Oct 8th through Oct 17th

Oct 8th - 11th

clean, clean, pack, pack…eat out with friends…cook what’s in the fridge… 

Oct 12

Visited for the first time the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.  GO - if you have not!  The museum building is grande and the grounds are spectacular.  The art is old European Masters paintings…and huge - larger than life works.  Italian Renaissance, Dutch (a few Rembrandts), Flemish baroque - not quite my style but fascinating, the stories behind the paintings as well as how large they are.  

Oct 13 & 14

clean, clean, pack, pack…eat out with friends…cook what’s in the fridge…

Oct 15

Spent the entire day at the beach.  Woke up, put my suit on, had some java, looked at the paper, made a beach lunch, packed my bag and headed out.  The season down here has not started and so as things go, it is not very crowded.  When i arrived there were only a handful of people on the beach.  Decided to walk further up than i have ever done and did so slowly looking for treasure all along the way….2 things were determined….one, if you set your mind to it you will find treasures everywhere….I found a handful of heart shaped rocks/shells, i found an almost complete sand dollar, i found a perfect large spiral shell and three huge shells of magnificent color i’m taking to kids in KY.  I think i’ve spoken of this before but i try not to pick up something that i’m not going to keep because i truly feel bad that i would pick something up as wondrous as a shell and throw it back or dismiss it for  not being ‘pretty enough’ - yea, weird i know…it’s like i don’t want to hurt its feelings that its not good enough to keep.  

Okay, and the second thing i may have mentioned this before too, is that it seems that only women collect shells - is this a hunting and gathering layover?    

Only in the last few days after all the cleaning and packing have i realized how it may feel to be retired… sweet.

Oct 16

Pack for home, visit the girls in the office, and say bye to Don and hit the pool for one last dip....

Oct 17

Fly home to KY!  It’s time….i go first to take some time visiting with my Dad and family and Harry will follow in a week.  I will send pics along the way but you guys stay in touch and come see us in KY!  I mean it.

Oct 6  & 7   Boca Grande to Sarasota/Longboat Key, FL (The Moorings at Longboat Key Resort)

Traveling in from Boca Grande i told Harry, ‘go slow - let’s stretch this last day out as long as we can.’  Waters were fine and we were both excited to be traveling back home….

We did it - we're back!!  It was quite a sight to see the Ringling Bridge and entering into the Longboat Key channel...

Jennifer announced A11 and Dave and Pete were on deck to assist.  After settling in we headed to Publix to get our favorite lunch - salad bar and an Italian sub sandwich and some flowers!!

Dick called and we exchanged pleasantries but declined his kind invite to come over for dinner and have a bowl of  Lisa Graves’ vegetable soup.  As usual we were plum tuckered out from the day’s run…and took a rain check - plus, i knew i also had Lisa Graves’ vegetable soup waiting for me in her boat’s freezer…i told her i’d been craving it and she made me some - Dick got his because Jackie was away visiting her brother - Lisa’s always taking good care of us…

Oct 7th Longboat Key

Still awaking with loads to do….Dennis, the harbor master informed us that since the boat was listed on yachtworld.com he had been contacted by three serious ‘lookers’..and two wanted a viewing!  so the days are full of cleaning every speck of the boat and packing bins to take to storage to clear out traveling necessities that were junking up the boat.  

Called all the gang that was here in the marina to invite them over to Finally for cocktail hour.  Stopped cleaning long enough to run back over to Publix and get something to make.  here is a great picture of us all - so many great friends and many that weren’t here that were sorely missed.

Oct 5 La Belle, FL to Boca Grande, FL (Boca Grande Marina)

Today was exciting….rain one minute, sun the next.  Harry went to driving from the fly bridge to driving on the aft deck about 4-5 times.  We went through our last lock (Franklin) and crossed our last big body of waters…..and finally entered Boca Grande.  Just as the dock hands arrived, the heavens opened and downpour ensued…kinda fun actually….maybe not for the dockhands.  Repairs to the marina look complete but we were the only ones here!  a few were having lunch at the restaurant but we were the only boat in a slip.  We quickly learned the island had pretty much shut down…the Gaspirilla Inn was closed, as was the Pink Elephant and every other restaurant except the marina restaurant…you don’t think they were pulling our leg, do you?

had a quick lunch and then will come back and have dinner….and then tomorrow LBK!!  a 49 mile cruise…..

Oct 4  Stuart, FL to Port La Belle in the Okeechobee Waterway..(Port La Belle Motel and Marina)
So now we're in the Okeechobe waterway.... oh my i can recall when we first came through here how frightened i was of this large body of water....today is reportedly 'mildly choppy' due to the affects of the hurricane Joquain perhaps..  but we are now safe within the body of central florida and feel certain the hurricane's affects will not effect (ha) us.

got up to pee and saw this out the window.....

From Stuart you travel through small canals that (through many locks) empties you into 'The Lake' - a huge body of water....then it goes back (through locks) to being a small canal...

along this small canal we found the Port La Belle Motel and Marina...50cents a foot!!!!!!!  This wins the prize as being the least expensive of all stops along the way in a 6 month span.  Thank you Port La Belle - you came in 25 cents less than a previous running marina…  oh, well, i should add that we did not have any electric and no restaurant (even though it was listed in ‘the book’) but it was really a pretty spot….

Oct 3 Melbourne, FL to Stuart, FL (Loggerhead Yacht Club)

sorry, I guess i’m kinda over it and did not take any pictures tonight...

Oct 2  New Smyrna, FL to Melbourne, FL (Melbourne Harbor Marina)

Nice place, wonderful lunch and then returned for dinner - could have had Chart House, but who wants an overpriced chain restaurant when we can have a delightful fresh catch dinner - plus i think Harry had a crush on the waitress…. she was a sweetie…

Oct 1 St Augustine to New Smyrna, FL (New Smyrna Yacht Club)  due to our reciprocal Cortez Yacht Club membership!!!!!  (the only CYC reciprocal that we used)

Very dismal beginning to the day, but look how pretty it was....and then it turned even more gorgeous…..cruised right out of that bad weather and mostly traveled in sunshine all the way to New Smyrna. 

High tide was a challenge as we were pulling in - again no dock hands…i lassoed a piling, then two and then captain Harry came down to help.  we secured the boat, checked in and then went back to the boat, made bloodys and took them to the pool. 

so much fun….played in the pool more than i have in a hundred years..since i was a kid….just could not get enough.  Harry returned to the boat  - said he was going to ‘read some’ which means to me and has always been true, means he’s taking a nap - even if it’s 8:00 o'clock at night!  

Returned to this…ha bless his heat……captain has been working hard.

plans are to eat dinner here at the yacht club and hit the hay early…so we can get on our way early tomorrow.  

happy October!!!

Sept 30

Harry woke me up asking…’do you want to go to Florida today?’…..YES!!!  we crossed the line into Florida early today and arrived St. Augustine.

Ferdinand Beach ... We're in FLORIDA!!

Sept 28 & 29 Little St. Simons Island, GA to St Mary’s, GA - Cumberland Island

Again a cloudy day…..this makes for a long day and the glare of an overcast day is hard on your eyes.  But at least it’s not pouring rain or thunderstorms.

The only picture i took all day was one of a shrimp boat covered with more birds than we'd ever seen on a shrimp boat...

We take a right off the Intercoastal and travel 3 miles up the St. Mary’s river to, where else?  St. Mary’s.  First problem - no one is on the docks to help us with the lines…and the current is strong - so the captain tells me to secure the bow line first, so i throw the line onto the dock and then jump off the boat and tie the line and grab the others and secure them…i’ve got us tied up by the time captain has come down off the flybridge!  second problem….docks are old…and had little crabby things running around, fast as hell, like cockroaches…i feared they would board the boat...via the lines....3rd problem….we walk to ‘check-in’ and pay up and stop by at least 4 buildings before we find the harbormaster’s office.  Nat Wilson, the harbormaster is sitting at a desk in an office about the size of a closet surrounded by at least four or five 32 ounce styrofoam cups and a tin FULL of cigarette butts.  You can imagine the smell - fish and cigarettes.  This is the first time that when i’ve seen someone smoking that it did not make me want to have one.  He never stopped smoking.  Nat was a black man, a very black man and Nat’s eyeballs were light blue and very bloodshot…Nat’s speech was very hard to understand…very southern with a mix of what may have been Gullah, a creole language unique to the African-American people living in the low country of GA and SC - fascinating…he seemed to me to be a bit troubled but he put on quite a show face and was overly kind and overly helpful - you know the type..  4th problem…the restrooms were gross!

St Mary’s is a quite, weird town but we did find a really good deli for a late lunch.  I’m going to stop bitching about it now.  We visited the Cumberland Island National Park station to ensure we had all we needed for the ferry ride over tomorrow morning and then we headed back to the boat, turned on the air conditioner, read a bit, played scrabble, packed our lunches for tomorrow and fixed spaghetti on board for dinner.

Sept 29

I was up early, excited to be doing something different!  We each headed out  - both with backpacks full of water, lunch, plates, rain gear, bug spray, binoculars, camera with both lenses and the cumberland island map.

The ferry departed right by our marina…it took 45 minutes to cruise out of the St. Mary’s river, across the ICW and into cumberland inlet.  And as soon as we landed i saw them….i saw what i had come to see - the wild feral (redundant i know) horses that graze the grounds and run the beaches and obviously poop incessantly…

Harry trying to tell the captain where to go.....just kidding....

ferry dock - south end

Cumberland Island is Georgia’s southern most barrier island and is 36,000 acres, 9,800 of which are protected.  The National Park Service bought the island in 1970 from the Carnegie family.  This 9,800 is made up of pristine beaches, huge sand dunes, salt marshes and a massive palmetto and live oak forest.  The pictures will say more than my words and hopefully convey how magical this place looked and felt.  The wildlife was amazing and would show itself so quickly that i did not have time to take a picture.  We saw wild horses, of course, wild turkeys, a huge buck with maybe 4 points, a large cat - we think it was a bobcat..all in a matter of a few hours.  

I thought the island was smaller and that i’d get to see it all…Greyfield Inn and the first African Baptist Church where John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessett were married and Plum Orchard one of the remaining Carnegie mansions.  But i learned quickly from a ranger that a day trip affords you enough time to visit the south end of the island.  This was good news actually, because i could then slow down and enjoy my journey instead of rushing to ensure i see it all.  It was SO good for Harry and I to take a trip OFF the boat.  we had a very good time even if we did wear ourselves plum out.

The below ruins are the Carnegie home that burned in the early 60s...  the wild turkeys seemed to like this area - did not see them anywhere else on the island.   

chestnut big guy horse....and this was how close i was to him...they were very used to those damn humans...

The trails were so quite and peaceful, felt full of something....maybe ghosts....only sounds we heard were scampering of a critter and the many mosquitoes trying to get in our ears and eyes....but i didn't care...the wonder to be in these woods was like nothing else....

After i ran into several sider webs, Harry cut me a palm frond i used to clear the path of spider webs..

After we saw what obviously was a cat...way up the trail...Harry grabbed a man stick and lead the way down the trail.

After awhile, perhaps we became braver... we laid our weapons down...and headed toward the beach...

high tide created many puddles...

and coming and going Harry walked right through the middle of this puddle....i walked around it....what does it mean????

And these are a couple of shots....that sum up the my favorite parts...palmettos and live oaks.....what a beautiful combination...and a beautiful day....  People can camp on Cumberland Island for a maximum of 7 days....and the campsites were gorgeous - inside this forest...

good bye cumberland island...hope to see more of you again one fine day.....