HOMEWARD BOUND

We arrived back at our home port, Windmill Harbour in Hilton Head on Thursday afternoon. Trip that day was good, coming from middle of Nowhere GA, except that we ran aground. We were just north of the Savannah River at low tide going through Fields Cut. We were smack dab in the middle of the channel on the magenta line. We were doing everything right. All of a sudden we go from 20' to no feet. A storm had come through the previous day and was followed by howling winds out of the North. Evidently, it shoaled an area where a creek entered the ICW. We tried for several minutes to free ourselves with no luck. Just then, a large sport fish boat was coming down the channel toward us. He saw us in the middle of the channel and was puzzled as to which side to pass us. We chatted on the VHF about the situation when Sea Tow piped in. They  suggested that the sport fish boat should pass us on the east side along the bank. Notice I did not say Starboard side, as we were cross ways in the channel. He went really close to the bank and had good water. After they passed, we let the strong current push us off. We proceeded on our way, but were very leery the rest of the afternoon.

Since we got back here, we have been busy packing and washing the boat. We have a super slip this time on a face dock. It has a panoramic view of the marina. I just love it! Water all around :-))

We will head back here the end of June. Then North we will go.

JEKYLL ISLAND

Got an early start from Fernadina Beach and arrived at Jekyll Island about 11 AM. We had never stopped here before. It is a great stop. The only issue is that you have to arrive and depart during high tide. It worked out well for this trip. We enjoyed our afternoon exploring the island and learning about the early history here. There are miles of great bike paths that we will do next time.

View of Sunset from our spot in Fernadina Beach

Croquet being played at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel

We rented a Red Bug to explore the island....not to mention an  hour and a half walking tour

We'll definitely come back again.

HEADED NORTH WAY TOO SOON!

We are just south of Melbourne tonight at the Eau Gallie Yacht Club. It's a great marina, and we look forward to a great dinner here tonight. We stopped on the way South and really enjoyed our stay.

 The wind blew hard out of the North today, but since we were headed into it, it was not an issue. Our boat did get a great salt spray bath :-(

Now for the bad news....it is supposed to be 49 degrees here tonight! It is already in the 60's, and what a shock from the 80's we are used to. Had to get the bags with the winter clothes out again. Guess the tank tops, shorts and sundresses are history for the rest of this trip.

STORMY WEATHER

Got an early start this morning in order to be docked by 2PM. Very strong storms were predicted to move through the area. We are staying in Ft. Pierce tonight at one of our favorite marinas, Harbour Isle. It is in a condo complex, easy to get into, quiet, pretty, and great dog area.
The storms passed over about 3:30PM and are now over.

MANATEE...very friendly marina resident, we were able to get very close to him

HANDY MAN SPECIAL

HURRY UP AND WAIT

This morning we had the vacuflush tech (toliet guy) come to our boat to do routine maintainence to our heads. He was on the boat all morning. We were all set to pull out at 12:15 PM as we were waiting for the nearby bridge to open. Come to find out, they changed the opening schedule to once an hour. We missed the opening and had to wait until 1:15 to leave :-( We had hoped to go about 40 miles this afternoon, but only did 15. We ended up at Admiral's Cove in Jupiter. Turned out to be a good thing, as a very strong line of storms moved through in the late afternoon. We were happily tied up and snug in our boat by then.

HARROWING HAPPENINGS

Headed up to West Palm Beach yesterday. It was slow going due to the many bridges we had to wait for. We arrived at Palm Harbour Marina during mid tide. The current was running at 4 and a half knots! We turned down the fairway, and the current overrode our bow thruster and turned our boat sideways . This was truly a very scary situation. As John tried to set the boat straight, our bow thruster overheated and stopped working! Then...the slip we were to go in to, already had another boat in the slip. We were told to wait a minute, while they scrambled to find us another slip on that dock. To make matters worse, another boat started to pull out of a slip. I had to run up to the bow flailing my arms and yelling for them to stop! Finally, using the stern thruster, we were able to back into our slip. It was by the grace of God that we didn't really damage our boat. Yes, a beer never tasted so good after all that.
Last evening, we cleaned up, walked around the town, and had dinner at a wonderful restaurant.
Ahhhhhhh :-))

ON OUR WAY

Had great weather to start our trip. We did our usual waiting game of bridge openings, and made it passed the very shoaled Haulover inlet. We purposely left on a Monday as going through Miami/Ft. Lauderdale on a weekend is like bumper boats! We did did a short stop up the Dania Canal to have our rudder seal checked by the technician that had replaced it last year. The seal had been leaking a small bit, we just wanted it checked by the expert. He said it was fine, and nothing a little 4200 couldn't fix. The issue with this stop was that the marina we pulled in to is crammed with huge yachts with very little maneuvering space. John did a stellar job of avoiding any mishaps! 
Last night we stayed at Lighthouse Marina near the Hillsboro inlet. Nice marina...would stay here again. 

ABOUT TO HEAD NORTH

We have had a super time here in Coconut Grove. Sadly, we turned our rental car in today. We will drop lines on Monday morning. 

While driving back from tennis this morning, as I entered the marina (which is right next to Miami City Hall), there were hundreds of Venezuelan demonstrators getting ready for a huge protest march. This is a big story down here, as there is a very large Venezuelan community. 

This past couple days, TMCA friends, Phil and Matilde, arrived on their trawler. They will leave the beginning of this week for the Exumas. 

Enjoying a trip over to Picnic Island on Phil's dinghy

Phil & Matilde

One of my favorite things here is being able to ride my bike to my fabulous yoga class.