We made it to BOCA RATON, FL

Today was another perfect day on the water. We motored past West Palm Beach, Fort Pierce, Riviera Beach, Del Ray, Boyton, etc. And again we saw many simply incredible homes on the water. As a bonus today we saw two manatees! Today was a day full of bridges. We had 12 bridges to go under and only one was fixed. The rest either opened on signal or opened on the hour and half hour or at 15 and 45 past the hour. Bill's timing was perfect (meaning we didn't have to wait long for the next opening). But it did take us about 7 hours to go 38 statute miles because of all of the bridges.

When we got to Boca we were amazed. We are staying at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. It is a small marina (20 +/- slips?) in a large resort located on the ICW. We are the only sailboat here and most of the boats are huge yachts. Some of the same boats that we saw at Yacht Haven Grande in St. Thomas are docked here -- including Carbon Copy, the boat that our friends Amy and Juan were on. We are docked right in the middle of the resort; our stern looks over the pool (awesome!) Bill and I look forward to exploring a bit more tomorrow.

When we got in we cleaned up the boat a bit and decorated the tree. It is perfect for the boat. And we love it -- although we weren't able to find the extension cord so we haven't exactly plugged it in yet... but it still looks great (if we do say so ourselves) all the same. We recieved a package from my mother so we actually have wrapped presents under the tree for the full effect.

And we got to see Cindy and Boyd!!! They live in Boyton Beach and drove over to Boca - and brought goodies -- including our first Christmas card. It was so nice to see them and hang out for the night.

Tonight was the Boca boat parade (another awesome thing that we stumbled upon!) Out of the three boat parades that we have seen this Christmas (Thunderbolt, St. Augustine, and here) this was the coolest. There were probably 25-30 boats and all were decked out. There were 30+ boats anchored directly across from us (which is a show in and of itself) and the parade literally went right by across our bow. Cindy and Boyd were here to enjoy also. Because we are staying at the marina we got 'passes' to the dock party. There were lots and lots of (mostly older) 'club members' viewing the parade and partaking in the festivities. There were a ton of food stations (shrimp, sushi, pasta, seafood, etc.) and an open bar. Cindy, Boyd, Bill and I hung out on the boat for a bit and then went up to the party and feasted.

So it was a fun night -- sort of the culmination of our trip so far. Boca has been 'the' destination for so long and we are finally here and enjoying ourselves -- and very much looking forward to the next few days.

For more pictures, click here.

Jupiter, FL

We had another nice day. The weather was perfect (not to rub it in to all our friends and family in snowy New England) and the water is green. There were a lot of people on runabouts fishing and water skiing throughout the day.

We stayed at Admirals Cove Marina in Jupiter Florida, which is a private club. They do have some transient dockage so we were able to "get in." They even let us eat at the restaurant (OK, so it was the bar and not the dining room since I had jeans on and Bill wore shorts...but we still felt special) It was a very high falutin place to say the least.

So today's big news is that we have traveled over 1000 miles!!!! We left Annapolis on November 1st.

We are excited to be in Boca on Saturday. We were originally going to stay at the Boca Resort and Club through January 7th, but we think we'll move the boat again sometime between Christmas and New Years. We are thinking Ft. Lauderdale since we want to have the teak done. We are also having a problem with our stuffing box again. It is dripping way too fast (it is supposed to drip once a minute and instead it is basically a steady stream of water) and the bilge is going off three or four times a day. Lauderdale has lots of marinas and facilities and sounds like a good place to hang out for the two weeks or so it will take to get ready for our jump over to the Bahamas. In addition to the repairs and waiting for a good weather window, we have to change the filters, fill the propane, and do other boat chores.

Anyway, hope everyone is having a good weekend (snow and all). Christmas is only a few days away! We'll put up the tree today or tomorrow in time for Mary Alice's arrival, which we are looking forward to!

Vero Beach, FL

After a great dinner last night with my Aunt and Uncle, we left the dock this morning at our 'standard' time; 8:00. We were unsure if we would be delayed again today because of the fog, but it was fairly clear when we woke up.

So today was a pretty uneventful day except for two things. First, we saw lots of dolphins and on two different occasions several came over and played in our wake for a long time. They jumped almost all the way out of the water, flipped on their sides, played with us! So amazing. The second thing about today was that we actually covered more statute miles than we have since we left Annapolis. Vero Beach, our destination for tonight, is at statute mile 953.

It was a quiet day (I read 3/4 of a book and Bill remained rather bored at the helm) with straight channels and 10 - 12 feet of water for the majority of the day. The Indian River is (a few miles?)wide but the channel is (a dozen yards?) narrow. The dolphins, pelicans, and occasional boats were welcomed companions on an otherwise desolate waterway. We had a few bridges to go under and today we ping, ping, pinged the antennae at the top of the mast each time we went under.

As we got closer and closer to our destination for the night, the homes got larger and larger. As the sun started to set, the mangroves and trees on the shoreline were again illuminated and looked absolutely amazing. Pictures really don't do justice to how beautiful the scenery was.

We pulled into Vero Beach Municipal Marina around 5:00 and saw several familiar boats that we have met up with along the way. We are at the fuel dock tonight (with cable, yeah!) and will have dinner on board.

On another note, Bill and I are happy to learn that after 6 days my grandparents power has been restored and they are again back in their home in NH.

Titusville, FL

We ended up in Titusville, FL for the night at the Titusville Municipal Marina. We just couldn't get through the bridges before they stopped opening during (an early) rush hour.

Once the fog cleared we had a great motor. The weather was warm. We saw lots of dolphins today; some played, some were too busy fishing. No manatees today though.The shoreline was full of RV parks, beautiful homes, and boat ramps. Everything looked really "Floridian" to me.

These pictures are all of a small canal that we went through. The sun was perfectly shining through the trees and mangroves onto the shallow water. Everything was so green. It was one of the prettiest parts of the ICW so far.

We went to dinner tonight with my Uncle Matty and Aunt Carolyn who live in Chulauta, FL. They drove to Titusville and we had a great seafood dinner out and then coffee back at the boat. It was great to see you guys.

En route from Daytona Beach to Cocoa (?)

Fog, fog and more fog. We woke up to another morning of dense fog and decided to wait for some of it to burn off before leaving the dock. Our destination tonight was supposed to be Cocoa, FL at statute mile 898. Because we didn't leave until after 9:00, we are unsure that we will make it all the way there. There are two bridges at statute miles 878 and 885 that have restricted openings. The Titusville Bridges doesn't open between 3:15 and 4:30 and the Addison Point Bridge doesn't open between 3:30 and 5:00 (for rush hour traffic). So we are not sure if we will make it to dinner tonight with my Uncle. If not tonight, hopefully tomorrow.

The first picture is what the channel from the marina to the ICW looked like when we woke up. The second picture is how the channel looked when we left the dock.

We have had another delay today. We were boarded by the MSD - the Marine Sanitation Department (also fondly known as the Potty Police). They were very courteous and simply inspected our overboard discharge valves for the holding tank. Of course we are in full compliance so it was all very quick. We have read on cruisers net that they are stopping lots of boats. The fine is $250.00 if the valve isn't in the shut position and somehow secured. How anyone could discharge the holding tank overboard while seeing dolphins and birds, etc. swimming in the water is beyond me.

Right now we are waiting for a 11:20 bridge opening. As the fog is starting to lift the weather is getting warmer and warmer. Bill has officially switched to shorts.

Daytona Beach, FL

Bill and I decided to stay another day in St. Augustine. We still have over a week to get to Boca and St. Augustine is such a great place. We were up and ready to leave by 7:30 but as we were taking the shore power off, we both looked at each other and decided to stay.

So today, Tuesday, we left for Daytona. We left the dock around 8:00. Today was a strange day. We had twelve -- yes TWELVE -- bridges to deal with. And all went well. Four were open on demand, eight were fixed 65 footers.

The stranger part of today was the VERY dense fog that we experienced until about 11:00. The fog was so thick at parts that we could see no more than 100 feet (or two boat lengths) in front of us. For most of the morning there was a caravan of six boats inching our way forward - with Mary Elizabeth slowly navigating the lead before a trawler and motor vessel took over. It is such a strange feeling motoring at 5 knots into nothing but white and trying to find the next marker - especially when the channel is narrow and the depths are shallow. Most of the day the depth finder showed between 10 and 12 feet in the ICW. Eventually the fog lifted and it turned into a beautiful day. The warmer temperatures and sunshine felt marvelous.

We are at Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach (statute mile 830 on the ICW) for the night. It is another great facility; very helpful staff and, surprisingly, liveaboards! Part of our trek south via the ICW has involved scoping out where we will eventually want to live. We were surprised to find out that the state of Georgia does not allow liveaboards at all. And we have heard mixed things about (the rules, taxes, impressions of) living aboard in different parts of Florida. Bill and I chatted with a liveaboard here in Daytona (a fellow pilot, nonetheless) and he had great things to say.

Another cool thing about today was that we were in a "manatee zone" for most of the day. We didn't see any manatees, but we certainly kept an eye out. Maybe tomorrow.... Tomorrow we will be in Cocoa, FL where we will meet up with my uncle and his family for dinner. Yeah!

Fernandina Beach, FL

As you can see why from this radar picture from weatherunderground.com, we have decided to wait out the rain and wind here in Fernandina Beach, FL. Yes, we made it to Florida (!) which feels like an accomplishment. We left Maryland more than 5 weeks ago.

We had an interesting day yesterday.... We left St. Simons Island around 8:00 in a dense fog. The weather was warm (70s) and there was a strong wind on our nose (20 knots) for most of the day. Low tide was at 12:21, which concerned us since we had several shallow places to get through. We saw less than 10 feet for the majority of the day, which made for a tense ride. We did run aground once in Jekell Creek -- even though we were in the middle of the channel and were following the range markers -- but Bill quickly got us off. We were again fortunate to be passed by another boat with only a four foot draft who was able to relay water depths via the VHF so we had a better idea of which direction to head once we got off. It is impossible to know which way to point the boat when you are aground in the middle of the channel. We were both more than relieved to get off the bottom so quickly since the tide was still going out and we would have been in trouble.

The water depths in the ICW in Florida are supposed to be less of an issue, which we will both be thankful for. From what we have read and heard from others, Georgia just doesn't have the money (or hasn't allocated the money) for dredging and shoaling is everywhere.

The rain missed us and we were tied up at the dock by about 3:00. Bill and I enjoyed a warm rest of the afternoon topside and had dinner and a movie on the boat. We also saw a big Coast Guard ship dock next to us after dark, which was neat.

So today it is raining and very windy. They have issued a tornado warning, so we are glad to be at the dock with the super duper fender from Dave and Molly. We were woken up early this morning with knock, knock, knocks on the hull from the dock master who was advising all boaters to put (even) more lines out. Since we already doubled up yesterday, so there isn't much more we can do. Hopefully we'll be able to explore the town a little in between raindrops!

St. Simons Island, GA

Today was a strange day. We had rain, sunshine, wind, no wind off an on throughout the day. Today, like yesterday, was a very beautiful leg of the trip. We went from Killkenny (statute mile 614) to St. Simons Island, GA (statute mile 675). For a lot of the trip today Bill cut the engine back so we were doing between 4.5 and 5 knots. He did this for two reasons. First, we wanted to let the tide rise a little more before going through the Mudd River, which has depths of under 6 feet (mean low tide.) Second, if we were going to run aground, we wanted to do it at a slow speed. There were two boats ahead of us who were nice enough to give periodic updates on the water depths that they saw, and we went through without incident.

Today we also saw lots of animals on the shore. We saw some type of burro, goats, herons, and of course dolphins. The rivers we traveled through today were windey and narrow, so we got a good view of the shoreline.

It rained off and on today but ended up being a beautiful late afternoon. We even saw a rainbow, which disappeared after only a few minutes.

We are staying at Golden Isles Marina in St. Simons Island, GA, which is a nice facility. We enjoyed a fabulous sunset and are about to go to dinner. Destination Fernandina Beach, FL (statue mile 770) tomorrow.

For more pictures of today's beautiful trip, click here.

Killkenny, GA

We left the dock at Thunderbolt around 10:00 and had another short day to Killkenny, GA. The ride today was beautiful. We didn't see another boat until we were almost to Killkenny. The shores were lined with marshes and trees; very few homes. What a beautiful way to see parts of our country. For most of the day, our view looked exactly like the picture below.



Today we went through through Hell Gate at statute mile 601. The cruising guide we are using (Doziers which has been very helpful, very spot on) and the reports on cruisers net indicated that there was some VERY shallow water here. We went through at mid-tide and saw no less than 8 feet, which was a relief.

Not a whole lot to do in Killkenny (no cable, no restaurant, no Internet, just us and another transient sailboat and a few locals) so we did boat projects down below. Bill put up some Christmas decorations. We'll do the tree when we get to the Boca Raton Club and Resort where we'll spend the holidays. We are excited because we will catch up with Cindy and Boyd who live close to Boca for New Years.



I reorganized the "office", the forward cabin, and the forward head. We culled our books and have them ready for the next book swap that we come across. Believe it or not, above is the "after" picture of the organized (what we call) "office," which is basically a room where we store spare parts, extra water, ditch bag when we are not offshore, Bill's guitar and golf clubs, tools, cleaning supplies, and other gear. It is a work in progress to keep this part of the boat organized.

Bill did a few crosswords and caught up on magazines and I read. We called it a very early night. We expect to be in St. Augustine by Thursday, which will be nice. We are having our mail delivered there; the marina is nice enough to accept our packages for us.

Another interesting thing is that we have received several emails (via our gmail account) from people following the blog. Most are from fellow sailors who have done the trip down the ICW before or hope to do it soon. The stats on the site show that many more people have been reading in the past month or so (we're almost to our 4,500th hit on the site!) So thanks to all our family, friends, and those of you we have never met for reading.

Savannah, GA

Bill and I have had so much fun in Savannah. On Saturday when we arrived in Thunderbolt, we took a cab to Savannah, which is about 20 minutes away via car. After a late lunch, we walked down River Street, and were happy to find out that there was a Christmas fair going on. There were vendors selling everything from jewelry to pottery to homemade breads. And various dance schools performed on the stage. It was great; very Christmasy. We decided to stick around for the Christmas parade, which started at 5:30 and went right down River Street. There were thousands of people lining the street. It was a cute parade; local high school bands, old cars etc. And Ruby from the TV show on Style was the Parade Marshall. When we got back to the boat, we caught the tale end of anothe parade -- this time a boat parade of lights. About a dozen boats were completely decorated and all lit up and went right by the marina where we were docked. Very cool.

Downtown Savannah is beautiful. There are a ton of old churches, lots of parks, beautiful homes. We decided to stay another day and explore a little more. On Sunday we again took a cab to Savannah and walked the historic district. Each park has a sign explaining the historical significance of the various statues and water fountains. Again we were happy to discover that in one of the larger parks there was a music / chili festival going on, and again thousands of people were out enjoying the beautiful day. We found the Oyster Bar at Dave's recommendation and watched some football while eating good cheap oysters and shrimp.

We took a cab back to Thunderbolt and found a bar to watch the night game. Unfortunately the Redskins lost to Baltimore. Today we are on our way to Killkenney, GA for the night.

Even though we whine about the cold weather all the time, one of the great things about doing this trip during November and December is that we get to experience holiday happenings in each city. It was great to see a holiday parade and see the various performers, etc. Savannah is by far one of my favorite stops so far. Who would have thought?

For more pictures of Savannah, click here