SUNSHINE - AT LAST!

February 7, 2015

Well,  what an amazing day!   Our first morning we didn't have to bundle up against the cold and we had sunshine all day!   Here we are sailing by  Daytona Beach -

SOMETIMES,  this is the best way to see a big city!







I had to share this photo, and you would understand totally if you were a cruiser,  but nothing is uglier on the ICW than  underneath the bridges as you go through them.   This bridge is just south of Daytona Beach and  what a wonderful greeting it was indeed to our next anchorage.

We stopped at about 4pm and dropped an anchor at New Smyrna, which we had never heard of.

This was one of those lucky discoveries that only happens once in a while.  One of my new favourite places bookmarked to go back to.    

A beautiful waterfront,  lovely walking trails, and  check out all the fishing!    Schooner and I headed off on our walk, while John and Annie checked out how the fishing was under the bridge.    

    

    

This shirt is for John,  his Dad, Andy and all the rest of you fishermen out there! 

Lucky for me, after Schooner and I finished our walk, John  had a LONG business call, so I left him with the dogs and went exploring the towns art district.

I found  an artist studio/gallery with over 80 local artisan and crafters displaying and creating things.      

I met 2 artists on vacation from Quebec and  PEI, and they pointed me to an amazing woman from Venezuela who makes the coolest shoes and boots ever!                                                                                                                              
These shoes had my name on them, but alas they were not my size.  The Beatle boots however, were my size - but of course the one of a kind boots were the highest price item she made $200.00.

Arent they the coolest things ever?

  

  

A PLEASANT SURPRISE

We arrived in St. Augustine really excited to tour the historic city which was celebrating its 450 year anniversary.  It is an amazing city, but  it was about our coldest windiest stop yet, and because of impending weather, we  anchored overnight and left early the next day to get to a less expensive place to dock to sit out a couple of days of 30 knot plus winds.

So - Happy 450 Birthday St. Augustine!

 MARINELAND

Our  true Yachtie friends Rod and Pauline had told us about a great marina at Marineland,  (Marineland is a city!)  with Free Laundry,  cheap dockage,  free shuttle to groceries and free passes to  a  Marine life research facility.

Here we are taking off!

What nice people  running the marina! They lent us there personal car to go get groceries, and were so helpful with everything we needed.





















We had a great time,  after a short trip to the beach with the whole gang Schooner and I walked 6 miles  and  explored the beaches.

John had a sore back and had a lot of  work to do, so stayed closer to home. Annie is getting too old for the long walks, so after a quick visit she stays home and keeps John company!




 Schooner has become my walking buddy.  He is always up for a walk, and since the vet told us he needed more exercise (we had started to call him Fatty Patty)  and I  am wroking really hard at getting lots of exercise in we have become real pals!






While in Marineland we met Jim and Pam -great people who are  living aboard their Defever 49' trawler  (Silver Boots) for 10 years, and  don't miss having a home at all!  (The boat was amazing, and more like a home than a boat)We spent a couple of fun evenings with them -  It's always great to talk to people who are successful at doing what you want to do.!



I have a real aversion to zoo's or to animal theme parks where the animals put on performances.  I much prefer to see animals in the wild - so I wasn't sure that I even wanted to check out our free passes to the Marineland park,  but  we braved the cold and walked across the street to check it out.

What a wonderful surprise! 

Marineland has been turned into more of a research station than theme park. They  are affiliated with University of  Florida and Georgia Aquarium andrescue turtles,  and study Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins that have been bred in captivity.  They don't use them to put on shows because they say it stresses the dolphins out.    

Instead they let people come and observe the dolphins and because dolphins  are so friendly, often you get a show just because they want to interact and show off! 

We had a guide for the two of us,  and we got to see how the dolphins were treated and  fed and just got to observe them right up close.






We stood next to the dolphins huge swim area (that has water piped in from the beach)  and  as soon as they saw us they came up and talked to us and jumped and  put on their on extemporaneous show.   It only took us about 10 minutes to recognize some of the dolphins.

Here is Coquina!

the youngest dolphin only 8 months old, and she  was very curious. Dolphins live in Captivity up to 80 years old, but only about 25 years in the wild.  

This is Chubby!  

 He was my favourite (maybe because I relate to him)  Chubby  followed us  around and  watched everything we did, and whenever our attention was somewhere else he stretched himself up high so we would look at him!  He was having a great time showing off for us and moved around with us posing until we took a photo or two!         

FINALLY GOT THE INEVITABLE QUESTION

Well, it was bound to happen! - 
It usually happens in South Carolina or Georgia, but this trip we got all the way to Florida first!   I met a very nice woman from Alabama in the marina at Marineland and when I introduced myself,  she looked really puzzled.   Later  we met her husband and he just came right out and said to me   "Well my wife said you  were from Nova Scotia, and your name was Dixie - and she thought you had a Canadian accent.   And,  I can see you do -  So  what are you doing with a name like Dixie?  Now he said it a friendly but puzzled way - so I answered  in my best "southern" voice -my name is actually Dixie Dee,  and my momma  just loves the south, and I'm just so happy to be here with ya, all!  

Now I am a proud Canadian, but southerners - well they take there DIXIE really seriously, so I have to be real careful not to offend them.  Some southerners don't shine too well with a Canadian usurping the name Dixie.     It's all about Southern pride!  -  

 










We have travelled through a lot of Dixie -  Dixie HWY runs South down the whole east coast - and there hasn't been a place we have stopped and not seen something with Dixie on it.  

Dixie products, Dixie places, Dixie streets, and just Southern Pride displayed as Dixie 


Ya'All Take a look at some here Southern Pride!   And  other than getting really good at my southern accent -  

 

How would you respond to the DIXIE question?

By the way Mom - I am pretty proud to be Dixie Dee, whatever the reason for the name. 

FINALLY FLORIDA!

FEB 1, 2015

We celebrated our Florida arrival in Fernandina Beach   and walked all over this very cool town on  Amelia Island (Conde Nast traveller rated it one of the top 25 islands in the world!).  

Our main reason for stopping only 6 miles from Cumberland Island, Georgia, was to watch the SuperBowl game.  But,  we took half a day for some sightseeing, and John always finds a way to combine work into each day -as you can see.

We staked out a great place to watch the game, and had to be there 1 1/2 hours early to get a seat, but when the game started, we found ourselves lone SeaHawk fans in a sea of Patriots.  I was so wishing I had my SeaHawk Superbowl Sweatshirt with me! 

Even though the Seahawks lost - it was a great game and we had a lot of fun. It was a fun day/evening off the boat - when there are 2 of you living and traveling  in a space smaller than your bedroom at home without leaving for days - well,  lets just say that  it is nice to be able to take a walkabout and see other people! 

On my walk-about,  I came up with some do-it-yourself craft ideas while scouring a few antique markets.  Check  these ideas out! 

ARMADILLOS, BEACHES, RUINS AND WILD HORSES

We were SO excited to get to Cumberland Island, Georgia!

One of our all-time favourite places!  Cumberland Island is an amazing barrier island with great beaches on one side and a live-oak forest on the other.  There is nothing commercial on the island, but it was once the home of the Carnegies, and quite the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

The island was given away in trust to create this amazing park and  all that remains of the Carnegie Family Homes and their lifestyle are some crumbling mansions.

Cumberland Island is not your typical place.  It can be reached only by private boat or ferry.               There is a campground that is booked up over a year in advance but the only services are toilets and cold water showers.  There is a maximum of 300 people allowed at a time on the island (It is 20 miles long and up to 5 miles wide)   People bring in their food, firewood and pack their garbage back with them.   If you arrive by private boat you anchor for free and pay $4 per person for 7 days on the island.  One of the best bargains  you will ever find! 

Annie and Schooner loved getting off the boat for an entire day,   I walked over 7 miles through the trees, as John practiced his TARZAN moves with Annie all tucked in.  

We found some wild oranges,   a few Armadillos who posed for us and  got pretty close to some wild horses.








This is my first look at a wild Armadillo.  Schooner was great at hearing them and alerting us  to their presence. I was so excited - I ran up to take a photo and then realized it looked like a giant RAT  with armour plating.  - If you know me and rats,  you will imagine how excited I was about that!

I was much more thrilled to come upon some of Cumberland Island's  famous Wild Horses.  
Wasn't it awesome of them to pose  for me! 

John was  pretty happy to find this tree of oranges.  We sat down to have a juicy snack by the ruins but found the oranges as sour as lemons!  

TO THE BEACH!

We took the dogs back to the boat and headed a couple miles across the island to the beach for some beach combing.  It was pretty cold and windy,  but incredible to have miles of pristine beach all to ourselves. 

  

John found this perfect Sand Dollar and tons of  Horseshoe Crab Skeletons. 

                             IT JUST DOSN'T GET ANY BETTER 

                        THAN A DAY ON CUMBERLAND ISLAND!

DOLPHINS, CATS AND AMAZING HOMES!

AS we headed South from Charleston we went through an old bascule bridge.  We radio and ask for a bridge opening, and  Open Sesame!

Pretty Cool.      

   

We anchored out again, and as we left our anchorage on the Frederica river,  we passed a fisherman emptying his pots, and  look at the friend right there to help him!

 






This is where we started to see more and more dolphins!  Unfortunately they are so quick they are hard to photograph! 

Do we  EVER get tired of watching dolphins?   NO! 

 DON'T MIX UP YOUR BEAUFORTS!!
After another  beautiful anchor out we arrived in Beaufort, South Carolina (pronounced BEW-FIRT)  not to mixed up with Beau-fort, (Bow-Fort) North Carolina)   The locals told us to help us remember the correct pronunciation, remember that Beaufort South Carolina is Beautiful!


Isn't this just the  most peaceful picture ever?  Well, Red Sky at night isn't always Sailors Delight!   Our plan was to stay in Beaufort for 2 days, stock up on supplies and wander around and look at the amazing southern architecture.  Mother Nature had a different idea  and we ended up almost a week  waiting for better weather.  The night I took this photo we had 35 knot wind gusts,  and opposing wind and current so it was a really long long night with John staying up all night on anchor watch!   John is happy to report that his hours of research into his new Rocna anchor paid off and we now have complete confidence in the holding power of our anchor!

We had plenty of time to mix work and pleasure and boat maintenance in Beaufort!   People were friendly and the dogs were welcomed in all the shops!  













This is one of the most unique light fixtures I have ever seen.  Made out of 160 Silver t-spoons, and only $1600.00   Do you think I can collect that many spoons at garage sales and get John to make me one?

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

Now when you get to Georgia, you know you are really in the south!  
People do look at me funny when I tell them my name is Dixie Dee and have not a lick of Southern accent!

Georgia is full of   Incredible trees,   beautiful homes and real Southern Accents.

As we headed to Savannah, Georgia we encountered more weather and so we unexpectedly ducked in to a marina to tie up on the dock for a night.

We ended up at ISLE OF HOPE marina, which  was kind of serendipitous because right on the same dock was the Catamaran Dixie had been drooling over for quite some time.


So, before we left we took a look all through "Solitude Seeker" - the only Lagoon 440 for sale in the world with a modified mast height to go under the ICW bridges.    It had been just left there 2 years earlier when the owner got sick, so needed a little TLC.    It was fun to look at - So, now we have seen it we will HOPE it is still for sale in a year or so when we are ready to upgrade!



I took advantage of being on land and took a 7 mile walk around town and snapped photos of some great southern homes on the water font.  All the sudden I came to . . . .   Well lets  just see if you can guess which home I didn't think  belonged with the others!

Love to hear your comments on which is your favourite home!