Back in FL, we begin to see our new lifestyle change. The almost daily routine of taking the dinghy to shore and socializing in the lounge remains, but activities with the car take us to new and more distant places. In some cases to places we had planned to visit by boat. We make trips to visit the parents of friends across the state in Fort Myers and Donna's old workmate friend in St Petersburg. Donna explored the shopping opportunities in Ft Lauderdale and Palm Beach. In February, we traveled to Miami and attended the Miami International Boat Show & Strictly Sail.
We drove down to Marathon in the Keys to visit friends Kathy and Dutch and stayed aboard their catamaran Drifter III. We enjoyed the trip and our time with them so much we decided to make a second trip so we could visit Key West. On the second trip we rented a room at a small family resort and stayed for three days while we explored the area.
Life was good but our plans to sail beyond Stuart seemed to be usurped by the car. Our friends Larry, Walter and Maggie, and Terry and Kitty still wanted to sail to the Bahamas and finally settled on a departure in mid March. This late departure did not sit well with us because of Donna's commitment to be back in VA by mid April for an artists retreat. We decided to stay put and bid our friends adieu as they headed further south to wait for a weather window to cross over to the Bahamas. About a week later, that decision led to another car trip south to visit those same friends stuck in Ft Lauderdale still waiting on a weather window. Two weeks later that same decision proved a good one as our friends abandoned their trip and returned to Stuart.
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