Thursday 5/14 St. Augustine to Ferdinand Beach, FL.

Just landed and set up shop in Ferdinand Beach, FL - another really lovely marina and the town is darling…..i honestly did not know FL had so many charming historic towns.  put this one on your list to stop by…really helpful, nice marina staff.

Friday 5/15  Ferdinand Beach, FL to St. Simons Island, GA (Hidden Harbor Yacht Club)

Left port with clouds and very choppy waters - rolled a lot as we passed the inlet to the ocean.  While passing Cumberland Island i DID see a wild horse via binoculars - but that’s all i saw…could not see Greenfield or the old church or any buildings.…a Cumberland Island full day stop over is on the agenda on the return trip.  

Hidden Harbor Yacht Club sounds fancy but it’s not but it IS hidden.  Bobby, the dock master is female who is full of talk and knowledge and doesn’t mind sharing it.  we were 1 of 2 boaters there.   She lives above the marina facilities overlooking the Georgia waterscape and lowlands.  She said the sunrises were ‘the bomb’ so i decided to set the alarm and check it out…..she also arranged for a local restaurant (Pam's) to come pick us up for dinner.  So i packed up my goodies and headed for the outdoor shower.  That is one thing i plan to add to Ellendell upon returning.  

Bob, who is married to Pam, picked us up and informed us that they opened the place after he retired as an L.A. policeman.  They chose this spot because it was near the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.  He said every law enforcement person (besides FBI) goes through this training center - that means TSA, police people from all over the US and abroad even.  Once you get inside this place it looks like a pool hall but has thousands and thousands of police badges from all over the world.  T-shirts and everything under the sun is in every cranny - i even found where Bob was awarded a KY Colonel certificate by John Y. Brown.  So needless to say there were LOTS of strong looking boys in this place and Pam seemed to mother them all.  

Sunrise was so much fun…it’s been quite a while since i’ve treated myself to the pleasure and glory of the sun rising… 

Wednesday 5/13 St Augustine lay over….

Slept in - til 9….much activity going on outside - tour boats revving up, with pirates shouting ‘ahoy matey’, neighbors leaving port, bascule bridge sounding the open alarm….it’s hard to sleep while there is so much excitement.  On my day off i took my coffee in my robe up top - well not way up top on the bridge - now that would be a bit weird in my robe.  Sweet morning glory….

Wanted to get the laundry done and behind me so i could play.  Tried my best to start it but many folks here are obvious early risers so i was much later getting it started and done.  All the sailboats (many) that are anchored to a mooring ball are coming in to do laundry.  In fact I’m still at it.  It is 3:44pm and I am right now awaiting our clothes to dry. There was a line all afternoon to use the dryer. But it’s hot outside and it’s cool in here, plus it’s fun watching all the kids from the sailboats in here watching TV - Survivor - ha.  They are living a reality show and don’t even realize it.

We toured the city and what a lovely place full of so much history.  I did happen upon the best art exhibit i have ever seen.  i was almost in tears at all the beauty.  I’ve never seen so much in one place.  it was a juried masters exhibit  - I asked if i could take pictures to show my daughter but of course they said no.  Ate lunch at a fine place called Harry’s Bar and Grill - i had shrimp creole and H had mahi sandwich.  And a great dinner at Catch 27 - which Yelp helped me find.  We shared a blue crab cake dinner (3 crab cakes) which was wonderful for 20 bucks.  

Tuesday 5/12 New Symrna to St Augustine, FL (St. Augustine Municipal Marina)

From New Symrna it was small intercostal waterway canals - Indian River, Halifax River, Ponce de Leon inlet, allowed for a close up look at many, many homes on the river.  All day long i sat positioned with my binoculars as the voyeur i am.  So close i could spy a tired gardener taking a break under her umbrella, drinking tea in a tall fancy glass.  I’d rather be watching birds but when you can look into the yards and homes of us humans it’s a bit less boring….

Breezy hard current upon arrival - H. did great bringing her in.  Marina is right across the street from the historic St. Augustine downtown district - many, many mooring folks.  I’ve never seen so many young families that live on their sailboats and they just keep moving around from marina to marina.  They dinghy in from a mooring to wash/laundry and get supplies. - all with very young families in tow…(well, they’re not actually towing them - they are in the boat).  One fella came over to discuss with Harry an out board motor issue and he had this delightful French accent and a daughter with him (about 10) had a ‘plain as day’ American accent.  I had seen her and her two sisters (younger) and mom earlier and watched them travel across waters back and forth from the sailboat to the marina facilities (bathroom, shower, etc..).  Anyway….the ten year old told me her dad was French and her mother from Brazil and they live in PA.  She says they all speak three languages!  so cool…

Hollie comes to visit!!!  Hollie arrived at our boat around 630 and we went across the street to dinner at O.C. Whites - a lovely, obviously sturdy building that has stood strong since 1790 - 1790!  Hollie is our first visitor and having her with us, even if it’s just for a bit, was so enjoyable.  We discussed and looked at pictures of our travails and her exciting Kentucky Derby festivities.  She is in Ormond Beach, which is about an hour away, for a week visiting cousin Rex.  We behaved (Hollie made us) so we could get her on the road safely for the drive back.  Thanks for making the effort to come see us Hollie Hop.   

Monday 5/11  from Coco, FL to New Symrna, FL (New Symrna City Marina)

I’ve gotten into a pattern and after i untie and wrap the lines and put them away I take my coffee to the bow of the boat.  this is where i  collect my thoughts and give good glory to the morning… 

Jan, this crappy shot is Cape Canaveral in the distance — you probably know this but it’s located in Titusville - now a ghost town they say…but tours to the compound still occur every 2 hours or so.  We saw many tour buses crossing over the NASA bridge while we went under it.  It was a foggy morning but i could make out the huge NASA sign on the side of the building.  The building is SO large that it seemed to stay in view all day.  Harry was cruising through here years ago and stayed at Titusville marina and unbeknown to him there was a scheduled launch.  He said it lit up the night sky for miles around, describing it as un-f-ingbelievable!!

After Titusville we entered a very long stretch of a wide waterway beaming with wildlife.  I”m finding i’m much more entertained by the birds and the manatees and dolphins than i am of the humans.  Most humans are rather boring in comparison - I say this by observing their ‘nests’.  Most people homes are boring - and i've seen quite a few along the waterways...

Back to the wildlife - i saw something today that i’ve never seen and i can only call it a ‘ribbon’ of birds.  Maybe a hundred white sea birds took flight and flew in a formation that closely resembled geese but made it appear as if it was a white ribbon flittering in the wind.  It was SO beautiful - and my picture is a very weak attempt to share this.   

I also saw three rosebud spoonbills - if i ever saw hundreds of those guys forming pink ribbons i would surely faint away by the beauty of such a thing.

We were greeted by lovely dock hands at this marina.  A wife, her husband and another fella helped us in.  I lassooed my first stern piling today.  :)  And only on my third try.  It was tense docking just because of a strong current that was hitting our back end and not wanting to get into the gate, so to speak…

Once we dock we go to the marina office and pay of course but also to gather literature on where to eat and ask around about good places to dine.  This is one of my favorite parts…tonight it was decided hands down that we’d try Yellow Dog Eats - a gourmet BBQ place.  While taking it easy on the aft deck i got to watch a chartered fishing boat come in with all its goodies.  The picture tells the story but it was so fascinating to watch them come in, hang the fish up for pictures, watch the guys fillet the fish, throw scraps out to the awaiting pelicans, bag up the fillets, divvy them out to the 4 guys, who put them into their awaiting coolers and drive away.  We think the fish on both ends are groupers, then mahi dolphin (the green ones), a red snapper.  damn cool to see what they bring up out  of the waters.

This town just felt good to me.  I think it  started with a really attractive marina office (now these designing humans were not boring) and darling downtown streets.  On our way to dinner, right there in downtown was a VITAS office - I took a picture for my gal pals at VITAS.  I was proud, because i know the caring, hard work that goes on in that building.  

Sunday 5/10 from Vero Beach City Marina to Coco, FL (Coco Village Marina)

Woke up feeling like i’d been hit by a truck….all that walking and working on the boat is giving this old body a work out.

Arrived in Coco around 230 and Harry says, ‘let’s walk into town for lunch’…no sir, not today and i fixed lunch on board and rested while Harry took a walk.  Read my first book in my new kindle (thanks to Sarah, Judi, Joyce, Candy, Alex, Terri and Tammy) - chose Carson McCuller’s Reflection in a Golden Eye - SO good!!  Recommended by Karen Russell who wrote the whacky pulitzer prize winning Swamplandia.

It’s Mother’s Day and when i ventured out on the dock i spied a Mom gathering three tiny children off a sailboat.  I”m telling you, one was dangling from a pouch thing she was wearing - his/her skinny 2-3 month old arms and legs were just hanging down whenever she would bend over to help the 2 and 3 year olds off the boat.  Can you believe this?  I said now Happy Mother’s Day really applies to you - she said they were headed to the beach and that they (her husband and three kids) lived aboard the 45 foot sailboat.  I watched as one stood perfectly still on the dock while the mom put one in a stroller that was on the dock and with that third one just dangling along…. I told her, ‘I can’t imagine, I can’t even take care of two adults.’  She said it was logistical perfection.

The cute downtown was directly across the street from this very nice marina - make a note boaters.   Anna, I took a picture of a shop on our way to dinner that looked like it used to be an old filling station (oh, that means gas station my dear) - it was just the type of place we would love to spend some time in - but it was closed - but i even enjoy window shopping through the picture i took…. 

Harry chose a biker diner for mother’s day dinner - I'm so easy.  But i did declare that next time I get to chose.  Harry had oysters, lobster bisque and we shared Mahi Mahi in papaya salsa.  oh i and ordered myself a side of 5 bean baked beans!!!  :)

Saturday 5/9  Hutchinson Island Marriott Marina to Vero Beach, FL. 

Looking back at this morning’s preparation, I have to say that I SO miss Longboat Key’s marina and dock hands.  Even before my second cup of coffee we had untied, unhooked and scurried over to the diesel and pump out stations for gas and shits.  ha.   As is familiar, the dock hand handed Harry the fuel pump and he began to fill the tanks.  THEN, the dock hand handed ME the pump out pump and not wanting to seem timid about the whole thing, I took it!  I then told him to tell me exactly what to do…..so i put the pump over the pump out hole and pulled back a lever (which was hard to do with one hand because i KNEW not to let up on the other hand that held down that suction pumper thingy…) and it started to do its business, so to speak….but then i had to take the pump over to port side to empty the other tank and he could not see to direct me on how again to do this….but i managed except for a little OMG spillage on me Sperrys.  Harry said, ‘ha i should get a picture of that!’  well hell, Harry can’t even answer his own smart phone let alone handle my new camera.  but i do wish we had a picture - i’d send it to Jennifer at the Marina for Tim, Dave, Chuck and James to see.

Rest of the ride from Hutchinson to Vero Beach City Marina was fine and the weather hot but calm.  Soon as we docked, tied up, hooked up and got the stairs attached (which takes about 30-45 minutes - ugh) Harry says let’s take a walk to go get some lunch and four blocks later we are enjoying drinks and a light lunch ocean side.  Then we walked back for dinner - a local spot with live music (a very country band).  Leg cramps ensued but the exercise felt good.  probably in bed by 930.

Morning chore:  draft itinerary for next few days.

5/9 Vero Beach City Marina

5/10 CocoVillage Marina

5/11 New Symrna City Marina

5/12 St. Augustine City Marina

We will be traveling behind Subtropical storm Ana - unless she gets crazy and changes direction.

Signing off for a bit.....Ellen