St. Augustine in Pictures

In other words I'm not feeling very creative tonight....OK just kidding but the pictures tell a better story.

We spent last weekend in St. Augustine and it is definitely a town worth a few day's visit. The first day we rented a car and did some shopping as well as taking a trip to Green Cove Springs to pick up our mail and find out where we live. On the way back we found (wait for it).....a brewery!!!

Once back to the boat we spent a bit of time walking around town. The marina is right downtown and the original plan was to take a mooring ball for the weekend, until we saw the weather forecast. They were calling for winds up to 40 mph and that wouldn't be fun. The marina is next to the famous Bridge of Lions.

Note the difference?

Saturday was visit day. Jill's cousin Lynn came up from Daytona for a lunch visit. Jill hadn't seen here in at least 15 years and I had never met her. It was a very nice visit and Jill really enjoyed catching up. Later in the afternoon my niece Ashley and her partner Aly came down from Jacksonville. Unfortunately they got away before I got a picture of them on the boat...I tried to Photoshop us in but it didn't work.

Jill & Lynn

Aly & Ashley

Sunday we spent the day doing the tourest thing and walked all over St. Augustine. We saw Flagler College and had to get some pictures for Mark (and Matt if he follows).

Uncle Henry

Campus

Rotunda

Castillo de San Marcos

We are now in Brunswick Ga. heading toward Savannah tomorrow and should be in Hilton Head mid week. Stand by for the next exciting blog where I'll detail what can happen when you loose an engine in a busy seaway!!! It'll be riveting I'm sure.

Ft. Lauderdale to St. Augustine

After close to 6 months in our adopted state of Florida we've almost made it to the Georgia line. We left Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday April 5th with the hope to make Cape Canaveral by Friday for a rare rocket launch. We covered a lot of ground in a few days but had the anchor down with 45 minutes to spare before the launch.

When we left Lauderdale we were running in mostly concrete lined canals with more mega yachts or high dollar real estate for about 40 miles. After that the ICW opened up a bit and became more wooded and scenic.

One thing we noticed as we headed toward North Palm Beach that day was that the palm trees had disappeared from the shore line and been replaced with pine again...looks like we're finally moving north. We began to see more Osprey also and most nests had young being tended to.

After a long day we made it to North Palm Beach and Old Port Cove marina. This place had a good rate on slips and even gave a bottle of wine with their welcome kit. We were probably the smallest and oldest boat on the "big boat" dock. After getting tied up and washed down I went for a walk and noticed a boat a few slips up called Sunday Money...previously owned by Dale Earnhardt Sr. and his wife. Next to that one was the smaller of 2 boats named Hi Banx owned by the France family who own most of NASCAR...we were in the high rent district for sure.

HiBanx & Sunday Money

 
Another boat in the marina was on the "really" big boat dock named Honey. This one was owned by Tiger Woods. Good to see he has someplace to relax since he's not golfing so well.

Honey on the far dock

After 2 nights in North Palm we moved on to Vero Beach mooring field for one night and then anchored in a spot just off the ICW with a perfect view of the NASA complex and the launch pad for the SpaceX rocket on a supply mission to the International Space Station. The launch was really great to see in person and impressive to "feel" the rocket about a minute after launch.

After a bumpy night at anchor due to winds we moved a few miles further to the city of Titusville mooring field for a couple of nights. Titusville was a busy little town during the heyday of the space race and is trying really hard to make a comeback. They have a few "downtown" blocks with some nice restaurants and even a brewery...we always look for the brewery's.  There is also a park dedicated to the space industry.

Brewery in the old hardware store

After Titusville we headed to New Smyrna city marina for a couple of nights to re-charge. We had been on a mooring or anchored for 4 nights and our house batteries need a good charge and I sleep better tied to a dock!! New Smyrna is one of the hidden gems on the east coast of Florida. The old downtown is bustling with shops and restaurants (and a brewery). We didn't even get over to the newer side of town near the beach and easily could have stayed there longer. One surprise while at New Smyrna was a visit from my Nephew Jeff and his wife Caren (Niece-in-Law??). They had just returned from a weekend cruise that went out of Port Canaveral and decided to stay in the area an extra day.

He's not really that short.

After New Smyrna we headed further up the coast to St. Augustine where we are spending this weekend. Just before passing Daytona Beach we spotted our first Bald Eagles of the trip. I expected to see them more in the river system and was surprised to see this one just hanging out on the beach...I guess that's what you do in Daytona.

We also passed by the bigger and newer Hi Banx as we were passing through. As they say...must be nice. I still prefer to have our smaller boat that doesn't need a crew or a small fortune to operate.

We'll save St. Augustine for another blog but will say this is a really cool town with a ton of history. The "plan" is to leave here tomorrow for Jacksonville before heading up to Fernandina Beach and Brunswick (as in Georgia!!) by Wednesday or Thursday. After that we have no real schedule, just follow spring as it moves north.

I've had some gentile reminders that we're not blogging often enough. I have no real excuse except that we're having too much fun to sit down and write something. It's a lot of work being this creative!! We have added a new feature for those of you that can't get enough of our adventures...we now have a Twitter feed!! I'm trying to get out a little blurb on the days we are traveling so you can go to the blog and follow along if interested. we are @mvchasing80

That's it for now....next post from Georgia....or South Carolina....

Key Largo to Fort Lauderdale

So we last left you heading north (east) back up the keys and toward southeast Florida. We spent a few nights back at Faro Blanco in Marathon before hitting uncharted territory. Our plan was to be in Key Largo for a few days but it turned out our friends from Green Turtle Bay, Michele & Russell, were going to be staying at a condo nearby so we stuck around a bit longer. The condo was at the famous Ocean Reef Club and even came with a fishing boat so we gave it a bit of a try....no luck but fun none the less!

It was fun to see how the "other half" live and even more fun to know this place was started by a poor insurance salesman from Cincinnati...go figure!!

After Key Largo we finally headed back toward the "mainland" with a night anchored off Sands Key in Biscayne Bay where we visited Boca Chita National park on Easter morning before heading up to Miami.

It was a pretty easy run up to Miami where we were able to set the anchor before 2:00 and relax for the afternoon. Along the way we passed Stiltsville which has a pretty colorful history if you care to check it out.

Once in Miami we anchored for the night in the old Miami Marine Stadium where they used to have boat racing and concerts in the 60's-80's and there is talk of bringing it back to life. This year the famous Miami Boat Show was held there. It's a well protected anchorage with a great view of the Miami skyline.

The old grandstands

Something you don't see everyday...

Miami at night.

After a peaceful night in Miami we were on the move Monday morning for Hollywood City Marina where we would be staying until Friday. This was a stop we had been looking forward to as it was the first chance to rent a car and do some major re-provisioning at stores we didn't have in the keys. We put a bunch of miles on that rental in 3 days but managed to have some fun in Hollywood as well.

One stop was to check out the new Margaritaville Resort which is like a big Disneyland for Parrotheads...I think Jimmy is doing alright!! There were several nice spots to dinghy to along the wall in Hollywood and I think we could have spent more time there but they needed the slip back...

Margaritaville Resort

 On Friday we left Hollywood for the grueling 8 mile run to Fort Lauderdale. Most loopers bypass downtown Ft. Lauderdale but this was a great stop and we were able to avoid traveling the AICW on the weekend when the crazies come out!! This stop is right downtown where there seems to be something going on every day.

It's amazing how they move the mega-yachts through this narrow waterway as they go upriver to the big boat repair yards. The biggest ones have a tow boat front and back to get them through the twists and turns of this tiny river.

High Priced Yachts.

 I won't say we have the smallest boat in this stretch of the river but I don't worry much about other boats hitting us with the big cats above and below to protect us.

Even with all the Mega Yacht traffic on the river here people have no issues heading out in small boats and taking their chances....I just hope they're not drinking and driving!!

We were also lucky enough to stumble into a Crawfish and Blues festival at the Downtowner restaurant not 100 yards from the boat...what are the chances!?!? I was even talked into entering the mud-bug eating contest which I lost miserably but had fun at and ate well!!

 
Well, it was nice to get an urban fix after 3 months in the keys but tomorrow (4/5) we will start making our way up the east coast moving a bit faster and spending less time hanging out...well, that's the plan anyway. We've lost our chance to get to the Bahamas this year due to weather so we'll head toward the Hudson river without much of a schedule. Tune into the tracker tomorrow to see how far we make.....

Key We$t to Key Largo

I know the thought of us being "stuck" in Key West didn't get us much sympathy but we ended up being in Galleon Marina for 10 nights or 6 more than we had planned on. The problem was the winds were high for the whole week and we wouldn't have made it out of our slip without blowing into other boats and making a general mess of things. Even if we had gotten out there would have been no place to go since the seas were 7-10 feet out there. We ran into friends Ed & Kyle who happened to be in town at another marina and had lunch with them the first Saturday we were in as they planned on leaving Sunday morning....turns out they ended up at our marina for the whole week too after trying to head north and seeing how bad things had gotten.

Kyle, Ed & Jill at the Green Parrot

Nice thing was we were able to slow down a bit and really enjoy Key West as well as get a fresh coat of wax on the boat. Down side is we about blew the March budget in the first 2 weeks! We got to explore a bunch and found some great new spots as well as spending more time at the Parrot listening to live music almost every evening. Once we did get out of the marina we spent a couple of extra nights in the mooring field so I could get in one last Sunday afternoon jazz show at the Green Parrot. While the main band is the same every week the "horn section" changes with various musicians sitting in. The gentleman on the stool in the picture below was there every time we were and we were told he in 93!! He's still got some great lungs!!!

Key West Mooring

Finally we were able to tear ourselves away from Key West and start heading north. This time we wanted to go up the Florida Bay side of the islands since we had gone down the Atlantic thus completing a "loop" of the lower keys once we got back to the 7 mile bridge. Turns out this was a great plan even though a longer way to go. The strong winds out of the south for the previous week had given the bay a chance to become crystal clear and we could even see the crab pots 20 feet below the surface.

A big highlight of this day was the number of Dolphins we saw along the way. One "family" in particular swam in our bow wave for over 1/2 an hour (over 4 miles) never leaving and matching our speed with ease....I have no clue how they do it or why. In this case they seemed to be showing the younger one how to make the silly people on the boat do tricks like wave and clap and whistle at them...stupid human tricks I guess.

Once back in Marathon we went back to Faro Blanco for a few days to re-stock and give Jill a few days to get over a cold she acquired somewhere in Key West. Thankfully she isn't selfish at all and shared it with me as I was to find out a few days later. We were in Marathon for St. Patricks day and Jill was feeling better so we took the dinghy up to Claws n' Straws for one last round of $1.50 crab claws and the traditional Irish whiskey with a pickle back....with a beer back....don't knock it till you try it!!

After Marathon we had a short run up the inside to a FREE mooring ball in Islamorada which should help the budget recover. The mooring is free for up to 7 nights and is at Shell Key which is a state park. It was an easy dinghy ride into World Wide Sportsman and some nice restaurants. We spent 2 nights here before crossing back into the Atlantic for another short run to John Pennekamp State Park which is a well kept secret of a marina at $52.00 a night.

Shell Key mooring field

 We will be in Key Largo until Thursday when we finally start making our way out of the keys after 3 wonderful months. Our next reservations are in Hollywood Fl. (thanks Bryan) starting Monday so we're not really sure where we'll be along the way, keep an eye on the tracker.

One last note about knowing when you've been somewhere too long...The last Sunday jazz we went to at the Green Parrot I started getting the "locals" drink prices (not a bad thing) and realized I was beginning to look like the "Smirk" guy (definitely a bad thing!!!)

Until next time from somewhere not in the keys.....

More Visits, Parties and Key West

End of February brought better weather and more visitors. First up was a looper party (go figure).

There is a couple who winter in Marathon on their boat that did the loop several years ago. Seven years ago they began hosting a looper "Sunset Celebration" every year for those of us in the area. This includes people contemplating the loop who happen to be in the area. We all bring appetizers and the sponsors provide the drinks and cover the band. This year there were over 160 people attending....that's almost double the number that complete the loop each year! Several of us from Faro Blanco Marina went by dinghy and a good time was had by all (I think).

Hello, My Name is.....

Next up was a visit from friends Vickie and Bryan who decided to get away from the cold north weather for awhile. Problem was it wasn't cold when they left Cincinnati but was when they got back, oh well....I think they enjoyed the lower latitudes anyway. You regular readers will remember them from the Nashville trip last summer. I think they now have the "most nights on Chasing 80" award. As most visits began we took them to Sunset Grille to get acclimated, I think we must sit in the same seats every time!

Also we took the trip to Key West as we did with all the visitors. It would be a shame to be this close and not get to see it! I believe they had fun taking the quick tour around town, I know Jill and I did!

What did he say?

Next up was another visitor from our old marina in Cincinnati, Troy or as his friends call him T-Roy.
We can't go in to many details of his visit since this is a family blog but I believe he may have had the best visit of all....

While he was here I had a few boat bottoms to clean and he jumped right in to help (not the water). If I ever start to make money diving I may have to hire him as an assistant. I'm pretty sure he was ready to find a job and move down here after his stay. The wind had been blowing from the north again so the diving was a bit interesting with all the sea grass.

Creature From The Black Lagoon

Most of the loopers here had been scheduled to leave on March 1st but for one reason or another most extended their stay by a few days. Funny thing is the restaurant scheduled the unveiling of their new menu party for the 2nd....coincidence? I think not. We finally got some free food and drinks out of this place and made the most of it.

Well, the next day and after a bit more than 2 months in Marathon we finally got underway. Most folks began heading up the Keys toward Miami and points north...not Jill and I. We decided it would be a shame to be this close to one of our favorite towns and not take the boat, so we headed toward Key West for the weekend....we thought.

7 Mile bridge

It was great to be moving again and a nice smooth ride down the outside to Key West. Once we passed under the 7 Mile bridge we were officially in the Atlantic Ocean. A short 5 hours later and we were passing the southern most point in the US and making the turn into the Key West ship channel. That's a pretty cool thing to be doing in our own boat I will say....

Key West Harbor

The "plan" was to be here till Monday but Mother Nature decided to kick up the winds so we'll be staying put until at least Friday. Our friends Ed & Kyle were here at another marina and left yesterday morning to head toward Ft. Myers...they are now docked next to us waiting for the winds to calm down too. Ed said it only took one time to stuff the bow into a wave to remind them that this is pleasure boating and there is no need to be on a schedule....wise man.

I know it's hard to be sorry for us being "stuck" in Key West but don't be surprised to see me starting a GoFundMe page after more than a week here...it may blow the whole March budget!!

Find Chasing 80

Come Friday you can start tracking us again as we head up the keys toward south Florida.

Until next time...

On the road again....

Just a quick note that we will be getting underway again in the morning. That would be March 3rd for those of you that don't see the post tonight. I know some cold northern readers like to follow along while they should be working...(joking)

After a weekend in Key West we will be heading slowly back up the keys with plans to be in the Ft. Lauderdale area about April 1st. We'll make the decision on heading to the Bahamas or continuing up the east coast at that time depending on the weather.

The second half of February was as fun as the first but we'll put out a real post about that with pictures in a few days. OK...I can't leave you with no pictures....

Name the movie.