Second Post 2017-2018

Second Post 2017-2018

Thursday, November 23, 2017.  Thanksgiving.  Once again, we spent Thanksgiving with our friends Stan and Judy (formerly Rhumb Runner).  Former cruisers Dave and Carol were also there.  A very nice day, great food and great friends.  We managed to get back to the boat before the rains came.  It had been stormy all week and it is predicted to continue.

Thanksgiving l to r Lisa, Carol, Judy, then Benny, Dave and Stan

We spent the next week getting ready to depart for St. Augustine, where we are to meet Saber Tooth (John and Nora) and Greenstone (Bob and Judy) in January.  The plan is to leave the boat at Rivers Edge Marina while we drive home for the holidays.  When we return in January (via Southwest Airlines), they should be there.  We will then travel with them to the Bahamas.

During this week, we managed to get to the beach twice.  The first time we found several sea beans (1 hamburger bean, 1 purse bean, 3 sea pearls and 2 nice golf ball beans).  The second trip, we only found 2 sea pearls and one golf ball bean.

Saturday, December 2, 2017.  8:30am We drop the mooring lines to Nightingale and depart Vero Beach headed to St. Augustine. About an hour out, we passed Autumn Borne headed south.  Susan was on deck motioning us to turn around and follow them.  ½ hour later, we call Paul and Rivers Edge, just to make sure he has a slip for us as promised.  He doesn’t!  6 boats were supposed to leave yesterday and none of them did!  They are all staying at least another month!  Since Hurricane Mathew went through, there is a severe shortage of dockage.  Several marinas are still out of commission.  So…………….we turn around and head back to Vero, where we know we can at least get a mooring.  We are back rafted to Nightingale at noon.  Nice shake down for the boat and everything worked as it should.

Dinner at Sake l to r: Benny, Grant and Libby (Nightingale)
Roz (Sarah), Merry (Allora), Lisa and Pete (Scrubbibg Bubbles)

We spent the next week provisioning for the trip to the Bahamas when we return after the holidays.  We are now pretty well ready to go except for perishables and water.

Christmas Parade - Vero Beach

Friday, December 8, 2017.  We have emptied the refrigerator on the boat.  The two solar panels should keep Rhiannon’s new batteries charged while we are gone.  Grant (Nightengale) gave us a ride to shore, as we have lifted Rhiannon’s dinghy out of the water for the time we are gone.  At 9:00am, we are on our way north to McCormick, SC, our first stop on the long drive to New Hampshire. It starts to rain when we hit the Georgia state line and continues for the rest of the day.  The temperature continues to drop and by the time we arrive at Roger and Connie’s (formerly Down Time) new home, it is 30 degrees!  We are still in shorts and t-shirts!

We had a great visit.  Saturday we visited a craft fair in a former grist mill in McCormick and then had lunch at a nice restaurant in Abbeville.  A nice day with friends, but cold with storm clouds on the horizon. 

Decorated Grist Mill, McCormick, SC

Sunday morning, we left McCormick and headed across the state to Calabash, NC (on the coast) to visit Lisa’s cousins.  We had a nice visit with Terry, Jennifer and her son Nick (now 15 and taller than all of us).  Dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  Nice day.  We stayed at a local Days Inn and were on the road to Pasadena, MD at 8:30am on Monday.  It was an uneventful drive, but for the traffic around Washington, DC – always a mess and no way to actually avoid it.  We arrived at 5:30pm at Jim and Judy’s house (Tug-a-Long).  They were one of our buddy boats on the first trip down the ICW in 2012.  They came to visit us in the Bahamas (Abacos) in 2014.  We went to Two Rivers Restaurant for dinner and shared prime rib, one of their specialties.  Very good.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017. We spent the next day relaxing with Jim and Judy and Judy’s sister Rose Mary.  She’s 84 and what a hot ticket – her mind still sharp and she does everything on her own. I worked on getting our two dead cell phones back in business and trying to figure out why the iPad won’t find a Wi-Fi signal.  Got two back up phones working and the iPad online, so a successful all day.  Lisa made dinner (Chicken Tarragon).

At 8:00am on Wednesday, we headed to New Hampshire.  Seems to be getting colder as the day progresses.  We managed to miss the traffic around New York and were home at 6:00pm.  Nice to be back.  Jake (our rescue lab) was over joyed and Lulu (our house sitter Brett’s lab) was just as happy.

Ready for Christmas in NH

We hope everyone has great holidays.  We are headed back to the boat on January 7.  Stay tuned.

Click on this link for more pictures