St. Augustine, Fl

We rose fairly early in the morning and raised anchor. We timed our departure to give us a nice push up the Halifax River and made great time for arrival at St. Augustine, 60 miles, 6 hours, thats 10miles/hr, not bad for a trawler. The Summer Wind felt like a 'go fast' (power boat).
Our plans included staying  2 nights in a nice marina up the San Sebastian river where the manager arranged for a fuel truck to come to us for a fill. WOW. $3.54 a gallon including tax. That was the cheapest we had spent for many months. For you not so faint of heart, we put in over 210 gallons. You do the math!
Spent a nice day in town and even purchased a couple of pieces of art for our home. Also did a good deed today. We were in line at the Fort Castillo De San Marcos waiting for tickets and I (Dick) remembered I had a Senior Golden Pass which gets me in free to any national park with 3 others. Behind us was a young couple with 2 small children and asked them to join us  for free tickets. They were very grateful and couldn't thank us enough.
Back on board for a nice meatloaf that Elle is starting so just relaxing for tomorrow. Hope to hear back from many of you and also hope you enjoy reading about our adventures.

Flagler College

Flager College Entrance

Lightner Museum

Lightner  Museum Tower

Heading Down King Street 

Castillo De San Marcos 

View of Bridge of Lions from the tower

Looking North 

Castillo Moat Entrance

Well Guarded

Cathedral Basilica St. Augustine

The Sea Breeze and the Summer Wind

Our Second day and the weather is just glorious. There was a refreshing gentle sea breeze which kept us rejuvenated and deciding to go a little farther as the day progressed. Finally dropped the hook about 80 miles at Dragon Point near Eau Gallie, FL. We turned and said to each other,"are we crazy". This trip is supposed to be easy. We sat on the back deck for a short period watching the dolphins fish around the boat after dinner.
One of the best things on the boat is a nice hot shower after travelling all day. Navy showers are a definite must. For you land lubbers that means, turn on water,wet down quickly, turn off water, soap hair and body, rinse thoroughly but sparingly.

This guy was enticing us to come play as he swam along our wake!

Approaching Melbourne, Fl

Osprey caught fresh fish dinner!

Mother nature was being incredibly generous with the weather, providing warm sunny skies with a nice gentle sea breeze to keep us cool. Our third night we dropped an anchor just passed Ponce Inlet in Rockhouse Creek. Another 70 plus mile day and we just shake our head at each other, 'we did it again?!'
Rockhouse Creek is a small anchorage where we watch egrets, heron and ospreys hunt for food. It's close to the Ponce Inlet lighthouse.  We normally go into the New Smyrna municipal marina to meet our friends Fran and Al, however they were already heading north by car. Sorry to have missed you this time guys, see you on the return trip.

Back on the Water

The last posting was in January and I guess since we have started our journey again we should let all our friends know what's happening in our lives.
The winter was glorious in our new home. We accomplished a lot of projects and had quite a few visitors which we enjoyed. I (Dick) got my woodworking shop up and running and started producing again. Made a group of shelf brackets and shelves for our den which are hung and looking great. Got the den almost finished but will have to wait until we return in the fall. The extra bedroom and bathroom was also finished and now we only have the kitchen, living room,dining room,master bedroom,master bathroom, garden, lanai, front hall etc,etc,etc to do. LOL.....

Working on the shelves for the Den

Shelves installed and room painted!

The week we had planned on leaving on our northern journey was filled with major thunderstorms, lightning and a tornado touching down in Boca Raton not far from our home.
We finished loading all the last remaining things from the house closed it up, left it in good hands with our house sitter, and drove to the boat. Couldn't believe how much we put back on the boat, but we are going to be living on it until the fall, so it has to have everything we need. While Elle started stowing things away I returned our rental car. Got back to the Summer Wind about 11:00 that morning and cast off by 11:30. It was exciting getting back on board since we haven't used her all winter. That day was a short one and we dropped the hook in Hobe Sound after a 35 mile trip. Everything was working fine so we popped open a bottle of wine and toasted to our journey.

Ocean Avenue Bridge Boynton Beach

Sun Fest Alive and Well after a very rainy start!

Jupiter Lighthouse

Dropped the hook in Hobe Sound after a successful first day.