Life in the Slow Lane (The Pearl): Florida

Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts

April 7 – Fernandina Beach, FL

Fernandina Harbor Marina Mooring Field

"Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." – Roald Dahl

We spent the day playing in Fernandina Beach. It's one of our all time favorite places to visit. It's full of historic buildings, beautiful old oak trees draped in Spanish moss, cute bouquets, a great beach, fun places to eat and fresh seafood, but the thing I like the best are the people who live here. They have that southern charm and graciousness that you only find in the south. I really enjoy that.

We enjoyed a relaxing morning watching the boats leaving the harbor. It's a busy time of year as everyone is moving north. We waved good-bye to Swede Dreams...hopefully we'll see them again a little further north. We took the dinghy ashore and spent the day wandering through little shops, visiting with people and walking the beach. While beach combing we found four shark’s teeth. I found three tiny ones and Stan found one very nice sized one...his first every. Unfortunately I had mine in the pocket of my blouse and they must have fallen out when I tried on clothes in one of the bouquets. So we only made it home with one.

It was a beautiful day and a great way to spend our last day in Florida...on to Georgia tomorrow.

Magnus and Charlotte on their way north.

By the time we took the dinghy ashore most of the boats had left...by evening it was full again. The migration north was begun.

A few of the building and homes in town

Enjoying a nice day on the beach

One of our neighbors this evening. This is Enticer a 85' Trump built in 1935.

April 6 - Leaving Jacksonville, FL

Fernandina Harbor Marina Mooring Field

“Life is a journey, and if you fall in love with the journey, you will be in love forever.” — Peter Hagerty

We’re finally moving north…although it’ll be a very slow pace. We’re not in a hurry to get anywhere. In fact we really don’t have any particular plans...keep moving north just fast enough to stay in the 75º temperature range. We’ve enjoyed Jacksonville and I think I appreciate it a little more each time we’ve stayed here. The marinas in the Ortega area are full of nice people, the views are pretty, everything you need is close and there is always something going on in Jacksonville.

The only thing we’ve had troubles with in Jacksonville is the railroad bridge that separates the Ortega marinas and downtown. When it’s broken or being worked on there is no way out! They had a lot of issues with it in 2014…it was closed for weeks and when it did operate it was on a limited schedule. We didn’t think to check on it this morning until we were underway. The bridge was closed until 11:00; we got there at 8:30. We tied up at the dock in Riverside Park and enjoyed the pretty morning having a second cup of coffee, watching a little TV and organizing the dock box. The delay actually meant we were closer to the outgoing tide that gave us a push and we were only an hour behind our intended arrival in Fernandina Beach.

We spent the evening visiting with friends. We only had a short visit with Jim and Betsy on Smiles, but we’ll see them again hopefully in Isle of Palms later in the month. We had dinner with Charlotte and Magnus from Swede Dreams…catching up with all their adventures in the Bahamas this winter. All these pictures made us wish we could have gotten there this season, but there’s always another year.

Leaving Ortega

The Ortega River Bridge

Looking towards downtown Jacksonville and the railroad bridge that can hold a boater hostage when it doesn't work.

Riverside Park...this is where we've spent a lot of Saturdays enjoying the farmers market and listening to great music.

We won't miss this bridge

Good-bye Jacksonville

One of the large ships we saw today on our way past the Jacksonville port.

This little cruise ship got a little to close the pilings on it's way through. This is the bridge at Sister's Creek. By the time we come south again...not sure when, it will be replaced by a taller one.

This part of Florida looks more like the low country of Georgia and South Carolina.

A great dinner with our friends Charlotte and Magnus

Feb. 20 - Jacksonville, FL

Ortega River Marina

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” —Dr. Seuss

We've been in Jacksonville for a week staying busy visiting with friends, meeting new friends, working on the boat and eating.

Our local friends, Barbara and David, told us about a great place to eat. Definitely not a fancy place, but the food was outstanding. Southern Charm is a down home joint run by a local character and chef that personally greets each guest as they enter his little diner. The place is only open a few hours each day for lunch and then again a few hours for dinner. Friday was his shrimp and fish buffet. Along with the main course we had some of the best sides I've ever eaten...mac and cheese, potato salad, coleslaw, collard greens, fried green tomatoes, cheesy grits and cinnamon rolls. Art "Cracker" does all the cooking, he hollers "shrimp up" or "fish up" when each batch is done and his staff brings plates of fresh food to your table as long as you want to keep eating. We were as full as two little ticks when we left.

One of the things we've always enjoyed in Jacksonville is the Riverside Arts Market...a nice combination of farm fresh items, crafts, music and food. It's located near a neighbor called Five Points under the I95 bridge. Today was a beautiful day to spend at the market, along with the normal vendors the market was hosting a chili cook off. There were twenty five booths filled with free samples of chili and cornbread with all the fixings. The sample cups looked small, but after tasting every contestant's chili, a few pieces of cornbread and a couple of cookies for dessert we were stuffed.

Art busy cooking up fresh shrimp, fish and green tomatoes

This was my plate after going through the line...

then they start bringing you plates of fish and shrimp.

The Riverside Art Market

Vendors of all kinds...

and lots of good food too.

A few of the beautiful winter vegetables

I think these may be the largest shrimp I've ever seen. The lady told us the red ones taste like lobster.

The view from the market

The Chili Cook-Off

Feb. 17 - Jacksonville, FL

Ortega River Marina

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow" —Lin Yutang

It felt like coming home when we came through Jacksonville...we spent a lot of time here in 2014. Hopefully this visit won't be as long, but it is a good place to catch up with friends and do a little work on the boat. It's also a great place to leave the boat when we go back to Texas for a visit. It's a straight shot down I10 from here to Houston and then south. We've made that trip 23 times in the last five years.

We don't know exactly when we'll go home, probably next week when we've had time to put a coat of Cetol Gloss on the bright work and when we've had time to visit with friends we haven't seen in a couple of years. The cruising world gets smaller and smaller the longer you're involved in it. We saw friends in almost every city we visited on the way north this month. It's always fun to catch up with old friends and make a few new ones.

Jacksonville will be our home for the next 6 weeks or so...we plan to stay in Texas until after Easter and then slowly head north the first part of April. We are looking forward to crossing the Florida/Georgia state line...we've been in Florida for two years. Definitely time for a little new scenery and more adventures.

Old friends from Charleston...Sandy, Rickey, Maryann, George, Susie and Stan

The Pearl's home for the next 6 weeks

The marina's new deck, pool and bathhouse

The view from the marina's new deck area...overlooking the docks.

Stan touched up some of the worse spots before we put a coat of Cetol Gloss on all the teak.

View from the flybridge at sunset

The baskets I've been working on this winter. This one is 8" across and about 3" high

This cute little one has a lid and is 4" across and a little less than 2" high.

Feb. 10 – Cocoa, FL

Indian River – Anchorage

“We do not remember days, we remember moments.” ―Cesare Pavese

Just a quick update to the blog to let everyone know where we are…life isn’t very exciting at the moment. We spent Tuesday in Vero Beach, it was cooler and windier than Monday, so we were glad we had spent Monday wandering through the beach area. Tuesday we took advantage of the local bus and went to Publix, had lunch and did a little shopping. Before returning to the boat we visited with friends that are docked at the marina. We spent the rest of the day hiding on the boat from high winds and cold temperatures. We have to keep reminding ourselves we’re in south Florida.

Today we moved north to Cocoa, which is a cute town we enjoyed visiting in 2011, but today we decided against going ashore. The high winds and cold temperature makes a ride in the dinghy very uncomfortable. In fact we spent most of the day driving from the lower helm so we could stay out of the wind and stay warm. Kind of fun for a change, but we both would enjoy a warm day…at least the sun has been out and that helps. This summer when it’s hot, I hope we remember these days.

Feb. 8 - Vero Beach, FL

Fritz Island - Anchorage

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

One of the things we enjoy most while cruising is finding small local places to eat or visit where we can talk with locals or just watch the world go by. While we were in Ft. Pierce yesterday, we found the Sailfish Brewing Company, not far from the marina, which had a nice selection of locally brewed beer. Another place we love in Ft. Pierce is the Importico's Bakery. It's a nice place to enjoy a relaxing breakfast and a great cup of coffee. We usually like sitting at one of their sidewalk tables where we can watch the town begin to wake up, but today it was just too cold to enjoy that.

The day warmed up quickly with winds far less than there were on Sunday, so we had a nice short cruise to Vero Beach. We've been cruising the east coast for five years and this is the first time we've stopped in Vero. It's a popular place with cruisers because everything you need is easily accessible and everyone is so friendly. They have a wonderful free bus system that takes you anywhere you need to go. Some refer to this area as Velcro Beach, because cruisers pull in for a few days and just can't seem to leave...we'll see what happens. We plan to stay a few days to relax, provision and visit with some friends.

Sailfish Brewing Co.