Still slowly heading south...

We have made some progress south since I last wrote on this blog. We have had a wonderful time visiting friends along the way as well as meeting new friends. Our social life has been great fun!

(Took these on my phone so a bit fuzzy)

While we were in the lovely city of St Augustine we had a great dinner at Louise and Bryan's new home south of town on Anastasia Island on the Intracoastal. We met these two at the Canadian American Business group in Atlanta in the early 90's and have lots of history in common! It was terrific to catch up with all their news. Louise and Brian, the Silver Girl crew and we all had drinks on Wind Spirit and then dinner together at Columbia in the old part of St. Augustine, which was fun and yummy! We were back at Louise and Brian's again as we waited out some cold windy rainy weather forecasts. Brian did the chefs honors this time with some help from Louise and we enjoyed another delicious dinner. Honestly we did invite them to Wind Spirit for dinner.



Tried to convince them to come sailing with us too, but they are headed to Costa Rica for their sunshine fix! We were able to walk a bit in the old town and to visit some amazing galleries too. It was my first walking adventures since I had hurt my ankle so we kept them short. The history is amazing as St. Augustine is the oldest city in North America and has been under many flags. Next time more touring.

We made it to Daytona Beach in a day, after we waved goodbye to Brian and Louise as we motored past their house. We anchored in the river in Daytona as it was low tide. Then on Sunday morning we were able to get across the sand bar and into the mangroves to Adventure Yachts Marina. They were very accommodating. Mom's best friend in AZ, Helen, on Wind Spirit

We were able to visit Mother's dear friend Helen, and her daughter Arlene who hosted us for lunch with her daughter Laurie at Boonedocks, their restaurant in the marina at Wilber-by-the-Sea. We spent the afternoon with Helen, who seemed tickled to visit Wind Spirit, ran a couple of errands with us, and then we were invited to a Super Bowl Party at Arlene's. It was great fun being with all of them as well as briefly meeting Helen's great granddaughter Marissa. Laurie came and had coffee with us in the morning before we fueled and left.
Helen, Arlene and her friend Gator... Super Bowl Partying!

Lovely sunny afternoon as we went through New Smyrna Beach the next day. Saw lots of birds and dolphins coming along Mosquito Lagoon. Saw this house with ham radio antenna and planetarium along the way! This is a boater friendly town and they have water taxis too.

Titusville was our next port. We had big winds and the edge of a rainstorm coming across the Indian River on our way in. We had trouble getting the anchor to set in the rough water and wind so went into the municipal marina which was terrific. Titusville has a different focus than St. Augustine with all the space exploration centered nearby. We could see the gantrys and building at the space center, but they were too far away to photograph. Wish we were going to be there the 27th to watch the second last shuttle go off. We may be able to see something from the Bahamas when it takes off if it comes south east. We did find a small and interesting museum and a yummy bakery in town. Also got some canvas repair done some new zippers to keep the wind and rain out of the cockpit enclosure. Greg from Harvey was at the Municipal Marina too and joined us for dinner. He gave us a cribbage lesson which I had long been wanting to do, but we need lots of practice!

We motored on south stopping to anchor at a bridge. Rain and wind slowed us down the next morning and Bill cleaned some filters. We did have a scare while he was working on the boat as the wind came up and we dragged anchor.Saved in the nick of time!

Anchor up and all was well so we continued on to Vero Beach through a lot of pretty islands as we got close. The moorings at Vero are in mangrove lined creeks and there were lots of birds to watch. We were welcomed by Silver Girl and Harvey came in the next day. We all had dinner together at a restaurant we could dinghy to under the bridge. Harvey will be continuing on south to Key Largo and maybe the Dry Tortugas, and we hope to run into Silver Girl in the Bahamas. Bill visited with a friend of Bruce's here who has spent a lot of time in the Bahamas and had some helpful information for us.

Phone call from Harvey as I wrote this, and he is at the boat show in Miami!

Vero to Stuart was a short day and we motored past the inlet at Fort Pierce and past the St Lucie Inlet which is navigable by local knowledge only so will go south to Lake Worth and head east from there. The Gulf Stream is only about 8 miles off the coast at that point.
Our welcome sunset to Stuart!

Stuart is a lovely town and all the more so as we have had an amazing reunion with Pat and her husband Bruce. Pat and I have been friends since we were 10 and she was my maid of honor.
We were all in high school together. Pat's brother David and his wife Corrie are also here in town so it was a family reunion for Sunday dinner complete with a yummy rib roast. Am going to try one of those now...but not for two of us! It was great see everyone and enjoy reconnecting and sharing memories.

We have been totally spoiled by Pat and Bruce. They have taken us exploring all around the islands and coast, fed us royally and run us all over doing weird errands buying boat bits and pieces. We have seen some birds and manatees and walked on beautiful beaches. Unfortunately I took bird and beach pictures on my phone so they are not clear enough to post here. (Did send some by phone to grandson, Will who wanted to see where we were.) Live and learn. At the Stuart beach there was a good sized flock of Royal Terns on the sand close to the water, who were tired from migrating and we could walk very close to them. They were gorgeous with their crests blowing in the wind and their reddish-orange bills. Pat did take some wonderful pictures of them so will try to get some from her and add it to the next blog.
Pat and Bruce have introduced kayaking into their condo community and now have a large group using their condo yacht club pictured behind them, as a kayak club! They have enjoyed exploring the waterways around Stuart.

Pat and Bruce even took us to the Fort Pierce Airport to the Customs and Border Patrol Office to pre-register the boat and us, so we can come back into the country from the Bahamas with a phone call! It is called the Local Boating Option.

The weather while we have been here has been warm and sunny and finally we are in summer clothes with a jacket in the evening. We are on a mooring at Sunset Bay Marina which is a brand new Marina with spacious and immaculate facilities, restaurants and a ships' store too. We've been getting good practice at using the dinghy. Getting on the dinghy from the boat is actually much easier than from the lower floating dock.Boat chores are still happening, new head pump on the aft head, enclosure roof screws replaced and roof recaulked, refrigerator working again, generator working again. We will hopefully be provisioning (translate that to grocery shopping) tomorrow and on our way Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning after the refrigerator cooling system is cleaned our and the rigging has been checked.

So now you are up to date with all our recent endeavors. A huge thank you to all our wonderful friends along the way who have been, and are making this such a memorable trip for us. Also thank you too all our friends and family who keep the emails and phone calls and texts coming so we don't get too much out of touch. We miss you.
Morning light at Sunset Bay on the St. Lucie River.