My last post ended with "Happy New Year"!
This one starts with "Happy Easter"!
We stayed at a dock in St Augustine in layers of
warm clothes for three weeks enjoying our Espar heater every
night and every morning!
Temparatures here in Florida for January were chilly!
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| With her fresh new bottom painted, Miss Ellie was hoisted and dropped gently in the water. We also needed to replace a faulty raw water pump on the Beta Engine. Beta have been amazing with service. They replaced the raw water pump for free 3 years down the road. Gotta love em' It took longer than we had hoped for to get someone to do the job as everyone was booked up. The new one works flawlessly! We also had an issue with a leaking remote oil filter housing. to fix it the bill was $550. Beta stepped up and covered that bill also. I can't think of a better marine engine company than Beta. They have a superior product, in my mind, and they truly do stand behind that product. I can't recommend then enough for anyone planning to repower. Thank you Beta. |
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| One of our favourite restaurants within walking distance for us at the St Augustine Marine Centre. The Blue hen is on Martin Luther King Blvd in Lincolnville. Lincolnville is a small suburb of St Augustine located between the Marine centre and Downtown. Fresh, clean, handmade, food that is amazingly good! Daniel Greene is a favourite artist of Guy's. He is an Icon of portrait art in the US. What a treat to see some originals. $350,000.00 for some!!!!  There was an opening artist’s reception 7 to 10 p.m. Jan. 15 with hors d’oeuvres and wine, and then, from 8 to 10 p.m. Jan. 16, a “meet and greet” with desserts and wine. Guy and I were thrilled to attend. Guy had taken lessons from him in Detroit years ago! |
early as we had hoped for . A 20 NM motor to Marineland Marina on the Intercoastal is all we did.
Woke up early the next morning to get on our way further south.
There was ice on the deck and the dock! Yikes!
Ice or not....this was a beautiful sight!
With little wind and just an hour away from the Haul-Over
Canal, we decided to drop anchor in a 10 ft area just off the
Intercoastal. Mosquitoe Creek anchorage.
It gets dark so early in Jan. , making for short travel
days.
We decided to stay here for 4
nights. They had a deal
that if you pay for 3 nights you get one night free!
He looks too interested in this car!....time to go!
While in Titusville, we did some visiting with family.
Our Nieces and their husbands work at Disney!
So we were all treated to a great day at The Animal Kingdom!As you can tell by the way we are all dressed, it was a cool day again at Disney. Sunny...but cool!
That was a great time...but we had to keep getting south
in search of warmer weather...
We motored our way in the intercostal. We dropped the
anchor of the Intercostal in 'Cocoa Beach'. We did
not go to shore....too cold! LOL! Such a shame because we hear many cruisers say that it is a great town to visit. Seems every time we go by we are on our way to some where else. Next time we will stop for a visit at the town of Cocoa.
I have seen some dolphins this year but have not been lucky
enough to get a picture...
These guys love to pose so I clicked away!
One of the many sunsets....
Leaving Cocoa Beach, we motored 8 hours to make it into Vero
Beach were we have stayed for the rest of our time here.
It was still cold when we arrived . The weather windows
to cross over to the Bahamas were far and few in between.
West Palm,which would have been our next leg. It is the staging inlet to cross over. It was very over
crowded with boats that were just waiting. They were getting pounded with one cold front after another. 3 ft waves in the harbour and very high winds. Boats dragging at anchor and frustrated cruisers waiting to cross the Gulf Stream. Many had just given up and headed North again to Vero where we were.
We decided to enjoy the rest of our time south, enjoying road
trips to visit friends and relatives, conveniences of all
this city offers and the new and old cruising friends we
met up with. We have met many heading back North again. Vero is a favourite stop off to rest and reprovision.
For Guy's Birthday in Feb., we were invited to Fort Myers to spend a few days with Guy's brother and his wife in their beautiful home. Their sister also
drove from Clermont Fl to join in the celebration.
Not much 'Miss Ellie' sailing this year for us! .......does this count? Our 9ft Fatty Knees dinghy is fun to sail throughout the harbour. By the wrinkles in the sail I should do this more often!
The boat maintenance never ends! Time to renew the varnish on our companionway and hatch. You should really plan on spending a few hour each day on maintenance or jobs become just too unsurmountable. Plan on a small job everyday and they never get too big...hopefully,lol.
In early March, we rented a car and drove to Matthews North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, NC, for a family celebration of one of my brother's 60th hosted by Andre and Susan. (The next bro in line for the big 60)
Roger, the birthday boy, flew in from Long Island NY, Mike and his
wife Sandra, flew in from Toronto .
Guy, his guitar....and friends
The weather had finally warmed up....one night we needed
to put up the 'windscoop' to get some cool fresh breeze...only to take it down in the middle of the night as the wind had died down and it just flapped! Grrrrr!! Making noise and keeping us awake. It was great while the wind lasted though.
A plane flew over our masts in the mooring field several times!
we were shocked at how close it was to us! It flew just above the masts and the tree tops. We thought it was an Air Show practice run until we read the underside of the wings. They read,"MOSQUITO CONTROL" Obviously they were spraying for mosquitoes in the surrounding mangroves. We didn't see any spray or smell anything. Zika Virus has everyone concerned down here.
The Vero Beach ...beach! Certainly not anything like a Bahama beach but still fun to walk the beach looking for treasures.
Just this week.....an overnight visit with Guy's sister...and a
shopping day in the many awesome stores here along Ocean dr. inVero. Either Guy is getting too much sun or Karin is not going outside? Fun visit.
Along with the great company of friends coming back from the Bahamas and stopping in Vero for a few nights before heading north and those here in the mooring field, we also enjoy, art fairs, car shows and farmers markets, great restaurants.
The Art Fair in Vero is called Under the oaks because it takes place in the Riverside park next to the Marina. Fantastic venue and it is considered one of the 10 best in the US. All juried and worth the time to come and enjoy. Even found an Artist from Scarborough Ontario. He was one of the best. Xiao Song Jiang.
This weekend we are off again to Clermont for some Easter fun with relatives.
Happy Easter from both of us!
