Busy Port

What a perfect day to go to Peanut Island in Palm Beach. The kayaking was pretty easy, the water was super clear for snorkeling, and the port was busier than we have seen it for awhile. 

As we approached the island, I was lucky enough to have a manatee pass under my kayak. I didn't have time to take a photo, but as the day went on, we ended up seeing three different starfish! Now that's clear water!

The Port of Palm Beach was bustling with ships and mega yachts. 

I watched the 236 ft. 'Arbema' leave the dock and head out the inlet.

Once the outside dock was empty, we could see the 351 ft. super yacht 'Andromeda' even better. 

To top it off, the 269 ft. 'Haven' came into the port's turning basin and headed up the west coast of the outer Palm Beach island.

The past two times that we have walked the perimeter of Peanut Island, we've noticed that there is construction equipment working on the interior part of the island. There used to be a huge hill in the middle (it is a spoil island from dredging), and now the sand is being taken by loader to a hopper and a conveyor belt to a storage area near the Intracoastal Waterway. Then the sand is loaded onto a barge to be used for other projects elsewhere.

As with most of our adventures, we came across a few sunken and abandoned boats as we paddled around the island.

This sure was an interesting trip and one of our best!

😎

Hello February!

January was quite a wet, windy, and cold month here in Florida. Some northern parts even saw snow! This past week we started kayaking again and we were lucky to get out on the water three days in a row. Friday we even did our favorite trip from Chastain Beach river side to Boy Scout and Girl Scout Islands. There are always fun things to see in the shallows in the "Sea of Stuart" and this time didn't disappoint us. We saw lots of manatees warming themselves on the shallow sandbars, a spotted eagle ray, and a 6 ft. black tip shark! The next 10 days are predicted to be sunny and close to 80 degrees, so hopefully we are back on track for more adventures.

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2025

Happy New Year! We started the year off right by kayaking over to the St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park, then walked to the beach via the 3/4 mile boardwalk. Besides the waterbirds, we were the only ones there until we saw 3 people on our way back from walking to the remains of the inlet's jetty. 

We found a few goodies that the ocean gave up, but left them there since this is a preserve.

As the quote says, "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time." We did all of that. 

😎

Happy Holidays!

 

Sunrise

 

Wow! 😲 

Winner!

We recently participated in the first meet of the season for the South Florida Gator Chapter of the Antique Outboard Motor Club, which was held on the Caloosahatchee River in La Belle. We brought the canoe with the 1936 2.5 h.p. Johnson outboard and even launched it to be part of the short demo race. We were honored that we ended up receiving the blue ribbon award for best running motor of the day!

Here are a few more boats and motors on display during this event. Someone even copied Dave's idea for a motor stands made out of old walkers. 

The highlight of the show, besides our win 😉, was that we met 15 year old Levi, who was already buying, fixing, selling, and trading antique outboards. His knowledge and enthusiasm was amazing, and we need more younger people like him to continue this tradition. We also got a kick out of a very excited 8 year old boy who bought his first motor..."start 'em young!" We also commend the man who sold his outboards to the kids for next to nothing, to help get and keep the kids involved. Levi's boat and motors (before he bought a few more)...

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Back To Clear Water

We took advantage of a short wind reprieve and headed down to Peanut Island in Palm Beach. The incoming tide was perfect for Dave to snorkel while I watched the ships and yachts go in and out of Lake Worth Inlet. We also took a walk around the island to see the port, and iguanas were scattering everywhere along the way. We even got to see one jump in the water to go sun itself on a rock breakwater. The one in the photo below was the granddaddy of them all.

It sure felt good to be back!

😎