Staying put

Yes, that is right, we are staying in Florida. Many reasons:  weather squalls keep popping up, waves are okay to cross, but then get higher if we try to leave West End on Grand Bahama to go to the Abacos,  prices at most all marinas went up substantially this month so we would be anchoring in iffy weather and dinghying Ollie to shore, winds remain coming from the East right on our nose, we do not have a buddy boat to go with anymore and we only have a month before hurricane season begins and we would not like to be stuck there. We found out rates went up due to fishing season and tournaments occurring. Plus , you have to pay $300  to get into the Bahamas and I want my money's worth being Dutch. Luckily, we traveled often to Caribbean islands and don't feel like this is our only chance. So, we will stay put,  not feel rushed to get somewhere or try to push it. That is when "stuff" happens. If the dog remains healthy, we can try again next year when we would have more time. Soon, we will head north to look for places to spend time this summer, hopefully safe from hurricanes. We also would like to check out the west coast of Florida even though we are told it is shallow.

Ft. Lauderdale has been hot and humid. We are in a summer weather pattern. We get storm cells popping up. Oliver takes his long walk at night when the sun goes down. Luckily we are plugged in at a dock running the air conditioner. There was the Tortugas festival here last weekend at the beach. We could hear Kenny Cheasney from the boat. Not sure what it was all about, but between rain, it was 2 days of concerts. This weekend is an air festival. We saw some planes practicing today. 

Anyway, that is our little update. Oliver is glad we are not traveling in rough seas for 10-12 hours. Our buddy boats that went had 3-5 footers on the nose with waves breaking over the bow for 13-14 hours. Yuck! They love it there now. Oliver prefers watching the cats, chasing little lizards and being lazy. We even got to watch the Master's tournament as we had local TV channels here. Now, with the Boston Marathon incident, we are praying for all those affected. 

Oliver couldn't find the cats

our view down the river

The 5 airplanes practicing sky writing.