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!