We are at the Lake Park municipal marina, along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) in Lake Park, Florida (map). We are on the floating docks on the south side of the basin; the Trawler Fest show completely consumed the fixed docks on the north side, and the marina was completely overwhelmed when we arrived. We ended up station-keeping in the basin for several minutes while they figured out who we were and directed us to our spot.
While we are only a couple hundred feet from the show boats by water, it's a long walk around the basin by land. Still, it was nice to just be able to walk to the show; apparently, most of the staff, vendors, and attendees are in hotels across the ICW, a 15 minute or so drive. We were able to walk home for lunch, and stumble home with no worries after the nightly cocktail parties.
We had a great time. We did not find anything here that we needed to purchase, and there were only a handful of boats that were new to us from which we could get some ideas, but we reconnected with a dozen or so old friends, and made some new ones, too. The connections we make at these shows have been great sources of information for our cruising life.
We docked starboard-side-to and so were unable to offload the scooters, so we really have not gone further afield than a few blocks from the marina. There is a grocery store a very short walk from the dock, which has come in handy with four of us aboard, and a nice white-tablecloth restaurant, the Pelican Cafe, a few blocks north, where we had dinner before the show started.
The show wrapped up last night, and many of the exhibitor boats have already left. We've decided to move along as well, and with no other particular destination in mind, we've decided to head back to Stuart with Martin and Steph. They need to be back this evening, so we'll shove off this morning near slack water and head north. Conditions outside are not great, and we'd hit the St. Lucie Inlet at an unfavorable tide, so we'll instead take the inside route up the ICW.
I have been a fairly long time reader (years), and have thoroughly enjoyed this blog.
ReplyDeleteI must admit I have not enjoyed the recent extended hiatus from blogging. I guess that it is possible to become fatigued and to desire spending time doing other activities.
Never the less I will continue to periodically check back, I am particularly interested in seeing a write up regarding your physical plant upgrades ( Electrical, Battery, UPS, Inverter, Automation, etc.) Please publish that information before ceasing the blog entirely.
Best Regards,
Kenneth Berry
No plans to stop blogging, Ken, I've just been too busy to write much. My goal has always been to blog at least once from each stop, and also to post all major projects. We've been in Stuart for nearly two months now (with one quick jaunt to Lake Park), so the blog-each-location practice is not incenting me to post, but I will be updating the project progress when I have time.
DeleteI start work right after my morning coffee and don't quit until beer o'clock. By the time I've had dinner all I want to do is surf the 'net -- I don't have the personal bandwidth left to write a post.
Stay tuned, though -- soon I will write up the electrical upgrade and I will also talk more about the electronics upgrades. Also, a plan is starting to form for the next few months and I will update that here as well.