May 25-31, 2016 Stuart, FL

We slept until 9:30 when I woke Mary up so we could walk over to Roosevelts (FB) for breakfast.  Inexpensive and good.  And we met a John and Linda there and talked for several minutes.  They live here, up on the north branch of the St. Lucie River.  He told us about the blue green algae bloom and how its almost killed some one.  Nice to know we shouldn’t go in the water around here.

We returned to the boat and after some book work and listening to a message on Mary’s phone about, “the IRS suing us for fraud, please call this number for more information" we tightened up the dock lines to make getting off the boat easier.  The east winds were really blowing again which pushed us off the dock.  I added two more lines which help keep it close enough so Mary can get off.

We took the bike off,and I oiled it up and filled the tires.  The old gal (not Mary) still runs pretty good even after being dosed with salt water several times during our more harrowing Abaco adventures.

I rode off to the Walgreen's on SW Ocean Blvd, for Mary’s prescription which she had called in yesterday.  Returned, and then we engaged Direct TV in a discussion over subscriptions etc.  They want to come out to the boat Monday and set us up.  Yeah, right ...

 I steadfastly refuse to rent a receiver from them and am trying to find a method to convert our DISH 211K to something we can use with Direct TV.  But its looking bleak.  There is a DISH specific card in there and I haven’t found a Direct TV equivalent yet.  Also we have an older KVH satellite antenna which may also be problematic.

And since I brought up old electronics, I finally gave up tweaking all out old stuff and went to Best Buy and bought $79 Blue Ray player with networking and Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and Amazon instant video.  It has an Ethernet port too so I can use my wifi adapter to connect to our 5ghz network.  I also ought  a Chromecast to use with the forward stateroom TV.  Yes, I have an old spare LED TV, 27 inches which should fit just fine up there, or so I think. 

Stopped at Publix and loaded up with a few things, namely decent wine and Mary’s soda.  The big blue milk carton crate we use as a bike basket can still haul a big load.

We had a late dinner, and I went out for a normal Stuart walk to downtown.  Nothing new except I noticed that Lily Tomlin will be here in February at the Lyric theater.  

Only other item of note is Idyll Time.  I’m pretty sure they are at Sunset Marina.  Small world indeed.

Rode to Post Office today and mailed  back the key we had forgotten to leave with Toni at Leeward marina. 

There was a long line, and when I finally got up to a booth I had to take a customs form back to the prep counters, to fill out.  Once that was completed,  I stood back in line and the next open window, a lady took the form and package and keyed it all in to her computer.  But then it froze.  She couldn’t do anything and so we sat there for several minutes waiting. 

She began looking rather pale and fidgety and I looked at her about to ask if she was alright when she blurted out she was having a hot flash.  Quite funny!  I mentioned that maybe she over heated the terminal, a bit too loudly because everyone in there took note of the delay and her comment and then mine.  A funny moment.

$13.50 later I stopped at the Publix on that side of town.  We are slowly replenishing our stocks and without a car to haul it all at once so I do it on the bike once a day.   Sooner or later we'll realize we cant get it all piecemeal  which then results in renting a car for a day and a back breaking shopping expedition.

We are still recovering from that 27 hour marathon coming in from the Bahamas.  All I accomplished today was getting the blue ray player setup so we can now watch Netflix, Amazon, Youtube and movies I’ve captured onto a large NAS (network attached storage).

Discovered this little TV we have had aboard does not fit in the forward stateroom.  When its in the stand its about 2 inches too high, and the width precludes any ability to swivel.   So no forward cabin TV unless I buy one that will fit.

I think that ignited a desire to begin ridding ourselves of old gadgets and stuff we saved for possible future use.  Like that has ever really worked out.

I went and dropped that TV off at the Hibiscus Thrift Shop in the strip mall near the marina.  They took an old spare monitor, and older Blue Ray player and the WD media player.  And I threw all the connecting cords and several others I classify as mystery cords becasue we have no idea what they fit.

They will also, shortly receive the Dish receiver too.  After a little research I discovered that this DISH receiver we have could maybe converted for use with DIRECT TV.   But it requires a card swap and then some firmware tweaks.  Basically a lot of work for minimal gain.

After consulting with KVH (one of the best tech support groups I’ve ever dealt with), I simply went out and bought a new H24 satellite receiver. 

We could have leased one but I don’t feel comfortable doing that.  So I just bought one.  About $100.  KVH provided the satellite antenna parameters I have to change in the KVH antenna so we should be good to go.  A simple plug in and play.  Yup, we’ll see how well that works.   A satiated video addiction is in our future.

We walked over to the pizza place, Uncle-Giuseppes-Lil-Bit-A-Brooklyn.  We each of had our own pizza.  Mary, excited about all the TV opportunities, ate hers. Completely.  Like no crumbs.

I, on the other hand, tired from all the excursions, and configuration work, left two pieces to take home.  Ok, yes I had a 14 inch while she only had a 12.  But 2 inches?  Is it really that much bigger?

The wine was our favorite although it didn’t seem to have the same flavorful impact of past experiences.  New vintage maybe?   Or perhaps that drink-of-death stuff we had at Green Turtle Cay ruined our taste buds?  It's foreordained.  We will sample it again to be sure.

I took a walk after and then we both went to bed  The wind had died down so I could finally tighten a stern dock line to ease the process of climbing on and off the boat.  Its rather difficult trying to pull a heavy boat against 20 mph winds that were blowing the last few days.

I was riding to Home Depot this morning trying to beat the rain.  I ran into only a light shower which was thankfully brief.

The rain seemed to have left the area when I got back aboard the boat.  But the front hatch had a small leak again, so after examining the hatch I reluctantly started removing all the old caulk.  After cleaning it up I re-caulked it with the one remaining tube of caulk I had on board.

I still haven't found a reliable method of keeping caulk usable once its been opened.   They are meant to be"reusable" but that doesn't prevent a plug forming in the nozzle which makes the whole tub pretty much unusable.

Next I had to head back to the CVS for another prescription.  Mine this time.

I was about 1/2 mile away from CVS when I hit a bump and Bang!!.  The rear tire blew out.  A flat tire, ok.   Not able to pass up a golden opportunity the gods of mirth couldn't help themselves.  A minute after the tire blew I was soaked from one of those instant, drenching downpours. I was quite a spectacle at CVS.

After leaving CVS with my prescription it started to rain out again so I decided to take refuge and check out the Farm Fresh Store just across the parking lot.  Nice!  Expensive, but some tasty looking items

The rain stopped shortly after so I began the long walk back to the boat.   It was almost 4 miles back so I cheated a bit and rode the bike on its rim figuring I'd have to replace it anyway.

After a few hours of that I didn't feel like a marathon stroll to downtown tonight so just wandered over to Sunset Marina and listened to the band for a bit.   They were good.  And local.

Blown Bike Tire

First order of things to do to today was take the blown tire off the bike and walk it the mile or so to a bike shop.  We were on task and up early and able to leave before noon! 

The locking mechanism for the rear tire was rusted shut.  I ended up soaking it with PB blaster for a few hours this morning and I finally worked it off.

We walked along Highway 1 because I went to a bike store there last year and it was on the highway next to the Hampton Inn.  No longer.  Out of business maybe?

So I quickly interrogated Google for the next closest bike shop which was down the highway a bit.  We finally got to Pro Cycles and lo and behold it was the same guy who was so helpful to me last year.  He moved his shop from the location I remember near the Hampton Inn, to the this little strip mall further down the road.   

He said he’d take care of it but closes at 3 so we had to be back by then.

The cup is from Jimmy Johns next door but the contents is  DQ 

It was hot and Mary was getting a little melty which required a stop at some place with water.  The nearest place turned out to be a Dairy Queen.  Yup,  DQ.   Well, I first went in the Jimmy Johns next door for a cup of water for Mary before we indulged in Dairy Queen.

We both had water, she had a diet soda and I had a ice cream cone.   Actually the people behind the counter sort of got mixed up and made me two cones but I honestly cant eat that much any more. 

Next we skipped over Best Buy where I was going to buy a small, 24” LED TV for the forward cabin (I have a Chromecast device we can use for it).  But we ultimately decided against that idea.

 Then, we went directly to CVS next door where I bought some decent glasses.  I’m hoping new glasses may help alleviate these darn headaches I get when reading with my buck store specials.  I'm loath to give them up though becasue I regularly loose the things over the side and when they only cost $1 its not such a big deal becasue I have several dozen stockpiled.

We crossed Highway 1, a particularly enjoyable treat on a holiday weekend, and went to the Bed, Bath and Beyond store where we have several items to buy.  We had to limit ourselves though because what we buy, is what we tote back.  No bike or car to assist.  Only us.

So it was with some Damprid, a suction cup handle for use on the swim platform, and a few SodaStream flavor packets for Mary that we left the store and walked back across to the highway.  

There was a Yamaha dealer across the street and was right on the way to the bike store.  So I stopped in to inquire about getting our dinghy engine tilt repaired.  George, the manager said call Kevin the service guy Tuesday.  So we’ll see.

The bike tire was all done and was so old he had to replace the tire part and some internal rubber cushion strip.  He showed me a few bikes he had on consignment but nothing there really stood out so I’ll be looking on Craigs list.  But in the meantime Mary's bike is our primary vehicle

We trudged our way back towards the marina but stopped at a place I saw yesterday, an outdoor furniture outlet store.   I had stopped  in there briefly looking for outdoor furniture covers because I thought we could use one as a console cover for the dinghy.

Mary looked them over and yup, we found one that looked like it would fit so bought it.  David, the sales guy and I got to talking and he mentioned he worked only part time but ran a personal investment company.  I have the web site and will take a look, only because he struck me as a particularly honest and smart guy.

 We continued on towards the marina with a the bike tire and the stuff we bought but didn’t make it to the boat.  Instead Mary stopped at the pool bar and I took the rest of the purchases back to the boat and really greased up the rear tire and its locking mechanism and put it all back together.

Meanwhile, Suzanne  the person we know at the front desk had watched Mary stagger in and immediately got her a cold drink and then took her to the walk-in-freezer and left her there until she cooled down.

That’s a first.  Hot wife in a freezer.

By the time I returned Mary, cooled down and feeling fine, was wolfing down a salad, and a cold beer.  The guys there made me a leaf-wrapped turkey sandwich which was really, really good.

Console Cover.  It looks better in person.

We finally both returned to the boat.  I got the chair cover/ console cover on the dinghy and then after some struggles, had the rear tire back on the bike. 

So know we’re just sitting around not doing much.  Well, I did re-adjust the wifi adapter on the new blue ray player so now it doesn’t cut off unexpectedly.  And helped a boat come in behind us with an engine problem.

Exciting day.  And tomorrow we are intent on rising in time to get to the farmers market by 11AM!

We indeed did get by 9AM this morning and went over to Roosevelt's for breakfast again.  Chatted with the owner’s wife and the owner for awhile talking about Wisconsin and how they went up there when invited by the attorney friend who secured the Indian casino rites in Wisconsin.

I guess the attorney hangs out here in Stuart for the winter and got to know them.  While in Wisconsin they all went to Lambeau field, and further up north.  She remarked several times how desolate it seemed until you came to a tiny town with a bar and one store before driving back again into the wilderness.  They are originally from Brazil.

Tied up at the city docks at the farmers market and stage

Back on the boat, we took the dingy down and drove over to the farmers market in downtown Stuart.

Farmers Market 

 There were maybe 2 dozen stands selling all manner of stuff, but we hooked up with a retired cabinet maker who was selling rustic picture frames.  We’ll probably get one for the painting of Mary Ann, the parrot, that Susan did that for us a few years ago and which we never framed.

Did you know?

Farmers Market attendees.  I'm the one with the new hat.

I bought a green straw hat from another stand.  The guy grew up in Wisconsin.  Hayward to be exact but lived around the state including Milwaukee, and Green Bay.  

The band that was setting up is a good one so said the people I talked with.  What they didn’t mention was that it’s a Grateful Dead tribute band. 

Really good band!

My, they were good.  The bass player though was incredible.  Best I have ever heard.  I’m surprised he isn’t doing studio sessions with big name musicians.

Lots of dead heads around, the majority of which tended to be our age.   Some can still dance, and twirl around.  Several tie dyed t-shorts were worn too.   Almost like clocking back 40 years.

We stopped at Hoffmans for frozen yogurt, Mary went trinket shopping didn't buy anything.  The weather began to look threatening, so we dinghied back to the boat to wait out the rain.

Today is the actual holiday so we decided today would be a lack of focused activity day.    So after a while we sauntered up the main dock towards the bar so Mary could check out the food offerings for today's Memorial Day Party.  Hot dogs and sliders among a few other things.

After that we Mary worked on her glass after I found the mineral spirits, and I updated a navigation program on my laptop which of course didn’t work correctly.  So instead of fighting that I took the dinghy out for a ride to blow off the accumulating algae since it was sitting in the water over night.  Then I hooked it up and hoisted it aboard since we wont be using it for a few days.

Later we went up to the party.  A guy named George who was wearing a “legalize Marinara” shirt noted my “Got Weed” shirt and started up a conversation.  He’s an old hippie, quite familiar with marijuana especially now that he is battling cancer and it’s the only thing helping him with the chemo and associated pain.  Quite an interesting guy, and not giving up.  He lives here in the condos with his wife.  But from her expressions and his physical bearing I suspect he maybe close to terminal.

Anyway we had a nice conversation for while.

We couldn’t find any place to sit so we ended up at the bar with Darlene the really good waitress / bar tender with the broken leg.  She sort of limps around sporting this heavy cast.  A real sweet heart.

And Dennis, the creator of my Turkey lettuce wrap from a few days ago was there too.  

And Arnie was there too.  We met him back in 2012 when we were here.  He didn’t remember us.   We aren’t as memorable as we thought I suppose.

We also ran into to Sara, a cook/bar tender/waitress from when we were here in the spring.  She’s a mechanical engineering student and we had stimulating conversations with her.  She was here with her friend Brenda, a trauma nurse who lives in the condos.  After talking with Brenda, I have been dispelled of any notions of getting a condo here.  They pay around $1500 in monthly fees.  Ouch!

After some time we wandered back to the boat and did our usual nighttime routines.  The Blue Ray/media player has been acting up.  I just bought it a few days ago.  It’s going back tomorrow.  I think I’ve reached the stage in life where my patience for things that don’t work is slowly moving towards, "limited".  Especially right out of the box.

We are planning on going to the Hampton Inn tomorrow night to honor the sort of, no-live-aboard rule here.  And more so, to just get off the boat.

The marina is still under this no-live aboard rule which means no one can be "living" on their boat for 4 or more consecutive days.  Now, its rarely enforced.  But we didn't want to cause any grief for the folks here and we needed a night away anyway.

We got up late this morning.   I changed the oil in the generator and checked everything in the engine room and it all looks good.  20+ years old and running like a jewel.

Then, with nothing else to do we walked over to the Hampton Inn for the night.  Luxuriating in the cool air and soft beds made us hungry so we walked over to little slice of Brooklyn for some take out pizza and a glass of wine while we waited.

Well,it was more like a bottle, but we were re-tasting it after a discovering a few days ago that it had a slightly less bountiful bouquet.  And the finish!  It  was just lackluster.

Ok, like really.  Do I know what any of that really means?  No, but it sounds kinda knowledgeable.   Sophisticated wine swillers were are but knowledgeable wine connoisseurs we are not.

In truth, it tasted just fine.   But I suppose, after a bottle of wine, most anything would.

I talked with the DirectTV folks today because our receiver is on it's way and we wanted to get this satellite taken care of before we left.  DirectTV Telephone Support plays off a script.  When I finally was able to talk to a supervisor he gave me the number of  Winegard which is their mobile satellite operation.  When I talked with them I found out we don’t need a visit from anyone.  All we have to do is plug everything in, I have to program the satellite antenna and then we call DirectTV to activate our account.

So easy one might think.  But previous experiences have me waiting to see how this is going to go south.

On a positive note the BlueRay (Samsung) I bought at Best Buy a few days ago kept shutting down or not even starting up.  I yanked it out last night and took it in to get a replacement.  Took 3 minutes.  I was all ready for a confrontation and all I got was a sweet young lady telling me to go pick out another one.  I did, she returned the receipts, new and old, and I was on my way. 

Weather is great the next two days.  Seems to be turning sour the day we leave, or were intending on leaving.  I’m getting suspicious of weather forecasters now.  Maybe a sacrifice of some sort, to appease their stormy disposition?

A leisurely morning, this morning.  And a 10AM breakfast at the hotel.  It was free!

Noticed the USA Today paper has been downsized.   Physically downsized.  Looks like the Tower, my old high school paper.  Content is anemic.  Hardly worth reading since most of the news is old, re-cycled or just incomplete.  It does quench the thirst for something to read however which is why I read it at hotels.  When its free.

The weather looking stormy down here this coming week so we may leave early, like Thursday if we can get it all together.

TV again, anywhere we travel.

We finally talked with DirectTV.  The lady we got on the phone knew what she was doing, cancelled our original account, and got us a new one.  Then transferred me to their KVH department where Mark, the tech guy and I fiddled with the receiver.  Got it working after 20 minutes!  Yeah!

Mary was happy until she saw the channel selections which, apparently, are lacking a sufficient number of quality murder and mayhem shows.  I suspect we maybe changing the DirectTV plan  tomorrow.

Meanwhile  I worked on the Blue Ray player which also serves as our conduit to Netflix, YouTube and Amazon video.  I should interject that I’m not the big consumer of video content here.

Anyway it wouldn’t even power up so back to Best Buy I went for the second time.  But this visit I got a LG box this time for $5.29 more.

When I unpacked it  a short time later I discovered it had lacked an Ethernet port.  And only supported 2.4 ghz wireless.

So , back to Best Buy for the 3rd  time now, vowing to make sure I saw the next one I buy, plugged in and working.  And verifying it had USB and Ethernet ports.

Ended up with another Samsung but this was the cheaper model, without built in wireless.  So I got back $24 from my original purchase.  I  suspect the folks here at Best Buy aren’t too fond of me, but I’m old enough not to care.  

Brought it back, and it works just like it should!  I did research the problem and it turns out be a setting on the Blue Ray Player, for using a single Samsung remote across Samsung devices.  I disabled that nice feature.  

After all that, I needed to take a long walk in and early to bed in preparation for tomorrow when we have car all day to shop.  

Did see what was either a gator or a large manatee in the marina later today.  Alligators prefer fresher water but one never knows.  It was large though.  At least 10 feet.

It just dawned on me that in the several days we have been here, we never took advantage of the pool or the hot tube

Enterprise was waiting as I got to the front door of the marina this morning.  I was off to the car rental office along with our neighbor in a catamaran who was also renting a car.  She’s an ex JAG of the army and is now an author writing historical romance novels.  They sold their home in St. Thomas and now live on their boat where she writes.  Tom and Marji (yes, that's the correct spelling)

She rented a large rose colored M300 Chrysler while I, budget minded person that I am, paid $24.88 for a Nissan Versa.  It had AC so all was good.

I returned to the boat where we gathered our lists and we went off to Bed Bath and Beyond to get Soda Stream gas refills.   Soda stream makes carbonated water.  And flavor packets so Mary can make her own soda. 

Next we headed to the Total Wine store where I bought 6 bottles of wine we decided we liked.  Both French.  I found after spending a considerable sum of money buying wine, that the French Pinot Noir’s are light bodied and more fruity without being too sweet.  So that’s what we bought.

Then on to Walmart where we again bought stuff and food.  It’s startling how much cheaper Walmart can be with some items.  Naturally we took advantage and bought lots of stuff and some groceries.

Small Car, big load of stuff

Finally came the difficult part, lugging it all from the car to the  boat.  It was 88 degrees.  Nice and sunny too.  We filled up a dock cart and I took it down the same dock where, back in 2012,  we had tread a few hundred times when we moved aboard.  Luckily this wasn't nearly as bad.  And back then we were young and energetic.  Now, perhaps a not so much.

Getting it all in the boat was fun too because the wind was pushing the boat off the dock.  But at least the tide was still low enough Mary could get aboard. 

Once everything was stowed (sort of) we took a load of laundry to the laundry room and then went to the pool bar and ate.  Dennis, the cook made me another one of those lettuce wrap things.  Really good.

We left there and started to drive to Walgreen's but made an obligatory stop at Hoffmans Frozen Yogurt and ice cream store.  Then we drove to Walgreeen's for a tooth paste prescription before driving around the block to a Dollar Tree where we bought more stuff for a buck.   Yes, glasses too.

Then it was  back to the marina side of town and the local Publix.  We bought more groceries and beverages.  They had a sale so I ended up getting three cases of bottled water.  And I still have to ride back tomorrow for some lettuce thing Mary wanted.

After we had all of  that aboard,  Mary collapsed in a chair while I cleaned out the shower and then took the dock cart back with some re-cycling before heading out on a walk.

We are leaving here Saturday and going to Vero Beach Loggerhead marina to ride out some nasty weather forecast for the next few days.    When we came in to the Loggerhead here at Stuart we paid for a month.  It was cheaper than a weekly rate if we stayed past a week.  But the nice thing is we can use any unused portion of that month at any Loggerhead marina. 

Having been hearing repeated stories of the blue/green Algae outbreak here.  A few people have died and several hospitalized when coming in contact with the stuff.  Words of wisdom.  Don’t get into the water!  We have seen it too in the marina, lengthy wisps of green growth in the settled water before the tidal current flushes it away.

Mary, not one to NOT get her monies worth, pushed for staying at a Loggerhead and this seemed to work out for us.  So another few days in a marina which will burn up the remaining 30 days we had paid for staying at Loggerhead here in Stuart .  We are becoming soft …

Returned the car at 8:30 this morning.  Then Mary met me at the main office of the marina and we walked to Roosevelt's for the last time.  Breakfast is good as always, but we had a stand in waitress, Evette, who was a plucky older lady.  Very fun.

We came back to the boat.  Mary went off and did some additional laundry, keeping an eye on it from the chaise lounges at the pool.  I might mention the pool and laundry are not adjacent.   

I, on the other hand, did some route planning and navigation software updates.  Then had to adjust the oil level in the generator (was too full).  Mary came back and then I biked the final time to the store.

When I returned I was smiling at the basin where we are docked.  Only Tom and Marji were on the dock in their catamaran behind us.  That means it will be easy for us to leave with plenty of room to spin the boat.

10 minutes later there was a large sportfish boat tied up across from us, and also a large power catamaran  in front of us.  Hope it isn’t windy tomorrow at 7:15.

The power cat in front of us, came by and asked if we had electrical power which we did.  He seemed to have lost his, so I went over to help but really didn't find anything some initial testing.  It had to be on his end, I thought.  Moe specifically on his plug which had a loose rubber grommet.

We went off to the pool bar then where I, for the first time since we have been here, went in the pool and the hot tub.  We ordered a drink and said goodbye to Darlene, Dennis and Mike, the cooks and bar tenders.

Also talked with Stan, the front desk guy about the power problem and all he could offer was hitting the re-set switch on the pedestal.  So I went back to tell the power cat guy (I never did get his name) but he had found the problem (his power cord plug) and had power again.

Mary took a shower up at the pool and we ate there too, Darlene getting me a club sandwich for free.  I gave her a big tip.

We returned to boat.  Evidently the DirectTV programming change we (Mary) made this morning for a different set of channels (more expensive and expansive) had not taken effect yet.   There was a rather quiet lack of gunshots, court room scenes and suspicious characters.  Instead we watched The Andy Griffith Show which I contend is a cop show depicting a more savory side of law and order.   Seems not everyone shares my view.     

I had lowered all the antennas earlier, and got the bike aboard and the davit stowed so we were ready to go.

After a last walk we went to bed before 10.  It will be an early day tomorrow.