Long Time No Post

Hi All,
Once again I've been remiss by not posting updates. This will be a quick (you know that isn't true) catch up for where we've been and what we've done since Fort Pierce.

From Fort Pierce we motored up the ICW to Melbourne Beach. We spent two nights on our anchor here. The first day we walked over to the Atlantic side and took a stroll down the beach and did some grocery shopping. The second day we did very little until the evening when we had Paul and Jenny (Pelican) and Ted and Claire (Another Life) over for drinks. It was good to catch up with Another Life and to make some new friends, Pelican.

Sunday, May 1, we motored up to Merritt Island and dropped anchor. There we met Lynn Swanson, a longtime friend of Susan's, for dinner. When we were on the west coast of Florida, before going over to the Bahamas, we met Lynn and her husband Tom for dinner at Clearwater Beach. We're glad they have been willing to drive from Orlando to meet us on both coasts of Florida.

Monday we moved up to Ponce Inlet and anchored off Sea Love Marina. What a name!  We visited the lighthouse (not actually going up to the top). There was a lot to see on the ground including touring the buildings where the lighthouse keepers worked and lived s well as a lot of history and information about Fresnel Lenses.

Wednesday, May 4, we moved up to Daytona Beach. Here we had to take a stroll on the fabled beach.

On Thursday, I succumbed to temptation and we toured Daytona International Speedway. It was cool!

Me kissing the start / finish line at Daytona

Susan and I in Victory Lane

The Start / Finish line goes all the way into the stands. S/V Good Morning Vietnam was here!

Friday we motored up to St Augustine where we met back up with Andrew and Sharon on Z-Raye. Here we took a mooring ball at the city marina. St Augustine is the oldest city in the US. We spent several days in St Augustine with Drew and Sharon. We took a tram tour around the city, went to a Organ and Violin concert at the oldest catholic church in the US, toured Flagler College and the St Augustine Distillery (free samples!).

Magnolia Street in St Augustine. Now lined with Oak trees due to a freeze that killed all the magnolias back in the 1800's.

Read the sign in the previous picture to understand why the door to this Wells Fargo branch still has the door from the Woolworth's that was there previously.

No free samples of the Bourbon as none of it is ready yet. There were free samples of the gin and rum they've been making though.

Z-Raye and us left St Augustine, went outside and tried to sail up to Fernindina Beach on Amelia Island. We tried but there wasn't much wind so we motor sailed all the way up. The sail was getting us half a knot.

Good Morning Vietnam passing through the Bridge of Lions in St Augustine. Thanks for the picture Z-Raye!

At Fernindina Beach we anchored next to Z-Raye and spent a few days there before renting a car and driving to Charlotte, NC to attend the wedding of the daughter of one of Susan's dear friends Francis and Vinny. Z-Raye stayed in Fernindina Beach while we were gone to watch our boat and make sure it didn't float off.

A picture from Sharon to let us know Good Morning Vietnam was doing fine.

They very much enjoyed Fernindina Beach. We enjoyed our road trip to Charlotte, the wedding was outdoors, in the country and both fun and beautiful. On Friday, while Susan was getting her hair done, I visited Hendrick Motorsports. If you aren't a NASCAR fan, you won't understand.

Entrance gate

In2004 a private plane owned by Hendrick Motorsports crashed on approach to Martinsville Virginia. Rick Hendrick's brother, two nieces, his son Ricky and 6 others were killed. This is the memorial fountain built between the 5 / 24 and 48 / 88 shops. A marker with the names of each person killed is in the fountain.

That's all for now as we need to get moving to Jekyll Island. I'll write more this weekend.

Take care.
Brian