They do call it the sunshine state and we are getting a fair amount of that. What they don't tell you is that in the northern part is can still get a little chilly. Not frozen, you understand, but chilly. No bathing suits, no shorts, just sweatshirts and long trousers and gloves. Brrrr!

We got up early and went to the Farmer's Market this morning. It's a pretty good little market but a bit pricey especially when we compare it to the ones that we have been at in Gulfport and New Smyrna Beach, but it is very nice to get fresh produce, much of it locally grown. For the rest of our provisioning we went to "Harrasing Titters" which is easily the best grocery store chain that we have come across in the US. It is very close to Pete's Fruitique back home without the same level of selection. Regardless we are certainly getting our full use out of the rental car. Since yesterday we have been to the extreme north end of Amelia Island and today we drove down past the country clubs and gated communities past the southern end of the island we can now truthfully say that we have been from one end of Amelia Island to the other. Much of the gated communities have been built adjacent to the American Beach which used to be black only but now that the other beaches are no longer segregated, I guess it's OK to allow the developers to encroach on this one. The Harris Teeters in the midst definitely have higher prices than the other grocery stores on the island but you can still get a good deal if you shop carefully and have one of their VIP cards that let you get all of their additional reductions. IN our case this morning a bill that would have been $76 became $63 with the use of the card. All of the grocery stores down here use them, and I sure wish that they did so too at home.

I have assembled and shaped the mount for the auto helm so I should be able to complete the install tomorrow. I'll wriggle the camera in and take some shots to put in the gallery as I promised.

The long range weather forecast is for cold and windy weather for the next several days so it is looking like we will be waiting until at least Wednesday before setting off and then we will most likely be heading down the ditch to St Augustine before jumping off to Fort Pierce and the expected wait for a weather window to the Bahamas. On the trip the other day to the West Marine we were able to buy a Bahamian courtesy flag. I was a little surprised to discover that they courtesy flag is not the same at the national flag. The former is a white cross on a red background with the national flag in the upper quarter closest to the hoist, They are similar to the UK in this in that British yachts fly the an ensign and only the monarch gets to fly the Union Jack. It's a bit complicated for my little brain so I am rather glad that we Canadians just have the one flag, sort of multi-purpose.