GRAY GHOST SAILING

We are thankful for our Rocna anchor as it held beautifully during the bad winds. With the weather now out of the way we could finally drop the dinghy to go to land. Our friends Sarah and David made their way down the ICW to our anchorage just in time for some sundowners and dinner.

The dogs also enjoy hopping in the dingo to go to land. Here they are with Bubba as he took them for a spin around the anchorage.

It’s not all fun and games, sometimes chores have to get done too. While I wanted to go to the laundry mat to wash clothes Bubba thought it would be easier if I washed them in the sink. Let’s just say I won’t do that again unless there are no other choices. What a pain in my ass that was.

The one thing I can say about anchoring in Lake Worth is you get to see a little bit of everything.

It was time to start the next the leg of our journey. Another nor’easter would be coming through again soon which meant we needed to pull an overnighter to get further down the coastline. We started out just after daybreak and made our way back down the ICW to the inlet. Our next planned stop was going to be in Fort Pierce however as we checked the weather as we got closer to the Fort Pierce inlet, we made a decision to ditch our plans. As we aborted the entrance, I texted another boat that had left from Fort Pierce just before us. We had texted all night until they got to Fort Pierce and got anchored for the night. I let them know that we were not stopping and that we would be pushing on to West Palm Beach.

It was a long trip around Cape Canaveral however the sunset was magnificient.

Our new friends on Duet decided to pull anchor and eventually catch up with us on the journey on to West Palm Beach. We are pretty slow at sailing. This is due to the boat being loaded down with everything we would need to live off the grid for the next couple of months coupled with the fact that we don’t have a lot of experience trimming sails.

The sail was pretty uneventful until we got close to Juniper beach. Another boater reported a floating blue raft with immigrants paddling. It was not long before the coast guard was in the air and water apprehending the raft.

We arrived at the Lake Worth Inlet just before sunset. We had been here before in August, so we were familiar with the inlet and the lay of the land. It is always comforting when you know where you are going and a little bit about the channel. I had a couple of anchorage options available. Since we were kind of late coming into the anchorage, I decided it would be best for us to anchor across from the golf course.

We nailed the anchoring on the first try. Having a solid holding was going to be critical as we were expecting high winds yet again.

We had a few boats around us, but everyone was spaced out pretty well.

The only next things to do is take a nap.

We waited until daybreak to start our journey out of the St. Augustine inlet. It was a foggy morning and the helm enclosure made visibility a little tough. Luckily the sea state was fairly calm as we motored our way out.

Our next port of call would be Ponce de Leon Inlet just outside of Jacksonville. We had stopped at this inlet on our way to Brunswick so we were familiar with the inlet. We had been warned the last time we stopped over here to stay close to the jetty. Bubba had also been watching another boat we met in Brunswick make their way into the inlet so we had a good gauge on their heading as well. Since it was late in the afternoon we chose to anchor in a location across from the Coast Guard station we had anchored at the previous time. The wind was gusting pretty good but we felt that our Rocna 73lb anchor would hold.

We woke up the next morning to mother nature telling us we were not going to be leaving Ponce. The winds were gusting 20 plus mph and we had a pretty good idea what the water outside the inlet looked like. We sat debating on moving around the way to Sea Love harborr. I was in contact with my walking buddy Michele from Vista Vida as I knew they were at the marina across from the anchorage. I had also reached out to my friend Sara on Be4checkout who had also been anchored previously in this area to see if she could offer advice. Just as I heard back from Michele I got an anchor alert that we had drifted outside the zone I had set up. Looks like the dear Lord decided our fate for us so we pulled up anchor and began our way down the ICW.

It took a couple of attempts to get our anchor to hold. We finally ended up getting a solid hold closer to the lighthouse using the marina as a blocker for the wind that was gusting 25 mph for most of the day. Bubba filled our tanks up with the diesel from the Jerry cans and then went to the marina to fill the cans back up. While he was there he picked up dinner from the marina’s restaurant. While he was away I was on watch as we had another catamaran close to us.

We enjoyed the restaurants version of Bang Bang shrimp for our dinner. Our view for the night was not bad either, the Ponce de Leon Lighthouse was directly in front of our boat. The lighthouse was built in 1883 and has guided mariners for over 130 years. It is Florida’s tallest lighthouse coming in at 175 feet in height. There are 203 steps that are open to the public to explore or 213 steps that go up to the lantern room which is not open to the public. I have yet to visit this lighthouse for myself. It was too windy and gusty while we were there and I needed to catch up on work.

We got a good nights sleep that night as the winds died down to about 15 mph. We would get up the next morning to begin our journey back down the ICW to the inlet so we could begin our first overnight passage to Fort Pierce.

One thing you have to understand about sailing it is all about the weather. We check weather a couple of times a day in addition to knowing the tide table. You can’t just hop in your boat and go, there is alot of planning that takes place.

We are provisioned to head to the Bahamas. While we want to help the people who live and work in the Bahamas we also have to be able to afford this lifestyle. Purchasing items in the Bahamas or any island will run three times as much as it would in the US.

We have made numerous trips to Sam’s Club, Publix, Walmart and liquor stores to get food, drinks, and medicine for the next 6 months for us as well as the dogs.

Before we leave we have one last Happy Hour to attend at the Yacht Club. Several friends will be leaving out the next day so it is our last time to grab a hug and wish them fair weather and full sails.

We left Brunswick on a cold Sunday morning. Skies were gray and depressing. We were going to make a short day sail to Cumberland Island. Cumberland Island is a barrier island off of Georgia’s southeast coast. There are ruins from a mansion that was built by Thomas Carnegie, brother and partner of steel giant Andrew Carnegie. The island is 17.5 miles long and consists of 36,415 acres. There is loads of wildlife most notably wild horses.

We arrived Cumberland Island about two hours before sunset. We took the dogs to shore to go potty and then stopped by to see Dale and Debbie on Mokokat for sundowners.

The wind blew pretty much all night, gusting around 18 mph. The temperatures were a lot cooler than we were used to and I appreciated the one pair of sweatpants I bought from Sam’s Club.

We woke up early the next morning to pull anchor and begin our passage to St. Augustine. We looked at the forecast and saw that we were going to have some not so comfortable sailing ahead of us for the day but we had no idea just how uncomfortable it was going to be until we hit the inlet.

As we exited the inlet and throughout the day we were met with huge rolling waves that at times were confused. As you can see from the far right picture most of the time we could only see parts of Mokokat due to the sea state. I had to sit inside with the dogs to attempt to calm them down. They as well as I have PTSD from that trip. Tess has now taken over the helm seat as her preferred location for travel. It was pretty horrifying as items that had been secure came flying across the boat.

We arrived in St. Augustine just before sunset. I picked up all of the objects that had found new homes on the boat during our travel, fed the dogs, and then headed down to the master cabin to settle my nerves. I eventually came back out long enough to pour myself a two finger pour of Blade and Bow and grabbed a package of Hawaiian Rolls and that my friends was dinner.

I am not one to sugar coat anything, this sailing lifestyle is not all fruity drinks and pretty sunsets. You get what you get with me and I am hear to tell you I cried my eyes out, my nerves were shot and everything that has happened over the course of the last five months had built up. I chatted via text with several other boating friends as well as friends on land to try to take my mind off of it. A good nights sleep on mooring ball also helped.

We woke up the next morning to a beautiful sunrise. St. Augustine had just recovered from the toll that Hurricane Nicole had taken. One of the locals told us they were having to put up holiday decorations again as they had a good portion of their lights up before Hurricane Nicole made landfall. They would be holding their festival of lights during the approaching Saturday.

During our transit to Brunswick we stopped off in St. Augustine so we were familiar with the town. We absolutely love the town and could have spent a few more days there but there was about to be another blow come through and the marina could only guarantee us a mooring ball until Friday. After we changed mooring balls we made the most of our day in St. Augustine by walking about that afternoon. We walked up on a brewery and decided to step in and secure a seat at the bar. We had a great conversation with a couple who owned their own brewery in Ohio as well as another couple who live in Jacksonville but had never visited St. Augustine.

We decided we needed to grab a little bite to eat to soak up the beer so we headed back to the boat. Along the way we stumbled across Ancient Olive. My friend Sara had messaged me about this place as she had visited while they were here during Hurricane Nicole. You should never shop when you are hungry or when Bubba is with you. I walked in for olive oil and walked out with a bag of pasta and sauce.

Later that evening we met up with Dale and Debbie for dinner at Casa Reina. After dinner we headed back to the boat to check the weather once again and decide whether or not we were leaving the next day. After reviewing the next couple of days weather prediction it was decided that we would get up the next morning to make the journey further South.

Good bye St. Augustine, until next time!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a month since my last post. The time has flown!

November is here which means many cruisers begin their journey to warmer temperatures. We enjoyed one more day with Tracey and John Mitchell before they headed South to Florida. A couple of hours of pickleball, followed by dinner, a walk to the lighthouse and then a little grocery shopping. On our walk back from the lighthouse we stumbled on a Spirit Tree. Artist Keith Jennings and his son have carefully carved faces into certain majestic oak trees throughout St. Simon Island. The legend has it, the images immortalize the countless sailors who lost their lives at sea aboard mighty sailing ships that were once made from the St. Simon Island oak trees. (goldenisles.com)

November 1st is the signal for boaters that they can begin their journey back South due to restrictions that insurance providers place. The official Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1st and ends November 30th. Since hurricane record keeping began in 1853, there have been 76 hurricanes in November. Since 1950 when names were attached to storms after wind speeds reached at least 39 miles per hour, there have been 37 hurricanes in November.

While our friends headed South, we got ready to leave to go back to Arkansas. Our niece Anniston was getting married, so we needed to be home to see her, and James say their vows. We packed up the dogs and began our 15-hour journey back home.

We had not been home since July 29th. We spent all summer getting the house ready for us to be gone an extended amount of time. We have awesome neighbors who check on it to make sure it is okay while we are away. The trees around the house were pretty but the lack of rain definitely made the leaves less colorful.

I definitely don’t miss the NWA traffic. I borrowed mom’s car for a couple of days so that I could go into the office and Bubba could use our car to go do what he needed to do.

What I do miss is the beautiful views of the lake on my ride into work in the morning and from our house. Beaver Lake is beautiful regardless of what time of year it is. However, the winters are brutally cold.

I was going to miss being in Arkansas for Mama’s birthday, so we celebrated early. We spent that Saturday afternoon driving over to Eureka Springs. We stopped by Martin Greer’s candy shop. I have driven past this location hundreds of times but never stopped. We stopped and Mama picked out various chocolates to enjoy later. We then headed over to our favorite restaurant, Local Flavor.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature has a sick sense of humor. I had been monitoring a system that kind of appeared out of nowhere just before we began our travels to Arkansas. Our trip was cut short by a week as we had to get back to Brunswick to prepare the boat for what would become Hurricane Nicole. We did however sneak one visit in with our friends and family on Sunday night at Gusano’s. We appreciate everyone coming out.

We began the 15-hour drive back to Brunswick with the dogs. I contemplated just flying Bubba back to get the boat ready and then flying him back to Arkansas but the amount of work to be done and the logistics just did not make sense. We attended what would be our second official Hurricane party at the yacht club with the other cruisers.

Fortunately for us we just got a lot of rain and wind. Others were not that lucky; it is estimated she did approximately $522 million dollars in damage in central coastal Florida counties. Daytona Beach area took the brunt of the storm. We had friends who rode her out in St, Augustine on a mooring ball and their video was of the winds and rain was pure rage from mother nature. Our friends that were in Vero Beach left their boat and went to a hotel. Luckily all of our friends came out of the storm with no damages.

Stayed tuned for the next update as we prepare for our journey down South and get our sea legs back.

The creative juices were flowing this week as we decorated pumpkins courtesy of Brunswick Landing Marina. The kids enjoyed decorating and removing the guts from the inside of the pumpkins.

After pumpkin carving I was invited out to the firepit to join some of the other cruisers who were going to roast hot dogs and make smores. The kids tested out the new big chair that was delivered this past week.

On Friday I went for a walk with two other cruisers in the marina, Michelle and Caila, through historic downtown Brunswick. Along our walk we passed several of the water fountains that can be found in the downtown area. For weeks I have been passing a sign that read Lovers Oak. While walking we crossed a sign that pointed us in the direction of the Lovers Oak, so we headed that way to see what it was all about. The Lover’s Oak is located at the intersection of Albany and Prince Streets in Historic Downtown Brunswick. According to local legend, Native American braves and their maidens met under the majestic spreading limbs of this enormous oak. As of 2005, the Lover’s Oak was estimated to be 900 years old. The tree’s trunk is about 13 feet in diameter, and it branches into ten limbs measuring 12 to 30 inches in diameter.

On Friday, we got a treat when another Leopard 42 docked at the marina behind us. We were leaving for lunch as they were coming in. Bubba said, I know that logo on the front let’s go back but I only had a short window for lunch before my next Zoom call, so we hurried off to lunch. Sure enough, when we got back Bubba indeed knew who it was. Tracy and John got one of the first Leopard 42’s when it came off the production line. Bubba has chatted with John over the last year on FB as John has worked through the challenges with their boat. We have done a lot of catching up and comparing notes the last couple of days and appreciate the time with them.

The changing of the weather means preparation for heading South starts for a lot of cruisers here at Brunswick Landing Marina. Our friends Dave and Alison from Ali-Cat headed out this morning to nearby town for haul out for some work that was needed on their boat. We hope to see them again real soon in the Bahamas. Alison has a Youtube Channel, Sailing Ali-Cat if you want to grab a glimpse of this crazy lifestyle we are attempting in dive into.

Ya’ll, I have fallen in love with the St. Simon Island. This place has the right mix of everything for me. The roads are lined with moss covered trees, the homes have an old Floridian Southern Charm, you can ride your bike just about anywhere or take your golf cart to town. The downtown area has several restaurants and shops to dine at and casually explore. On Saturdays they have a craft fair with local exhibitors of hand made products, not a bunch of made in China items.

Until yesterday I had only been to the downtown area where the pier and lighhouse are located. My adventures on Saturday would lead me to Fort Frederica on St. Simon for a little history lesson.

The first British settlers arrived at St. Simon in 1736, forty years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. James Oglethorpe arrived at this location with the objective to protect his southern boundary. 44 men and 72 women and children arrived at the location. Within four years of setting up Frederica it had grown to over 500 habitants. Colonists from England, Scotland, and Germanic states came to Frederica to support the endeavor as the century old conflict continued between Spain and Britian continued.

In 1742 the Spanish and British forces took to battle and Fort Frederica’s troops defeated the Spainish in the Battle of the Bloody Marsh, ensuring Georgia’s future as a British colony.

The war with Spain ended in 1748. After the war the thriving community at Fort Frederica began to decline. The fort was eventually leveled, not by the Spainish but through time and the elements. Today you can walk the area to see many of the old remanents of homes built during this time.

In 1758 a fire destroyed most of the structures in the town. The few that were left were pillaged and burnt in 1778 occupation of Brown’s Rangers during the American Revolution.

An old burial site nearby with unknown remains of the early settlers who occupied the land and helped to establish a settlement in Georgia.

Moss covered trees provide ample shade while you walk the grounds. Unlike nearby Brunswick, I did not see one single mosquito the entire day. All in all it was a great day off the boat and away from the work laptop and having to fix everyone’s issues with their product at Walmart.

Like alot of smaller towns, Brunswick, Georgia hosts a First Friday each month. They close off the streets to the downtown area, the streets fill with food trucks, and vendors sell their handcrafted goods.

We gathered with our friends to make a night of it after being couped up working downstairs all week on the boat. We were very fortunate to come across the doors of the Monkey& Tortoise open. Bubba and I have walked past this location several times but never really knew what it was or what was in there. Mr. Robin Durant of LA owns the location as a private gallery/cigar club. The doors are not open to the public so this was a rare treat.

Mr. Durant previously owned a towing company, Bayou Fleet in Hahnville, LA so as soon as I heard that I was even more intrigued. I spent the first 21 years of my life surrounded by the world of towing with my Dad, his brothers and even my brother Phillip working the Mississippi River, riding tow boats and moving barges.

The inside of his gallery is filled with unique items he has picked up during his travels. At the very back of the building is a replica of Al Capone’s bar that he picked up at an auction in Atlanta. It is a beautiful bar that draws you in.

Mr. Durant was very gracious to share his spirits with our group and we got to try some different bourbons and scotches.

There were tons of unique items to see and made you feel like you were in an art gallery in New Orleans.

I think we owe Mr. Durant a bottle to add to his collection the next time the doors are open.

It was finally time to say Peace Out so we made our way back down Newcastle to check out the other fun stuff happening.

It was an epic night and was great to be off the boat!

With the hurricane behind us and a little pent up energy Dale Mc and I decided it would be a great time to go hunt for shark’s teeth. The Corp of Eng is currently dredging near the marina and dumping the remanents in a nearby spot. The cruiser/resident fossil hunter here at the marina had been the day before and came back we a few new finds.

Dale and I took loaner bikes from the marina and peddaled our way over. It was a good little workout getting there as we peddaled through the still slightly damp sand. Prior to leaving the boat I should have bathed in OFF and dunked my clothes it in as well. The mosquitos were out in full force and they were hungry! The fire ants were pretty pissed off as well and they were looking to get in on the action!

What we were looking for was something like the following…I actually bought this one during a fundraiser here at the marina.

What I ended up finding during that 4 hour hunt was something more like…

The location had alot of really cool birds. The Rosegate Spoonbill is the pinkish bird in the photo. It is smaller than a flamingo, with a short neck and a bill shaped like a salad server. Their coloration comes from an abundance of carontenoids, or algae pigments, in their diet. The older the bird, the pinker their feathers. The Rosegate Spoonbill makes a grunt kind of like a pig, it’s not a song bird!

I got back to the boat from this adventure in time to watch the Arkansas vs Alabama game. Unfortunately that game was about as successful as my shark tooth hunt. We had a great 3rd quarter thanks to Alabama’s quarterback getting removed from the game due to injury but it was still a loss.

It was nice to have a day to get out and not have to due work at the boat or my day job. That only meant that Sunday was designated for those tasks. The downside to having the dogs on the boat in such confinded quarters is I vaccum EVERY day. Sunday was no exception so most of the morning was spent cleaning and organizing.

We headed into town after lunch to pick up some items. While Bubba went to Lowe’s he dropped me off at Target. I never shopped Target much back home but now I seem to be branching out more and more. Being in the corporate world I have been trained to use a planner. This was true even when I took 10 months off several years ago and did not work. I use it religously and usually Franklin Covey is my go to planner. Today while in Target I ran across this Rachel Parcell for Blue Sky. It was $19.99 and so much cheaper than what I would have paid at Franklin.

Living in Northwest Arkansas and having worked with Walmart in some capacity for close to 30 years, I have been trained to shop at Walmart. I am pretty critical because I grew up in Walmart. I spent 16 years of my life devoted to the company and bleeding Walmart blue. Living where we live in NWA we are spoiled by having the home office in our back yard. Around 3:00 today we stopped in the local Walmart to pick up some milk, ice cream and produce. I literally called Bubba to find his location in the store and told him to meet me in the front because we were leaving. There was NO lettuce in a bag, there was NO green bell peppers, and that was a far as I got. We hopped in the car, went two blocks, and got everything we needed at Publix. Turns out I also had a $5 coupon for Publix. I still may have paid a little more but with zero headache from dealing with Walmart, Plus the old guy who checked us out got to have a good time with Bubba. BOOM!

I have to say this is the worst I have ever seen the stores. This same store was out of cheese, breakfast meat and deli items the week before. It was so bad that I sent the Cheese merchandising director and the Breakfast meat merchandising directors pictures in an email. The breakfast category I somewhat understood because it was going through a modular reset last week however that was still no excuse for modulars you could literally lay down on the shelves.

It’s been a busy week on the Gray Ghost. Over the weekend we visited two of the nearby islands, had new clutches installed, began Hurricane Ian prep and had visitors from back home in Arkansas.

While making our way to Brunswick last month, two of our clutches blew. Lewmar clutches are not known for being the best and we have heard other owners report that after a month their clutches blew as well. We filed a claim with Leopard and had Safe Harbor Rigging order and replace the two blown ones on Sunday.

Our Sunday afternoon consisted of tiding up and removing all of the cushions, enclosures and outside items in preparation for Hurricane Ian. All of these items now occupy the extra bedroom. We seriously need another room on board for all of the extra parts needed and for times like this. We could truly use a mechanical room!

We moved the boat down a couple of slips to be closer into the marina for more protection and then began tying any lines we could get our hands on. Dale on Mokokat had extras that he let us borrow which helped us out tremendously! Thank you Dale! In the meantime Bubba was assisting others on the dock.

On Monday our friends Tyson and Kati from back home stopped by. They were vacationing in Hilton Head and were driving to Atlanta to catch a flight. We made a quick trip over to St. Simon to grab a bite to eat and catch up. Familiar faces are always a nice surprise and welcome on the Gray Ghost!

Hurricane prep continued as we all played the guessing game as to which path Ian would take. The models were all over the place.

The one thing I can say about the storm is we had beautiful sunsets leading up to the havoc Hurricane Ian would bring to Florida. We were very fortunate here at Brunswick Landing Marina to be spared by Ian. After it tore through Fort Meyers creating a devestating scene it changed course to begin to make it’s way back out to the Atlantic. The storm stayed about 100 miles off shore from us so the impact we felt was mostly wind and rain.

We are very fortunate to be in the marina we are at. The marina staff are awesome. The cruising community is pretty spectacular as well. We have really enjoyed meeting and making new friends here. I also have to say how much I appreciate Safe Harbor Rigging sending me a text yesterday making sure we were good and asking if we had gotten moved closer into the inside of the marina. It’s nice to know John was thinking about us!

Since we have been here in Brunswick we haven’t really ventured out. I have been super busy with work everyday so my time is spent down in the belly of the boat working. The weekends have been spent trying to get things fixed on the boat and waiting for people to show up to do the work. Finally, we have a weekend day that is not necessarily demanding we be anywhere particular.

Today we loaded up the dogs and decided to do a little driving around. Of course our day started at West Marine. Yet another $300 later we had two more fenders and some lines for the fenders. We were looking for a little added protection should the shit hit the fan later this week when we experience our first hurricane on the boat. More on that later as the storm develops.

We left West Marine and headed over to St. Simon Island. Lee at the Sam’s Club eye clinic in Brunswick could not believe we had not been to St.Simon Island yet. I told him I would put it on my list and would report back to him as I am sure I will be back in Sam’s Club within the next week. Oh my, St. Simon is the type of town I have always dreamed of…on the water (check), old Southern Charm (check), nice Southern homes (check), clean (check), well maintained (check), can easily bicycle or golf cart around town (check) and the list goes on.

We parked and got the dogs out to take a stroll. There was a craft/arts fair taking place along the water so we walked by it and we stopped by the St. Simon Lighthouse. The lighthouse and keepers dwelling were built in 1868-1872. It replaced an earlier light that had been destroyed during the American Civil War. I noticied it on our way down the intercoastal to arrive in Brunswick but had no idea if it was a working lighthouse or not. We have seen several lighthouses via water this last month but had not gotten up close on land to any of them. One weekend when we don’t have the dogs with us I would like to go back and spend more time on St. Simon. Today was more of recon trip for a future trip.

It was lunch time for the dogs so we headed back to the boat to drop them off so they could eat and get a nap in (sounds just like children, huh?). We hopped back in the car and went the opposite direction to Jekyll Island. We paid the $8 bucks to get through the gates to see what this place was all about. Once again, we went in with no background or intel on what to do there.

When ended up eating an expensive lunch at the Wharf, lesson learned. It did not help that I my drink choices were top shelf and Bubba’s beers were craft. Also, when it says market price, you should probably make another selection from the menu.

We found our way to the tennis club house. Our friends Jon, Sharon and Bob play there often. Courts were open but there was not much action to see. As we rode past the golf course the only thing I saw on it was a deer.

Next we headed towards the beach side of the island. The beaches on the Atlantic side are just not that pretty, sorry, I am a Gulf of Mexico girl myself. It was however the first time in over a year that I stepped on to a beach and put my feet into the water, albeit cold. No complaints here, I will take it.

In the coming weeks I hope to go back here to visit more as well. There was so much we skimmed by because well, Bubba was with me and this type of stuffs bores him.

We usually spend Bubba’s birthday in Panama City Beach at Ocean Towers at our timeshare. Over the years we have developed a friendship with several families from Georgia. The truth is they basically adopted us into their family! We were bummed to not be able to go this year. At first it seemed like we might be able to squeeze it in but with all of the boat troubles it just wasn’t possible.

We were lucky to have Frank and Lisa drive down from Tampa to spend Bubba’s birthday with him.

While it was no Captain Anderson’s we hung out in the historic district and caught a great sunset.

Brunswick, GA will serve as our home base as we ride out hurricane season. Our insurance company requires us to be North of Florida until November 1st. The area reminds me of what Greenville, MS, our hometown could or would have been years ago. The marina reminds me of the floating yacht club that I would visit with Aunt Marci and Uncle Paul.

Where we are nestled in is the downtown historic district. There are small businesses, shops and restaurants that line the street. Several small parks with fountains also sit along the way. There is even a distillery and brewery to quinch your thirst.

The sunsets here are beautiful with everyday giving you a glimpse of a different portrait. We have also gotten our fair share of storms and that backdrop can be as equally beautiful.

We left St. Augustine and started making our way towards Georgia. Once again the sea state was relatively calm. We stopped along the St. John River for the night as we had a few days before we needed to be in Brunswick. It was a long way from the inlet into the channel where we anchored for the night. This was a heavy commerical shipping lane so we got to see alot of larger vessels come and go.

There is a US Naval base onsite here as well so we saw alot of military action overhead.

We anchored at our destination, made a little dinner and nestled in for the night. Our anchor had a solid hold and we had plenty of water underneath our keel. Little did we know that at around midnight the generator would stop working which meant the air stopped working as well. It was super hot out and opening the windows did not provide any relief. We tried troubleshooting the issue but nothing seemed to work.

I think I got about 2.5 hours of sleep before daylight. We were both ready to get out of there so we pulled anchor before the sun came up. As we exited the channel we were met with a pretty cool sky but a very upset sea state.

Since we were without a generator, I called ahead to Brunswick to see if we could get into a slip earlier. The marina was able to accommodate us, so we were full steam ahead. It was not a pleasant ride in. Coming out of the inlet we were met with 4-to-7-foot swells. The dogs were given Dramamine to help them cope. I was at my wits end with having no rest and the continued drag of things being broken with the new boat.

It’s not everyday you get to see a submarine in the water so we were super surprised to come up on this one.

The journey into Brunswick Landing Marina was a long one. Coming up on the location reminded us alot of being back home in the MS Delta.

We made it to the marina just before they closed for the day. It had been a full 12 hours and we were tired and ready to call it a night. The dogs were happy to get off the boat to go potty. They did not get the opportunity to potty on land the night before or before we left. I ordered a pizza for dinner so neither of us had to do anything else for the night.

We got settled in and within minutes had our first dock guests! Sharon and Jon, friends of Dale’s stopped by to introduce themselves. We had a great visit with them and would catch up later with them more the next evening.

After several days of dropping anchor and motor sailing I told Bubba it was time to stay some place for a minute! We arrived in St. Augustine on a Thursday and stayed until Monday morning. I had a full work day on Friday, I needed to stay put in one place so I could get all of it done. We were also due for our Yanmar engine service so staying in St. Augustine allowed us time to find a certified person to get it done. We grabbed a slip at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina which was convenient to downtown.

Saturday was all about boat projects. Our air conditoner was still cycling so Bubba continued to try to figure out what was causing that to happen. I took advantage of the onsite washing machines and dryer to knock the laundry out. I told Bubba I was setting Sunday aside to do sight seeing and to have some “me time” off the boat. The marina staff were friendly and extremely helpful getting us in and out of our slip. That area is known for it’s strong current and it was the most challenging one we had yet in terms of docking.

To reach the marina you have to enter through the Bridge of Lions. It is quite the ornate structure.

I started my Sunday morning off with a walk to Castillo de San Marcos. I visited the fort once before as kid when we visted Disneyworld and Cape Canaveral. It was fun to visit it again.

In 1565 Spain established St. Augustine to protect the Gulf Stream shipping route and anchor its claim to La Florida. By the early 1600’s, British colonies encroaching from the north threatened the city. The Spanish built nine wooden forts before constructing the stone fort that stands today. The fort was constructed between 1672 and 1695. The fort has had several names and served many purposes. Today it is a national monument and the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States.

After the tour of the fort I decided to buy a trolley tour ticket that would allow me to hop on and off at different locations to touristy destinations. My sister in law, Sarah Beth, had been here a few weeks before us and had visited the St. Augustine Distillery, this would be my next stop. Along the way the tour guide showed us all of the community work that had been done by Henry Flagler. Flager was an American industrialist and founder of Standard Oil. He became a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida. He was responsible for building the Florida East Coast Railway from Daytona to Key West. He was a huge contributor to tourism in Florida.

The buildings and churches pictured below were built by Flagler. The windows found in the cafeteria of Flagler College are Tiffany glass. The glass panes were installed before Tiffany became “Big” and are valued at $5,000-$45,000 per window, a total of 79 windows. There is a pbs special on the windows called, Field Trip: Flagler Tiffany Windows, check it out of pbs.org.

St. Augustine Distillery was founded in 2013 by 20 local families. It is located in Florida’s oldest ice plant. Grains are sourced from local farmers from across the state of Florida in order to make their whiskey, They distill and hand bottle everything they sell!

With a little pep in my step, I hopped back on the trolley to make my way to the next stop, The San Sebastian Winery. The winery was founded in 1996 and makes premium sparkling and dessert wines from Muscadine grapes.

With all of the walking and drinking it was time to hop on the trolley and rest my feet before reaching the next destination, The Fountain of Youth! The Fountain of Youth is a archaeological park sitting on 15 acres of private land. Most know this to be the place where Ponce De Leon discovered the healing waters that magically maintain a youthful appearance but it is also know as America’s first colony. I did take a drink from the fountain but it did not seem to help. Perhaps I should have drank more than the small Dixie cup.

I ended my day visiting the Cathedral of St. Augustine where I stopped to give thanks for all of the blessings I have received, to ask for my family and friends to be watched over as we are away and for our safe passing as we travel to our next destination.

We were up bright and early to continue our journey. Once again, the wind was not in our favor during the morning hours however it picked up in the afternoon. When we originally set out that morning, we were hoping to make it to St. Augustine. We soon realized that was not going to be possible without an overnight sail.

I quickly found a spot off the New Smyrna inlet, so we set our barring’s for it. Navionics showed a couple of anchorages should we need options. As were arrived at the inlet a catamaran coming out hailed us and asked us if we had been there before. His advice was to stay close to the jetty due to the depth of the inlet.

There was a lot of confusion as to where the anchorage was exactly as no other boats were in the spot that was marked on the map. It was directly across from the Coast Guard station, so we set our anchor and asked the Coast Guard if we were ok, and they said we were fine. It was a little shady, ok a lot shady, but all that matters is we had plenty of water beneath us, the channel was not too busy, mostly pleasure crafts and neither the CG or Game and Fish was concerned.

We sat on the top deck and enjoyed sundowners as we watched the Lighthouse ahead of us.

We had several people tell us to not stop in Port Canaveral. Apparently the boat traffic in and out of this inlet can be challenging. Luckily for us it was pretty freaking calm.

I used Dockwa to find us a slip in a marina. It was another long day of motor sailing and at the pace we were going I did not think we would make it before sunset. We spent one night at Port Canaveral Yacht Club. It is a privately ran member yacht club that rents out open spaces. Joshua Long and Marissa Miller from Long Hull Outfitters met us at the dock. Dean the dockmaster there helped us get tied off.

We enjoyed a night of shore power and an easy walk to take the dogs to potty. If only the dang do seeums would find something else to go suck on!

We finally left West Palm and began our journey North. Our first stop was Fort Pierce where we anchored for the night. We did not have much wind so we did alot of motor sailing. Bubba decided to throw out a line on his new fancy rod and reel to see what he could catch.

Bubba caught a Bonito. We ended up not keeping the fish because we were told it needed to be bled out and we got mixes reviews as to whether it was a good fish to eat. It is from the Mackerel family.

There was not much excitement happening at the helm so this was the highlight of the day. We made it safely to our anchorage for the night and found a place to take the dogs to potty. There was a restuarant near where we anchored but since it was a Monday they were closed so it was dinner on the boat and an early bed time so we could pull anchor and do it all over again the next day.

After spending 6 days training with Bernard and a few days back at Harbour Towne it was time for us to begin moving North. We would just be making our way down to West Palm Beach to complete the installation of our water maker and solar panel array.

This would be our first big solo voyage. Up until this point we had only moved around the waters that we were familiar with. Before we could leave we had to make one final stop by a charts and maps store. $600 bucks later we walked out with everything we needed. The one thing that I have taken away from this experience is you are not leaving a place that is associated with boating with out dropping at least $500.

We made our way to West Palm Beach, first night we anchored off Peanut Island before making our way around to the City Docks at downtown West Palm.

This would be the first time the dogs got to ride in the dinghy to shore. It was also the first time that I drove the dinghy. Needless to say I was not given any type of instruction, not even where the key went. In usual fashion it was just figure it out. I am glad we got the size dinghy that we got because all four of us take up the space!

We had pretty much been going non-stop since we left Arkansas so I was really hoping to get a day off. Our friend Ian was in West Palm and we were hoping to get to see him. As fate would have it would would not get to see him this trip. I was also hoping to get to put my butt in the clear water at Peanut Island and that did not happen either.

At this point I was beginning to get a little annoyed, there were things wrong with the boat and I was second guessing this decision. I had spent the last three weeks sweating my peaches off while having the blood sucked out of my by the no seeums. There was also the pain of getting the dogs to go potty on the grass on the front of the boat and getting them to shore to go potty. I was really looking for all of this to get easier.

The good news is they finally got the going pee on the grass when we moved it to the trampoline area of the boat.

Our pups had never been on a boat before much less lived on one. Bulleit who is 5 years old never liked going down to the lake or on our boat dock. When we got Tess in 2020, we would take her down to the dock with us but after 15 minutes she would want to come back to the house because she missed her brother.

The furbabies have done great so far. Bulleit has fallen into the water a few times making the jump from the boat to the docks. Tess has yet to experience the plunge in the water. I am sure her day is coming. Not to worry, both dogs have life jackets and when we are underway they are tethered in to ensure they do not fall out of the boat.

We partnered with Premium Captains to help us with learning to command this new beast of a boat we purchased. Ambrosia from PC matched us with Captain Bernard and we could not have been more pleased with the experience. While we have spent a good amount of time on the water and on boats, this experience is a little different. We needed to demonstrate to our insurance carrier that we were competent to manage this vessel.

We spent more than 50 hours with Bernard over the course of 6 days. The training we received was fantastic. Bernard was a wealth of information and was able to explain the information in a way that made it so simple to understand.

Once we took possession of the boat the next phase was getting after market items added to it. We needed a solar panel array and solar panels, water purification system that could convert salt water to fresh drinking water, install a helm step, install sugar scoop steps, and our helm enclosures. We were very lucky to work with a great group of people to get these action items completed in record time.

We closed on our boat and spent the next several days moving our stuff on board. Over the last year and half we collected items that we thought we needed or could use on the boat. It was quite comical finding a place to store everything. It all came together but to be honest things were moved around alot and I can’t say I am finished moving it around.

In addition to getting the boat ready we also picked up our second form of transportation, our dinghy.

It’s been a year and half and we have patiently awaiting the arrival of our Leopard 42. We made the journey to Fort Lauderdale with a U-Haul and two dog in tow.

Along the way we stopped off in Atlanta to visit with Jeff and Paula. We missed seeing Catherine and Bob but hope to see them another time. We enjoyed a golf cart ride through their town to one of the local restaurants. It was a cool experience and such a great time.

The journey to Florida from Arkansas was a long one and we were happy to arrive when we did. We had a little Air BNB for the week as we waited for our closing date. It was close to the marina and the dogs had a small backyard to go potty.

This year I turned the big 50! We traveled to Memphis to see one of my best friends, my brother and my sister in law. We had a great dinner and enjoyed our time there before our road trip to Florida.

It’s not summertime without a little Kenny Chesney! We went two years without seeing him in concert due to COVID and it was nice to hear live music again!

Thanks to Cherie and Jason we had pit tickets to be up close and personal! If everday could just be a good concert day.

This photo was snapped by a friend and fellow sailor of our home during the last ice/snow storm. It rained ice for almost a full day. Our driveway could have passed for an Olympic luge, just needed a sled. It took at few days to melt and we actually had to get the tractor out off the driveway.