On our way to Cuba. #1

On our way south

We are back "down south". It is nice and warm here but not hot. To get here we delivered a "drive away" car to Boca Raton, Florida to an unbelievable house that had its own indoor pool in a gated community. Wow! It's a good deal. They pay for all the gas, give us $300 for expenses and we got to drive in a Lexus to Florida. Our boat was in a boat yard on the hard at Reynolds Yacht Centre at Green Cove Springs, near Jacksonville.

Note the Lexus.  The screening covering the boat cools the boat in the hot summer weather.

We spent a couple of weeks getting the boat ready for launch (see below) and provisioning(we rented a car) and then we were off.  

I have to be careful because of the fall I had about 10 days before I left.   I went flying right in front of FRESHCO's entrance doors on a plastic coated sign that was lying upside down on the concrete. I badly bruised my entire right side and suffered what the doctor called a whiplash. I went to physiotherapy and massage all week and even had a cleaning lady in to clean the house before we left. So Roman is the one hauling everything and doing much of what I normally what I do.  My entire right side was very sore and it is only now, almost three months later, that I feel a little better.  I use a cane when we do longer walks.

We sailed to St. Augustine, one of our favourite places.  I wrote so much about it in my last two blogs.  But one thing that was different from other visits is that we found this sign on one of the side streets.  Imagine that!  A casa named for my granddaughter!

On the way down the intercoastal we had company.  Dolphins followed our boat for aboutfifteen minutes swimming under the boat and around it.  Then we still could see them for some time.  Look closely for the dolphin fin sticking out from the water to the left of the fishing boat.  From there was one front after another so we continued in the rain to Cocoa Beach where it was nice for one day and then in the rain off to Vero Beach where we got eaten alive by the no-seeums, literally a hundred bites.  The anchorage there is surrounded by mangrove swamps. No one is turned away.  We were three boats tied up to one mooring ball.

While waiting for 9 days at Vero Beach for a new Raymarine GPS receiver that died as soon as we left Green Cove Springs, head parts, a battery energy monitor, to name a few, we spent Thanksgiving there with over 100 boaters.   CLODS (cruisers living on land) a new term for us, baked the turkeys and hams with the boaters contributing the salads, appetizers and deserts.  It was a wonderful potluck with everyone in good spirits.

What a small world the boating world is!  Boaters are very friendly people and we spent time socializing as well as working on the boat while we waited.  We met several boaters that we have come to know in our travels and visited with Gerald who is now a CLOD living in Vero Beach in a very nice condo.  He took me around shopping in his gorgeous silver Miata convertible.  We had a lot of fun especially with a couple, Peter and Kathleen, on s/v Now or Never, with whom we had travelled for some time last year.   

After the Thanksgiving dinner

From Vero to Lake Worth was uneventful except for the vessel indicator on the GPS which Roman had just replaced crabbed 90 to 180 degrees making it quite difficult.  It does not matter on the intercoastal as you usually navigate visually by the markers but on the ocean you want the GPS working 100%. 

View of the Tiki Bar from our boat

At Harbortown Marina

From Lake Worth we went to Harbortown Marina, Fort Pierce where we met up again with Peter and Kathleen.  The marinas make their money on transient boaters that stay for only a few days.  The charge for a couple of days was just about a third of the monthly rate Peter and Kathleen were paying as they had to wait there for family.  It was too pricey for us to stay longer and as Roman had found a leak in the sea pump for the engine, wouldn't you know it, we had to wait for parts so we anchored just off the marina for another week.  We spent many happy days with Peter and Kathleen who were great company and we became even better friends.  Kathleen and I have many common interests and she has a great sense of humour.

While there we discovered a Byzantine Church which sold poppyseed rolls and verenyky.  Kathleen and І were there when they were making the varenyky and they were very welcoming and very proud of their church and their varied backgrounds and cultures but they all shared the same faith.  Everything was delicious.  Kathleen ended up taking orders for boaters when she went back again.

We were also there for their Christmas Parade.  It had a very small town feel and everyone knew each other and greeted participants in the floats by name.

 The many faces that watched the parade.  There was face painting in the park while they waited.

 Everyone got into the spirit of the parade! 

Even those watching it!

We also watched the boat parade but unfortunately it was very difficult to take moving pictures at night.