Well what a strange time we live in these days. Who would have thought back in January we would be where we are now! The Crew was having a normal Marathon winter until 2 weeks ago. Golfing, going to the beach, Pickle Ball, eating out, fishing and just enjoying life. Then the virus hit and the world stopped. We had a ball up until then with Bob and Nancy on Aquasistion, Deb and Ron on Scheharazade, Margie and Larry on Wanderin' L&M and of course Bruce and Claudette on Summer Wind. Deb, Ron , Nancy and I played Pickle Ball 3 to 4 times a week in Key Colony on their very nice courts. A great group of folks that were very good. We all got pretty good if I do say so myself...lots of fun. Played a little poker with some golfing buddies too and won some money 3 out if 5 games! Who knew! Just a great winter that was packed with boat upkeep and fun...it flew by that's for sure! In the mean time, Donna had her knee scoped while we were here. Her torn minuscus was really bothering her so just as the virus was breaking in Florida, she had surgery....she did great and the pain is gone and it hasn't even been 2 weeks since the surgery. We wished our time here ended better but we have adapted. Everything is takeout, short term rentals have been kicked out of the keys and it has become very quiet. No music, no bars and lots of self quarantining. The Keys had no cases up until a week ago....we have 22 as of today. Most case from folks that had travelled overseas or from NY. As vacationers were told to leave, owners started coming into the Keys from up north....not good. We had a decision to make about staying or going back to SC to Myrtle Beach where our new home awaits. The new state rules said we have to stay at a min 28 days which would cost $1000 for the month even if we left in a week or two. So we have decided to head north on our last cruise tomorrow March 30th. On a boat you are as isolated as you can get, so we won't worry about that. Many Marinas are still open and selling fuel so that is good. We plan on moving fast and anchoring a lot. A lot of Marinas are still allowing one night transients although many have closed down their lounges and bathrooms. Besides travelling will keep our minds occupied and aleve the boredom of isolation. There is only so much TV bingeing you can do, such as Ozark season 3 which I watched 10 episodes in 2 days!!! Anyway, we plan to take 17-21 days to get to Myrtle Beach and our final destination of Osprey Marina. Our slip awaits us. Our final trip before we sell the boat will be a little sad, partly because a lot of the places we go are either closed, like Sunset Bay in Stuart or have very restrictive rules if you dock. We will also miss seeing a lot of our friends that we normally see like Ron Heagney and his wife Dianne in Vero or our good friends Tom and Marti Benz in Palm Coast. We just dont want the chance of giving or receiving the virus to or from anyone. We shall see. I still have hopes that things will get better soon. Science will solve this or at least help mitigate the final death tally. We are buoyed by the fact that we have no underlying health conditions and are in excellent health. Dylan may have to get use to not going to shore some days but he'll figure it out. So the boat is loaded with food and water, the fuel tank is full and its time to go and get to our new land home....should be an interesting voyage....wish us luck! Mighty Fine has been a wonderful home and has supplied us with many adventures and allowed us to make many new friends. We've had her since 2005, but its time for a new chapter and saving a little money! Cruising ain't cheap although we are looking forward to $2.00 diesel!

Fair Winds and Calm Seas

Craig, Donna and Dylan

Ok, it's been 5 weeks since my last blog! Too much to mention but I'll give it a shot! We left Vero for Sunset Bay mooring field around Dec 11th. No weather issues and the trip was uneventful. Our stay in Stuart for 6 days was a blast as usual. Their annual Christmas party at Sunset Bay is always a goos time. Free food and booze...what could be better. We saw many old cruising friends and swapped cruising stories all week long. Donna did her usual shopping sprees and Dylan and I hung out on the boat mostly.. I did play Pickle Ball at Larry and Margies condo complex in Port St Lucie. Bob and Nancy on Aquasition picked me up by boat to go to their condo iff the St Lucie River North Fork. ( they have a condo unit there too). We played for a couple of hours and was a lot of fun. We went out to dinner with Nancy, Bob, Larry and Margie at our favorite Chinese Buffet later in the week. A good time was had by all! We left Stuart on Sunday the 15th, which I swore I would never do. Travelling on a weekend down here is a nightmare! Boats everywhere and nobody slows down! Lots of wakes! But we had a 3 day window to get to Marathon before bad weather arrived. 3 day trip that should take 4 meant long days! We were going to stay in Lake Boca and anchor but the town of Boca Raton had their Christmas boar parade Sunday night! No room at the Inn...the anchorage was packed with boats watching the parade that night. A giant party for 10 miles of the ICW. Luckily after a couple of attempts to anchor in too shallow places...we called Lighthouse Pt Marina 6 miles down farther and by some miracle, they had a slip for us! It was tight but we got in right at dark! Phew! A long dawn to dusk 80 mile day! Monday we snuck out in high winds which caused a little pucker factor! Monday travel through Miami was a pleasure....no boats all day on the ICW. We made great time and got all the way to Bogue Sound 80 miles away at the bottom if Biscayne Bay which was a little bumpy but not bad most of the way. We anchored for the night but unfortunately for Dylan...no shore access. He does have his pee pad but refuses to do # 2 on it. His eyes crossed a little bit but he was fine. In the middle of the night we got a wind switch which made for a bumpy sleepless night! Ugh. The weather man isn't always right and our protected cove became unprotected by a southeast wind. So we got an early start that morning just before sunrise and headed to Marathon. Lots of 5.5- 6 ft depths on the inside passage but it is so protected from strong South and East winds that it was the only way to go. We made great time and arrived in Boot Key Harbor around 1:30 at Sombrero Dockside Marina. Bruce from Summer Wind greeted us and helped tie us up...Thank you Bruce! And here we are for the last time on Mighty Fine for the next 3 months until the end if March. So much to do here, we are way to busy and eating out way too much. So many Bars and so little time! The great news is the bar at Sombrero Dockside is finally open after being closed since Hurricane Irma 2 years ago. They have great food and live music! Lots of fun. Dylan loves it! I've gotten back into my Friday poker group and have won twice! Texas Hold'em! Good chunk of change too which Donna has spent at her Thrift stores in town! Just kidding honey! Played golf a few times on Wed. with our normal group up in Key Colony. Been to the movies and the beach which is back to the way it was pre Irene. .very nice. Margie and Larry showed up about a week ago in Wanderin' L&M and they are right next to us. Bob and Nancy arrived Jan 2nd and are on the other side of us. So the gang is all back together! Wed I helped Bob and Larry get their cars in Port St Lucie, about an 8 hr round trip. We rented a car here and drove it up there and then I drove the rental back so they would not be hit with a one way drop off fee. Glad to do it after Larry helped with a plugged toilet issue along with Bruce( who could get in a place that neither Larry or I could fit without getting stuck!) I wont go into details but it turned into a 2 day project. They went above and beyond the call if duty and I owe them both big time! So here we are settling into our winter routine for the last time. Next year we will either be in Myrtle Beach or somewhere further south in the RV...maybe even here! 2 last things. Merry and Doug Purdy are here on Purdy Suite. Merry had already done several impromptu concerts over at Marathon City Marina Tiki hut. They seem to be having a ball. Lastly, a big surprise! We may see our old Buddy boat fruends Jane and Brian from Mar a Lago fame. They are driving down from Canada and may show up mid week! We cant wait!...
This blog is for you Jane and oh ya, Linda Raymond too, who loves my blog! Lol.
Cheers
Craig, Donna and Dylan

Poof....time flew again! We are currently in Vero Beach and have been since last Monday. After St Augustine we headed for Palm Coast Marina to visit our friends Tom and Marti Benz for Thanksgiving. We got there on the Monday before Thanksgiving and stayed until Friday. Marti and Tom are the best! They loaned us their car for a few days so we could reprovision supplies while in town. Thanksgiving was stellar as usual at their gorgeous house in Palm Coast. Dylan came with us to play with their Yorkie, Molly. He was a little wound up at first but settled down after awhile...dont think he's used to the wide open spaces of a big house! Lol. Marti's pecan chocolate pie is to die for! We had a great day and great food...thanks again Tom and Marti! The next day we headed for New Smyrna beach City Marina and got to watch another Christmas tree lighting party downtown...seems like we are following these ceremonies down the intercoastal! We had a nice dinner on the street and then watched the lighting. Dylan even got to see it! It has been chilly lately so we headed back to the boat and some heat. We've had weather in the 40's at night here lately which is very unusual. We left New Smyrna and headed 70 miles down to Eau Gallie to anchor for the night in the channel next to a small swing bridge. The wind was supposed to pick up out of the SW at night so we were in a perfect spot for those winds that did pick up overnight. We knew it wad going to be windy on Sunday so we shortened the day by travelling 70 mile on Saturday. It worked perfectly because by the time we got to the bottom of the Indian River (part of the ICW) on Sunday morning, the wind was honking 15-20knts out of the SW, almost on our nose. By the time the waves were picking up, we were in the narrow part of the river. We got to Vero around noon as it was only 32 miles from Eau Gallie. Basically a 4 hour ride. We went to the fuel dock for the now mandatory pump out and red tag that proves your pump out handle has been disabled. ( something new for here, trying to crack down on people pumping overboard). Kind of silly because they have a pump out boat that comes out to the mooring field to pump boats out. It is what it is. After getting some fuel after the pump out, we moved out to the mooring field and rafted up with Al and Sue of Gelato fame. As filks may recall, Vero allows 3 boats on a mooring because it is so protected in here and they can triple their income! It was a little windy but we managed not to damage anything as we rafted up. Lots of practice from the old Lake Champlain days. I believe we had a 17 boat raft up one time up there back in the day! Lots of practice I guess. Donna has been doing laundry, taking the free bus into town to shop and visiting with foks we know from the past. Dylan has been enjoying the dog park near by with his buddies.I played pickle ball a the park on Tuesday with Ron and Deb from Scheherazade, who were her until Thursday. We will see them again in Marathon. There are 12 dedicated courts in town! Very cool. We played for 3 hours! My knees and Achilles are just fine amazingly! We had some cocktails on their boat that night with Al and Sue. Lots of laughs. The next day, Wed, we met with Larry and Margie from Wanderin' L&M who we haven't seen since Osprey. They took us to lunch and we caught up on all the news since we last saw them. They live near here a few months of the year. We will also see them in Marathon in January but also when we move down to Stuart on Monday. Yesterday we had lunch with Bill and Mo Little who have a house on Hutchinson Island now after they sold Sweet Freedom. It was great to see them again and we got all caught up on what our kids were doing and what our future plans are. We usually see them in the summer in Vt too. Tonight, Saturday is the Vero Beach Christmas parade, which is always fun...it goes for like 2 hours. Every organization in the town and county, has a float! Tomorrow, we're supposed to meet up with an old work colleague and friend, Ron Heagney...we are very busy! Lol. Monday we will throw the mooring line and head to Sunset Bay Marina and there mooring field. Another week there before we move down to Marathon for Christmas. Sunset Bay always has a fantastic Christmas party and wait for it.....Christmas tree lighting ceremony! Lol. Forgot to mention while Donna was in town Wednesday, I visited with John Bacon Jr, from Vt. His Dad Jack and I used to be next to each other at Point Bay Marina for years. He has a boat at Vero Beach Yacht Club. He lives down here full time with his girl friend Connie. We got caught up on all things Bacon! Apparently Jack, his Dad, had a triple bypass recently but is doing fine. Glad to hear it Jack. Wishes for a full recovery! Thats all for now...Fair winds and calm seas!

Crew of Might Fine

Time flies...it goes faster and faster the older I get. I think Einstein had some theory about that but I aint no Einstein so we will leave it at that. The last couple of weeks were spent playing in St Augustine and then an eventual move to Palm Coast last Monday, yesterday. We spent a lot of time with Kath and Dan Craig at their house playing darts and eating lots of food. There may have been some alcohol consumed too! Dan and I were involved in a titanic dart series which is now best of 11 because I trail 3 games to 5. ( I already lost 2 out of 3, best of 5, and best of 7 and 9.) So best of 11 it is! Next time Dan, next time! Dan and Kath were truly great to us as they loaned us their truck to go shopping and take care of medical stuff. You guys are the best! Speaking of Medical stuff, Donna had her kidney stone stent removed without incedent thank goodness! The kidney stone episode is over! The pinched nerve in the neck continues...sadly. Ibuprofin is her friend. Hopefully it gets better soon like the Dr said it would....seems way worse in the morning vs the rest of the day. New pillow needed? Very strange....anyway she has been a trooper on the trip having to deal with this literal pain in the neck( and shoulder). While in St A we saw Bruce and Claudette from Summer Wind fame. They had come from St Marys Boat yard like us but in much colder weather. We saw some low 49's last week at night. Still 60's and 70's in the day time though. We went with them and Kath and Dan to Pizza Alley to get 2 for 1 beers and a free slice! What a deal! One of our St A favs! A good time was had by all although I need to relate a strange story....I think I may have some strange phsycic powers! This is not a happy story but it is bizarre. Here goes. Bruce and Claudette are thinking of selling their boat. Last spring when they were moored in Ft Lauderdale on their way north a guy started yelling at them from the bridge. Turns out he loved their boat Summer Wind, a 42 ft Hunter in immaculate shape. Well they met up and the guy said he might like to buy it in the fall....this fall. They stayed in touch through the summer and all wad looking positive. So at dinner Bruce says they hadn't heard from him in awhile but they were still going to Lauderdale to see if he was still interested. So this is where the weird part starts. They said he wad a screenwriter and I thought I knew him. Something maybe google his name and I blurted out he had just died 3 weeks ago! They all thought I was kidding but I wasnt...The looks on Bruce and Claudettes faces were just stunned disbelief. The guy was only 47. We checked the obituary and it wad him for sure.....very very strange. Now they know why he hadn't returned any calls lately. Why I looked him up at that point I dont know....a sixth sense maybe. So now they will continue to Marathon for the winter which we are glad about but we cant be to happy based on the circumstances... So after that nights excitement.....the next event was the Night of Lights where the city lights up 3 million bulbs in the park downtown. We met Kath and Dan and Bruce and Claudette and watched the show. They always have a broadway style Christmas show in the Park gazebo. Professional orchestra and all. Always a way to get into the Christmas spirit! St A is just a cool town with almost 500 years of history! Nothing like it in the US. Sunday was a day of rest as well as getting ready to travel which involves starting engines, updating navigation tablets and just getting things secure. For Donna, its doing laundry! Monday we headed out on a calm cool morning for the 3 hour trip to Palm Coast Marina, another favorite stop. Tom and Marti Benz who we have known for 24 years via Point Bay Marina in Vt, have a house here and as in the past, have asked us to Thanks Giving Dinner Thursday. Marti is an amazing cook and we cant wait for the big day. Tom met us after we tied up and we went out to lunch after Marti showed up in the parking lot coming from work. Always good to hear what they and their family has been up to. They are both super generous folks who always are so nice to us. Ex....they loan us a car while we are here to go shopping and stuff. We always look forward to this leg if the trip. From here we will head to Vero Beach over the course of 3 days and see other friends waiting for us there like Gellatto for example. We will stay there for a week and then move to Stuart for another week before our final move to Marathon. Thats all for now....

Fair winds and calm Seas

Time flies...it goes faster and faster the older I get. I think Einstein had some theory about that but I aint no Einstein so we will leave it at that. The last couple of weeks were spent playing in St Augustine and then an eventual move to Palm Coast last Monday, yesterday. We spent a lot of time with Kath and Dan Craig at their house playing darts and eating lots of food. There may have been some alcohol consumed too! Dan and I were involved in a titanic dart series which is now best of 11 because I trail 3 games to 5. ( I already lost 2 out of 3, best of 5, and best of 7 and 9.) So best of 11 it is! Next time Dan, next time! Dan and Kath were truly great to us as they loaned us their truck to go shopping and take care of medical stuff. You guys are the best! Speaking of Medical stuff, Donna had her kidney stone stent removed without incedent thank goodness! The kidney stone episode is over! The pinched nerve in the neck continues...sadly. Ibuprofin is her friend. Hopefully it gets better soon like the Dr said it would....seems way worse in the morning vs the rest of the day. New pillow needed? Very strange....anyway she has been a trooper on the trip having to deal with this literal pain in the neck( and shoulder). While in St A we saw Bruce and Claudette from Summer Wind fame. They had come from St Marys Boat yard like us but in much colder weather. We saw some low 49's last week at night. Still 60's and 70's in the day time though. We went with them and Kath and Dan to Pizza Alley to get 2 for 1 beers and a free slice! What a deal! One of our St A favs! A good time was had by all although I need to relate a strange story....I think I may have some strange phsycic powers! This is not a happy story but it is bizarre. Here goes. Bruce and Claudette are thinking of selling their boat. Last spring when they were moored in Ft Lauderdale on their way north a guy started yelling at them from the bridge. Turns out he loved their boat Summer Wind, a 42 ft Hunter in immaculate shape. Well they met up and the guy said he might like to buy it in the fall....this fall. They stayed in touch through the summer and all wad looking positive. So at dinner Bruce says they hadn't heard from him in awhile but they were still going to Lauderdale to see if he was still interested. So this is where the weird part starts. They said he wad a screenwriter and I thought I knew him. Something maybe google his name and I blurted out he had just died 3 weeks ago! They all thought I was kidding but I wasnt...The looks on Bruce and Claudettes faces were just stunned disbelief. The guy was only 47. We checked the obituary and it wad him for sure.....very very strange. Now they know why he hadn't returned any calls lately. Why I looked him up at that point I dont know....a sixth sense maybe. So now they will continue to Marathon for the winter which we are glad about but we cant be to happy based on the circumstances... So after that nights excitement.....the next event was the Night of Lights where the city lights up 3 million bulbs in the park downtown. We met Kath and Dan and Bruce and Claudette and watched the show. They always have a broadway style Christmas show in the Park gazebo. Professional orchestra and all. Always a way to get into the Christmas spirit! St A is just a cool town with almost 500 years of history! Nothing like it in the US. Sunday was a day of rest as well as getting ready to travel which involves starting engines, updating navigation tablets and just getting things secure. For Donna, its doing laundry! Monday we headed out on a calm cool morning for the 3 hour trip to Palm Coast Marina, another favorite stop. Tom and Marti Benz who we have known for 24 years via Point Bay Marina in Vt, have a house here and as in the past, have asked us to Thanks Giving Dinner Thursday. Marti is an amazing cook and we cant wait for the big day. Tom met us after we tied up and we went out to lunch after Marti showed up in the parking lot coming from work. Always good to hear what they and their family has been up to. They are both super generous folks who always are so nice to us. Ex....they loan us a car while we are here to go shopping and stuff. We always look forward to this leg if the trip. From here we will head to Vero Beach over the course of 3 days and see other friends waiting for us there like Gellatto for example. We will stay there for a week and then move to Stuart for another week before our final move to Marathon. Thats all for now....

Fair winds and calm Seas

Well 9 days have gone by and we have a lot of catching up folks! After Beaufort we headed to Savannah and Thunderbolt Marina. Free Krispy Kremes every morning! Put on some fuel and a pump out so we would be good to go next morning on our way through the Georgia grasslands. Now that Hell Gate has been dredged, its not necessary to time your departure for high tide! We went through at low and saw nothing less than 12 ft...used to be 3ft! We were going to stop halfway but we were making such good time, we decided to keep going to St Simons Island....for a 90 mile day. We arrived in Hawkins Creek around 4:30 found a place to anchor after 2 tries..took Dylan to shore at the public launch. He was very happy! The next morning we went through Jekyl Creek at newly dredged low tide and saw nothing less than 8 ft.....used to be 3 ft! Seeing a pattern, dredging operations are the most we've ever seen on the ICW in 7 years! It was cold and rainy as we went through St Andrews Sound trying a newly discovered path that doesn't take you out into the Ocean and massive swells on windy days! It worked very well and we saw no big waves and just a little roll...much better. No white knuckling for the crew this time! I did forget to mention that we passed a huge car carrier Cargo Ship on it's side with 4200 Kia autos on board. She ran aground and tipped over 2 months ago and a decision has been made to cut her up in place rather than try to refloat her. An amazing site for sure. Anyway we continued on to ST Mary's Service Yard run by Rocky Smith....a great guy! We needed to be hauled out and put on the hard for a few days and this was the place. It is a great do it yourself yard! Great prices and very accommodating! We had to time our arrival for high tide because it gets very shallow at the UDock where boats are lifted by a crane and taken to a spot in the yard to be blocked up and supported. Rocky knows his stuff and Mighty Fine was lifted out around 3:15pm and taken to an open spot. We were able to plug in and live on the boat for the next 3 days while I painted the bottom...hopefully for the last time! And then waxed the hull on Thursday....needless to say, I'm a little sore! Thursday night Rocky put us in the cranes slings to get an early start Friday morning. Well it was raining cats and dogs Fri morning but we were determined to get to St Augustine, 74 miles away Friday afternoon. Some windy weather was coming for a couple of days and we didnt want to get stuck in Jacksonville. So Rocky lowered us into the water and we were off. It rained off and on all day but the north wind was at our back so we got a push all day....the bad news was we fought current most of the day and a 2:30 arrival at Rivers Edge Marina became a 4:00 pm arrival. One of the reasons we needed to get to St A was Donna woke up with tremendous pain in her upper arm Friday morning. We had no idea what was going on because she didnt remember stressing it. Mighty Fine needed to get to the emergency room in St A as she needed to find out what was going on. Been a tough trip for her so far! When we arrived in St A the wind was honking and 2 attempts at backing in to our slip failed so we went in frontwards! Our friends Dan and Kath Craig greeted us at the dock and helped the dockhands get us tied up. Kath and Dan loaned us their truck and off to the Emergency we went. We waited for an hour and finally saw a Dr. He decided to xray her neck and shoulder. The good news was no heart issue, the bad news was a pinched nerve in her neck. We were both relieved! After getting a high dose of Ibuprofen and some steroids, she has gotten better every day! Thank God it wasn't worse! We got back to the boat around 10 and Donna was able to get a good nights sleep! The next day Kath and Dan loaned us their truck again to food shop and let us get settled in. Then they invited us to dinner for some fabulous pasta at their gorgeous house near by. Yesterday I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch my pathetic Giants lose again! But once again, Kath and Dan invited us for a cook out with our old boating friends Joy and Ivan who were visiting from NC. We had a great time reliving old times and many laughs were had! Especially about the Georgetown Bahamas days where we all first met. Thanks again Kath and Dan...you are the best! Today was fix the leaky toilet day...there is always something on a boat. Turns out the pump on the toilet has a bad seal so $220.00 later a new pump is on order! Donna went in to town to see some second hand stores so you know she is feeling better! We will be here for 2 weeks at least...Donna still needs to have her stent removed from her kidney stone issue so whenever that gets scheduled determines how long we will stay. We do like this area a lot so its a great place to be stuck in! A final note is go see Midway! Great movie with amazing special effects...very appropriate around Veterans Day. Thanks all who have made the sacrifice of military service and especially those that made the ultimate sacrifice!

Fair winds and calm seas