It's been 10 weeks since my last post ! Yikes! Where has the time gone? what have we done? Where have we gone???????
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During the last week of January, we left St-Augustine mile #777 of the ICW to make our way further south!
This was our longest stay anywhere since Annapolis!
We stayed there for a week!
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| After traveling 10 plus nautical miles , we started to see a large area of smoke in the sky ! After another 7 miles, this is what it looked like from our starboard side. |
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This is taken about 3 nautical miles from our destination...Still did not find out what it was....some say it was a purposely lit self contained fire! As you can see it's almost sunset. In order for us to get into Marineland Marina, we had to arrive at high tide or risk running aground in the entrance. High tide was at 6:00 pm.
We arrived at the marina just before dark....hitting bottom a few times and made it to the dock just before it got too dark for my comfort level! |
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| We travelled less than 20 nautical miles to Marineland mile # 797 from St. Augustine .We stayed here for 3 nights. As you can see, we did the "tourist" thing! | |
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| One of the many Dolphins in captivity at Marineland..... |
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We went for a walk in a "Conservation forest" in Marinland City. Guy was hoping to see turtles or other protected animals that inhabit this forest.....but it was not to be....me, I was ok with it! It was however interesting to read the identification signs of all the different trees and plants....
The next day we left...Marineland, making our way to Cocoa Beach near New Smyrna
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| Here we pass the Nasa building...at Cape Canaveral it is huge, we saw it from miles away! |
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| We did not stop off at "Nasa" this time but we would like to take a tour someday! |
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The stretch between Marineland and Cocoa Beach was very scenic. A number of these islands had people camping by boat on them. They would set up tents and fishing campsites.
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| We anchored in about 10 ft of water just off the intercoastal in Cocoa Beach near the New Smyrna inlet to the ocean! One of my favorite anchorages so far! We went for a dinghy ride to shore . |
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Many fisherman fishing in the surf from shore. This guy had waiters. It was funny to see him try and stand in the surf. Very determined.
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| The lighthouse at the New Smyrna inlet |
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| We watched fishermen on a rock pier reel in their catches....This pelican is waiting for dinner! |
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| The coast of New Smyrna is filled with surfers as well as (I read on the internet) it's the # 1 shark attack beach in the world! Even though there was an annual shark migration along the coast it was full of surfers. |
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| After a long walk along the beach, we walked along a boardwalk to get back to our dinghy |
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| Here Guy looks over the railing so see some gopher/burrowing tortoises. |
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| Gopher tortoises are one of the few species of tortoise that dig burrows. These burrows can be up to ten feet deep and 40 feet long, and are as wide as the length of the tortoise that made it. In addition to providing the tortoise a home, the burrows are also used by a range of other species including the indigo snake, Florida mouse, gopher frog and burrowing owl. |
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| I was lucky enough to get these two pics of this tortoise coming out of it's burrow. They are about 2 ft long. |
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After our overnight stay in Cocoa Beach, Jan 27th, we traveled a very scenic 47 NM to Vero Beach arriving at 16:30.
We took our assigned mooring ball. For those who are unfamiliar, mooring balls are an
alternative to dropping your own anchor. A mooring ball is permanently
installed in a harbor, generally consists of the anchor, a chain to a
mooring ball that floats on the surface of the water, and a pennant to
which the boat gets attached.
We also noticed 4 other Valiants. (Same make of boat as ours). in the harbor.
Soon after turning our instruments off, putting our maps away etc, we were invited to a cocktail party of other Valiant owners at one of the Valiants.
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| The ocean was a short walk away from Vero Beach Harbor. This guy was entertaining to watch skim the beach and then fly off in the breezes along the coast. Looked like a ton of fun! |
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| We enjoyed the many restaurants and bars along the coast. |
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| As you can see it was Superbowl Weekend.... |
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| We enjoyed a visit from our niece Kellie and her husband Christopher on Superbowl weekend. |
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| Cocktail hour ! Cheers! |
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| Kellie and Christopher heading back to Miss Ellie after lunch onshore! |
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| We stayed in Vero beach till Feb 4th....then headed to Harbortown Marina in Fort Pierce Fl. a short distance away. |
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| Arial view of Harbortown Marina at Intercoastal mile # 965. We took a slip for a month...great rate..approx 17.00 a day! The marina is super! It's close to supermarkets, has a new state of the art laundry room, new shower facilities, heated pool, exercise room, onsite restaurant with live entertainment on the weekends, etc. etc. etc. We have some "land trips" planned for Feb. and March! and feel this is a good place to keep Miss Ellie while we are away! It is at the mouth of Taylor Creek and is touted as the only fresh water marina on the east coast of Florida! |
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| On Feb 11th, we rented a vehicle to get us from Fort Pierce to Daytona to catch our flight to Vancouver. |
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| On our way to the airport, we stopped off in Titusville to check out some prices and facilities at a marina for summer storage. We walked around the docks and this is what we saw! |
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| There were quite a few manatees swimming between boats, weaving in and out of the docks. One of the boaters saw our interest in these mammals and showed us how they loved drinking from a hose! Every time one of the boaters sprays fresh water from the boat these manatee come over for a drink! |
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| This little guy was walking around the park area of the marina! |
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| We arrived in Daytona in plenty of time to board our flight to Vancouver. |
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We arrived in Vancouver Feb 12th after staying a night in Seattle.
Below are pics of why we were so anxious to fly across the country ! |
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| On Valentine's day, Sloane Ivy Wilke ,our third grandchild was born..... |
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| We also met our second grandchild Teagan Olivia Mathany , born Nov. 26th...2012 |
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| Me with Bridget and Sloane |
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Since we started our cruise last August.......our family has grown! We spent 2 weeks in Vancouver .
We returned Feb 26th. Since returning to our boat in Fort Pierce Florida, Guy have taken some time to add several more coats of varnish to the rub rail, the cap rail and the combings. The Florida summer sun is harsh..we hope that this will protect the teak! We have a list of boat projects as well as hobbies we want to work through along with a few more "land trips" in March, so we have decided to stay here in Fort Pierce for now!
Till my next post....take care | | | | | |
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