New Neverland, New Beginnings: East Coast, West Coast

It took a few days of motoring to get from St Augustine to Fort Lauderdale, but along the way we got to visit briefly with some friends, Karen and Murph, in Titusville, which was very nice. We spent most nights in anchorages pulled just off the ICW. We had pretty good weather the whole time, including this almost double rainbow.

Below is "Patty Jean", a beautiful Cabo Rico that belongs to our friends from British Columbia, Jim and Wendy. We met them two years ago in the Bahamas and were happy to be able to travel a couple of days on the ICW with them for this part of the trip. We were both moored in Vero Beach one night, and a second night we anchored nearby each other for drinks and dinner. Traveling together, even a short time, was a lot of fun.

As you motor further south in Florida, you have to request more and more ICW bridges to open for you to pass through (i.e., all bridges that are too low to get under with a tall mast). That gets a bit annoying. In addition, we had some grief with incredibly irresponsible and aggressive delivery captains of several huge sport fishing boats that we imagined were on their way to the Miami Boat Show. Those boat captains didn't care about making big wakes and would also push through bridges ahead of everyone, no matter how many boats were there first, waiting.

On a much brighter note, about mid way to Fort Lauderdale we crossed paths (literally) with our friend Dave, who was traveling north from Grenada in his Pacific Seacraft 37, headed for Titusville and eventually Annapolis. Two years ago we met Dave at mile 0 of the ICW in Norfolk. As Dave's another Pacific Seacraft sailboat owner (and his boat was flying a Canadian flag, to boot), we made a point of introducing ourselves. That year we ended up traveling south the first 500 miles of the ICW more or less in tandem, parting ways in Charleston, SC. This year, when we met going opposite directions on the ICW, we pulled the two boats over, rafted up briefly and stood chatting and catching up as light rain fell. It was great to see him again. In true cruiser fashion, he asked us if we needed any spare parts for Neverland (unfortunately he's having to sell his Pacific Seacraft), and since he'll be in Annapolis, we gave him a house key and told him to make himself at home while he negotiates the sale of his sailboat. He continued north, we continued south and unfortunately I forgot to take a photo or two to include in this post.

At Lake Worth, our last anchorage before reaching Fort Lauderdale, we got up early, went out the inlet to the ocean and continued south along the coast to avoid about 6 bascule bridges and lots of ICW traffic. It was calm and sunny and although we didn't have any wind for sailing it was an easy, uneventful day's travel.

We had prearranged to rent a private slip in Fort Lauderdale at the same place we've stayed in the past. Below is a photo of the house belonging to Bruno, the gentleman who rents his boat slips. For a nominal charge, you have a super convenient, safe and quiet place to stay with electricity, water, and trash removal available, and grocery stores, laundromats and other conveniences a short dinghy ride away.

This is a sunrise seen one morning from our boat slip. Around sunrise, all the birds begin to sing at once.

This guy was sitting on the dock one day. There are lots of little lizards everywhere, but this iguana was an impressive size.

Because the slip we rented is on one of the dozens of canals in Fort Lauderdale, we can get almost anywhere by dinghy.

Most of the properties and boats you see from the water in this part of Florida are large and pretty glitzy.

Some homes are very contemporary in design...

Others are more traditional.

A few days ago I hopped on a flight to San Francisco to see my son Jake. Because the flight was in the late afternoon, I got to watch this sunset for hours as we flew west.

Jake subscribes to The New Yorker and I always enjoy reading back issues he has lying around. This cartoon describes how I feel when I'm traveling with my Mac, IPhone and Kindle ("Six characters in search of an outlet").

Another cartoon - California is a deep blue state and people here feel just like me ("Set the alarm for 2020")

Yesterday we drove up to Twin Peaks to see the city below, including the Golden Gate Bridge, on a nice clear day.

This is the view towards downtown and the Bay.

That evening we prepared a meal and had some of Jake's friends over for dinner. Again, forgot to take photos, but we had a great time.

Then this morning we did a hike in Sutro Park, right in the middle of San Francisco near UCSF Medical Center. Jake bikes here a lot too.

At some points you can see the water in the distance, and the surrounding neighborhoods. But there's a strong fragrance of eucalyptus in the air and it's cool and totally quiet.

He had a conference call partway through the hike. So this is Jake in his office.

Because of all the recent rain, everything is vivid green and lush.

After a quick lunch we went to "Mission Cliffs", a massive rock wall climbing place, and met Jake's good friend Amy. I like to watch the climbers here - so many different levels of skill and different climbing techniques.