South Carolina cont'd

 

Tuesday, June 11
Wednesday, June 12



Tuesday travels took us to Charleston, S.C. (Because I've been somewhat delinquent in writing this, I'm sure I've forgotten 'a bit'.)  We were on the ICW all the way to Charleston.  There were several inlets that gave us big, open water for awhile though.  We passed what appears to be a barge building operation.  Haven't passed one of those since way back on the Tennessee River, I'm 'a-thinkin'.  Yep, that accent seems to come back awfully easily when we are all surrounded by it.

Barge being built or repaired.



A familiar site of the Captain, eating his morning 'Marshmallow Mateys'.

The marina we stayed in was right next to the USS Yorktown. USS Yorktown (CV/CVA/CVS-10) is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is named after the Battle of Yorktown of the American Revolutionary War, and is the fourth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. Yorktown was commissioned in April 1943, and participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation.  Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). She was recommissioned too late to participate in the Korean War but served for many years in the Pacific, including duty in the Vietnam War, in which she earned five battle stars. Late in her career she served as a recovery ship for the Apollo 8 space mission, was used in the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! which recreated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and in the science fiction film The Philadelphia Experiment. The Yorktown was decommissioned in 1970 and was moved to Charleston Harbor in 1975 to become a museum. 
The closest we got to the Yorktown was when we took a water taxi across the harbor for dinner on Tuesday night.  The temperatures and humidity were too high for much physical activity the entire time we were in Charleston.  So, once again we will have to visit more the next time we're through here. Hopefully it will be a different time of year.

 

USS Yorktown

The water taxi dropped us off about 10 blocks from downtown, so we were able to see a little of the architecture of the city as we walked to dinner.  We later found out that the marina/resort where we were staying had a free shuttle that we rode to get back to the boat.  We had dinner at Sticky Fingers restaurant.  When we were almost done eating, the sky opened up and it poured. Did I ever tell you about our luck with the weather? :)  Anyway, we slowed our pace eating and even ordered a warm bread pudding (free with a coupon the guys found when we got there!).  After about 15 minutes, the rain subsided and we were on our way.  The free shuttle pick up location was about 3 blocks from the restaurant.  It had rained so hard that, again being at sea level, there was some flooding.  Since Tim was the only one wearing sandals, we asked him to pose for a photo-op.  As we waited for the shuttle, we were entertained by the 3 gentleman working in a fudge shop next door.  They sang songs, substituting the word 'fudge' at appropriate times, and were quite good.  "I've got fudge now.....on a cloudy day..." sung to the tune of My Girl. 

Neat, old church
 

Ceramic dog in front of fire station.
 

Downtown Charleston




flooding

Joe, patiently awaiting the shuttle.

Didn't do much on Wednesday, due to the heat.  Even decided to stay in for dinner.  Pretty sure we watched a little TV and settled in with the sunset.

Thursday, June 13
Up fairly early, we headed north.   The planned route was ICW all the way to Georgetown, S.C.. The marina was The HarborWalk Marina.  This was, by far, the hottest day on the flybridge.


Hot, Hot, Hot!!

We took to drastic measures trying to stay cool.  The ice water in the plastic container was what we dipped our 'neck' towels in. At one point, you can see, Joe placed the container upon his head.  Didn't last long though. 

Cooling down.

Around lunch time the Captain decided to pull over in the channel and anchor just outside.  The water was only about 5' deep and we all took a swim.  It really helped us to cool down some, and the guys scraped the bottom of the boat for barnacles and other foreign matter.

The guys swimming.

Arrived at the marina mid to late afternoon.  After cooling down we took a walk into town for dinner.  Ended up a place called Buzz's.  It took us 3 tries to get a table that didn't wobble.  The food was good and we enjoyed a leisurely walk through downtown on our way back to the boat.  At the local old time movie theater they were having an Italian Movie Festival. Hmmm? Yeah, I thought the same thing.  When we got back to the boat there were 3 or 4 mallard ducks hanging out by it.  Two of them enjoyed being right under our swim platform.  We couldn't decide if it was because of the shade or if it offered them some type of protection, thinking they might be very young and afraid.  Anyway, I fed them a couple of slices of bread and we enjoyed watching them for awhile.  By the time the sun went down, the AC was just beginning to cool down the inside of the boat.

Ducks hiding.

Friday, June 14
Happy Flag Day, Happy 238th Birthday of the Army and Happy 59th Birthday to me.  Hey, at least I'm not as old as the Army!!  When I awoke, there was a very lovely b-day card from Tim.  Inside were 20 chances at the PowerBall.  (I'm pretty sure the drawing is tonight/Sat, so I'll let you know if we win.)  The weather was SO much better as a cold front had passed in the night.  Both temperatures and humidity made for a very pleasant day of travel.  We stayed on the ICW and traveled through some of the prettiest parts of South Carolina, according to our literature.  The river was surrounded by lush, green banks of tall trees and there were many ospry flying and nesting along the way.  The river water turned chocolate brown. Hopefully the pictures will depict the true color. Amazing. Unfortunately it will give our boat a big, brown mustache again.  By the end of Friday, we had arrived in North Myrtle Beach.  The marina had a swimming pool and both Tim and I agreed it was one of the nicest we had stayed in.  After a dip in the pool we walked around the marina to Clark's, for dinner. As the crow flies, it would have been about an eighth of a mile. But since we are neither crows nor can we fly, we had to walk about a half mile to get there.  We put Joe, and his boot, on a bicycle.  Dinner was very filling and our walk back to the boat was enjoyable. 
The last 2 pictures below are 'just because'.

Brown water (tannin)

Beautiful trees and lily pads.

On the way to dinner.

Wishing Grandma Happy B-day. Been practicing his 'i love you' sign.

Elisha says "Hi everybody!!"





Port Royal and Bohicket.

Sunday, June 9
After an uneventful day at sea we arrived at Port Royal Landing Marina, Port Royal, SC. Right next door is Beaufort, SC. The two, historic towns are separated by the width of a sign post at the local Burger King. There are many magnificent antebellum homes here. 'The area, and specifically some of these homes, have been host to a number of award-winning movies, such as Forrest Gump, The Big Chill, The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini. In fact, in the closing scene of The Prince of Tides, the Port Royal Landing Marina can be seen as Nick Nolte rides over the adjacent bridge.'
The ramps that run from the dock area up to the main walkway that lead to the store/restaurant are very steep at low tide.  (Poor Joe)  The tidal range is 9 feet.  That's the largest we've run into so far.
We borrowed the courtesy car (F150 Pickup) and ran into town for a few items.  We decided to have dinner at the marina restaurant.  On the way to dinner we stopped along the main walkway and watched the local marine life as the tide was coming in.  We were there approximately 10 minutes and Joe swears the tide rose at least a foot. During that time we saw several good sized crabs, a whole bunch of minnows and a small stingray.  There was a larger item (we assumed a fish) that was feeding on the minnows, but was so fast and kicked up so much mud, it was hard to determine what it actually was.  At dinner, Joe overheard one of the locals saying that 'it gets really interesting here after 9pm', but we didn't have the energy to hang around and see. 
When we pulled into the marina earlier, we noticed a Bayliner 43MY (motoryacht) for sale.  We walked down and looked around the outside. It had obviously been sitting for awhile and needs lots of attention, but since we were there and since we hadn't been inside one like this, Tim called the broker and made arrangements for a walk-through.  He came the next morning before we left.  The guys really liked the layout.  I couldn't get past the tiger-striped cushions and dark green wall paint. 

From the top of the ramp.

Headed up for dinner.

Monday, June 10
After being "Lookie-Lou's" (what boat brokers call people who just 'wanna-see' what a boat looks like without really being interested in buying it), we departed Port Royal, SC, and headed north.  Monday's travels take us to Bohicket Marina.  The Captain knew we couldn't get all the way to Charleston in a day and didn't want to anchor out (too hot and buggy), so Bohicket it was.  Remember the 9 foot tidal range?  Well, apparently a couple of fishermen either didn't properly prepare or took a wrong turn because they and their center console were about 50' into an area called Mud River when we drove by.  After getting over smiling, we really did feel sorry for them.

Stuck in the mud.

We also saw a shrimper boat with an interesting figurehead on it.  I'm sure there's a story behind it.

It's a goat!

Getting to Bohicket marina took us about 7 miles out of the way, but the time spent was worth having AC.  Besides, Monday night at the restaurant was All You Can Eat Crab Legs night!! Yumm, as Jessica would say.
Tied up, powered up and made our way to the office to pay.  On our way back, we spotted an ice cream/breakfast shop.  We almost never pass up an opportunity for ice cream :) 

Enjoying ice cream.

After our cones/sundaes Tim and I played a game of Bag Toss.  (Someone calls the game Corn Hole....)  He beat me soundly and we proceeded back to the boat until dinner. 

Bag Toss
 

Walking to dinner we noticed the sky was getting 'angry'.  Have we told you about our fortune with weather, hmmm????  I had the crab legs and the guys patiently waiting for me to finish my 8 bunches of legs. 



The remnants.

On our way back to the boat, the wind started howling. Enough to rip off a table umbrella, which Tim captured and folded up just before being skewered by its pole.  The sky really looked bad and just as we made it to the top of the dock ramp, it started raining.  Now, just about this time a young (20 something) lady passed both Tim and me, but caught Joe long enough to say "Do you live on a boat?  Oh, I've always wanted to live on a boat.  Can you tell me all about living on a boat?"  Poor Joe.  It's raining and he's doing his best to be polite and answer her questions, but still having to hobble his way back to the boat before becoming entirely drenched.  Once aboard, it really poured and the wind blew pretty hard.  Another thunderstorm warning, according to the local TV station.  After it calmed, we settled in for the night.  Oh, our 'slip' at the marina was on the outside end of 'D' Dock.  We felt at home.  Right next to us was a 23' Chaparral cruiser, very similar to the Ussary's 'Dirty Boy'. Sent a picture to Daria.  Mark wanted to know if it's name was 'Dirty Girl'.

Tropical Storm Andrea-0 JULI-IV-2!

Frday, June 7
As expected the eye of Tropical Storm Andrea hit us somewhere between 0100-0245 this morning.  The waves had been strong all afternoon/evening, but picked up substantially after midnight.  We were all in our beds, but none of us asleep when it rolled through. The winds were estimated to be upwards of 45mph, but it didn't seem like that to us.   Here's a picture of the restaurant and condominiums at the marina.

Since we stayed a day longer than originally planned, we needed to settle up with the staff.  That delayed our departure until a little before 0900.  The next stretch of the journey requires a night on the hook, as the nearest marinas (close to Savannah) are 70+ miles away.  As mentioned before, the ICW is a series of left and right turns....nothing is straight down here.  I think we travelled about 40 miles to check out a couplf of suitable anchorages that Tim found in our boating literature.  To say that there is nothing between Brunswick, GA and just south of Savannah, gives 'nothing' a good name.  We didn't even run into any trees for the longest time.  Miles and miles of grass-filled marshland.  Well, now wait a minute.  I need to take that back.  When I said nothing, I failed to include the bazillion horseflies we ran into.  While cooking breakfast down in the galley I kept hearing the floor above me creaking and loud slapping noises.  And, quite a few "Geezes" and "why, you little.....".   When I delivered breakfast to the flybridge I found out that while Joe was at the helm, Tim was killing flies.  We have a bright yellow fly swatter and the flies now are on the lookout for "2 heap-big white men yielding yellow stick". Anyway....we found a good spot to anchor and on the 2nd attempt the anchor held.  After supper, the guys sat out back (covered with bug spray) and enjoyed a pretty strong, constant breeze (helped immensly with bugs and temperature). Bed before sunset.  It was another long night, however, due to the heat once the wind died down.

Saturday, June 8
Up with the sun/sweat around 0630.  If you've never been in our boat you cannot appreciate the 'closeness' of everthing...especially in the head (bathroom).  Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that while one sits on the pot one can see inside the sink.  Overnight, a crab had crawled up the side of the boat and up the through-hull for the sink drain....right into the sink.  When I first saw it, I thought it was one of those big, black wooly spiders we have at home.  This  wasn't possible where we were and then realized what it actually was.  Grabbed a photo, started the coffee (inverters are wonderful), the guys pulled up the anchors and we were underway.  Another day of marshland, but today there were more interesting things to look at.  Being Saturday, there was more weekend boat traffic, to include many kayakers.  Saw more trees and even a couple of wild animal sightings.  We saw our first alligator (AGD-ask my brother Dave what that means).  Actually, Tim saw it and pointed it out to Joe and me.  We ran into some more really nice riverfront housing areas with nice docks.  That meant quite a bit of slow travel, "No Wake".  For us, slow travel is only about 1-2mph slower than we normally go, so not a big deal.  And, it did give us the opportunity to view about 7 wild hogs.  We though of Mark and Daria and how they would have loved to 'shoot'em junior'.  We are currently docked at the Morningstar Marina, Thunderbolt, GA. When Tim checked in here, the workers told him that today is National Marina Day and they had free bbq beef, chips, watermelon and soda pop for anyone staying here.  Wonder what they served at Lake Perry, hmmm???   The guys are currrently out front working on the straps that hold the dinghy down..something about rust...  After awhile/showers/rest we plan on hailing a taxi to take us into Savannah for dinner.  It sure is hot!!!!

Our first alligator sighting.

Wild hogs

Kayakers near Thunderbolt, GA

Our freeloading crab.

Did someone say 'free food'?

Survived Tropical Storm Andrea

Windy and bumpy during the night, but we are okay.  I just hope this critter guarding the shower this morning is not a sign of things to come.

Blackie

Andrea-0 JULI-IV-1

Round 1 of Tropical Storm Andrea, has blown by. Since the weather channel was reporting tornadoes on the ground south of us approximately 30 miles, headed north (right over us) at 35mph, we decided to abandon ship and head to the shore/restaurant/bar to scope out potential shelter areas. Yeah, Gary, I know what you said... There was one small TV on the wall and a room full of patrons partaking of Happy Hour, oblivious to their impending "Doom". The 3 of us watched the weather and discussed potential shelter locations. There aren't many!. After about 45 minutes, we returned to the boat. There is another round coming. We'll keep you posted. Thanks for your continued prayer.


TS Andrea, Round 1
 

Joe's unique boot-print. Does make it easier to keep track of him :)

Hunkered Down -- St. Simons Island

Thursday, June 6
Just a quick update. We are hunkered down at Morningstar Marina. Tropical storm Andrea is heading our way.

Doomed, Doomed!

We've moved to an inside slip for more protection as Alfred, the marina employee, predicts winds up to 45mph and 1-2' seas overnight. So, we'll not be being going anywhere today. Put us in your prayers, please. We'll see you on the other side.

Wednesday, June 5
As we needed to take on fuel and Langs didn't open until 0800, we had no reason to arise early.  Nat, the harbour master guided us in to the fuel dock and we took on 100 gallons of gas.  We were underway by 0850.  At 0900 it was 97 degrees on the flybridge. Cloudy, hot and muggy.

Hot, Hot, Hot

We were on the ICW all day.  I was at the helm when we drove by Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base.  The path was very curvy and took us very close to the base.  There was a small boat positioned at what appeared to be the entrance into the base.  Joe and I called him the gate guard.  As we got close, an error message came up on the chart plotter "radar overlay invalid".  I said to Joe "Look, Joe, they're jamming our radar signal....sneaky, huh?"  Sure enough, as we were equally past their entrance, the radar mysteriously began working again.  About this time both Joe and I smelled gasoline.  Since we had just taken on fuel, Joe checked over the sides to make sure nothing was leaking.  He determined that all was well and eventually we quit smelling gas.  About 10 minutes later, Tim comes back to the flybridge and we're all visiting.  "What have you been doing, Tim?"  "Well, I just replaced the thermostat on the starboard engine and also put the new fuel -flow sensor on."  The light comes on for both Joe and me.  "So, that's why we were smelling gasoline?"  "Hey Tim, the Naval base jammed our radar signal when we went by!!"  He grins and says "Oh yeah? I suppose me disconnecting the network cable when I installed the fuel-flow sensor had nothing to do with it?!"  Burst my conspiracy-theorist bubble.....

Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base

We had a couple heavy rain periods (surprise, surprise) and according to the forecast, rain may last all week.  At least we're out of the Gulf.  My friend Debbie texted me earlier about tropical storm Andrea.  Our friend Tom is supposed to be aboard a sail boat from Fort Lauderdale, around the Keys and back up to Tampa right now.  Hope all is well...  And, we are hoping Andrea leaves us alone.  Joe is right now looking online and it doesn't look good.  As Tim would say..."We're doomed!"
It took us all day to get from one end of Cumberland Island to the other, and it's only 17 miles long.  Like I said earlier, the ICW was S-curves all day.  Years ago, the island belonged to a woman who raised horses.  In her will, she left the island to the State of GA for a nature preserve with the stipulation that the horses would remain and be cared for.  Today, there are many wild horses living on the island.  We saw one on a beach and a few others closer to the woods. 
Just before reaching our destination for the day, we had to pass Jekyll Island.  The channel next to the island was very narrow and VERY shallow.  Of course it didn't help matters that it was low tide, but at one point the depth finder displayed 2.7'.  Yeah, I know!  We have an additional 2' 10" under that, so we were OK.  At a couple of places the mud along the shoreline was higher than the water.  Joe took a couple of pictures of the muddy bank.

Narrow, shallow channel

We survived the shallow water and made it to Morningstar marina, St. Simons Island, GA.  We are tied up on the outer dock and we've been rocking since we tied up.  Should make for interesting sleeping tonight....See you next time.

Taken at dinner.  More salmon...yum...

Rainbow last night at Langs Marina.

Tuesday, June 4
Awoke around 0630 to warm, muggy weather with a light fog.  Got underway a little after 0700.  Tim has developed a DAILY BRIEFING form which contains pertinent information such as:
Departure Time, ETA, Weather, Tide/Current, Water/Fuel/Pumpout status, Destination, Name/Phone number/Channel marker, Food plan, and Items of Interest.  He prepared the first one the night before so both Joe and I feel "well-informed" this day :). Today's destination is St Marys, GA, approximately 35 miles and the majority of the route is in the North Atlantic ocean.  Fun day at sea!! (I failed to mention that St Mary's is the 2nd oldest city in America. St Augustine being the 1st.)

Passed this container ship. Big guy.

It was a relatively uneventul day.  The seas were projected to be 1.7' and the forecast was accurate.  Tim always says that we bring rain wherever we go. Well, today that was accurate. At least, late in the day.  We had to zip up the eisenglass and when it's 85+ degrees out, it makes for a pretty hot flybridge.  Have to protect the electronics though.

All that red stuff....yep....rain......

 There were several times when we saw lots of porpoise schooling.  I mean, lots...like 15-20. It was pretty special. Around lunchtime the Captain decided to head towards shore, anchor and take a swim.  We anchored offshore about 1/8 of a mile and both Tim and Joe took a dip.  The water temperature is still mid to upper 70s.  The Captain prefers much warmer than this, but not much we can do about it, right? I didn't get any pictures during this little break :(
In order to get into St Marys, we had to navigate in on the St Marys river inlet.  This required us to head further away from shore several channel markers before heading back in, in order to avoid the channel jetty.  The tide was headed out and it was amazing to see the brown water from the river right next to the blue/green water of the Atlantic.  I only hope the picture reflects the 'break' in color.  It's as if there was an imaginary dam separating the two.  This inlet is 45+' deep in order to accomodate the submarines that are stationed at Kings Bay Naval Base.  We keep hoping that we'll see one underway.  Not today, but maybe tomorrow when we leave (fingers crossed).

River water in foreground, ocean water in back and impending storm in the distance.

Once we arrived at Lang's East Marina, we took a walk into town.  The marina didn't have laundry facilities, but the local 'General Store' had a washer and dryer right on the display floor, for use. 

The General Store (laundrymat)

We started some laundry, bought some ice cream cones and headed down to the Submarine Museum.  It's a 2 story building containing some interesting facts and artifacts from the past and present.  Upstairs, along with more memorabilia, they run a short video describing past and present operations.  We watched until I knew the clothes needed to go in the dryer.  Had 45 minutes of dryer time to kill, so decided to go have a bite at the Riverview Cafe.  They had an eclectic menu (Tim's favorite :)) and we all found something we liked.  Food was great.  Greek owner was loud.  We didn't linger, as the clothes were dry and we didn't want the store to close!  Given a little more time, it would be fun to break out the bikes and ride around this little town.  Seems like we're back on our sundown/bedtime schedule.  We hope to get half way to Savannah tomorrow, probably on the inside (ICW).


Tim at a working periscope. 42' tall. We could see JULI-IV!

My turn. Pretty neat.


Watching submarine video.

Oh, this picture is for Aletha's cousin.  I can't explain it, but I'm sure it will send the right message. :)

Sunday, June 2
We are back in Jacksonville. Just can't seem to stay away from JULI-IV!! This leg will last a little over 2 weeks, and where we end up is unknown. We only know we need to be away from hurricane alley.
While we were back in KC we were able to spend a couple of weekends at Lake Perry visiting with good friends we hadn't seen in awhile.  Great to see everyone!! Even took Elisha for his first boat ride, at 5 weeks old! He stayed in the salon with Grandma while Jeremiah and Papa drove the boat, from the flybridge. Jeremiah's biggest thrill was being able to honk the horn at Joe, who was sitting on the end of D-dock.

Elisha's first boat ride on Calypso II

Six weeks old and smiling.

Jeremy, Jeremiah and Pam the night before we left.

Some airport advice:
Tim wanted to book the 05:15 flight. I frowned. We ended up booking an 11:50 flight. Tim and I drove Joe's new van (which he purchased from Grandma June) and another car to his house, so we didn't have to bother Jeremy on Sunday.  Joe's son, Jeremiah, drove us to the airport and will pick us up when we return.  Thanks Jeremiah!  Off we go with a layover in Atlanta.  Due to bad weather down south, not only was our arrival in Atlanta delayed, our departure even longer.  We had to fly down to AL to avoid a storm, on the way into Atlanta.  What was to be a 2 hour layover turned into a 6 hour layover. It wasn't really a big deal for us, but poor Aletha, who agreed to pick us up and deliver us to the marina, had to wait, and wait, and wait.  So, what does one do while waiting to depart.  Self-entertain.  Tim's version of this was to criticize WHERE people were standing and HOW they chose to place their bags on the seat next to them, eliminating a place for another person to sit. Something about using a cattle prod or tazer...You get the picture.... Joe's version of self-entertainment was to people watch.  My version was watching the two of them.  In the picture below, Joe is imitating what his daughter, Alahora, used to do when she was 2 years old. It has now become something that we all do :(  Apparently when she was little and her parents were telling her something she didn't want to hear, she would point her elbow at them.  Funny.

"I'm not listening to either one of you."

We finally landed in Jacksonville at about 10:25 and arrived at the boat around 11:30.  THANK YOU ALETHA!!
Once we turned the AC on, it cooled off enough to go to bed.  Must have been 12:30 or so.

Monday, June 3
We slept in until 0700.  Nothing on the agenda that required us to arise any sooner.  We needed to get the barnacles scraped off the boat, install a new thermostat, take Aletha to lunch and beg her to take us to the grocery store.  While we were back in KC, my brother Dave told me about a couple of folding bikes that were for sale in North Fort Myers, his winter home.  Someone who lived in his community had sold his sail boat and still had the bikes.  Joe and Tim and I had previously talked about the pros and cons of having a couple of bikes. Long story short, Bob, Dave's FL neighbor went over and checked out the boats, stored them in Dave's garage and ultimately took them to the FL UPS store to ship them to Aletha.  When she picked us up at the airport, the 2 boxes were in the back of the car for us. Since they were purchased sight-unseen I was all excited about getting them out and taking one for a test drive.  The guys helped me get one put together and off I went.  Really nice bikes and we got them for a great price!!  They will come in handy for sure.  Thanks to Bob and Dave! 

We have 2 of these! Really nice bikes!

When I got back from my bike ride, Joe was in the water scraping barnacles off the boat.  Since I was hot and sweaty from my ride, I decided to put on my suit and join him.  We were both working on the back of the boat when he hollers "Whoa! A jellyfish!".  Well, all of the sudden I was cool enough and out of the water I went.  Tim joined Joe and they not only debarnacled the boat, but also removed/washed off the mustache that was on the bow hull.  Tim and I rode the bikes a few blocks to a Fresh Market and picked up a few items.  Most importantly was ice for the cooler.  I don't remember if I mentioned last time that the place we're staying is not really a public marina, so facilities are nil.

Off we go to the Fresh Market.

Aletha agreed to join us for lunch, as well as Jesse, a friend of Tim's/Aletha's.  We had a great lunch a couple blocks from South Beach. Joe and I had grilled salmon. Delicious!  After lunch, Aletha gratiously took us by Winn Dixie to get the groceries that we couldn't haul back on the bikes.  Thanks again.

Our buddy, Aletha. I asked her how to spell chauffeur and she said "D-R-I-V-E-R". Funny girl!!

Tomorrow we head north for parts unknown.  I think the plan now is to go 'outside' for 30+ miles.  We're not really sure where JULI-IV will end up this trip, but needs to be out of harms way.
Thanks for tagging along. :)