Never ending projects

The boat projects continue.  Joe mounted the solar panel on top of the dinghy davits today.  It was attached to the lifeline on the port side of the boat.  It limited our view while sitting in the cockpit and it was a hazard at times coming into a dock.  We have also finished installing the cleats and painting the anchor.  Teak has been sanded topsides and I am putting 5 coats of varnish on it to help preserve the color and I will probably put a couple more coats on it in September just for good measure.  We have the dinghy on land and Joe has cleaned it up and put some epoxy on the bottom scrapes.  All in all we have been moving right along with the never ending list of things to do on the boat.
Tim, Morgan and Zelda came up to have a picnic with u on the beach at one of the parks just north of here.  It was nice to see them again.  
To our friends and fellow sailors at CSA we hope that the Sailing for Veterans Regatta is a huge success this weekend.
To the A Cat sailors who were in Florida racing Joe has been following your progress online.  Some great shots of the racers.
TTFN

Wild Horses

I am sitting here in the cockpit of the boat listening to music and I was reflecting on the 3 days we spent at Cumberland Island.  Cumberland Island is right on the border of Florida and Georgia.  It was recommended to us to make a stop there on our way back up the ICW.  It was worth the trip.  Even before we got to our anchorage spot we spotted a wild horse out by the salt marshes,  and directly in front of the horse in the water were dolphins.  What a beautiful site that was to see them both together.  They were too far for me to get a photo.  After we got settled at the anchor spot we deployed the dinghy and went ashore, camera in hand.  Stopped at the park office and talked to the ranger.  He told us about all the walking trails that we could explore.  So we set off for a 3/4 mile hike across the island.  We were immediately plunged into the oldest seaside forest in the country.  All around us were live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, fan palms and wild plants growing so thick you had to stay on the path.  It was a peaceful and pristine place to stop.  Very rare theses days to find a spot as untouched by commercialism.  After 5 days on the boat we were ready for a break.  I told Joe I wanted to hike till my legs fell off.  Walking under the shaded canopy of the trees was relaxing.  We past camping spots where you could not see the next camp site as there were so many fan palms.  When we got to the other side of the island it open up to snow white sand dunes some 2 stories high.  We walked on a boardwalk walkway through the dunes and it opened up to a beach deemed a national seashore park.  We looked down the beach and there was a herd of wild horses.  I was so excited.  We hurriedly walked toward them.  They have been exposed to people watching them as they let us get closer I started taking photos.  Most of them were mares and there was a yearling and a foal.  What a treat it was to get to see wild horses ON THE BEACH.   Awesome.
Next day we toured the Carnegie Mansion on the Island. Most of the buildings were still there but the house was a brick skeleton, it had burned down many years ago.  And what happen to be in the yard area more wild horses.  It just could not get any better.   After our tour we went on the boardwalk over the salt marsh and ended up walking through the sand dunes again  then we made our way up the beach and back to the boat.  My legs were pretty tired we had walked almost 5 miles.  Next day we moved the boat to the north end of the island and next day we did some more hiking there.  We were hoping to see alligators that were rumored to be there but no such luck.  But we did see some wold spotted hogs and piglets.  Cumberland Island is by far one of our favorite places we have been to.  If you want to visit there you cannot get there by car you need to take a 45 minute ferry ride.  It is highly likely we will be stopping there again.
We are now in Lady's Island South Carolina.  Doing boat projects and hanging out in Beaufort.  TTFN

Daily stuff

Let me tell you what happened to us in Lake Worth.  Well you know we anchored there for the night. Same spot we anchored in on our way south.  About 2:00 in the morning we woke up and the boat was listing heavily to starboard, 18 degrees to be exact.  We did not panic we sat in the cockpit for a while and decided there was nothing we could do so we went back to bed. Braced our feet across the v berth so we wouldn't roll sideways and went back to sleep waiting for the tide to come up. As you can imagine we did not sleep much.  But we got up early pulled anchor and proceeded along.  There is always something.  It was a beautiful day and we had 8 bridge to go through we headed to Peck Lake.  Wind were high when we arrived we did not even deploy the dinghy.  We were both tired from the last 3 day so we just sat on the boat and read.  Next stop was Vero Beach, we stopped there before too, needed provisions.  But before we got there we turned left at the wrong bridge ran aground, storm coming with high winds,  someone in a dinghy stopped and try to help after we got off the grounding.  Then we went to the next bridge and turned there and moored up in the marina.  Stayed a couple of days, spent an afternoon at the beach,  got ate up buy no see ums, nasty little bugs you can't see coming and the are stealthy to they attack in the middle of the night.  My legs looked like I had pox. 

On our way to Titusville we had to come up the Indian River near NASA we encountered small Islands along here that we named Flamingo Flats,  pink flamingos everywhere, Pelican Perch.  Also we saw at least 14 Manatee on our way through too.  Some were right next to the boat playing.  That was most excellent to see them.  Onto to Titusville Municipal Marina for night just to get a break from the winds.  We normally would have grabbed a mooring ball but with NNW winds 15 to 20 you do not want to be in the mooring field.  Staying at the marina was a treat we had electricity for first time in 8 weeks, we have a small inverter to charge our cell phones and computer on the boat.  It is amazing what you can adapt to when needed.   So we got out the cofee maker, toaster and even the microwave worked. Joe needed internet to work too.  Winds were still strong the next day and storms were expected we pulled into New Smyrna Municipal Marina early the next day and again we have electricity two days in a row. Woop! woop!  Good thing to as it was 92 degrees and we needed a fan to keep cool.  Went out for Pizza, Panheads,  yummo! Next day we are waffling back and forth wether to leave or stay, storms again.  We check the radar 20 times and we decide to leave.  we waited until one storm cell passes we cast off and get ahead of the weather.  We got rained on once it cleared up and was a nice travel day.  Anchored up in Daytona Then to Fourt Matanzas Inlet.  We saw a bobcat on the beach when we arrived,  I took photos.  Next day we toured Fort Matanzas something we did not do on our way south.  It was pretty cool.  Now we just left St. Augustine and we are anchoring out tonight.  Saw a pod of dolphins near one of the bridges they had a brand new baby wit them it was sticking it's whole head above the water, so cute.  Dolphins have been plentiful on our travels. Tides were against us this morning so progress was slow.  We pulled over and anchored up for 2 hours to wait it out had lunch now we are under way.  Our next major stop will be Cumberland Island it is on the Florid Georgia border.  Meeting up with Mike Pitzer and Tom Baker on Diva.  We hope to jump outside and sail up to South Carolina and buddy up with them.  I will let you know how that works out. TTFN

Bobcat at Fort Matanzas Beach