Here's out 2017-18 path. The pink stars are our anchorage locations.



This anchor is the best. This year we anchored every single night from November 20th until we got to Indiantown on March 8th. There was only one instance when the anchor did not hold and just one instance when it was tough to bring up. Both in the same location. Not sure but the bottom was hard and might have caught in coral or rock.



On another occasion after 30 knots of wind overnight our GPS showed we moved about 20'



At some point, we hope to have a link to the list of anchorages for those who might want to try one of our anchorages. We found each and every anchorage on ACTIVE CAPTAIN and highly recommend it's use. It's a crowd sourcing on line program.

When you are traveling on a boat you find free books in various places like laundromats, marina bathrooms, restaurants. Eileen picked this book up because of the title and this one BLEW US AWAY. get it?

Eileen is a total magazine junkie at home but on a boat she has time to read books. She caught up on some classics that she never had read.





In this photo there are two books, the one on the bottom is another Hemingway, "To Have and Have Not". This book was so old that the title is unreadable and the book is stinky



Eileen decided to reread some Gonzo, considering current events.



Here's a couple hilarious books Eileen picked up



When the opportunity presented itself and we found used bookstores...



This book came from Don Buck about a young woman working in Turkey. It was amazing and taught us allot about Turkey.



This was a pick up book about a young woman working in Sri Lanka, also amazing and heartbreaking.



We also both read allot of Florida escape, crime books. Silly books. This is one of Eileen's favorite authors.



Don gave us several books including these two.



Eileen read all of these...we think

When living on a boat you can do lot's of things in the same spaces. Escaping the cold north to the warm south you are outside every moment you can. The view is ever changing. Here are a few of those things.

We departed Indiantown Marina a few hours after our scheduled 11am haulout on Monday, March 12th and headed to our friends house, the TRAUBS four hours away in New Port Richey. They were returning from a Jamaican trip and beat us there by a few minutes.

We always enjoy our visit with Joe and Barb and spent two nights.



This year not only did we sail around Florida we criss crossed Florida by car. It's such an interesting drive when you stay OFF the interstates. This trip took us
through the country of Sugar Cane, Beef farms, cabbage, strawberries, orange groves and other things that we don't know.

Eileen is good at picking out places to eat. These friendly guys greeted us.



We have a few favorite stops in the area and we made sure we made them all.

1st stop was MAR-MARINA to visit Gene and Shane. They always seem happy to see us. MAR is where TARDIS was delivered to in 2016 and Charlie and Eileen spent allot time out fitting out TARDIS. MAR is busy. They bought a 2nd travel lift this winter and the place looks great. TARDIS will be back when it's time for bottom paint. We also got to learn more about the young couple that lost their boat in St. John's Pass on their first day out.

2nd stop was Miss Vickie's on the River. Cold beer, sunshine and BOLD peanuts (but we didn't get any this year).

Our 3rd stop was for FREE BEER at the yacht club Each month a member buys the club a keg of beer and somehow Charlie always manages to be there on that month. The member gets FREE BEER!! (and it's not tomorrow)

Our 4th stop was JIMMY's. Charlie got the usual.



Not much of a story...but Charlie and Eileen got back to Indy on Friday, March 16th after traveling safely and spending two nights on the road so to arrive early enough in the day to unload at both houses and return the U-haul. GREAT TO BE HOME!

Friday was spent cleaning TARDIS inside and out and packing.



Of course it rained and everything got wet, oh well. Eileen cooked to get rid of much of what was left. Weird being in a dock and hearing people talk as they walked by the boat during the night.



We took walks on Terra Firma to get a land legs back. It's a BIG place and we found some interesting boats. This one was in an episode of Dr. Who.



These might have been in one too



Bowling seems to crop up in our adventures from time to time too.



Note the boat in the background



Saturday took us to Port St Lucie to PU the uhaul then back to load since it was going to rain again on Sunday. Good thing we got a close parking space.



We did get a Sugar Kane shower of SOOT. Nasty stuff. Woke to that Monday morning, the day of our 11am haulout. BIG SUGAR is BAD!!!

Haulout came and went without incident.





Sea Hawk makes really good bottom paint. It's hard to tell which way he's going. Charlie dove and cleaned it a couple times however.



Amazing how three guys can haul, pressure wash, park the boat, block and leave using only hand signals. Guess you get good when you do a 1,000 boats every year.





We learned from others that last year people had RATS get on board...yuck. We don't leave anything aboard food wise and take cushions home so hopefully it won't be a big deal. TARDIS seals up good.

The end of day one of our final two days found us at Pendarvis Cove near Stuart, FL. Last year the only day that TARDIS found the bottom and stopped suddenly was the last day. We were both thinking about that as we left but neither wanted to verbalize it...and didn't at the time. The first thing we saw after leaving Manatee Pocket was a trawler aground with TOW BOAT US pulling them off. Hmmm we have to go there to get out.



It was a windy afternoon but with bridges we did not get a sail in as we'd hoped. In this area US CUSTOMS and BORDER PATROL were out in force as were local sheriff boats and US Coast Guard. Several boats were not lucky and got pulled over. While anchored the sheriff boat came right at us full speed, went past and stopped at the next boat. At the same time several fire trucks arrived and an ambulance. Within minutes the medics were delivered to the anchored boat and person was taken off on a stretcher. Don't know what happened but impressed with the quickness in response.

Day two took us through St Lucie Lock and on to Indiantown Marina, our final destination. Our timing was perfect, as we pulled up to the lock the west bound traffic was loading. 2 boats - TARDIS and RACHEL.







It was our first time in a big lock. The lockmaster yelled at Eileen - not a good thing to do! We learned it was Kevin's first time too aboard RACHEL. The blind leading the blind.





After a 14' rise we left the lock, happy that was over. Kevin on RACHEL was by himself and had his hands full. Imagine going over rapids while tied to a LARGE CEMENT WALL.







St. Lucie Canal trip was about 20 miles in a narrow and rather straight but deep channel.



It leads to Lake Okeechobee and all part of the Okeechobee waterway.



Only a couple railroad bridges that turn. We had to wait on a train for the 2nd RR bridge at Indiantown. Note the workers on the bridge.





Some boaters are not patient and seem to think it's OK to pass you within a few feet while going thru the opened bridge. Charlie did not wave to say hi.



A little over 4 hour later TARDIS arrived at Indiantown Marina. This was our first REAL slip since November 20th when TARDIS was splashed. Charlie had to back her in with little to no spare room. Luckily he had been practicing spinning the boat in her length and made the turn without hitting anything. Thankfully the neighbor helped with the lines as the marina helpers did little to nothing to help.

We docked then got the Tahoe and drove to town for dinner. GuataMex was awesome and so was the decorations.