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