This was a great time!! The day began when we joined the family for a free breakfast at the kids hotel and we are talking a good breakfast, not a continental. Then if was off to the boat to let the family meet Bella, you talk about excited...let's just say Bella was jumping and running all over the boat and all the people. Once she calmed down, we were off for another walk throughout the town. This time we really walked, I mean a few miles I'm sure it had to be at least 5 miles, boy were my feet killing me!!!! We saw an old cemetery, old building, cool parks and squares, also the police station with old police cars out front. Check out the half police car and half taxi - that was their way of making a point about drunk driving. I thought is was pretty cool they listed out the cost of a DUI as opposed to a $20 cab, certainly makes the point huh? Then we came to the city market place with one of those water fountains that kids can run in and cool off.  Bella tried to join in too, but security tossed her out right away. The kids were soaked; good thing it was about 90 degrees outside. Back to the boat to drop off Bella and change clothes so we could join the kids for happy hour at the hotel for FREE BEER AND WINE....Love this hotel...They also had hot dogs so Carl had 2 of those too.  Then it was time to have dinner. We choose to dine at the Cotton Exchange, where the food was fantastic...we are still talking about it! I had Shrimp & Grits-awesome.... True southern food. Our server was Peter and he was fast and efficient and we would recommend the Cotton Exchange to anyone if you are here to dine-it was wonderful!!! After dinner it was back to the boat to let Bella out for a potty break, then onto a ghost tour.  What can we say about this.. how lame!!! It went to all the places we had already seen, other than the pirate's house and the train station. I was amazed to she how all these people thought they would really see a ghost and get a picture of one. Not to say there may not be ghosts, but do you really think they will be out with a crowd of 30 plus people?  However one tourist did get a picture of a ghost, only it was really Carl behind the glass window!! We thought we would bust a gut with laughter listening to her show everyone on the bus the picture. After a full day it was very easy to fall asleep for me, unfortunately the container ships were making it hard for Carl to sleep. Tomorrow will be our last day here, gotta go before the weekend, still at the dock for free.

What can I tell you about our day in Savannah. The day began at 7:30 am with a wet walk in the vicinity of the riverfront. It was a dismal day; despite the weather we took a walking tour of the town. We loved the fact that the town has 24 historical squares where you can read the history of the town.  Savannah played a very big part in the Revolutionary War. We walked from square to square learning all about it. We also took in a church that was the first Catholic church in this area, it was very reminiscent of the churches in Europe. After maybe 2.5 hours we were just as wet as we needed to be and Bella was a drowned rat, so we choose to return to the Windward Spirit.  We have been lucky enough to still be at the riverfront docks and nobody has come by to check us out - yeah, we are still here for free. You gotta love that...bonus...!! The tankers and container ships constantly ferry up and down the river to unload and load their wares. I really can't get over the volume of the ships.  And they continue to rock our world...the motion of the river sometimes goes with the pulse of the day. After we dried out, we left Bella behind and went for a cocktail and bucket of oysters,   Man were they good...I've been really craving them too.  We waited to hear from my niece Michelle, and her husband Gary, with Zach and Danielle, that they had arrived. We went to their hotel and visited for a couple of hours, till it was pretty late. We are so happy to see them and have missed their presence in our lives. Bascially, not much to report today as we haven't left the dock for any other ports.  Hopefully we will have more to report tomorrow.

The day began with bands of rain and  winds about 15 knots. Good new was we were still tied to the dock. Glad for that one.. The lingering effect of the storm was the possiablilty of off and on rains all day.. Shall we stay at this dock or try to get to the old part of Savannah.. With not much to see and do, and a guick check of the weather, it was decided we would leave, but not without a morning run in the gulf course. Bella with her crew in tow, chasted pine cones in a light drissel and walked around the course. I had never seen a ball washer before, never new they really excited. Once backin the ICW the winds picked up a little to about 16 -20 mph with gusts of 26-30 miles , somewhat rough but still we percivered. We were warned about the large boat traffic on the Savannah River and just as we were getting to it we saw our first large vessel. We were lucky enough not to incounter any while making our way up the river, but once we were docked they were every half hour. Had no idea this was such a large shipping port. While in the ship channel as we were passing by a fort , all of a sudden we heard a large bang.. BOOM....I about jumped out of my skin..We looked to th fort and they were having a demostration of the firing of the cannon's. Of course it MEMORIAL DAY  , you dummy's..So we held up are arms in surrender to let them know we give up ... Don't shot one of those cannon balls are way...PLEASE... Next we passed the docks where they deliver oil, huge...I know we could never tie up there, I don't think our lines are long enough..We arrived at the city dock, where you can dock for free.. That's our kind of place...We are right on the river front, lots of people walking around. So Carl and I quickly put everthing back together, so we would look good..

The day was a short trip..Even thought we started early,we had hoped to get the 20 miles to Savannah City dock , but the winds picked up to much it just wasn't safe to continue. We ended up at a dock on Turner Creek about 9 miles short of where we wanted to be. As we approched the dock the wind was blowing us around pretty bad . We were trying to get in an area that was not very large with all kinds of boats, big and small around us . We were blown sideways, back , forward and we had to run all over the boat just to keep us off the other boats. As we finally got near the space on the dock we wanted,  a man arrived for me to throw a line to.. Man that was close...  As we arrived Carl and I immediately got to securing the boat. We definitely had to batten down the hatches. We removed the dodger, closed and tied the Bimini down , tied the mast and sails with extra line, secured the dingy on the back stern on top of the swim platform( not the way we usually carry it) and removed all covers.  Carl had secured us to the dock with 7 lines on the starboard side, no dock on the port side. As soon as all was secured. we sit at the dock , and are thankful we are here. The winds were picking up more. The wind is blowing so hard if we weren't tied to the dock we would be blown over. NO REALLY.. I don't know how fast the winds are, let's just say, it feels like a hurricane..not a tropical storm.and we are just on the outer edge of it. The storms eye is about 100 miles south or us.. Thank God.. This is serious stuff, with the way the winds are howling and the seas are picking up.  I handed Carl a beer and took Bella for a walk.I had to put her on a leash so she wouldn't blow off the dock. That's when I found the showers. Since I hadn't had a shower in a couple of days, and since my gray was showing, I decided to color my hair, and clean up.. That's right in the middle of the big blow I find time to do my hair..  Have to look my best., your never know what the wind will blow in...What else is there to do..WORRY..that's a wasted emotion..Not having a shower handy daily reminds me of when I use to travel the road on my motorcycle every summer.. I stunk then too...Upon my return Carl decided he needed a full body massage, for all his hard work and I had to agree, so he striped down and I worked out all his achy mussels. No really a message.. The responsibility of the vessel can take a strain on the body.at least that what Carl says. Then he decided to take a shower (boy did he need one. Stinky)so Bella and I tagged along , we walked to the end of the marina when we saw a golf course and headed straight for that nice grass. We played chase the pine cone(the ball is dead) and ran around, it felt good on our feet that grass, it's different than most grass. Amazing how the wind had died down to only about 10 to 15 mph behind those big Georgia Pines.We returned to the boat to enjoy the big blow and have dinner . I made crab cakes with avocado's (pretty good) found the recipe on the Internet used what I had on the boat.AS the sunshine and white clouds of the day turned to dark rain clouds, the night began to take on a whole new hue,as it was about to rain on our parade. We sat in the cockpit for as long as we could, then it was time for domino's and a game of crazy eights. Yes this is quite the adventure..

Okay, Okay, Okay so I got a little nervous and jumped the gun!! When I pulled up the weather info on my computer I saw it was coming in on Sunday night, and I never know what day it is, so we made a plan for the storm. Turned out it was Saturday and we didn't have to batten down the hatches until today. We were headed up the river with winds blowing pretty good on the nose and choppy water but other than that(what am I saying that's all its been) it was a normal day on the water. We got an early start so we could put down some miles and maybe a little less storm. We had have lots of boats pass us today I guess the holiday weekend has begun.We had made a reservation at Kilkenny Marina a good little hurricane hole thinking we would arrive about 6pm only we were making such good time we got there at 2:30pm and decided to keep heading north. Our next challenge was Hell's Gate., a very narrow,  shallow channel. this one we  took slow. Carl yells as we get through it "Not this time devil we made it through and cheated you" perhaps he was a little to strong with that statement... We were just out of Hell's Gate maybe 1/4 mile when we developed a fuel problem again...Guess Carl spoke to soon, as the devil came to get us...We dropped anchor as we were in very large water and Carl got out his trusty tools and tried to get us going again. to no avail.. As you can see by the pictures that's when we called SeaTow..They were having trouble hearing us on the radio so Carl went to cellphone. What a wonderful item they can be when you need them.. Carl thought maybe we were to low on diesel and perhaps we had air in the lines so he asked for fuel.. It was decided by Carl & Chuck with SeaTow that they would tow us to the closet marina so we could tie up, fuel and fix whatever was needed.That service paid for itself already.. Towed to Landing Marine, Delegal Creek. This was a very nice marina, two men came out right away when they saw us getting towed and helped tie us up. Billy the dock master was kind enough to reopen his pumps, turned out we got there after he had already closed up. Once opened we filled out tank,it  turned out we still had 10 gallons left , so we shouldn't have had a problem with air. It was decided that we should change the gas filter as that would probably help. As always Carl got out the tools and went to work. In the meantime Bella was going crazy to get some shore leave, so we headed up the dock for a stroll around the neighborhood, and what a neighborhood it was!! This was a gated community where everyone drove around in golf carts, very nice. We sure didn't have to worry about our safety here. Bella met a couple of little boys who were more than willing to run around with her.(better them than me). Once they left a couple of schnauzer's came by and she wanted to play, they didn't , where does she get her manners.. or should I say lack of manners..I had to pick her up she was so excited. You would think she lived on a boat or something..
Carl got the new fuel filter on and the boat but itstill wouldn't start, so a call to my brother Mike and next thing you know we are up and running. Carl was bleeding the fuel line by hand and it needed to be power bleed. We pulled away from the dock and anchored across the channel for the evening. It was a late dinner and early to bed as we knew we were gonna try to make Savannah today.and we had to go early. Heading for a dock soon.Storm update tomorrow.

I know that some of you will be very shocked with what I'm about to tell you. Try not to be scared and nervous. Yes , Yes it is true we have left the state of Florida and into the waters of Georgia!!! Although this must be hard to hear, sooner or later it was bound to happen..We got an early start and up the  waterway we went, still wind on the nose,so it was another day of motoring. I'm sure most of you know but Carl brought something to my attention ,do you realize that all but a few rivers flow north to south, that's right..We have to fight the current as well as the winds so that translates into more fuel costs. Gee I thought we were on a sailing trip, my mistake..The seas are still very high and rough in the Atlantic so we have to stay inside the ditch.The tall ship you will see in the photos is one we saw as we pasted by Fernandina Beach, Fl. At first we thought is was old , then we noticed that the whole stern of the boat was open for a small boat to store inside, and the sides didn't look like they were made of wood, she had a very smooth surface. We think is was some kind of luxury vessel as all the windows had this real pretty decorative film on it. Still very cool to see. It wasn't far up the channel when we saw one of those famous ( you only hear about it in the fishing industry)Georgia jumping shrimp boats!!! The shrimper doesn't even have to put his nets in the water and the shrimp just jump up into it. By the size of the area I would say they were jumbo shrimp at that.. How's that for a oxymoron....We have seen few lighthouses that I failed to get a picture of so I made sure to get one today I got at least one. It seems like there is a lighthouse at most if not all of the inlets from the Atlantic. This one is from St. Simmons Island always cool to see. Later in the day we were sure we must have made a wrong turn somehow, because right ahead of us we saw the Skyway Bridge.. Look for yourself ... You tell me...How did we get back in Fla so fast, we just got out....I guess we are not the only place with a bridge like that...The ICW in Georgia must have many large ships coming thru it as there were many range markers and very deep water most of the day, glad to report we only saw a couple of large tankers docked and a few tug boats.Again we anchored in a very desolate area with no one around only grass flats for as far as we could see, made a pot of beans, put up the screens and watched a movie. That's not all we did , but I'm not allowed to discuss that with everyone. So now you have the skinny of what is going on in our day.

Here's a short update, we are headed into Kilkenny Creek Marina, in Richmond Hill, Ga to wait the storm out. It should be a good place to dock , riding the storm out....remind you of a song.

We pulled the hook and headed out into the Atlantic Ocean at 8:30am with blue sky's above and 2 to 3ft rollers with about 8 knots of east winds. It was a nice day to finally get out into the big water. The winds were not strong enough to move us along very fast so we motor sailed to make sure we would be back inside before the afternoon high seas and 25 knot winds. It was very quiet and no other boats in site, till off in the distance we say a shrimp boat with his nets in the water. This must be a very good shrimping area because after that first we saw many more and a few large container boats and one barge. I spent most of the day reading and playing what I call Cloud Imagination Games.You know when you look at the clouds and figure out what they look like, I saw a fighter jet and an turtle..I know what your thinking she's been out to sea to long .. I challenge you to look outside and see what your imagination will let you see..As we got closer to Jacksonville inlet the seas were beginning to build and we would be heading in the wrong direction to sail, so Carl was up top dropping the sails when I saw a very, very large black spot in the water. It never broke the surface but we think it must have been a whale, because what else could it have been and we read that there were whales in the area .No.. I'm not seeing things.. As we entered the inlet we saw Mayport Naval Station there were many large ships (as you see in the pictures,) just up the inlet we came upon the shrimp docks. The one in the picture looked like it had a cool place to stop and eat but we kept going. Next we saw a ferry taking cars across the St. Johns river , it must have been a very long way around on land, because the inlet is huge.Just around the corner we saw where they were building a huge Naval Ship, notice the boat on guard , they had those at the Naval Station also. Headed up Sisters Creek (strange how these places get there names) when we heard a report on the radio that a ERPB had gone off 40 miles east of  Georgia, comforting and scary all at the same time. Good to hear them respond , but scary to think of those poor people on the vessel. Later reports they were safe and the boat had not sunk. Right after that Carl had a little bump with the bottom but we were going fast enough and a quick turn of the wheel on we were on our way. He has to stop looking at the beautiful sun bather on his boat, he gets distracted..Soon after that we saw another sailboat aground, he called us and asked what the depth of the channel was and that he was fine, he would just wait till the tide came up, we saw him pass us later after we were anchored..After dinner we sat out under the stars and enjoyed the area we anchored in. It was a just off the ICW with  some marsh flats all around and a few homes behind us, the way were faced we couldn't see the homes. Good music on the radio, the gentleness of the water, a dolphin crests the surface for us to see and all you feel is relaxed , calm and happy. Its nights like this that make it all worth wild..  OH YEAH..In the middle of the night a very large tug boat came flying by with lots of lights shinning on the water. I was a sleep but he came so close Carl thought he was gonna hit us..The adventure continues..

If any of you wonder about the dates on the blog, I post in the morning what accrued the day before. We woke up one last morning with the view of the lighthouse over morning coffee. We had bought a few things in town that needed to be installed on the boat so that's what today was all about. First Carl put the Brita water filter on the sink, man did we need that. He had installed one on the pump sink, and one at the holding tank, but still foreign pieces seemed to get through,and who wants to pump enough water to boil pasta.. So I wanted one on the other faucet it  seems to be working  pretty well. Next he had to fix the toilet,what a nasty job. Sure glad he knows how cause I sure wouldn't want that job..He got it fixed in no time and cleaned up the mess, thanks Carl. The toilet is very important equipment....Then we checked the wave report in hopes of going surfing. 1 to 2ft not big enough to go for. So then Carl began to caulk so small holes on the deck where he put up the net for Bella. We had gotten some rain water in with all that rain and it got on some of our charts, so that had to be fixed. Once that was done we took the dingy to shore to get fish tacos for lunch, stop at a very cool market and put gas in Dave's truck so we could return it. I took Carl back to the boat ramp while Bella and I returned the truck and walked back. I saw an ice cream stand,so  I had to have one for the walk( Mai Kai flavor).Once on board we pulled anchor and headed to the marina to top off the gas and get a pump out. The winds had done  they afternoon pickup and they were blowing . We anchored for the evening just across the channel from the fort, and I tried my hand at making sushi. I made California rolls and smoked salmon rolls, okay they weren't perfect , but not bad for my first time, I'm sure if we ever get fish , I will get better. Then it was off to bed to let the waves rock us to sleep. Today we head out in to the Atlantic !!!!

A full day was had here in beautiful St. Augustine.We were in no hurry to get off the boat just as we were boarding the dingy Dave called to make sure we were moving so we could enjoy his town.First stop was Sailors Supplies  which has used parts and stuff to look for chain (I think Carl just likes to look around  in those places).  It was West Marine for a toilet repair kit and some new fishing lures , Winn Dixie for a Brita water filter for the sink and a stop at the local surf shop. Then it was time to drop Bella off for a play day with Barefoot and Felix, while we walked around town.  We visited the lighthouse first (I was wrong it's not the oldest one) toured the grounds, light keepers house, the boat building shop and climbed the tower. It was 219 steps and you can see by the pictures that it worked Carl..not really..the view at the top was great, you can even see our boat in the background behind me. Also we took a picture out the window of the lighthouse of our boat..see how close we are...AWESOME...We were even lucky enough to have a large group of school kids right behind us ..Oh the noise of it all...Some of the parents had a hard time climbing the stairs.. showed them what good shape we were in .Carl almost ran up the stairs..Then it was off to the historical part of town, after a quick stop to check on Bella.While trying to find a parking space , that's when I went the wrong way down a one way street!! A girl from the fudge shoppe yelled at me to tell me.. thanks for the heads up..so I turned around..no problem..Don't tell Terry I wouldn't want him to think I do that often.. Stopped at an old pub for a snack and a drink . Talked to Mike the bartender( nice young guy) about the area and we were off. Pretty cool all this old architecture and history . By time we made our way to the fort is was closed for the day, so we just walked around the grounds, we could certainly see how nobody was able to penetrate the walls they were about 10ft thick. A we had spent a few hours walking around and it was back to Bella, her friends and David and Cece for a delious pizza, beer and great company. Back at the boat as we were sitting out in the cockpit having a few cocktails enjoying the light from the lighthouse, we have to be thankful that we are able to be in this wonderful place and see all the things that we have on this trip. This is a fantastic adventure..

It was a narrow escape when we untied the lines and got about 10ft off the pier when the police did they morning rounds through the park.Yes no ticket or warning and a free dock for the night was had .The trip up the ICW was very nice, of course wind on the nose 10 knots but pretty day and that slow southern feel. It was a short trip today. Just before we reached  St. Augustine, we saw these sand dunes on the port side(see picture below with the others), didn't know Fla had sand dunes. Then we arrived to the beautiful old city . First we saw the amazing skyline and the Bridge of Lions, then the Old Fort( we were told it was never taken over in all its history,even in the Civil War) and one of the country's oldest lighthouses. We called David Rowe (Crazy Cathy's Brother) and asked where he lived so we could drop anchor near by, turned out he lived right near the lighthouse. So we headed up Salt Run channel, as we pasted by the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean we saw how rough it was and we glad we were on the inside. This was not an easy place to anchor. There many mooring fields and not much space to drop anchor for free, but naturally Carl got us into a spot right in front of the lighthouse and the boat ramp..AWESOME...David had agreed to pick us up so we could do laundry and shower at his home. I'm surprised he would let us in his car after 3 days without a bath...He made 2 trips to pick us up, as we couldn't leave the dingy at the dock more than an hour, so we just put it in the back of his truck. He left us his truck so we could do any running around we need to and he was off. Once our bodies and clothes were clean , we headed over to the local Publix, no time to get to the other places we needed, but David was kind enough to say we could use the truck again today. Bella also got to make new friends at this stop, David and Cece have 2 dogs, Barefoot and Felix, who she played with all day.Yeah she liked this stop...We pulled back into their driveway , just as Cece was coming home and David had returned with his new golf clubs that he got a killer deal on... Dave started dinner and was called back to work, so we had a lovely visit with Cece while we waited for him. He returned an we enjoyed a wonderful " FISH" dinner and conversation. These are Great, Nice people....thank you Cathy for calling your brother for us.. what a wonderful stop. We are gonna see them again tonight after a full day of playing tourist..   

Last night when we went into our cabin there where a number of other sailboats in the anchorage, however when I arose from the cabin this morning there were only a couple of boats left. All the others were gone. What when the sailor blew the conch shell at sunset, did everyone go to bed? We generally get up at about 7am, what time must they get up...Before the sun.. Well I'm all about this sailing stuff but forget getting up that early..We were underway by 8:30. We were gonna try to surf , but there was really no place to anchor and paddle in that wouldn't be a long paddle, besides not my favorite surf spot, New Smyrna Beach ..SHARK CAPITAL OF THE WORLD....So on we went.. It is a beautiful day the sun is shining , the sky is blue, and the winds our on our nose again 15 knots.Carl says winds are out of the north so much he is expecting snow any day now..Still a pretty day.. I decided to get some sun this morning..( God knows I won't get enough on the trip) and read while enjoying the many sites along the way. Just south of Daytona we had a little fuel problem, but Carl had it fixed pretty fast.  Passing Daytona brought back many memories for me, I had a lot of good times there!!! We even passed the seafood house on the ICW that Quin did her famous Jamie Swagger impersonation, it still brings a smile to my face...The water is very clear here, a barge pasted pretty close by and a other million boats.. You have to wonder do some of these people have a brain at all?! We saw lots of boaters pulling their kids on rafts behind their boat with another boat right up their butts.. Yeah that's really smart and safe... Maybe the kids made them mad..that's one way to get rid of them...The ICW has gotten much narrower, more like what we are used to..a boat every few minutes to rock our world...As you see from today's pictures I do take the helm once in a while and the channel is deep enough for what is that an old navy boat, merchant marine boat, or just your run of the mill old wealthy person pleasure craft..I think she needs a little attention either way...We saw our first lighthouse ..Ponce's Inlet..I was very excited, I am sure there will be many more to come and I will share those also...We stopped for fuel at Inlet Harbor Restaurant & Marina, nice place... I took Bella ashore for her walk about, then went inside while Carl enjoyed the view (pretty girls in bikinis) and filled the diesel. This was a really cool place I would have liked to stay and eat, drink and party, but we must push north. Dallas the dock master gave Carl a few bilge socks, its to absorb oil in the bilge, which is great considering Carl just fixed the oil cooler and we have some oil in the bilge..We tried to anchor at a place called the cement factory (no we are still getting alone) but the ground was nothing but mud and our anchor wouldn't hold , so one we went. We came to a place just before dark called Bing's Landing with a fishing pier, so we tied up for the night. Acted like we wanted to go to the BarBQ , which we went to but they were closed, and stayed the night.Bella got to run around and lizard hunt for quite awhile. I made dinner closed up with all the screens on as it is North Florida and the mosquito's are fearse..Then off to bed..  Lucky for us the police didn't make there rounds till we were leaving the dock this morning...Yeah

Carl was up early and pulled anchor, as he was eager to head north and put some miles down. The weather was a clear nice day and the winds were about 15 knots on the nose, so no sails today. As we cruised up the ICW, we are amazed at how wide it is. It most be at least 5 miles or more across you feel like you are out in the ocean.  There is very little traffic traveling the water way, not like the other coast were you see a boat every few minutes. We pasted by some windsurfers who are hauling butt, they must have been traveling at 25 miles per hour. I tried to get a picture but they were to far away and moving to fast, pretty to watch!! The winds began to change and turn NNE at 25 to 30 knots gusting to 35 and the seas began to build to 3 to 4 ft.. We still couldn't sail. I feel for Carl , he is not having much  fun on this trip. He has all of the responsibility on his shoulders,worrying about the weather(which hasn't been great) and all the repairs on the boat. Everyday it seems like its something else. I think the trip is starting to wear on him, I wish he was having more fun... He did have fun surfing!!  We finally got to Mosquito Lagoon and that gave us a short break from the wind and waves. The picture of the shore I am trying to show you how different the shoreline and trees are, nice try...Back out into the wind and waves we went. If it is this rough on the ICW I can't imagine how the ocean must be...After a couple hours of that we arrived in an area that is only about 3/4 mile across and the waves calmed down... That's when I saw our future boat, blue and white a little compact, (to bad we couldn't have the house behind it. No really I would never want to clean that)..I got a picture of that...nice huh...We reached New Smyrna Beach and anchored for the night,we made 68 miles today... Yeah we rock...Just as sunset was arriving, a sailboat anchored near us got out a conch shell and blew it signaling sundown... Way Cool.... I got to use my new favorite thing to cook with.. A pressure cooker. I was a little afraid of it at first.. One wrong move and it could explode... BOOM...
That would not be good... But once you figure it out you cut cooking time down to nothing, rice in 10 minutes. This thing is great.. Thanks Dad for having just laying around in your cabinet. Not much wind this morning so we will see what the day brings..The oil cooler is working great...

Celebrate the day, yes we have left the dock. I guess I won't be getting that residency status after all. Carl got the oil cooler repaired, let me tell you how all this came about. I woke up a 6:30 am (what is wrong with me) and he was right behind me, he went out in the yard area and found Fred a man he had been talking to about the cooler, who had replaced  his a week earlier& got the guys name who helped him. He couldn't call before 9am, so he called West Marine $395 not before Monday a few more calls to other people to no avail. I remember he had found a Westerbeke used parts dealer on Craiglist, so I pulled it up, he called and he had a part the would fit with a little Jerry rigging. Problem was he was 45minutes away in Vero Beach. Carl had been talking to the man next to us in a 50ft cabin cruiser Jim (I got the nickel tour, I swear its bigger that my house inside, 3 floors  top floor 18 ft off the water  WOW) who told him if he could do anything to help, just let him know. So Carl asked him for a ride and got the other guy to meet them half way. Off they went. While they were gone it was lizard chasing and book reading for us. I met a girl name Cathy who man was surveying boats,he said our boat was worth more then we thought without even going inside, Cool Beans! So Cathy & I shot the shit most of the day.Once they returned it was time to figure out how to install this monster, it was a lot bigger than our other one, the boys put there heads together and it was off to Lowe's .Carl  & Jim spent the better part of the day together working it all out, then it was time to install it, it took awhile but it worked..Thanks for all you help Jim, you had great input & knowledge, not to mention your pick-up truck!! Karen who was running the dock treated us great, check out time is 11:00 am or 12:00 and she let us stay all day while Carl repaired the engine. Thanks Karen , I was real glad Carl was able to shower after..Stinky... Our goodbyes were said and it was time to leave the dock and anchor out, just as we were ready to leave Jim tells Carl to wait and gave him a gallon & 1/2 off oil for our engine, turns out he can't use it. Thanks again Jim and Thank Marie for letting me have the tour. We crossed the channel and dropped anchor. Dinner was made as we watched the people on the bridge throw cast nets and fish, Carl is gonna get how to do this soon.... I HOPE...So its back to our big adventure..

The day started with a mile long hike up to the Office Depot for a power inverter for my computer. The other one went back after just 3 weeks. Carl & Bella walked with me in a light rain. We cut across a park and while Bella was sniffing around a rabbit came running out ,boy did I jump. Visions of raccoon danced in my head.!! Back on the boat , Ed from Sticks Welding called and told Carl he was having trouble with the oil cooler. Carl got directions to his shop and was off to see the problem and help.Being as there was not much too do, I decided to try to exercise to the DVD I have in the cabin. Those of you who saw the boat know how dumb that was... Now they should make a video of me doing that, lets just say I didn't have perfect form.. Bella & I just layed around watched TV and listened to the rain.. Good news its still raining on and off all day...YEAH...When it stopped it was out to chase lizards while I wrote in my journal.For the last 3 days we have heard this cat hollowing all the time it can drive you crazy. Okay crazier.. Karen at the dock masters office put out food for it, and it turned out to be a bird!!It floats around out in the channel and meows like a cat.. The world is a strange place. Carl returned about 5:30 without the oil cooler, it was too old to fix. As they welded up one hole another would spring up. They cut off the oil filter and today we are gonna try to buy an oil cooler, wish us luck.  I am posting a picture of the kind of row boats that go by. There team head quarter's is just up the canal from us,so they go by often.  Just want you to know where we are as I just applied for resident status...  Telemar Marina in Indian Harbor Island, Fla. just north of Melbourne.It's  a slow news day, hopefully I have more to report tomorrow.

I posted the pictures from yesterday,1st is Francie & Larry, he is so funny making a face like that,2nd its Mira & Jeff , then Bob talking on the phone. The other picture is what the sky looked like most of the day and even darker when the rain hit. They haven't had much rain over here so the locals are glad to have it , however we would like a few days without it. It rained again off and on all day yesterday.While posting my blog Francie made this wonderful apple pan stuff for breakfast with mango/orange juice and had us over, it was great and I didn't have to cook .Thanks Francie!! The guy showed up about 10am and picked up the oil cooler to repair, boy were we glad to see him.We were gonna leave the dock,but decided to stay here one more day and hope he would bring the part back in the early evening, no such luck. So I spent the day cleaning the dog hair out of the boat. First I pulled the carpet scrubed it clean and hung it out to dry, then I scrubed the cockpit area,and then the galley. How does such a little dog spread so much hair everywhere..Carl tried his hand at all kinds of fishing. First he threw the castnet, it took awhile ,but he finally got a few fish, then he put them on a pole. After he killed a couple trying to put them on the hook, he managed to get one on alive. He fished for a most of the day..Still no fish..I feel bad for him, he sure is trying. The good part of the story is we have had 3 or 4 dolphins swimming here all day.
Francie told me about using white vingar to help reduce the smell in the head, so I headed back to Publix for some, plus I like the walk and I could use the excerise. Carl decided to walk to the end of the road with me, so he could get some beer. Off down the road the 3 of us went. I walked on to Publix and Carl & Bellas returned to the boat. There were other stores around the area, so I spent 2 hours just walking around looking at things and I picked up 2 pairs of shorts at Bealls Outlet.On the walk home the rowing club that is located at the end of the road, was pulling out those long boats and getting ready to practice being I never saw one of those up close I took my time walking by to have a good look.Upon my return Carl was still fishing, and one of the those boats rowed by pretty cool.Dinner was made I cooked the fish I bought, (it was delicious) and we settled in for the night . There were thunder storm warning for this area and they arrived.By the way thanks Francie the vingar worked.

Top of the morning to everyone,our day began on Samson's Island which I call bobcat island. Bella was jumping around wanting to go on shore, but I was somewhat scared,so we didn't go very far for her to pee. While I took Bella,Carl got the dingy hanging back on the davits, it was too late & dark when we got back from Dustin's to do it last night. Once completed Carl started the motor on our boat and noticed there was no oil pressure. Not Good. He checked and saw we were 3.5 quarts low. He checks the oil everyday so he knew we had a big problem, but we had to motor away from where we were to fix it. Carl filled the oil and off we went. As we motored along you could see oil coming out of the exhaust pipe. He called my brother Mike and they talked it over and figured out it was a oil cooler had sprung a leak. As we were leaving the channel, we noticed a marina so we called and they had room for us and we docked. Carl pulled the part and now we wait for the guy to arrive who will braise up the hole in it. How long we will wait , we will see. However, we can't stay at the marina long, too much money. While Carl pulled the part Bella and I played ball and then I grabed the backpack and walked the mile to the local Publix.While I was there I bought fish, so I guess you could say I caught the fish.I stoppped at the worst veggie stand ever,and guess what the guy says to me" You live on a boat?! He said it was the backpack and hat, all sailboat woman wear that hat.Okay its offical, I have the look..While at Publix's Carl meet the crew on a 40ft Island Packet call the LILY ROSE that had docked next to us. What great people they are, Capt Larry, his wonderful wife Francie, Bob, Jeff and his lovely girlfriend Mira, from South Africa. At the cocktail hour we were invited aboard there boat and feed sushi and peanuts, we brought the bottle of rum and ginger beer that John & Petra gave us. Aha a sailors drink!!This was a wonderful time! They gave us a tour of their vessel, BEATIFUL.. Then we all came over to our boat so they could see it, and of course they really liked ours too. We may be small but, were really nice.Jeff and Mira weren't there for cocktail hour, they joined the party late and hung out with us on our boat. I love this. Always great to met new people. This was the first time we got to party with other sailors and it was great!!During the whole evening it stormed and the rain poured down.However it didn't dampen our spirit or fun!!! I wasn't able to get the pictures loaded I will try again later, Francie made apple pan something for breakfast.. Gotta go..Bye

Sorry no post yesderday, had a power cord issue with my computor and couldn't get power so here are two posts today. Mothers Day morning began with calm water and cool air.We were anchored just off of Ft. Pierce and needed a pump out so over to Habor Isle Marina. Carl hailed them on the radio an another marina anwsered and told him that they were not monitoring there radio, to just come into their marina. We did just that. As we arrived I noticed the dock was very high, at least 4ft over our boat.It won't be easy for Bella & I to get on it and go run around.Carl starts the pump out process and I talk to 3 little girls on the dock,who wished me a Happy Mothers Day and then ask if Mothers Day is all week..How cute is that. Then they gave me 2 floweres they picked.There mother worked there and had to take them to work, so they were running around playing and throwing rocks in the water. It was nice to see kids on Mothers Day. The pump out wasn't working very well so they had to do it twice. Plus the guy wasn't happy cause we didn't buy fuel,and he charged $5.00 the other marina was free.Once done pumping out Carl helped us onto the dock, for Bella's break.Upon return to the boat we headed out. The day was very overcast and we heard there would be an afternoon storms, staying in the ditch( ICW) again today.The ICW is very different on this coast, the water is very wide, like a big lake. On the Gulf side it's much narrower. The homes on this side are huge, makes the people on our side look poor. Who are these people? Also the numbers on the markers have three digits, we started at marker R240,we had never seen more than 2. The day was spent sailing all day we had plenty of east wind. I got to talk on the phone to my daughter and a few friends. It was a pretty quite day.We anchored off Indiatlantic and I made Curried Veggies for dinner, still no fish. The next morning we woke up in very calm water with morning traffic buzzing by on shore, as we were very close to the bridge. We were planning our day and hoping to catch up with our friend Dustin. It was decided we would see him after work,he lived pretty close,so we were not in a hurry to pull anchor. One call to a local surf shop and we knew what we would do!! We had to leave Bella on the boat today and boy she didn't like that. We straped our surfboard to our legs and jumped overboard, then paddled to shore. It was a lot longer paddle then I thought, so I let Carl pull me part of the way. Once on shore we crossed the street and began to hitchhike. Thumbs up holding our boards, we decided to walk at the same time, just in case. At one light I asked this young guy for a ride to the beach and he says "your almost there" and drives off. Needless to say nobody picked us up and we walked the mile to the beach. Carl said he never worked so hard for 2 to 3ft waves. Across the street from the beach is a store called Longboard House where we stopped to buy wax for the boards.Indiatlanic is an old favorite surfing spot for us, Carl & I came here all the time before we had the restaurant. Turned out the surf was about chest high 4ft and the winds were great. Carl got right out and was surfing and having fun. While I had a new board that I had never surfed before and not being in the water in a long time,made it so I never got past the break water. Yes , I know you want to be a great surfer like me. Tried as I may I just couldn't get out to the line up. Bummer. Still I got more use to the board, better luck next time. After a couple of hours we were getting tired, so we headed to the showers on the beach.Stopped for more Sex Wax and started hitchhiking back to the boat. This time we were picked up by a nice young man in an old beat up Toyota stationwagon named Kyle. He gave a ride right to where we came ashore earlier and we paddled back out to the boat.Boy was Bella glad to see us..We headed up the ICW to meet our friend. It was a very narrow channel we had to go through to reach the canal by his house. We ran aground twice,(thats right twice)but Carl was able to get us out of it both times. We were gonna turn back and forget it , but we peraserved. Once we were in the canal near his home we tired up to a free dock on Samson Island. It is wildlife perserve. Bella couldn't wait to go ashore. As we walk onto the island we see a sign that says dogs must be on leash as ..BOBCATS..have been seen on this island.. GREAT.. I'm sure it's time to run. Carl goes back to the boat for a big knife ( no guns allowed) and I get a big stick and we go for a walk. Walked around following the paths and walked in a big circle and back on the boat.Thanfully we didn't see a bobcat. Our friend Dustin had to work late, doing a model shoot for Sun Bum sunscreen lotion, so we couldn't met him till very late. Being surrounded by beautiful women must be really hard for a young guy!!!I know your thinking how can I get this job. Sorry it's already filled by him. Carl tried his hand at castnetting again. This time he got a fish right away. Very small so he put it in a bucket of water for bait. It was close to the side of the boat that the fish jumped back into the water. I couldn't believe it. A few more trys and a few more small fish, so he puts them on a hook and trys a pole. Still no fish. After we ate it was finally time to visit Dustin. We get in the dingy and go the way he told us to go, after he changed his mind a few times and Carl's patience was waring thin we finally got there. I took my computer and shower stuff with us. Never pass us a hot shower and electric.Bella got to run all over the place. Boy was she happy!We went to the local Long Doggers restaurant, they had wings and a few beers. We return to the boat with full power on the computor, clean bodies and a bottle of suncreen.Thanks Dustin. Be sure to buy Sun Bum sun products..This was a good day..

Can you believe that we got away with another night at the Free Dock... It was so nice there. The winds were very strong from east and we were nose into the wind and our slip was on the leeward side, very smooth water, great sleeping. We were up late so I let Carl sleep in while Bella and I went to the bathroom and for a walk. The shopping area just off the dock had just set up for a art show and craft fair so we took a nice little walk through that. As we were approaching the dock that's  when I noticed a boat pulling into the slip next to us. Just as I got to the catwalk by the boat I see the woman fall in the water as she was trying to tie the boat to the dock. I run over  and push the boat off the dock so she doesn't get crushed between her boat and the concrete dock.The wind is howling and her husband can't seem to keep the boat from blowing around everywhere. Just then Carl hears all the noise and comes up as the man hits our dingy. Carl yells at the man when he notices the lady in the water. He jumps off our boat on to the dock and then gets on their swim platform to help pull the woman on the boat.No easy task in the wind!! She is about 75 or 80 years old and she couldn't  get her feet on the steps, as they were broken. Her husband is even older and he couldn't help, cause he hurt his back trying to dock. Carl finally gets her on the boat. I asked if they wanted to dock , and they assured us they were going home. I would too, she was a soaking wet, no change of clothes.Yes , there is adventure everyday. It's time to leave the dock, so we set out to go meet our friend Dustin for a charity advent his company is having on Stuart Beach. We got a late start and are unable to meet him, BUMMER, I really wanted to go. So we headed due north in the ICW Atlantic coast. The winds were very strong coming from the east about 20 knots. Carl put both the main and the head sails and asked me to take the helm. The boat began to heel to far to port and I got very nervous and called for Carl to take it. I guess I'm not that much help to him when it comes to sailing, I wish I was. I am sure by the end of this trip I will be better.Carl decided to drop the main and only sail with the head sail. That was perfect! Our vessel was sailing at 6.7 knots top speed, but averaged about 5.5 knots, pretty good for us. Our haul speed is only 7 knots.
We anchored off Ft. Pierce for the night and will get that pump out this morning before we continue on.." HAPPY MOTHERS DAY" to all you wonderful women who make the world a brighter place!!! 

All I can say about the town of Stuart is we love it, it is a nice small town.You will see by the pictures that the bridge at our stern is all lite up at night, Nice view. Also there is a train that runs by pretty often. You don't usually hear a train while at a dock. Just a few of the things that made this dock special.. AND IT'S FREE.. Yesterday as the day began we left the dock ( yes, we got away with staying all night) made a stop at the local tourist office and found out there was a free concert in the park tonight.. BONUS.. on to Publix for a few provisions . We were told it was a long walk so we were ready for a hike. It turned out to only be about 1/2 mile. Bella got to do some lizard chasing and all the other things dogs like to do on a walk, she is always very happy to go ashore. Hit the Family Dollar for an air freshener for the head,(boy do we need that) and saw a dog grooming truck.Tried to get Bella's nails cut(cause we are really bad at it) and was told the man would come to the boat later and do it for $10..What a deal..Carl waited outside Publix with Bella while I went inside.  While inside I meet this wonderful, happy 85 yr old lady, she says to me "you live on a sailboat don't you".. I almost fell over, what I have that look already?! I answer yes and she says and that's your little dog outside with your husband outside right...what was this woman physic..how did she know all that just looking at me.. As much as I could have talked to her a while,  I needed to get back to Carl & Bella ,I bid Ade to her wonderful smiling face and left. I told Carl what happened and he said the lady must have seen them & his sail hat, that makes sense. Dropped groceries off, then we ventured out to the Stuart Heritage Museum,  what a neat place. Betty the curator gave us a private tour. She even let us stay after closing time. Carl and Bella went outside while I stayed to chat with Betty. When I got outside Carl was picking stickers off Bella. She was covered in them. Back to the boat for dinner. Sandwiches what a great cook I am!! During dinner, lots of people walked by, I looked out and saw about a 40 ft wooden schooner called LILY, with 3 masts. She was taking tourist out for a sail. We were amazed to see they had a dingy pushing the boat out to deep water to set the sails, no motor in the vessel. They just started the motor and put it at the stern and way they went.That's when we meet Donna & Bill from New Jersey with their 3 kids, after we talked, Carl invited them aboard.The kids couldn't believe we had a bed, stove, sink, head and a TV. It was great fun meeting them. Time to head to the free concert and meet the dog groomer at the picnic table in the park. I walked around checking out the vendors while Bella had her paws done. Bella was put back on the boat so we could enjoy the concert, and we did. The band was great, we meet some local skateboarders and hung out till our friend Dustin arrived. Went to meet him for drinks. It's so nice to see someone you know from home! Laughed and shared stories until it was time to head to the boat.