St. Augustine to Daytona Beach (Halifax) to New Smyrna Beach

Day #479; Loop Miles to Date - 5,318

St Augustine was once again a lot of fun, and this time we enjoyed it with our friends on Corkscrew. There are lots of restaurants and shops, and we availed ourselves of both while there. We also took an afternoon and toured the Castillo de San Marcos...a fort originally built by the Spanish in 1672 to protect St Augustine from the invading British. Over the years this fort was never once breached in battle, although the Spanish, British and the US have all at one time or another had it under their command. It is now a National Monument, and definitely worth a visit if you find yourselves in the area. Lots of history to absorb...you can read about it here.



Included just so some of you can remember what we look like...

From St Augustine we journeyed down the coast to Daytona. We didn't stop here on the way north last spring, so we decided that we wanted to stop here this time around. The marina (Halifax) is HUGE...550 slips, and very well run. We were just adjacent to downtown Daytona (not Daytona Beach) and we found it to be a nice little town with a variety of shops and restaurants. We never made it over to Daytona Beach proper...the wind, some on and off rain, and cooler temps just didn't make this sound all that appealing. But what we did do, was to tour a Chocolate Factory...Angell & Phelps. This is a small chocolatier, but it was fun, friendly, and there were plenty of choices on sweets to eat. Really good stuff...

Part of the production line.

A small sampler that we just had to buy...and it was all good (now all gone)!

Then yesterday, we ventured just a short ways further south to New Smyrna Beach. We were here last spring, and we are enjoying it again. A small, friendly marina, and a couple of restaurants and shops not far away. And had we known what we were going to stumble into yesterday upon arrival, we would have left earlier in the day. We found a large art festival winding down...250 or more vendors from all over the eastern part of the country. It is one of the larger events of the art festival season here in FL, and we just didn't know that it was going to be here. Fortunately, we were able to stroll around for an hour and a half before they shut down, but we easily could have spent all day (and way too much $$) had we known.

All for now...we're off to Titusville tomorrow, and then on to Cocoa thereafter...

Ortega River to St. Augustine

Day #474; Loop Miles to Date = 5,248

Sorry, it's been awhile...we were busy doing stuff while in Jacksonville! We finally left Ortega River on Tuesday, and are now at the Municipal Marina in St. Augustine...one of our favorite stops.

We managed to get a lot of items checked off of our to-do list while at Ortega River. We were there over a month, but it was a great spot for us to crash for a time, and about as close geographically as we get to Atlanta. So, we took advantage of the proximity (still a 6 hour drive though) and became good friends with the folks who work at the Enterprise Car Rental Agency! We made multiple trips to Alpharetta, and were able to visit all of the doctors that we needed to. Plus we managed to get Lola to our "home" vet for a check-in, as she has not been there since the diagnosis of Cushing's disease. All went well on all fronts...we both got clean bills of health, and the vet was very happy with how Lola is doing. It was a lot of driving, and not at all convenient...but it was worth the effort in the end.

And while we were at Ortega, we knocked a number of boat projects off of our list. Among the items we accomplished were:

• Replacing all of our sanitation hoses (you don't really want to hear anything more about this one).
• Changing the transmission oil
• Defrosting the refrigerator
• Touch up waxing
• Snugged up the packing glands on the rudder seal
• Replaced some fuel filters
• Rebuilt the fresh water pump...twice. At some point we will replace it (again) but for now, Rob is determined to make this one work the way it is supposed to.
• 3 or 4 other things we can't remember right now...

We also entertained ourselves at the movies a couple of times, and found a few fun places to eat. Ortega River is a really laid back marina, with a bunch of full-time live aboards, and really nice folks all over the place. Oh...and there are plenty of dogs for Kikie and Lola to bark at on a consistent basis.

So now for some pics...mostly just from the last few days. We travelled from Ortega River Marina to St. Augustine on Tuesday. It was a long trip - 64 miles, so we took a pit stop for the pups at the free dock at Sisters Creek. This split the trip roughly in half, and made it much more manageable for us.

A couple of really large murals that we spotted on some silos as we were coming through the Jacksonville Port area.

Not a great shot, but this is the stadium where the Jacksonville Jaguars play (EverBank Field). You can see the flags in the foreground show that it was a tad breezy this day.

These escape pods always make us think of the movie "Captain Phillips" but usually we just see them mounted on the stern of large container ships. This one happened to be deployed and was docked on the seawall.

One of the mooring fields here in St Augustine...on a very calm morning.

The Bridge of Lions, which crosses the ICW right at downtown St Augustine. The docks you can barely see to the right are part of our marina complex.

And finally...while Sandy was on one of her trips to Atlanta, the girls made sure to keep her spot warm for her...

Sisters Creek to Ortega River Marina

Day #451; Loop Miles to Date = 5,184

We've been sitting still for the past few weeks since arriving at Ortega River Marina in the Jacksonville area, and we owe everyone a quick update. For starters we hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and are enjoying the onset of the New Year! It's been rather quiet for us...a nice bit of a break after the previous few weeks of very busy travel. We had a great Christmas Day with Sandy's brothers family. Ray and Donna live only about a 1/2 hour from where we are parked, and they put on a tremendous spread for Christmas...it was wonderful to have a traditional Christmas dinner, and we had a great time catching up with them. Thanks to you both for everything...it was terrific!

For New Years, we had a quiet dinner out at the local hot spot...the Metro Diner! It's just a good old fashioned diner, and only a short walk from the boat. The only excitement that we really had was trying to convince Lola that it was safe to go out after dark to take a walk. The noise from all of the fireworks in the area made it sound a bit like a war zone around here, and Lola doesn't do well with loud noises to start with. For us...the 4th of July and New Year's Eve are difficult days for the pups. However...we all survived and have been enjoying the nice 70+ degree weather.

Sandy has been busy, as she already has taken 2 trips to Atlanta since we've been here. She was able to squeeze in some dental work before the end of the year, and also took Lola on one of the trips to see our home vet for a check-up. It makes for some long days as it is a 6-7 hour trip each way depending on Atlanta traffic. And as we are going to be here for another couple of weeks, one or both of us will likely end up making this trip another time yet. But...this is what we had planned to do, so it is nice to get some things checked off the list.

A few pics to share...

A large Navy ship that we encountered coming through the Port of Jacksonville.

We've had a couple of very foggy mornings here...and we've been glad that we didn't have a plan to travel. A couple of days it was after 10am before it burned off.

One of us got a haircut today...long overdue too!