December 8, 2008

Man, am I late this week! No excuse, and here goes..... When last we 'spoke' we were anchored near “Fred's Island”. On Tuesday morning in Jeckyll Island, GA, we had ICE on the deck. Last week snow, this week ice. We pretty much decided we are just not moving fast enough to outrun the cold! Well, at 1 p.m. Wednesday we crossed the St. Mary's River into FL, and by 3 p.m. the doors and windows were open with sunshine streaming in! At last! We spent a night at Jacksonville Beach, then two at St. Augustine. A workman came to the St. Augustine marina to install a new blower on our air conditioner—the original had a factory defect. That evening we went to dinner with a local couple, Ken and Holly, whom we'd met when they had their boat serviced in Kingston at Certified Marine. Had a very pleasant evening. Ken was a Rockna anchor dealer, and so we spent Friday morning installing “Knute' our new VERY large Rockna anchor! In the afternoon, Barb and Randy, who have LAZY DOLPHIN tied up in Green Cove Springs, drove over to St. Augustine and we had a fun time shopping—West Marine and Groceries—and then enjoyed a great seafood dinner! Our slip at St. Augustine was right next to the 24 hour crews working to restore the Lions Gate Bridge. It's a 1928 bridge and in the country's oldest city, so it will remain a part of the history—at any cost, apparently. A 90 foot temporary lift bridge has been installed to span the water until the Bridge of Lions is updated. Then the temp goes away... Amazing. Saturday morning we headed for Daytona Beach, and tied up around 3 p.m. in Halifax Harbor. We took a long walk down Beach Street, and by 8:30 p. m. were both falling asleep over dinner. We are a lively pair--or maybe my cooking just isn't that exciting? Sunday seemed to be a big day for FL boaters. They were out in full force—sailors, fishing boats, kayaks and jet skis all over the place. Not to mention the airplane boat—a flat bottomed affair—very loud, and it can go wherever it can skim the surface of water. Funny. The books all say there is an abundance of wildlife in Florida's east coast. We've been followed by seagulls and pelicans, but aside from the occasional heron (egret?) and the plethora of dolphins, we've not seen much else. 'NO Wake-- manatee zone' signs are much more frequent along this section of the waterway, and for long stretches slow speed limits are strictly enforced in order to protect these slow swimming critters from propeller injuries. We've seen one maanatee, and that was in GA last June. We have certainly stayed out of the way of a lot of them, though—we guess. Sunday night we docked in Titusville, FL, where Fred worked on the air conditioner—it is making very loud noises again. Not good. Then the starboard (right) propeller went 'clunk' when he rotated it by hand this morning. This is also not good. We're making plans to get it checked, and will let you know For now, I'll say adieu—till next time! Linda and Fred