2/19/17 thru 2/24/17

What a view!!!!!

Me & my baby.....

View across harbor

Leaving this dock proved to be a challenge as we knew it would. It was somewhat windy and shallow getting around the poles. So we waited until high tide before leaving. It was still a tight squeeze so another boater got down his dinghy and came around to push our bow out from the dock, where the wind was pushing us into, and kept us going in the right direction. Amazing what other boaters will do to help out!
We traveled 18 miles to Orchid Bay Marina in Guana Cay. We had to go through an area called Whale Passage, which took us out into the Atlantic then back into the Sea of Abacos. The waves weren't so bad but it was still very windy. When we arrived at the marina, getting docked was a huge challenge. There were dock hands, plus several other boaters grabbing lines and pulling us in!
There are 2 famous restaurant/bars here and we have tried them both; Nippers and Grabbers. Both are very good, and of course the scenery is perfect! Our hope was to get our dinghy down and ride to these spots, but that didn't happen because of the weather. A storm with heavy rain and wind prevented that from happening. So we walked or rode bikes when it wasn't raining. It was always too windy for the dinghy..........We were on the end of the pier, so we got the heavy hits of the waves, and rocked so bad that we were up moving anything breakable or packing towels around glassware in cabinets. Two nights of this!!! Today is beautiful and calm and lots of boaters left. But we stayed to hopefully catch up on wifi duties. We are riding bikes back to Grabbers for another Guana Grabber b4 we leave. I've not had a rum drink in years, but these are awesome!!!
Today we leave for Little Harbor..................

Group of friends @ Grabbers (Us, Kellirae n Bill on Ocean Dancer, V n Ronny on Corporate SailOut, Dave n Tracy our new friends from Georgia)

On porch trying to hook up to wifi

view of harbor

Funky tractor on the road

Funky building

Nippers for lunch on the Sea of Abaco

2/12/17 thru 2/18/17

Waiting for our Conch Salad to be made!

Miss Violet @ The Blue Bee Bar

We left on the 12th along with 3 other boats. We have made so many new friends, we are all going to the same anchorage @ Great Sale Cay (pronounced key). The next night we anchored @ Powell Cay. We were going to spend another night and day (there was a beach and walking trail to a bluff; I know my back and legs are in bad shape right now BUT I'll do as much as I can for as long as I can),  but the wind was getting rough, so we decided to go in to the marina just a few miles away, Leeward Yacht Club.
This place is absolutely beautiful, super nice and clean, restaurant, gift shop and great people working here. On Valentine Day we took our dinghy across the sound to their town, New Plumouth, and walked to Harvey's for a good dinner.I had to climb up and down ladders to get in and out of the dinghy. It wasn't real easy especially with my back issues, but I made it! If someone had taken a video, I'm sure it would have won a prize.................lol
Two of our days here was so windy that we just stayed close to the boat and didn't venture out. I love love the wind, and the nip in the air................but getting in and out of the dinghy would have been difficult.
On Friday we took the dinghy over to another marina at The Bluff House in White Sound to visit with our friends (Scott n Marilyn on Lady Catherine and Bill n Kellirae on Ocean Dancer). On Saturday we left Marena on the boat (I hate leaving her, she wants to go so bad); took the dinghy across the sound (Black Sound) and walked into town. Ate breakfast @ McIntosh Bakery, toured the town and grocery shopped. They have 3 here but are tiny ............We stopped where a fisherman was cleaning the Conch and he showed us how to get the meat from the shell. Educational. We bought his fresh made conch (pronounced like konk, if you don't know) salad, that he made while we waited. Very good.........Now for the highlight; there are are couple of small bars that we had been told to visit. We went to Miss Emily's Blue Bee Bar, home of the world famous Goombay Smash that she invented! Miss Emily passed in 1997 and her daughter Violet runs the restaurant n bar now. We had one.........and if we hadn't had groceries and had to climb down a ladder into a dinghy, we would have had two!!!!! lol   She sells it by the gallon to go ($80), but we didn't go that route. Anyhow; a fun, fun day! Things here are pricey (food items), which is why we stocked up on as much as we could. We only needed some produce items................
Tomorrow we leave, heading for Orchid Bay @ Guana Cay. Hope we have wi-fi service. If not; I for sure can't blog, these international rates are horrible. We could spend the kids inheritance in just a few days!!! lol

CorkScrew's bow looking @ Marina office and Bar

"Lady Catherine"

Violet 

Harvey's on Valentines

Ye Olde Jail

Quincentennial Park

Me...............

Hair Salon 

John Lowe House

View of street as it winds around the water

My man...............

Cemeteries intrique me.....

2/8/17 thru 2/11/17

Surprise!   We pulled into Old Bahama Bay Marina yesterday at 1:30, after leaving West Palm Beach @ 6:00 am (in the dark), which I did not like at all. But in an hour the sun started rising and everything was much better...............We are at the west end of Grand Bahama Island. This marina is actually very nice, but Hurricane Matthew did a lot of damage here on this island. As for the marina, the main thing was the storm surge which was so high that it damaged all of their power poles. They are in the process of repairing and/or replacing these poles. So; we do not have power here, and that means we have to run our generator a lot to keep everything going. The refrigerator is our main concern. One of the boaters walked around to all of us here and invited us to their dock for docktails. Very nice and we got to meet some new people........
Our plans were to leave here today and go to an anchorage, but the weather was not good to travel (too windy)! So we will be here till at least Sunday. This is actually a good place to be, a beach, pool, restaurant, gift shop and lots of other boaters doing exactly what we are. Most are sailboaters, but there are several power boaters also. This is a great resort area. A friend that we just met, and I rode our bikes to a secluded beach and found a lot of gorgeous beach glass! Hopefully, I can make some jewelry with some of these pieces. Also; Sonny, Marena and I rode our bikes into their little village to a market and bought some produce. Oh my gosh, the devistation of the storm is horrible.There is a sailboat that arrived the day before us,(Tuesday); but they decided to anchor out fairly close rather than staying at the marina. Anyhow; their anchor didn't set good and it drug them into shallow water. After many attempts to move it, the owner (who has stayed on it these last 5 days), finally decided to abandon the boat. What a shame..............all because the anchor wasn't set good enough! It could happen to any of us,at anytime......

Sea Glass

Views from our boat of the marina and some of the buildings.........................................

2/7/17

I'm caught up. On my blogging. You haven't given up on me, have you?
The sad news is; I'm gonna be behind again. I'm told that internet is sketchy while there. So if we do have internet, I will do some posting.                                                                                  
Everyone take care.
We'll be back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2/2/17 thru 2/6/17

Leaving our anchorage, the trip was 34 miles to Old Port Cove Marina in North Palm Beach. We stayed here in the spring and really liked it. It is very clean, they do pumpouts at your boat, super laundry, bathroom, lounge and a great restaurant on site. There are high rise condos on 3 sides with lots of good walking areas. Tuesday we leave here to an anchorage for the night, then Wednesday morning we head for the Bahamas. We have spent these few days getting provisions for this trip. I've washed all our laundry; I hope, since water is so expensive there, Plus we plan on anchoring out a lot. I'm told groceries are expensive there, so we are stocked up on what we could. I HOPE!!!!!

 Saturday morning @ farmers mkt

Kids playing pan drums....

1/30/17 thru 2/1/17

Our trip today is 55 miles to an anchorage on the south side of The NASA Causeway Bridge. This bridge is a connector from Titusville to Cape Canaveral. Traffic is heavy on this roadway. The bridge is a drawbridge because of taller vessels traveling up and down the intracoastal waterway. There was heavy rain and a huge cooldown, so the weather was breezy and cooler. We grilled out for dinner; because most marinas don't allow grilling on boats.
The next morning we traveled 40 miles to Serenity Island anchorage @ Palm Bay, Fl.
On our last day we traveled 56 miles to anchor @ Jensen Beach Bridge. There were lots of other boats anchored here as well.

1/27/17 thru 1/29/17

Got an early start today for 53 miles to Daytona Beach, Halifax Harbor Marina. This is a great marina, we also stayed here in the spring. We visited with friends from Nashville who have a condo here, went to dinner, then back to their place for dessert. Pat & Judy.........thanks for the evening, we had a great time! On Saturday morning we walked to the farmers market with Rob n Sandy and bought some great veggies and fruit. The strawberries were from Plant City and were wonderful! Wish we could've bought more................

1/24/17 thru 1/26/17

We traveled 60 miles to St. Augustine and will stay here for two days. The marina is located in the Old Town Art District. We walked and walked these streets, lots of galleries and great restaurants. We ate @ The Columbia & O C White's, PizzaTime, GelatoTime, and Kukkaburra coffee house; awesome food. Did I tell you that there was no cooking on the boat during this stay???  We also took a train tour around town but didn't have time to visit those places; so we will come back! Flagler College is located here, converted from an old hotel.I'll do another post when we revisit............

O C White's Seafood House for lunch/supper (I call it lupper) lol

Riding on The Red Train Trolley

Wall built of Oyster shells............

NGA built like The Alamo

1/11/17 thru 1/18/17

ok................first thing, there are no posts until this date because when we left Courtney's the day after Christmas I did not feel well. By the time we left Decatur, I was horrible. After a week of this stuff, I gave it to Sonny. After another week, we both finally felt like leaving Ortega River Marina and exploring the St Johns River, which we had planned to do.  I sure am glad we both were well enough to do this............loved, loved this river. It was gorgeous. Sanford, Fl..................a place on this river we just might want to stay; someday. Who knows? Corky Bells @ East Palatka, Morrison Island, Paramore's Fish Camp (ate at Buck n Kat's). Butcher's Bend  (Manatee's, Alligators, rode dinghy around this area with the gator), Monroe Harbor Marina in Sanford, Fl, (the furthest point, now we turn around and go back), Astor Bridge Marina, Lake George (dinghyed in to Silver Glen Springs), Black Creek, then back to Ortega River Marina!

Corky Bells in Palatka, Fl

Fish Camp

ok.........a birdhouse hanging over the river??

From the dinghy you get some great shots.....

Silver Glen Springs (natural spring), now this is an alligator!

Sunset

Parramore's Campground

Entrance into Astor Marina (kinda narrow, huh?)

See my underwater friend????

Astor Marina

Sanford, Fl................regatta

Sanford, Fl

Buck n Kat's @ Parramore's

A phone booth?

View of the water lilies..........

Sonny getting our life jackets ready...

Butcher's Bend Anchorage (gator country)...lol