Good Morning Jacksonville!

We left St Augustine yesterday for a 6 hour travel day to Jacksonville it was BRRRRRRrrrrr!  Hopefully it was the LAST day we will have to endure traveling without any enclosure.   The wind was in our faces all day.  But we made it, hoping at every turn that there would be some protection from the wind.  Not many pictures taken yesterday but we had a beautiful sunrise this morning.

Cocoa Village to Daytona Beach and on to St Augustine

So we finally left Fort Pierce on Monday at 7:30am and Landed in Cocoa Village at 3pm Monday night very windy and chilly.
We met a up with The Firestones on Grace Full also loopers its always nice meeting up with fellow AGLCA members.
 We left there 7:45am and arrived in Daytona (Halifax Harbour) about 2 o'clock on Tuesday a bit warmer and not as windy but still light jacket weather.  Once we got into our slip off with the jackets and down to short sleeves again.
Today we left Daytona at 8am, oh its bike week there,  and we are now in St. Augustine (2pm) again it was less windy and much warmer.  As we were preparing the boat (line fenders and such) to dock the wind really picked up for once the weatherman was on the money, We will see if they are right about tomorrows weather as of now they are calling for increased wind passing rain and thunder in the morning and more steady afternoon rains.  Looks like it may be 2 days here in St. Augustine.  The original plan was to be in Jacksonville between the 7th and the 10th for scheduled boat work.  Looks like that won't be happening more like the 11th. 
No pictures today the WiFi is not the best I will get them up on a separate post when we have a better connection.

Day 148 and counting.......... Fort Pierce

148 Days or 21 weeks WOW as long as that is, it is beginning to feel like we have been in Fort Pierce that long.  Well, maybe not I can certainly think of worse places to be.  Today, though still very windy, it would have been doable(?) however the captain had a tumble down the stairs of the upper helm last night in the rain.  Actually he never touch the steps!  He is ok, actually very lucky, just a very sore body and bruised ego.  Tomorrow calls for rain in the morning and 70% chance of rain/thunder/lightening in the afternoon, hmm a triple threat.  Guess where we will be tomorrow?  Just as well as it will lend more healing time.

Today was the famous FortP farmers market, yesterday was downtown Fort Pierce Day with food vendors a band and Irish dancers.  Tonight is a jazz and blues trio Oh! and last Thursday night was biker night which is every Thursday BTW they close downtown off to traffic and the street is lined with bikes. So there has been plenty of activities to keep us entertained.  All FREE and if you have your drinks in plastic cups you can walk the streets with them, even better.

Funny you know you spent alot of time in one place when the local boaters welcome you back.  And there was this very nice couple from Mass. we met last month at the farmers market, well they were walking by our boat this morning on the way back from the market, big hello, nice to see you back,when did you get in?  LOL then the big question? How long are you staying? UGH!!! best answer I had was "hopefully we will be leaving BEFORE you."  They are here until April 1st, they have a vacation home on the ICW.

Heres to hoping the next post is from somewhere north of here.

Fort Pierce......... Still!

 Great deal we picked up 2 (new to us) locking fenders got both for less than the price of 1

 The radar works! this is split screen radar on the left chartplotter on the right or you can overlay on one screen

 anchor and platform all beefed up and ready to go

 Garmin HD radar dome installed and working!  Captains been busy.

 What is that?  Meet Lolligag a custom design and build! AGLCA members from SD

 Happy smiling faces!  Matt and Sandee on their great adventure.

 More Loopers Mint Julep and Sassy 2 heading for the Bahamas

Our dockmate for the month also heading to the Bahamas for 4 months

The night before we left Stuart we had a problem with the fresh water pump, so we had no water for 2 days.  But, luckily, the captain was able to fix-it with a $40 part, we just had to wait on it. 
We hope to leave tomorrow but there is a BLOW going on so we will have to wait and see what tomorrow brings us for weather.  If the window opens we will head out, move up north closer to the Cape Canaveral area as we are hoping to see the launch of the Atlas 5 on Friday.

End of the Shakedown....Goodbye to Stuart.....Hello Great Loop!

We have enjoyed ourselves immensely here in Stuart and tomorrow morning we will begin our journey north.  1st stop is Fort Pierce we need to be in Jacksonville sometime between the 7 and the 10th of March for scheduled boat work.  And out of Florida before April 6th.

statistics for trip south.....

20 weeks.....140 days
12 states
1479 NM =1702 miles or 2740km
average speed traveled 9 kts= 10mph
fastest speed traveled 19.2 kts= 21mph
how many gallons of diesel?  Afraid to look!

What we signed up for?

The American Great Loop
6000 miles
19 states and Canada if we survive  The Bahamas!
How long?  We shall see.

The average couple completes it in 18 months but some take years.  I have been told, that on the average there are 200 boats in some stage of the loop each year. The AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruisers Association) has just over 1500 members in some stage of planning, doing it for the first time and doing it multi times.  In the last 5 years an average of 50 boats a year complete the Loop.

Life is a journey, not a destination…

Week 19 and our last week in Stuart

Another beautiful sunset 

its an epidemic around here

Jerri and Pete

We woke up to a fog filled marina we have been extremely lucky as far as dealing with fog on travel days, glad today isn't a travel day. As you have seen by previous posts Jim has been very busy getting boat work done, all those projects that need to be completed for our trip back north. He is waiting on the Garmin HD radar which is promised to arrive here on Wed. so out with the old, which he removed from the boat yesterday.  The Garmin HD will overlay on the chart plotter or you can split screen it, removing the need for the big black box.
 
Craigslist has been very good to us, recycle recycle.  Jim posted the old radar and the old chart plotter on craigslist and in 24 hours they were sold!  That is how we sold our camper and the basstracker the week before we left home. And where we found our bikes and our dinghy.  Its a good thing!
We are loving it here in Stuart and almost hate to leave but 1 week from today we will move on,  but this time we will be heading north.  It just hasn't been the same without our friends Jerri and Pete though we miss them as they are off to Mexico for a family vacation.  Since we will be gone when they return we said our goodbyes and we all hope to meet up in Charlestown SC or somewhere else sometime soon.

Now our travel companions from New England Bob and Denise on Liberty(RI) are in Key West.  They made there dream destination and will be heading north at about the same time as us, we hope to have some travel time with them as we head north around the same time.  And Scott and Lane on Esperanza (Canada) are on their way to Miami as there final destination for awhile, we wish them well.  We all left New England at the same time.  It was fun playing catch up with each other for the last few months. 

Jim and I went to see the play Chicago at a local theatre here in Stuart, it was really good I enjoyed it as much as the shows we have seen in Boston.  And wayyyyyyy cheaper, we got great seats for $25 bucks each well worth it, they did a fine job.
That is about it for this week I probably will not post again until next week after we leave here.  Until then Jim and Dale.

Valentines Day, Farmers Market & what is that noise!

We lent a freedom fender out during high winds she is returning it along with a 12 pk if Sam Adams how nice.
Jim bought a new roller for the pulpit now it needs some beefing up so we can put on the new manson anchor and begin anchoring out.
Jim decided it would be best to add extra support by backing the pulpit up with aluminum so we are having plates made. measurements being taken here.
Our Valentines gift to each other. I have been eyeing this engel cooler for sometime we figure it should pay for itself in 6 months. Its suppose to keep ice for 7 to 10 days.
stocked and chilled I will let you know how long the ice lasts. The last cooler needed all fresh ice 2-3 times per week.
...... before..........sanded......2 coats of marine poly

almost like new

A trip to a Farmers Market is always a treat! Yesterday our friend Jerri and I went to the Jensen Beach farmers market, great deal there on fruits and veggies they also had herb plants and orchids which most of the FM in Florida seem to have. Something else you don't see up north is huge binds of oranges and grapefruits the size that pumpkins come in up north in the fall. We also made a trip to Publix (grocery store) to stock up. Its nice to have the marina shuttle for shopping but way better to have a friend with a car. It was very nice that Jerri invited me along, Thank You Jerri. Our next trip in a few days will be to Wallyworld haven't been there in months. Ahhh yes, sometimes its the little things.

Well its just after 8am and I have been up for nearly 5 hours ugh during the night (3am) I was woke up by this loud screeching noise figuring Jim had to hear it too I laid there until I couldn't take it anymore and went to investigate. The wind had picked up and the line had stretched so the stern was rubbing up against the piling, yes we are once again in a slip that is really too small for our boat. Since I couldn't tighten the line enough to get us off I threw another fender out. I couldn't sleep again after that and had to readjust the fender a couple more times during the night. How could Jim sleep through that? Hmmm it might have been the multiple bottles of wine he went through the night before. Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day.