Scott and I joined the Seakeepers Society last month to celebrate World Ocean Day by volunteering for a Miami Beach clean up hosted by Clean Miami Beach. They only had space for about 125 volunteers and we met at the beach near 22nd and Collins Avenue. The event started at 10am and ran until 12pm. It was so brutally hot and I’m not sure why they didn’t start the event earlier.
Celebrating World Ocean Day
As part of the clean up a variety of educators and artisan vendors were exhibiting their goods. Here we found artists who turn garbage into jewels.
Beach Clean Up
I bought garden gloves for Scott and I to use (they refrain from using anything rubber or disposable). The group also discouraged bringing water bottles, but instead asked everyone to use non-disposable bottles. They did provide buckets (Scott and I shared one) and we each had a garbage stick.
The beach clean up started right at 10am and off we went! The group encouraged everyone to try and pick up the small pieces as that is what the fish and birds digest. In addition,they did have a contest for most garbage and most unique garbage.
It took us two hours to pick up three pounds of garbage. It doesn’t look like much, but we probably picked up 300 tiny pieces of fabric, plastic, plastic ties and cigarette butts. Most of what we picked up was actually felt and we figured out it is probably the felt found on a floaty air mattress that was destroyed by the sea.
Successful Beach Clean Up
When we returned to the main tent, they weighed your garbage and then had a team sorting each bucket. It was alarming to see how much garbage we picked up in just two short hours.
Scott and I are looking forward to joining Seakeepers again for another great cause. Help do your part and join your local clean up crew.
As always, thank you for following our blog and our journey. Be sure to subscribe to our channel (see link below) and follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. We are heading to the Exumas in two weeks, so we are excited to bring you more boating adventures.
Recently, Scott and I took a quick trip to Sarasota on the west coast of Florida. Scott’s uncle lives just north of Sarasota and we decided to make a weekend trip out of it since we have never been to Sarasota. The drive took us about 4 hours going straight across the state on I-75.
We stayed at the Westin, just overlooking the bay. I picked this hotel because it has a rooftop bar and we would finally be able to see a sunset! Looking at the image below (facing southeast) you can see how FLAT Florida actually is!
Finding a place for dinner
Sarasota has a few very well known areas with great restaurants. One very popular area is St. Armands Circle on Lido Key.
Unfortunately, the traffic to get to Lido Key was nuts, so we decided to walk down to the marina and grab a bit to eat there. Our first attempt was at O’Leary’s Tiki Bar. Sounded cool, however, there’s no table service. You actually stand in line for your food and drinks – no thanks. So we headed back to the other side of the marina and found Marina Jack’s. We had a great view, some live music and the food and service was just okay.
There’s a park along the marina walkway and they have constructed a giant statue of the VE Day moment when a sailor randomly kissed a nurse.
After dinner, we hurried back to the hotel to catch our first sunset since being in Key West last December. It did not disappoint!
Kayaking with the manatees in Sarasota
Since moving to Florida, I have rarely seen any wildlife. I saw one manatee in the Bahamas when we arrived at Atlantis, but that has been it. No dolphins, no whales, no sharks (guess that’s a good thing). We booked our kayak trip with Sea Life Kayak Adventures and they were fantastic! I would highly recommend them! Scott and I took an Uber to the park, because we knew parking was very limited.
Our instructor gave us a brief introduction and then we were off! We had about 15 people in our group.
We left Ted Sperling Park and began to circumnavigate Otter Key in search of manatees.
I am so glad I wore my lightweight water shoes for this trip. They work as tennis shoes and also are water shoes. You can buy them here!
During the trip, our instructor stopped and dove down to bring up sea urchins! He actually handed them to people to hold. What?! I thought they were spiny and dangerous?
The trip was nearly done and we were feeling defeated, but suddenly our guide spots a group of manatees. So we all paddled as fast as we could and before we knew it, about five of them were under our kayaks. It is important to remember that they are still endangered and you can’t touch them or come into contact with them. Watch our video for the footage of our encounter.
The mangroves
As we were heading back, I mentioned “look at those tunnels in the mangroves – I bet you can take a boat back there”. Next thing I know, we were in that tunnel!
I got tangled a few times and then at one point, Scott says, “Oh, wow, they are everywhere”. What are everywhere I wonder!? Then I see them – Mangrove tree crabs. YUCK. They are everywhere – get me out of here! Watch the footage – it’s pretty funny.
The entire trip took about three hours and I would definitely do it again.
When in Sarasota, go to the circus
Let’s be honest – I hate the circus. They treated animals horribly, but their story is pretty fascinating. Scott and I had to go to the Ringling Museum and mansion as that is what founded the city.
The Ringling is the former estate of John and Mable Ringling. It features a museum of art, circus museum, Ca D Zan (the home of john and Mable), the historic Asolo theater and the bayfront gardens.
I recommend spending time in the Tibbals Learning Center. As you enter through the front lobby you are greeted by a giant mural entitled “The Greatest Show on Earth” painted by William Woodward in 1990 which captures the excitement of the ringling Bros and Barnum & bailey experience.
You’ll be transported back in circus history as you stroll through the poster gallery. As you walk thru the museum, you will come upon the Howard Bros Circus Model. It consists of more than 42000 pieces and covers 3800 square feet. The model is a historically accurate rendition of an early twentieth-century circus. The logistical engineering required to move the circus’s entire “tented city” from town to town each day via the railway was nothing short of a miracle.
From there visit the historic circus galleries featuring John and Mable’s magnificent turn-of-the-century private Pullman railcar, the Wisconsin, historic circus wagons of all kinds, an artistic display of painted wagon wheels, and a sideshow bannerline.
The Ringling Mansion
From this museum, we walked through the gardens and toured the first level of the mansion. The photos don’t do it justice, so be sure to watch our video (see link below).
The estate is massive and the mansion was beautiful. Everything about it was designed to the finest detail.
The stained glass windows are the original glass and considering these face out onto the water, it’s amazing they are still in tact.
For a kitchen during the 1920’s, this would still be considered a gourmet kitchen today!
Overlooking the bay in Sarasota
The tour finished outside the mansion on the palatial patio overlooking the bay. I can only imagine the parties they hosted here.
There were so many Banyon trees and they were giant! I walked through one that reminded me of a fort. Unfortunately, I was not digging the weird black lizards!
Scott and I finished our tour of the Ringling by walking through the gardens. One museum we did miss was the Art Museum. We’ll have to check it out next time as we hear it’s amazing.
Our impression of Sarasota
We finished our final day in Sarasota enjoying a great dinner at Clasico Italian Chophouse and we wrapped up our weekend with one more amazing sunset.
This was a great trip and we are looking forward to returning to explore more. With it’s abundant things to do on the water, Sarasota is a great destination for boaters and land lovers. We’ll be back!
As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel (link below) and our boating blog. Follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.
A few weeks ago, Scott and I rented a dinghy for a few hours to cruise along the New River. We rented the boat for $75/hour (two hours) from Salty Blue Fun Rentals. We found them online and we saw that we could walk to the boat to pick it up.
We walked about a mile and a half to a residential area. Now I was thinking, this is not a good idea. I mean, are we renting it from someone’s house?! Turns out there was a marina in the neighborhood and the owner of Salty Blue Fun actually lives on her boat and she rents her dinghy. She and her partner were very nice and got us set up right away.
Where can we go in two hours?
Scott and I hopped in, got a quick run down and off we went. We headed down the canal towards the New River. Remember, the New River is where we walk and also where we pick up the Water Taxi. I didn’t realize how far we traveled until I pulled this map!
Once you leave the canals and head towards the river, you have to watch for big yachts and lots of traffic.
It was really hot and we were so glad the dinghy came with a bimini top. I forgot to take a photo of the dinghy, so the image of the boat is actually from an old ad from when it was for sale. Looks like it cost around $4995 used.
Going Southwest on the River
We cruised through Downtown Fort Lauderdale, passing lots of traffic and bridges. The last time I did this cruise, I was on the Sunseeker 74′ Sport Yacht returning from the Bahamas.
Is there a current?
One thing you will notice while cruising in a dinghy, is the wind. Going Southwest, we had a very smooth ride, but on the return it was definitely wet and bumpy.
Time to turn around
After an hour, we made it to Safe Harbor Marina and we knew we had to turn around there to make it back in the next hour. Safe Harbor Marina is a large shipyard specializing in mega yacht haul outs.
Look closely at the image above. That mural is on the garage door for their yacht boat house. We also stumbled upon a variety of odd sites along the way.
There must have been a duck event this day?
The ride certainly did not disappoint. It was a great way to explore the river and spend time on the water without breaking the bank. Scott and I were so glad we rented the dinghy to spend a fun day on the river. We will definitely rent the dinghy from Salty Blue Fun again and if you are looking for a great boat rental, check them out.
As always, thank you for following our blog and our journey. Be sure to subscribe to our channel (see video below) and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Tune in next week as we head to Sarasota and kayak with the manatees.
That’s a question Scott and I get all the time on YouTube, “What is your channel about”? For us, it seems pretty simple. It’s about boating, but that’s not how it started really. We started the blog first, so we could document our journey in becoming first time boaters (well, together – I grew up boating). Would we like it and could we actually live on a boat? Well in order to answer all of these questions, we have to go back to the beginning.
The Beginning
Ever since we spent our honeymoon in Antigua 20 years ago and charted both sailing monohull and catamaran boats we’ve been focused on not only someday finding our own dream boat, but to take part in the liveaboard cruising lifestyle. But like for so many, life has thrown us a curveball or two. The important thing is we have not to let them derail us from achieving our goal.
One of those curveballs happened back in 2005 when we lived in Renton, Washington. It was then we decided to convert an old DMV office into a boutique wine and beer shop. Flash forwards a few years to 2010. We attended the Boats Afloat Show and fell in love with sailing catamarans. We actually considered buying one to put into charter in the San Juan Islands, but we were right in the middle of the recession and it was not the right time. Instead, I began reading boating magazines and books about sailing around the world and immersing myself in the dream to escape from it all.
From then on, Scott and I attended as many boat shows as we could traveling coast to coast including the Miami, Annapolis and the various shows throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Owning our business started to take a toll on our personal lives as we were working 6 days a week. We knew we wouldn’t be able to enjoy a boat with our work schedule. We also had the dream of selling our home and buying a liveaboard boat. So in October 2015 we sold the wine shop and started to take our dream more seriously.
Our First Boat
As we started looking for a boat, we had to decide if we wanted a cruiser or a trawler style. We looked at quite a few and weighed our options. Did we want more outdoor space or indoor space? One Saturday, we headed out shopping with our broker and we looked at two totally different boats, both in the same yard. The first boat was much older and needed a lot of work, but it had tons of interior space.
Then our broker suggested we walk across the lot and look at a cruiser.
It was your typical cruiser. My first boat was a Bayliner 2655 and this was very similar. I wasn’t sure that I wanted another cruiser though.
The following weekend, we attended the Anacortes boat show and while we were there, we kept coming back to the cruiser. So we called our broker and made an offer that night. We bought our first boat, a 2001 Bayliner 3055 in April 2017 with the goal of spending as much time on it as possible.
Taking Possession
Our initial experience was wild. We picked up the boat in the Des Moines Marina from our broker on a Friday night. He gave Scott a 15 minute lesson on how to operate it and how to dock it. The following day, we hopped onboard to move the boat from Des Moines, Washington about 20 miles south of Seattle to the Elliott Bay Marina in DT Seattle.
We didn’t even know how to get out of the marina. Both of our hearts were racing as we made the trek north. When we arrived to our marina, we suddenly realized that the dock we selected was only accessible after making an S turn past 3 yachts (versus going straight down the fairway). But Scott did an amazing job docking it considering he had never docked a boat before. That summer we spent every weekend on it and made our first cruise to the San Juan Islands.
After spending every weekend on our Bayliner, we were hooked and we knew we could definitely live on a boat. Our first step was to sell our home and downsize to a small apartment. Then we sold the Bayliner, to save up for our liveaboard boat in the Fall of 2018.
Our Next Boat
After a few months of being “boatless” we really missed spending time on the water and at the marina. That’s when we saw an ad for a 2002 Bayliner 4087 and we decided to check her out. Scott and I were not expecting to like the boat at all, but we instantly loved it and put an offer on it, in the middle of a snow storm. In February, we hauled out for the survey and mechanical. It was a very chilly day!
We took possession of Our Happy Day in March 2019 and spent almost every weekend on her. Only have owned her for 18 months, we traveled throughout Puget Sound from Tacoma to Port Orchard to Bremerton to Port Madison to Kingston, spending almost every weekend on the boat.
Then Covid Hit
And then, as we all know, the world changed in 2020. If you have followed our story, you know that we sold Our Happy Day in July of 2020, because Ally had accepted a job in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. What we didn’t know is that covid would delay our move. In the end, we never moved. So we were boatless and still living in Seattle. But we were not defeated. We were more determined to move to a warmer climate with more boating options.
For the next year and a half, I looked for job opportunities in the yachting industry in South Florida. While a few came my way, I eventually selected one that would finally bring us to South Florida. For the past 15 months we have enjoyed becoming Floridians and settling in. I’ve since switched yachting companies and couldn’t be happier.
What Happens Now?
So where does this leave us? What is our channel and blog all about? Well, at this time, it’s all about what can you do to enjoy all things boating when you don’t actually own a boat. Over the past four years, we’ve visited the Caribbean and we have spent as much time on the water as possible.
We’ve taken a sailing cruise through the Lesser Antilles; we have chartered a yacht in the San Juan Islands and we’ve chartered a catamaran in the British Virgin Islands. And here in Florida we have experienced an air boat in the everglades, Ally has cruised to the Bahamas on a 74’ yacht, we’ve kayaked with the manatees, we’ve snorkeled in the Keys and in Fort Lauderdale we spend time on the New River as much as possible.
But now what? When are we buying the next boat? The honest answer is we don’t know. As we mentioned in a previous episode (see link below), slips and insurance are twice as expensive than what we paid in Seattle and overall, the availability of a liveaboard slip is next to none. Our best chance is to find a private dock and that is going to take some time and creativity. In the meantime, we are saving our money and exploring all that South Florida and the Caribbean has to offer.
So we hope that answered many of your questions. Please leave your comments below. We read them all. And if you find yourself in South Florida, let us know. We’d love to meet you. As always, thank you for following our journey. If you haven’t subscribed to our blog and vlog (see video below), please take a moment to do so. You can also follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.
Cheers, Scott and Ally
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