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

Miscellaneous pictures from the last week

A rainbow as we cross the Gulf Stream

Osprey hunting over the ICW

All along the ICW platforms have been put on the channel markers for Osprey to make their nest.

It's that time of year

Mom with her babies

One of many large homes along the ICW

National Navy UDT - SEAL Museum

Hi All,
As I said in my last post, we went to the National Navy UDT - SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce. Fort Pierce is where the first "frogmen" trained during WWII. A lot of interesting things both inside and outside the museum.

If you saw the movie Captain Phillips with Tom Hanks, you know the story of the Maersk Alabama. The actual life boat from the Maersk Alabama, the real one not the one used in the movie, is in the museum. Complete with windows shattered by the bullets from the Navy SEALs. I still find their marksmanship amazing.

Here are a few pictures I took around the building.

The front door, just to the right is a simulated SEAL obstacle course. As you enter the yard the sign above you reads "The only easy day was yesterday".

I really don't know what to say other than thank goodness they are out there protecting us.

Mural on the outside back wall of the building.

Any questions?

Brian

Back in the U S of A

Hi All,
We made it, pretty much as we planned the day. Alarm went off at 2:30, anchor up at 2:50 and we headed west. It was a bit bumpy, especially in the Gulf Stream, but not too bad.

The highlight of the day may have been when we encountered a pod of 15 spinner dolphin that swam just off of our bow for 10 or 115 minutes. Susan and I stood on the bow and watched until one by one they peeled off and went on their way. It's like being a little kid again when they're around.

We fished all the way across. Had one strike that might have been a wahoo, but it spit the hook out pretty quick. We caught the biggest mahi mahi I've ever seen. It did a neat dance on its tail just out of the water before he stripped all the line off the reel and was gone. Then we were down to one line in the water. As we were motoring along I saw just off the side of the boat a mahi mahi chasing a flying fish, it was just a flash. About the time our lure got to that spot we had a strike and got a mahi on. He put up a good fight but we got him on board and went to filleting him. After he was in the refrigerator it wasn't to much longer and we had another strike and another mahi. This one put up an even better fight, I'd say it took us 30 - 45 minutes to get him on board, Susan and I taking turns reeling. As we got him close to the boat we saw a second mahi swimming with him. Mahi hang together in schools and when you catch one, if you can stop (we couldn't), you can catch several by leaving one in the water until you catch the next one. Anyway, we only had one line and Susan rightly suggested we didn't really need three. Two mahi in the refrigerator and our fishing dry spell was officially over.

We got to Fort Pierce and anchored at about 4:30, next to Drew and Sharon on Z-Raye who have been here a couple of days. We were just getting settled when we were hailed on the radio by Fugue (Ralph and Beverly) that we met and had dinner with in Galveston just after we bought our boat. Talk about a small world! They left this morning so we didn't get to talk with them but they're going the same direction we are so I'm sure we'll catch up with them again in the next week or so. Drew and Sharon came over for a mahi dinner and a bottle of champagne before we collapsed.

Today we're going to the Navy Seal Museum here in Fort Pierce. Today or tomorrow we'll rack up some tremendous bills at West Marine, Walmart and Publix getting restocked with everything.

That's it for now. (posted without Susan's edits so excuse any grammatical errors) Take care.
Brian

Last Stop

Hi All,
It's our last night in the Bahamas and it's going to be a short one. We dropped anchor around 3:00 after topping of our fuel at West End, Grand Bahama. The alarm is set for 2:30 in the morning with plans to have the anchor up by 3:00.

We are anchored just off shore from this house...

Not bad. I hope they consider Good Morning Vietnam to be part of the charm.

Looking the other direction, Fort Pierce Florida is 82 nautical miles over there...

That's where we hope to be by 4:00 tomorrow afternoon.

Maybe, just maybe, we can catch a fish. We've been fishing for the last three days and have had only one bite. Whatever it was broke the line not long after he got on the hook. He did come out of the water briefly but I'm not sure what he ways. By the shape I'd say he was a barracuda, king mackerel or wahoo. Whatever it was, it did not make it to our dinner table. Sure would like some fresh fish.

That's it from us until we're in Florida. Take care.

Brian

Short Cut

Hi All,
After changing our plans twice, we have cut one stop and one day out. Friday morning we left Palm Cay Marina with a bit of rough seas, but after the first hour or two were able to put up the sails and sail pretty much all the way to West Bay. As we were pulling up to drop anchor we recognized Windarra, Jim and Ronda, some friends we made around Georgetown. They were anchored there as well and came over to catch up and have a few drinks. It was good to see them and we had lots of laughs.

Last night we had decided to change our route home, but this morning, after we were on our way we changed our minds again and decided to do the same route with one less stop. So today, rather than sailing to Little Whale Cay and staying there overnight we made it all the way to Great Harbour Cay. There is a beautiful and long beach here. Coincidence that it was our third stop in the Bahamas and will now be the third to last stop in the Bahamas. We anchored about 4:30 and are looking at an early night. Tomorrow we have approximately 65 miles to go to Freeport/Lucaya so we're going to get up at 5:00 and be moving well before sunrise.

Monday will be a short day going from Lucaya to West End. Tuesday will be another long day crossing back over the Gulf Stream, with us starting hours before sunrise so we can make Fort Pierce with plenty of sunlight.

That's it for now. Take care.
Brian

Headed Back

Hi All,
Just a quick update to let you know we're starting our trek back to the US. Tomorrow we plan on leaving Palm Cay Marina and go to West Bay at the (imagine this!) west end of New Providence Island. If the weather cooperates, and the forecast is looking good, we're going to move each day. From West Bay we'll go to Little Whale Cay, then Great Harbour Cay, Lucaya on Grand Bahama, West End on Grand Bahama and then Fort Pierce, Florida. If the dam don't break and the creek don't rise we'll be in Florida next Wednesday.

To have that many days in a row of good weather would be something new so there's a decent chance we'll get delayed a bit along the way but as I said, the forecast is looking good.

It's bittersweet. We hate to leave this beautiful water but hurricane season will be here before you know it and this is not the place to be during that time. We're also ready to be back in the US. I just finished updating my trip log spreadsheet. It's been 285 days since we left Kemah, Texas. We've traveled approximately 2585 nautical miles since then. We've been in the Bahamas for 170 days so far. We're going to be just short of spending a full six months here. It has been a great time and it sure has been nice to completely skip winter.

That's all for now. Take care.

Brian