We're Home!

Michelle, Sean, Krista and the Birthday Boy

We've jumped into Christmas preparations. Home on Friday, tree up on Sunday.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Bob and Carole

Today it's cloudy and there's been quite a bit of rain - just like Christmas in Vancouver during the years that Bob and I lived there - but warmer, of course.

Tomorrow we fly home to the Canadian winter but we'll be back on January 2nd. Once we get started on the next phase of our trip - I'll begin to blog again. Next stop - Lake Worth, maybe Fort Lauderdale, maybe Miami all as possible staging points for our voyage to the Bahamas. Happy Holidays!

Final Week in Florida

Sunday, December 7th: Fort Pierce

We've been traveling for the last few days with the Woolseys and have now entered "Central Florida" - more populated and with a much busier waterway. Since many people call the ICW "the ditch", I pictured (especially here) a ditch-like ribbon of water - however, except for short land cuts that are quite narrow, the waterways themselves are broad - but the path through which boats move, where the depth can accommodate them, is the "ditch" part - it's the dredged and marked channel that you must follow to avoid running aground and running aground is easily done if your mind or your boat wander - well - usually first one happens and then the other.

Now we are in the land of "zippy" small, medium and large boats speeding along the marked channel. Cruisers on their way south notify each other when they are passing and they slow down to try to reduce the wake that rocks slow boats about. Polite talk and well wishing abound. "Thanks for the slow pass and have a nice day". In contrast, seldom do local boats slow at all. Their boats are fast and it's considered A-OK to go as fast as they can - so we do a little and sometimes a lot of rocking and rolling. The crowning experience was yesterday when a large open sport fishing boat roared past us. I was at the helm and as I turned to see what was coming, the fellow at the wheel appeared to have his mouth twisted into a menacing growl (I couldn't hear him but I think he must have been growling) - and he raised his hand to give me the one finger salute. It made me laugh - was he trying to say "Welcome to Florida"? - More likely he wanted to let us know - if you think that I'm going to slow down for you, you have another think coming! (or something like that).

Houses along a canal near Eau Gallie, Florida

Since we left Daytona, we've had a couple of unusual stops. The first was at the Eau Gallie Yacht Club in Eau Gallie - a resort town on the ocean. The yacht club itself sits on a canal just off the ICW. A reciprocal agreement with the our club allowed us to stay for a reasonable fee. It's quite an upscale place with a pool (too cold to swim they said), a fancy club house and a second building for casual dining where most of the younger crowd seemed to be. We had dinner at the club house with the Woolseys (and what does that say about us??) - it was hopping - lots of activities going on for the weekend and very prettily decorated for Christmas.

The Atlantic at Vero Beach

The following night we spent on a mooring ball at Vero Beach. No anchoring is allowed but the city marina maintains a large mooring field - and to stay for the night, it was (with tax) - $12.12. Not bad, eh - no wonder it was so busy. You can reserve a spot ahead but you are expected to raft with 2 other boats - it's always kind of fun to raft (for a night or 2). It's a pretty area also - nice homes near by on well landscaped treed lots and along the canals leading off of the ICW, more homes - many with their own docks and boats and all attractive with palm trees and gardens. A 3/4 mile walk from the marina took us to the ocean beach. On land near the dinghy dock where people were gathered to do laundry, use the showers and just stand and chat with other boaters, there was a friendly "boaters going south" atmosphere.

Sea Change, Somewhere in Time and Hydrotherapy moored at Vero Beach

We're now in Fort Pierce at the marina where we're leaving our boat for a month. We have 4 days before we fly home for Christmas, and have a list of jobs to do which will begin in earnest tomorrow. We can't say that we feel "Christmasy" in spite of palm trees ringed with lights and blow up snowmen on the top of a boat here and there. We'll have to get back to "real" Christmas weather, cold though it may be, before we feel like singing Christmas carols.

About St. Augustine / Woolsey Sighting in Daytona

Tuesday, December 2nd: Daytona

On Saturday, after we arrived at St. Augustine, we had a quick lunch and went in to shore to have a look see. St. Augustine Marina charges $10 a day for using their dinghy dock but the fee also entitles you to use their showers, lounge/laundry room and to dispose of your garbage. We paid our fee, got the sticker on our dinghy and set out.

As we rounded the corner of the marina building, it was like stepping into the middle of Canada's Wonderland on a busy day. The trolley tour pick up spot was immediately in front of the marina. Trolleys (actually buses looking like trolleys) were lined up and leaving full one after another with a clang of bells and the sound of the driver's spiel over the microphone. The streets were packed with people. Bob was confused - he'd been to St. Augustine before with his golfing buddies and this was not what he remembered. Finally we realized. It was the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

We walked by historic buildings with stunning architecture and then turned toward the fort - Castillo de San Marcos. St. Augustine was founded in 1565 as a Spanish military outpost. It is the oldest "continually occupied European settlement" in the US and we found ourselves on narrow streets where no cars are allowed and squat buildings running together that point to an earlier time - but on that day, the masses of people everywhere made it all seem a bit "Disneylandish". Nevertheless, we made plans to visit the fort and tour the old Hotel Ponce de Leon (now a college) the following day.

We knew that there would be rain Sunday afternoon, but we ignored the imperative for all good sailors to listen to the weather each morning. Just before noon, when we had finished walking around the fort, we looked over to check our anchored boat. The head sail was showing a triangle of flapping sail that had come partially unfurled. It couldn't be left that way so we walked back to the marina where Captain Bob immediately headed for the dinghy dock and I went to the laundry/lounge room to check on email. When I got there the talk was of a coming storm - high winds and rain. It was no surprise to me when Bob reappeared saying that we had to get back to the boat - there could be no walking about town and leaving it exposed as it was at anchor. Our dinghy engine took a while to start (sound familiar?) - possibly it was "flooded" and while Bob pulled away at the starter cord and I stood waiting, the heavens opened and a nasty rain soaked us both - oh well. By evening, the storm had passed and Sea Change was still anchored where she should be. We'd seen very little of St. Augustine but still we decided to leave next day.

Monday morning we pulled anchor and went through the Bridge of Lions at the 7:30 a.m. opening, stopping at the marina dock on the other side to diesel up in preparation for moving on to Daytona - but when we got to the dock, the sun came out and with unused tour tickets still in our pockets, we thought, why not stay another day? - so we pulled into a slot at the marina and spent the morning taking advantage of marina conveniences. Bob changed the engine oil and was able to dispose of the old oil safely while there. I did laundry and caught up on email. In the afternoon, we went touring again.

What a difference! With the holiday hordes gone, St. Augustine had a completely different look. It was charming and interesting with small cafes and artsy shops of all kinds. We had lunch at the Columbia restaurant which serves Spanish food (in keeping with the city's Spanish history) and then went on our tour of the Hotel Ponce de Leon. The hotel is now Flagler college, named after the man who built the hotel - Henry Flagler. Flagler built several other hotels, among them the Breakers in West Palm Beach where, in our other life, Bob and I attended 3 conventions. Flagler also co-founded Standard Oil with John D. Rockefeller and built a railroad all the way to the Keys. (The Keys part of the railroad didn't last long - it was destroyed by the first hurricane that hit it.)

In addition to educating 1900 students, Flagler College has a mandate to restore the building and, where possible, maintain it as it was during the 19th century when it was an opulent and luxurious hotel. Flagler also built the Alcazar Hotel across the street which had the largest indoor pool in the country (in 1888) and as well as a sulfur springs spa. The Alcazar has become the Lightner Museum and houses a collection of 19th century art and decorative pieces. We toured that building as well. I found the interiors of both buildings breath taking.

We will try to stop by St. Augustine again on the way back. There's a little Polish cafe that sells cabbage rolls, fruit pirogies and waffles with toppings of all kinds where it would be fun to lunch - but this time - we contented ourselves with buying a giant cabbage roll to take back to the boat and perk up our leftovers dinner. We were glad to have had this most enjoyable day - oil change, laundry, tours and all - in St. Augustine.

Dining room of the former Hotel Ponce de Leon - now used by the students of Flagler College

Wednesday, December 3rd: Daytona

Yesterday afternoon, we anchored just outside of Halifax harbour in Daytona. Today we went into town to do chores: haircuts for both of us, visit to West Marine to check on a "dry bed" system, visit to the library to do email, lunch.

The manager at West Marine said that he uses "Dri-Deck" fit together plastic squares to put under the bed on his boat and that they work well. Bob decided that we would give it a try and bought a box of squares which he is now fitting under our mattress. The mattress is up in the cockpit to get a good drying in the Florida sun.

True to form - when you get to the big city, it's hard to find free Web access. Today we had no luck. Even the library charges for Internet access and they don't have wireless at all. We paid $5 and each spent some time doing email.
The Woolseys are in town! They arrived today and we have a date for drinks with them before dinner - but as we were walking back to the dinghy, we met them coming out of the marina. We'll travel with them to Titusville tomorrow.