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2006 - June and
July - Little Loop - Log D
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Log - Dee Light – Little Loop –
2006
Starting at Week of July 03rd 2006
.. on
Monday the weather looked a little better than it did
yesterday .. we almost had a sunrise .. the Bahia Mar
Yachting Center has all new Docks since I was here last
.. they are floating concrete Docks just like the Docks at
our Home Port in Fort Myers ( Legacy Harbour Marina )
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.. since there are six of us we cannot fit in the Dinghy so
we decided to take the Water Bus and explore up the
New River into the downtown area of Fort Lauderdale
.. the Water Bus makes eleven stops along its course and
with a One Day Pass you can ride it all day getting on and
off at any of its eleven stops .. we ended up going up the
New River to the Las Olas Riverfront area where we
had lunch and did some ‘window shopping’ .. after a dip in
the Hotel Pool Danny prepared a great dinner aboard Dee
Light .. |
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Bahia
Mar - Fort Lauderdale
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Betty with
Danny Shelly Danielle Adam
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Water Bus
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Yacht on the
ICW
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Condo on the
ICW
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House on the
ICW
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.. on Tuesday ( the 04th of July ) ..
Danny and family spent much of the morning exploring the
Waterways with the Dinghy .. in the afternoon we made it
to the Beach that was filled with interesting Beach Wear
.. some of which proved to be most enjoyable and some
that should have remained in the Stores .. after we all
had dinner on the Swings at the Oasis Café we
watched the Fourth of July Fireworks on the Beach ..
they have not had Fireworks at Fort Lauderdale for the
past two years due to budget cuts .. but this year the
local merchants pooled together the funds and they had a
great Fireworks display ..
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Shopping
Restaurants Beach etc
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Betty Shelly
Danny
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Yachts
at Bahia Mar Yachting Center
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Dee Light
at Bahia Mar Yachting Center
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Danny
Danielle and Shelly
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Betty's son
Danny and Family
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Fort
Lauderdale Beach before Fireworks
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TV Crew on
the Beach
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Fireworks on
the Beach
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.. on
Wednesday by 08:00 am Betty’s son Danny and Adam
packed up and headed back to Stuart to go back to work
and by 09:00 am Shelly and Danielle were heading North
also .. we decided to spend an extra day at Fort
Lauderdale before continuing our trip North up the East
Coast ..
.. the
Low that has been over us the last few days is now
moving to the West so our weather is to be changing
today .. by this afternoon we should have showers etc ..
after a short Dinghy ride we were able to get the aboard
the Bow of Dee Light, cleaned up and covered before the
showers moved our way ..
.. it a
‘small world’ .. we talked some more with the couple
that was the most instrumental in the rescue of
Autumn a few days ago and found out that our paths
have crossed before .. the couple have their Boat GRAY
BEARD ( Marco Island ) docked just a few Slips from Dee
Light .. they are one of the other Boaters that were at
the Roland Martins Resort Marina in Clewiston
Florida when we were there during Hurricane WILMA ..
during the storm they elected to leave their Boat and
broke into the Marina Store .. they know now that they
would have been safer onboard their Boat ..
.. in the past the
GALLANT LADY has been harbored along the main Face
Dock at the Marina .. I asked and found out that the 160
foot GALLANT LADY was sold last week and now there is a
new 172 foot GALLANT LADY but it is out on a short trip
at this time ..
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Bahia Cabana Restaurant
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House and Boat on the ICW
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House on the ICW
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Condo on the ICW West Palm Beach
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Condo on the ICW West Palm Beach
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Bridge on the ICW
West Palm Beach
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.. on Thursday
morning a WET weather front moved in about the time that
we were ready to move out so we waited a little and had
a later than what we like start for our day on the ICW
.. we had some rain as we headed North towards West Palm
and the last 15 miles it rained quite hard .. hard
enough to make seeing our way a challenge .. Dee Light
dose not have any salt on her at all .. we had 20
Bridges in our path and with our Antennas down we
still could not get under 10 of them .. at each Bridge
we had a 20 to 30 minute wait .. so we had a long day
long the water but the view along the ICW was worth it
.. homes and Boats to die for !! .. and we celebrated
President George Bush’s 60th birthday
when we passed thru the George W Bush Bridge ..
we did have to have the Bush’s open their Bridge for us
.. by 03:45 pm we had Dee Light all hooked up again at
the Palm Harbor Marina in West Palm Beach Florida
..
.. on
our way into the Marina the Marine Radio was busy with
activity about a missing Diver .. the missing Diver
ended up being found about the time that we got docked
but the news was not good at all ..
HEADLINES
Diver, 59, Missing
Off Lake Worth Inlet
By
Kevin Deutsch
- Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 06, 2006
The U.S. Coast Guard
is searching for a 59-year-old diver who went missing
off of Lake Worth Inlet today .. The man was diving with
a group about a mile from the inlet .. When he didn't
resurface, someone on the diving boat he had been on,
called Deep Obsession, notified the Coast Guard .. They
sent a boat and helicopter to search for him .. He had
not been seen for about an hour and 15 minutes as of 3
pm ..
.. after cleaning up we took a walk to an area near the
Water Front called Clematis Square .. once we had the
Clematis area checked out we took the Trolley to the
newly re-developed downtown area called the City Center
.. we just had to check out the shops and also found an
Italian Restaurant called Il Bellagio .. we sat outside
and enjoyed the Waterfalls etc .. and our dinners were
just great too ..
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Water Front - West Palm Beach
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City Center - Palm Beach
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City Center - Palm Beach
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.. on Friday
morning after calling the next Bridge for an opening we
heading out of the Marina and up the ICW .. we had fewer
Bridges today and with our Antennas down we only had to
have two of them open up for us .. we had skinny waters
all day and at the Stuart Inlet the waters became real
skinny almost all the way to the St Lucie Lock ..
we thought that we would have better waters after
locking thru the St Lucie Lock but we were wrong .. the
US Corps has all of the Waterways lowered for the 2006
Hurricane Season .. the River Forest Yachting Center
/ Hurricane Club is about one mile West of the Lock ..
we did not have any problem finding the entrance but had
a real challenge docking between two other Vessels ..
but by 02:30 pm we had Dee Light tied off again for the
day .. when we checked in for the night at the Office we
were given a tour of their facility .. when we walked
thru the main Boat Storage Building it did not take long
at all to find Bill and Paula’s Boat ( TIN MAN )
.. they are up North for the Summer and elected to store
their Boat in this Hurricane proof facility for the
Summer / Hurricane Season .. we also saw Jimmy
Buffet’s Boat ( MARLIN ) .. it is stored two Boats
in front of TIM MAN .. when the Boat was custom built
for Jimmy Buffet he had the official Brand Name of the
Boat changed to Margaretville ..
.. a few days ago we made arrangements to take on Fuel
directly off the Fuel Truck when we got here ..
we could have made the entire trip without refueling but
it sure feels good to have the Tanks filled .. so Dee
Light’s belly is now full of fresh Fuel .. later Betty’s
son Danny picked us up and brought us to their new home
in the outskirts of Stuart .. Danielle and Shelly put
together a great dinner that we most enjoyed and we also
got to see their new home ..
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Bridge under
construction on the ICW
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Bill and
Paula's Boat
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Jimmy
Buffet’s Boat
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Saturday morning after taking a good look at the weather
we headed up the River towards Lake Okeechobee .. we heard
on the Marine Radio that the St Lucie Railroad Bridge that
we went thru yesterday was hit by lighting last night and is
closed this morning .. we are really ‘gun-shy’ weather-wise
when it comes to the Lake as the last time that we crossed
the Lake ( a year ago ) we got caught in a BIG STORM .. see
our Log from our return trip from the Bahamas .. we made
good time on the Waterway but as we made our way to the Fort
Mayaca Lock we watched a HUGH Weather Cell start to
head for the Lake and then right for Dee Light .. we called
ahead to the Lock Master and asked if we could tie off
temporary on their Lower Lock Wooded Wall .. after the Main
Storm Cell was East of us we entered the Lock .. we locked
thru with a Manatee .. once we were out on the Lake we had 4
footers that went down to flat Seas by the time we made it
to the Hurricane Gate at Clewiston .. on our way across the
Lake we saw a HUGH Alligator and many Ospreys .. we were met
on the Roland Martins Resort Marina Docks by the NEW
Harbour Master Sam as Little Man up and left the
Marina about 3 Months ago .. the waters in the Marina have
new life .. there was at least 5 Manatees all around Dee
Light .. even a small Baby Manatee .. if there is such a
thing as a small Manatee .. the Manatee were eating the
Lilly Pads etc that were along the Docks and floating in the
Waterway .. after having lunch at the Marina Café we
surveyed the repairs that have been since Hurricane WILMA
.. some of the Docks have been removed and the Main Dock is
still in the construction stage .. by late afternoon the
Dock at Roland Martins Marina was completely filled
including one group of Boats from the South Beach Miami area
.. later they put together a Lobster / Shrimp Broil that was
unreal .. at the Marina Bar we asked about Little Man
and did get some more details about his absents at the
Marina as Harbour Master .. apparently Little Man and the
owner of the Marina had it out and Little Man is no longer
employed at the Marina .. but she ( the Owner ) has stated
that if he asked for his job back 30 times he can have his
job back .. thus far he has asked 11 times .. soooo in about
6 Months he will be back .. well that may just be Bar Talk
but it is what we heard .. |
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Sunday morning we checked the weather and for the first
time since we headed out on the Little Loop the
Weather Radar in South Florida is clear and the forecast
calls for a sunny day .. wouldn’t you know that this is the
last day of our trip .. as we headed out of the Roland
Martins Resort Marina we had memories of the last time
that we pulled out of this Marina was after Hurricane
WILMA .. Dee Light was in rough shape .. for details
check out our Hurricane WILMA Log .. not good memories at
all .. we had a great trip back across the Waterway to Fort
Myers .. the winds were all but none .. the temperature has
dropped from all the rains and there was not a storm or even
a drop of rain for our whole trip today .. at our first Lock
of the day we locked thru with Ken and Barbara aboard
MACH V ( Tampa Florida ) who had been at Roland
Martins last night also .. they later joined us at
Legacy Harbour Marina in Fort Myers for the evening ..
between our second and third Lock of the day we spotted a
number of Cows along the Waterway that had made their way
thru the US Corps Fence to the waters along the River ..
they were in the water up to their necks .. so we had a
great time providing them with a Dee Light wake that
provided them with total Sunday bath .. I do not know who
enjoyed it the most .. us or them .. it was a GREAT trip but
it is always great to get back home also .. and now we have
to get ready to head out on the 13th to head up
North ( by Air ) for a wedding in Wisconsin .. |
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RECAP of ‘Little Loop’ Trip
Highlights
- Sharing part
of the trip with Betty’s Granddaughter Danielle and
sharing her first snorkeling experience
- Dinghy trip
from Naples to Stan’s at Goodland
- Staying at
Hawk’s Cay Resort on Duck Kay
- Snorkeling
the Reefs at the Key Largo area
- Seeing the
Christ Statue when snorkeling
- Snorkeling at
the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park area
- Having dinner
with Marv’s son Jon at Miami’s South Beach
- Fireworks on
the Beach at Fort Lauderdale
- Sharing part
of the trip with Betty’s son Danny and his family
- Looking at
all the Homes and Condos on the ICW in the Fort
Lauderdale and Palm Beach area
- Seeing the
City Center at Palm Beach
- Seeing all
the Manatees at Clewiston
(( NOT DONE
YET ))
Mileage
- Fort Myers to
Fort Myers Beach – 24 Miles
- Fort Myers
Beach to Naples – 38 miles
- Naples to
Marathon – 101 miles
- Marathon to
Duck Key – 21 miles
- Duck Key to
Key Largo – 25 miles
- Key Largo to
Miami – 51 miles
- Miami to Fort
Lauderdale – 24 miles
- Fort
Lauderdale to West Palm Beach – 37 miles
- West Palm
Beach to Stuart – 42 miles
- Stuart to
Clewiston – 44 miles
- Clewiston to
Fort Myers – 70 miles
Total
Mileage – 477 miles |
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