So much to report since our last entry upon our arrival at St. Augustine! We enjoyed our time there so much that we stayed three nights. We visted the old fort (the Castillo de San Marcos), attended services at Trinity Episcopal Church, visited the Cathedral and the Presbyterian Churches, walked around the historic downtown, had a delicious Valentine's Day dinner, and just thoroughly enjoyed this lovely city and the great marina facilities. It helped that this was the first nice weather we have had! Still a bit cool, but sunny.
On Tuesday, we departed St. Augustine and traveled 53.8 miles to Daytona Beach, Halifax Marina. We were very happy to get to Daytona, as we had friends to visit! On Wednesday, Carolyn and Charlie Unger, friends from our church in Northville, picked us up, took us for a beautiful drive along the beach and to their lovely home in Ormond Beach for dinner. Carolyn and Charlie spend their summers in Northville and their winters in Ormond Beach. A sunny(cool) day, and so nice to spend time with friends from home!
Then on Thursday, Linda and Ed Thorne, whom we had met last spring at Cape May on our return trip from the Chesapeake, took us to visit Ponce Inlet and its beautiful surroundings. Another beautiful day, and warmer temps! And a great dinner at their very nice home in Daytona Beach. Linda and Ed spend their winters at their home in Daytona Beach, and their summers traveling north on their lobster boat to visit friends and family. We feel so fortunate to have such wonderful friends!
We stayed an extra day in Daytona Beach, as we were waiting for a package which was being delivered to the Unger's house. Charlie brought it to us on Friday, and then took Dick to an Astronomy Club session at Embry Riddle University that evening. Very interesting!
Saturday, our route took us through some prime fishing territory, en route to Titusville. We saw lots of dolphins along the way. They are so beautiful and graceful as they surface briefly and then dive again. Dolphins have become an everyday sighting, but it is still a thrill for these northern New Yorkers every time we see them! Sunday morning, our friends Cliff Bean and Judy Clary, who have a Morgan 34 at Van Slooten Harbour Marina (Trefoil's summer home) on Lake Champlain, arrived with bagels and coffee! We enjoyed time with them in the morning, then later that afternoon, they picked us up and we went back to their house for dinner! Cliff and Judy spend thir winters in Titusville and their summers at Lake Champlain and in Massachusetts. (We are happy to report that all of our female friends are excellent cooks!)
Today, we moved from Titusville Municipal Marina to Westland Marina, a DIY yard right next door. The energy here is amazing! There are many boat projects going on, both in and out of the water. Today, Dick worked on the installation of the tillerpilot. This will be a welcome addition to our cruising!
Yesterday and today, temperatures were in the 70's, sunny skies (until the rain and thunderstorms this evening!). So wonderful to have Florida weather finally!
Today, Karen met a couple from Albany, NY, who have a camp in Galway! They have been cruising for 4 years, and Rob offered an interesting comment, "When you are retired and staying in one place, you see the same people all the time. When you are cruising, you meet different people all the time. And some of them will become very good friends." We realized that this accurately describes what we have encountered. We greatly enjoy all of our friends back home but meeting new people is what makes cruising so great!
Trefoil continues to be a small but comfortable home for the three of us. We love having new adventures every day, but being in our own home every night.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
St. Augustine Sunshine: superlative !
Trefoil left Jacksonville Beach this AM (after sitting out a day of heavy rain with temps in the low 40's yesterday) with temps in the high 30s and the wind at about 15 knots. Not a comfortable outing. However, as time went by, conditions improved, incrementally. A west wind with a southern route of travel: roll out some jib to supplement the iron main. 7mph, 8mph, 9mph (briefly). Hey...a good ride and only 22 hundred on the tach. Something (not quite) like sailing the boat. We put up the plastic enclosure (ha,ha,ha!; a shower curtain held in place with plastic (LOWES) clamps and kept the 38 degree breeze in the sail and off ourselves: HEAVEN! (It looks a little weird but we got some insight about enclosures.) Then, before we could say "itsforeveritsforeveritsforever" a thousand times, we were in St. Augustine!!!
St. Aug is a BEAUTIFUL city with an attractive waterfront, museums, art galleries, ancient stone buildings, an ancient stone fort as well as parks, eateries, and boutiques. We had planned to stay for two days; we will stay again and longer on the return trip (the what????). The St. Augustine Municipal Marina is an excellent facility and well managed. The scenes from our cockpit are lovely and interesting. We truly feel like we are CRUISING for the first time in a long while. WOW! A nice walk through the old city with the dog, a good meal on the boat and an adult beverage. Life is Good!
Gear: Karen bought me a Wool sweater (Cabelas) for Christmas and I am very pleased with it. "K" and I have used polypro and fleece as our mainstays for many years but I was finding something missing. I believe the difference may be the strength of the weave in a good sweater that physically separates the clothing layers. As good as fleece is, two or more layers seem to bond together. The strong wool knit seems to keep the layers separated for better insulation. (Some hypothesis!)
On another note: We haven't mentioned our fleece sheets before. Many people on boats use sleeping bags. We use sheets and blankets. Sleeping warm and comfortably is important. Karen made sheets from lightweight (polyester) fleece, and we use two fleece blankets as well. We always sleep warmly, even in the cold temps we have experienced. Cotton is not good in a marine environment. Who wants to climb into a cold, damp bed at night? Climbing in between fleece sheets is almost as good as using an electric blanket!
We will soon be "in range" to visit some of our friends from the north country and we look forward seeing so many good people that we have spent time with in the past.
"That's all for now" - Dick and Karen
St. Aug is a BEAUTIFUL city with an attractive waterfront, museums, art galleries, ancient stone buildings, an ancient stone fort as well as parks, eateries, and boutiques. We had planned to stay for two days; we will stay again and longer on the return trip (the what????). The St. Augustine Municipal Marina is an excellent facility and well managed. The scenes from our cockpit are lovely and interesting. We truly feel like we are CRUISING for the first time in a long while. WOW! A nice walk through the old city with the dog, a good meal on the boat and an adult beverage. Life is Good!
Gear: Karen bought me a Wool sweater (Cabelas) for Christmas and I am very pleased with it. "K" and I have used polypro and fleece as our mainstays for many years but I was finding something missing. I believe the difference may be the strength of the weave in a good sweater that physically separates the clothing layers. As good as fleece is, two or more layers seem to bond together. The strong wool knit seems to keep the layers separated for better insulation. (Some hypothesis!)
On another note: We haven't mentioned our fleece sheets before. Many people on boats use sleeping bags. We use sheets and blankets. Sleeping warm and comfortably is important. Karen made sheets from lightweight (polyester) fleece, and we use two fleece blankets as well. We always sleep warmly, even in the cold temps we have experienced. Cotton is not good in a marine environment. Who wants to climb into a cold, damp bed at night? Climbing in between fleece sheets is almost as good as using an electric blanket!
We will soon be "in range" to visit some of our friends from the north country and we look forward seeing so many good people that we have spent time with in the past.
"That's all for now" - Dick and Karen
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Freezing in Florida
Our first day in Florida today, and we were soooooo cold. Forecast for 40's and rain tomorrow. Oh joy.
We had some sunny days after leaving our last stop at Kilkenny Creek. We anchored out the first night (Colby got to go ashore, but came back very muddy!), then on to Jeckyll Island. We motor sailed both days, with 10 - 15 knot breeze, and sun, 50's. Really very nice. A good stop at Jeckyll Harbour Marina. Left there, intending to stop at Cumberland Island, which is supposed to be very beautiful. But forecast was for cold, and gale force NW winds. So we opted for St. Marys, just up the St Marys River, and this was a good choice. A beautiful little town, very nice people, and well protected from the winds. Even so. we rocked a bit in our slip! Stayed there 2 nights, and headed south today. Past Fernadina Beach,, across the St. Johns River, and to Jacksonville Beach. A calm day, but we fought the current most of the day. so progress was slow until the end of the day when we caught a good tide. Temps dropped throughout the afternoon, and we were really cold by the time we reached Palm Cove Marina. So glad to plug in the electic heater, have a glass of wine and a hot dinner! Temps in the 40's, same for tomorrow, with the addition of rain tomorrow. Welcome to warm, sunny Florida!
We had some sunny days after leaving our last stop at Kilkenny Creek. We anchored out the first night (Colby got to go ashore, but came back very muddy!), then on to Jeckyll Island. We motor sailed both days, with 10 - 15 knot breeze, and sun, 50's. Really very nice. A good stop at Jeckyll Harbour Marina. Left there, intending to stop at Cumberland Island, which is supposed to be very beautiful. But forecast was for cold, and gale force NW winds. So we opted for St. Marys, just up the St Marys River, and this was a good choice. A beautiful little town, very nice people, and well protected from the winds. Even so. we rocked a bit in our slip! Stayed there 2 nights, and headed south today. Past Fernadina Beach,, across the St. Johns River, and to Jacksonville Beach. A calm day, but we fought the current most of the day. so progress was slow until the end of the day when we caught a good tide. Temps dropped throughout the afternoon, and we were really cold by the time we reached Palm Cove Marina. So glad to plug in the electic heater, have a glass of wine and a hot dinner! Temps in the 40's, same for tomorrow, with the addition of rain tomorrow. Welcome to warm, sunny Florida!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Underway, but cold!
Underway yesterday from Isle of Hope, we only traveled 26 miles. Forecast was for 15to 20 from the west, which we thought would be great. Turned out that it was a steady 20 to 25, gusting to 30, and the waters were more open than appeared on the chart, at least for the first 15 miles, so it was uncomfortable traveling, and very noisy. Temperatures around 50 degrees and mostly cloudy, not a pleasant day to be on the water. And not good sailing conditions, with some narrow channels and many changes of direction. We had planned to go further, but we opted for Kilkenny Marina, about 1.5 miles off the ICW. Adequate facilities, good protection, and we were happy to plug in the electric (and therefore the electric heater). It is a great place to walk the dog and we enjoyed meeting the 14 year old yellow lab who lives here. Also met Kevin and Nadia on their Pacific Seacraft 27, who had traveled from the City Dock in Savannah yesterday.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Running away from home...
Isle of Hope feels like home, we have been here so long! But the anticipated storm (and it was worth sitting out) passed through today, and we are ready to head south tomorrow, finally! As nice as it is here, we are more than ready to move on. We look forward to sharing time with some of our friends in Florida, with sunny skies and warm weather!
We have enjoyed all the folks here at Isle of Hope Marina, and our new friends, Grace, Agnes and Mike from Maryland.
We have enjoyed all the folks here at Isle of Hope Marina, and our new friends, Grace, Agnes and Mike from Maryland.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Weather, weather, weather
Well, friends, It seems that Georgia has a hold on us!
Our first order of business upon our return was to complete some boat jobs. So far we have mounted our new 44 pound anchor on the bow, mounted a new winch, installed doors and a knife rack in the galley, added an interior compass, installed new parts in our diesel heater so that it will burn more consistently, and cleaned the burner as well, added a chase to increase the air supply to our diesel, as well as a fan to direct air to the engine. We have refilled a propane tank, done laundry, done a major provisioning, scrubbed the decks (amazing how many bird droppings accumulate when you leave your boat for 6 weeks). The route is in the chartplotter from here to Fernandina Beach, FL.
We were planning to finally leave this morning, but then the forecast was for 100% chance of rain. As you all know, we are an open cockpit boat, and even with a dodger, it isn't a lot of fun to be underway with rain and 50 degree temps. So here we are, still. Our dockspace is paid for until Sunday, Feb 7, so it is easy to just stay until the weather is better. Forecast is for rain again Thurs and Friday, and then a high pressure system is due to move in on Saturday. So that looks like our chance to make a break for it! We need 3 to 4 good days to get into Florida; there is only one marina between here and Jekyll Island, and it is too close to where we are now to be a useful stop, so we will be anchoring out, which is fine, but we would like to have some decent weather. Florida beckons, but we need a good weather window to get out of Georgia!
Speaking of weather, it has been unusually cold here; we have had three or four nights of temperatures in the high 20's. Yesterday I said to Dick, "The docks are crunchy this morning and we aren't walking on granola!" Daytime temps have been mostly in the 50's. Certainly warmer than back home, but not what one would expect in Georgia. Florida is having warmer temps, so we look forward to getting there!
Isle of hope Marina has been a wonderful place to be. We highly recommend it to our cruising friends. The people are friendly, helpful and love dogs, the floating, concrete docks are in excellent condition, the showers are hot, Wifi is provided by the marina, and they have not one but 2 loaner cars! It is very easy to get to the grocery store, Walmart, etc, etc. We are really getting to know our way around here! In fact, we would seriously consider moving here eventually. Isle of Hope is a beautiful residential area. On Sunday we took the day off, went to church in downtown Savannah (the Independent Presbyterian Church, a beautiful building, and it was full!), and spent some time touring the downtown historic area. It was a very chilly (40's) day, so we didn't walk around too much, but Savannah is a very beautiful city. Would like to see more in warmer weather.
Our first order of business upon our return was to complete some boat jobs. So far we have mounted our new 44 pound anchor on the bow, mounted a new winch, installed doors and a knife rack in the galley, added an interior compass, installed new parts in our diesel heater so that it will burn more consistently, and cleaned the burner as well, added a chase to increase the air supply to our diesel, as well as a fan to direct air to the engine. We have refilled a propane tank, done laundry, done a major provisioning, scrubbed the decks (amazing how many bird droppings accumulate when you leave your boat for 6 weeks). The route is in the chartplotter from here to Fernandina Beach, FL.
We were planning to finally leave this morning, but then the forecast was for 100% chance of rain. As you all know, we are an open cockpit boat, and even with a dodger, it isn't a lot of fun to be underway with rain and 50 degree temps. So here we are, still. Our dockspace is paid for until Sunday, Feb 7, so it is easy to just stay until the weather is better. Forecast is for rain again Thurs and Friday, and then a high pressure system is due to move in on Saturday. So that looks like our chance to make a break for it! We need 3 to 4 good days to get into Florida; there is only one marina between here and Jekyll Island, and it is too close to where we are now to be a useful stop, so we will be anchoring out, which is fine, but we would like to have some decent weather. Florida beckons, but we need a good weather window to get out of Georgia!
Speaking of weather, it has been unusually cold here; we have had three or four nights of temperatures in the high 20's. Yesterday I said to Dick, "The docks are crunchy this morning and we aren't walking on granola!" Daytime temps have been mostly in the 50's. Certainly warmer than back home, but not what one would expect in Georgia. Florida is having warmer temps, so we look forward to getting there!
Isle of hope Marina has been a wonderful place to be. We highly recommend it to our cruising friends. The people are friendly, helpful and love dogs, the floating, concrete docks are in excellent condition, the showers are hot, Wifi is provided by the marina, and they have not one but 2 loaner cars! It is very easy to get to the grocery store, Walmart, etc, etc. We are really getting to know our way around here! In fact, we would seriously consider moving here eventually. Isle of Hope is a beautiful residential area. On Sunday we took the day off, went to church in downtown Savannah (the Independent Presbyterian Church, a beautiful building, and it was full!), and spent some time touring the downtown historic area. It was a very chilly (40's) day, so we didn't walk around too much, but Savannah is a very beautiful city. Would like to see more in warmer weather.
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