Jacksonville to Stuart

We left Port 32 with a buddy boat, Karma.  We traveled 16 miles and spent a chilly night anchored just outside of St. Augustine.  The next morning we made our way to a mooring ball in St. Augustine for 2 nights.  

Paul and Trish drove over for one last visit before we move further south.  We also enjoyed dinner with Karma at Harry's Seafood.  After dinner at Harry's we made our way to Meehin's Irish Pub where I tried my first Red Ale, Smithwick's.  It was really good! Great company and food!

We departed St. Augustine Saturday the 18th and made our way to Palm Coast Marina for an overnight at the dock.  This was the first 70 degree day we've seen for awhile.  Sunday morning we woke to a Severe Thunderstorm as a cold front made it's way south.  The cold is following us! 

We departed Palm Coast Marina for 45 mile ride to an anchorage in New Smyrna Beach.  It was a 41 degree windy night at anchor and Bill had to take anchor watch from 3:30 to 5:30.  We slept in until 8 and shortly after pulled up the anchor making our way to Titusville where we have a dock reservation for the night at Titusville Marina where we watched the Buckeyes win the National Championship!  GO BUCKS!!    

Tuesday 1/21 we departed Titusville Marina for a 41 mile ride to Melborne Harbor Marina.  We were lucky to have secured a dock in this small but well protected marina with a great restaurant called  Ichabod's to hide from the 30 mph winds.  

After 2 nights and the winds not subsiding we decided to go ahead and make our way to Vero Beach Thursday morning.  It was still a cold, rainy and windy day.  Vero Beach City Marina put us on the Fuel Dock.  We did take advantage of the free public transit system and rode the bus to Walmart for a few things. 

Friday we departed Vero Beach and arrived in Ft. Pierce for 2 nights.  We were assigned a dock on pier E, right next to a DeFever; Mystic.  We met the owners in Sandusky a couple of years ago when they were prepping for their southern voyage and they have been living aboard Mystic for 3 years now going back and forth from Florida and the Bahamas.  It was great to run into them again. 

Saturday brough lots of sun which we haven't seen much of and it warmed up to 70.  The marina was buzzing with a really nice farmers market.  We enjoyed some treats and the live music while we soaked up some sun!  Later in the afternoon Saturday Karma came in for a dock.  We met up with them for dinner at Cobbs Landing.  

 Great farmers market with live music!

We weren't the only one's soaking up the much needed sun!

Sunday morning we left Ft. Pierce headed to Safe Harbor Harborage in Stuart where Ashley, Hanna and Toulouse joined us for 2 weeks.  We had a great time going to the beach, enjoying great food and a lot of relaxing.  

 

Oh!  We also got a new recliner, sold our old dingy and purchased a new one!

Toulouse approved!!

New Dingy!!

Port 32 - Jacksonville, FL

We ended up staying at Port 32 in Ortega Jacksonville for two months.  With the holidays and an unexpected turn of events, we extended our stay to January 11th. 

First, our beloved Roxie crossed over the heavenly rainbow to join mom Nov 13th.  We noticed that she had not been herself and was having problems walking, not eating and sleeping all the time.  We took her to the vet who upon examination found she had multiple enlarged lymph nodes.  He indicated that at her age and with the symptoms she was having he was pretty sure that she had lymphoma.  It was so hard, but we decided it was best to let her go.     

We ended up going home to Ohio for Thanksgiving, which was a good distraction.  Once back to Jacksonville the doctors appointments started, as well as referrals and follow-ups.  Our good friends Trish and Paul live in Jacksonville, so we got to see them several times while we were there. 

It just so happened the Trish and Paul were going on a cruise out of Port Canaveral the 2nd week of December and we had no doctors appointments, so we took a last minute cruise to St. Maarten, St. Thomas and the Royal Caribbean's private island Coco Cay.  We had a great time but came home with colds!

We had a week to recover from our colds before our friends, Pat and Stephanie drove down from Ohio to spend Christmas and New Years with us!  A couple of trips to the beach and days at the pool is a great way to spend the holidays!  

Pat and Stephanie tried to teach me the art of finding sharks teeth.....they found several....I found none on my own....lol!  Pat planted one for me to find toward the end of our last visit. He's working working on his grandpop skills!

January brought the winter to Florida with lows in the 30's and highs in the 50's.  With doctors appointments wrapping up and the cold coming in, it was time to get out of dodge and move south!  

 

Savannah GA to Jacksonville FL

Friday 11/01 we departed Savannah very early and anchored in the Crescent River around 4:30, got Roxie to land and was back in the boat just before the noseem's attacked.  Never had them that bad.  It was crazy!

The next morning we made our way to Jekyll Island where we stayed in Jekyll Harbor Marina for 2 nights.  We spent our time here cleaning, doing laundry, working on the dingy and changing the engine oil.  

Monday morning 11/3 we left Jekyll Island and made our way to Cumberland Island.  We anchored there for 2 nights.  We really enjoy the National Park, which includes the entire island.  The Dungess Ruins, wild horses, dear and many other critters.  In addition it appears the anchorage is popular with the juvenile dolphins!  They were playing everywhere! 

The Dungeness Ruins are the remains of a mansion that was built in 1896.  

The next day we walked across to the other side of the island to the beach.  What a great walk!  Any we got up close to a few horses!

As we were walking back from the beach there was a rustling in the bushes....it was hoses coming to the creek for water! 

Wednesday we had a short ride to Fernandina Harbor Marina on Amelia Island.  We stayed two nights. 

After leaving Fernandina Harbor we went to Port Consolidated and took on another $300 gallons of fuel.  We had a short ride to the free dock at Sister's Creek where we stayed another 2 nights.

Casualties along the way.

Sunday morning 11/10 we left Sister's Creek headed up the St. John's River toward Jacksonville.  

We made it past the football stadium and downtown and anchored just outside of the Jacksonville Baptist Hospital for the night.  There was a YMCA just across the river that had a dock which was great for getting Roxie to land.  

The next morning we made our way to Port 32 where we will stay for a month, then on to Key West and the Bahamas for the winter!