Pine Island to St Augustine, FL 12.31.09

The engine compartment supplied all the heat necessary for the night. It must have been in the 50’s. Jim finished stowing the generator and extension cord for travel, while I got the curtains down. While he was hauling up the anchor our company cruised by. What a beauty!!!!! Definitely the way to travel.

I was lucky to get a picture of a couple of dolphins..they are so fast..guess I need a better camera.

There didn’t seem to be as many boats on the water…even though it was a holiday. This one was kicking up quite a wake until he spotted me on the foredeck and then dropped his speed and gave us a slow pass.

As we came into the anchorage at St Augustine, we spotted this shrimp boat. I like the dog in the doorway.

We are anchored near the Fort and had a good view of the “firing of the canon”….

We have a nice view of the city waterfront. It is all Christmas lights and some distant music. I think I just hear fireworks. A nice way to end the year.  Happy New Year everyone. May the coming year bring you good health and happiness.

Doctors Lake to Pine Island 12.30.09

We had gone to bed early so we could get an early start. We were underway before the sun was up.

A beautiful sunshine all day. Very warm and cozy inside our cockpit. shorts and short sleeved shirts until the sun went down.

The trimaran caught our eye.

Jacksonville is a very pretty city from the water.

The Modis building looks like it’s hollow from a distance. There is a mall, restaurants and plenty of room for boats at the dock.

Now here is a nice home away from home.

We saw this ship coming towards us, just before the junction to the ICW…

I was glad we were able to make the turn off before we had to pass it.  There was a strip of land between it and us and we headed S. I waited until this sailboat passed between us for a photo.

The sun set to the W of us….

While the moon rose in the east…

We were only a mile from our anchorage and most of the markers have blinking lights so we had no trouble finding it. As we rounded the island a sailboat turned on it’s mast light so we had company for the night. We made 60 miles today. I think that is a record for us.

and on to Doctors Lake. 12.29.09

Another nice sunrise got us up and moving about.

The sun was welcome…and we were glad we spent the night plugged in…you northerners will recognize this…FROST…welcome to sunny FL.

We walked down the dock to Mel and MaryLou’s boat…a 21’ Trophy Pro, with a cuddy cabin. they trailered it down from Michigan….for  a month on the St Johns River. From here they will trailer it to the Okeechobee Waterway for another month or two. We are going to keep in touch …maybe we’ll cross wakes again. Very nice people with a wealth of sailing knowledge..

After breakfast and some pleasant conversation…we headed for Doctors Lake. The sun stayed with us all day and it was a pleasant run, even though the air was cold. We made 43.6 miles today, and got into our anchorage just as the sun set.