A new playground found

We arrived in Coconut Grove at the Dinner Key Marina on Sunday for a two night stay and a visit with Stephanie's nephew Sean. We haven't seen Sean for several years and it was great to see him again. We had a great afternoon of catch up and a fun dinner in Coconut Grove. He promised the next visit wouldn't be so long.
Monday we explored Coconut Grove. What a fun place with lots of funky and fancy. Coconut Grove has quite a storied history. It was there before Miami and was home to a number of gangsters and a playground for many famous people.
Coconut Grove has tons of great restaurants, and we decided to go French Monday night. We went to one that we saw earlier in the day called Le Bouchon. We didn't know it was Beaujolais Nouveau Day, a celebration of the new wine. We arrived and were greeted with a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau in honor of the celebration and from then on it was a fun night with great wine and fabulous food. It's always fun to get together with good friends, but it is really special to spend an evening alone with your best friend and the love of your life. What a special night I had with my Admiral.
As I write these blogs we are anchored out in Biscayne Bay after leaving Coconut Grove mid day. Tomorrow we will get an early start and head to Lignumvitae Key where we will spend Thanksgiving at one of our favorite anchorages. While we are there we will take you with us to explore the mangrove tunnels.

September Song (Love my Admiral) out
Bob


Coconut Grove. Est. 1873

Great old architecture

Fun sidewalk Cafes

Lunch in Coconut Grove with my love.

Our waiter at a great French Restaurant.

Our waiter, Hostess, and Host. Last night was the celebration of the first wine of the year. Beaujolais Nouveau.

Great first wine, a fun celebration, and a fabulous French dinner.
Happy Beaujolais Nouveau!

Some cities we visit have theme animals. One had pigs, another had horses, another had frogs, and yet another had cows. Coconut Grove's is peacocks.

Sean, Stephanie's Nephew, came over from South Beach for a visit. We haven't seen him for several years.

Dinner with Sean in Coconut Grove at Greenstreet Cafe. It was great to see him again. We made him promise it wouldn't be so long again. He is going to visit while we are in the Keys or the Islands this next year. Remember Sean, you promised your Aunt!

OMG! Not another Party?

It really wasn't a party. For lack of anything else to call it, we call it a party. We just enjoy being together, laughing, eating, sharing stories, maybe a couple of drinks, (DUH!) and loving what we have in common, cruising. Jeff and Karen Siegel sing a song about cruising. "It's not about the places, not about the sunsets, but the people you meet", and we have met so many great new friends cruising. If you come up with a word other than party for when we get together with cruising friends, let me know.
We arrived in Stuart Tuesday the 16th and before we knew it we were on the aft deck of Sea Pearl with Joe, Julia, Julia's sister Rosie, and Steve and Di from Aurora, who we haven't seen, but have been in touch with, for about ten months. We had lots of catching up to do. After a fun time on Sea Pearl we all headed out to dinner to one of Steve and Di's favorite haunts.
Day two was spent exploring Stuart and we took the night off to rest up after the night before and get ready for night three with the gang.
Day three was spent doing boat chores and that evening we all got together on September Song for happy hour, then Steve and Di took us out to a great sushi place for a fabulous dinner. No explanation, just check out the picture of our sushi ship. From there it was off to Wahoo's, one of our favorite funky bars from last year when we were here for some great music, and to see our favorite bartender in all of Florida, Shawnee. We thought the night was over until Joe suggested a night cap. Weelllll, OK. When we are with such great friends we never want the evening to end. The next morning we dragged ourselves out of bed early and put the pointy end South again.
Sorry! Time to go play in Coconut Grove. I will catch up on the time between this one and now later.

September Song, (What a great "that word" we had) out
Bob



Good friends Steve and Di on the aft deck of Sea Pearl for happy hour.

What a pleasant surprise. Julia's sister Rosie, who we met last year, joined us for the evening. She's not a cruiser, but she parties like one. There's that word again!

Julia and Rosie in the galley of Sea Pearl. Cute!

Joe and his girls. They're cute Joe, but I still love the picture on the wall the best. If you have been on Sea Pearl, you know which one I'm talking about.

Out with cruising friends in Stuart. (night one)

How appropriate. This sign was hanging over Joe. Loved those Bahama happy hours. Can't wait to be back in the "Islands, Mon"

Happy hour on September Song

I think he likes it!

Our ship builder

Getting ready to off load this ship

Our ship has come in. YUM!

You know when Steve is enjoying his food. He closes his eyes, lets out this strange sound, then says "that's what I'm talking about!"

Joe, Joe, Julia is watching. That's Shawnee, our favorite bartender.

Are we having fun or what?

Together again

We only had a short visit with the Gypsies, but it's always great to be together again. They are wo...wo..working (it's hard for me to say that four letter word wo...wo...work) and both have exciting jobs and still living on Gypsies in the Palace. We are happy they are both loving what they are doing, but we will miss seeing them on the stern of September Song when we head to the Islands. If you have been following my blog, you see we take every chance to get together with them. What a great time we had with them in Cocoa. While we are in the Keys this winter they are going to sneak away a couple of times and come down and stay with us on September Song. We look forward to those visits.

September Song (Missing our cruising buddies) out
Bob


Doug and Tammy's scooters. OMG! they had a baby. No, not Doug and Tammy, the scooters.

Provisioning. When it's on sale you need to stock up.

An afternoon at the Cocoa Beach Pier with our cruising buddies Doug and Tammy

View of the beach from the pier

The waves were 8 to 10 feet and the surfing was fantastic. This guy on his boogie board was amazing.

Tammy made a key lime pie for dessert. We ate it Bahama style. No plates, just forks, and pass the pie around.

I can't believe we ate the whole thing!

Always a hoot when we are with Doug and Tammy.

Nothing like a good cigar with your after dinner drink on the fly bridge

Afternoon at Fishlips

New style hat. OH! That's not a hat they left for me? OH! It's the lid to our apps dish? I'll have another Captain and Coke, please.

Great afternoon of apps, drinks, and laughs at a great waterside bar overlooking Port Canaveral.

Sure will miss these guys, again.