Home Sweet Home

When we last posted, we had arrived at Fernandina Beach after a 36 hour, windless trip from Fort Pierce. We like Fernandina Beach. It’s a picturesque town with lots of shops and restaurants. We are not really big on shops, but we do like restaurants and that is one of the reasons we stopped there. We had made reservations at Le Clos, a favorite of ours. We started with Escargots and Claudia had the Ahi Tuna while Peter had the seared duck breast. We washed it all down with a good pinot noir and followed with coffee and a créme brûlée. Sadly, the next day was Sunday and we learned that Fernandina Beach is an old-fashioned kind of place that shuts down on Sunday. Few restaurants open. We had hoped to have lunch at Kelly’s; it used to be known as la Bodega. We enjoyed dining in the open courtyard when it went by that name and we hoped to find Kelly’s as good. Alas! It was closed.

We met some really nice folks who were traveling on a 35 foot Pearson yawl (Anne and John) and their friends on an uncharacteristically navy blue hull Island Packet ( Dennis and Julia). We hope to see them again on our next cruise. Then small world that it is, we saw some folks from Colorado sporting WKU T-shirts.

The trip to Brunswick was largely windless although we were able to get a boost from the wind for a few hours. We passed under the Sidney Lanier Bridge and called the marina. What a welcome! One would think that we were long gone and considered lost! We motored past the shrimp boats and tied up to the same dock we had left, albeit on the other side. It was good to be home. It only remained to do a few boat chores and we could get in the car and head home to Kentucky. We did have two must dos. The first, a tradition, was to head for Fox’s Pizza Den the night of our arrival. The second, there was happy hour at the Oyster Shak the following Monday and several dozen oysters on the half shell.

The drive home with a stop at Harry’s (Whole Foods) in Marietta, GA was long. Arrival at Woodside meant stopping along our drive every few feet to remove fallen branches from the road. We arrived after the Redbud blooms but the Dogwoods and spring wildflowers were still in bloom and everything was green.






Our pooch was glad to see us and we more so to see her. So now we're CLODS (Cruisers Living On Dirt) and planning for next season begins. Meanwhile, the adventure continues!

Goodbye South Florida

We left Ft Lauderdale after a very pleasant stay. Our trip to Ft Pierce was a combination of motoring, motor-sailing and sailing. The wind was very light when we left but it picked up later in the morning and came out of the East. As the day progressed, it clocked around to the south and was on our stern. We were able to sail, wing and wing (mainsail to one side of the boat and jib on the other). Since we had caught a tiny bit of the northbound Gulf stream, we were able to make more than 6 knots (6 nautical miles per hour). Sixteen or seventeen hours later and we were tied up in our slip at Ft Pierce.
Peter had extolled the food at Chuck’s, a popular local restaurant right on the water. Claudia’s sesame seared tuna was as good as he promised. We discovered a new restaurant, Yellowtail Grille and Raw Bar. The raw oysters were far too expensive but the menu offered a creative assortment of dishes. Since Moules Marinières is one of our favorites Peter had to try their version, Thai Ginger Mussels; mussels steamed in white wine and herbs with the addition of ginger and coconut milk. This was definitely an original iteration of a classic dish. Claudia’s Sashimi Tuna was outstanding! How can you improve on something like that? Well, instead of wasabi, try wasabi cream sauce.
After a 38 hour windless trip, from Ft Pierce, we arrived at Fernandina Beach at 9:15 PM. There wasn’t a breath of wind the entire trip until we turned into the entrance channel. Suddenly, there was a 10 knot breeze from the south. Where was that when we needed it? By the time we got all the way in and had to turn into the ICW to get to the marina, it was pitch dark. We’ve been to this marina several times and should know our way in. Believe me, things look different in the dark. We tried following the chart plotter, but it was confusing since it was oriented north up and we were headed south. So directions were turned around. Finally, after doing several circles while reviewing our progress, we arrived at a point where we didn’t know what to do. We couldn’t seem to find the next red flashing beacon which was opposite our marina. So, more circles. We could see that there was a marina opposite our position, but we failed to recognize it as our destination. Things look different in the dark. After hailing some people in a passing dinghy, we established that we were, in fact, at our marina. Of course, it was late, so there was no dock hand to help us with our lines.