Have Another Day's Great Loop

Sunday morning the girls and I got up and went to mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine.  It was a stop on the trolley tour as well but we saved it for church.  It was an incredibly beautiful cathedral and I talked to the girls about how it looked different than other churches we have been in.  The Spanish influence was so obvious and so gorgeous.  Bright red ceiling, dark wood.  Spanish tile floors.  It was truly beautiful and a lovely service that welcomed the many visitors.

After church we met up with Fred, Nikki and Ben and went to brunch.  We changed into some comfy clothes and took the short walk from the marina to Castillo de San Marcos.  Molly was excited to use her 4th grader National Park pass!  We haven’t gotten it out since Shiloh and Corinth way back last fall.  And this park finally had the actual cards – so she got her official National Parks card for the year.

We spent a good long while touring the grounds.  We started up top and looked at all of the different cannons and lookouts and read about the shape of the Castillo and how it was built.  It was under construction for 24 years!  It never changed hands under enemy siege.  Each time it changed power was by treaty and was peaceful.

One of the most important features of the fort was the dry moat.  It was built with a dry moat so that when enemy forces were moving in, all people, cattle, other animals, etc. could be moved into the dry moat and then inside the fort and the town could all live inside without running out of food.

We learned about all of the various types of cannon balls and how they affected approaching boats differently.  Some with spikes were meant to stick in the side of the boat and set the boat on fire.  Some were double ended and meant to cut through masts.  Some were made of glass and meant to shatter and cause pain and suffering to the crew members who may be barefoot.  Other were just plain old cannon balls meant to destroy.  The various sized cannons could shoot between 1.5 and 3 miles away. The lighthouse across the water is about 1.5 miles away.

We were also able to tour the inside of the fort and see a bunk room, a chapel, the “necessary room” where the contents of the latrines were stored until high tide when they were dumped over the walls!  We finished our visit with a cannon demonstration. We had watched a short film about the process of getting the cannon ready so the girls knew what was happening as we watched the men prepare for fire.  Even when bracing for it, the cannon is still so LOUD!

Fred and Nikki took the girls to dinner Sunday night so Ben and I could sneak out for a date night!  We loved the Distillery tour so much that we went back for dinner to the Ice Plant restaurant.  It was behind the Distillery in the old Ice Plant complete with the original crane used to lift the ice blocks.  Fun cocktails, great food.  It was a good choice!

Monday we headed to the Lightner Museum for lunch.  This is housed in the former Hotel Alcazar. The grounds are beautiful!  We saw a number of wedding parties on Saturday in the area and once we walked onto the grounds we understood why!

After lunch we went to the Fountain of Youth.  This is actually a large archaeological park that is thought to be the original landing site in 1513 of Ponce de Leon.  Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be the original village created on this site.  The park today has samples of what they have found recreated throughout the grounds.  There is a large section dedicated to boat building and boating in general.  The girls and Ben spent some time practicing their knot tying.  The girls and Fred and I took turns trying out the various pulley systems used on the boats.  We also got to see a recreation of a Chalupa boat that was just finished and put in the water this March.  These boats were smaller boats used for getting supplies back and forth but they could raise sails and make larger passages if need be.

We watched a short video on the history of the area and how Ponce de Leon landed here after crossing the Atlantic with Cristopher Columbus.  The Spanish history in this area is so rich and I hope at least a fraction of it sunk in with the girls!

Then we moved on to the Fountain of Youth!  We drank from the fresh spring water said to keep you young and learned the story behind this.  When the Spanish landed here they found the Indian tribe settled here to be big and strong and living into their 90s.  This was a huge contrast to Europe where people were only living 40-50 years in large part due to the serious pollution of water.  They took this to mean that the water here was a “fountain of youth”.  It was fresh unpolluted water and what the Spanish desperately needed when they landed.  This water was used for those who stayed and in order to stock their ships to return to Spain.  The girls didn’t love the taste of all the minerals in the water.  But they gave it a try anyway!

A random addition to the park were the beautiful peafowl everywhere.  I find it unfair that the females are so unremarkable looking and the males are so gorgeous!  It’s mating season and boy are their calls to each other loud!

Tuesday morning we woke up to calm winds and calm waters.  We said goodbye to Nikki and Fred and headed north under the Bridge of Lions on our way to Fernandina on Amelia Island.  We had a great visit with them and in St. Augustine!  Fernandina will be our last stop in Florida.  We’ve been in Florida since early November with the exception of 6 weeks in the Bahamas.  We’ve seen and done a lot but it will be exciting to move north into a new state as well.

Bridge of Lions

Wednesday was our first full day in St. Augustine.  After knocking out some quick school work we met up with Michael and Cathy Rogers from Trawler Life and their grandson Collin.  Ben and Michael took the props to be fixed and then we all headed to the Alligator Farm.  It’s been crazy hot and humid here so we were a bit concerned it would be uncomfortable there but it really wasn’t.  Lots of shade and a few indoor areas.  We saw all kinds of alligators.  Albino alligators, baby albino alligators, American alligators, a komodo dragon and many others.

I loved watching the komodo dragon’s tongue shoot in and out.  We watched a pregnant woman give a informational talk from inside one of the alligator pits. I thought she was insane.  But she explained the alligators are very smart and can be trained and are quite slow on land.  Water, another story.  They did indeed respond to their names and were rewarded with treats.  Ben posted a frightening video of alligator feeding time.  We learned that alligators only need to eat the human equivalent of one sandwich a week.  But they sure all did enjoy the feeding demonstration.  She fed them alligator food and rats.  Gross.  I was happy we were up on a bridge, far removed from that crazy!

The farm had many other animals as well.  We saw a number of snakes, which freak me out more than birds and spiders.  I took no pictures.  We saw a number of beautiful, colorful, not freaky birds.  The girls and I loved the HUGE tortoises!  And my favorite were the lemurs!

Then we moved on over to the crocodile side of the farm, the playground and then on to lunch!  Michael and Cathy took us to a local favorite for amazing fried shrimp.  We really enjoyed spending the afternoon with them and Collin.  He’s a sweetheart and the girls took to him immediately and had a great time.  After we said our goodbyes we walked into St. George street again and found gelato!

Thursday we spent a full morning on school to get caught up a bit.  We got the boat mostly cleaned up and organized.  And then waited for Ben’s parents to arrive.  They got to us around 3 pm.  It was another crazy hot, humid and windy day.  We got them settled and then walked into town and around for a bit before stopping off the beaten path at Catch 27 for dinner.  We had a fabulous farm to table meal.  Best shrimp tacos I’ve had this trip probably and blue crab and corn chowder.  Despite the heat it is just beautiful here to walk around.  We walked back along the water, instead of through town.  We learned the old original seawall by the marina was built by slaves.  There is now a new seawall that the girls like to walk on closer to the water. But the original wall is still there and serves as another sidewalk.

Molly with her Thinking Putty mustache

Nikki, Molly and Madelyn walking on the seawall

Friday we spent the day being tourists.  We took the Old Town Trolley tour around the city.  We decided to hop on and ride the full route to get a sense of where everything is and where we wanted to stop.  It was about 87 degrees and felt like 95 because of the humidity!  We saw the oldest house in St. Augustine, the Old Senator, a number of churches, Flagler College with it’s dining room Tiffany glass windows, the Lightner Museum, Castillo San Marcos, the Fountain of Youth and many other sights.  The Old Senator is actually a tree.  A huge old tree that is called a “love tree” because it has another tree growing up through the middle of it’s trunk.  It’s said that if you kiss the one you love by the tree you will be tied to them for eternity.

Everything in St. Augustine is beautiful. The streets are pretty.  The architecture on the buildings is old and gorgeous.  We only saw the dining room at Flagler College from the outside but it sounds amazing.  Much fancier than any dining room I saw the inside of at U of I!  The entire rounded section is made of Tiffany glass windows.   The whole campus is beautiful.

Dining room

After riding around and making a mental list of where to stop we hopped off and grabbed some pizza inside in the air conditioning.  Then back out to the sunshine and back onto the trolley to head to the Old Jail.  While waiting for our tour to start we toured the St. Augustine History Museum.  Molly was able to lift a 60 lb. silver bar!

The original jail in St. Augustine was much further into town.  Flagler came to town and built a fancy hotel and some other things and decided the jail needed to be moved.  So he paid for it to be moved.  But he didn’t want it to look like a jail.  So it looks like a pretty pink house from the outside with big porches with rocking chairs all around.  You can see some of them in the picture of Madelyn below.  The Sheriff’s quarters are attached.  We took a tour of the outside and the inside.  Fred got locked up in one of the cages the jail used to string prisoners up in the air.  We were reminded that those cages had no weather protection, were made of metal, had no facilities, etc.  Molly got a little worried during the tour.  I explained that, first I hope she isn’t going to jail…ever…but also that jails now are not “cruel and unusual” as they were in the early 1900s when this jail was in use.  We went on to see the gallows and I explained how a hanging worked.   We learned that 30 days before a prisoner was scheduled to be hung they were moved to a separate cell and each person was required to build their own gallows.  Yikes.  We also learned how long it took a person to die after being hung.  Longer than you’d think.  A person was able to talk for up to around 12 minutes and it took another 15 or so after that to die.  Again yikes.  We got to tour the inside of the jail and see the women’s cells, the kitchen, the Sheriff’s quarters and office and the men’s cells.  The men’s cells were set up very much like Alcatraz and we found out that Alcatraz was modeled after this jail.  The girls received Pardon cards when we left the tour.  Phew!

Fred locked up!

Maddy sitting in a random saddle outside the jail

After a long hot, humid day we hopped back on the trolley to get closer to the marina.  We hopped off pretty close and headed back.  Fred took the girls into one of the French bakeries for a yummy treat.  Molly got something fabulous and lemony and Madelyn got a chocolate Eiffel tower with edible glitter!  Nikki went back to the boat and Ben and I headed to the St. Augustine Distillery to catch the tour there.

The distillery is in an incredibly old building.  The building was first used as an electrical plant.  Then an ice plant.  And then in the 1960s when science advanced enough to create ice more easily, the ice plant shut down and the building sat vacant for 50 years until the distillery took it over.  They have done much to preserve the history of the building and it was a lot of fun to walk through.  This is also one of the first distilleries in Florida and after a lot of legal hurdles they are allowed to distill liquor, give tours and offer tastings.  They distill Bourbon, Rum, Vodka and Gin.  We took a tour of the distilling floor and learned how each of the liquors is made.

The distillery is doing what they can to help the environment.  They have a zero water waste process set up with their cooling tanks.  All self contained, water is chilled outside, brought in and around tanks to cool down the contents and then pumped back outside to be cooled again.  For the grain alcohols, the distillery takes the corn by product after the alcohol has been distilled out and gives it to local farms for livestock feed.  The vodka and rum are made with local St. Johns sugarcane.  All in all it seems they are doing their part to be environmentally conscious, create jobs, and help out in the community.

Then we moved onto the tasting room. YUM! First up, the St. Augustine Florida Mule.  If you know me, you know I love a good Moscow Mule.  Well the Florida Mule was really good.  They juice fresh lime and fresh ginger instead of using ginger beer.  We’ve signed up to get the recipe and see if we can recreate it.  Their vodka is very smooth – I didn’t like it straight but Ben did.

Making the crushed ice

Then onto their Rum tiki drink.  I’m not a huge rum fan but wow was it good too.  Then an Old Fashioned – I opted out on that one but Ben reports it was tasty.  And then onto a Gin and Tonic. I don’t like gin at all but the bar tender told us that if we are gin haters he would make us “gin-tolerant” and he did.  Instead of crushing juniper berries they keep them uncrushed and use other berries as well.  The tonic they use is their recipe and the two together were quite good.  Don’t worry – all tastings were shot glass sized!  We made it out A-ok…with a bottle of vodka!  Smart people – free tour….free tasting….happy visitors!

Today was a BIG day!  Madelyn’s 7th birthday!!!  Ben and I have both celebrated birthdays on the Loop but birthdays are magical for kids and we wanted this one to be as magical as all the others.  She has been counting down the days for months now.  We’ve gone from counting by the week to the day and it was finally here.  She was bouncing, literally, at 6:35 this morning.  By 7 I let her run upstairs to find her balloons and presents.

A very mermaid themed birthday along with a number of other goodies.  Molly got to join in the fun as well with early birthday gifts from Max, Kyle, Sophie and Zoe as well as Nikki and Fred.  We put a few away for her birthday in 7 weeks but she’s old enough to understand that if she opens them now she won’t have them in June.  Both girls got new Lego sets put together right away and spent the whole morning playing with their new things.  Madelyn also got a Garmin Vivofit Jr….a kid version of a fit bit.  She was thrilled to make it to 10,000 steps on her first day!  We baked ice cream cone cupcakes this morning as well.  Maddy wanted those for a third year in a row.  She’s been asking me to bake them since we were in the Bahamas.

We finally got ourselves organized and off the boat after lunch and went to play miniature golf.  We talked Maddy out of the beach given the insane wind again.  She asked to play mini golf and Fred found a great course just the other side of the Bridge of Lions.  We had a lot of fun and were thankful that much of the course was shaded and had a nice breeze without the insane wind of the marina.

Our crew sporting their new Class of 2017 Great Loop shirts!

After mini golf we headed to the St. Augustine Lighthouse.  We were able to tour the grounds and the old lighthouse operator’s house.  There were a number of interactive exhibits inside so we learned a little along the way.  The lighthouse was 219 steps to the stop – equivalent to a 14 story building!  Fred, Ben, Molly and Madelyn made it to the top.  They will have to post pictures separately!  Nikki and I have height issues.  I made it about halfway and got all panicky and went back down. There were old photos and museum like information panels on different landings so I did stop to read a handful of things before heading down.  We all got to try to lift the 30 lb., 5 gallon oil bucket that the employees used to have to carry up the 219 steps every 2 hours all night long.  Thank goodness for electricity!  The grounds also had a wooden boat building section and of course a pirate ship playground!

It was finally time to head back and frost the cupcakes!  Madelyn requested dinner on the boat.  She chose leftover noodles.  That’s our Madelyn!  The rest of us had steak, the last of our Bahamas fish, and Brussels sprouts.  Madelyn’s face in the cake pictures sum up her day.  She said it was a great day!  A huge shout out to all of the special FaceTime calls she had today…Sophie, Zoe, Uncle Max & Aunt Kyle were up first!  Then Grandma Cathy and Jim.  Then Livia, Claudia, Sabina, Jack and Kathy.  Then Grace and Hannah.  Then Aunt Emily with Jacob, Grace, Eli, Hannah, Caroline, Aunt Libby & Uncle Brian. And finally the Wilsons – Bobby, Wendy, Nina, AnnaMay, Ella and Mia called and sang to her when we had candles lit tonight!  Another huge shout out to all of the AGLCA members and everyone else who sent Madelyn a special email or Facebook message.  She heard every one of them and you helped make her day fantastic!

The girls and I are going to mass at the old Cathedral here in the morning!  I’m excited to see it and show it to them.  Then we hope to all go to Castillo San Marcos and the Fountain of Youth tomorrow or Monday.

We traveled from Titusville to New Smyrna last Thursday afternoon and anchored for two nights across from town.  We made dinner and watched a beautiful sunset and enjoyed a very calm and quiet night at anchor!  It’s been awhile since we’ve had a night at anchor that still.

Friday morning we spent time on school.  That afternoon we took the dinghy into town and tied up at the free dinghy dock.  The kids immediately spotted the fabulous playground.  It was about 85 degrees and very sunny so Ben and I found a bench in the shade while they turned bright red burning off some energy!  We then walked around town a bit and had a fabulous dinner at Yellow Dog Eats.  Such a fun place with great food.  Saturday morning we ran into town one more time for another park trip and the farmer’s market.  We found a large supply of wonderful fruits and veggies at the farmer’s market.

At this point we had really enjoyed the cute little town of New Smyrna.  We pulled anchor and headed north towards Halifax marina in Daytona Beach.  Just past the Ponce Inlet in the middle of the ICW marked channel we hit ground.  Hard enough to stop us in our tracks.  We hadn’t heard that awful sickening sound since October in the middle of the Tenn Tom.  It’s terrible.  There was a sailboat aground as well.  We both drifted off.  The sailboat with their keel was completely fine.  Us, not so much.  Once again the unprotected props have become an issue.  Ben will type up a blog with more technical details once he drops the props off to be fixed yet again.  I’m frustrated.  Ben is beyond frustrated.  Even the slightest bend and we have a horrible shake when the boat is in gear.  We had Tow Boat US lead us through the section where we ran aground.  We were free but followed him through with him reading depths.  We followed him for a couple of miles and limped into Daytona Beach with our shaking boat.  Ben started calling the list of divers that the marina supplied us with to work on getting the props swapped out and our spares put on.  Given that it was 5 PM on a Saturday night this seemed like a tall order and we assumed we wouldn’t have any luck before Monday morning.  We walked into town and grabbed some dinner and let the girls run around for a bit and then turned in for a fairly solemn evening.

Sunday morning I went for a jog and Molly joined me on her scooter.  We covered over 4 miles and had a good time.  Ben heard back from one of the divers who said he could come swap the props that day!  Things were looking up.  The girls and I spent the day puzzling.  Maddy worked on one of her puzzles and Molly and I are tackling a large dolphin puzzle.

Sunday afternoon the diver and his apprentice showed up.  It took him awhile to get the bent prop off the boat and then the other prop – which thankfully we think is ok.  Then started the process of putting the spare props on.  While the diver was under water he managed to slice his hand badly enough on the prop that he cut through tendon down to the bone.  Yikes.  Molly and I were up on the fly bridge working on a puzzle.  She kind of freaked out when she saw Ben bandaging the diver’s hand.  The diver was nothing but calm and said he’d go call another diver.  He came back a bit later and said he was going to head to the hospital and would have a diver here first thing Monday morning.  So, that was terrible for him and another hiccup for us.

The spare props are the shiny ones, the other ones are victims of the salt water and mud/sand bottom

Monday morning around 9:30 the injured diver showed up with his apprentice and another diver.  His hand was very bandaged and he told us he’ll need surgery since he cut through tendons.  I feel terrible since he has to have his hands to do his job!  I know it’s not our fault and this is why we hired him instead of Ben trying to tackle this job.  But still…I feel terrible and wish him the best.  But to continue on….the diver he brought couldn’t get the prop on by himself.  Ben can explain in more detail but the prop was too heavy for him to lift onto the shaft under water by himself.  To give an idea, our props are 29″ in diameter and weigh about 100 lbs. each.  So, off they went to call yet another diver to come help them.  Alas, around 11:30 AM or so Monday the props were back on the boat!

Once the girls and I finished school we took off into town while Ben finished up with the divers and got the boat prepped to head on north very cautiously.   We haven’t gotten their scooters out since we were in the Bahamas and they had a lot of fun riding around.  Daytona Beach has a great water front path that runs right along the sidewalk.  We scootered the length of the little downtown area (not the big boardwalk – that was across the ICW on the other side) and stopped for some frozen yogurt before heading back to the boat.

We hoped to anchor Sunday night and Monday night before arriving in St. Augustine today.  However, after the prop issues and looking at Active Captain (a website that shows full maps and reviews of anchorages, water hazards and marinas) we determined there just was not a decent place for us to stop.  So Ben made a reservation about 35 miles north of Daytona Beach in Marineland, FL.  The trip north was actually quite easy and very beautiful.  There were not too many hazards in that stretch however Ben and I both kept Active Captain up the entire time and had two sets of eyes on all the comments at every hazard mark.  We pulled into Marineland in VERY high wind and blew right into our dock.  The harbor master there lives up to his Active Captain reviews and was so helpful.  Tensions relaxed for a bit as we settled in for the night.

Ben and I spent a long time last night looking at every inch of the 18 miles between Marineland and St. Augustine, FL.  The Matanzas River has had a lot of serious shoaling post hurricane.  Much of it right in the channel.  Ben called Tow Boat US for advice twice yesterday.  And talked to Eric at the marina twice.  And made plans to follow another boat docked with us.  It turns out that two boats who pulled in with us last night both hit ground in the same place we did by Ponce Inlet.  But…keel…no damage.  Sigh.  Anyway, we were able to follow one of them today which was a huge relief.  They were so sweet and called us on the radio with constant updates through the diciest parts of the passage.  The worst part was just dredged and was all good.  Ironically this was the deepest water we’ve seen in months….but the unknown of the random shoaling in the middle of the channel was the problem.  And again this part of Florida is quite pretty!

Taken in the Devil’s Elbow part of the Matanzas River

The current pushed us along and we got to St. Augustine about an hour and a half early. We needed to pull into the marina at slack tide.  The girls and I have learned that this means either dead low tide or high tide.  The current through the river here is very strong and at slack tide it stops and changes direction making it simpler to dock.   Ben did donuts in the channel for an hour or so and then we pulled in and tied up without issue.

We walked into town for an hour or so this afternoon.  I love it already.  I’m so excited we have a full week to spend here.  There are so many things to see and do.  We had dinner on the boat tonight and then enjoyed the colors of sunset.

Tomorrow Michael and Cathy from Trawler Life are coming to meet us with their grandson.  Ben and Michael will take the props to be fixed and then we’re all heading to the Alligator Farm!  Should be a fun day.  Thursday Ben’s parents arrive and we will save most of our sightseeing for their visit!  And Saturday is a big day…Madelyn’s 7th birthday!  She wakes up every morning with a countdown of how many days left until her big day.  She’s so excited.  I hope we can make it special for her even though it will be a little different this year.

Monday after Easter we moved the boat a very short distance to Cape Canaveral.  The girls and I were desperate for a pool for a couple of days and it was perfect timing with my mom visiting.  Cape Canaveral is a lovely area.  Small, but lots going on.  We pulled out of Cocoa Village in water that looked like glass.  I can’t even remember the last time we had no wind.  It’s been a long time and was a sight for sore eyes.  It was a beautiful day.  We left my mom’s rental car at the marina and she rode with us.  Ben took an Uber back later to grab the car.

We did school underway.  My mom loves to help with school which is a gift for me!  She did school with me every single day.  Maddy really takes to her and she worked pretty exclusively with her this time which freed me up to work with Molly.

We came through the Cape Canaveral lock…our first since Coffeeville way back in Alabama!  I had to brush up my lock skills and then we found out that we would drop less than a foot.  Basically they could have left the doors wide open.  We pulled into the lock and Ben immediately noticed that there were two dolphins and a manatee in the lock with us along with many pelicans, as there were fish everywhere.  My mom and the girls sat on the bow of the boat watching the dolphins.   I was line handling so didn’t have much of a chance for good pictures but it was fun to watch the dolphins trying to get out.  The girls were worried that they felt trapped as they were nose to the gate waiting for it to open.  We wondered how often the dolphins ride through the lock.

Back in the locks!

The marina was great, the pool lovely and we had lots of fun.  The girls took their new boogie boards to the pool to play with.  And Madelyn got to try out her mermaid tail!  She loves it, although she got a taste of how it’s a bit scary if she has it on where she can’t touch.  Thankfully she does a very good and strong dolphin kick (learned back home in swim lessons!) and had Molly in the pool and her boogie board.  The pool was nice and shallow so she and Molly were both able to take turns with the tail in the shallow end where they could just put their feet down.  They loved it.

Madelyn the mermaid

Molly’s turn

The girls both got Skip Its for Easter as well.  Some of you may remember these from when we were kids.  I certainly did and Molly spotted one in Annie’s Toy Chest in Cocoa Village and mentioned that Pulaski had them at recess last year.  Molly has quickly mastered the Skip It.  I can’t seem to upload videos in the blog but got a couple of good ones of her!  Madelyn is doing pretty well but tends to fling hers across the ground after a couple rounds.  It is a very compact fun way to get energy out while living on a boat!  It takes up no space and is easy to carry to shore!

Tuesday morning we were treated to a rocket launch!  We made the decision not to go to Kennedy Space Center.  As our friends with kids on the loop mentioned after they also decided to skip it, it’s terribly expensive.  We had the advantage of already taking the girls to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL last October.  So, we really have seen a lot of it already.  So, we decided to skip the very long, very expensive day and watch the launch from the marina.  Ben took pictures with his good camera and with the long zoom was able to get the fire ball shooting out of the rocket.  Maybe he’ll type up a blog and post!  But I just got the giant smoke tail.  It was really cool. We could see the rocket.  Then the smoke.  And then we could hear and feel it. It shook the dock we were standing on.  We could feel it vibrating inside of us.  It’s truly amazing how far that sound stretches and how loud it is!  After the rocket launch Ben and I drove to Ft. Lauderdale for the day to look at the boat we are still quite interested in.  My mom stayed with the girls and enjoyed another pool day and a nice evening with them.  We are still on the fence on the boat!

Wednesday we moved to Titusville, FL.  We mainly moved so that we’d be a quick drive for my mom this morning.  She had to leave about 5:15 AM for the airport and would have had to leave earlier if we had stayed in Cape Canaveral.   My mom’s good friend’s brother and sister in law live in Titusville.  They wanted to see the boat so we arranged with them that we’d see the boat, have lunch and then they would drive us back to get her rental car.  I was thrilled she wanted to ride on the boat again!  We didn’t have much wind and the ICW through here is pretty.  We had a nice ride and pulled into Titusville by lunchtime.  We spotted a HUGE manatee in our marina.  We had a great lunch with Gene and Carol and then they so generously drove Ben and I back to get the car.  Grandma again had the girls (theme of the week!) while we got the car, stopped to buy some fresh shrimp for dinner and did a quick grocery run before she (and the car) left!  The shrimp were fantastic!  YUM!  Shrimp and a bottle of wine and we had a lovely last evening before my mom had to pack up.  As I mentioned she had to leave very early this morning. The girls were crushed and talked all day about how much they missed her.  The week flew by!

Large Manatee

We changed up our schedule a bit this morning.  We are anchored tonight which means no getting off the boat.  So, we got the kids out and active this morning. We took a walk to Space View Park.  This was close to the marina and is a memorial to many NASA astronauts, employees, etc.  The girls ran ahead because Carol had told us about astronaut handprints they would find.  Ben and I stopped and remembered the Challenger.  We, and likely every person our age or close, remembers that fateful day.  I got choked up describing it to the girls.  The giant TV wheeled into my 4th grade classroom.  What an incredible event to watch the first teacher go into space.  So many young eyes watching…only to see complete tragedy.  I remember it clearly.  And I can’t imagine what every teacher in America watching that happen had going through his or her mind.  I don’t remember anything about how my teacher handled the situation.  But I wanted to explain it to our girls and what an effect it clearly had on us since we both remember it so vividly.

We went on to pay respects to the memorial for fallen employees and firefighters who have died working for NASA in various accidents.  And then onto the handprints.  Molly remembered Neil Armstrong from the US Space and Rocket Center but couldn’t remember what he did.  So many things that are ingrained in Ben and my memories that they don’t yet know.  We reminded her and the girls put their hands in his handprints and many others to try them out.  They loved the men’s handprints that were wearing rings and had ring prints in their hand print.  Makes me a little sad that I didn’t see any woman hand prints.  Hopefully that will be added soon!

After Space View Park we walked into the historic downtown part of Titusville and went to Sunrise Bread Bakery.  I’d read about it and heard it was good.  And boy was it!  Muffins were incredible.  Cookies were amazing.  Ben liked the iced coffee because they make their ice cubes for the coffee out of frozen coffee so it doesn’t get watered down.  What a great treat!

We stopped at the playground on the way back to the marina.  While we were sitting on a bench in the shade staring at our phones while the girls played, another mom approached me and asked if we were homeschooling or on vacation.  Both!  I explained what we were doing.  She was there with their homeschool group.  She commented that she wanted to come ask because our girls were playing so well with their kids.  We went and talked with them for a bit and explained our trip and what we are doing.  Their homeschool group has 13 families and this was their park playdate.  Only a handful were there today but it was great to meet them and talk and share ideas for a bit.  They seemed intrigued by what we are doing and I was thrilled to talk to them.  I told her that it was so wonderful that she came over.  We move around a lot.  When we’re in a marina for awhile we absolutely talk and befriend others but not usually when we are stopped somewhere for one day and make a trip to the park. So for her to reach out and introduce herself and chat with us for a few minutes was wonderful.

After the playground we headed back to the boat and on north.  We traveled up to New Smyrna and anchored for the night.  It was a lovely stretch of the ICW with cute little canals and pretty houses.  We spotted our first alligator!  We looked for DAYS on the rivers for an alligator and never saw one.  Ben spotted this one!

We also got our first look at the damage from Hurricane Matthew last fall.  Private docks that are just not yet rebuilt.  Boats that have been blown into land and left there.  As we continue north we will see more and more of this.

We plan to spend a couple of days here in New Smyrna.  Then maybe check out Daytona Beach and then we will be in St. Augustine on Tuesday awaiting Ben’s parents’ visit on Thursday!

We’ve spent the past week in Cocoa, FL in Cocoa Village.  Cocoa Beach is across the bridge and is the touristy spring break filled area.  Cocoa Village is a quaint adorable little town full of great shops, restaurants and ice cream.  Madelyn loved the dollhouse store.

Both girls loved Annie’s Toy Chest….I believe in one week we’ve been there three times and purchased Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty all three times as well as a new 1000 piece puzzle that we’ve started.  The village also has a great playground and a huge park area with a splash pad right along the water front.  I was able to take a couple of long walks along the water and enjoy the views.

Meanwhile on the boat Ben has been getting lots of packages.  When we are actually stationary for one week we can get Amazon deliveries of lots and lots of boat parts.  I love how creative the girls are.  It’s a skill I lack completely.  Madelyn built a very detailed car out of a cardboard box.  She fits in it but it holds their dolls better.

Thursday my mom arrived!  She is here with us for a week.  The girls are loving every minute of it.  After school Friday we celebrated Ben’s and Madelyn’s birthday with her.  Maddy knew she’d be getting her gifts early (her birthday isn’t for two weeks) and didn’t want to wait any longer.  She is the proud owner of a new mermaid tail.  She’s been waiting since Christmas for it!

She also got a little money.  Molly saves.  Madelyn likes to spend it as soon as it hits her wallet.  So, we took my mom into the Village for lunch and then to Annie’s.  Madelyn knew exactly what that money burning a hole in her purse was going to buy.  A new large tin of Thinking Putty.  Molly bought one too.

Saturday we headed to Cocoa Beach to play tourist for the day.  We had lunch at a restaurant on the beach.  I wanted to see the Cocoa Beach Pier so we headed that way to go to the beach.  There was just a slight hint that this may be the height of spring break.  Yikes.  And it has been insanely windy every day….still.  We met a friend of my mom’s at the beach.  She hung out with her and I took the girls to a few of the shops on the pier.  By the time we got settled on the beach the wind and people were driving me nuts!  The sand was also full of shells and not great to play in.  I have maybe mentioned a few hundred times that I’m desperate to go back to the beautiful and not crowded beaches of the Bahamas.  The wind was so strong the girls couldn’t get in the water.  But we did find a group of people that dug a HUGE hole.  So deep that an adult man was standing down in it and it was over his head.  Maddy was desperate to get in.  No!  But then before the adults left they filled it in halfway so it wasn’t dangerous and so that kids could jump right in.

Ben had been running errands and rescued us from the crowds and wind shortly after.  We got back to the boat and headed back to Annie’s Toy Chest…Madelyn bought another large tin of Thinking Putty because she decided she HAD to have the one Molly had bought the previous day.  She had scored some more cash in her Easter basket from Grandma Cathy.  They got to open those a day early so it would be less chaos today!

Ben and I headed out for a rare date night Saturday night!  We drove over to Cape Canaveral and had a wonderful dinner overlooking the water.

We’ve had a great Easter!  Another holiday on the boat in the books.  The girls woke up to an Easter egg hunt and boogie boards from the Easter Bunny as well as some other goodies.  There are still three eggs missing.  Madelyn didn’t want to go to bed without finding them.  No idea where they are.  My mom says we’ll find them in July.  After the morning chaos and candy breakfast my mom, the girls and I headed to a lovely Easter Mass.  We picked Ben up after and went out for lunch.

We came back to the boat and my mom and Molly made rice krispie treats for dessert tonight.  They aren’t as cute as my sister’s.  She makes bird’s nests in mini muffin tins.  Not something I have on board.  So we just made them in squares with the jelly beans and they turned out cute.

The girls were desperate to try their boogie boards out so we headed back across the bridge to Cocoa Village…but not to the pier.  We wanted to stop in the HUGE Ron Jon store so we went there and then across the street to the beach.  In Florida apparently you go to the beach to celebrate Easter.  Wow the people.  So crowded again but we were there for a purpose.  We walked down to the water and it took a minute for the girls to get in but once they got splashed enough they had a ball.  They didn’t stop for one minute until Ben told them it was time to get going.  Molly has been asking for a boogie board for awhile and today said she kept looking down at it and couldn’t believe it was hers.  Such a minor thing but it made her happy which makes me happy!

Love!

We came back to the boat and had a great Easter dinner.  I joked with my youngest sister that we are a one trick pony and this is our holiday boat meal…we had the same meal for Christmas Eve dinner when she was visiting.  Although instead of rice krispie treats we had Christmas cookies.  The girls seem to enjoy the holidays no matter where we are and we’re glad they had a great day.

Tomorrow we are moving a whopping 4 or 5 miles across the water to Cape Canaveral.  The girls and I have been missing having a swimming pool.  We found a nice looking marina that is supposed to have a decent pool.  We’ll probably watch some more of the big cruise ships….we saw two of them pull out today.  And there is a space shuttle launch Tuesday morning we’re hoping to see.

Saturday we celebrated Ben’s birthday in Melbourne, FL.  I was surprised Ben didn’t want to spend the day on the water….he commented that he was fine to be stationary for the day and that the water hasn’t been overly kind lately.  The wind and currents have just become annoying.  So, we started the day with donuts and gifts and a lazy morning.

Molly put together a photo grid for Ben and I was able to walk to a CVS that morning and get it printed for her.  She then taught me how to use the photo grid app later in the day and I put one together too.  Love learning about new apps from my 9 year old!

There were manatees and dolphins all over the marina basin.  We watched them for quite awhile from the back of the boat.  We have missed the dolphins and are glad we seem to have found them again.

Ben’s request for the day was to rent a car and run errands.  He said he knows I’d never want to spend my birthday that way but that’s what he wanted to do!  So, off we went to Home Depot, Sam’s Club and Best Buy.  We now have a new rug in our salon, a new shower handle in the girls’ bathroom, and an Amazon echo dot.  I’m not a fan of Alexa but the girls like to talk to “her” all day long.

We closed out the day with a family dinner at The Mansion in Melbourne.  Cute place with interesting drinks, pretty good food and an amazing slice of Oreo ice cream cake for dessert.  We sang at the table and avoided any fanfare from the restaurant.

Sunday morning Madelyn commented, as we were walking down the dock, “this is a nice little place”.  It was indeed.  Before we pulled out Sunday I walked back into town to do a little birthday shopping for the next April birthday in our family.  On my way back to the boat I stopped at the new Seafood Station right by the marina and got a pound of red shrimp for dinner.  We were new to red shrimp.  They are already pink so it was a bit tricky to tell when they were fully cooked but they do curl like Gulf shrimp. We sautéed them up for dinner and they were quite tasty.

We pulled out of Melbourne harbor and traveled about 4 miles to Paradise Blvd. anchorage.  There was only one other sailboat anchored.  We pulled in among the crab pots and enjoyed a beautiful and peaceful late afternoon, sunset and evening.  Madelyn managed to knock out one of her loose front teeth just before bed.  Crazy kid!  She was so excited and it’s now so strange to see the huge gap in her smile!

It’s hard to think about looking at land out the window after seeing such beautiful views each night.  Of course, once I went to go to bed, I reverted back to my frequent anchoring issue of not sleeping!  Anywhere with a current means water hitting the hull.  Many find this soothing. It keeps me up much of the night.  But again I got up this morning to the beautiful and tranquil views and I suppose the trade off is ok.  Closing thoughts on Ben’s birthday weekend…the year is off to a pretty good start.

Ben’s happy place…

We were indeed in Ft. Pierce until Thursday due to high winds.  Both Tuesday and Wednesday started out as lovely calm mornings but by about 2 pm each afternoon the winds were strong again.  The temperatures hung in the low 90s with extreme humidity.  Ft. Pierce was a great stop but with no pool and no beach close by it was getting hard to occupy the girls in the extreme heat.  It was either stay inside the boat or boil in the heat.  So Tuesday we headed to the Manatee Education and Observation Center.  It was a pretty tiny place and had minimal information about manatees.  Most of the manatees are outside usually but due to construction and barges with materials coming and going there have not been too many manatees hanging around.  But the girls did a little research about them before we went and learned a little bit more there.  Madelyn still needs to post her video where she will tell you about manatee’s teeth.

The rest of the education center was small but great.  There were sea horses, a ton of hermit crabs of all sizes, conch, starfish, sea urchins, a sea cucumber, a spiny lobster, many colorful fish, turtles and a snake.  Many of these animals were in a touch tank and the volunteers took turns taking them out for the girls to touch.

We also got to watch many of the animals be fed.  Most of them were having shrimp pieces for lunch. I especially enjoyed watching the smaller hermit crab devour it’s shrimp.

That little white blob in his claws is shrimp

The girls each got to feed one of the turtles.  All in all it was a good afternoon with a stop for some candy and ice cream and another visit to the nicely air conditioned library to wrap up the field trip.

Wednesday night before we left Nina babysat for the girls again while Bobby, Wendy, Ben and I snuck out for a quick dinner!  We forgot to get a picture but I did snap a quick one of Ben and Bobby standing on top of the dune in the crazy windstorm looking down at the ocean.  It was another insanely windy night.

Thursday morning we had to say goodbye to the Wilsons.  Ella was up early and met my girls for one more hug. Wendy went back to the boat to wake AnnaMay to come say goodbye again.  We had to get fuel so they followed us to the fuel dock so the kids could soak up every minute together.  I’ve gotten used to the tears and the hard goodbyes.  Wendy and I were surprised at the lack of tears (I’m usually contributing to the tears).  Wendy thinks, and I think she’s right, that our kids must be pretty confident we’ll end up in the same place again or they would have been a lot more upset.  So until we meet again…

Ironically we both ended up in Vero Beach…a mere 14 miles from Ft. Pierce.  We pulled out around 8:30 AM knowing that there was rain coming at noon.  We were only heading 14 miles to Vero.  Easy peasy.  That is until a random Tornado warning pops up for the Indian River and Vero Beach basically on top of us.  Every weather alarm on the boat and both of our phones started going off.  We went from cruising along watching the gray clouds to picking up a lot of speed and zooming into the marina.  Strangely the wind never got bad.  It was pouring however so Ben and I got drenched docking.  But we got safely and quickly tied up and ducked inside.  We got about 3 inches of rain in 2 hours and then it went right back to sunny, humid and 90 degrees!  The Wilsons continued onto another marina 5 miles further north so we didn’t meet up after all.

Once the sunshine returned we hopped on the free air conditioned bus into town.  We walked through some shops and walked out to look at the beach.  It was a great beach but we didn’t bring suits so we just watched for a few and walked some more.

Vero Beach

We happened upon a huge playground that was practically empty.  Despite grumbling from Ben about a playground in the heat we found a spot in the shade to sit and let the girls play for a bit.  Then we stopped for super refreshing OJ slushies made from fresh squeezed juice.  Toss a little vanilla soft serve in and it was quite a treat.  We had dinner back on the boat and an early night.

Friday morning we said goodbye to Vero Beach and moved on to Melbourne, FL.  Another pretty quick jaunt of 35 miles north.  Easy day.  Except we got out of the harbor and all of a sudden the WIND was back. AGAIN.  We were heading north.  Winds were out of the north.  We were on the ICW so other than some huge gusts pushing us it wasn’t uncomfortable at all.  Just annoying.  I was downstairs with the girls doing school the whole time.  I’d pop up and check in on Ben and he confirmed it was mostly just annoying to again be dealing with WIND!  We pulled into the very shallow channel into Melbourne harbor and despite the crazy wind got tied up in the protected harbor easily.

We took a long walk around town.  Lots of little shops and tons of restaurants.  Quite a few shops with lots of little “stuff” that Madelyn loves.  Little trinkets and figurines.  She was fascinated.

Maddy could have played with these all day!

My mom gave me Lululemon gift cards for my birthday and Christmas.  I’d been waiting to find a store to shop in rather than try to manage mail order while traveling.  It took me until Ft. Lauderdale two weeks ago to find one.  So of course in tiny little Melbourne, FL we would come across another one right?  It’s this little house with a giant sign out front with the Lulu logo.  Random.  We went inside and sure enough it’s a fully outfitted store.

Madelyn seems confused too…

We stopped at a kind of unusual Italian place for dinner.  We had smelled the wood burning pizza oven when we walked past.  It reminded me of both Revolution and Letizia’s from home.  We sat out on the patio listening to a strange man with a full grown mullet play soprano sax with some sort of background synthesizer.  But the pizza was AMAZING.  Haven’t had pizza that good in a long time.

We’ve begun our tour of the east coast.  I’m having trouble remembering that we are now traveling north.  We’ve been traveling south for a lot of months.  I’m so excited about all we get to see on this coast but a little sad that we’ve made that turn north which means we’re over half done with this trip.  We spent just shy of a week in Ft. Lauderdale when we got back.  Madelyn lost a tooth.  She’s had four loose ones since we left Chicago 7 months ago and one of them finally fell out!

We spent a day at the West Palm Beach boat show.  We’ve been boat shopping after the Bahamas feeling like we need a different style of boat to comfortably do more island cruising.  So since we came back from the Bahamas early we figured what better place to do that than Ft. Lauderdale and the West Palm boat show.  We met up with Marilyn and Scott from Lady Catherine for lunch and to catch up.  We met them in the Bahamas and it was fun to catch up.  The girls loved the mega yachts at the show (no we aren’t in the market but it was super fun to take a tour of one with a hot tub, elevator and a zillion bedrooms).  We looked at two other boats in Ft. Lauderdale and found one we really like.

It’s a hot tub…on a boat! 

We also had time to visit with Chris and Ozzie from E dock in Chicago!  We had a great day grilling and swimming and hanging out at their place.  It was great to catch up with them as well!

Oh the wind…

The Wilson family made their way north from the Keys as we left the Bahamas.  We were so excited to meet up with them again.  They are one of the two other families doing the Loop right now.  They traveled up to Pompano Beach.  We had a rental car so we drove up there a few times.  Their marina had a great pool and it was a close walk to a fantastic ice cream place and the Pompano Beach.

Gorgeous beach and wonderful playground.  The kids had so much fun.  The waves were WILD that day.  We brought the wind back with us from the Bahamas.  The girls played in the sand and with the boogie boards.

Molly, Wendy and Mia in the sand

Molly and AnnaMay lost in the surf

Maddy and Ella playing in the sand

We left Ft. Lauderdale last Tuesday and headed north to Lake Worth, North Palm Beach marina.  We found a Thai place by the marina for dinner. We haven’t had Thai in months so all of us, except Madelyn, were excited!  But she does love edamame and had fun with the chop sticks.

The next morning we pulled out and met the Wilsons in the ICW – they were also there but in a different marina.  We traveled north together.  It was a pretty trip with lots of bridges and it was fun to watch everyone enjoying the water.  We passed the Jupiter lighthouse – we may trek back south a bit and check Jupiter out some more.

We pulled into the St. Lucie River and anchored together at Hoggs Cove.  We rafted up and the kids immediately jumped in. We got the lily pads down and the noodles out and everyone got in.  All 10 of us!  It was fun to be together and let the kids hop back and forth between boats playing.  They went to sleep and the adults got to visit.  And then the next morning they were playing again first thing.

The girls took out the Wilson’s paddle board and kayak and all took turns with the paddling of each.  The current got the better of AnnaMay and Molly on the paddleboard and Ella took Maddy and paddled out to get them in the kayak.

We pulled out around noon and headed back to the ICW to head north to Ft. Pierce.  Quite the current in the intersection of the St. Lucie River, St. Lucie Inlet and the ICW.  That mixed with wind that also seemed to appear out of nowhere made for some quick maneuvers.  We got turned into the ICW heading north and it all seemed fine again.  We had AnnaMay and Ella on our boat with us.  We got to Ft. Pierce and had planned to anchor that night.  We went to drop AnnaMay and Ella off at the fuel dock in the harbor first.  But Mother Nature intervened again.  The winds picked up considerably and the current was crazy strong.  We could barely get into the harbor.  We were being blown sideways in the channel and it got really shallow.  We got into the harbor with the Wilsons behind us.  Needless to say we decided to stay.  There was no chance that we could make it back out through that channel in the wind and current.

I got up early and walked the next morning and caught a beautiful sunrise.

Saturday Ft. Pierce has a pretty famous farmer’s market.  It lived up to it’s reputation.  We stocked up on a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, really good cheese, fresh squeezed juice and more.  Ft. Pierce has a smaller version on Wednesdays so we may get to check it out again.  The library is also right next to the marina so we’ve been there a couple of times as well.  The girls and grownups have enjoyed the time together.  The winds have once again altered plans and instead of a sad goodbye this morning both families are both now staying until Thursday.  Nina (the Wilson’s 20 year old daughter) babysat for all 5 little girls on Friday night and we got to go out for an adult dinner!  It’s been a LONG time since we’ve had a dinner out so it was a treat to eat kid free.  Thanks Nina!

Sunday Mike and Leann from Rowe Boat made their way to North Palm Beach in preparation to cross to the Bahamas.  We were able to go see them for lunch and spend the afternoon visiting and catching up with them.  It was great to see them and we hope they had as fabulous a time as we did in the Bahamas!

We had hoped to visit the Manatee Observation and Education center here today but it was closed on Mondays.  So after school the girls all got together to try to paddleboard and kayak in the wild winds.  They have had great time playing on the docks, going back and forth from boat to boat, meals together, etc.  Thursday is going to be a hard goodbye.  The Wilsons have to head north and we are staying in FL a bit longer taking our time with all the grandparents coming to visit this month.  We’ve already made potential plans to see them in the fall as we make our way south out of Canada.

Checking out the marine life

We will try the Manatee center again tomorrow and potentially head somewhere on Thursday.  Stay tuned!

My last blog about the Bahamas…until next time that is.  We all loved it so much that I’m fairly confident there will be a next time.  After our horrendous night in the wind, the water calmed with sunrise.  As often happens, at least for me, everything is better in the morning.  We set out for West End and had a beautiful ride.  It was about 50ish miles I believe.  Trawler Life and Last Call headed out ahead of us knowing we would catch up.  It took some serious work to get our anchor up.  It was good and buried – we weren’t dragging!  But more than that, the snubber chain that yanked all night long was not coming off.  Ben had to hammer and wail on the shackle to break it loose because it was so bent from all the wind yanking us around.  Happy to be on our way and put that night behind us.

We caught up to our friends and all traveled safely through Indian Rock Channel together.  That is just a narrow passage that we had to time with high tide.  It can have currents that could pull you into the shallow water, however we had no issues.  We pulled into West End and tied up at our dock next to our friends on Corkscrew.  It was so good to see them.  Sonny and Phyllis are the sweetest people and the girls adore their dog Marena.  They were so happy to have more time with her before crossing back to FL and parting ways, at least for now.

Back to West End – going to miss this water!

West End was badly damaged in the hurricane and the resort at Old Bahama Bay is still rebuilding.  When we first crossed to the Bahamas we stayed there for 4 nights.  They let guests use the kayaks and paddleboards for free which is awesome. The girls got to kayak for the first time.  This time around they were so excited to paddleboard (and we are of course now in the  market for an inflatable one!).  They took turns staying in the shallow water and chasing each other up and down the beach.

They had a lot fun in the water, the beach, shuffleboard and the pool.  They also flew kites again on the beach.  We had a fun last two Bahamas days with Sonny and Phyllis (Corkscrew), Michael and Cathy (Trawler Life) and Karen and Scott (Last Call).  The day before we left a slew of other boats pulled in to get ready to cross including Rod and Susie on Beehaven.

We left just before sunrise Wednesday morning to head back to FL.  Hearts a little heavy to leave.  The Bahamas were a very special part of this trip.  I think at this point in time we all agree that it has been our favorite part.  And there is SO much more to explore there.   Six weeks felt like a luxury and yet we could have spent months exploring further south.  There is never enough time!  And, as is always the case on the loop, we traveled with some amazing people in the Bahamas. Some we are still in touch with back in FL and others have moved further north and we’re not sure if or when we’ll catch them again.  So, the goodbyes are hard.

Goodbye Bahamas – we’ll miss you!

Our crossing was so-so.  We set out in what we knew to be about 2 ft. waves. They were quickly 3-4 ft. with many 5 ft. mixed in.  Madelyn got to see her first sunrise.  She was in awe of how beautiful it was.  I actually thought to give Molly Bonine before we left.  She usually just wears wristbands and keeps ginger handy for the ocean rolling. But this was a long day AND I actually remembered….so why not.  And her stomach didn’t hurt at all!  Now….on further review I should have given her 1/2 a Bonine…she conked out cold up on the flybridge bench for like 3 hours we think.  Oops.  The waves were off our bow and not violent, but still not fun.  The Seakeeper was worth EVERY penny that day.  It worked overtime all day long.  No school work was possible at all.  Maddy sat in my lap for hours b/c she was a little uneasy (and Molly was asleep!).  We were in the Gulf Stream for like 6 hours.  It was never ending and pulling us all the wrong ways.  When we got into FL waters we told the girls that Netflix and YouTube coverage had returned and all of a sudden they scrambled down to the salon and were silent the rest of the trip.  Out of the Gulf Stream the water also calmed a ton.  It was like a giant bathtub on the FL side.  All in all, nothing bad to report about the crossing, but about 6 hours of it were no fun at all.  Not scary.  Not violent.  Not even rocking.  Just too many big waves and we were so sick of it.  The flat FL water was beautiful.

We knew there was weather moving in Wednesday night so we made a long day even longer and came all the way back down to the New River in Ft. Lauderdale. We wanted to be here for a few days to visit friends and look at boats so we figured better to just push through and get the boat in the right place.  Just before 5 PM we finally tied up lines and called customs to check in.  We then scrapped our dinner plan of grilling the fresh lobster tails we bought in West End and got off the boat to take a walk and grab some dinner out.  We all needed the breather!  We walked across the huge draw bridge during rush hour traffic and all looked around and commented on the noise and the busy schedule of everything here in a big city.  Molly has commented over and over how much she doesn’t like the noise and will miss the quiet.  I thought it was interesting since she’s a city girl.  She’s never had it any other way until this trip.  I’m somewhere in the middle.  I love big cities and the hustle and bustle.  I didn’t have any re-entry problems because I fall back into city life very easily.  But like I said above, the Bahamas were special.  It was an amazing experience for our family.  One that we will never forget.  So, until next time Bahamas….

Manjack Cay was such a special find!  We missed stopping here on our way south due to wind.  When we were in Hopetown our friends on Igloo told us about Manjack and how wonderful it was. We at that point decided to turn north and figured we’d stop there and anchor for a night or two.  What an incredible little island.  There is nothing there.  A couple of houses.  No water, electric, stores, etc.  A few anchorages and some nice beaches, reefs and a hike through the woods to the other side of the island.

We got anchored Saturday afternoon and quickly took the dinghy to shore.  We spotted a sign about pet chickens asking boaters to please leash their dogs.

We had been told there was an incredible farm on the island with even more incredible owners.  I had also read about a couple of mile long walks through the woods to the Atlantic side of the island.  We set off on one of those.  It instantly looked like we were off the beach and in Michigan hiking through the woods.  Madelyn was tripping over tree roots and sticks and there were trees overhead blanketing the sunlight and blocking the heat.  There was even a cactus.

It was a beautiful walk and then out of nowhere the beach.  Gorgeous, undeveloped, Atlantic ocean beach.  I’m running out of adjectives.  We just walked around the beach a bit and talked to a couple from a sailboat for a little bit about what they had seen on the island.  Then we were anxious to find the farm so we walked back with plans to spend Sunday at the beach.

Turns out the farm was at the base of the beach where we left the dinghy.  And indeed the couple who owns it were the nicest, most welcoming people you can imagine.  As most people in the Bahamas are.  But they were really great.  Anchorage full of boats and they welcome all of them to come walk around and share their beach and land.  They have lived in their house on Manjack for 25 years.  All rain water and solar power.  The husband told me that when the house is collecting rain water it’s not producing power and when it’s making power, it’s not collecting water.  Simple!  They have rain water collection all over the property and it provides enough for the house and for all of the watering in the garden.

The highlight of the visit for the girls, and the reason we were searching for the farm in the first place, was the baby goats!  Our friends were there when the goats were 1 week old.  They turned 4 weeks on Monday and were as cute as can be.  I know the girls want to blog about this as well so I will just post a picture or two and let them post the rest.  What an incredible experience for my city girls.  Leslie, the owner, invited the girls right inside their pen and quickly set up chairs for the girls.  There are two baby goats, Sadie and Abner.  They were asleep inside their little house in a little bowl curled up together.

Their mom is Daisy.  Also in the pen is Aunt Mae – she is the milking goat.

Aunt Mae – she was feisty!

Leslie mentioned how much milk and cheese they have.  I stopped short of mouth watering and begging her to sell me some of the cheese.  Anyway, we watched the goats play and took lots of picture and the girls played with them.  Maddy was sitting in her chair waiting to hold Sadie and Abner jumped up on the back of her chair to say hello.  It was just adorable to watch them all!

Abner!

Sadie is shy, Abner is saying hello

Abner playing with Madelyn

After the goats we moved onto the farm and met the pet chickens.  I have never seen such fluffy feathery chickens.  Leslie picked the rooster right up.  His name is Fred Astaire and she held him while we all got to pet him and feel his comb and skin.  We were a bit worried about being pecked but she knows him pretty well and knew he wouldn’t do a thing.

Onto the garden.  I can’t keep a cactus alive so I was blown away by this garden.

They grow all of their food.  They make a once a year trip to FL to go to Costco for coffee and peanut butter.  They mentioned they haven’t learned how to grow those yet.  But huge papayas all over the place, a key lime tree that produces 2000 key limes each year, a sour orange tree good for making lemonade and marinades, and none of that was even in the garden.  In the garden Leslie hydroponically grows strawberries. She showed us the water pump system they built that waters them 3x daily for 15 minutes and then recirculates any water that runs off to be used again.

Strawberries – impossible to find on these islands!

Papaya

Then we moved onto the beds.  Lettuce, red cabbage, rows and rows of kale, arugula, tomatoes, stevia, and the list goes on.  We tasted some arugula leaves.  No question the best arugula I’ve ever tasted.  And we all enjoyed the stevia leaves.  Yum, sweet!  Madelyn has turned into a germophobe so I was impressed that she agreed to try leaves right off the plant and liked it!  Leslie also has a mulberry tree and told us how she makes wine from the mulberries.

Leslie and her husband were beyond welcoming.  Truly wonderful people.  After spending so much time with us on their farm they invited us back to the beach later for a bonfire.  The whole anchorage was invited.  They were out collecting wood for it.  We played on the beach for a little bit.  Someone (assume the farm owners) built this cute tiki hut with two hammocks and two swings under it. The girls loved it.  Can’t find much of anything closer to paradise than this quaint little island.

We didn’t make it to the bonfire because it was too late for the girls but enjoyed smelling the campfire and looking at the amazing stars in the sky that night.  The water here was so clear that we could see everything as the sun was setting and after dark.  We had our under water lights on and the lights attracted all sorts of fish.  Ben spotted a huge squid just playing in the lights.  The girls found many sea biscuits as well.

Beautiful night

Squid!

We got up Sunday morning with hopes of spending the whole day at the beach and exploring all of the reef areas in the dinghy.  Mother Nature had other plans.  The beautiful Sunday we thought we’d have turned into high winds and waves moving in by late afternoon and much worse by Monday.  So, no more exploring. I suppose that  made Saturday’s few hours on Manjack that much more special.  Ben put the dinghy back up on the boat and we pulled anchor and off we went for the kind of long haul to Great Sale Cay.  It was easily our worst day on the water in the Bahamas and our worst night in the Bahamas.  The waves were big chop the whole way.  Just kind of miserable to be in.  Spray and salt water everywhere.  Not rocking and rolling which is what Madelyn hates, but just annoying chop and really strong wind.  We had a long trip and got into Great Sale fighting the wind to anchor.  It took Ben a few tries because the wind was pulling us so strongly.  When we anchor we tend to swing all over the place.  Ben and I basically didn’t sleep Sunday night.  After Ben was confident we weren’t actually dragging he was more relaxed but it was so loud there wasn’t much chance of sleep.  There were 25 mph sustained winds with a high gust Ben saw of 37 mph.  CRAZY.  All.  Night.  Long.  We would spin at high speeds.  Then the snubber on the anchor would grab and yank us back the other way.  And then repeat.  Over and over.  Finally very early in the morning the winds calmed.  We don’t need another night like that anytime soon.

That crazy night trying to sleep I was thinking of a Best and Worst list from the Bahamas.  Honestly other than that day and night I don’t have any worsts (just a lot of wind!). But I decided that for school the girls are going to do a Bahamas timeline project and then pick their favorites from the list.  We have experienced so many amazing new things and I want to make sure they are still present in their memories.  We will get to work on that soon so stay tuned.  And those super soft, adorable baby goats will be at the top of the list!