Roughing It...

We have settled in our spot for the holidays along catamaran row. What a rough month it will be. Dave and I can’t figure out what to do each day. Should we work out in the fitness center, swim in the pool, enjoy the jacuzzi or sit in the sauna. Too much to choose from! (Needless to say this is the first marina with amenities we’ve stayed at.)

We will be out of touch from now until after the holidays. In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday season and a great new year.

Dave and Joanne
12/16/08

Vero Beach...

Vero Beach is also known as Velcro Beach and now we understand why. The city has everything a cruiser needs and it all comes bundled with a great free city bus service so that everything is accessible. Dave and I even found a Panera Bread and I’ve enjoyed my first latte in the last 3 months. I think I am in heaven – 80 degrees, sunshine and latte. What more does a girl need? =)

The municipal marina is far different from anything we’ve seen before. They raft boats together on the mooring balls. We are joined with two other catamarans making for one wide load on the mooring ball!!

Next stop Stuart Florida.

The Admiral
12/10/08-12/12/08

PS: Happy Birthday Mom!!

Daytona Beach...

Traveling along the ICW in Florida we saw some of the most unusual sites - Santa Claus lawn ornaments in the lawn. This just seemed so strange in a climate which does not get snow and where it is about 70 degrees currently.

We arrived in Daytona Beach – the home of SPEED – NASCAR SPEED. It was only appropriate that the boy’s got out their ‘wheels’ to tool around in. While the guys checked out the marine surplus store, the ladies began Christmas shopping along Beach Street. We went to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday and picked up some of the great Florida citrus fruit available.

They had a Holiday parade the other evening. It was my first evening parade and was interesting to see all the parade participants try to dress themselves in lights for the evening event. Baton twirlers had batons which glowed at the ends. Dogs had been dressed in outfits which included Christmas lights. Fire and police cars came down the parade route with there flashers going and floats were all decked out with lights.

The Admiral
12/4/08-12/6/08

St. Augustine...

What a splendid walking city!! We walked the pedestrian streets, saw the old fort and had PIZZA!! I know, your thinking pizza big deal, but Dave and I had gone into pizza deprivation not having had one since mid October – yes you heard right. Even better it was the pizzas were ½ price and 2 for 1 drinks during Happy Hour. Can’t beat that!

Along our walk we found a doggie bakery and were able to pick up a few gourmet biscuits for Goliath – John and Mary’s chihuahua. He and I are now best buds.

The Admiral
12/2/08-12/3/08

Florida at Last!

I know this sounds ridiculous but yes, the sun just seems a little bit brighter now that we have crossed into Florida. My imagination I know, but please, let me imagine!

Our first stop in Florida was St. George Island. The Island is home to the old Kingsley Plantation, now a national park. We toured the grounds which are known to have some of the best remains of old slave cabins but that was not the coolest part of the day. The coolest part, was that we saw armadillos. Yes, armadillos! In fact one walked all the way up to my foot, took one sniff of my tennis shoe and ran off in the other direction. Now what do you think that means! And please temper your comments!

The Admiral
12/1/08

North?

A bit of a departure, I know, but instead of heading south from St. Mary’s we actually headed north a few miles to Cumberland Island, Georgia home to the Cumberland Island National Park.

The island is home to Dungeness – one of the former Carnegie mansions. The mansion was destroyed by fire many years ago but much of the concrete walls remain. Also on the island are “wild” horses. For those of you (Amy) immediately thinking of mustangs running free along the beach allow me to put this in perspective. The horses we saw looked tired, some fat, some thin and none of them running but merely walking along the trails.

The beach, however, was great fun. Weather cooperated for the day and we were able to shed our coats in the warmer weather. We walked with friends John and Mary – who we will be traveling with for a while- along the beach. John is a shell aficionado and was able to explain the different shells we found. We also found the remains of lots of horseshoe crabs which as you can tell by the attached photo get pretty big.

We will be here a few days waiting for the next line of storms to pass. Then it is on to Florida!

The Admiral
11/29/08 – 11/30/08

Thanksgiving…

Festivities in St. Mary’s continued to build throughout the week and just when you thought things couldn’t get any better – it was the main event - Thanksgiving Day. Between cruisers and residents they estimated 275 people were at the feast. That’s a lot of turkey, ham and all the fixings. Afterwards, Dave and I were stuffed and looking for a good nap – just like back home!

It was a big event and even included the local Jacksonville news. Our friends John and Mary were interviewed for the segment and Captain Dave even managed a cameo appearance as he went through the buffet line followed by a close up of his plate overflowing with goodies – why am I not surprised by this? The news segment was posted on-line if you’d like to look for it – www.firstcoastnews.com – look for the segment called Docked for Thanksgiving.

You’d think the party would have ended on Thursday – but no – we are cruisers after all. Instead there was a cruisers swap meet on Friday morning which included mimosas.

Then it was time to head out again. Next stop Cumberland Island.

The Admiral
11/26/08-11/28/08