02/09/2010, ICW From Titusville to Melbourne, FL
On Weds Feb 3, we started south on the ICW. There wasn't enough wind to go out on the ocean and we weren't going far. We kept going past St Augustine and anchored in the Matanzas River. It is an inlet so there was a bit of current. When we left, it was low tide and where the inlet joins the ICW it tends to shoal. We plowed through the sand, I think we went aground 3 times, but we could just keep plowing through the soft sand. We were in the channel the entire time. We should have checked it out with Tow Boat US, and probably waited for the tide to come up, but we got through it and were fine the rest of the way.
We arrived in Daytona Thurs. afternoon, anchored for the night. Then, we went into a marina in the morning, as high winds were expected on Fri and cold and rain the rest of the weekend. We were staying until Mon. morning and didn't want to keep going in by dingy in the bad weather, as we had lots of plans with our friends Al and Betty from Central Lake, who have a home in Daytona Beach. We had a fun day with Al and Betty and their guests Joel and Gail from Hazel Park on Fri. On Sat night we all went to dinner, then to a Doo-Wopp Concert (music from the 50's and 60's). What a fun time, and it brought back a lot of memories.
On Sun my brother Ed and his girlfriend Terry came over from Orlando. We had a wonderful shrimp dinner that Betty prepared. We had shrimp three ways; shrimp creole, steamed, and grilled.
We left Daytona Monday morning, had a nice day with some sun, although cold on the water. We had dolphins playing along the boat (see photo gallery). We anchored in Titusville for the evening. This picture shows the Titusville Bridge opening for us at 730am, this morning. We stopped this afternoon in Rock Pt., a little anchorage near Melborne that we anchored in two years ago. It has been cloudy all day, although low 70's, but it has been raining the last couple of hours.
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02/02/2010, Jacksonville, FL
This is the first entry for our new adventure. We arrived at the boat in the marina on the St John's river in Jacksonville, FL on Jan 19th and began our work and provisioning. I made an anchor riding sail for our friends George and Karen and have one half of one made for our boat. A anchor riding sail keeps the boat steady when at anchor. I'll add a picture of one later.
We worked on some of the exterior wood, but with rain and cold weather, we will finish it later, when we are in warm sunny weather.
It wasn't all work, we had some fun times too. George had a nice birthday party for Karen at a restaurant/bar named Ragtime at the beach. We got to meet some of their family and friends. We also had a great dinner at their home. George and Karen will be joining us in the Bahamas sometime in March.
This picture shows Larry and Chuck O'Malley from Doyle Sails in Annapolis putting on our new sails. A very exciting day. So far we have tried out the genoa as we headed up the St. John's river. It works great, we love it.
We anchored tonight about 3 miles before we get to the ICW or inlet to the ocean. The marina we left the boat in is about 34 miles south down the St John's River from the Waterway and ocean. When we get to the ICW we will head south to St Augustine, then to Daytona to visit Al and Betty Burnett, friends from Central Lake. My brother Ed and his girlfriend Terry will visit on Sunday. Then we will head south again to Ft Pierce, hoping to see Pam and Dave, friends from TC. After that, we will head to the Miami area, visit Dick, another TC friend and wait for a weather window to head across to Bimini in the Bahamas. Bimini is where we first arrived in the Bahamas last year.
It feels good to be back on the boat and finally heading south.
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11/12/2009, Suttons Bay, MI
We had a great day a week ago Weds (Nov 4). We played all day with George and Karen. We drove to St. Augustine, had a great lunch at the Couch House Marina Restaurant. The weather is still great. We walked the docks after lunch, admiring the boats when Karen and George spotted a sailboat that they knew from the Bahamas, "Night Star". They were not on their boat, so Karen left a note. After exploring the old town area near the fort in St. Augustine, we were ready to leave when Karen got a phone call from Jerry and Diane on "Night Star". So, we joined them on their boat for a nice "happy hour". We had not met them last year, but they know a lot of people that we know and I'm sure we will run into them again this winter in the Bahamas.
Thur. (Nov 5) we finished up the boat and packing and headed to George and Karen's for another great dinner. This picture shows Larry with George and Karen (I'm taking the picture).
After visiting relatives on the way home, we arrived in Suttons Bay late Monday morning (Nov 9). It's good to be home for a while. The weather is great, sunny and highs in the 50's most days. But, we know it won't last.
We are so glad we got south before the storms from "Ida". George and Karen have been checking the boat. The only weather they got in Jacksonville was some rain. It is so great that they are keeping an eye on the boat. It saves us a lot of worry.
This is the last blog until we return to the boat in mid-January.
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