Smaller projects continued while we waited for the contractors of the larger projects to complete their work. Stuart has an excellent repertoire of marine services and it seemed like we consulted almost all of them. Vic's, for example, is the place to go for repairing and refurbishing alternators, starter motors and such. Click on the…
Hot, humid, sunny marine weather – and everything else that continuous living aboard entails – can quickly wear out a boat's interior furnishings. In our case, the V-berth mattress had completely collapsed months ago, and the stern cabin's mattress was showing signs of significant wear. We spent the end of May and all of June…
By the end of May 2011 The Fox had traveled some 18,000 miles in its 10 years of life with us. It had kept us safe and comfortable but eight years of 24/7 life aboard had completely worn out the cabins' mattresses, the binding on our New Zealand wool carpets, and the upholstery on our…
Stuart is a nice town to visit by boat. Its revitalized historic downtown district with its shops, theatre and restaurants is a 10-minute walk from Sunset Bay Marina. It has public art – mostly bronze sculptures – here and there in small parks and in front of office buildings. You should get out of the…
After we got bounced around offshore going north from Ft. Lauderdale to West Palm Beach, Florida, we decided that our next leg would be on the dread Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). For those not in the nautical know, today's ICW is a channel about 3000 miles long that extends from Norfolk, Virginia in the north to…
Our two days in Ft. Lauderdale went very pleasantly. As terrible as the Floridians' behavior was on the water, every single person we met on shore went out of their way to be pleasant and helpful. We officially checked in to the US in person at the US Customs/Border Patrol office down by the commercial…
Wow, has it been almost a year since we sailed from Puerto Morelos, Mexico, to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida? That road trip we'd taken through the Yucatan Peninsula was one of our best road trips ever, anywhere. With that now behind us, on May 6, 2011, we checked out of Mexico* and started across the Yucatan…
You're coming to the end of your 10-day whirlwind tour of the Yucatan. You're leaving the Puuc Route and driving northeast out of Santa Elena and Ticul. You're stopping at the ruins of Mayapan on Highway 18 before heading back on the main highway to drop off the rental car. Don't rush – look around…
Definitely swing by the ruins of Edzná on your way out of Campeche. They're about 30 miles southeast. You drive east out of Campeche on Highway 180, turn right at Highway 188, and just follow the signs to Edzná.These ruins represent the southernmost of the Classical Mayan Puuc architecture (reflecting the period from 700-900 AD),…
So, you're still basing your Mayan Ruins tour out of the Flycatcher Inn in Santa Elena, state of Yucatan, on the Yucatan Peninsula, just east of the ruins of Uxmal and about 56 miles south of Mérida on Highway 261. Time for you to take a quick day trip further along Highway 261 to the…