruise festivities.

We took a last ride on our bikes down to the port and around the bike path.  Tomorrow we are heading south to stop at Jonathan Dickinson State Park as a halfway point to Curry Hammock.

 MAY 10, 2013 – JONATHAN DICKINSON STATE PARK

I have to hand it to the State Park systems in just about all the states we’ve visited, and Florida is no slouch.  Not only are the parks pristine, but as a Florida resident geezer, we get to stay at 50% off an already low price! 

Jonathan Dickinson SP is located at Hobe Sound just north of Jupiter Inlet and is the usual stopping place for us to anchor out when we travel south.  As a matter of fact, we have anchored about a mile from JDSP on several occasions.  

The park is huge but as a result of hurricanes and I think fires, there is no shade in the campsites.  Everything is new, clean with paved bike paths and gravel  neat RV sites, full hookups, but no, no, no trees!  To say it was hot was an understatement.  To their credit, they have 50 amp so we were able to run both A/C’s to cool down the coach.

The clouds came in and cooled it down a bit so I suggested a bike ride down to the Loxahatchee River.  This park is crisscrossed with off-road bicycle paths and hiking paths with a Gator Culvert and rattle snakes!  In fact as a handout, the Ranger gave me a paper with the pet rules and on the other side was a list of all the veterinarian hospitals and ER’s if we need it for the dog.  Fortunately we didn’t.

We started out our ride under storm clouds which actually kicked up a nice breeze and made it pleasant.  We stuck to the road because we didn’t have helmets and that was required of the off-road bike paths.  It started to rain as we biked on which served to cool us off.  After a while I began to wonder how far the river was!  Finally we reached the destination which had a concession where we could buy cool drinks.  

Apparently the river is four miles from our campsite so we didn’t imagine it .. it was a hike.  Got our 8 miles in today!  The trip back was more arduous because we were biking into the wind.  Finally made it home, drenched from sweat, and collapsed on the couch.  Billy wanted to know all the details of the trip as he licked the sweat off my arm!

Had dinner at a restaurant located just down from our anchorages in Hobe Sound.  Can’t get the boat out of my head!

May 11, 2013 - Heading to Marathon

CURRY HAMMOCK STATE PARK, MARATHON FL

Headed out about 9:45 and picked up the Florida Turnpike to the Keys.  Crossed over to Sawgrass Expressway (also a toll road) and then picked up the Florida Turnpike again to empty us into Florida City.  All in all, it was not a bad trip.  I think the combo of Fla Tpke/Sawgrass/FLA TPKE is the good one.  Sawgrass takes you west of Miami and Homestead and then reconnects up to end in Florida City.

As we passed exits of the bridges we would request openings of, I couldn’t  help but go back there.  As we passed Coral Ridge Avenue and I thought, “by boat, it would have taken us two days from Hobe Sound to Coral Ridge YC”.  We had been on the road about 2 hours.  

Then Atlantic Avenue, LPGA Blvd (“LPGA Blvd bridge, LPGA Blvd bridge, this is southbound sailing vessel Spindrift requesting your next opening.  Next opening in 19 minutes, Spindrift standing by on 9”). 

At every exit this dialogue ran through my head.  It always seemed we were two minutes late from the bridge openings and had to wait the 20 minutes until the next one controlling the boat in currents and shallows!

When we got to Florida City and crossed over Card Sound the traffic started to back up and it was a slow go from Key Largo to Marathon.  However, what would have taken five days by sailboat took us 5 hours by MH.

Curry Hammock SP is a beautiful park on the ocean side of Marathon just west of Vaca Key.  We can see the ocean over the dune behind our campsite.  Here was have electric and water, no sewer, but we’ll be fine for the next few days.

 VIEW FROM THE BEACH

Got settled in and headed up to see Dinata and Andy in their new digs at Keys RV Resort.  Dinata and Andy sold their boat and bought a lot in the RV park that sits on a canal with direct access to the ocean.  It was an interesting and very “keysie” place.  Some of the trailers had been there since the beginning of time.

Waterfront lots bring their boats right up to their docks.

Looking out on the ocean!

"Keysie" storage sheds on the RV Lots.

 Dinata and Andy's Keys Home!

Some of the lots on the canal were designated, by the city as a one-time only, residential lots.  The rest are designated as non-residential which means the RV’s/trailers on those lots have to be moveable.  The ones designated at residential have permanent structures attached such as porches and add-ons.  Much was done without permitting and code so it’s an interesting place.  The most interesting aspect of being designated as “residential” is that you can haul out the trailer and tear down the structure and actually build a house!  It is the cheapest property in the Keys!  A very sweet deal.

This one is for sale and it's designated "residential" so that you could pull this all off the site and build a tall, narrow house right on the canal.  Think the asking price is $120.  Cheap Keys property

Drove over to Colony Beach to have dinner at Sparkey’s.  This is a much more expensive area of Marathon Key with beautiful homes and duplexes right on the water.  I had their famous-for fish tacos and it was fantastic.  Also had a mojito which made my meal great.  Everyone else enjoyed their fish baskets.  Great to be back in the Keys!

MAY 12 – MOTHER’S DAY

Woke up to whoosing sounds and Billy barking at the beach.  Then we saw what had him so worked up ….. people were kite sailing off the beach.  The winds was about 10 kts so the kites were giving riders a great ride.

UP.....UP......AND AWAY!!!

This girl was learning how to kite surf.  She would get the sail full of air and start to stand up and land in the water on her face!  Not sure if she ever did get launched!

We got ourselves together and headed over the Marathon Yacht Club to join Dinata and Andy for Mother’s Day buffet.  It was quite impressive.

We met up with some other boating friends who are staying on their trawler in the Keys.  This couple also has a home in Cedar Mountain that we have visited when we were working at Cascade Lake.  Small, small world!

Once with devoured our buffet, stuffed to the gills, we all climbed into our car and headed to Bahia Honda State Park, an absolutely beautiful state park that occupies almost all of Bahia Honda Key.  It is impossible to get reservations as this park as they are book up a year in advance. 

Once we got into the park and started driving around the campground, we could see why this was a choice park to camp in.  Many of the sites are directly on the ocean with paths from the site to the beaches.

At one end of the park are the public beaches on the ocean side and they were full of families celebrating Mother’s Day or simply having a day at the beach.  One such family was celebrating under one of the pavilions and had tamales cooking on the grill.  These were the REAL THING!  They offered us a tamale and if we hadn’t gorged ourselves on the buffet, we would have readily taken them up on the offer.  As it was, I took a picture of these luscious looking packages!

 The water here is the beauty of the Keys.  There is very little difference between the water here and the waters in the Bahamas.  Same crystal clear with the various shades of blue.

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We parked and walked up the old bridge that crossed Bahia Channel.  A section of the bridge was removed so that boats could come into the channel and anchor.  The US1 bridge is not a high bridge, so sailboats anchor east of the US1 bridge and west of the original Bahia Channel bridge.  On one side is the Atlantic Ocean and on the other is the Gulf of Mexico

IT'S ALL IN YOUR PERSPECTIVE!

This Bahia Honda channel bridge was originally built as part of the Henry Flagler bridges linking Key Largo with Key West.  

The Bahia Honda channel bridge is part of the Overseas Railway and was purchased by the State of Florida after the 1935 Hurricane.  It was then converted to provide automobile use in 1938 as part of the Overseas Highway.  The replacement bridge was opened in 1972 and the mid-spans were removed to accommodate boat traffic but the rest remain standing for pedestrian traffic from Bahia Honda State Park.

It’s interesting to go under these original bridges by boat and looking up at the old guardrails that were the original railroad tracks.  It’s history just sitting here!

Between the original bridge and the new bridge is a great anchorage for boats visiting the state park.

A heat wave was swooping over the Keys and I think it was 106 in the sun so we were appropriately soaked with sweat after walking up the bridge and back so crawled back to the air conditioned car and headed back to our places of stay.

VIEW FROM THE TOP

Later on we drove down to 7-Mile Bridge to take a picture of the sunset.  Must have a thousand pictures of sunsets in the Keys but each is as beautiful as the next.

MAY 13, 2013 – MARATHON

Still hot!  Met up with Dinata and Andy for lunch at the Key Colony Inn and it was fantastic!  As Dinata pointed out, although we are retired, we still can have executive lunches as our lunch ran into the three-hour mark.  Dinata and Andy are heading out tomorrow for their summer sojourn around the country so we won’t physically catch up with them until next winter when they return to Florida.

I had one more picture I wanted to capture before we left the Keyes and went looking for it in our campsite.  I walked the perimeter peering into trees and shrubs looking for the Iguana and there it was, sitting absolutely still, on the curb almost at my feet!  These are a nemesis down here and everyone hates them.  I guess they feed off the greenery and gardens and trees so Iguana repellent is a big item here. 

One winter when we came down by boat it was so cold the Iguanas were falling out of the trees.  They do like the warmth.  This one was the same color as all the greenery around it.  

MAY 14, 2013 – MARATHON

Our last cold front of the season came through last night and cooled things down somewhat.  Today it’s in the low 80’s with winds 15-20 so it feels tolerable.   We decided to drive down to Lignumvitae Key State Park and take the boat out to the island; however, when we got there there was no sign of a State Park shuttle and found out they don’t run the shuttle anymore.  Only way out is by kayak or personal boat.  We nixed that and drove back up to Marathon.

It was nearing lunch time so headed to our favorite restaurant .. Keys Fisheries on the Gulf side of Marathon.  Most of the fresh fish and stone crabs served in the Miami restaurants (and further) come from Keys Fisheries.  The stone crabs were prohibitively expensive so we settled for the special, fried mahi melt and it was delicious! 

While we were down here we talked about trying to find our friends Lisa and Chip who live on a boat in the Keys.  Chip works for Fish & Wildlife.  We had just discussed that our next stop, after lunch, would be Boat Key Harbor to see if we could find out whether they were living here in Marathon.  All of a sudden Dave yells, “Chip!  Chip!” and who is standing in front of us, getting ready for lunch, but Chip!  It was fantastic to see him.  He and Lisa are living on Stock Island down in Key West area and loving the life.  His workplace is in Marathon where he maintains the Fish and Wildlife boats.   Next time we come down, we’ll have to make it to Key West and spend some time catching up!

Before leaving Keys Fisheries we picked up our favorite Key Lime Pie.  Going to bring it up to Mary's for Mitch's birthday cake/pie!  It is the BEST in the Keys.

We then headed over to Boot Key Harbor which was our home for many Aprils and Mays in the Keys.  We live out in the mooring field and love every minute of it. 

A floating town where people "add on" second stories to their houses!

In the winter the mooring field is absolutely full and, depending on the weather, could have a wait list to get in.  That usually happens when early Bahamas crossings aren’t available (weather-wise) so the Bahama-bound boats stay at Boot Key waiting for a good crossing while the Keys’ boats wait to get a spot!  It’s an entire city on the water and we wanted to see it again and check on whether some friends of NSB were down. 

Pump-Out boat is the most important feature of living on a mooring ball.  The arrival of this boat makes the difference between living a good "quality" of life or struggling until you can get the head emptied.  

The mooring field was looking pretty empty.  The winter boats had already left for the north and the boats coming through now were those returning from the Bahamas for a stop over until they continued northward

Got in the car and headed back to the RV.   This was our last day down here before heading over to Naples.  It was fun seeing friends and old haunts.  Different from coming down on the boat.  Think next time we'll head straight down to Key West where we can wander the streets and take in some nightlife.

MAY 16 & 17 – NAPLES, Florida

Never been down here so all of this was new.  We stayed in Club Naples Resort which is right off I-75 and about 15-20 min from downtown Naples and the Gulf of Mexico. 

The campground/resort was very nice with more than half being permanent sites.  In the winter they are probably absolutely full.  There is a very nice meeting building was card rooms, library, very, very large common room, bathrooms/showers that are very clean and nice.  A beautiful pool and spa runs along the common building and there are many bocce courts (I think) next to the pool.  We were in a pull-through site and it was in a very open area.  Some of the sites further to the back were treed.  Probably a great place to spend a Florida winter.

Drove downtown and it was hopping.  Walking Naples streets is entertaining with all the restaurants and shops.  We watched the sunset on the Gulf of Mexico and took the requisite pictures.

Spent an afternoon on Marco Island and had lunch at the Marco Island Yacht Club.  My impression of Marco Island was that it was all condos.  May be another part to it, but I didn’t see it.

Met a great couple camping next to us who are traveling the US (Miami to San Francisco) from Australia.  They had already seen more of the US from previous trips that I have!  This is their first RV trip cross country so we shared websites and knowledge.  I’ll follow their blog so I can see what route we’d like to consider when we go west!

After two days we headed up to Wesley Chapel to spend the weekend at Dave’s sister and celebrate his son’s birthday.

We got back to NSB May 19^th and it was great to be home.  We had somewhat done a circumnavigation of FLA.  We unpacked the motor home fairly quickly … amazing how much stuff you think you need!

Now we need to start planning our next big trip to Michigan in July!