Friends and family on our trip north

When we last spoke we were dodging bees and moving north.  In spite of a one-week layover in St. Simons, GA, we continue to head north -  pretty quickly.  Cumberland Island was our first stop after Fernandina. For some reason, most of the cruisers tend to skip Cumberland Island. Not sure why as it's insanely picturesque with lots of wildlife and history.  The anchoring is easy and it's right off the ICW - no excuses.  

Sunset on Cumberland, Is

Roger and Millie show the wild horses a little respect.

Classic Cumberland Island trail.

Plum Orchard Mansion owned by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie

Egret at Cumberland Island

We headed to Jekyll Island after Cumberland and we were excited about getting the bikes out for some nice riding. Not to be.  After a short ride, Roger got a flat. No problem, we've got a pump and a tube.  Oops no wrench to get the tire off- that's not OK.  We tried to get a little air in the tire unsuccessfully when a good samaritan rider stopped by to help.  OK - great - back on the road. Well, it obviously flats again.  Chrisy heads off to grab a golf cart and Roger finds good samaritan #2 who happens to have a wrench and a functioning pump.  Roger changes out the tube, calls Chrisy and we're off.  Not so fast.  Roger flats again. Then Chrisy flats. I've lost count by now but it's time to put the bikes away, get a beer, and take the courtesy golf cart from the marina. The rest of the afternoon was actually quite pleasant.  As we found out when we got to a bike shop in St. Simons, our tires are ten years old, cracked, show evidence of being ridden while underinflated, and basically useless.  One of the problems with folding bikes is that their tires aren't exactly "off the shelf."  Amazon to the rescue.  Had the tires shipped to Hilton Head, and we were back in business.  

While we've been moving pretty quickly on our trip north we have been able to coordinate visits with lots of friends and family.  In St. Simons, we met up with Roger's sister Betsy and most of her family as well as cousin William Hanger with lots of his friends and family. 

Betsy and Rick on the beach - Sea Island

Classic Sea Island dinner on the ping-pong table.

We've been visited by a few green flies recently - big ones.  Turns out that Millie is not such a big fan. 

She found an escape on the bow. 

Chrisy has been desperate to get to Savannah, and Roger has always found a reason to keep moving.  Not this year.  A two-night stop gave us a full day to enjoy this lovely city.  Here is the statue of the Waving Lady as she greets returning captains. She's looking for her long-lost boyfriend.

 St. John Cathedral

One of the many squares in Savannah

Cruising buddies Nile and Linda Schneider in Savannah (who we met in 2013) with 

new cruising buddies Karen and Mark.

We have used our reciprocal privileges through Conanicut Yacht Club a few times, but this was probably the best. Free dockage for two nights at the Wexford Yacht Club in Hilton Head... a beautiful Club that you enter via a private lock.

 

..and a free pickleball lesson with a friend-of-a-friend, Karen and the pro, Brian.

On the dock at Wexford - the saga of the bike tires hopefully came to an end with four new tires.

We put those new tires to good use with a 26.5 mile ride around Hilton Head with more cruising buddies, Burt and Prue Preston, who we met in the Bahamas in 2015.

Roger's former colleague at Bancroft School,  Bud Brooks and his wife Carol, with the heavens opening up behind us in Hilton Head. 

Long-time cruising friends Cathy and Allan Rae at their lovely home in Beaufort, SC 

An Egret is always a welcome sight - Seabrook Island

Bruce and Heather Glendinning relocated from Philly down to Seabrook Island, SC

Roger's sister, Betsy's good friend, Clarke Weidlein, joined us for dinner in Southport, SC.

On the Road Again

Last year during our Great Loop planning we were presented with an opportunity to rent a condo in Vero for the month of March.  We really enjoy Vero in March so it was an offer we couldn't refuse.  We made sure we were in Vero by the end of February and we'd pull off the Great Loop for the month of March - take a break.  We had our golf clubs shipped down, made lots of tee times with our friends Sharon and Greg, lost countless balls - our games are very much a work in progress - made lots of plans with friends, played tennis, took Millie on lots of beach walks, and best of all, we had our children down for a fun-filled week.  

Now we are back on the road - so to speak.  We departed Vero on Saturday, April 1st, and headed to an anchorage in Cocoa Village about 50 miles north.   It felt good to be back on Egret and moving north.  Our trip was pretty uneventful and we arrived in mid-afternoon. After surveying the anchorage to make sure that we avoided submerged gas and power lines, we anchored in about 12 feet of water just off the town docks.  

After getting Millie to shore for her evening walk, we returned to a rather hot and humid boat and decided to turn on the generator so we could get the AC running to cool down the boat.  Within two minutes of turning on the generator, a swarm of honey bees descended on our cockpit. What happened? What did we do? Where did they come from? The Generator? The AC? More importantly, what are we going to do?  And thank goodness we had closed the door in our cockpit! A fellow cruiser who saw what was happening came over in her dinghy to inquire. She was actually a beekeeper and obviously quite knowledgeable on the subject. She reassured us that we were not about to recreate a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's, The Birds - yes we may have been catastrophizing a bit. She went back to her boat and did some research to locate a bee removal specialist.  With the specialist located, we made a plan to meet "The Eradicator" at the dock the next morning at 8:15.   Roger got dressed in long pants, long sleeve shirt, and a baseball hat pulled down tight, and made a quiet but speedy dash through the cockpit to the dinghy.   Once on board, The Eradicator calmly vacuumed the bees - guiding them into the vacuum with his bare finger. If one would stray to his neck he just vacuumed the bee off.  Roger observed from the safety of the dinghy. Chrisy and Millie were behind closed doors in the main salon. Once the Queen Bee was located and secured in a special container, the vacuuming pace increased substantially.  Within half an hour - no more honey bees.  Well almost, there were a few more that Roger bravely vacuumed up.  The Eradicator said that the queen must have randomly landed on the boat and that it did not come from the boat.  That was nice to know.  Glad we don't need to vacuum out the generator or AC unit.  

We had a nice visit from Tom and Tina Osborne, fellow loopers who have completed their loop.

Family fun day on Egret in Vero

Nana and Pops are on an outing to the ice cream parlor with the star. 

John Brittain, friends for over 55 years

Many of those lost golf balls were lost with great cruising buddies Greg Page and Sharon Buerhle.

Egret, ready for departure after a month in Vero. Photo credit to Roz Allen. 

Honey bees swarming the Queen in Cocoa Village anchorage

Hundreds of honeybees swarmed Egret within minutes....

The Eradicator at work

After the excitement at Cocoa Village, we headed on for Titusville (had a great dinner at Dixie Crossings with cruising friends Barb and Doug who we met in 2013),  New Smyrna Beach, (first time here - we hung out with our Canadian Loopers - Yachts of Fun and JEMA) Fort Matanzas anchorage (beautiful anchorage with a raging current), and St. Augustine. 

Millie on her morning jaunt to the beach at Fort Matanzas.

The happy couple at Castillo de San Marcos - the fort in St. Augustine

Fellow Loopers Jeff and Sharon, Yachts of Fun with Jim and Elaine, JEMA out for dinner in St. Augustine

We've been pretty spoiled with our weather for most of the trip.  That luck would end toward the end of our stay in St. Augustine when a massive Nor'Easter would descend on us.  With rain and 25 knots of wind forecasted for the foreseeable future, Chrisy had the good idea to get moving a day ahead of the weather so we raced from St. Augustine to Fernandina, the town on Amelia Island. The reasoning worked perfectly until we arrived in Fernandina and they didn't have space for us on the dock.  We grabbed a mooring ball and rode out the first eight hours of the front bobbing and weaving on a mooring, getting very little sleep.  Honestly, it felt as though we were in a washing machine with high winds and fast currents.  Our luck would return on Easter Sunday when we were able to get a space on one of the inside docks that is really well protected from the prevailing winds.  

Mid-afternoon walk for Millie and we tripped on some live music in Fernandina. Chrisy looking fresh as a daisy; Roger looking like he had a long night on the mooring.  

On to Vero for March

We made lots of different plans for the Super Bowl and finally settled on going to Key Biscayne Yacht Club.  While the game obviously didn't turn out the way we wanted, the Yacht Club with a nice pool, bar, showers, and friendly staff and members was amazing.  Chrisy stayed busy with daily bike rides, yoga classes in town, and the Coconut Grove Art Show while Roger flew to El Salvador for a board meeting.  

From Key Biscayne, we spent one night on anchor in West Palm Beach and then moved up to Delray Beach where we were hosted on the dock of Roger's high school friend, Louise Vanderlip, and her husband, Henrik.  The price was right and the hospitality was superb. We were also able to catch up with friends Henry and Suzie O'Reilly, Debbie Maine, Roger's post-college roommate Reed Webster and his entertaining daughter, Margaret.  We randomly ran into Lisa and Rob Barker, friends from Chrisy's childhood years, at a wonderful "America's Cup" slide show and lecture.  Henrik and Louise made our stay a bit too comfortable, and it was hard to move on, but we needed to keep pushing toward Vero Beach.  

Peck Lake is a large anchorage on the Intracoastal Waterway with a state park and a massive beach.  After much deliberation as to the legality of bringing Millie to the beach, we gave it the thumbs up and Millie had several long walks.  Unfortunately, the anchorage is adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway and there is no "No Wake Zone" sign so our accommodations were somewhat rolly during the day, but the beautiful beach with hardly anyone on it certainly made up for the rolly waves.  

Millie was sorry to leave the park but happy to leave the anchorage when we pushed on to Stuart on the St. Lucie River.  We've heard lots of great things about Stuart over the years from our cruising friends, but we have never been.  It did not disappoint.  The marina was very welcoming with nice facilities, and the town even put on an art show for us on Sunday.  We caught up with our Jamestown friends Mary Hutchinson and Jim Wharton - our one-man send-off party way back in May and had a lovely afternoon at their resort community and spent the evening with our Michigan Great Loopers, Robin and John.  

Last winter we fell into a perfect rental for Vero Beach so we factored that into our Great Loop adventure and booked a stop for the month of March.  The condo has three bedrooms and three baths. Basically, we are going through a bit of an adjustment period getting used to all of the space.  After spending months where we have been within 15 feet of each other, there are times now when we can't find each other.  Roger's wallet and reading glasses are constantly missing, but we are gradually getting used to life on land.  Millie had no such adjustment period and quickly settled into multiple walks per day.  

Miami in the background on a gorgeous travel day for a motorboat. A special thank you to our Canadian friends, Steve and Dodie, for the photograph.

Your basic Key Biscayne sunset

The ladies enjoying their walk on the beach at Peck Lake.

Roger, Henrik, Louise, Chrisy, Lisa and Rob Barker friends of Chrisy's

Margaret, Reed, Henry, Roger, Debbie, Suzie, and Louise. Please note the sleeve length on Roger's blazer.  This is what happens when you don't pack a blazer on Egret.

Concert at the art show in Stuart

Jim Wharton and Mary Hutchinson at their lovely home in Harbour Ridge.

Friends John and Robin from Moonshadow II

Sunset at Stuart

Your basic travel day on the Intracoastal Waterway.  Put your head on a swivel and know the rules of the road.

Egret's new home - the mooring field at Vero Beach Municipal Marina.

No this is not Maine - it's Vero Beach.

Heading home

Ok, maybe not tomorrow, but last Wednesday, we left Key West after a great week and headed east along the Florida Keys, and yes, we are officially traveling north now. For the first time this trip, we will actually be getting closer to home.  Don't look for us anytime soon, this will take until mid-June.  

Key West has been an eclectic mix of the classy and shall we say the "not-so-classy." On the one hand, we've had delicious food at lots of different restaurants, seen lovely southern-style houses, heard some really good music, and met lots of fun people.  On the other hand, we've seen countless tourist-trap stores, attended a drag show, seen some strip clubs and a clothing-optional bar - no we did not attend those, and there are tons of tour boats blasting music running out to catch the sunset.  Roosters freely roam through the streets and outdoor restaurants.  

We took a recommendation from our Jamestown friends, Bruce and Dorsey Beard, and got a slip at the Galleon Marina which is in the heart of all the action.  Even Jimmy Buffett had his, surprisingly, small fishing boat at the Galleon, but no sightings of Mr. Buffett while he was in town for several concerts. Fishing boats and tour boats are coming and going at all hours and the cruise ships dock just a few blocks up the street.  The chaos didn't seem to scare away the wildlife as we were joined by manatees, tarpon, and there were reports of bull sharks - fortunately no sightings. 

We were joined in Key West by our good friends from Philly, Sandy and George Connelly.  For the next five days, we walked the streets of Key West, ate at the Conch Republic Seafood Company restaurant, Blue Heaven (a must if you have never been!), entertained ourselves at the Green Parrot (dancing to a reggae band),  Better Than Sex ( a Dessert restaurant), Aqua drag show (yes, the men were dragged there and it cost us some $$$ bills), lunch at Garbos Grill with the Stranges, and many late nightcaps at the Chart Room (where Mr. Buffett had his first gig) with free hotdogs and popcorn. But the highlight of the trip was a full-day, fast boat trip to the Dry Tortugas to explore Fort Jefferson and snorkel the outer walls of the fort. Barracuda and sting ray sightings caused the women to cut their snorkel adventure short. 

Due to the strong easterly winds, we were forced to travel on the Gulf side rather than Hawk Channel as we headed east up the Florida Keys. We definitely hit some very shallow water when we transited the Big Spanish Channel - how we did not run aground still amazes us today - the Dinty Moore and Spam were working their magic. Maybe it was the special gift of Spam that our Jamestown neighbors dropped off at Egret the night before we left Key West? We treated ourselves to 2 nights at the Marlin Bay Resort in Marathon and visited with some cruising friends we met along the way. With 100 miles to our destination of Key Biscayne, we traveled on the Gulf side over two days. Our anchorage at Islamorada was beautiful, with dolphins playing in the water, with one exception....we almost dropped our anchor on a sunken boat....fortunately the water was clear enough that we could see the boat as we led out the anchor chain....and we quickly pulled up the anchor and reset!

We are now settled at the Key Biscayne Yacht Club til February 20. Go Birds!

Mary and Andy Strange joined us for a lunch at Garbos Grill.

Your basic floating Tiki bar in the harbor at Key West  - these are seen 

throughout the western side of Florida

Better than Sex for dessert.

Day trip on Egret

Drinking some local Key West beer as we watched the famous KW sunset

On our way to the Dry Tortugas

Chrisy and Millie at the southernmost point of the USA

Need I say more...?

Millie gets some extra loving

Our MC and lead star at Aqua

Our dockmates in Key West and friends from Jamestown, Bruce and Dorsey Beard

A few of the 14 million bricks in Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas

A manatee hanging our under Egret looking for some fresh water