Where are the Flies?

Today's cruise was about 8 hours from Golden Isles Marina on St.Simons Island to Kilkenny Marina south of Savannah.  Lovely day until we were about 30 minutes out from our destination where we ran into a t-storm.  Fortunatlely, it was quite a tame storm - some lightening, moderate rain for a short time, but no wind.  We were afraid that the Georgia biting flies would be swarming, but so far there have only been a few.  Of course, those few managed to bite both of us! 

Kilkenny Marina is truly "Deliverance" country in the Georgia marshes.  The docks are as rickety as some of the finger piers on Dock B and we said a prayer when Norm plugged into exposed electric outlet.  Still, the people are very nice as they are pretty much anywhere.  It's a great country and we're happy to once again be seeing a beautiful slice of it as we travel north.

No Problem Finding Dockage

Well, we're having no problem finding dockage because everyone leaves Florida in the summer...  and we've discovered why -- it'a stinking hot with temps in the 90s and humidity at 80%.  Anchoring would be a prescription for no sleep, so we're tied to land every night.  After Titusville, we spent a night at Pete and Lil Satterlee's dock in New Smyrna Beach.  They were in the Bahamas, but had given us the go-ahead to use their dock.  We taxied to the movie theater to see Prince of Persia which was a fun action romp.  Tuesday night was the St. Augustine City Dock.  Yesterday at Fernandina Beach Municipal Marina we celebrated Norm's birthday at Luigi's with linguini and clams in white sauce (Norm) and lasagna (Vicki).  Both meals were excellent and we dined al fresco which was delightful.  We arrived about noon today at Golden Isles Marina near Brunswick GA, used the courtesy car for a run to the grocery store, then Vicki spent a couple hours doing laundry at the marina laundry facility.  She decided not to do laundry onboard thinking that it's not a good idea to operate our washer and dryer in the 100-degree heat in the engine room -- they're really not designed to operate in that heat, and replacing them would be a major, major headache. 

We're getting back into the swing of using the blog after sitting still in Tampa for the winter -- we'll try to update every few days.

Finally Heading North

We left Stuart two days ago.  Norm finished all the maintenance.  Vicki Jazzercized and Publixed and Best Buyed.  We're happy to finally be moving north.  Last night was Vero Beach where we walked about 1.5 miles to the beach and had cocktails in Adirondack chairs overlooking the ocean.  Tonight we're in Titusville - arrived just before the storms.     

Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart

We arrived in Stuart FL yesterday - on the east coast again.  Norm promptly went to work with his head down in the bilge working on plumbing.  It turns out that one of the blades in the impeller inside the mascerator had a hole in it, so wasn't able to move the waste out of the boat.  The boat smelled like a sewer while being worked on, but is fine now.  Luckly, or plannily, Norm had a spare mascerator.  The old one will be rebuilt so that once again we will have a spare.  Next up - what is that funny sound near the starboard engine?  The mechanic figured out it was a problem with the alternator  - a new one is on its way and will be installed on Saturday.  So, all problems are at bay on Tide Hiker.  We get to enjoy a few days at the lovely Sunset Bay marina over the Memorial Day weekend.

Had a great cocktail hour and dinner with friends who are also here - Joe Nekola on Sea Pearl, Nelson aboard Isolde, Nancy and Steve whom we just met aboard Salty Turtle.  Ron and Charma were also with us last night, but left today to head back to Apollo Beach.  It 's great to connect with them all again.  Gotta go - time for cocktail hour at Sailor's Return.

The Endless Class Reunion

We're in Clewiston on the west coast of Lake Okeechobee, crossing the lake to Stuart tomorrow where we'll meet up with Joe Nekola and Ron and Charma Owens.  No tar balls in sight today!  We did escape a thunderstorm by docking 30 minutes before it arrived.  Several boats arrived in the thick of the wind and we ran out to help them dock. We enjoyed a cocktail with them at the tiki bar and found out they used to be members of the DeFever Cruisers group and know many of the people we do - they spent some time recently with Joe Nekola in the Bahamas.  Too cool to always be running into someone we know while cruising or someone who knows someone we know-- it's like an endless class reunion --- or maybe not.  Anyway, it's good to be on the water again - there's no experience quite like it.

The Dancing with the Stars finale is tonight - all 3 hours of it.  (Norm is thrilled.)  Go Nicole and Derek! 

Back On The Water Again

We're baaaaaaack!!

Yes, we're back on the water again.  This is our second cruise day after leaving Apollo Beach, FL yesterday morning.  We're currently anchored off Useppa Island.  This anchorage is a bit exposed, but the forecast calls for mild weather tonight.  Useppa you ask?  Why are you South you ask?  Wern't you going North to the Tennessee River you ask?  Yes, we were.  But, thanks to BP, our esteemed government, and the rest of the incompentent bandits responsible for that disasterous oil spill, we must ESCAPE.  Our intended route across the Gulf of Mexico to Mobile Bay and up the inland rivers was "scrapped" in favor of safer environs.  While we might have beat the oil to Mobile Bay, we're not sure it won't be there when we try to return to the Gulf later.  So, we'll retrace out steps down to Ft Myers, across the Okeechobee Waterway and up the East coast to the Chesapeake for the summer.  As most of you know, our insurance requires us to be North of Florida's hurricane season before July 1.

The powers of suggestion are alive and well,   Yesterday, as we cruised down the Intracoastal Waterway Norm thought he saw a "tar ball".  Of course it was only a bag in the water.  We got a laugh out of that.

Also, many of you know we were in Apollo Beach much longer than expected.  Our hosts there, Ron and Charma Owens were awesome.  They allowed us to dock Tide Hiker at their place while they docked Waypoint (thier boat) at a neighbor's.  We were only supposed to be there while Ron did some work on Tide Hiker (he's an accomplished carpenter and electrician, among other boat maintenance skills) while we completed some previously arranged travel.  But, when Vicki's mom unexpectantly required assistance, we needed additional time. Even though we were planning to move over to the local marina,   Ron and Charma accomodated our dilemna with smiles, generousity.  We will never forget their kindness and friendship.  And, the work Ron did on Tide Hiker, was supurb!  Thanks Ron and Charma!

Being in Apollo Beach had some additional benefits.  Norm's aunt and uncle live in Sun City Center, just 5 or so miles south.  And a friend he worked with in NYC in the 70's lives just an hour north.  Norm was able to visit his relatives several times and get reacquainted with his friend after 30 years.  Awesome!

That's all for this update.  Thanks for tuning in and come back from time to time, see our progress on Google Maps when we enter them and read about our adventures.

Meet Joyce........

What a great trip to Milwaukee. On our first night there, we met and got to know Joyce, our little 4-week young grand-miracle. We also got reacquainted with Jake and Evan, our 6-year and 3-year young grand-miracles. And, we had great visits with Chris and Katie our 30-something miracles; Joel and Dave, our 30-something miracles-in law; and, Russ, Chris's father miracle-in-law. We very much missed Colleen, our other 30-something miracle and Brian, our other 30-sometning miracle-in-law. 

Joyce Evelyn Duris--Only Hours Old

Grandma Vicki and Joyce

Grandpa Norm and Joyce

Mom, holding Joyce and Aunt Katie

Future "Dancing with the Stars" Equipment

We dined on great food and many adult beverages.  In fact, our grandson, Chez Evan prepared the entire meal that night.  Look--

Chez Evan, proud of his cooking.

On Friday, Vicki's niece, Rachel and nephew, Alex visited with us. They drove up from Rockford, IL, Vicki's home town too. We had a great visit with them.  We all went  to the local ice arena.  Unfortunately, the only pictures we took of Rachel and Alex were videos on the ice rink which this new blog format will not permit.

Jake, who scored 7 goals in his latest hockey game

Evan made his debut skating try but preferred instead to tire out Grandpa Norm in the arcade

Vicki and Norm met with their friends Cindy and Steve Warner for dinner on Saturday night.  Cindy and Vicki worked together at Miller for many years.

Norm, Vicki, Steve, Cindy

On Easter Sunday, we all met up for an early dinner at a local restaurant.  Unfortunately, Dave, Jake and Evan left earlier that day for home up in central Wisconsin.

Of course we had to visit with the Easter Bunny too.

Russ (Joel's dad), Katie, Norm, Chris, Margaret (Jerrod's girl friend), Jerrod (Joel's brother), Joel, Virginia (Joel's mom), Vicki

On Monday, we once again went over to Chris and Joel's.  Vicki spent the entire day cooking up meals for our new mom and dad.  Norm made three trips to the grocery store and kept the cooking utensiles clean for the next batch of meals.  It was quite a production.  Vicki cooked and froze over 30 meals for them so they would not have to worry about cooking while adapting to life with a new baby.  So, Joel rewarded us by grilling up some bison-burgers and sausage for dinner.

Chris and Joel and Joyce--bye for now!