...now where was I?

November 29, 2016
Hurrah we have a windlass.  Here is the rest of the story.

Our new windlass arrived the Friday after Thanksgiving. The installer is such a wonderful guy and even though he was booked solid, he fit us in Monday. First thing Monday morning turned into Eric working through noon and to the end of his work day.  Defender sent us the wrong windlass, one that has a slot too small to except the size of the chain. After several phone calls to Defender and them telling us that they were working on the problem, I suggested Rob call Maxwell, the maker of the windlass. Within 30 minutes we had a solution and new windlass chainwheel shipped to us over night. The box was labeled with the right parts but the windlass in the box was not the same as the label. It looks like we will be able to leave here on the last day of our month here, Saturday.

One of our friends said something pretty funny, "Hey, cruising has been defined as repairing your boat in exotic locations. I don't know if Ortega Landing can be defined as 'exotic' but you get the idea. Plus, it's unlikely that you will have to shovel the front walk any time soon!"

Well, you know what they say, you can't dance and it is too wet to plow, so we might as well settle in.

We had a tremendous Thanksgiving with 63 of our closest friends at the marina.  The marina provided 71 pounds of meat and the boaters brought all the rest of the meal.  Unlike at Spruce Head (where we usually spent our Thanksgivings) there were not as many desserts as I thought there would be, a couple of pies and that was it.  We had a friend visit us the day after Thanksgiving and she brought the most wonderful pumpkin pie, saving the dessertless Thanksgiving.  We brought buttercup squash and it was not a hit, we brought most of it home.  It probably didn't help that it was so dry it fell apart whenever someone put a spoon into it.  We brought it all home and added water and put it in the freezer, it will make a nice meal when we are in the Bahamas.

We were given a "take home" container and picked the left overs we wanted.  Rob and I each had our own containers, smart right?  We just happened to take a lot of turkey.  Our neighbors here on the dock gave us leftover chicken bones to make broth, so I made the greatest turkey soup.  If you are interested in the recipe you can find it in the 2016 issue of Taste of Home magazine, "Holiday Slow Cooker", page 47.  Delish! The recipe is for a slow cooker but by the time I was able to make it, it was too late for that so I made it in a dutch oven on the stovetop.  I will send the recipe to anyone that wants it just email me.

I want to backup about 2 weeks to the weekend we rented a car.  Did you know that Enterprise has a weekend special for $9.95 a day starting on Friday and returning the car of Monday morning?

We drove to St. Mary's to see our friends and have lunch in St. Mary's it was nice to see where they have been spending the month.  St. Mary's a nice little town with an ice cream shop just a few steps from their boat.

A picture of our friends in their boat at the Lang Marina in St. Mary's, GA. The area where we are sitting has a hard top providing shelter from the weather.  Of all the things about our boat this is the part that I regret not having.

Maddie is the one that made the fantastic pumpkin pie.

While we had the car we visited Fernandina Beach one of my favorite stops along the ICW.  As you know we couldn't stay there this year because the marina was destroyed in Hurricane Matthew.  We spent Christmas in Fernandina Beach last year, the city was alive with lights.  I think that I have already told you this I guess it is worth it to me to say it again. 

Fernandina Beach

We went to the Jacksonville Zoo

I couldn't bring myself to show you pictures of the animals.  I don't know if I can ever go to a zoo again because I don't like seeing the animals caged.  I feel differently about animals caged if they have been rescued or unable to take care of themselves in the wild.

The marina is coming alive with the signs of Christmas, boats nicely decorated for their winter stay. The boat across from us has nice blue twinkling lights. Rob plans to put our new LED Christmas lights up tomorrow. I put my knitted palm tree out, don't ask! I think Rob and I need to spruce up the decorations for Christmas but we both agree that it isn't going to be a blowup Santa on the bow of the boat, I don't want one on my lawn let alone on the boat. It might have been a lapse in sanity when he thought that was a good idea.

People have a great sense of humor,  how come there is violence in the world?

Trying to cut paper for my Christmas cards and the cutter I use doesn't know how to make right angles.  I ordered a new cutter and will part with my SU cutter as soon as I am home.

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A different take on a house boat

We took a dinghy ride along the shore and had a peek of the other marinas, none coming close to as nice as this one.  Here is what we saw along the way.

Pretty in blue

I think this is an out-off-the water buoy marker

I walk every day to Publix and stop at other stores just to be out and about.  There is a store here with the name Stein Mart that seems like a smaller version of TJ MAXX. We can walk to West Marine and have several times.  We went to a used book store that is possible to lose yourself in.  I am very spoiled from the prices I pay for used books at the Lobster Lane Book Store in Spruce Head, Maine where the most I have paid for a book is $2.50 unless it was a cookbook and then I might pay $4.00.  This book store has used books at half the cover price and other books that are new for 10% off the cover.  I wanted a book they didn't have, I couldn't believe that but it is true.  They ordered it for me at the 10% off.  If you are in the area you should visit this book store even if you are not in the business of reading.  I can't remember the name, but you don't need the name just ask anyone around about the used book store.

Here are some signs of Christmas along my walks.

WHAT!  I am use to $30.00 from the Kiwanis Club

We are headed up the St. Johns River on Saturday with friends from Islesboro, Maine.  We are going to have a smash up time.  People at the marina have traveled the river and have maps to show us with all the great places to stop.  I will let you know the fun we have.

Tomorrow Eric comes to switch the chainwheel on the windlass, hopefully for the last time.  

We had tea with friends down the dock from us that have traveled the St. Johns River.  They loaned us their maps of the river until we could get our own.  I wrote down the entire narrative from Jean as she told of all the best places to stop.

Thursday is the day I defrost the fridge, Friday another boater with a car is going to take me food shopping and Friday night we are going to visit with boating neighbors to see the inside of their boat.

Boaters are so generous and fun, I am so thrilled to find that out.

I will be glad to move on but there are so many parts of this marina that I will miss.  We have fun visiting with the staff while picking up all of our packages from Amazon and all other parts of the online world.  I will miss unlimited water, electricity and internet.  I won't get to jump off the boat and onto the dock to take my 3+ mile walks.  I will miss the people that we have met from New Zealand, Jekyll Island and across American and further.  I will miss the decoration on the club house and a Christmas feast here.  I will miss the calm waters and being able to sit in my chair on the dock.

I will gain lots when I leave here and will update you on my new adventures.  Off to Sanford, Fl. on Saturday.

Tricia

Dredging and Weddings, no connection

November 14, 2016

I just received a friendly tap on the shoulder from my BIL that I had not been keeping him posted on our whereabouts, thank you John.  This one is for you.

Let's see, where was I?  Oh yes, we are still having a wonderful time.  It is taking me a while to work through the fear and trauma of last years travel down the East Coast, but as I replace that awful experience with good experiences, the days are less filled with fear. Isn't that the truth about lots of events that happen in our life.

Moving on to the fun we've been having.

I have not written since November 2, 2016.  I am sorry to say I let the political news take me away, but I am back.

We have spent 3 nights on anchorages since we left Hilton Head and that has been nice. We stayed at New Teakettle Creek, Ga, I don't know what happened to Old Teakettle Creek. We anchored in Vernon River anchorage and St. Simons Island, GA.  We made it easily through Hell Gate and Little Mud River without any problems.  These two parts of the ICW in Georgia can be difficult for the mariner asleep at the wheel, they may find themselves aground.  At times as we idled along, there was less than a foot of water below the boat.


We stopped at St. Simons Island and spent the day with friends, enjoying the island and stocking up on supplies.  I love SSI and could easily live there. News of winds coming our way lead to a late afternoon decision to leave SSI and head for Jekyll Island. In our planning we neglected to check for water depth at low tide.  Sometimes we had less than 1 foot below the keel.  It was impossible to travel in a straight line so that meant reading the chart plotter and depth sounder closely.  I think my fear of being in high winds lead to a hurried decision.  It was a harried trek through low waters to get to the Jekyll Island Anchorage.  Our plan was to spend the night there and move quickly past Cumberland Island to cross St. Andrew Sound before the 15-25 mile an hour winds started.  I consult a very knowledgable friend that owns a sailboat and lives in the area when it comes to winds and waters, she made a suggestion about the most helpful way to get to our next stopover.  We did make it to the Jacksonville Free Dock for the night before heading up the St. John's River to The Marina at Ortega Landing, also in Jacksonville, but about 3-1/2 hours away.   The free dock was very nice, with about four other boats there.  We had cocktails with a couple that are also new to boating. We moved on after one night on the dock.

St. Simons Lighthouse

Dog snatcher at it again

We are staying at the Marina at Ortega Landing from November 4 through November 30.  At that time we will travel the St. John's River, possibly as far as Sanford, FL.  If you have the interest you can look up the St. John's River in Florida and see just how much there is to explore and enjoy. We will be at the marina for T-Day, because there is a large celebration with all the boaters.

Back to our marina.  I read the description of the marina but they were only words, I love staying here.  Swimming pool, hot tub, free laundry, nice showers and a beautiful club house. Clearly the nicest marina we have visited. Most of the boats are here year around and may go off for a trip to the Bahamas or Maine or never leave. Some people no longer own "stick built" homes, they live on their boat and own a car here.

November 4 arrived at the Marina at Ortega Landing. Here are some of the pictures.

Club House

Swimming pool, check out the flags flying straight

No one likes it when old stuff is dredged up...unless

No one likes it when old stuff is dredged up...unless

When there is shifting of the soil at the bottom in any marina it has to be dredged periodically to deepen the little canal between the slips where boats come and go.

There has been a dredging operation since we have been here, incredibly interesting to watch.  The  backhoe or excavator takes shovels full of muck, swivels around and dumps it into a large barge.  When the barge is full the tug takes the muck to a place where it is transferred one scoop at a time into a dump truck to be taken away.  It would be cost prohibitive to take the barge out far enough to unload it in the ocean.  Rob has a great video of the operation but it took too long to upload.  If anyone wants to see it, we can send it to you.

This parrot lives on one of the boats here and although he is 30 years old he might live to be 60 or 70. It was very fun to see this bird and talk with his owner who was enjoying the hot tub.  There is a Maine coon cat on the boat across the dock from him and he torments the cat by sitting in the window  .

,

He likes velcro 

We flew to Texas on November 10th for a family wedding on the 12th and flew back home on the 13th.  While we were there we visited the Quinta Mazatlan, the largest restored adobe home in Texas and it is a city owned bird sanctuary. We arrived just in time for a history tour of the building and estate. This space is also rented out for events such as weddings after hours for several thousand dollars.

Inside the house is in the style of the exterior of the house except for one room.  I still do not understand the significance

of the room, it might have something to do with the person that donated a large sum of money.

Here are the pictures of that one room.

The Last Supper

Mariachi Band

I don't know what this is but thought it was colorful

Humor

The outside area of Quinta Mazatlan. 

The cat family of Mazatlan, can you name that cat?

Jaguarundi

Mountain Lion

Ocelot

Bobcat

Panther

Bird Feeder

We just had a grand time with family in Texas, here is the proof.

If anyone wants to see all the pictures let me know and I will send you the link to their Shutterfly page.

 Whitney and Brad Keller.

Successful times

Tricia

Archie Bunker

November 2, 2016

It has been smooth sailing for few days now without having to make repairs and just saying that is tempting the fate. If anything else happens someone will have to float us a loan.

Beaufort SC was just as much fun as it was the last two times we were there. We took the dinghy into town as soon as we dropped anchor. From the dinghy dock we could hear a low buzz. All of Bay Street was closed for tricker or treating at  the businesses. According to the police there were over 3000 kids waiting for the sugar high. We had really good ice cream at Yo Yo’s and there wasn’t line.

For some reason we thought we had to make a stop at Hilton Head, so now we have that out of our system. The Skull Creek Marina was one of a few marinas that survived Matthew and it still had a million and a half dollars worth of damage.  The fuel dock was gone as well as some other docks. The marina and Hilton Head were a disappointment, the wifi was useless on the docks and there wasn’t a lounge to sit in to do any online work. The marina was located in a gated community with a golf course and a country club. There was one restaurant within walking distance and apparently a couple more outside the gate, but no real sense of Hilton Head and no place to shop or poke around.  According to the dock master, the community will not allow Uber to enter the gate, the only way we could use an Uber was to walk the mile and a half to the gate to be picked up. The good thing about the Hilton Head stop was the three miles we walked, seeing a beautiful car and the inside of a concrete floating docks.

We saw the most gorgeous 1996 Saberline 43 on the dock. We were at the marina office and within 5 minutes we heard the gossip about the boat.  Evidently the previous owner was in financial trouble so sold the boat for $125,000!  We met the owners and although they didn’t invite us in they were very social and interesting, from our neck of the woods-Nova Scotia, that probably is a stretch.

At one point I remembered I have a friend that has a cousin, Nancy that lives on Hilton Head and that maybe we could visit her, but soon realized I had my Heads mixed up. Nancy lives on Marblehead.

 I almost forgot to mention the Ford Galaxy 500, maybe a 1964.  I don't really go too crazy about old cars but this is the prettiest old car I have ever seen.  Take a look.  The color was something I had never seen before.

Again we arrived the same time as boaters we met at Beaufort, a nice young couple with a beautiful 34’ Catalina sailboat, spotless.  He had “used dinghy envy”, wanting his dinghy to looked used instead of having that new out of the box look. I wanted to tell him that raising his dinghy at night won’t help it show it’s age but once again I played Edith and stifled myself.  

Speaking of Edith.  There is a TV channel we get that’s called Decade and we have watched a western, All in the Family and Man from U.N.C.L.E.  The MFU we watched had Sonny and Cher, both barely 20.  All in the Family is just as I remember it, however MFU is very different.

I listened to a very interesting interview with Norman Lear on one of my podcasts where he talked about the creation of All in The Family. As you probably know All in the Family changed family shows from that time forward. By the way Norman Lear is 94 years old. He described Archie as being scared of the changes in his world where black people could have their own business, be smart and earn more money than he did. I see that now. Mr. Lear said that he figured out what Edith would ay by asking “what would Jesus do”.  

When we are motoring I sit on the bow in my camping lounger, I have had for 40 years, and listen to NPR Politics Podcast. It is worth a listen, young people, well several decades younger than me, keep me up to date about politics.  I like to be caught up on the latest and they do a really good job. Other good podcasts are This American Life, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Serial, and How I Built This about how different companies started, for instance Spanx and Airbnb. Another way to pass the time is to read The Family Markowitz by Allegra Goodman, a good book recommended by Jeanine of the Lobster Lane Bookstore.

On Halloween, we were in New Teakettle anchorage where the grass is high and the bugs are big and bite.  We had a five hour day in the heat, yes Susan the air condition was worth getting fixed and you know what pushed me over the edge? you told me about the terribly hot winter you had without air conditioning.  I am so glad we have it. We covered 2000 miles of grass, well it felt like 2000.

I told a fellow boater to make sure she brought her down jacket on the trip south.  Ha Ha! It has been in the high 70’s or 80’s on the East Coast most every day since leaving Maine.

I would like to share with you my helpful phrase.

Definition of Clean Dirt

When one uses elbow grease to scrub as hard as they can on a surface and the surface is still dirty but no more dirt comes off onto ones rag then the area is defined as having clean dirt. Using clean dirt in a sentence:  “Captain the mold on your seat is clean dirt.

Sailing the seas is a great learning experience for everyone.

While doing dishes I could see a beautiful sunrise and dolphins playing in the water.

I meant to show you some temporary markers guiding us out of Wrightsville. These were positioned to help with the changes in the harbor since Hurricane Matthew.

Parting Shot

I thought this was a lilac tree until I realized that lilacs are not blooming this time of year.  The beautiful ibis or crane.

Hope your days have been as nice as mine.

Tricia