Time sure has a way of flying by! I can't believe that we have already been in Marathon for over a month. I thought that by now we would have been getting a little bored with sitting in one place and that the time would seem to go a little bit slower but so far that has not happened. It is hard to believe that in a little over a month, we Will be putting the boat away for 6 months. It really seems surreal looking back at how quickly the year has gone by, but then I think of how much we have done in the last year and it seems we have done sooo much in only one year!
When I was home at the end of February, I talked to our neighbors Casy and Nancy and they told me that they were heading to Marco Island in Florida in March. I mentioned that if they had a chance, they should drive down for a visit. Sure enough, we received a phone call that they were going to take a drive down and have lunch with us! It was great to see them along with their friends who they were visiting in Florida. I only wish they could have stayed a little longer with us. It was a long day for them as the drive here from Marco Island is over 3 hours! Lindsay however missed them at home as Casy has been helping her keep our driveway shovelled and there was quite a bit of snow while they were gone so........ she actually had to do it herself! (Can't believe that I forgot to take a picture of them on the boat!!)

Bruce joined the golf course here for a couple of weeks (thanks to our friends Dave and Pat who are members) and has golfed a few times. We have seen Pat and Dave a couple of times since we have been here and look forward to spending more time with them before we leave but with their busy social life and our busy boating life, it can be difficult to schedule a time!

Great dinner at Dave and Pat's!!

Our friends from Ottawa, Kent and Linda, took possession of their new 41 foot PDQ power cat and called to say they were heading to the Keys for the March break along with their daughter Sophie. Bruce's sister and brother-in-law also arrived the day after Kent and Linda so we all got to spend some time together. We had a great time and a very busy few days! Kent and Linda had us all for dinner and invited us out for a day of snorkeling on the Sombrero Reef. It was Bettyann's first time snorkeling and we were all amazed at how well she did! It is never too late to try new things and she had lots of fun and was quite proud of herself. It was a treat to be on a catamaran as it is a lot easier to get in and out of the water with all your gear. Thanks Kent, Linda and Sophie for a great day!

Bruce's school of snorkeling

Tons of yellow tail snapper
The proud skipper and his crew!
First and second mate (Linda and Sophie)

They say that it never rains but it pours and it was very true this week. For months we have been following Rick and Carla on a boat called Eurphoria. We have talked to them on the VHF many times, followed them while travelling in the ICW and talked to them often by phone, but as Bruce puts it, have never touched them! We have been trying to meet up and have a chance to meet them in person and you guessed it, this week they pulled into Boot Key Harbor and we finally got the chance to meet them. It felt like we already knew them and since we had already been planning a fish fry on our boat with Kent, Linda, Sophie, Ray and Bettyann, we invited Rick and Carla to join us. Bruce ordered 5 lbs of fresh mangrove snapper from the fisherman next door, who catches it in the morning, cleans it when he gets back and hands it over the fence to us. It doesn't get much fresher than that! Rick and Carla will be staying here for a month so we should have lots of time to get to know them better.

Kent, Linda and Sophie
Bettyann and Ray
Rick and Carla (Euphoria)

We had a great week with Bettyann and Ray. Bruce and Ray golfed at Sombrero Golf Course, we spent a day in Key West, visited the beach, ate at a few restaurants in town and of course shopped a bit! Bruce, Ray and Bettyann also golfed at a par 3 course in Key Colony which I think was the first time that Bruce ever golfed with his sister! Not sure if she beat him or not??

My sister and her husband were suppose to come from Denver for Easter but unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute. Neil was coming to Miami on business and they hoped to stay for the weekend and drive to the Keys. Neil's meeting in Miami ended up getting cancelled and so did the rest of the weekend. We were quite disappointed but there is always next year!

Jim and Karen left yesterday morning so we are once again on our own. We have been travelling with them for almost 6 months so it seems quite strange to look out and not see their boat close by. They too will be by themselves for a couple of weeks until they meet up with the other 2 boats in Georgia.

We are now in the final weeks of our trip and I am sure that they will fly by. We are looking for a couple of boats that will be visiting us in April. One from Naples, Florida who we have not seen for quite a few years but all worked together at Nordair and then Canadian. They hope to be hear around the 2nd or 3rd of April. Our friends, Bob and Mardi, hope to be here around the second week in April when they get back from the Bahamas. It will be great to hear all about the Bahamas from them. Bruce's daughter, Leanne, is coming the weekend of the 4th of April to do some diving with her dad, so before you know it, the month will be over, the boat put away and we will be back home once again for the summer.

Happy Easter everyone!

We have made it to Marathon, Fl. It was somewhat of a milestone when we set our anchor just outside of Boot Key Harbor on the West side of Boot Key. We had always said when we left home in June that we hoped to make it as far as Marathon so when we actually arrived we felt like we had accomplished what we set out to do this year and if we never went any further, we would be happy!
We left our anchorage in Biscayne Bay after a nice week not only weather wise but also fun spending time around the South Beach area of Miami and visiting with Dave and Judy and Kent and Linda. By the time we left our anchorage the boat was in need of a good wash, the water tanks needed refilling and the head needed to be pumped out. We found out that you could go into Miamarina at Bayside and pay a flat fee of $25.00 for a 3 to 4 hour stay. We decided to do that and spent a good part of the morning working at cleaning the boat and getting it ready again for our next leg of the the trip. Bruce and I also fit in a trip to Starbucks to get on the Internet and check out mail, pay a few bills and make a few skype calls to family and friends. We then treated ourselves to lunch and some shopping before heading back to the boat for a short trip to No Name Harbor in Bill Baggs Park. For some reason right now, I can receive e-mails but neither Karen and I have been able to send any mail. We are working on the problem and hope we can get it fixed soon. In the meantime, we are receiving your e-mails but unfortunately cannot send back a reply!
While heading over to No Name Harbor, we started getting worried that we wouldn't be able to find any room in the Harbor to anchor for the night as we had stayed longer at Bayside than we had planned and it would be getting dark by the time we made it to our anchorage thus leaving us little time to get to another find another before dark. We looked at our charts and found another anchorage close by so decided to stop sooner and avoid the danger of not finding another anchorage before dark. I think it was a smart decision as the next morning when we arrived in No Name Harbor, we found it to be a lot smaller than we pictured it to be and already fairly crowded with boats. By late afternoon, we were all crammed in like sardines and any late comers were out of luck when it came to finding a spot to anchor. It ended up to be a beautiful spot and we decided to get our bikes out and do some exploring. The park takes up 494 acres at the southern tip of Key Biscayne, has a working 19th century lighthouse and one of the top 10 beaches in the U.S. It was a beautiful sunny, hot day and after a great lunch in the harbor we decided to check out the beach. It truly was one of the nicest ones we have been on so far. Because of the natural reef in front of the beach, the water is really calm and there were no pebbles, rocks or seaweed, just a beautiful hard sand bottom! We probably should have stayed a few more days, but we were anxious to make it to the Keys. We weren't sure how we were going to get out early in the morning as the harbor was so crowded that we were sure another boat had to be on top of our anchor. We did however manage to leave without hitting anyone on the way out (mostly due to my good driving abilities).
By that evening, we were anchored beside Key Largo just in front of Rodrigues Key and enjoyed a swim in the blue, clear, warm (27 degrees) water. We decided to stay there an extra day to take advantage of the nice weather and water so Bruce could get his tanks on and clean the bottom of ours and Jim and Karen's boat. As the water gets warmer, we get more and more growth on the bottom of our boat and Bruce could notice that it was slowing us down when motoring or sailing. Jim put on his snorkel and cleaned along the waterline and Karen and I helped from the dinghy. With all of us working, it didn't take long to get the job done and Bruce said it really came off easy just using a brush. We finished just in time for lunch and of course an afternoon nap for Bruce!
We had a great sail the next day on our way to Marathon. It was an easy 50 miles and the wind was from the Northwest. We probably sailed for about 5 hours, which is a record for the last few months!! We were unable to get a mooring ball inside Boot Key Harbor so we anchored on the West side of the island for the night. The next day we took the dinghy into the city marina and put our name on a waiting list for a mooring ball. Unfortunately before we were assigned a ball, the weather turned very windy and it was out of a direction which made it quite uncomfortable on anchor. Since there was no where else to go, we just toughed it out and ended up spending 2 fairly uncomfortable nights with high winds and thunder storms. We got in touch with Dave and Pat (Dragon Wick) and they told us about a friend of theirs that had a couple of docks to rent. She got in touch with them for us and to make a long story short (as Lilliane would say) we are now in front of their house on their dock which is only about 2 doors down from Dockside (the dock we had originally booked for January and February) and have all the amenities we would have in a Marina. The place is fantastic. We have taken our bikes out again and plan to call this home for a couple of months. We were sure glad to get this place but unfortunately not before we lost our anchor again for the second time since we bought the boat, Bruce fell overboard while climbing onto the boat from the dinghy (just a few bruises) and we broke our davits while trying to raise the dingy. It was definitely not one of our better days!
We realized once we were finally settled that Bruce had let his health insurance lapse and the only way to get insurance again was to return to Canada. I was planning on coming home for a few days anyway, as Bruce and a few of the guys were planning a trip to Miami for golf, so we moved our trip up a few days and we both flew home together. I immediately went up to Sault Ste. Marie to see my mom ( who is turning 80 years young on the 28th of February) and we had a good visit and I was able to spend a nice couple of days with her and my sister and take my mom out for her birthday. Happy Birthday Mom!!!
I came back to Mississauga in time to do spend some time with Lindsay and take her shopping for her 20th birthday on March 8! Can't believe my baby is getting so old! I was not able to see too many people as my car broke down and was in the shop for the entire week. They still have it and no word yet on when we will get it back. There is no rush now that we are back on the boat. I met up with Bruce in Ft. Lauderdale on Monday night and we drove back to Marathon together. As I was saying, we will be here now until we put the boat away some time in the second or third week of April. We had planned on leaving for the Bahamas but decided that it would just be too rushed and we didn't think we wanted to do that. We will probably plan 2 to 3 months in the Bahamas next year when we have more time to enjoy it. That decision made, we were able to have some company here. Bruce's sister and her husband are coming for a week in March as well as my sister and her husband are planning on coming for Easter weekend. Leanne hopes to come for a couple of days of diving with her dad and we hope to meet up with friends that are planning on coming to the Keys in March and April. It should be busy and the time will pass quickly. It is hard to believe that we have been on the boat for 9 months already and that we are quickly coming to the end of this adventure. We have pretty much decided to leave the boat here in Marathon for the summer at the Marathon Boat Yard. We now have to figure out how to summerize the boat as opposed to winterizing the boat! Any suggestions or helpful tips are always appreciated! Any visitors are also welcome, just make sure to reserve early as we are already getting booked up!



South Beach, here we come!

Heading into Miami.

Sailing in the Keys!

Need your boat moved to Europe, this is the boat that it will be loaded onto and moved for you!

Private boat docked at someones house, makes ours look really small!

Salty Lady, our friend's boat registered in Sault Ste. Marie. They are in the Bahamas now but hope to meet up with them again in the Keys in April.

Visit with Steve, Shirley, Mark and Carol just before leaving Nettles Island

We are on the move again! We finally left our comfortable slip at Nettles Island Marina and all the new friends that we had met during our six week stay and headed back to the high seas. It was a bit tough to get back into the travelling mode after such a long time in one place but we were glad to be back on the water. We left the marina with Jim and Karen as well as another Canadian couple, Bob and Mardi on Salty Lady, that we had spent some time with during our time on Nettles Island. Their boat was registered in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario but they were from Sudbury and were headed to the Bahamas. Since most of you know that Sault Ste. Marie is my hometown, it was nice to get to know another couple from Northern Ontario! They truly are a great bunch of people. It is a small world as they are now living on Manitoulin Island and Bob knows my cousin Garnet Behnke as he plays hockey with him during the summer. There had been quite a bit of wind prior to us leaving and the waves in the Atlantic were still 5 to 6 feet high so we decided to stay in the ICW and although it would take us longer as we had 7 or 8 bridges to go through, it would be a lot more comfortable for us. We went as far as West Palm Beach and all anchored in the same area after some confusion as to where that was and a grounding by Captain Bruce (managed to motor off the bottom without any assistance). Bob and Mardi invited as all over for a movie and popcorn night after dinner and after finally deciding on a movie that no one had seen before, we all enjoyed the movie! After going to bed before Bruce I was awakened by the sound of the engine starting and I got up out of bed to see what was going on. Bruce said that he though we were getting too close to Jim and Karen's boat and that we would have to raise our anchor, move further away and set it again. At this point, we could not find our anchor ball anywhere and realized that it was under the boat but did not realize this before Bruce had put the boat in gear and what we didn't know was we had wrapped the line from the ball around our prop as we decided that maybe we didn't need to move after all. The next morning we were sitting in the cockpit having our coffee when Jim and Karen's boat seem like it was moving past us, when in fact we were the ones moving past them. Our anchor had been pulled off the bottom by the trip line that was wrapped around our prop when the wind changed and we were moving quite fast. Thank goodness there were only a few boats in the anchorage and we didn't get to close to any other boats, although there were a few tense moments while we tried to figure out what had happened! We managed to reset the anchor but knew that there was still line wrapped around the prop and Bruce would have to dive down and cut it off. This time there was no Lillianne to do it for him! Jim came over and helped him get all his gear on and we were thankful for the new sharp knife we had bought the last time this happened to cut the line! The water temperature was also 26 degrees so he didn't even need a wet suit. Things could have been a lot worse it this had happened in the middle of the night when we were sleeping. Who knows where we would have ended up. We had only been on the water again for two days and two bad things had happened already. This is when we realized that we had not thrown any money into the sea when we left again and although we are not usually superstitious, we did not leave again without throwing a few coins overboard!
Bob and Mardi were leaving the next day but we stayed an extra day as we need to go into customs and get a new cruising permit. When we had talked to customs on the phone, we were told that the permit that we were given in Bar Harbor was an old one that is no longer being used and it would be better for us to have the new one so we wanted to get that taken care of before we left for the Bahamas so it wouldn't be a problem for us when we tried to get back into the United States. We found the customs officer in West Palm to be one of the nicest officers we had ever met and wanted to get it from here rather than take our chances with someone else!
We left West Palm onTuesday, January 29th and thankfully this time were able to go out the Lake Worth inlet into the Atlantic and head to Ft. Lauderdale. The only bad thing was that there was that the wind was from the South which was the direction we were travelling so we motor sailed again but at least there were no bridge schedules to worry about! Ft. Lauderdale was about a 50 mile run from West Palm and we pulled into the Port Everglades Inlet around 2 p.m. We anchored in Lake Sylvie and dropped the dingy to go exploring. Within about 30 minutes of anchoring a police boat came up to the boat to inform us that there was a 24 hour anchoring rule in Ft. Lauderdale. We had hoped to spend a few days in the area to visit Dave and Judy and see a few others that spend the winter in Ft. Lauderdale from P.C.Y.C but we were unable to pick up a mooring ball and since we could only anchor for one day, we decided to head to Miami the next morning. We did manage to do a bit of exploring by dinghy and see Dave and Judy for about 1/2 hour before we left.
We are now anchored on the Biscayne Bay side of South Beach and have been enjoying an amazing stretch of hot, sunny weather! It has been great spending time in South Beach people watching, sitting in cafe's for happy hours and enjoying the beautiful beach. We can take the dinghy up the canal, park it in front of the Publix and then walk to the beach from there. Dave and Judy drove down for lunch and spent the day with us as well as another couple from Ottawa who were in Ft. Lauderdale to inspect a 41 foot PDQ that they have an offer pending on. Some of you may remember the dock we used in Gan on our way through the Thousand Islands that belonged to some friends of my friend Joanne from Ottawa. Their names are Kent and Linda and they are the ones that are here looking at the boat. They heard through Joanne that we were in the area, so they looked us up and we finally got to meet each other. We had heard so much about them through the years but had never met. Everyone ended up coming back to the boat for dinner and a swim. It is so great to get together with friends along the way and we look forward to these times! Dave and Judy have been to visit us at least 4 times and Bruce says that they have almost caught up to the number of times we have seen his sister and brother-in-law on this trip!
We hope to leave here perhaps on Tuesday if the weather holds. I have been having problems with my hearing aids and may have to send them to Toronto but have to wait until at least Monday to talk to the girl in the office. I was supposed to talk to her on Friday but with the snow storm in Toronto, no one was in. There are worse places to be stuck and today is Super Bowl Sunday so it should be a zoo in South Beach. Not sure if Kent and Linda will come back again today to spend the day at the beach with us. Again it is going to be another hot, sunny day! I am not going to be able to post any pictures this time as the internet is very slow and very intermittent so will have to wait for better internet, but thought everyone could use an update on our whereabouts. Talk to you from the Keys!

Boxing Day Dinner set up in the livingroom and the diningroom as we where having 18 people!

Leanne, Lindsay and Alison all decked out in their holiday hats!

Trevor, Bruce's brother Earl here from Ottawa to spend Christmas with us and his son Morgan from England! It was great to see them.

Happy New Year everyone! We arrived back at the boat on the 28th of December after sitting through a few flights and finally getting on an Orlando flight. Jim and Karen were nice enough to make the 2 1/2 hour trip to come and pick us up in Orlando, unfortunately our luggage was not so lucky and had to be delivered to us 2 days later. I was not surprised that it was not on the flight with us as we had changed destinations 3 times! The surprise would have been if it had actually arrived with us. From the airport we only went home to quickly change our clothes as we were invited out to dinner on Choices (John and Mary's boat who used to belong to P.C.Y.C and who we had met the first year we were member's.) Although we were a bit tired, we had a great evening with them and a delicious dinner! We had probably not seen them for 3 years so we had quite a bit of catching up to do and Bruce and Jim helped them out by picking up John in Indian Town where they were to leave there car while they headed over to the Bahamas.
It was great to be back on the boat after a hectic schedule at home. We decided to take a few days of R and R and enjoy the beautiful weather as we had heard that a cold front would be moving in after the New Year and bringing with it, cool temperatures. We had temperatures in the 80's and spent a couple of days on the beach, went for dinner with Jim and Karen who had company visiting again from P.C.Y.C and decided what we would do for New Year's. We had been invited to a New Year's Eve party in this area by a former member of this Marina, but when we got back to the boat and started asking around, no one planned on attending the party. Since we didn't know the person hosting the party, we decided that if no one else that we did know was going, maybe we should just stay home too. The guys left it up to Karen and I to decide what we would do so we decided to pick up some mussels, shrimp and lobster and have our own New Year's party on the boat. We had a great time together but had a hard time staying up past 11:00 and I am embarrassed to say but this was the first New Year's Eve in a long time that we did not make it to midnight. At 11:30 we called it a night, said "Happy New Year" to Jim and Karen and went right to bed. We are really getting into the boating life as all boaters seem to go to bed early and get up even earlier! We made up for it the next morning as we took our champagne and orange juice to the beach and celebrated New Year's Day together. In the afternoon we attended our first low country boil which consisted of every type of seafood imaginable but together in a pot along with potatoes, sausage and corn and boiled and then dumped on a piece of newspaper on the table for all to enjoy. What a feast!

This is the tiki hut where all the boater's can get together and socialize.

Low Country Boil. What a feast!

We have started to get into a routine here and try to start each day with a bike ride or a walk and have been finally getting some exercise after about 6 months of inactivity on the boat. It has felt good to finally stop travelling for a bit and take some time out for ourselves. We have also been kept busy with company. Dave and Judy Burns stopped by on their way to Ft. Lauderdale and we had dinner with them and Jim and Karen on our boat and they stayed overnight with us. Amy and Ken (Mary T) visited us as they were having transmission trouble and had to bring the transmission into Stuart to have it fixed so they stopped by on the way home and invited us to their marina for Sunday brunch on the weekend before they left for the Bahamas . Brunch was delicious and it was great to see them one last time before they left. Don't know when we will see them again so we will miss not having them around. We are going to try to get some work done on our boat as well. The wood needs to be done again and we have some caulking to do around the windows as there has been a few leaks sometimes when it rains and we have yet to find where the water is coming it. We have enough to keep us busy for the next couple of weeks but still have time to enjoy the weather.

We have rented our car for another 3 weeks and will stay here until the 24th or 25th of January. Bruce is going home for a couple of days for a doctor's appointment. Jim is going home for a week to renew his passport and Karen's mom is coming for a week to visit so we will also be kept busy driving to the airport and back a few times! We hope to leave for the Florida Keys next and then possibly to the Bahamas in April or the end of March.

I love Florida! The weather has been in the upper 70's to lower 80's and we are now finally using the air conditioning instead of heaters. We had a great time in Fernandina Beach as Amy, Bruce and I rented bikes to do a bit of sightseeing and go to the beach. We left Fernandina Beach for a long day all the way to St. Augustine, Fl. We were again travelling with the Mary T and Northern Reach. We all anchored just in front of the town, before the bridge and found it to be a quite scenic as the waterfront was all lit up for Christmas. The Mary T and Northern Reach left early the next day to get a dock in St. Augustine as they felt more comfortable leaving the boat for a day of sightseeing on a dock instead of on anchor, especially Jim and Karen as they have the cat to think about. We arranged to meet in town for lunch and sightseeing. Again as the time was short, we chose a narrated open air bus tour. We had met another Canadian couple from Alberta along the route as they were having some engine troubles and asked if we had some oil. Karen and Jim had some and they passed it over to them and later we met up in St. Augustine. We arranged to meet them for happy hour and then to go and watch another lighted boat parade put on by the town of St. Augustine. We watched it from shore with a thousand other people only to see that the parade kept circling our boat on anchor all by itself!
We enjoyed St. Augustine but were anxious to leave and get to Tittusville where we were finally planning on stopping for a month and just relax and enjoy the sunshine. We were still 2 days away so we stopped and anchored in Daytona Beach but didn't get off the boat and then left the next day for Tittusville. The entrance to the Marina was well marked but quite shallow and Jim and Karen kept bouncing off the bottom. Luckily it was just soft mud. This was just the beginning of the bad feeling we were starting to have about this marina. When we finally got into the marina, the docks were a wreck and the marina was dirty and in need of a major face lift. We thought Bucksport was not the greatest but this marina made Bucksport look like a five star resort!! Even the other boats in the marina looked like they were all ready to sink. We then saw the "For Sale" sign in front of the marina and thought to ourselves "this can't be good!" The only good thing about the place was that there was a fresh water creek running into the ocean and because Manatees like the fresh water, there were quite a few Manatees at the docks. Because of the Manatee, the marina has been unable to get any permits to dredge or renovate. Luckily we had not put any money down as we decided that this was not going to work out for us and Jim and Karen were definitely NOT spending Christmas there. We quickly got out the books and started looking for other marinas and making phone calls to see if there were any slips available. We were by this time a bit gun shy and we were afraid to put down a credit card sight unseen. It was not easy finding another marina but we eventually found one another 2 days away on Nettle's Island. It sounded nice and you could walk to the ocean so we booked a couple of slips, took a cab out to dinner and left as soon as we could the next day. We had over a hundred miles to cover and stopped the first night in an anchorage about 50 miles from Tittusville in a anchorage just off the ICW, called Rock Point. There were 2 small islands in front of our anchorage that we could dinghy too which had sand beaches. Two other Canadian Catamarans followed us in and beached themselves on one of the islands. Bruce and Karen went for their first swim off the boat since we met up with them and then we took the dinghy to shore to take a walk and to see the sunset. We met up with the other 2 Canadian boats and got talking to them for quite a while, when we started to here a horn going off from one of the boats anchored in the bay. Ken did not come to the beach with us so we figured that he was getting lonely or wondering what was taking us so long as the sun had been set for quite some time and it was now dark. We decided it was time to head back anyway so we hopped in the dinghy and headed towards the Mary T. When we arrived, Ken was shining the light on the bow for us and told us that he had picked up too swimmers in the water. A young couple had been out for a canoe ride, when their canoe sank and they had to start swimming. Of course they had no life jackets with them! It was a bit of a distance to shore and with no lights on our dinghy and only a 2.5 horsepower engine (that is a bit unreliable at the best of times), we didn't want to take on the responsibility of taking them to shore when we had no idea where we were going. We told Ken to call the coast guard and have them come and pick up the kids as that was what they were paid to do (so we thought). The coast guard refused to pick them up so Ken took it upon himself to blow up his dinghy and put his engine on and take them to shore. Only in the good ole USA!!
We finally arrived at Nettle's Island to find that the marina was exactly what we had been looking for! The people are very friendly, there is a nice tikki hut that all the boaters can get together for happy hour and dinners, it is only 5 minutes to the beach and it is a nice island and area to ride your bikes around. The only setback is that the grocery store is a bit far away and the marina is renovating the washrooms and laundry room so there is no laundry here until the middle of January! Not really a big problem for us as we have rented a car for a few weeks. We don't even have to take our own garbage to the bin as we have Andrew who does it for us for $.25 a day! There is a small grocery here as well as a bakery, restaurant and hair dresser. Bruce even got a $10.00 hair cut that looks good! We ate at the restaurant the first night we were here and it was fantastic. There are a lot of live-a-boards here so there is already a planned Christmas Day Brunch and a New Year's Day potluck dinner. We have done a bit of exploring by car and hit 2 flea markets and farmers markets today that had some great stuff. Lots to see and do in the area so Karen and Jim shouldn't get too bored sitting around the beach all day (poor guys) while we go home to the snow and the cold! The Mary T has also booked in for 2 weeks so will probably spend Christmas here also.
This will be my last blog until the new year so Bruce and I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a very happy and prosperous New Year. Talk to yo' all next year!




dolphins swimming beside the boat

Jim and Karen on our sightseeing bus in St. Augustine.

Brusther's bikers getting ready to head to the beach in Fernandina Beach!

Giving the Manatee some fresh water at the dock in Titusville. It was the only way we could entice them to come up.

We're back! It was a great trip home and the wedding was beautiful, of course we are a little prejudice! Everything went off without a hitch, the bride and groom looked estatic as did everyone! (pictures to follow). Our good luck seems to be staying with us as our flight, bags and rent-a-car went off without a hitch and we were soon on or way back to the boat again. It was also nice to again be back in the warmer weather.(79 degrees the day we arrived) I wish could say the same about the weather the week we were home. Toronto had their first cold weather alert and ice and snow storm of the season! Some people at home were mentioning that our blog is getting a bit boring now that we have not had any real adventurous happenings! Hopefully it will stay boring, but you never know, you will just have to keep reading all the boring crap in the mean time. We will probably be heading back out to the Atlantic and out of the calm waters of the ICW in the next few days so you never know.......!!

The boat was just the way we left it and since we had fueled up before we left all that was left to do was reprovisions, fill of the water and return the rental car. We left the dock about 10:00 on Tuesday morning for a relatively short day to an anchorage south of Georgetown, SC in the South Santee River. For the first time in a while, we were by ourselves in the anchorage. It seems that we are at the tail end of the snowbirds heading south. I think I prefer this as now we don't have to rush to anchorages to get a good spot! We are starting to get a lot more current and even when the boat is stopped on anchor, our knot meter is reading that we are still moving, very strange feeling. At night we can hear the water on the stern of the boat rushing by. We left just after 0630 on Wednesday as we wanted to meet up with Jim and Karen on Northern Reach just past Charleston so we had 2 bridges to time and about 50 miles to do. Karen had booked us into a marina called Ross Marina. It was a great spot to meet up with them, talk about our plans over the next few days and our plans for Florida. We decided to book a marina in Titusville where Jim and Karen could spend Christmas, we could leave the boat while we went home for Christmas and have a couple of weeks just to relax, take a break from travelling and do some sightseeing! We hope to be in Titusville around the 8th or 9th of December and then fly home around the 17th or 18th of December again. The marina sounds great as it has a pool, tennis court etc. and it is cheap enough that we can rent a car for the time that we are there for sightseeing.

Today, Thursday the 29th of November, we are travelling with Jim and Karen again and heading to Beaufort, SC. We were a little dissapointed about missing Charleston but it will definately be a stop for a few days on our way back to the Chesapeake, when travelling will be a lot less rushed. Steve, Shirley, Mark and Carol are in Beaufort and we are not too sure yet but they may be staying in Beaufort until after Christmas I have started trying to write a little bit everyday when we are underway instead of spending time on shore trying to remember where we have been and what we have been doing for the last week or so. This also makes it easier to post it once we get to the internet somewhere. (my mind can't remember too far back!) We have been seeing tons of dolphins in the ICW which surprises us for some reason but we are not complaining as it is one of the most enjoyable things in our otherwise boring days of motoring thru the ICW.

We anchored just outside of Beaufort in Factory Creek and just as we finished anchoring, Jim called to tell us there was some dolphins beside our boat. It turned out to be a mother and baby swimming by, they were really cute! We left in time to catch the 0900 opening of the Lady's Island Bridge and after clearing the bridge, we passed by the city marina where Steve, Shirley, Mark and Carol have booked a slip for a month and will spend Christmas there before heading further south. They were all on the dock to wave to us and it was sort of a sad feeling leaving them behind and knowing that we will not meet up with them again for a while. We headed to another anchorage in yet another creek called the Bull Creek. Bruce and I have been travelling again for 4 days straight and were happy to arrive early in the day just to relax and enjoy the sunshine. We were just outside Savannah. GA and had a hard time finding a dock for a couple of nights as it is a very busy weekend with pre-Christmas activities going on as well as a decorated boat parade. Karen did eventually get us booked in a town called Thunderbolt that is right on the ICW and a cab or bus ride away from Savannah. Most sailers stay around here and tour Savannah by car as Savannah is about 8 miles up a river off the ICW. We are on our way now and will most likely have internet to post this blog. Our frends Ken and Amy (Mary T) are at another marina in the area and have the use of a van/car. They are planning on picking us up and doing some sightseeing this afternoon. I have really not been off the boat since Tuesdayand it is now Saturday so as you can imagine, I am very anxious to finally get off for a walk!

We had a great time in Savannah, the weather couldn't have been more perfect for sightseeing. Ken, Amy and Amy's friend Dietra (nicknamed do do) met us in the afternoon and we visited on our boat until dark as there was a boat parade scheduled for 1800. We were really glad we waited to go for dinner to see the parade as the boats were all beautifully lit up and as they all passed by our boat we blew our airhorns and sung (or at least tried to sing) Christmas Carols. It really helped to get us in the Christmas spirit! We went out to Tubby's Tankhouse for dinner and arranged to meet the gang in Savannah the next day. Jim, Karen, Bruce and I took a tour of the city by sightseeing bus in the morning which is a great way to see everything and them decide what you would like to go back and look at again. We then met Amy, Ken and do do and walked and walked and walked for the rest of the day. What a great city to explore and it is small enough to see most things in a day as long as you don't visit any museums!

As much as we hated to leave, we really had to keep on moving. We didn't have as long a day leaving Savannah as usual so we could start a little later and as we were taking the inside route (the Atlantic was too nasty to try that day),and we wanted to wait for high tide to make sure we would have enough water below our keels! Fields Cut, which we had to take, was reporting only 3 1/2 feet in places! We made out just great and only went about 30 miles to Walburg Creek and anchored for the night. The weather forcast for the next day looked good so we got an early start and took the Atlantic route out the St. Catherines Sound and back in at St. Simons Sound. Although we didn't get to just sail the whole trip, we did motorsail it and did shut the engines off for an hour or so! The main thing is that we avoided all the shallow water in Georgia and had a nice relaxing day. I don't know if we are getting smarter or just having better luck as we seem to be avoiding any horror stories! Sorry if I am boring you all, but we like it better this way! Since it was still early enough and it was high tide when we came back in at St. Simons, we decided to continue inside for a bit to get over some shallow water spots the needed to be passed at high tide. We anchored in Umbrella Creek for the night and again the sunset was amazing.

We are finally in Florida, Fernadina Beach to be exact. We arrived fairly early yesterday, Wednesday, December 5th and are on a mooring ball at the Fernandino Harbor Marina. Ken (from the Mary T) is fighting a cold and we are all a bit tired from travelling the last few days, so we decided to take a day down. We went in for lunch yesterday and it is a charming town which could use more exploring time. We had a potluck dinner last night on our boat and today we plan to go for a long walk and find the beach. We were also able to pay for a day on the internet so I can finally get this blog posted in the comfort of our own boat and it allows us to make lots of skype calls today too!! From here we plan to head to St. Augustine tomorrow and then we are only 2 days away from Titusville where we can finally rest up a bit. We will probably take a day down to see St. Augustine so we should be in Titusville by Monday if all goes well.



Nuclear sub at a dock in the St. Mary's River, can't see it very well cause we need a new camera with a zoom on it. Again a gun boat in the water making sure you did not get too close.



Pirate House in Savannah, where all the staff are dressed like pirates and you can go and try some of their famous pirate punch!



Savannah waterfront all decked out for Christmas



The gang in Savannah






Parade boats



Northern Reach on anchor in Factory Creek, we have had beautiful sunsets the last few days!



Leanne and Bruce



bride and groom with cousin Amy



Lindsay and her Grandma Havlin

While, we are now in Conway, SC, mile 377.3 on the ICW, at the Bucksport Plantation Marina (definitely not as nice as it sounds, but it is cheap) and getting ready to leave the boat for a week while we go home for the wedding. We have rented a car and will leave on Sunday bright and early to drive for over 3 1/2 hours to Raleigh, NC to fly home, so this will be the last blog before we return again at the end of November.

We have been travelling everyday as we wanted to get as far South as possible before leaving again. Travelling down the ICW has probably been the most interesting (for lack of a better word) part of this trip. For my none boating friends, the ICW is basically a dredged channel that runs down the eastern coast of the United States that gives boaters the option of staying in calmer waters, or going out into the Atlantic Ocean. This part of the ICW runs from Norfolk, Virginia (mile one) to Key West Florida (mile 1243. ) We are planning on going to Marathon, mile 1195, so we still have a way to go! It is very shallow in parts, especially where there are inlets from the Atlantic, due to shoaling. It also has a ton of bridges to go under, some that we can pass under, and some that have to be opened in order for us to pass. Everyday we must plan our trip around the opening schedules of the bridges that need to be opened. Some only open once an hour, some twice an hour, and some will not open in strong winds. There can also be current in the ICW and we never really know how fast we will be going as sometimes we will have a current with us and be doing 8 knots and sometimes it will be against us and we will only be doing 5 to 6 knots. There are also buoys that have to be spotted, keeping the greens to port and the reds to starboard and then there are the buoys that are subject to shoaling that you must read about in our Skipper Bob book and follow his advice as to how to get safely around them in the deepest water. Everyday, we spot boats that have gone aground and must call a tow service to get them off the bottom. So far we have been lucky enough not to have used their services, yet! We have been on bottom twice but have managed to get off on our own and have touched bottom a couple of times too. We have met one couple that have a deeper draft boat who seem to be grounded at least once a day. It is getting to be quite comical. The scenery has also been a lot different. The houses along the ICW are beautiful with amazing landscaping and huge docks. There are always large power boats calling you on the radio asking you if they can give you a slow pass to you port or starboard. With all of this activity, each day passes quite quickly. We have been trying to start out each day between 0630 and 0700 so that we can get to an anchorage by about 1500 as they become quite crowded if you wait too long and you don't want to be having to find another anchorage too late in the day as it gets dark not long after 5 p.m. Bruce and I have been going to bed earlier and earlier each night. We can now hardly make it to 9 p.m. (are we getting old or what!)

To keep things short and sweet (for my brother-in-law John), we left Beauford, NC and our friends on the Mary T, and went and anchored in Hammock Bay, Wrightsville Beach, then onto Little River and once again anchored, in what was probably one of our tightest anchorages since we left home, and then onto Bucksport, SC. Looking forward to a few days off at home in Mississauga. We just received a call from the Mary T and they will be here tomorrow and also from Northern Reach, At Last and Steve and Shirley and all three Canadian boats will also be here by tomorrow. Looks like our car will be busy taking people to the grocery store!!