Boats on the Waterway

As we sit on the boat at the Coral Ridge Yacht Club--right on the Intra-Coastal Waterway--we are treated to quite the spectacle of boats of all shapes, sizes and       configurations, passing by on a daily basis.
                                                         There's this:
                                                                 

                                                Then, there's this:
                                                             

                                                  Then, there's this:
                                                               

Then, there's this:

Then, there's this:

Then, there's this:

                                          This is Steven Spielberg's Yacht
                                              (15 feet per gallon of diesel)


We took a Water Taxi ride the other day when our friends, Chuck and Nancy drove over from Punta Gorda to spend a day with us seeing the sights. What a way to see the city and the incredible opulence of the waterside residences! Interestingly, each yacht or home described by the tour guide is "For Sale". I don't know if it's a commentary on the state of the economy or just the way "the rich" treat their possessions (make a few million selling the dream house and move on to another, bigger and better)--I suspect it's the latter. Couldn't believe how many are owned by "Hedge Fund Managers" and "Investment Bankers"---(and we, the tax payers, had to bail out Wall Street????) Thank you George Bush. Maybe it is time to oppose "the establishment"????  Trump???? Cruz???---Surely not Bernie.


Here's a few more pic's :
           

                           Our little boat is hiding behind the blue umbrella and the sign

                                            Diane, Nancy and Chuck

                                   Mega-Yachts at a neighboring marina

                                     
Today is Saturday, the 12th. Tomorrow we provision and prepare the boat to move on south. Monday we leave for Key Biscayne for an overnight (key Biscayne is just outside Miami) and then on to the Keys. We're getting excited about the prospect of leaving all the F L hubbub behind and getting into the tranquility of the islands. More in a couple of days.
                                       First a short note about the boating life:
We wake up with the sun and have our coffee usually on the upper fly bridge. We do some clean-up on the boat and any maintenance chores or just routine maintenance necessary. We try to plan an activity each day--sight-seeing, exercise, provisioning, just strolling around (yesterday we visited several of F L's beaches and got some exercise and some sun (we drove back to Cocoa on Thursday to pick up our car)---cruised by the Spring Breakers---, and then returned to the boat with the plan to hang out at the pool, wash the sand off and then a relaxing evening---NOT---the club was holding a swim meet with dozens of munchkins running around and screaming and having a great time---then, the "band" showed up at the pool bar and we were relegated to listening to him for the next several hours as he played--not bad--and MC'd the "oreo stacking contest" for the kids. Needless to say we did not get to swim, but we did have several hours of free entertainment) As evening comes on it's cocktails (for me--Diane is pretty much on bubbly water--an occasional beer or glass of wine), dinner, either out or on-board, listen to some music, watch very little TV, read and then to bed --usually not long after sun down. (It seems that living outside--and this is truly living outside--takes it out of you ) and we are usually in bed by 9:00--10 at the latest. Sound boring?? It can be, but that's OK too. We enjoy it.


                                                   Life is Good!