A Quiet Week

The week between Christmas and New Year has been quiet for Keith, Pengi and I.  Weather here has been chilly.  I know those of you north of us do not want to here it, but we were not expecting highs only in the 50s.  Hopefully things will improve and we can get a few more days in the upper 60s or maybe even 70 in the new year.  Keith and I had a late Christmas lunch at the main resort. Dolphin's with Santa hats at the resort.

They put on a very nice buffet with both turkey and pig with all the fixin's.  It was nice not to have to cook.  Shrimp and oysters on the buffet.

                                                     
                                                       Gingerbread house at main resort.

We have no particular plans for New Year's Eve.  There is a friend from New Bern coming through Palm coast on January 2nd who will be staying on board with us for a day or two.  I just hope if we borrow his car for errands, our bad car "mo jo" is gone (see previous post about Keith's parents car).

I also have plans to attempt to repair a few minor blemishes on the outside teak once the weather improves.  I have more than a little anxiety about taking a Dremel tool to the teak rail, but I must be strong.  I will take pictures no matter how it turns out and let ya'll know what happens.  If I go missing, you will know it did not go well.

It looks like 2018 is going to be a big year for us.  We are hoping to do the Great Loop this year so it will be quite the adventure.  Keith and I hope everyone's 2018 is filled with health and happiness.  Happy New Year!

A Boater's Christmas Poem

This past week we had a visit from Keith's mom and dad.  They drove from Stuart, FL up to us in Palm Coast.  They arrived on Tuesday which was a beautiful day.  We took Southern Style out for a ride and everyone enjoyed themselves.  Once we got back into our slip, Keith and I planned to take his parent's car to run some errands.  Unfortunately we got into the car and backed out of the parking space to find there was only reverse.  The transmission was not working and no matter what we did it would only go in reverse.  So I had to walk back to the boat and explain to Keith's parents that we had not even gotten out of the parking lot and had managed to break the car.  We had it towed to a garage and got a rental car.  Luckily it was not something to bad and was fixed the next day.  There is always something.  It was a very nice visit, despite the automotive problems.

                                               Everyone enjoying a ride on Southern Style

Keith enjoying a Bloody Mary

Keith and I plan on a quiet Christmas with a meal out at the resort.  I did want to share a poem that hopefully everyone following us will find entertaining.  It is the boaters version of Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Here goes...................

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the boat,
the bilge pumps were hustling to keep us afloat.
Dock lines were wrapped around cleats with care,
in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there.

Pengi was nestled all snug in his berth,
while visions of fishies filled him with mirth.
And me in my ponytail and Keith in his cap,
had just settled ourselves for a Christmas Eve nap.

When out on the dock there arose such as clatter,
we sprang from the Nav Station to see what was the matter.
Away to the aft cabin, we flew like a flash,
tore open the door and through up the hatch.

The moon on the water lit the marina up bright.
Which was good as dead batteries were in our flashlight.
When what to my sunburned eyes should appear,
but a miniature dinghy and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old captain singing a Caribbean shtick,
we knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick.
More rapid than jet skis his coursers they came
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name.

On Yanmar, on Cummins, on Caterpiller and Volvo.
To the top of the radar arch to the top of the seawall,
now dash away dash away dash away all.
As seabirds before a wild hurricane fly,
when met with an obstacle take to the sky.

Over twinkling anchor lights 'round the marina they flew
with a dinghy full of boat parts and Saint Nicholas too.
And then in a twinkling I heard on the bow,
the prancing and pawing, Santa's here now.

He then grabbed his bag, a bulging huge sack,
and hoisted it up onto his back.
He also had sponges and a mop in his grip,
as he waddled his way around our slip.

He said "my names Nick and my friend I can tell
that your gel coat needs buffing and your teak looks like hell.
Your vinyl needs cleaning, your lockers arranging,
your holding tank pumping, and your oil a-changing.
You've put these jobs off for too long and you know it.
So here's all you need, it's time to get to it."

Then as quick as he came, he was back on his boat,
His reindeer revving and eager to tote,
But I heard him exclaim as he idled out of sight.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone.

Twas the Week Before Christmas

It is the week before Christmas.  You would not guess from the weather we are supposed to have this week.  Temperatures in the mid 70s to 80.  Keith is loving it.  I find it it a bit odd, never having been someplace this warm for Christmas.  But when in Rome............kayak and walk on the beach.

We were busy this week doing boat chores.  Keith and I put special teak cleaner on the outside decks one day, then after letting them dry thoroughly for a day or two; we put conditioner on them.  We normally apply teak conditioner (Semco) every month, but this time we decided to give them a brightening treatment first.  Call it a Christmas gift to our decks.  At any rate, that job is done and now we are looking spiffy for the holidays.

Saturday was the Palm Coast Yacht club's Christmas flotilla.  The evening was very pretty with a beautiful sunset.
                           
                           The view out toward the intracoastal from the bow of Southern Style

They had 40 boats in the parade.  Keith and I watched from the end of the dock.  It was very festive.

I also tried my hand at making homemade pizza dough.  It has been bothering me to try to learn how to make yeast dough so I gave it a whirl.  Now, do not judge these stromboli from the look, because if I had smell-o-vision it would be more dramatic.

They tasted quite good but I need to work on the presentation.  The boat smelled like a pizza parlor for the rest of the day.

This coming week will be busy.  Keith's parents are driving up from Stuart, FL to visit.  We also have some other appointments to fit in before the Christmas holiday.  Never a dull moment.  With the nice weather we are forecast to have, I am itching to get some kayaking done or maybe get the dinghy down and go exploring.  I will keep you up to date.

Mid December update from Palm Coast

Our first week to 10 days in Palm Coast had some beautiful weather.  Sunny and temps in the 70s every day.  Yesterday that trend changed.  A front came through with rain and the temperature dropped significantly.  It was in the 30s overnight last night.  This put me in the mood  for Christmas and I decided to decorate.  This took about 5 minutes as we do not have many things for seasonal decorating.  I did have a few things and Pengi was excited to help.

                               
                                      Some chicken drummettes for lunch capped off the day.

Keith just purchased a drone and so he is excited to learn to use it.  This is him in the open space at the marina practicing.

He even videotaped an osprey that was sitting on a sail boat mast.  Luckily the osprey did not take offense.  I was prepared for a mid air battle.

Osprey with drone to the right in the picture.

Once Keith gets the hang of all the drone can do, hopefully we will have some cool pictures and video for everyone following us.  There is a HUGE learning curve but Keith is exceptionally good at this kind of thing.  Stay tuned.

Palm Coast Marina

After a few days, we are getting settled into the marina and resort here at Palm Coast.  The Resort (Hammock Beach Resort) has golf, tennis, several pools, a lazy river, and beach frontage.  Several restaurants are also located at the main resort.  The main resort is about 1 1/2 miles from the marina and is on the beach.  Luckily a shuttle goes back and forth between the marina and main resort, which is very handy.  We will likely be using that on a regular basis.  I hope to get over to the main resort and take some pictures to post next week.  Keith and I have biked around the main resort this week, but I did not have the camera with me.  Keith also played golf at the Ocean Course on Friday and said it was one of the best courses he has ever played.

The marina part of the resort is along the intracoastal waterway.  It has the marina and tennis courts as well as a pool and condos associated with the marina.  It is a very nice location.  Here is a view out into the marina.

                                       
                                          Here are the condos at the other end of the marina.

                           
                                   On the backside of the condos is the intracoastal waterway.

This is the area just off the back of the condos.  The intracoastal waterway is just out of the picture to the left.

                             
                                                        This is the pool here at the marina.

Route A1A goes right past the marina.  This road is the north/south road through coastal Florida and goes from Key West along the Atlantic Ocean to Fernandina Beach just south of Georgia.  There is a nice wide walking/bike path that follows A1A and is great for the bikes.  A grocery store is just 1.9 miles from the marina down A1A.  The perfect distance for a little exercise when making a grocery run.

So, we seem to be all set for the next several months.  I will  be doing some exploring with the bike and kayak and will keep everyone up to date.  Since we will not be moving the boat regularly like on our trip down, I may post less frequently over the winter.  I will probably do a weekly update of our boat projects and explorations.  And we do have several boat projects on our calendar, so keep checking in.

St. Augustine, FL to Palm Coast, FL

We are here!  Finally arrived in Palm Coast, FL around noon yesterday (Monday).  It was a short 25 mile trip from St. Augustine to Palm Coast and uneventful.  Here is the St. Augustine light as we are heading south toward Palm Coast.

It has been quite a ride these first several weeks of retirement and our adventure.  But what a ride it has been.  Things are very different now that we are cruising.  These are our modes of transportation.                                                                 
                                                                 Southern Style

The pink flamingo

My kayak

 We will miss New Bern, NC  Here are some memories of New Bern, NC
                       
                                                  Tryon Palace, the first govenor's mansion.

The Bern bears.                           
                                                            Farmer's market bear

                                                         
                                                            Downtown wooden bear.

Courthouse bear

Even though we will miss NC, it has been wonderful seeing so many things and stopping in so many interesting places.  And it is just the beginning of our adventure.

Palm Coast is a beautiful resort and I will get pictures of the area in the next day or two.  There is also a ton of water in which to kayak, so get ready to hopefully see some wildlife pictures.  We will be here for about 4 months this winter and I hope to post about weekly during our stay here in Palm Coast.

Amelia Island, FL to St. Augustine, FL

Keith and I left Amelia Island around 10 AM Sat.  We could not leave any earlier as it was VERY shallow in the marina and we had to wait until some tide came in.  Here is Pengi at low tide around 8 AM.  

                                                      Pengi says no water, no floatie.

The day was beautiful and all went well on the trip.  The only unusual place was in Jacksonville where the channel had changed and no longer followed the charts.  Floating buoys were in place, however, our chart plotter looked like we were hiking across land.  Our boating followers will appreciate this oddity.

                         

                         We got into St. Augustine around 4 PM after covering about 59 miles.

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the US.  It was founded by Spanish admiral, Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1565.  The Spanish were faced with hostilities from not only Native Americans of the region but also the English which were settling areas to the north in Georgia and the Carolinas.  As an aid to protecting its holdings in the region, the Spanish began building the fortification Castillo de San Marcos in 1672.  Its completion took 25 years with many additions and modifications, bit it stands today as the oldest fort in the US.

                             The fort is open to the public and has reenactments and tours daily.

Just south of the Castillo de San Marcos is the Bridge of Lions, a double leaf bascule bridge spanning the ICW.  It is part of highway A1A and connects St. Augustine to Anastasia Island.  Built in 1927 by Henry Rodenbaugh, VP and bridge expert of Florida East Coast Railway, the bridge replaced the old wooden structure which had become terribly outdated.  The bridge gets its name from the two marble Medici Lion statues that guard the entrance onto the bridge.  The lions were a gift from Dr. Andrew Anderson who had them made by the Romanelli Studios in Florence, Italy.  They are copies of those found in the Loggia dei Lanzi also in Florence.  This picture is of the bridge from Southern Style's cockpit.

The Medici Lions for which the Bridge gets its name.

The Ponce de Leon Hotel was an exclusive luxury hotel built by millionaire developer and Standard Oil co-founder Henry Flagler.

Completed in 1888 by world renowned NY architectural firm Carrere and Hastings, the 540 room hotel was the first of its kind constructed of poured concrete using local coquina as aggregate.  It was also one of the first buildings in the country wired for electricity.  The power was supplied by DC generators installed by Flagler’s friend Thomas Edison.  Because electricity was so new, most guests had no experience with it. Hotel employees often had to turn lights on and off for guests who were too afraid of touching the light switches for fear of being shocked.

 

Many famous designers were involved in the interior décor.  Most notable was Louis Comfort Tiffany who provided the stained-glass windows for the hotel dining room.

During WW II the hotel was taken over by the federal government and used as a Coast Guard training center.  It housed up to 2,500 trainees at a time.  After the war it was deactivated by the Coast Guard and returned to operation as a hotel.  Over time however it saw declining visitor numbers and in 1967 it was closed.  The following year the hotel became the centerpiece of Flagler College.  This is a private 4-year liberal arts college in St. Augustine.  Students now provide guided historic tours of the hotel.  It is on the US National Register of Historic Places.

Fountain in the courtyard of the hotel.

Me at the fountain of the Ponce courtyard.

The Lightner Museum was originally The Hotel Alcazar commissioned also by Henry Flagler.  Built in 1887 this hotel was across the street from the Ponce De Leon and had amenities such as a steam room, massage parlor, sulfur baths, gymnasium, 3 story ball room, and the world’s largest indoor swimming pool.  It, like the Ponce de Leon, spent years as a popular retreat for the wealthy but began declining around WW II.  In 1947 Chicago publisher Otto C. Lightner purchased the building to house his extensive collection of Victorian era pieces.  He turned it over to the city of St. Augustine and today it is a museum housing his eclectic pieces and additional Victorian collections.

Named by CNN and USA Today as one of the religious wonders of the US is the Memorial Presbyterian Church.  It is also said to be one of the most beautiful Protestant churches of the world.  It was built in 1889 by Henry Flagler and dedicated to his daughter Jennie Louise Benedict who died following complications of childbirth while at sea.  Upon Flagler’s death in 1913, he was interred in a marble mausoleum within the church beside his daughter Jennie, her infant Marjorie, and his first wife Mary Harkness Flagler.

Originally established in 1565 and rebuilt in the 18^th century, Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine is the oldest church in Florida.  The Roman Catholic Church was an integral part of the Spanish monarchy, and with Spain’s explorations and settlements in FL; the Catholic church was very important.  The Spanish influence is characterized by the mission bells and gables on the front.

Tomorrow we leave for our final destination Hammock Beach Marina in Palm Coast, FL.

Jekyll Island, GA to Amelia Island, FL

Left Jekyll Island on Thanksgiving in rain and nasty weather.  This is when we are glad for our pilot house.  Coming around Jekyll Sound was a bit bumpy.  I had to scramble around the boat to put a few things down before something got broken.  Luckily within about 20-30 minutes we were back in protected water and the remainder of the ride was fine.

The marina we have stayed at several years ago, could not take us due to hurricane damage from Irma.  This is what things looked like passing the marina.

We were able to get in at Amelia Island Yacht Basin and all tied up by around Noon in the rain.  After drying off, we started getting organized to have friends, Chris and Tracy, over for Thanksgiving dinner.  We all contributed something and had quite a spread.  Chicken not turkey but still pretty good and the company couldn't be beat.
                                                            Chris and Tracy

It rained pretty much all day and night on Thursday but Friday, although cloudy, finally was dry.  So of course we had to explore.

Amelia Island is the southernmost of the Sea Islands (A chain of some 100 barrier islands stretching along the east coast of the United States from SC to FL).  It is about 13 miles long and 4 miles wide.  The communities of Fernandina Beach and Amelia City are located on the island.

The island changed hands many times during its history from its occupation by native Americans through colonial times and into the present.  It is claimed that over eight flags have flown over Amelia Island including French, Spanish, British, Floridian/Patriot, Green Cross of Florida, Mexican rebel flag, Confederate, and United States. 

Fernandina Beach is the northernmost city on Florida’s east coast.  The town has a vibrant downtown with shops, old homes, and government buildings.  They are a bit eclectic as was evident the day after Thanksgiving when the town hosts its annual pajama party.  Chris, Tracy, Keith and I took the loaner car from the marina and went to see the show.  A few warning lights on the loaner car were on (hope we make it back).

There were all kinds of sales in the local shops, music from the high school band, and many of the locals dressed in their PJs.  I think there would have been even more people, but the weather in the morning was overcast and a bit cool for PJs.  Still a fun time.

                                                                Band in their PJs

Mermaid fountain

Art on side of resteraunt

Chris and Tracy had to be back mid morning as they were leaving with their boat to continue south today.  Hopefully we can catch up with them while we are all in FL for the winter.

Tomorrow Keith and I leave for St. Augustine one of my favorite cities.