December 20-26 Jacksonville to Fort Pierce

An Avenger.  

We were all packed and ready to leave in the morning as I walked to Hertz on Cassat street to pick up the car.  I opted to decline the use of a more luxurious car for $50 and stuck with the Dodge Avenger.  The Avenger is ah, well not the best car.  But it was cheap.

I returned to Huckins, and we loaded it up and left before noon for Destin where we decided to spend the first night.  Actually is really Sandestin where we did the condo thing for several years.  We do like it there.

Sandestin Beach

We got a bargain rate on a really nice room and had enough time to walk the beach.  Still great!  And the water was actually not too cold!  We treated ourselves to breakfast the next morning at the Broken Egg and hit the road for the Hampton Inn in Paducah.  Guess we really are creatures of habit since we have stayed there several times in the past.

We got into our room around 9 and left early the next morning for Ixonia.  We made it by 6pm!  This route we rake through Illinois is not heavily traveled and the only toll we have to pay is $1.90.  Beats the traffic hassles of Chicago and the tolls there.

We pretty much went right t bed and Monday we stayed put and took care of some computer work and sorted out all the stuff we brought including presents that had to be wrapped and fetched from Greg and Laura's.

Learning the finer points of TV watching 

The next day we had lunch with some friends and relatives at Dan and Judy's.  And we stopped by to see Jan and Bob.

Birthday Girl.  How Old?  Young.  Very, very young.

The the next day took off for Green Bay and Mary's checkups.  Creatures of habit we stayed in the Suamico Country Inn Suites again.  Also visited Woodmans and bought olive oil at the Oilerie, now with a branch store in Suamico right near the hotel.

Mary had her CT scan at 8am and after we stopped at the stadium to checkout remodeled areas.   And then stopped in to see Amanda who does Mary's hair and cuts mine.

After that we started back to Ixonia but stopped first at  Simons Cheese factory to load up on cheese for the Hagens.

Once back in Ixonia we started packing for the Three Bears Resort in Warrens where we were meeting all the kids and grandkids for a few days of waterpark fun and Christmas.  Since we wont be around for the real Christmas we decided to have a pre-Christmas Christmas while we were in the state.

Brant and LeAnn beat us to the resort but we were all there within an hour of each other.  Its basically a 2 storey cabin with a loft for the kids.  Pretty neat.  We, well they really, cooked so were able to eat in and not have to go out to a restaurant.

After unpacking what else could we do but hit the water park.  Those of us more senior lingered in the hot tub which admittedly was more lukewarm the hot.  But I asked one of the LIfe Guards about it and he said it would be warmer tomorrow.  I can only hope.

One of the hot tub pools has an outdoor area where you can swim outside and sit in the warm water.  SInce it was only in the 40's that was an option we exercised.  Very nice.

The next day we loitered around the cabin before heading to the water park again where the water temps were more normal.  Hot tub was really hot this time!

Presents!

Later we returned to the cabin and opened presents.  Amazing how littered a large room can get opening gifts.

I also called the Hertz guy in Jacksonville and extended the rental another two days until Friday.  We were debating whether or not to stay in Green Bay and wait for the results but decided we'd just head back to Ixonia and leave the next day and see what develops.

Holy crap are we old!

Us, minus Mary, Laura and me

Visiting at the nursing home

We stopped in to see my Mother and Kathy, Dave and my sister at the nursing home.   Thanks for the cake Kath!

Jonah.  Chocolate Cake.  Nothing more to add

The drive back was a 2 day trek.  Ixonia to Paducah and then Paducah to Jacksonville.    Long days in the car.

New Stove

We arrived back at Huckins late at night and only unloaded a few essential things from the car.  The new stove was in and working and the fuel leaks were taken care of but the oil leak is still a mystery but I'm thinking its the water pump shaft seal now.  We'll see when we run down to Stuart and I can sit down in the engine room and watch.

Old on the left.  New on the right.

One of our VHF ICOM radios has a command mic which has a badly frayed cord.  I was talking to one of the yard electronic guys about it and he mentioned he had a spare.  $50.  I took it and it works great!

The marina cats know me now as the guy who feeds them and so anytime I'm out walking in the boat yard I'll have several cats trailing behind me.  For feral cats, they sure are affectionate.

I was up at 7 to do some initial weather checking decided it would be better for us to leave today rather then wait until Sunday.  Its hard to pry yourself away from the dock sometimes.  But the weather was looking rather ominous  Tuesday night in to Wednesday so we elected to leave today which would give us plenty of time to make it to Fort Pierce by Tuesday where we could spend some time with Brent and Susan.  Next we'll stay at Loggerhead Marina in Stuart for a week or so before heading across Lake Okeechobee to the western side of Florida.

Big Boat

Look on the bow.  Jaguar?

As we made out way ut of the Ortega River and into Jacksonville we had to idle around for about 20 minutes waiting for the railway bridge to open.  2 trains.  Long, long freight trains had to pass across the bridge before it would open.  As we went through the bridge we passed this rather gargantuan motor yacht.  

I could see the scratches on the hull

Leaving Jacksonville almost ran into a big car carrying ship.  5 danger blasts were sounded by the tugs.  I had thought I could go in front if the ship and make it out of the way before it completed its turn into a small side channel.  We made it fine but I guess the tugs weren't all that pleased with us.  Oh well.

Strong currents as we made our way to St. Augustine

We had the tidal current pushing us down the St. Johns River and into the ICW so were making good time.




We pulled into the St. Augustine Mooring field (pdf) and finally secured the mooring pendant on the third try.  Guess we've gotten a tad rusty. And  we did loose a boat hook but Mary, using one of the 3 spares we have on board, retrieved it!   In our defense the current and wind was substantial which made the whole operation rather difficult.

We paid for the mooring over the phone but one of the marina guys still had to drive out with a form for u to fill out and sign.  Odd since were were here for a week this spring.

Mooring field at St. Augustine

St. Augustine was in party mode.  The entire water front was ladened with festive Christmas lights.  You gotta love palm trees decorated up with Christmas lights and ornaments.  And it being Saturday night the crowd noise was impressive even out by us.   Revelers finally quieted down around midnight.

St. Augustine waterfront all lite up

It was a comfortable night knowing we weren't drifting anywhere, but it was bouncy with the wind driven waves battling the tidal current.
We left the mooring at 8am intending to just drive thru the Bridge of Lions, but the tide was very high and the height board was showing 17 feet but with 4 feet additional clearance at the center of the span.  Since it was almost 8am and the bridge was going to open anyway we waited a few minutes and went thru as it opened.

Hit a few other 20-something bascule bridges on the way to Daytona Beach and so I took out little stub mast off.  With it down we have cleared the bridge in Chicago which is 19' 1".  So in theory we could get under almost all these bridges.  But, when you starting thru and and looking up there is that moment of unease.  Its almost an automatic reaction to yank back the throttles and start backing away.

We went through the area of Flagler Beach where we began encountering clusters of these high end homes.  Huge places.

What can I say!

Wait!  Vacuuming is better than napping?

We came into Daytona and since it was only 2:30 we decided to go all the way to Rockhouse Creek where we have never anchored before even though people tell us is such a great place.   So we by-passed usual spot near Memorial Bridge and made it into Rockhouse creek around 3:45pm.

 Paradigm, a sailboat we talked with on the radio a few times on the way here was already anchored.  It was only the both of us in the anchorage.  The weather is supposed to be rainy but not windy and the moderate current here will swing us in the opposite direction which isnt a problem for us.  Its' a very good anchorage adjacent to New Smyrna Beach.  

Rockhouse creek.  Paradigm in the distance

Boy, did it rained last night.  A lot.  Buckets worth but no leaks any where except a few smaller ones up on the fly bridge where we only have a sunbrella enclosure.  Decks were sure nice and clean.  And it made nice sleeping for the most part except when the thunderstorms rolled through which woke me up.  Winds though were surprisingly light and we didn't move except with the currents which swung us around 180 degrees as expected.

We left before Paradigm.  Unusual because sailboat people usually leave well before we are beginning to wake up.  But we had a 73 mile day and daylight hours are relatively short during this tie of the year.

As we wound our way through New Smyrna Beach I suddenly couldn't make sense of the chart plotter display.  Turns out it had activated the wrong route and I was right in front of a bifurcation buyou and couldnt remember which channel we should be taking.  I was fairly certain we should be turning to starboard so thats what we did while I fiddled with the charting software and finally brought up the correct route.

After that, the excitement fizzled into a long and sedate 8 hours running in the ICW in Florida which is basically a marked channel through broad swampy low lands.  Mary fell asleep and I read a book and fiddled with our new waterproof  Blue Tooth capable speaker trying to get my laptop to play songs through it and not the laptop speakers.  Epic fail so far.  I should mention I did have the auto pilot on so at least the boat was being actively maneuvered.

It was a dolphin day today.  We had several instances of pods running with us and even a few playing in our puny bow wave.

There were a few bridges with vertical clearances of 21 feet or more.  We can get under a 19 foot, 1 inch bridge but still ... Going under a 21 foot bridge is a trifle disconcerting.   But being brave souls fortified with my notes on our air clearance we breezed right through them.  Very convienient to go junder a bridge and not have to wait for an opening.

Haulover Canal

After going through the endless Mosquito_Lagoon we made the turn into Haulover Canal leading us to this stretch of the ICW towards Titusville which I cant ever seem to navigate without getting out of the channel and upsetting the depth sounder which blares a warning of shallow water.  Haven't gone aground yet, but its been close in the past.  And so it was again today.  I think next we we run up this way I'll just set the auto pilot to do all the steering.

Leaving Haulover Canal with our contingent of dolphns

And there was a French couple in a sailboat behind us and seemingly following our every turn.  They spoke very little english which was probably a blessing since we wandered around a bit trying to find the damn channel.  Hopefully they didn't follow to closely.  I was actually afraid to look back and see.

Shuttle assembly building and a launch pad

We went by Cape Canaveral and saw what I think was Falcon launch pad.  The Falcon is the rocket designed and operated by SpaceX.   And the giant shuttle assembly building is still there and hasn't shrunk.

Went passed Cocoa_Beach and didn't stop there.  Again.  There is a nice big anchorage there and the town is supposed to be a great place to visit.


We breezed into Melbourne on glass smooth ICW and anchored near the Eau Gallie Causeway.  Only a few other sailboats and a calm and mild forecast for tonight.

Anchoring by the Eau Gallie Causeway in Melbourne

Early morning departure from Melbourne

We left on a smoky calm morning but as we headed south the winds began to pickup and so did the heat.  It was getting hot.  We had several pods of dolphins wander over to check us out but we dont have the preferred bow wave to entice them to stay much.  Despite Marys singing.

The winds were creating some good size swells and combined with the tidal flow we weren't making much beyond 6.5 mph.  And of course thats a perfect time to have an engine issue, right?

The Glendinning (Engine synchronizer) became incapable of keeping the engines in sync with rapid increases and decreases of rpms.  I shut tit down but then noticed the port engine was having difficulty keeping itself running at a specific rpm.   It had to be a fuel filter problem so I went down in the engine room and switched the Racor fuel filter over to the spare and it seemed to settle down somewhat.  I'll have to change all the fuel filters when we get tied up at the Marina.

It was a long day traveling through these large areas of very shallow water in the ICW channel.  As we made our way further south the parade of gargantuan homes began.   It's hard to imagine how even a large family could utilize all the space in some of these things.

Tied up in Taylor Creek at Harbortown Marina Ft. Pierce

We came through the North Causeway bridge and made the turn into Taylor creek.  Harbortown Marina is right on the creek and we just gently slide alongside the face bock and tied up.

Bugs and Rum! (no, its not real)

We found Brent and Susan and made plans for a little cocktail party that evening.  They had their friends, Bon and Lynette visiting and they came over.  Great time.  Bob and Lynette even gave us a present:  Superb re-creation of a Palmetto Bug left in a pile of napkins for us to discover.  Funny! They also brought over a bottle of some very good rum, Matusalem for all of us to try.  Its origins are Cuban.

It's a sippin rum but Mary inadvertently filled up everyones glass with enough "shots" to almost drain the bottle.   As you might imagine, the evening became steadily livelier.

Our guests eventaully weaved there way off the boat for the restuarant and then I grilled a pork roast.  And then we went to bed with visions of dinghy testing and fuel filter changes dancing in my head.

We also discovered the resident pelicans here hang around our dock and go through bouts of shenanigans where they splash and chase each other often times banging into the boat.  We had 7 of them sitting on our swim platform before I closed up the sundeck.

Ft. Pierce City Marina looking east towards the ocean

Today we did a little maintenance and got the big dinghy down to see how it fared after being unused for a few months.  Started up and after a few minutes wasn't stumbling so we took it out for a spin to the Fort Pierce City Marina.  They have been steadily remodeling it over the last few years.  It's been enlarged quite a bit.  Nice place.

We ran back to our Marina and filled the dinghy up with fresh gas before tying it up to out boat.  We walked to the Publix ab out 1/3 mile away for some food items for tonights party on Brent and Susans boat.

My crappy camera but thats Liz, Steve and Susan on their boat

We cooked for a few hours and then walked over to their boat.  I stopped briefly to talk to Fred and Judy who we met in Stuart when we first purchased the boat.  They are here because the Loggerhead marina in Stuart wont allow you to stay on board more than 5 consecutive nights.  Bizzare.

We had some great laughs before eating dinner up on their upper deck.  Then I walked back to get Triviall Pursuit.  Women against Men.  You can guess which side was The outcome was ... well really.  Are there really, any losers?

The women went off to church after the game while I stayed aboard and did a little fuel filter maintenance and some planning on where we were going.  I think we'll head into Stuart for a few days before embarking on our first Okeechobee experience which will take us to the west coast of Florida.

November 24 - December 2, 2014 Savannah to Jacksonville

We left Thunderbolt Marina at 7am to make Hells Cut with at least with a 5 foot tidal advantage over MLW (mean low water).  Hells Cut is a notorious short canal or cut between the Vernon River and Ossabaw Sound .   We were in company with Field Trip, Escapade (sail boat) and Black Tie. We were all at Thunderbolt together they and were planning on leaving in the morning too so we decided to travel together.

Our little flotilla

There is a bridge a short distance down the Skidaway River from Thunderbolt,  Skidaway Bridge. It had been bascule bridge but was recently rebuilt as a high, 65 foot bridge.  Escapade, not knowing this called the bridge on the radio and sure enough they called back telling him it opened on the hour.  This confused me since I was sure we had not called a bridge this past spring when we came up this way.  All four of us talked about this and since I was out in front anyway went ahead to confirm there was no bascule bridge but only the new 65 foot high bridge.  A chagrined Escapade followed us a shortly after, a bit miffed that someone out there in VHF radio land had perpetrated a joke over the airways.

When we went though Hells Gate I was seeing depths of 6 feet.  The tide gave was at 5 feet.  At low tide that would have left us with a foot of water.  Hence the early rise and shine. 

Normally, every morning the marina left a box of Krispy Kremes on our boat.  Mary’s been making sure the ones delivered to our boat were not going to waste.  But the morning we left they cut her off!  But, I made her coffee so the early dawn hours were tolerable. 

It was a nondescript journey.  We usually do the trip to the anchorage at Cumberland Island in 3 days but we decided to push it and bypass our normal first night stop at Walburg Creek in St. Catherines Sound, and go directly to the Duplin River where we usually stop on the second night. 

Field Trip approaching to tie up on our port side

Duplin River was, again, a great anchorage on clam night.  Our new anchor chain (3/8 HT) and gypsy worked flawlessly.  Field Trip rafted up with us.  Next day we left around 7;30 and made it through another notorious shallow area, Little Mud River.   Although it was nearly high tide as we went through, we nearly went aground because we strayed to far to the right.  Its very narrow in there and my notes from last year specified to stay to the right.  Things have obviously changed.  We made it through but only because I powered up and plowed a furrow thru the soft mud into deeper water.

Fuel Dock at Ocean Petroleum (in front of sunken boat)

We cruised by St. Simons Island into St. Simons sound and turned up the river and then made turn into Brunswick and the harbor there.  Before heading to Brunswick Landing Marina , we stopped at Ocean Petroleum where we were told fuel was $3.08/gal.  Wrong!  It turned out it was $2.99/gal.  Sweet surprise!   Saving $0.60 per gallon when you purchase almost 200 gallons is a substantial savings!






Once Field Trip was fueled up, we headed to the marina.  They directed us to a slip inside the first

Brunswick Marina in the distance

main dock.  Wide fare ways made it pretty easy.  We went in bow first and the dock master, Sherry knew how to handle a spring line making it easy!  Field Trip was placed nearly in front of us on the outside docks.  And Escapade and Black Tie were along with them.

The Marina is really large with about 20 piers and their associated slips.  We were on the first pier luckily and relatively close to the bathrooms and laundry.

Black Tie coming into the Marina next to Field Trip.

After we were tied up and paid up and received our free back scratchers, we went to visit this pizza place which is recommended by everyone we've talked with whose visited Brunswick.  Foxs Pizza was superb.  About the best pizza we've ever eaten!

Nasty weather is on the way for tomorrow and Sunday so we'll be hunkered down for a few days and not contemplating leaving until maybe Monday.  We want to be in Jacksonville before Wednesday so Huckins can hopefully begin work before the Thanksgiving holiday.  The boat yard is closed until Monday and we did want to be further south before driving back to Wisconsin the first week of December.  But I'm guessing we'll end up keeping the boat in Jacksonville while we head north and they complete repairs.

The repairs consist of fixing this oil leak I mention every once in a while and the high pressure fuel pump leak.  We, after many discussions weighing the merits of repairing the existing stove (me) or purchasing a new one (Mary),  have decided to just purchase a new stove.  You can think we came to a meeting of the minds, or I lost the debate.  Either way were going to get a new stove.  If you visit, expect mountains of baked bread.

We are also going to ask them to fix up our dented up bow pulpit where the anchor normally rests.  Its pretty banged up and we want to either have a steel plate or some other material added to take the gouges the anchor seems to inflict when we bring it aboard.

During the rain we talked with Field Trip about Thanksgiving and possibly stopping at St. Marys  which is hosting a big cruisers Thanksgiving Party.  Sounds like fun but if we're going to be at Huckins before Wednesday, we wont be able to attend.   Alternative plans are to find a place in Jacksonville if Bob and Martha decide to head to there with us.

Downtown Brunswick (the pink chairs are in front of Pams)

Downtown Brunswick

Downtown Brunswick

Sunday, Mary and I walked about 1.5 miles to the local CVS so she could get her flue shot and pick up some over the counter drugs.  The downtown area is quaint with a few dozen little shops and a park.  Once beyond that area though its gets pretty run down.  And of course we had to trek a mile there and back through that portion of the town.  But we did find a pretty good ice cream store when we came back into the downtown area.  Well, its actually a cupcake store, Pams.  Its run by a delightful lady, Pam.  The cupcakes were impressive too but we didn't sample any even though there was some Krispy Kreme withdrawal going on.

Downtown Brunswick park

We had cocktails with Bob and Martha and went to bed rather early.  We're anticipating on leaving a little later than normal the next morning because the tide was around 10:15 at Jekyll Creek which runs along the shore of Jekyll Island.  And yes, its another one of those problem areas best transited at high tide.    The weather looked tolerable too and both Black Tie and Escapade were leaving in the morning so we decided to travel together again.

Leaving Brunswick we had to go around this car carrier

Left on time.  Went through Jekyll Creek with no issues.   The ICW wanders through these low lying salt marches for what seems like endless miles.  Lots of switch backs.  We finally went by Naval Submarine Base of Kings Bay near Cumberland Island which is a few miles north of Fernandina Beach.  And again no submarines.  One of these times!

We were aiming to anchor at Fernandina Beach across from the marina there.  But the winds were pretty fierce and the rest of the group opted to stay in the marina so we went along with them. 

Fernandina Beach Marina outside dock

The marina wanted to put us inside the long dock where its less expensive.  But its also tough to make get in there and tied up without banging up the boat or even others.  The winds and current can make it pretty treacherous so I asked to be placed on the outside and they complied.  Even so, it was a a little dicey trying to keep the boat steady in the running current but the dock guys kept us from crashing and all we did was bump the dock.  Whew!  Not fun.

All four of us were on the outside of the dick.  We joined Field Trip for a short trek into town, mainly to find this frozen yogurt place we had discovered this past spring when we were anchored over in Cumberland Island.

We wanted to leave around 9am the next morning to negotiate some of the more shallow areas just south of Fernandina Beach.  We had a few cocktails with Field Trip and called it a night.

Next morning all four of us left the dock and headed south.  Nothing special about this segment of the ICW.  I guess we've become sort of used to the scenery.  To us its just a waterway running through marshlands for the most part.  But we do see dolphins again, quite frequently.   Although they prefer Field Trips more lively bow wave to our puny little ripple.  Oh well.  

We only had one bridge to deal with, Sisters Creek Bridge which has a vertical height of 24 feet.  The tide was up though and the height boards were showing 21 feet.  We can get under that but Field Trip and Escapade cant so I called the bridger and we got an opening.

As we left the bridge, we turned right after a short distance and headed down the St. Johns to the Ortega River while Escapade left us and headed south on the ICW.

Entering the St. Johns River near part of the Naval base

Black Tie stayed with us and Field Trip.  Its about 20 miles from where we turned up the St. Johns to Huckins.  Lots of big ships to look at but what was more visible were the dark storm clouds on the horizon.  It was going to rain.  When was the only question.  But for us,  we never seem to be able to dock and tie up before it rains.  And so I'm certain it'll be pouring when we arrive at Huckins.

We did go by one of those boxlike car carrier ships which every few minutes would erupt with 10 or so cars out its back end down the ramp and into an immense parking lot.   The drivers, from the speed they were driving these cars, were not overly concerned about engine break ins.  Maybe thats a old thing now days?

We made it through the downtown area and out into the broader reaches of the St.. Johns River.   After about a mile or so I made the turn towards Ortega and into the Ortega River channel following our old tracks on the chart plotter from previous visits.   This time we saw a new day mark, Red 2, along the track so maybe they are actually marking the channel into the river.

An older Huckins original.  Gorgeous!

Went through the Ortega River Bridge which is the busiest Bascule bridge in Florida.  Once through, Black Tie and Field Trip turned into Ortega Landing marina while we went under the Roosevelt Avenue Bridge and into Huckins Boat yard.  And, just as I predicted, it began pouring as we turned into Huckins.   So Mary, and a few of the boat yard guys worked in the rain to get us tied up.  And as it turned out, it poured all afternoon and into the night.

At the Huckins dock right next to the railroad bridge

Next day, Wednesday,  we met with Deb and PJ, the yard manager about the repairs.   They were going to try and get some of the technical guys over to our boat to assess what they had to do.  But it didn't quite work out that way.  So we'll have to wait now until Monday to find out further details other than PJ's assessment that they could handle the job.

3 of 8 that know me on sight

Meanwhile we discovered the Marina cats!  They know a sucker when they see one I guess.  We had walked to the Publix earlier and I had bought delicious cat treats.   As I found out later I, and several other people feed the darn things.  But I give them these really good treats as evidenced by all 8 of them bounding out of their various hiding places when I come walking through.

Does everybody shop on the day before a holiday?

I was sent to the Publix  for a few things not realizing it was a popular shopping day for everyone.  Duh ...  15 minutes in a checkout line.

Since the yard will be closed Thanksgiving day and through the weekend, Deb gave me the keys to the boat yard's little truck, a Ford Ranger.   Neat!

We walked over to Field Trip for cocktails and then walked back to out boat.  Its about 3/4 of a mile one way so we got our exercise!

Thanksgiving dinner overlooking the warm pool

Thanksgiving Day we were invited to the party at Ortega Landing Marina thanks to Bob and Martha.  It was great.  We brought a salad and the maria provided the turkey and ham.  It was held up in the club house over looking the warm pool.  Wonderful time.  We met several other boaters and had delightful conversations until it was time to leave.  We had driven the truck over so it wasn't an ordeal getting back to the boat.  I did mention the temperatures were plunging down into the thirties didn't I?

We had all four heaters going so the boat wasn't too terribly cold in the morning.  We loaded up all the laundry and found a laundromat a few miles away.  I left Mary there reading while I drove in search of the Hertz car rental place I'll be walking to on Saturday. Yes we rented a car.  I figured that we wont be leaving here within the week and just went and rented a car here in Ortega for the drive to Wisconsin.  Its 3.5 miles from the boat through what I'd describe as an interesting neighborhood.  Hertz, as it turns out, is a better deal for us than Enterprise where we had been renting cars over the last few years.

Ornate pipes for smoking, ah, non-tobacco products

I also stopped at a nearby liquor store to replenish my rum supply.  Interesting place.  I skipped the drive up window and went inside.  They have an interesting inventory

We finished up the laundry and stopped at the Publix near us and loaded up with groceries so we should be all set for the next few days.  Lucky we had a truck.

We bustled about on the boat the next day and Bob and I went to Sailors Exchange to peruse their marine stuff.  Some of it was pretty cheap.  They even had stoves!  I'll be going back to get some water line hosing later in the week,

We also stopped in at Chamblin Book Store  which is this huge used and new book store across the street from Sailors Exchange.  We only stayed a few minutes but last time we were here I wandered in there for several hours.

Dueling picture phones

In the mall there is a West Marine,  Radio Shack and a Subway as well as the renown Metro Diner.   But Bob and I met Mary and Martha for lunch at Paneras instead.  We ended up sending obnoxious pictures to friends, Curt and Marilyn, a sailboat couple we first met in Alton IL. They're in the Dakotas where its frigid and snow bound so we had to make the attempt to cheer them up.   


That night Black Tie had a bunch of us over for cocktails.  Very nice time!  They have a Nordic 42 and it was so neat and clean in contrast to our overloaded barge.  But then again we've been living on it for almost 2 years now and stuff just accumulates!  But we'd better get to cleaning our boat up since we are hosting the next party.

Gregg and Dona stopped by to see us the next day on their way back from the birth of Greg's first grandchild!  We went to lunch at Moes Sothwest Grill located in the mall a few blocks from us.  Great time! 

After they left Mary ensconced herself in front of the TV to watch the Packer game.  Gotta love this satellite!    I guess they won too.

Scruffy.  Ironic having a vacuum right there.

We're looking forward to tomorrow when we get some movement on our repairs.  And, shaking my head in obvious reluctance, we are going to see a dog Jerry, the night watchman, cares for.   Jerry already has several dogs and cats and took this one in when Debbie the office manager for Huckins and her husband found it running down San Juan, a major street here.  They took it to the vet and posted lost dog signs but no one claimed him.  Deb already has 3 dogs so they gave it to Jerry and he's looking to give it to a good home

I stoically remained silent when we were told of this.  Not true for certain other parties though.  It's an Australian Terrier.  Cant wait ...

Monday we had a visit from PJ and Justin who went over our problems and started to craft some estimates and a plan.  Meanwhile we cleaned up the boat and I removed most of the old valence lighting and replaced it with LED strip lighting.  Looks and works great.

Scoundrel knows who to schmooze

In the afternoon Jerry brought Scruffy (his other name is Sharp Shooter) over so we could met him.  Small dog and one of those lovey types that snuggle right up to you.  Well me in this case.  But he wasn't overly thrilled with the stairs on the boat.  In fact when we brought into the salon he went down to our stateroom in one bound which I think wasn't quite planned.  He didn't seem interested in going up the stairs so I, relying on honed skills hauling our two previous dogs, Willie and/or Cleo up stairs or onto high places, had to go down, pick him up and carry him back up the stairs. 

Did I mention the long stringy hair that clings to the carpet resisting the powerful churning brushes of our vacuum stick?  He sheds!

He didn't bark and just hung around eating up the affection as we fitted a screen to the salon door.  We cant take him with us to Wisconsin so when we return we'll probably take him for a day or so before we leave here and see how it goes. 

It's looking like our care free days of dogless cruising might be coming to a close.  Of course we still have to test out our small dinghy with the motor Dave lent us.  Maybe tomorrow since we've cleaned the boat and its going to be sunny and warm again. If that all works as planed I wont have a leg to stand on.  It'll be pinned down by a 15 pound shaggy haired, lap-beast. 

Our plans now have evolved into leaving the boat here until we return so they can do their repair work.  And we'll leave a few days earlier and swing through Destin on our way up to Wisconsin.  Might as well make a little vacation out of it before we really hit the frigid weather.

But we'll see when we talk to Deb in a few minutes.