You may be wondering what our days consist of and what do we do every day on this 800 mile road trip.
Most mornings (okay ALL mornings) Terry is up before me starting his coffee, reading our trusty companion, the Dosier's Waterway Guide and going over the engine to make sure she is in great shape for the day.
We are usually motoring along before 7:00 am. We have our friend from St. John, Mike Cranford, to pick up on the 28th, so we wanted to make sure that we made it with time to spare. We only have about 150 miles to Fort Lauderdale so we're making good time. We make anywhere from 50-70 miles a day. 70 miles is a very good day.
After we've been underway for a bit I get out of my cozy cabin. This is primarily due to the fact that it's been incredibly cold for most of this trip. On the ttwo nice days we've had I'm up with Terry first thing enjoying the beauty of the morning.
In case you're wondering how we keep our perishables cold. This is our chest fridge. After about an hour I'll start breakfast.
As you can see it's little, but seems to hold everything I need and most importantly keep it cold. I'm still not quite happy with the organization of it, but I'm working on that. I have storage above my stove with some built in shelves along with room for canned goods behind my settee.
Breakfast generally consists of breakfast burritos,(Terry's favorite) French Toast or hashbrowns and eggs. The ICW is relatively calm (except when we're experiencing high winds and choppy seas, getting waked by another boat or going through a channel). Which is why our sailboat has this handy little stove.
It's gimbled (hopefully you can kind of see in the picture)which means it moves with the boat, keeping your hot food where it should be, on the stove or in our oven. It's not perfect though, so at times I use these handy little pot holders to keep my pans from sliding around while I'm cooking. When we're sailing I'll try to prep everything the night before so I don't have to use the stove very much. I'm thinking pasta salads may be an easy passage making meal and maybe cheese and crackers with fruit and granola bars. Anything that is handy and can be eaten easily.
After breakfast Terry and I read our Daily Text and the chapter that the text is taken from for that day. Then I try to read either some of our magazines or a portion of the Yearbook again. There's ample time for reading and when I'm not reading I'm looking at everything as it passes us by at about 6 knots.
Yesterday we had a banner day for wildlife. Dolphin, manatee, bald eagles, osprey and a raccoon! We had this little guy which played next to us for several minutes. We love seeing the dolphins but they are finicky little guys. They love the fast moving power boats and will ride their bow wave, jumping and swimming from side to side. They usually will check us out but rarely play like this guy did. This dolphin actually played at the back of the boat as if he wanted a good look at us. On another occasion I had one roll over on it's side underwater and look at me. They are amazing creatures.
We also happened into what we began calling "Manatee Alley" due to the abundance of manatee we saw. We saw over 20 manatee within a 5 mile stretch just outside of New Smyrna, Florida. They are slow moving "sea cows" and there are signs posted everywhere to be cautious as they do not move out of the way very quickly and can get injured by the fast moving prop on your boat. We had a huge mamma and calf surface right in front of the boat! Terry put it in neutral so he wouldn't prop them. We watched them resurface about 40 yards directly behind the boat. They were so close I could see the barnacles growing on their backs. When they dive down their tail doesn't slap the water, but disperses it in a gentle motion creating a slick spot. They can stay down for quite some time, and though they are slow they're powerful and can cover some ground. Therefore it's difficult to judge when they will surface, thus my terrible pictures. Plus I'm always so excited to see them that I can't stand still to aim my camera!
Yet, even on a day when there are no dolphins or manatees, we've enjoyed the variety of landscapes and scenery.
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| St. Augustine, Florida |
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| Daybreak in New Smyrna, Florida |
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| Manatee Alley |
Listening in on Sunday meeting.
Then, finish up the day with dinner and a glass of wine. Not to bad.
I say that, though right now we are hunkered down inside our cabin with 30 mph winds gusting outside, moving Obsession around like a tether ball. Today a gale warning was in effect so we stayed put since we're ahead of schedule. Tomorrow is forecast to be slightly better so we'll get a move on a little later in the morning. There is a dinghy motor that we're picking up at a local marina. What little bit we've taken the dinghy out has been by rowing and with today's wind it was a hard row getting her back home. An engine will be very welcome. So would more nice weather. We are in Florida, right?
Camile
