Tuesday, April 17, 2007   

We left Vero Beach this morning while the winds were down.  Made good time for the better part of the morning until the winds picked up again.  Winds 30knots out of the NNW for the rest of the day which kept our speed down to a little over 5 knots.  We anchored in a well protected anchorage just up the Banana River and north of Melbourne.   It was a very peaceful anchorage and since we arrived early we took a dinghy ride and Alan did some fishing.  Met the a couple from Canada on their boat "Jet Stream".  Saw two of the biggest manatees we've ever seen swimming (or whatever they do) around the boat.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Left the anchorage in the Banana River around 7:30 am.  "Jet Stream" left just about the same time.  Along the way a ketch, "Cat's Paws" joined us and the three of us kept pretty good time and managed to get through the bridges together.  Arrived in Titusville early and went ashore to find a place to mail a couple of packages.  Ended up having to walk a couple of miles to a mailing shop (the local post office closes at 1:00 pm and the main post office is miles out of town).  It was very hot as the wind had finally died down.  This is our second stop at Titusville and we're no more impressed as the last time.  Just not much there if you don't have a car.  Saw eleven manatees just lumbering around the boats in the marina.  Never seen so many at one time.  Anyone with a boat at the dock would have a bit of a time trying to maneuver their way out and around them!  Had a wonderful dinner of Monte's Mahi Mahi on the grill.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Passed this dock house with a cool fish coming out of the roof advertising a local Tiki Bar.  Upon further inspection we noticed it also had it's very own live mermaid sunbathing in the corner of the rooftop.  She smiled and waved at Alan!

Arrived in St Augustine last Thursday and took a dock at Oyster Creek Marina on the San Sebastion River for two nights - a good idea since the winds howled from the north for a couple of days and the boats at anchor by the Bridge of Lions really took a beating.  Had a great couple of days touring St Augustine, visiting museums, and just enjoying the lovely city.  Found a great book shop and learned the owners have a boat in the Bahamas.  The owner's father was Frank MoreJohn, an artist and native of Cuba who immigrated to the US with his family in 1930.  He spent many years sailing and painting in the Bahamas and we purchased a great print of a Bahamian Smack offloading it's load of conch to a dinghy at the end of the day.  Think it's going to be a great reminder of Bahamian life in our summer kitchen at home.  The Bridge of Lions is being totally renovated/restored so for any of you who are familiar with it it's quite a sight right now.  It was in such a bad state that many of the old pilings were not even touching the bottom anymore!   A new "temporary" bridge has been built for car traffic with a big "erector set" lift for opening to boat traffic.  Just about all of the old bridge has been removed and it will be restored to it's original state.  It's an amazing project and we were told it will take 3-5 years cost over $75 million.  But in St Augustine they don't replace anything historic and as one local told us "anything over 10 years old is considered historic".  If you've ever seen the bridge I think you'd agree that it should be restored/preserved.  It's quite a piece of architecture.

  Old Bridge of Lions with temporary bridge and lift in background                              Exiting Bridge of Lions and new temporary lift bridge

Under the "erector set" lift bridge

We had to plan our departure from the dock in St Augustine to be at low/slack tide.   Whenever there was  current we were either  pinned to the dock or being forced to the opposite dock.  There was very little maneuvering room and we had to be able to go out in reverse (not something we  choose to do) - no room to turn around or make mistakes.  Around low tide we started watching the current for a while and around 8:00 am we decided that it was slack enough to leave.  For the rest of the day we had a lot of current against us so by mid afternoon we decided to pull into the Ft. George River just north of the St. John's River for the evening.  It was a beautiful anchorage with nothing around but marsh land and wildlife.  Very nice.

Monday, April 24, 2007

Left the anchorage at Ft. George River early.  It was absolutely calm and a beautiful morning.  Made our way through the waterway without seeing another boat, person or sign of civilization for several hours - just beautiful marshes, lots of birds, fish and wildlife.   I had forgotten how much I love these parts of the waterway.  Had good current with us and made good time so we decided to go all the way to Brunswick.  Saw the wild horses on Cumberland Island - six of them.  Arrived at the marina in Brunswick around 4:00 pm.  This is where Mystic Jitney will spend the summer.  We had our last meal of Monte's fish so I say it's time to  head home!  We have a lot of work to do over the next week and then we'll drive north.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Spent the week working on the boat - changing oil and fuel filters, cleaning the bilge, cleaning topsides, taking off sails, cleaning interior and all closets, etc., packing stuff and getting ready to head home.  The boat never looked so good!  The Brunswick Landing Marina is big and new.  We're on dock 13 and there are boats here from everywhere.  We've met a lot of great people who we look forward to seeing again next winter.  Many of them are from up north and out west and  are doing the same thing we are - getting their boat ready to leave for the summer while they head home for the summer.  It's a new marina, new docks, new buildings, and very nice - only problem is they are still in the construction stage and being that we're on dock 13 we still have a dirt road up to our dock.  During the week the construction crews are working on the road and parking lot and we have to walk several blocks through dirt and dust just to get to our car.  There is a constant cloud of dust in the air and we're always trudging through dirt.  I think we're going to have to have the bottom of our feet redone once we get out of here - no matter how many showers we take the ssoles of our feet are always black!  Today we got the RIB on the trailer at a dirt launch site just across the river.  After we got it cleaned up we were able to drive it down to our dock (through the dirt) and load it up.  The weekend is the only time that it's possible to get our car anywhere near our dock because of the construction.  We spent the rest of the day loading the RIB up with "stuff" and covering it for the trip home.  Also got most of the rest of our "stuff" loaded into the car.  Looks like we'll be ready to leave early Monday morning before the work crews get here. 

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Finished up the last details of packing and cleaning today.  Dropped the sails off at the Marina office.  A sail maker from Hilton Head will pick them up on Wednesday, clean them and store them for us.  Hosed the car down and we're ready to go in the morning.  We should be home by Tuesday if all goes as planned.  Then we can start unpacking, cleaning the house and yard and getting ready to enjoy summer in upstate NY - this lifestyle sure has it's share of packing/unpacking, cleaning and restocking but it's worth it.  Sure hope it's warmed up in Malta NY!