Apolonia

5 Apr 2015 --Harbor town Marina, FT Pierce, FL

Up to Easter Sunday. Sunny and warm. We used the car to take a trip to Stuart, FL to check out the area. We took Maddy and she enjoyed the drive. Mid afternoon we went back to the boat, settled Maddy in for the afternoon and headed out to Tom and Jan's place in Vero Beach. They had invited us for Easter Dinner along with their neighbor's Don and Connie. Jan is my second cousin and we have had a good time visiting over the last week. Before dinner we took a boat trip on Don and Connie's boat around the area. A special treat. Following that we had a special meal prepared by Tom and Jan. It was rated 5 stars by all of us. Tom is a chef in his own business and Jan loves to cook. We were really treated to a special meal of Lamb, scalloped potatoes and julienned vegetables. Simply a great meal. Jan finished the meal with a fantastic dessert that was flan over a chocolate cake. Absolutely amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 Apr 2015 --Harbor town Marina, FT Pierce, FL

Easy Monday. We kept the rental car and Carey used it to stock up on necessary "stuff." We also did a tour of the area and looked at each other and said, "Are we leaving this place or not?" Honestly we're not ready to leave. We're having a great time here. We'll know about leaving soon as we're suppose to have news about the rebuilt anchor windlass shipment soon.

7 Apr 2015 --Harbor town Marina, FT Pierce, FL

Should be a good day, as the anchor windlass should be repaired and placed en route to us in Florida. At the end of the day we got word that the windlass is in fact en route to us. Hopefully it will be installed soon. We had dinner with Bonnie this evening at a nice place on Hutcheson Island. Nice day.

8 Apr 2015 --Harbor town Marina, FT Pierce, FL

Quiet day. We received confirmation that the repaired anchor windlass is on its way. Should arrive by noon tomorrow. We are now planning on leaving FT Pierce Saturday morning, the 11th.

9-10 Apr 2015 --Harbor town Marina, FT Pierce, FL

Well, it has been a couple of days since last my last update. We are enjoying the weather and doing routine chores. Thursday night the 9th Jan and Tom came to Harbor Town Marina and we treated them to dinner at Harbor Cove.  Fun evening.  The next day I changed the engine oil in the main engines. Went well, except I found a slight leak in the fresh water pump on the port main engine and it will have to be replaced soon. I've scheduled that job for Sunday here in FT Pierce. The anchor windlass came today and install went well until we found out the shaft (driven by the motor) turned counter-clockwise instead of the required clockwise rotation. While the rebuild was generally very professional and it appears the "rebuild" will last a long time, the fact the motor turns the wrong way requires it to go to a motor rebuild shop here in FT Pierce to change the direction. Our installer could not make the change in the wiring. It is not as simple as changing the leads as is possible on some DC motors. After dealing with the windlass on Friday we were picked up by Dianne McKee and Ronnie Farmer, friends from Colonial Beach who live in the area here half the year. We ate at the 12A Buoy Restaurant on the Inter-coastal Waterway. Great meal with friends.

11 Apr 2015 --Harbor town Marina, FT Pierce, FL

It is Saturday the 11th and the windlass electric motor is off the boat again and in a rebuild shop in FT Pierce. Should be back by Monday. Planned departure is now Tuesday morning. Hey, we are enjoying it so much we may just stay. We rented a car as Enterprise has really cheap rates for the weekend. We took Maddy for a drive around the area. Fun day. We plan on an early evening back to the boat after dinner at a Mexican restaurant we've had our eye on.

12 Apr 2015 --Harbor town Marina, FT Pierce, FL

I'll have to get back to taking pictures soon. We had a quiet Sunday. We went out in the rental car to get Carey her Sunday papers -- she calls this the big paper day. Maddy enjoyed the ride. I had scheduled a replacement of the fresh water pump on the port main engine. That happened on time. A done deal. I also completed and submitted our 2014 taxes. I really hate this job but I'd procrastinated enough. Carey and I enjoyed appetizers and drinks mid afternoon at the local restaurant to celebrate the tax work being done and submitted. We're now aboard and will have dinner and relax. Even caught a bit of the last round of the Masters Tournament. Tomorrow we're hopeful the anchor windlass will finally be fixed and installed.

13 Apr 2015 --Harbor town Marina, FT Pierce, FL

It's Monday! Carey took Maddy for a grooming and then returned the rental "truck." We had lunch with Jan and Connie at the marina early afternoon and watched a sailboat trying to get underway without getting tied up in the slips. After watching the sailboat during lunch I went to the boat and waited for the anchor windlass to be returned and installed. It made it back. It is installed and appears to work just fine. We'll know in the next few days as we plan to anchor a good bit. Carey met Diane McKee (from Colonial Beach) late afternoon and they went on a happy hour tour of local bars. We should be in bed early tonight and plan on heading north tomorrow. Time to get back to Virginia, even though we have thoroughly enjoyed this stop.

14 Apr 2015 -- Eau Gallie Yacht Basin, Melbourne, FL.

Left Harbor Town Marina this morning after a very pleasant stay. Their long term rates proved to be the best we've experienced on the entire trip. Fantastic. We paid the windlass installer and then pulled out at 11:30AM. We traveled 50 statue miles to Eau Gallie Yacht Basin in the Melbourne, FL area. We've stayed before and love the place. We've been invited to a marina food fest tomorrow and we'll decide in the morning what we'll going to do.

15 Apr 2015 -- Eau Gallie Yacht Basin, Melbourne, FL.

We decided to stay for the food festival this evening. Great decision. About 18 live aboards prepared a great meal with sides from all participants. We shared many boating stories and met some very interesting people. Loved it. We'll leave tomorrow moving north. Sorry but forgot the camera tonight.

16 Apr 2015 -- Titusville Municipal Marina, Titusville, FL

Left Eau Gallie Yacht Basin at 10:30 AM this morning and headed for Titusville. Great trip with 80 degree weather and clear skies. We arrived at Titusville at 2:30 PM. Rain and nasty weather coming up for the next several days so we decided to take a slip at Titusville after fueling. Fuel prices $2.83, 20 cents higher than when we came down the ICW. Storm inbound so we're happy to be here. We'll leave tomorrow and travel in what is forecast to be heavy rain toward Marine Land Marina, an 80 mile trip. Might as well make way when the weather is not great.

17 Apr 2015 -- Marine Land Marina, Marine Land, FL

Up early and underway by 8 am for the 85 mile trip to Marine Land marina. We like the place and it is inexpensive. We decided to pull a long day as the weather was overcast and rainy. Why not pull this day on the waterway. We passed over three dozen boats on the waterway today -- a bunch. Boat ran great and we moved smartly along arriving at Marine Land at 5 PM.

18 Apr 2015 -- Alligator Creek, FL

We traveled 7 hours and anchored at Alligator Creek, just 23 mile south of Fernandina Beach. We crossed the St Johns River at Jacksonville, FL. en route our anchorage.  Once anchored we had a drink and then experienced a major thunderstorm with lightening within 1/8th of a mile from the boat. Amazing light show with sheets of rain -- no rain drops. Maddy was the only one on board that was not phased by the show. A sailboat ahead of us in the anchorage drug anchor and headed right for us. We blew the horn and started preps to get out of the way when the boat's Captain pulled the sailboat out of the way and drug his anchor well south of us. He is now safe and secure. We were safe and sound and felt good about the work done on the windlass in FT Pierce.  We have the generator running and Carey is fixing a great meal.  We're having a great time moving north, abet slowly. 

19 Apr 2015 -- Fernandina Beach Municipal Marina, Fernandina Beach, FL

Up to sunny skies. We were excited about moving to Jekyll Island Marina, Georgia, but when we called they were full. We have found that the good marinas are generally booked. We must plan further ahead. However, the weather prediction for the next few days is not good so we decided to go to Fernandina Beach and stay two days. Since our anchorage last evening was only just over 10 miles from Fernandina Beach we were tied up by 10:30 AM. We relaxed and enjoyed lunch and dinner out. We're enjoying and will do more of it tomorrow.  Major storm hit late afternoon and luckily we were inboard of a large cruise ship and she protected us from the winds and seas hitting those boats on the outside face dock.

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20 Apr 2015 -- Fernandina Beach Municipal Marina, Fernandina Beach, FL

Nice day and we planned to surprise Brian and Melanie at their restaurant LuLu's this evening. I got to do some chores -- battery check, cleaning rust from stainless, found and repaired trim tab system leak and maintenance of hydraulic steering system. Nice day. After the evening storm we headed out for LuLu's and showing it is a small world ran into Brian and Melanie as we walked up to their place. They were closed on Monday's so we agreed to meet later for drinks at their house. We enjoyed visiting with them.

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21 Apr 2015 -- Morning Star Marina, Golden Isles, St Simons Island, GA

Underway at 8:30 to meet some shoal areas at near high tide we moved 40 miles north to St Simons Island. Tied up early at 1:30 PM. Nice easy day with 75 degree sunny weather. No thunderstorms today. We are seeing many boats moving on the waterway -- over 3 dozen today. We had wanted to stay at Jekyll Island Marina tonight but they were full. The good marinas are full or nearly so requiring us to plan ahead a bit more than in the past. Morning Star marina is nice but very big requiring a long walk to get Maddy to her grass walk area. Carey fixed hamburgers on board tonight, a real treat. We are planning a long day tomorrow as the tides fit with making it easy with some Georgia shoal areas. We'll see if we make it the full 90 miles we are planning.

22 Apr 2015 -- Isle of Hope Marina, Savannah GA

We decided that the tides were with us and we were going to make it an easy cruise thru several shoal areas. We moved easily through Little Mud River and Hell's Gate, two of the worst on the ICW. Easy cruise and we made an 88 mile day from St Simons Island to Isle of Hope on the outskirts of Savannah. Tomorrow we'll be in Beaufort, SC where we will probably stay two days. Peggy and Diane, doing the loop are a bit over 150 miles behind us now. Hopefully we see them in the next week.  You'll see a picture of the Ritter Memorial Bridge -- you must ask Shannon of the significance of this designation. It really was an easy trip today and we enjoyed the beautiful weather and beautiful scenary.

23 Apr 2015 -- Ladies Island Marina, Beaufort, SC

We got underway at 9 AM and headed north. An easy and beautiful trip through the low country of Georgia. We crossed the Savannah River and moved into South Carolina. Lots of boats moving north. It appears there are many people that think the weather is getting warmer up north. We made a 55 mile trip to Beaufort, SC and stopped at Ladies Island Marina. We'll stop here two days. It's a great place and inexpensive. We'll relax, do laundry, and accomplish a few chores. Yep, we'll eat and have fun also. Last evening the inverter/charger I installed in 2007 -- 8 years ago -- stopped charging. Trouble shooting with techs from Xantrex confirmed it is a bad relay on the AC board and can only be repaired by sending it back to the service center. Luckily we have a backup charger and the invert function of the Xantrex still works. We'll make it home just fine and repair it once back in Colonial Beach.

24 Apr 2015 -- Ladies Island Marina, Beaufort, SC

Second day at Ladies Island Marina. We relaxed, read and took the courtesy car out to re-provision. This marina is like a close community of people. We were invited to a party this evening which we'll at least stop by, but Carey has her interest in a Japanese Restaurant we ate at the last time we were here. Turns out the restaurant was closed so we stopped by the "Upper Crust" a great pizza and Italian pasta place. We had a fantastic meal. We're now back on board getting ready to move to the Town Marina in Beaufort tomorrow where we will fuel and enjoy another part of Beaufort, SC. Too early to move north to fast.

25 Apr 2015 -- Ladies Island Marina, Beaufort, SC

Third day at Ladies Island Marina. Rain and wind predicted today so we stayed put. I did some boat chores and Carey and I relaxed. Carey fixed lunch and dinner onboard and we watched the rain fall and wind blow. A really pleasant day. We're off tomorrow for Charleston SC.

26 Apr 2015 -- Isle of Palms, FL.

We left Ladies Island Marina at 1030 AM and headed for Beaufort Down Town Marina to Fuel. We fueled and got underway by 11 AM for Isle of Palm Marina. Fuel price was good but the service was terrible.  They thought we owed them our money.  Last time to stop at Beaufort Town Down Marina.  It was an 80 mile run to Isle of Palms, SC and we did it in 7 hours arriving at 6 PM. Boat ran great and the only problem was it was Sunday and there were many boats on the waterway. Lots of get up and go and then slow down.

27 Apr 2015 -- Harbor Walk Marina, George Town, SC

Up early, we joined a boat broker named Bobby and he took us to view a boat Bill Bowman is considering. We toured the boat and sent our opinion and some pictures to Bill. It appears to be a reasonable boat for review by Bill. He'll decide soon. We really enjoyed taking the time to review the boat and pass on our opinion. We made it back to Apolonia and were underway by noon and on our way to George Town, SC. A very pleasant 50 mile trip.

28 Apr 2015 -- Harbor Walk Marina, George Town, SC

Up to a work day. Carey did laundry and I cleaned the outside of the boat. It was cloudy and cool at the start of the day but soon become warm and sunny. Nice quiet day. Diane and Peggy caught up to us today and pulled in mid afternoon. We had drinks aboard and then walked to River Room where the four of us had a fantastic meal. Other friends Bru and Sandy Brubaker also pulled in to George Town, mooring at another marina. They walked down to where we were staying and we all visited for a while. Great time. We'll probably stay another day as tomorrow's weather appears to include lots of rain. We'll see what happens.  And I must say we are now experiencing some cooler weather.  I have not been in a long sleeve shirt since we headed south in late December.  Are we heading back north too soon?

29/30 Apr 2015 -- Barefoot Landing Marina, Myrtle Beach, SC

Up on the 29th to lots of rain so we decided to stay another day. Also a reason for staying was that Diane and Peggy were staying another day. They were preparing to leave their boat in Georgetown for several weeks as they went back to Colonial Beach by rental car to take care of business. The day of the 29th was mostly a relax and read day as it rained and rained. Later in the afternoon it quit and all four of us went to the WildFish Grill, a superb place to have some good food. The morning of the 30th we got underway for Barefoot Landing, stopping at Osprey Marina to buy some diesel at $2.44 per gallon!!!! That made me smile. Once at Barefoot landing we went to Greg Norman's Australian Grill. Some boaters said they had great steaks. Not all of them we found out. We had their special Filet Au Poivre. The sauce was too heavy and hot and it was not worth the price. It was worth a try though. It just did not work out. We're back on board and getting ready for a long day to Wrightsville Beach tomorrow.