December 30, 2015

We have been in St. Augustine for a month waiting for a weather window to head south to Miami and then Bimini in the Bahamas. The weather all over the country has been so confused this year, hope it settles down after the first of the year.

Some of you know that Bo and I have been named Waterway Guides Editors for the Bahamas. Bo has  also been named the Multi-media editor for Waterway Guide. He has done some fabulous filming of marinas, waterway entrances into harbors and photography.

Our stay in St. Augustine was a wonderful experience, this is one of our favorite stops. We have been traveling with our friends from Belgium that we met 2 years ago in Georgetown, Bahamas. Our friends on Cat's Meow( are at a marina) so it has been so fun. We have our mail service in Green Cove Springs, FL. which is about 1/2 hour from here. We were able to have our mail service help us with information about registering our vehicles in Fl. We will do that when we come back in the spring.

We have been on a mooring ball here by the Fort in St. Augustine and it is a breathtaking view. They light us the city by the water with lights and trees are lite. In the center of Old Town is a park with a gazebo,lights and some entertainment.We also were able to stay on our mooring ball and the boat light parade went by our boat and around the front to the seawall for everyone to view. We are only a dinghy ride away form the docks for showers, laundry and the old town. We too in several music festivals in Old Town this year with friends and even a Christmas Music Concert in an outdoor stage. Weather has been in the 80's and so much humidity.We went with 4 other friends to Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church for Christmas Eve Service. St. Augustine started a new service for cruisers, Cruisers' Shuttle. This is fabulous as it cost us $5 a person but she takes you all over to run your errands. People have gotten eye glass repair, generator repair, propane refills, marine stores plus big box stores and of course groceries. Some days we have gotten on at 9 and not returned until 2, where can we go, ride for the price. Most towns we have to take our red wagon and walk so this is huge. We have been able to get fresh fish at a market that we would never  have been able to walk to.

We will be sending blogs and pictures of our adventures again this year. Bo has a very busy itinerary. Taking us on 30 plus routes, we will do and see so much that we have never done before. This only adds to our excitement.

This year we do not have any company coming to spend time with us and will miss everyone as they add so much to our trips. Next year hope things work out for everyone.

January 9th,

Still in St. Augustine.

Last week was an experience. A front went through here for about 5 days. We took the boat to the docks and got water and then went back to our mooring ball. We knew a front was going to pass the next several days but had no idea it would be as bad as it was. On Tuesday afternoon the wind picked up and continued to increase. There were about 12 boats by us on mooring balls on the north side of Lions Bridge. We are saying rock and roll. Between Thursday and Friday 3 boats had their lines fray and come off the mooring ball. 2 were sail boats and one had people on it. The went under the bridge and broke off their mast. Tow Boat came and took them to the docks, the other engine failed and was taken to the docks. The marina came out each day and checked everyones lines. For 7 days we were on the boat, I worked on baskets, Bo worked on his pictures. Mid week we finally went to shore and was that fun. I feel so blessed that our of 12 boats at the end there were 5 boats left and one was our friends from Belgium.

We are not looking at leaving tomorrow (Sunday) morning and go as far as we can. We will check with Chris Parker Monday morning as a front is coming and see if we duck into West Palm or continue. Bo is not one to take a chance so always feel very safe with him. We hope to be able to get to Miami and will be there maybe a week depending on weather. We have several places to anchor and are looking forward to being back to the Miami area. We love the Key Biscayne area and always love coming home.

I will keep all of you posted on our next arrival and hope to have pictures to share, but for now plan # 13 is to leave Sunday January 10th headed south.

God Bless and sun, light winds and friends hold us together.

Joyce