Goodbye to Friends...

With cruising you are always meeting new people.  It is part of what makes the adventure fun.  Unfortunately, you also need to often say goodbye to friends as they (or you) continue your voyage in a different direction.  Such was the case this week as we prepared to say goodbye to Jim and Murphy the Wonderdog as well as Kevin and Marlene.

We've had a great time over the last month between happy hours, dinners, game nights, a trip to the beach and more.  Attached are a bunch of photos from our adventures together in Stuart. 

Now Marlene, about that ironing....... =)

Take care and safe travels!

The Admiral

The Captain's Birthday....

I know it has been awhile since my last post.  Time is somehow slipping by.  Not sure how, but even cruising (or in this case staying put) it passes quicker than one expects.

In this case, I happened to glance at the date and discovered it was the Captain's birthday.  So I dragged him off - willingly - to the bakery at The Fresh Market where he had been ogling the display case of goodies for several weeks now.  He picked out two birthday cakes and a small group of us gathered for a celebration of Dave's big day.

The Admiral

Happy New Year!

With the Christmas holiday behind us, more of our friends finally arrived in Stuart......just in time to celebrate the New Year. So a group of us - Mike and Polly from Chinook, Barb from Tahoe, Kevin and Marlene from Tika and Jim, Kathy and wonderdog Murphy from Charm - all got together around the marina's bbq grill and had quite the feast. Mother Nature gave us a fine end to the year with a pleasant evening and an awesome sunset.

We ate. We drank. We had a great time but, unfotunately, we didn't quite make it to midnight. Instead the champagne was opened sometime after 10pm and we all enjoyed a bit of the bubbly.

The Admiral

It's Christmas Time....

 

The holiday season has been a bit peculiar.  Heat and humidity has kept the holiday spirit at bay.  That was until yesterday when a cold northerly wind blew in forcing us into jeans and jackets.  Getting off the boat and into the dinghy was an experience - we were surfing the waves from the mooring field.

To celebrate we decided to go downtown and enjoy some of the holiday lights.  Drinks and a hot brownie sundae (key word hot as we searched for hot totties and found none) also added to the festive mood.  Additionally, it was Riverfest weekend where the city brings in various bands throughout the year to play.  This weekend was a rock band with a Van Halen tribute.  Not very holiday festive, but fun to rock and boogie all the same.

Back at the marina we concluded our evening in the Captain's Lounge where we and many others sung Christmas carols and all learned exactly who doesn't have vocal talent.  It was great fun and exactly what we needed to kick up the holiday spirit!

Happy Holidays!!

The Captain and Admiral

Sightings on the Waterway...

 

As we traveled south on the Intracoastal Waterway we saw our share of birdlife and dolphins.  We even saw a few snouts of manatee as they surfaced for a breath.  We were surprised to see manatee as the weather was unseasonably cool and we had anticipated that the manatee would have headed deeper south into warmer waters. 

One morning we found that the Goodyear blimp had just taken off somewhere nearby and was still low in the sky as it went overhead. 

And still another day we found jet skiers tooling down the waterway.  Now jet skiers would not be an unusual sighting but what was interesting was the jet ski itself.  If you look closely at the photo the jet ski is actually a four wheel ATV where the wheels tip up and the unit transforms into a jet ski.  I guess you'd call it a transformer.  Look for at a retail store near you soon..... or perhaps already?!

The Admiral

Titusville....



 

There is nothing quite as fun as stopping in a town and then just haphazardly stumbling across some really cool festival.  That isn't exactly what happened during our stay in Titusville....but it was close.  We stopped to visit friends John, Mary and four legged Goliath when John said, "hey you need to stay a day longer because Food Truck Wars is coming to town."  Food trucks.....over 40 food trucks.... yeah we're there!  And what a great time.  There were food trucks of all kinds - BBQ, seafood, middle eastern, Mexican, Thai, bakery goods, fast food, Jamacian, ice cream and more more more!  They even had a special dogs only food truck where we could pick up some new grub for Goliath to try.  Thanks Chef Michael!

The only trouble with sooooo many foods to sample is you just don't have enough appetite for all the yummy stuff you want to try.  So we settled with award winning fish tacos, Charleston shrimp and grits and county award winning lobster bisque.  Mmmmmmm. 

The diets started two days later.

 

The Admiral

Happy Hour...

 

 

Our first official happy hour of the season took place at Hurricane's Bar and Grill in St. Augustine.  It was our first visit to Hurricane's but will not be the last.  Great ribs.  The company was splendid too - Jim, Kathy, Ed and Lynn.  Four legged wonderdog Murphy was there also.

The amazing thing about St. Augustine and a lot of Florida is that despite the absence of snow they really get festive for the holiday.  Immediately after Thanksgiving town is decorated.  The Christams parade is in full swing and the trollies are all playing Christmas music. 

It just is a bit odd to be walking around in shorts and t-shirts while there are wreaths and holly strung everywhere.

The Admiral