HILTON HEAD

We are at our destination, Hilton Head, SC. We are leaving Knotugal at Windmill Harbor, as we did before. It has a water  lock and the area is gated. We feel it is very secure here.

Right now, we are not exactly sure when we will return...whether it be mid May or
mid July to take Knotugal north. We have to see what kind of deal we can get with the boat insurance. Right now, we are supposed to have the boat north of Cape Hatteras, NC by June 1. We are negotiating right now. Stay tuned.

ISLE OF HOPE

Last night we pulled into Hidden Harbor Marina just north of St. Simons,GA. It is on a creek off the ICW. We had to watch the depth as we are back in the land of huge tide swings.
Tonight, we are at the Isle of Hope Marina. We are missing the huge St.Patty's Day party in downtown Savannah. We tried to get a slip there, but were on the waiting list. Savannah has one of the largest St. Pat's Parade/Celebration in the world!
This was a long day....80 + miles. That is because there are no viable marinas between here and St.Simons. We had to time our trip around the tides. Luckily, we made it through the tricky spots OK.
We are in the process of eating up the food in the fridge, as we prepare to head home on Tuesday. Tonight I served a dish I decided to call "the concoction". John had no comment, but ate it :-)

FERNANDINA BEACH, FL

Day started out with big waves and water splashing over the bow as we left St.Augustine. Things settled down after a few miles, but we had a great current pushing us all the way here.
We walked into town to the old Palace Saloon for a beer. There was a live band, the place was packed and in walked 6 people dressed in total pirate attire...head to toe. Bar patrons were snapping pictures on their phones....except for us :-( Unfortunately, we had left the smart phone on the boat....dumb us.

ST AUGUSTINE

Great cruising day!

We decided to try a different marina here in SA, based on the recommendation of a couple on a sailboat we met down in Marathon. It is a couple miles up the San Sebastian River. Well, it is nothing special and docking in a 3 knot current is not a treat! The highight, however, was Hurricane Patty's. It is the onsite restaurant. Tonight was Kareoke night. The place was packed with locals. It was so entertaining. It was off the charts for people watching. The food was good, too.

DAYTONA

It started out as a rainy morning, but we were nice and dry in our wheel house. We were headed to the Palm Coast, but at about 1PM with 40 miles left to do, some fog started to form. Since we were about 10 miles from Daytona, we pulled in there. We are at the Halifax Harbor Marina (3rd time here). It is a good one. The man that helped us dock said this was "BIKE WEEK". This means motor cycle riders from all over the country gather here to party and carry on.  We decided that this meant we should walk to the downtown area, get a beer, sit at a sidewalk cafe and people watch. It wasn't spectacular, but there were many, many motorcycles going by....we can still here them rumbling out on the street tonight.

TITUSVILLE, FL

We did almost 80 miles today and ended up in Titusville at the City Marina....cheap, friendly, and basic. We have to give Roy Nelson some credit as his recommendation was part of our decision process. We had heard about Cracker Jacks Tiki Hut, and strolled over there for a beer. It was really windy, so we didn't stay too long. On the way back, walked by the Titusville Yacht Club (see below). Wonder what the dues are????



Looks like plenty of parking available



VERO BEACH

Small boat Regatta near Ft.Pierce(about 100 boats)

This morning we said goodbye to M & M and continued our cruise North. Twas a good cruising day. Tonight, we are at the Loggerhead Marina in Vero Beach. It is a great marina in a gated, very nice housing complex.  The only downside is that there are no restuarants or stores nearby, but we had just provisioned, so it was not a problem for us.

JUPITER, FL

Friday, we headed up to Jupiter to the Bluffs Marina where friends, Mark and Maridee have their boat. They drove us around the area and took us to the grocery store so we could reprovision. We stopped at a fabulous restaurant for lunch...The Food Shack. There was a half hour wait to get a table. If you are ever in the area...it is a must to stop there.....really, really good fish dishes! That evening, they hosted a group of friends, including Bill and Mary Hallmark, for Tamales. We had a delicious tex/mex meal on their aft deck!

Saturday's outing was to the laundramat. That was an adventure just trying to figure out the machines. It was hugely expensive for the washers..$4.00 a load :-(

John having more fun than he can stand!

Ready for the big event....laundry!

Saturday evening, the boat across the dock from us hosted a catered birthday party complete with live music. They were so nice to include us. It was a wonderful evening, and we enjoyed meeting their interesting group of friends.

WEST PALM BEACH



A Long Day of waiting for Bridges to open...tedious!



The Chiquita banana ship is ready to deliver their bananas :-)





  

Sailor friends, notice the carbon fiber mast on the boat next to us....supposedly, that is the bees knees!

We spent a loooonnnng day waiting at about 25 bridges from Ft. Lauderdale to West Palm Beach. The treat at the end of our day, was that our daughter, Keri, and family are vacationing on Singer Island and were able to join us for pizza. We got to see our precious grandsons, Charlie and Georgie.

A really neat thing happened this afternoon. At the south end of Lake Worth, we heard a call go out on the VHF radio that a boat had picked up a dog swimming out in the middle of the lake. Shortly afterward, a small boat hailed us and asked of we had seen the dog. We told them that a call had gone out about the rescued dog. Anyhow, all the boaters in the area worked the radio to get the owner of the dog in touch with the rescuers. Evidently, the dog had fallen off the boat and the owners had not noticed right away......dumb people!!! At least, it was a happy ending.

We are at Palm Harbor Marina tonight. It is close to a lot of restaurants and entertainment. It is a very pretty area.

RUDDER SEAL FIXED

We waited around all day to finally have Knotugal pulled out at 3:30PM. Good news is that it only took an hour to have the seal fixed and the bottom power washed. Spent last night at the boatyard.

DANIA CUT OFF CANAL :-(

Along with all the good times and fun, we do have to make time to have Knotugal maintained. John noticed the rudder seal was leaking a bit of water. We arranged to have her pulled out and the seal fixed. Tonight we are in a workyard marina on the Dania Canal, just south of Fort Lauderdale. We are surrounded by boats having work done. It is basic accomodations, but we do have power. Tomorrow Knotugal will be pulled out on a sling, set on chocks, and the work will begin. Jake will stay on the boat, but Dorsey and I will have to find a way to kill 3 hours in a boat yard.

BTW, we did run aground this morning. We were rounding a curve near the Haulover inlet when it happened. Although we were still in the marked channel, there was some bad shoaling on the edge. It took about 5 minutes to get to deeper water.

COCONUT GROVE

Had another great cruising day. We could actually see the bottom on Biscayne Bay. It is one of the prettiest bodies of water we have seen. We ended up at Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove. What a gem that place is. The town is park like with beautiful old trees, hanging flower baskets on the light posts, and red brick sidewalks. There are trendy restaurants, sidewalk cafes, antique and art galleries...all steps from the Marina.  Needless to say, we just loved it! We plan to return, perhaps stay here next winter.
Last evening, we celebrated Matilde's birthday at Jaguar Restaurant . Great place and great food!

LINES DROPPED 7:45 AM

View of our beautiful travel weather today



Saw this at the dock at Lorelei Restaurant, Islamorada

 Well, we checked and checked and checked many sources of weather and decided today was the day. We started out going on the outside to the Hawk's Channel. It wasn't too bad and no cat got sick. We crossed over to the inside at Channel Five. Other than watching our depth (was very dicey at times) and avoiding the hundreds of crab traps, it was a very pleasant cruise. Tonight we are at the Anchorage Marina in Key Largo. There were bands playing at both the restaurant here and across the channel at Gilberts Tiki Hut. The band at Gilberts was fabulous. We opened the windows and enjoyed a few sets of the oldies.

GETTING READY TO HEAD NORTH

We were hoping to leave tomorrow, but a big nasty front is headed here the next 2 days. We will have to hunker down in port and hopefully head out on Monday. We'll keep you posted.