January 12, 2013 - Sebastian Inlet (treasure coast)

Arrived at the Sebastian Inlet and tried to anchor in a reported anchorage but the water was too shallow and we ran aground on soft sand. Roly was able to pull the boat free using the dinghy after a fare amount of cursing and swearing, lol. We spent a sleepless night in deeper unprotected waters.

The next day we moved about 3 miles and anchored near a couple of islands to give us protection from the wind. This area is called, the Indian River, and is part of the Intracoastal Waterway.

This seems to be a popular place for the locals on weekends. They come to camp, kayak and fish.

Leanne, we finally found an island for you to camp on

Roly walking the sandbar that connects the 2 islands
Rol & C's in the background

 

This being the treasure coast, we visited the Mel Fisher Museum.

Mel Fisher who started out as a musician in the big band era also had a great interest in scuba diving. He opened the first scuba store on the planet which probably led to his passion for treasure hunting. For many years he researched and found sunken Spanish Galeons. The most popular of these ships was the "Atocha" which went down in the 18th century with millions of dollars worth of gold, silver and jewels destined for Spain from the new world. As  boaters and scuba divers, it was a very interesting museum to see.

What a thrill it would be to find just one of the silver pieces of eight coins, (each one was priced at $700 and up in the museum).

This particular coin from the Atocha is valued at $2,700.

January 10, 2013 - Cape Canaveral

We anchored out for 2 nights near the Titusville Municipal Marina. We took this opportunity to visit nearby Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral. The cab ride there and back costs us $65.  Got to say the cab driver was a bit entertaning with his long hair, tatoos and a mouth full of gold teeth, (I think we just helped to pay for some of those gold teeth). Admission price was $50 each, therefore it made for an expensive day, but well worth it.

The many displays that we visited were very interesting and made Carole want to be an astronaut (see picture further down). We even went for a ride in a shuttle simulator to give us the feeling of the take off experience. It was quite realistic with the loud noise, shaking and simulated G forces, (the skin on our face and neck was pulled back and for a moment we had no more wrinkles, lol). We would have been a hilarious sight to see.

We saw moon rocks, the moon rover, and the lunar landing module as well as much more, but we were dissappointed to find out that the Space Shuttle exibit does not open until July 2013.

Roly checking out the Saturn V rocket engine

Saturn V rocket

Space Capsule

Space Nut

Lunar landing module

Pre-launch assembly building



 

January 8, 2013 - Daytona Beach

 

 

 

 

We stayed at Sunset Harbour Marina for a couple of nights. They have a nice pool that Carole enjoyed.

 

 



Took a cab into Daytona Beach to walk the beach and check out the town. Not much going on this time of the year compared to Bike Week, but we did stop in at Froggy's Saloon for a beer.

 We donated a dollar and a quarter to Donna the bartender for a worthy children's cause. She pierces the dollar with a thumbtack and adds the weight of the quarter, then wraps the dollar around it and tosses it up to the wooden ceiling. After awhile the dollar unfolds and the quarter drops. One day 13 quarters fell on her and she said, "it's a good thing I had a cowboy hat on"!

Donna the bartender

This guys been here too long!



Now that's a happy little critter!

It sure would be fun to come back for Bike Week in March!

Once a biker, always a biker

Had a late lunch at Bubba Gumps and enjoyed their shrimp sampler. Shopped, then took a cab back to the marina.

January 5, 2013 - St. Augustine, FL

Our gateway into St. Augustine

We spent 2 nights in St. Augustine to visit this beautiful city. We stayed at the Hidden Harbour Marina which was inexpensive and close to downtown. We walked into the old section of the city and enjoyed the history, shops, bars and restaurants.

Flagler College (formerly Ponce de Leon Hotel)

Enjoyed a great Ale Cheese Soup at the A1A Brew Pub along with some of the tasty stouts that were brewed there.

Enjoying a Belgium Kasteel Rouge Black Cherry beer



Lightner Museum in the City of St Augustine

January 1, 2013 - Back home to the boat

Our cold Canadian stay back home has ended and we flew back to Florida. Though it was great to see the family and our new grand-daughter, Lily, we were excited to return to our boat in a warmer climate.

Our beautiful family

Carole's sister Sue and Rheal stopped in for a couple of days on their way further south. It was great to spend some time with them and show them some of the sites that we found in Jacksonville.

Rheal and Roly sampling some craft beers from Grassroots

October 1st to December 31, 2012 - Jacksonville, Florida

One of the Huckins yachts docked behind us. A 53ft built in 1966.

After looking around the different marinas in the area, we decided on Huckins Yacht Corp. to leave our boat for the next 3 months. This establishment has been in business since 1928 building custom yachts up to 90ft long. They also built PT boats during the second world war. Though it's not an actual marina they had nice floating docks and a courtesy car that was the deciding factor. As well it was a great place for Roly to get some work done on the boat.

Roly working in the engine room located under the living room floor.

Jacksonville was chosen because of it's proximity to the airport as we needed to fly back and forth for the birth of our 1st grandchild and the Christmas holidays.

Our beautiful grand daughter Lily

This particular area of Jacksonville is 20 miles in from the ocean along the St. John river which is well protected from major storms and hurricanes. We were safe from hurricane Sandy which went by while our boat was there.

Jacksonville Landing is a popular place for boaters to stop and eat.

Jacksonville is huge. It took us 45 minutes by car to get to the beach. While at the beach we were lucky to watch a surfing competition.

One day we found a Health Store named Grassroots that had an amazing variety of craft beers, (Roly was in his glory!).

There was only one other full-time residence on the dock, an Italian American from Brooklyn, NY named Captain Joe. This aspiring comedian kept us entertained as well as a great help with many things. "Thanks Joe, you are a gentlemen and a scholar and it was a pleasure to know you!"

Captain Joe

September 30, 2012 - Fernandina Beach, Florida

Our first night in Florida. We had planned on anchoring for the night but decided because of the winds and the open area to take a slip at the Tiger Point Marina. It turned out to be a good decision because a major thunderstorm passed in the evening. We were glad to have all those sailboat masts around us to act as lightning rods. It was hot and humid and we were happy to have shore power for the AC.

While travelling saw some great wildlife such as this alligator
 

Bald Eagle
 

Shrimp boat (maybe Forest Gumps, lol)
 

This is how you fish in the Atlantic so Roly says