Hello everyone and Happy Thanksgiving. Jim and I are so very thankful this year for our continued health and all the love and support of our families. We have achieved the first chapter of our dream (surviving the trip from Erie PA to Stuart/Port St. Lucie Florida) and we are very much looking forward to the next.
Please continue to follow our journey and don't hesitate to post a comment. Or if you prefer just send us an email. We miss all our northern friends and especially our family. Give us a call and then Come On Down!
Jim and Linda
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
November 8-16
LM: Since our last chapter we've reached some family in Port St. Lucie. This last week of the trip included two nights in Vero Beach Marina utilizing the laundry and their intra-city bus routes for some re-provisioning. From there we anchored for a night behind Nettle's Island just outside the St Lucie River mouth. Friday was a blustery day and once again we battled strong winds and currents for that last 15 miles into Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart, Florida. We'll be staying here through Thanksgiving while spending as much time as possible with the kids and grandkids! Seeing them makes the last four months all worth it!
We're also working on the transition from “always-on-the-move” to true “Live-Aboards”. The reality of retirement and our unlimited time frames are all new for both of us. Anywhere we stop now, we're surrounded by people living on their boats. I knew we wouldn't be alone but I never imagined there were so many peolple doing this. Full time, part time, seasonal, stay in one location, move around to favorite places, etc. One of the guide books we use (printed in 2006) estimates the number of snow bird boats at more that 15K each year. We're trying to listen and learn from all this experience and most cruisers are happy to talk about their adventures.
Jim has some maintenance and repairs to catch up on and I will be attending to the daily domestic parts of our routines. We are scoping out the local waters for carefree places to day sail. What do we do all day? You'll have to keep checking in with us to find out. JM: We're both so happy to finally be doing what we've wanted to do for so long.
So, what's happening where you are? jlmsail@yahoo.com
Monday, November 7, 2011
Special Edition – Manatee Monday!
Yesterday (Sunday 11/6) we motored through some very narrow sections in Mosquito Lagoon passing up Rockhouse Creek anchorages and the lagoon before anchoring just beyond the Haulover Canal Bridge. The tiny basin here has a public launch and room for one boat to anchor, two if you set a second anchor and can keep a safe distance between the two boats. We were very excited about the possibility of seeing some manatees. They are known to be plentiful in this area. The basin was very calm and quiet except for the pelicans, egrets and cormorants diving around looking for dinner. Otherwise we enjoyed a very quiet night. A few afternoon sprinkles sent all the fisherman and boaters home early. The sun sets earlier now too so once we had the anchors set we closed up the boat to keep the little biting bugs out. After dinner it was lights out and no sightings as of yet....
Manatee Monday!!! Before I had even sipped my first coffee we had Manatee sightings within 50 feet of the stern. After at least an hour and 21 pictures (see pics), we had to stop watching so we could get dressed and really start the day. What a great place to sit and watch these creatures float around and move along slowly. One manatee came right over to our boat, checked out the dinghy for a while, then put his snout right up onto the stern for a sniff. These things weigh 1000-1500 lbs. We are sure of there being 5 manatees, as we could see that many at the same time. There were probably a few more but they did not surface at the same times to be sure of a higher count. After finally getting under way we enjoyed another 39 miles of waterway which took us past Canaveral and Cocoa Beach areas. Winds built a few times to over 20 and we had a sudden downpour lasting just a few minutes. The Eau Gallie port is now part of Melbourne and located at ICW 914. We anchored in the Indian River here and just watched some incredible colors in the sky. It's not as if we've never seen a rainbow, but WOW, we just had a double full range rainbow so close and so big it took two shots to get it all with the camera! (see pics)
Saturday, November 5, 2011
October 30 - November 5
Who ordered all this wind?!
140 more miles behind us this week (3467 to date) and a few great places kept us for a second day!
We made our way out of the Fernandina basin and followed the IntraCoastal Waterway all week. It's been a week of cold air, strong winds and a few light sprinkles so the ocean didn't sound very inviting. Sunday was still rather threatening as we left the Amelia River towards the St. John's Inlet. The area we had researched for that evening had a very strong current so we deployed a second anchor off the stern. This was a first for us but it seemed to help. The hold on the bottom settled the boat down and eliminated the swing throughout the night going back and forth with currents and wind. We even found some great TV reception with our rabbit ears and were able to watch football all afternoon! Sometimes it's the little things that make it a good day, eh?
With a continuous forecast for strong winds and cooler temps, we decided to venture off the ICW and explore the St. John's River into Jacksonville. It was 15 miles inland and more than worth the deviation. The city had fabulous floating docks just across the street from their sports arenas including the Jacksonville Jaguar's stadium. Except for game days, the entire place is free for overnight stays and includes access to fresh water. If you need electricity you can run a credit card through an automated system to activate your slip. There were approximately 100 slips. We were one of only two boats there on Monday night. We can only guess this is off season here. After a 1.25 mile hike into downtown we discovered the Landings. This complex was like a mini-mall, with two floors, and was built smack dab in the center of downtown on the waterfront. What a concept... There were stores and restaurants and fountains and sidewalks and..... free docks! (see pics)We moved here for our second day and night in Jacksonville. We also had quick access to their public transportation systems (3 trolley routes, buses and railway cars. ) We rode one of the trolleys and enjoyed a quick tour of an area we would never have reached on foot. Oh, and did I mention, the trolley was free!
The next big city on the coast is St. Augustine and we had no trouble moving from Jacksonville to there in one day. We also took advantage of the only warm day this week by staying over here for a second day, too. Thursday was beautiful. We took our dinghy ashore to the city marina and explored the downtown area for hours. The history and old buildings here are endless. (see pics) Jim found an ad on a bulletin board at the marina for someone selling two used bikes. We've been wanting to get bikes, so he called. We now have two collapsible Caribike bicycles. They're great and they stow nicely. We pedaled for several more hours that afternoon and have discovered a whole new angle for our adventures.
Well, it's back to the boat and the ICW, and time to get moving further south again. We've made our way through the Flagler Beach area and we are currently resting in the marina in Daytona Beach on the Halifax River. We stopped here for fuel around noon and the winds were starting to gust over 20 knots so we decided to play it safe. As of 7p we were still seeing 25+. We spent part of the afternoon browsing through their annual Art Festival where most of the artists were very busy holding onto their tents. Gotta go, it's time to turn our clocks back.
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