Ft Lauderdale...

Shane and I had been childhood friends

(Mum and Dad and Shane's Grandparents/Parents were very close friends).

I remember Mum telling me that Shane was living in New York, 

so I decided to see if I could find him, since we would be heading there soon.

The power of the internet is amazing - within two days I had not only found him, but had received a return email from him - he was here in Florida.

So, him and his partner Joey came down to see us - it was so wonderful to see Shane again.

Our first catchup in 25 years

It was time to fuel up, getting prepared to leave.

The fuel barge came to us at the marina - just fantastic

He positioned himself as close as possible to Our Rose, then passed the fuel hoses over…

After a month, it was now time to leave.

All the work was complete on Our Rose.

Multitech Marine Services have done a wonderful job - we would definately recommend them.

Our faulty inverter had been replaced by Victron (sent from Holland)

It was now time to say "See You" to Ashley, Graeme and Jack

They came out and waved us goodbye as we headed through the 17th Street Bridge to Sea

Friends…

Ashley and Jack had us over for a swim and lunch - what a lovely time we had!

It has been so special catching up with them.

We met Michael and Rebecca in Mayreau Oct/Nov last year when they were on a charter yacht.

  When we arrived in Ft Lauderdale, they came up to see us.

They then invited us down to Maimi where they live, 

to go to "Stiltesville" - This small group of houses are a couple of miles offshore.

Apparently these houses on stilts were built in the 1930's.  

"Crawfish" Eddie Walker built his toward the end of the prohibition era - allegedly to facilitate gambling, which was legal at one mile offshore.  He also sold bait and beer from his shack.

Anyway, Michael and Rebecca's neighbour Bob, kindly took us out to his place at Stiltesville.

We had a really awesome evening, sipping Margaritas, watching the sun go down.

Arriving

Very Appropriate!

The Margarita making begins...

We gave Bob a bottle of Bahamian Rum to say Thank You...

Michael, Richard and Bob

Rebecca and Richard

Maybe after a couple of drinks???

When we found we were going to be delayed in Fort Lauderdale waiting for a new inverter, Michael and Rebecca invited us back down to Miami to be our tour guides.

This beautiful Hotel and Golf Course is where Michael plays golf

There are a couple of neighbourhoods that have been designed - which are now protected.  

The owners must keep them in this style...

Cape Dutch Architecture

Chinese Architecture

They then took us to Wynwood Walls - it is an inspiring model for revitalisation of run-down, abandoned warehouse district, which was transformed into the most amazing art.  It now houses Restaurants,  Galleries, etc, attracting thousands and thousands of people each month.

 I will let the photos do the talking…

A huge thank you to Michael and Rebecca, Monkey and Lupie…

From Ft Lauderdale to Disney World….

Ft Lauderdale was the location we had chosen to have more work completed on Our Rose.

So, here she is "again" being hauled…

Due to our width, they had to use the "big boat" lift (350 tonne)

We then came to rest in front of a "big boat"

This is looking out of our cockpit...

We then headed off to Disney World for 3 days.

We were lucky enough to be there during their flower and garden festival

Their plantings were extraordinary.

We managed to go to Epcot Centre, Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios.

Richard wrote a poem about our time at Disney World, which I will post on a separate entry.

However, for now the following photos show some of our time at Disney World…

At Epcot Centre, the evening would end each day with an amazing fireworks display.

This "world" would come out across the lake, light up while spinning and then open out.

I (just) managed to get the photo showing NZ…

The grand finale was spectacular…

When we arrived back to Ft Lauderdale we had organised to go "shopping" for 2 days.

We stayed near Saw Grass Mills - the second largest shopping mall in America

I couldn't resist a photo of these shoes

We caught up with Ashley and Jack again (unfortunately Graeme was away)

Heading back to check on the boat it started to rain - it just poured down…