chill, rain

4/10/19  Fridaycap creek, off St. Simon's Island, heading toward Sapelo Island.

I thought it would be a good idea to remember the beach...on this cold, rainy day. This is another view of Jekyll Island beach from yesterday. It wasn't very warm, actually it was really chilly. But it is a beautiful beach.

Today we put insulation, against the cold breeze coming through the pilot house hatch, back in to help keep us warm, relatively speaking.

Now I know 56 degrees is a heat wave in some parts of the USA but in GA on April 10, 56 degrees is cold.  Add rain all day long and it is really cold.

We put the insulation back in, put on our long pants, long sleeve shirts, shoes with SOCKS, hooded sweat shirts and vests! Almost warm.





We decided last night to leave after the thunderstorms past, about noon today. This morning we reconsidered: leave early before low tide because the water is really skinny on the "other side of the bridge," stay another day and go outside with Fordyce as our leader, stay another day (we'd be cold at the marina, too) and wait for sun.  Studied the various weather channels we consult and by that time it was too late to leave before low tide. Nothing like procrastination to make our decision. That and the thunder sound when we said "okay, let's go!" Then the weather gods spoke."GrrrrumbleBoomRattleRolloolllll." We called Terri , dock master (mistress ?) asking permission to remain until tide changed. Yes, of course.

Yes, time to cook breakfast, scrambled eggs with toast and jam.

We left the beach behind. Left the dock and wound our way through the skinny water, through the rain.

We watched the charts carefully but, really, the water was deep most of the time past north of the bridge...well past north of the bridge.

The rain made the visibility sketchy but only us foolish people were out today.

We and the Coast Guard. Note the large navigational buoys in the mid section of the boat.

Our view for tonight. Only pelicans as neighbors though there was a dolphin here as we were anchoring.

I'm a bit cold and tired. I was out in the rain handling lines and fenders and pumping out our rain-drenched dinghy. The soup and the hot toddy have helped but I might curl up with a book and a blanket and/or go to bed early.

We could also bring out out new-in-January propane heater...but it is packed away so nicely.


Amelia is definitely sleeping in. She's been curled close to which ever one of us was not at the helm all day long. She pays attention to low atmospheric pressure better than her humans.

Looking East now I can see the edge of the clouds...or the edge of clear sky. Supposed to be warm tomorrow.

Jekyll Island

4/9/18

We're spending big bucks to stay at the dock on Jekyll Island. We've passed this by or stayed on anchor in the shadow of the water slide. But thunderstorms expected tonight...and....we've never been on the island before. It's more low key than I expected. My impression has been very wealthy, very expensive. Expensive, we've seen but not an excessive display of wealth. The boating, many live-a-boards, community here at the dock is friendly and boats are terribly expensive. 

We took a golf cart ride out to the beach. The beach is just on the other side of the sand dunes that are just beyond these trees. It was blowing and chilly-to-cold on the beach. The water was warm and the little shore birds were nonplused by our presence.

I did not swim or bounce in the shallow waves. The beach was really gradual and long in both directions. No humans except a family we passed as they came off the beach. They had a handful of perfect (whole) sand dollars about silver dollar size. A youngster, maybe 6, told us he'd eaten one. "With peanut butter on it?" I asked. "I hear they're better with peanut butter." His mom wasn't impressed.

Got rid of our garbage, our recycling and got showers so got rid of our dead skin and light stink. And we added fuel for the next leg of our journey. All this at the marina, not the beach.

The day of travel to get here was mostly non-eventful. Just going through all those GA twists and turns where you can travel for a couple hours then look across the marshes to see that you are only about 2 miles from where you started. We were hoping to get some "outside" (in the ocean) time and missing some GA twists and turns but that north wind just doesn't allow.

We spent last night (4/8/18) anchored at Cumberland Island, a favorite spot. Saw wild horses on the way in but none this morning on the way out. Too chilly. That travel, too, was pretty uneventful. We're in pretty familiar territory. Have to pay attention to chart and water depths but rarely any big surprises.

Yesterday we traveled along the Amelia River, bordering  Amelia Island.


Amelia, the cat, slept through most of it in spite of our shaking her to encourage her to have a look.

Simply no interest.

Road caution signs on the pavement.

Loving the BEACH regardless of temperature

Bike and Bump

4/7/18  Jim King Park, Jacksonville

But yesterday - 4/6/18 - we were in St. Augustine on one of our favorite mooring balls, in spite of the spat getting to the mooring ball.

We were, I was, later than usual getting up having stayed up until wee hours reading my book, The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri. I love her writing. And enjoy reading authors from other cultures as that gives me a small window into those lives and traditions...sometimes. I finished the book today and totally enjoyed it. I particular enjoy how her narrative is not chronological and is offered from several different character's perspective.

We brought our bikes off the boat so we could do some riding with Sheldon. We three started together but we lost each other early on. David and I reconnected called Sheldon to say we were on our way toward "the Great Cross." The cross is a towering one, 208', on a point of land northwest of the fort. Beyond the fact of Christian symbol I don't know its significance in St. Augustine history. It is impressive and in beautiful, quiet and very green gardens.
 

We road through narrow streets and small-ish houses with lots of greenery - flowers and trees.  Well. Some large-ish homes, too, with magnificent old trees covered with Spanish moss and manicured lawns.

We went into sections of town I'd not discovered before. All the way to the Ponce deLeon archeological part. It is where it is thought that the first Spaniards landed and home of an Indian tribe...and a (THE) source of the Fountain of Youth where water can still be had in small plastic cup from the spring for free. Pretty mineral strong water.

It was a pretty lightweight exhibit, environment, park. The peafowl were a highlight, probably a dozen in view, all wandering, lounging, eating, calling raucously. We saw one baby being fed by a mom. Only the males, the peacocks, have this beautiful coloring and fan tail. This one was just hanging out, resting on the lawn. There was also one snow white one.

This pixie entrance was in one of the coquina and oyster shell walls that that surround the site which was an archeological site for many years, no longer active. There are larger gates at several places along the walls. These short, maybe 3' tall, entrances are sort of in the "guard" house.

Here is the pixie gate in its host structure.


David and I left together, he to meet Sheldon at the Sailors' Exchange consignment store, me to see if the Episcopal Thrift store was still open. David was successful and bought a hatch frame he'd been looking for. The thrift store was closed long before I got there. I missed it again. Grumble. I may have to buy a plane ticket to come back later this spring.

I choose to not join the men at the Sailors' Exchange instead sitting in the Lightner Museum garden and read above book.

We joined ranks again and went to the site specific installations of Flagler College art students. Talk about lightweight!!! Really disappointing given other art student installations and site specific pieces I seen in recent past. Appreciating it was a first effort, by the college department and by the individual students but, really, what was the context? What were the prompts? What was the instruction? What was the, was there any, thinking behind each installation? All but one piece, a film loop of female stars, looked as if very limited thought and time was invested.

However, the art walk evening event throughout downtown WAS worth the effort. Several galleries had wonderful work. Such fun and inspiration to leisurely look at work, large and small, comfortable and challenging, and talk with David and others about what we each were seeing, what drew our interest. There was a beautiful bracelet in one gallery - open ended, silver but not brightly polished, with a raised line of copper running around it. A triangular opal at one end, purple tourmaline  at the other end. Reminded me of the "snake" bracelets from ancient Egyptian cultures. Loved it and I don't even wear bracelets except for one that I don't wear on the boat for fear of losing it overboard. Totally out of my price range at $450. Sigh. 

Flagler College is, architecturally, stunning...old buildings and new buildings. This used to be a hotel. Inside this "gate" which is gated is a courtyard with fountain and manicured pathways and benches for sitting and listening/watching.

We went to the Plum Gallery that we'd discovered on our last visit. I like much of the work. Met the owner who told us there were about regular artists she showed (her stable of artists, stable, really???) regularly and about every quarter she rotates 3 or 4 new artists in to show their work. I bought earrings there that I hope I like as much now that I have them as I did in buying them. I wanted a present for myself and I couldn't afford the Bora Yasar bracelet.

These horses have delighted me on several occasions. They come in lots of sizes from 6" to 6' and in many colors. Their legs are sticks. Their manes and tails, telephone wire...the multicolored kind.  The paper mache' of this light one is covered with road maps.


Post art walk we went to dinner at the Chinese buffet we discovered on our way south and bought groceries...re-provisioning for several days away from food resources.

A fun day with lots of variety with our friend.





4/7/18   Up at a reasonable time, coffee, heard the bridge horn  alerting boaters and cars to "opening," looked at each other "Not going to make the 8:30 bridge," he said. "We can do it. There are 7 boats waiting to go through and we're really close to the bridge," I said.  And we did. We were out the gate in less than 5 minutes, taking our place in the queue to get through to leave town. Much faster than a herd of turtles.

As we approached the buoys for going outside or going through the ICW we thought "outside" and there were other boats going in that direction and the weather was looking pretty good. Oops! "David our dinghy is not prepared to go outside." We were towing it. It needs to be on the davits to go in the ocean. U-turn and into the ICW.

All went well....until....we ran aground. Silly mistake...lack of attention...wrong glasses leading to mistaking an anchorage symbol on the chart with a green navigational aid. I heard "Oh shit!" from the captain, felt/heard him stop the accelerator, held on and felt a furump and we stopped going forward. Sandbar. Back up. Off. Go forward. On again. Back up and retrace our route getting here and back in the channel. 

We put up a sail. Alright. On our way and with sail support. Pretty easy day, as best I remember.


Getting into the St. John River at Jacksonville we met this big gal. We let her pass. Didn't quibble for one second. "You take it, big girl."


As we turned the corner into Sister Creek and the Jim King Park free dock I noticed another Nauticat on the very full dock. Fordyce is here.

With help from him and another boat captain we docked on the "other" side of the dock, a first for us but plenty of water and space. An oil change for Grace and dinner with Fordyce, some tentative plans for tomorrow and time for bed.

A quote from The Lowland: "....awash with gratitude of his advancing years, for timeless splendor of the earth, and for the opportunity to behold them."    I am, too.

wind

4/5/18 St Augustine

Stayed in Palm Coast last night, slept late this morning, finally up and making coffee around 8:30. Computer stuff until nearly 10 a.m. with expectation to leave by 10:15 or so. Not. I think it was a bit after 11:00 when David backed us out of our very narrow slip. Two women fended off from both sides, one on a neighboring boat. Captain Dave did a marvelous job of getting us out without even kissing the dock or pilings.

A pretty non-eventful day of boating. That's good. We shared helms person duties but David got the task of guiding us through the Matanzas Inlet spaghetti twists and turns. The canal HAS been dredged wince we were there in February and nearly ran aground. Much easier passage.

The wind was ferocious with gusts up to 22knots, even in the canal. And it was on our nose much of the time. Coming into St Augustine harbor was a bear, providing opportunities for pissy-ness between Captain David and Admiral Nancy as we tackled the mooring ball.

Me on the foredeck with the boat hook ready. David going around the ball to come at it into the wind. Perfect. Oops. We missed. Captain turned to starboard to realign then a quick (unexpected) turn to port. (I learned later that the low water alarm had alarmed.) WTH is he doing? Okay, lines ready on the other side of the boat. I hooked that sucker! On no! The ball is going down the side of the boat. It's running away from me. I can't hold on! Help! David to the rescue, holding the ball by the hook while I laced the line through the...thing you lace the line through. Wait David laced the line I handed him, gave it (the line) back to me to lace through the hause hole and tie off to the cleat. Okay. Phew! Grace moored enough while we deal with the double line mooring, preferred in this field and, for sure, in this gusty wind. Me ready to take the starboard side line around the bow. But put the chaffing gear on first. Right. Captain holding the chaffing gear so I can thread the line through it. "Let me have it," I said. "I'll hold it for you," he said. Threading wasn't working for me. "Just let me have it," I said emphatically. He did and I threaded the line using my technique. Line around the bow to Captain who wove it through the "eye" of the mooring pendant (?) and handed it back around the bow to me so I could put the chaffing gear on the other end. He didn't offer to help me hold it this time. Smart fellow. I took the weight of the boat on my mooring line so he could put chaffing gear on his line. I didn't offer to help hold chaffing gear for him either.  Boat secure and balanced. Rudder centered. 

Silently we agreed it was best to not talk to each other for awhile. I went below. Captain David in the pilot house. Then I went to the aft deck. We both took naps. I studied Spanish. He talked to a friend in Maine. I cooked. We ate. And we've begun planning for galley renovations.

Spats do happen. We have different ways of solving challenges. Life is good. St Augustine is beautiful. The wind has abated. Our friend, Fordyce, will leave tomorrow without us.

to the beach, to the beach, to the beach beach beach

3/4/18 7 Seas Marina between Port Orange and Daytona...to be more specific

Yesterday we left Titusville just at dawn. Not such a big deal because dawn is after 7:00 a.m. We went and went and went. No sails up but steering from the aft deck. Cool! and cooler than inside and a lot less noise from the engine.

We made our way through Haulover Canal. I saw two Manatee body parts...a nose and a tail flip and the tale, tale circle of the tail flip. Later after we'd passed through I heard the bridge tender say to some boats that there were lots of Manatees in the canal today so to go especially slowly.

The Mosquito Lagoon which is rather large and long, north to south. It is  really shallow except in the canal. All these little islands remind me of miniatures, something that might be created of clay for a scene in a movie. Lots of small power boats beach on them or fish nearby. To the east about 2.5 miles is another string of barrier islands and the Atlantic. I fantasize about anchoring and dinghying to the ocean barrier islands, and swimming.

We were in a parade of boats heading north, our two buddies and about 3 others that we kept leading or following most of the day. By 12:30 or so we were in Daytona Beach area. We passed our fav marina with the beach a block away. I was at the helm and kept going. David came up and wondered if I didn't want to go swimming. Well, of course, but we'd not discussed it and were already past.

This is why we keep missing our turns into places we can go to the beach. Amelia sleeps through her helm watches.

David phoned Seven Seas, yes they would love to have us stay with them again. Same as last time. Just tie up at the fuel dock, plenty of room. Linda would "let the boys know you're coming in." The "boys" are 28-45. One of the younger "boys" was recently killed in a motorcycle accident. The small staff there was a bit tender as they know each other well.

We turned around and were docked by 1:30.


The wind was onshore and fierce so we delayed going to the beach. Instead we finished scrubbing (!!) the deck with dish soap and rinsing it with salt water. Then we went after the trim on the pilot house. We didn't get a before shot of the dirty trim but notice the grey rail. The pilot house trim was more streaked with black. This rail has less wear and tear and dirt.

And here is the newly cleaned and oiled trim for the starboard side of the Pilot house. The port side is cleaned but not yet dry enough to oil. Perhaps later today.

We managed to entertain ourselves with these home beautification projects until the wind died down enough to make beaching it enjoyable.

Also called our friend, Sheldon, to see if he was available to visit. By chance he was in Daytona Beach so agreed to meet us after our beach trip.

He drove us on a bit of a sightseeing tour, looking for dinner. We ended up here at the Rum Grill (?) with the deck built around this big tree. Chilly night but good company and good enough food. The decorations included handmade signs. "If there's a will....I want to be in it." "Women grow your own dope...Plant a man."

And now it's today! Ta dum!  3/4/18

We had coffee and went to the beach. My Captain David is so accommodating of my wishes regarding swimming in the ocean. It was delicious. Delicious! Delicious!!! The wind was from shore so the waves were less fierce. Tide was higher so the beach was more even underfoot. We were there by 10:30-ish and must have played at riding waves for at least an hour.

Glorious!

And now we're on our way to Palm Coast Marina where we have a really cheap slip with no frills for the night. David needs to get many four hours boating days in  in order to renew his Captain's license, so we choose short days rather than 6-8 hour days. That's the plan until we run out of time necessary to get to Winston-Salem to celebrate aunt Kathleen and her 90th birthday.

On our way we saw this paddle wheeler steaming up behind us. We were approaching a lift bridge at about the same time so the bridge tender asked if we'd wait for the paddle wheeler to catch up, we being in front.
Of course. We decided to continue to lead through the bridge as the Lady Dolphin travels slower than we. All agreed.

This unfortunate boat...still not lifted from the Daytona bay.





Even though we are in the canal - ICW - the wind blew fiercely, gusting to 21 knots, part of our trip past Daytona. Not a big problem, just have to pay attention.


We pulled into Palm Coast Marina around 6:00 p.m. and have a slip next to buddies from our original trip two years ago. And met Denis and Linda from Hampden, ME. They'll head north in another month.


All good.

Lift off!

4/2/18  Titusville

They did it! And we watched it! About 90 seconds, maybe two minutes of viewing before the rocket disappeared into the clouds. Then the roar of the rocket engines rolled across the water to our boats. The sound lasted longer.


This is what we waited three days in Titusville to see? Yep. Worth it? Hmmmm, not sure. But it is impressive that this is even possible and that in two days the rocket will be rendezvous-ing with the space station, delivering goods for new experiments. Growing vegetables. Already the scientists have grown lettuce! I will say that I'm glad I didn't pay $50 to be at the Space Center for the launch. Though closer, the rocket would still have disappeared in the clouds.




Today was the first sunny, light wind day we've had in about three...almost since we got here.
 

Sunrise with the edge of the bridge on the right side. Beautiful color in the sky and in the water. I slept until around 7:00 a.m. Active dreaming night. I remember being in a group of maybe 7 or 8 women. I noted that that trio over there was doing something about theater tech (hanging lights?), a solo woman nearby was knitting or crocheting, a duet was handling another task. That left 3 of us without a specific task. I wondered what we might do but everything look as if it was being handled and our "help" would likely just interfere.

Another dream brought on by my current  book.

I spent some quality time on the seat in the pilot house with Amelia then made coffee and went to the aft deck to sit quietly...enjoying the new sun and warmth. My ancestors were very much present this morning. Just present. When they're here - Mother, Dad, grands, aunties Etoile and Murdell - I just enjoy their companionship. Generally, have a little chat..."thanks for showing up" and tell them a little of what I'm doing/feeling/thinking...as if they don't know already. I appreciate, out loud, how they've made so much in my life possible and appreciate their continuing love and support...and protection. Its a sweet, bittersweet feeling...loving the presence of their energy and sad that their physical presence is not here. Sigh. But always sweet to have their energy so near when it is here with me. Particularly fun since what I'm doing/where I am, is not something they've been able to do in their most recent lives. So does their energy "live vicariously" through my experiences? I like thinking so. Love and joy shared with those beloved energies/spirits.

Before David got up I washed the pilot house windows and cleaned the solar panels. Score one for my pulling my boat maintenance weight. We shared coffee on the aft deck when he got up. Amelia made several trips out to aft deck and a couple adventures to the foredeck. David and I talked about how our day might unfold...what with the rocket launch to go see.

The plan: dinghy in to pick up a few groceries and take showers. Bring Grace into the dock for diesel and water, get rid of any garbage and turn in our bath house keys. Then beauty and order, maybe even cleaning, on Grace before we take off south (!) about 5 miles for the best view of the launch.

 All went well... groceries, showers, back to boat, start the engine. It quit. Air lock somewhere in the system. Oh roll my eyes. David's too. While he bled the engine I swept and moped the galley floor, did a major washing down of the kitty litter Amelia had spread on walls and floors, and washed the few dishes from breakfast. Good to go in 1/2 hour. Phew!

Photo right has been our daily view minus sun for the past several days.

We left around 1:00 p.m. for the viewing site. Took our time getting there so that David could get his four hours of "sea time," a requirement for renewing his captain's license. I made some food to share with our friends on their boat and gathered the last, I hope, of the tax info our tax prep people need.

Fun sharing the launch experience with sailing buddies.

Moon loosing its fullness last night. The first time we've seen the moon since it was truly full. This is the last blue moon this year. The bridge is very lovely in the dark with the soft orange light glow on the supports.

And this magical moment as the sun was setting today.

heights and depths

April Fools and Happy Easter, (4/1/18) Titusville, FL


The view from the top was stunning! Top of the mast. I was well perched in the bosun chair and with David in control of the "elevator" line, in our case the topping lift which we'd just replaced. David wasn't confident the old worn out one was not safe to hold my (extreme) weight. So there I was, perched, beautiful day, bright sun, slight wind, lovely islands in the distance. Kennedy Space Center just over the bridge. Haul Over canal in the other direction. Sail boats bobbing below in the mooring field around our boat. A few speed boats cruising along the ICW. And....I'd didn't bring my camera up with me. For dumb!

Now why was I up the mast, you might ask. Because that slapping halyard I'd tried to tie off for a couple nights last week finally disappeared up the inside of the mast. Apparently the knot at the bottom of the line had come out and up it went. When I was first at the top I tried to feed the line back down the inside of the mast but it must have gotten in a snarl on the inside and never made it to the deck.

So I pulled that one out. We'd tied a fish sinker to nylon line. I fed the sinker from top to bottom of the mast (inside). David took the sinker off and taped the new halyard to the fish line and I very gently pulled the new halyard up to the top. Ta Da!

So as to not loose my new halyard on the way down I tied it to my safety line/life jacket. David was managing two lines to get me down now, the one attached to my safety line and the one attached to the bosun chair. He remembered perfectly to slowly release the bosun chair line but would forget to release the safety line. So the bosun chair would start crawling down my legs while was dangling from my safety line attached at about my sternum. "David. David. Release the blue/new halyard. I'm stuck." And he did. And I came down and the new halyard is exactly where it should be in order to raise the mizzen sail. And life is good.

Now for the depths. The bilge! Due to a very small leak in the fuel line, a small cut from being clamped too tight on a too large hose. An unfortunate, overlooked ( i.e. not made) correction by the mechanics who did the November/December work on our engine. Diesel fuel in the bilge. We're pretty cautious and careful about NOT dumping toxic stuff (oil, fuel, etc) in the water or discharging it overboard. David fixed the leak...new hose of correct size, new clamp. Then we went about sopping up the diesel with absorbent pads that we call bilge diapers. What messy, stinky work. I finished the clean up in the forward bilge (under the engine), hovering over it, siting on the engine with my knees up around my ears, bending way forward to reach the bottom of the bilge. Meanwhile David lay on his belly in the aft cabin doing the same messy, stinky sopping up job in the lowest level of the bilge.

After the messy, stinky, disgusting bilge work we cleaned up a bit and met our friends for a walk to the local pub for early dinner of beer and sandwiches and planning for tomorrow and the space launch. Walking along the dock we saw a really LARGE manatee Mama, and a calf just swimming along. The width of Mama's back must have been 3'. Really big. We saw her head and neck and that portion of her back. The portion of the baby we could see was only about 18" long. We watched for maybe 5 minutes. I could have watched longer but my friends were anxious to eat/drink.

All this above AFTER we were up and out before sunrise to catch the sunrise service at Marina Park, a point of land that faces our boat looking out across the ICW. It was dense, wet fog. No chance to see any sunrise this morning. A nice enough service, longer than the Maine sunrise services but, of course, its warmer here. We were given an Easter egg with our service bulletin. The plastic eggs had jokes inside them that we shared with our neighbors during the "greet your neighbors" part of the service. The minister was able to work the idea of jokes into the meaning of Easter...God had the last laugh on the devil when Jesus was resurrected.  God and goodness and love won.

And lo' and behold, we sat next to a couple from....Danforth, Maine. They've lived near here in the winter for the past several, arriving in October and returning to ME in May.

Lots of other folks are making this snowbird lifestyle work for themselves, on land or on boat.