12/31/2011, Saint Augustine, FL

We were all set to go out to dinner for New Years Eve, and after a nice shower at the Marina, we realized the best view in town was from the bow of our own boat... so Isobel drove us back out where we celebrated with music and fine dining...

Comments [0]

12/31/2011, Saint Augustine, FL

Isobel uses her new companionway table to mix up drinks...

Comments [1]

12/27/2011, Near Orlando, FL

Once we had recovered from or Christmas festivities, we prepared to get underway... and I called my friend Jimmy of Starbound... He said, "I'll pick you up in a couple hours..." So off we went to spend a couple days at their house. For not being a boat, it is a pretty cool spot on a freshwater lake. He has approached it with a captain's eye, adding LED lighting and Solar panels. An edible yard will follow the growing towers that are bulging with lettuce...

And the girls played together from early until late until they had to be separated so they could all get some sleep! It was a great visit and we miss them out on the water... This is a photo of them in Elethera in April 2010:

Comments [0]

12/27/2011, Eleuthera April 2010

We all had a wonderful time running around at low tide... and many other memories...

Comments [0]

12/26/2011, Saint Augustine, FL

One of the fun things about being on the dock in St Augustine, other than than allowing the family to step aboard, was the bird show.

There was something about the current and the dock that gave the Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets a wonderful fishing opportunity. They would stand on the edge of the dock on the upstream side and jump off and nab a fish out of the water in flight without touching the water with anything other than the tip of its bill. Of course both Lara and I shot a hundred images trying to catch them in flight...

Comments [0]

12/25/2011, St Augustine, FL

Initially the Scuut allowed us to walk around and not carry her... now we have to run to keep up!

Comments [4]

12/24/2011, St Augustine, FL

We awoke early on Christmas Eve to travel the 30 miles south to St Augustine... where Helme, Mettie and Lily had set up camp the day before in the Casa Monica Hotel. We took a slip so we could have easy and quick access ashore. The festivities started immediately!

Of course, it is warm and we walked around town a lot. The town was decorated for Christmas....

Comments [0]

12/24/2011, St Johns RIver

Isobel returns from a ride on the horse...

Arrived in the St Johns River after running outside from St Catherine's Sound... 112 miles

30 22.641'n:081 27.448'w

Comments [3]

12/22/2011, Veron River, GA

Solstice Sun Shining Bright
Shortest Day and Longest night
Solstice wish of hope and cheer
Peace on Earth,
Throughout the year.

Happy Solstice to all

We woke early today so we could celebrate the Winter Solstice. of course it is handy that we are not yet in the tropics (south of 23 26' north, the tropic of cancer), so we can really appreciate the longer days that will start now... It was an incredible sunrise in Beaufort SC this morning.

The day was eventful in that is was beautiful and warm. The ICW required a lot of attention as this section is notorious for shoaling. We have been using Active Captain.com which is an incredible resource showing any hazards, anchorages, bridge information as well as marinas and land based resources.

31 55.242'n 081 06.559'w

Comments [0]

12/21/2011, Beaufort SC

At the library (scuut bottom right)

We arrived in Beaufort, SC around 4 pm and tied up to the free town dock. We took a walk (Isobel Scuuted) around town. Isobel is now really balancing on the scuut, giving a couple kicks and gliding... and using any down hill slope to coast down.

Our arrival was kind of fun as they have some serious current flowing parallel to the down dock. I found that I could add just enough power to match the current then crab the boat sideways to the dock... quite fun!

We moved off the dock as they don't allow overnight docking... in the dark we anchored in the river... taking two tries to figure the right place to drop the hook that would have us out of the channel yet away from other boats. When you have wind and current, the boat points into the current but hangs downwind from the anchor.

32 25.763'n:080 40.711'w

Comments [3]