Waiting for Sally and Manny

It is a sunny morning here at Harbortown Marina in Fort Peirce, FL.  It is noon and Sally and Manny will be picking us up in five hours.  We are going out for dinner, then over to the Ft.Pierce Tuesday evening jazz concert and then back to their house for a couple of days.

Have been here since Friday.  Just enjoying the marina, meeting new people, some of them are also headed to the Bahamas.

Joy has started packing her stuff.  We have to bring stuff for two plus weeks up north as well as clothes for Sally's house.

My turn in the back cabin is after lunch.  Only one person can move around at time.

If we have time we are going to bike to downtown Ft.Pierce and check out the library.

We have been working on the boat to get it ready for the Keys/Bahamas.Have changed the oil and filter.  The yard is going to install at new VHF radio with AIS and a second remote unit at the helm.
Should be done by the time we get back.

Joe

Market Day in Ft. Pierce

Saturday is market day in Fort Pierce from 8 am to12 noon. The entire park area around the library, parking lots and marina were full of vendors.  One section was the food, the other section was clothes, art, etc.

We spend about two hours this morning shopping and ended up eating fish tacos from one of the vendors.

The marina was wiped out in 2004 and is slowly rebuilding.  The Feds kicked in $18 million so a series of barrier islands are being built to block any storm surge.

So here are a couple of pictures.

This is the crane that  is rebuilding the marina which was wiped out during the 2004 hurricanes.  They are building  barrier islands.

Two dogs dressed up in the holiday collars.

Going to Sally's house Tuesday night.  Joy did a lot of cleaning inside the boat today.  We are going to tackle a sanding project either tomorrow or Monday.

Joe

Back on the boat - Ft. Pierce

Back on the boat after a great stay at Melody's house.  Melody was married to Joy's father, Bob Gabriel, for 20 years from 1985 to 2006.  She is a big part of our family. 

We played duplicate bridge at her Bridge club, Joy and I came in fourth in our section which was
a big surprise to us as we had not played any bridge for 10 months.

Have a bunch of pictures to show.

Joy with one of Melody and Hank's birds on her shoulder

Joy and her sister Sally at the Fr.Pierce Jazz and Blues Society on Tuesday. Had a great time.

Melody and Hank at the Jazz concert.  Hank turned 80 this year.

Manny playing with the band. He also sang,  My Way, in the second half of the program.  He loves
Sinatra songs.

this is Dimples, she is Havanese. She loves to lie between your legs on the recliner.

Now we are Ft.Pierce at Harbortown Marina. Boat will be here until Jan 12 or so. We fly out on Dec 22 and return Jan 9, 2013.  Going to DC.Baltimore, Cleveland and Columbus and then back to DC for Erin's 6th birthday, Jan 8.

Then heading south to the Keys!!!


Joe

FOG HAS LIFTED

It is Monday morning and we are on the way to Vero Beach.  Woke up this morning to dense fog.  This is the third day in a row where it has been foggy at 7 am.  Not a big deal as we only have about a 5 hours to Vero Beach Municipal Marina and Melody is picking us up around 4:30pm.

Spent last night rafted to Yesterday's Dream.  the Frankos are really neat people.  We seem to enjoy doing a lot of different things.  For example Linda and I are big Cleveland Browns fans.  So we were
able to watch the game yesterday against the Kansas city Chiefs on my 4G Wifi card and Sony computer.  The boats were rocking too much for their Dish TV and also the game was not on
Dish TV because it was not sold out.

Some pictures of the last couple of days.

Monday for breakfast, Chef Steve, cooked potatoes with onions and mushrooms.  Along with oranges, grapefruit and bread for toast that we brought we had a great meal on Yesterday's Dream.

 

 

On to Vero Beach!

 

Joe

 

 

 

LEAVING COCOA,FL

Spent two night at Cocoa Village Marina with the Frankos.  Really a nice marina. It i right in the downtown of Cocoa which is painted with all sorts or mural on the buildings.  Went out for breakfast for two days

The first breakfast was at Cafe Unique which bill itself as an Amish store.  They have food from Millersburg, Ohio.  I had a mix of sausage, bacon, and ham with cheese and potato.  Still miss eating eggs.

Saturday moring we were fogged in so we decided to stay an extra night.

Saturday we went to the local musical theater performance of a Christmas Carol, the Musical.  It was a large production withe over 80 people involved in it. They only do musicals, about 7 per year.  It is like the New London Barn players but only all year long.

So today we are off to a anchoring spot about 30 miles from  Cocoa and 30 miles from Vero Beach, Melody Gabriel's town.  Going to spend 3 nights with her and Hank.  Then down to Ft. Pierce to see Sally and Manny and boat storage for the holidays.

We will be in Baltimore and Hyattsville in two weeks.


Joe

PS  This picture is of a large group of birds just floating on the ICW

New Smyrna Beach

A short ride yesterday, and we pulled into New Smrna, Fl.  A mall town on the ICW jut north of Titusville which is our destination for today, Dec 6 , Thursday.  It is early, about 6 am, and I could not fall back to sleep.

We are getting closer to Ft.Pierce where we will stop for Christmas vacation.

Yesterday was Steve Franko's birthday and we celebrated by going out to a Thai restaurant for
lunch and enjoying a birthday cake that Steve made. He does the vast majority of  cooking on Yeterday' Dream.

A couple of pictures

At the Thai restaurant Steve got a special desert, fried banana with honey and vanilla and strawberry ice cream.

New Smyrna had their Christmas parade of people and boat last weekend. We were here for it two years ago with Linda and Francis Miko, plus Sophie.

Finally it wa time for cards and birthday cake.  Steve prepared a vegan carrot cake which was very moist (applesauce).

This morning it is off  to Titusville and the mooring field.

Joe

St. Augustine

We   spent Sunday at St.Augustine walking around town and looking at the sight.

Went to church at the cathedral which was foundedin1565, the oldest church in America.

Anna Perkey was going to join us for lunch,but her three year old in the hospital so she had to cancel.

this is the watering hole for the bird outside the dinner we had breakfast with the Frankos.They are big time going out for breakfast people.  Steve cook lunch and dinner on board.  It was a nice 25 minute walk to the dinner from the municipal marina where we were on a mooring,  Cheap, only $21 a night.

 Nice rainbow the other afternoon out over the harbor

For dinner we ate on Yesterday's Dream,played card and watched the Browns.

Walked back at 9 pm as the taxi never showed up, waited 20 minutes after it was supposed to be
there and started walking.  Christmas lights below

may have to get my new computer early as the keyboard is in bad shape ever since Joy
dropped a water pump on it.


Joe

AFTER THE PARADE

Got back to the boat after the parade at St. Augustine.  A little explanation later on.

Today we travelled with Yeterday' Dream down the ICW from Beach Marine into St. Augustine harbor. We elected to stay on a mooring ball, only $20 per night.  We are at the far SE corner of the mooring field but past the lift bridge which is good for Monday morning.

It rained off and on but we were dry behind the Bimini and dodger canvas.

Linda and Francis Miko joined us for dinner and we had a great time at this little Polish/Greek
restaurant.  The owners are from Poland but their child was born in Greece.

After dinner and ice cream we watched the parade celebrating the 20 years that St. Augustine was under British rule from 1763 to 1783.  This part of our country switched back and forth.  St. Augustine was founded in 1565, makes it the oldest city in America.

Christmas lights on the Plaza

 

Joy, Francis and Linda

 

 

The British Celebration of Lights.  Besides the people dressed up in period costumes, ordinary people walk in the parade carrying candle and other lights.

Joe

Travelling with the Frankos

After a long time apart, High Spirits and Yesterday's Dream finally crossed paths in Fernandina Beach, Fl. The Frankos had left Cleveland back in 2009 and we left Cleveland in 2010.  they have ravelled all over the Great Loop Circuit and this is their third trip south to Marathon FL.

In addition, the Walkers, Kathy and Michael, were visiting their family in Jacksonville, FL and dove over for a real Eat 55th Street, Dock A, Slips 27,29 & 31. Ye, we had three dock in a row back starting in 2007.  Steve, Michael, Kathy and Linda were all teacher or administrators.  Linda worked for Tri C in the math department with my sister, Connie
.
Couple of pictures of our get together for lunch.,

Joe, Joy, Michael, Kathy, Steve and Linda

Steve and Michael

Kathy and Linda

Main Street after all the Christmas lights were set up.

Then High Spirits and Yesterday's Dream headed south to Jacksonville, FL. Had a nice overnight stay at Beach Marine.  Joy, Steve and Linda took their bike to the beach, got to ride on the hard sand.

This morning, Sat, before breakfast we were treated a boat race between children in the marina.  They were in large canoe with kid paddling on boat sides of the boat.

It is now off to St. Augustine to visit with the Mikos tonight and Anna Perkey(she worked with Joy at Cleveland Clinic).

Joe

OVERNIGHT TRIP

We arrived in Fernandina Beach, Fl after a long 25.5 hour sail(mostly with the motor) from Charleston, SC to Fernandina Beach.

Why you ask? Well by going over the ocean rather than the ICW we cut off 5 to 6 days of travelling through very shallow creeks in Georgia where you have to be respectful of the tide times. Since we
draw 5.5 feet we getting nervous when the water depth gets below 7 feet.

It was a long ride but worth it. After arriving we went to shore and just relaxed and later walked 2 miles to the movie theater to see Skyfall.  Joy was afraid she would fall asleep watching Lincoln so we decided to save Lincoln for another day another town.

I did want to mention two new friend from Montreal.  Michael and Monique.  They are sailing for a year.  They are still working as translators of documents from English into French and vice versa.
They work on their boat.  They just have to have good Wifi connections.

Today is going to be East 55th Street reunion day with the Fankos arriving today via boat and the Walkers driving over by car from Jacksonville. Should be a fund time.  We will be travelling with the Frankos for a while as we both work our ways south. They winter in Marathon, FL. The Walkers are down here visiting their kids and grandkids and are headed back to Cleveland on Saturday.

Joe

Georgetown means Aunny's Restaurant

Arrived in Georgetown yesterday afternoon and got the last space at Hazzard Marina, a short
15 minute walk from the center of Georgetown. All the marinas were sold out and some friends were not able to get a space and had to stop early.

Several interest sights on the ICW. On one recent leg we saw two large tub boats pulling a log of dredging equipment including about 500 feet of pipe.  Joy took a couple of pictures..


We had dinner at Aunny's Restaurant in Georgetown. It is a family run restaurant that we visited two years ago with Linda and Francis Mike, with Sophie.

I am pointing out a plate that previously had a great piece of cornbread on it.

So today, the front head(bathroom) pump stopped working.  Hopefully our spare pump can
be easily installed tomorrow.Joy is now thinking of leaving on Tuesday to go out to Florida avoiding about 5 days of travel through the rest of SC and Georgia. Have to see what the weather says tomorrow for Tuesday.  It changes all the time


Joe

Thanksgiving Day: Mr. Turkey goes to the Beach

Guess what,  we went for a beach walk today and look who we found getting some RAYS!

He decided that it was a great day for working on his tan.  Weather is in the high 50s but brilliant sunshine here in Carolina Beach, NC.

We are in the mooring field.  There were six boats here last night and five of them left this morning to continue their journey south.  We decided to take a day off and rest.

Out for breakfast.  We bought some turkey and pie to go with the fixings we had on the boat. Joy was planning on cooking a turkey breast on the grill but it is windy and not sure how it would come out.
She cut off the meat for another day and the bones are cooking up for turkey soup.

This is a real beach town. Everything is closed today except the restaurant an one bar. People are out walking the beach.  Here are some more photos. They are getting for their Christmas lights, tomorrow at 7:30 pm

WE WISH EVERYBODY A HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

Joy and I are thankful for all our family and friends.


Joe

Swansboro, NC

We finally got out of River Dunes after spending 8 great days there.  The last four were because of the weather being so lousy.  Mostly high winds.

One last picture of River Dunes, sharing dinner with some other boaters. The second floor dining room was closed off for the Sail Club's annual Commodore's Ball.  So us regular boater types ate downstairs.

Left to right, Mary Ann from Thistle, Mary Snow and her husband Mike ?, they have their boat at River Dunes all year long, plus Joy

So today we left River Dunes and made it to Swansboro, easy ride with current behind us most of the way. We tried anchoring in the river but it would not grab so we got a slip at Casper's Marina for only $1.25/ft.  Tomorrow we plan on leaving at 6 am in the dark to catch the 8 am bridge opening about
11 miles away.

There are five boats here at Caspers, we are in the middle.

Casper's is mostly a pleasure craft facility with indoor storage. Here is a picture of  sunset

The sun is setting around 5 pm now so
it makes it hard to travel during the day unless you leave before 7 am.  Not going to be able to
do as much mileage compared to the summertime.

Joe

Great Stay at River Dunes

We are still at River Dunes. We were supposed to leave on Thursday, but due to some
medical issues with Joe, we were unable to leave with the rest of the group.  The weather is turning windy and rainy this weekend, so we will be here until most likely Tuesday.

There is plenty to do here. There is a courtesy car to take into Oriental. A Great clubhouse, great food and plenty of people to talk to. Along with hot tubs that are still open, steam showers, exercise equipment, and bikes to run around the property.

Active Captain web sites rates River Dunes the number one marina in the world on their websites based on over 30 five star ratings.

Anyway, we are all fine. Getting ready to depart on Tuesday, maybe Monday.

Here are some pictures.

Picture of High Spirits on the dock at River Dunes

Joy is sitting in the living room, doing some kniting.

Another picture of the living room.

Front view of the clubhouse


Joe

River Dunes

Well it is raining at River Dunes, which is on Broad Creek just north of Oriental, NC.

We have been here for two nights, paying $1.00 per ft per nights. This is a real value place as they have great showers and cheap laundry, $1/wash and $1/dry.

We came with a group of boats from Elizabeth City, five came in yesterday and three more came in tonight.

Have some pictures from our trip down which I hopefully can upload with the marina's wifi connection.

Sunrise at Elizabeth, NC.

Welcome to Eliazabeth, NC

Three guys fishing on the ICW. Nice life.

Two more guys fishing on the ICW.

We had an 8 boat get together at River Dunes on Tuedayt night, Nov 13.

Joey Goodman and Joy at last's night dock part. It was held in the exercise room which was the only heated place open to us after 5 pm


Joe