This is Scott, filling in with a note without Freddi on board. Following her father's passing I returned to the boat with the intention of continuing on to Ft. Lauderdale in Freddi's absence. Given the weather, I wanted crew, and Candy Masters (ENDEAVOR) flew in to help with the trip. The day she arrived the winds picked up to 25-30 its and pinned us in our slip. The wind kept up for two days so we never moved from Eau Gallie. Instead we worked on the boat, enjoyed each other's company, and Candy flew back to DC in time for Christmas with her husband David and his family. I drove across the state to join Freddi and her mom in Bonita Springs. We enjoyed a "traditional" holiday dinner of lobster bisque, crab cakes, and a wonderful Montrachet, toasting Freddi's father's long, successful life and her mother's birthday (Dec25). The next day Freddi and I drove back to Ft. Lauderdale for a quick visit at the SSCA office, then back to the boat in Eau Gallie, and finally were able to leave the next day.

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As Freddi described, we headed for Stuart after a night at Vero Beach. We'd originally planned to spend one night at Sunset Bay Marina for dinner with Binnie and Jim and Beezer and Lynne, friends of Fred's from high school. We dined at Sailor's Return at the marina (highly recommended for a nice if pricey dinner with a small but excellent wine list), and had a wonderful evening reminiscing and catching up since the 35th high school reunion. Old Ma Nature did not cooperate with our plan to leave the next day so, stuck up the (St Lucie) river (with both a paddle and too much wind) we spent a day with CYC friends Joel and Marian Busse (RESURGENT). Marian understands what it's like to be cooped up on a boat, and when she offered us some time at the gym, Freddi jumped at the chance. They collected us at the marina and drove us back to their home in Jupiter. We got a workout at their club's gym and then Freddi soaked in the hot tub while Scott took a good shvitz in the steam bath! We followed that with cocktails and Joel's home-made pickled herring and then enjoyed a great dinner at their marina (Admiral's Cove) and back to the boat. Yet again the weather did not cooperate with our plan to leave, but as luck would have it some other friends from CYC called and just happened to be in Stuart! Newlyweds Rich Hedrick and his wife Galena (LA MUJER) ended up stopping by for breakfast, and then we walked into Stuart to the farmers' market and bought greens and steaks. When it was apparent that we could not leave that day, Rich invited us to join them at their newly acquired condo and celebrate their recent marriage (12/12/12) after 12 years of "living in sin" as Galena puts it. Galena's parents drove down from Virginia and we had dinner and watched the Redskins defeat Dallas.

We were finally able to leave the next day, and motored down the St. Lucie River to the ditch and made the north bight of Lake Worth by darkness New Years Eve. We watched the fireworks on the waterway through the buildings, watched a Dick Clark special on TV, and just made it till Midnight before turning in. The next day we were underway early and, passing under what seemed like a million drawbridges, anchored in Lettuce Lake as the sun came down. We were the only boat there and strongly recommend this "just off the waterway" anchorage; good holding and room for 3-4 boats in 9' of water with good holding in mud.

Anchor up at 0930, we made each bridge on the hour/half/quarter and motored up the Middle River @ 1130 on the rising tide into our slip at Hendrick's Isle. While the chart showed 4.9' in some places we never saw less than 7.5' at the high tide. The slip was a bit narrow but we powered our way between the pilings and came to rest in 7' of water. In fact the slip is so narrow that the pilings hug the boat in the slip and we are on the ground at low tide. Our dock lines - bow and spring, no stern - are just for show. We will be here for a month or so while we enjoy Ft. Lauderdale and prepare for the next stage of the journey -- Miami and the boat show in February and then to the keys.

Meantime, we flew back to DC for doctor appointments and the clear out our storage units. We got to see the final performance of Midsummer Night's DreamI at Shakespeare Theatre. If you missed it, too bad -- it was a very well done and thoughtful production. By week's end we should be packed up and ready to head to North Carolina to see Scott's mom and then head back to Ft. Lauderdale with our car. We hope the car proves more helpful than hindrance -- we love logistics!

Freddi and Scott