LindaJean: Gobble Gobble Tofu Tofu

Happy Thanksgiving

Most likely you will not receive this blog on the great American holiday. I looked up the meaning of Thanksgiving on Wikipedia and it told me more than I needed to know. Thank you immigrants for bringing with you this great day. You can read all about it at Wikipedia, but be forewarned that you will need a cup of coffee and a lot of hours to read all it has to say about the Thanksgiving celebration and did you know that there are several countries that celebrate a Thanksgiving?
Australia
Canada
Grenada
Liberia
Netherlands
Philippines
Saint Lucia

November 9, 2018 (backing up)

We anchored at Brickyard Creek.

November 10, 2018
Herb River Anchorage very close to the Thunderbolt Marina

Thunderbolt is a familiar stop for boaters, because there is a bus that takes them into Savanah. We have never been to Savanah from Thunderbolt, so at the last minute we decided to see if we could get a slip. No slip available because it was the week of Thanksgiving. I heard that boaters gather at Thunderbolt to celebrate T-Day.
So we found an anchorage around the corner from Thunderbolt in the Herb River. I thought it would be nice to at least go for a short dinghy ride to the marina and maybe even have a place to empty the trash. Foiled again. The motor wouldn't run, it kept choking out. We put some Stabl in the fuel, but that didn't help. Turns out after filling the fuel tank the air vent was not opened. We have not taken the dinghy out again since then, so we don't know how it will run.

Enough about that let me tell you about Herb River anchorage. I watched Law and Order Special Victims Unit a few times one of the actors on the show, Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson, had this one line that I remember so clear. When Olivia was working on a case she could understand how a victim felt because she was also "afraid of things that go bump in the night". We were sound asleep when a sailboat's anchor dragged and their boat ran into our boat. Both of the sailors were up and the admiral pushed us off. We looked for another place to anchor in the narrow anchorage with a bit of wind making it hard to do. We tried to set the anchor once and it wouldn't set I looked back and we were backing into a dock. Quick thinking on our part was to lift the anchor and motor forward. We finally set the anchor but sat up watching the chart plotter from 2am on until sunrise, so we could be on our way. Gosh this boating is challenging.

November 11, 2018
Wahoo River
I love this anchorage. I can't explain why we like it so much, just like I can't understand why bell bottoms were so popular in the 60's and 70's. This is the place that has a street light that comes on at dusk and off at dawn. There isn't anything else around the area that explains it.

November 12, 2018
We left the following day for Lanier Island (south) only a 4.75 hour run but again we were keeping our eye on the weather. You see when cruising you have to keep your eye on the weather, read about the seas, look at wind, and check your anxiety at the door. There are a couple of harmless inlets we had to navigate, but there is also St. Andrew Sound. I am not going to cross St. Andrews Sound unless the weather is very clear, that the wind and the seas are in our favor.

November 13, 14 and 15, 2018
Rather than more detail about that whole "get across the sounds" let's talk about Brunswick Landing Marina. There are rave reviews of the marina and the town. The marina was very nice with lots of slips, they have free beer every night and wine a few nights a week. It was very cold there and mostly rainy. We did take two walks for a windshield wiper and ice cream, other boaters offered to take me to Walmart. The downtown was sad with most of the stores closed out of business. Rob washed the deck. I have a deck wash and work diligently to clean all the mud off as the anchor comes up but it still stains the deck.
I almost forgot to tell you about the court house. We were walking through a beautiful live oak park and stopped to look at the buildings one on either side of the walkway the one on the right was unidentified and the one on the left was the active court house. Did you know in Georgia they will not let you in the court house more than 3 feet. I was interrogated about what my business was in the court house. They weren't buying it so I left, not very friendly in Georgia! We did tour the old court house and it is beautiful.

November 16, 2018
Off to Fernandina. We were lucky to be able to stay at a slip there since most of the marina is still damaged from Hurricane Matthew. There is a promise that the marina will be all new in May or June of 2019. Notable is my two ice cream cones in one afternoon please don't try this.

November 17, 2018
Yeah a good day to head to St. Augustine. We have friends that stay at River's Edge Marina every year. Since we wanted to see our friends, we tried out the marina. Our friends had dinner for us on their boat which was so lovely. We rather enjoyed ourselves! There is a vegetable stand with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. I loaded up with a fridge full of goodies.

November 18, 2018
Laundry day. It is nice to have the laundry so close to your boat. $1.75 for wash and $1.00 for the dryer. This is the talk that boaters do, only women that I have met, and this information can be passed down the waterway, so the marinas need to stay sharp about their facilities.

Rob and I walked into town during the day and stopped at the Villa Zorayda "a 19th century architectural masterpiece and astounding art and antiques collection" The villa is a "Gilded age house museum." It was a nice visit very inexpensive and with audio guides. It was well worth the trip. I couldn't take any pictures, so I bought a postcard and I took a picture of the postcard for you.

Hold onto your wine while I try to recount the dinner out with our friends. The Creekside Dinery is a lovely place to eat. It was too chilly to eat outside, but hopefully it won't be the next time we go. Outside there is a large pit with a wood fire and marshmallows to roast, making it a nice end to our dining experience.

Let me step back and tell you more about our meal. It was awhile before we were attended to, but we were chatting and didn't mind when our server finally came. She seemed rather anxious and that is when we found out that it was only her third night. I empathized with her and while she was getting our drinks my friend and I shared experiences of waiting tables, her for a couple of years and me for one and a half days. After a fashion Shay brought me my club soda with a twist of lime, but I ordered a tonic with a twist of lime. Eventually that was fixed. My friend ordered sauvignon wine and finally she got her Sprite well really it was white wine but Shay called it Sprite.

Rob ordered Caesar salad to eat before the meal and he got it after the meal with bleu cheese dressing other than that his meal was in order. The other friend ordered pasta with shrimp and sausage and they delivered the meal without the shrimp. Another meal received was a nice dinner to go with her Sprite. My meal had not been made yet. My crab cakes were wonderful once they arrived.

The course of events gave us lots to chat about and no one was upset, just miffed at how so many things could go wrong. I quietly went to talk to the manager and gave her a list of our experiences so she could train this poor very young woman before she sent her out on the floor alone again. Our meal was free.

November 19, 2018
Our friends left on a road trip for Thanksgiving and we stayed on for another day. We walked into town late afternoon and walked around just enjoying the famous Night of Lights in downtown St. Augustine. Even though we have walked St. George Street each time we are there we never tire of it because watching the people is always different. That night was friend egg sandwiches the meal you have when you are too tired and old to fix anything different. My husband bought me a lovely neckless, but I can't wear it while setting the anchor.

November 20, 2018
Left River's Edge Marina headed for Daytona and the Shady Place anchorage. On the ICW Facebook page I asked for recommendations for that area. The ICW is quite wide at Daytona so I am glad there wasn't any wind. We had another late start from River's Edge because there was a mix up with the fuel truck. You see at this marina a truck delivers fuel rather than the marina having pumps.

November 21,22 and 23, 2018
We left the Shady Place anchorage as soon as it was light around 6:30 because we had a long day ahead of us. Yeah onto Banana River anchorage to spend a couple of days and to enjoy a nice Thanksgiving Dinner of Beef Barley Stew made in the Instant Pot. When we searched for a good place to drop anchor there were five dolphins breaching and giving us a fantastic welcome. This anchorage is in sight of two yacht clubs and in front of houses now that all sounds busy but on T-Day there were very few boats out and on the water and the 23rd there was a lot of boat traffic that was very fun to watch. Rob was amused by a catamaran that tried setting their anchor about 8 times and then decided to leave the river. We saw a few trawlers and several other catamarans and one trimaran. I enjoyed working on Christmas cards.

From Wikipedia
Let me tell you a little more about our trip from Daytona. We traveled the Indian River from Daytona to Banana River. "The Indian River is 121 miles long and is part of the Indian River Lagoon system, which in turn forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway". The river from the Ponce de Leon inlet in New Smyrna Beach, across the Haulover Canal and along the western shore of Merritt Island. Merritt Island is home of Kennedy Space Center and the Merritt Island Wildlife Sanctuary. We have been to both places and it feels like we traveled 121 miles just of the western shore of Merritt Island of course we didn't.

This is what you need to know about Merritt Island.

From Wikipedia
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is located due east of Titusville on Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, and occupies 140,000 acres (570 km²), overlaid with the Kennedy Space Center. To the north, it borders on the Canaveral National Seashore; to the south it encompasses non-public portions of the Kennedy Space Center (with which it also shares some history), which in turn abuts Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River run through the refuge.^[1] Since public access to all these areas is controlled in various ways, the refuge is part of a very substantial area of relatively undisturbed wildlife habitat.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 140,000 acres (57,000 ha) U.S. National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) on the Atlantic coast of Florida's largest barrier island. NASA's Kennedy Space Center and visitor complex are also situated on the island and NASA can restrict access to the refuge based on its operational needs.

The NWR contains over 1000 species of plants, 117 species of fish, 68 amphibians and reptiles, 330 birds, and 31 mammal species, of which 21 species are listed as endangered by the state of Florida or by the US federal government. Management of the NWR is provided through the Merritt Island NWR Complex, which provides hiking and driving trails for the public, subject to access restrictions from NASA. It is a 'gateway site' for the Great Florida Birding Trail.

November 23, 2018

Today we leave this anchorage for Ft. Pierce, Faber Cove anchorage. It is well protected from most weather conditions. Then we will be on our way to Stuart for a few days before heading across the Okeechobee for the west coast.

I almost forgot to tell you that someone took our cooler from the back deck but no love loss here I didn't like it because the lid wouldn't stay open and kept falling on my head.

Leaving Fernandina

Wahoo Light at Dusk

Pagers!

Inside the old court house

The beautiful park with live oak and Spanish moss

Husband. Just one of the scenes of our walk to Auto Zone for a windshield wiper blade in Brunswick. We were told to be careful where we walked so we didn't end up in dangerous neighborhoods this we heard from a retired sheriff. The town is in a lot of disrepair and that is sad.

As they say, the captain is in charge

Maybe Max (not his real name) is in charge he is pretty cute. He has complete run of the River's Edge Marina and goes back to his boat at night. He is so friendly I guess you have to be for the rats to respect you.