Our trip to Ft Lauderdale
Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Sat 27 Aug 2011 22:21
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Visiting with Will & Di in Fort
Lauderdale
We have just returned from a wonderful 2 week 'holiday'
to Fort Lauderdale, Florida enjoying the hospitality of our friends Will &
Di Paterson. They had already booked a trip up north, and so after a few
days with them, they left us with the run of their home, their car and the
care of their two dogs, Asha & Elvis. And yes ...he has a little "shakin'
thing going on". We always have a great time with Will and Di and their
family - with lots of eating, drinking and laughing. Di introduced us
to a whole new way of cooking - planking - where a thick piece of cedar wood is
soaked in water and then put on the braai (BBQ) on top of which, the salmon is
cooked. The delicate smoky flavour is awesome!
It was Mike's birthday on 19th and he got a wonderful
surprise when I produced presents that his daughter's in South Africa had sent
to us. We went for dinner to an old favourite, the Rustic Inn, where we had
a feast of oysters, grouper and Maryland crabs. Mike and I feel like real
local's in Fort Lauderdale, finding our way to restaurants, shops, etc with
ease.
There were quite a few boat issues to sort out, and
spares to buy. Our first stop was a drive up to Palm
Beach to catch up with James Knight, who is always a pleasure to see. The
next day Mike had a meeting with Village marine who after some tests
agreed to replaced both membranes for free! We also had
the depth sounder re-set by Furuno and got instructions on how to
re-set the AIS - both pieces of equipment are now working perfectly.
Yipppeeeeee! You may recall that Mike also had a problem with our
alternator, so he bought a replacement, that we brought back in our
suitcase. All 20kgs of metal, and 2 x 1m watermaker membranes required a
little explaining to the flight security people! In fact our cases were
packed full with stuff for the boat (and some personal shopping too) . The
good thing was that we got everything back to the boat safely and without
any baggage or customs fees! This free airmiles trip had really worked for
us!
Just before Di & Will returned from their trip we
were made aware of an approaching hurricane (Irene), while we were nervous for a
day or two, I am pleased that she did not make much of an impact on Florida.
Sadly the people living further up the north east coast were not that lucky.
Last year we were in the Chesapeake, so close to where the brunt of the storm
hit...what a difference a year makes!
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