Happy New Year!

EXILE in on the move again. We enjoyed our time spent in St. Augustine visiting with family and friends between Thanksgiving and New Years Eve and during our stay there had a bimini and side mesh curtains installed by the same company who installed our dodger to keep the sun off and the no-see-ums out in the Bahamas.

Thanksgiving visit from Glenn and Anne. We all were treated to dinner at Jeans!

Holiday Spirit. Thanks for the Christmas tree Barb & Ed!

Our "back door" wreath

Patty & Jack dinghy'd over to Kingfish with us for dinner! The ultimate limo :)

Barb and Ed joined us onboard and then to Meehans Irish Pub for lunch Great seeing you guys and thanks for the roses! 

Onboard with Kevin, Jim and Linda on NYE for a champagne toast, then dinner at Kingfish. Great time (and early evening) was had by all. So glad you stopped by to see us!

The St. Augustine Inlet can be challenging at night and in the fog. Thank goodness this boat suffered little or no damage.

During out stay in St. Augustine, a new grandson entered the world. Raymond Jack Welch was born on Dec. 10 and we visited him and the new parents shortly thereafter.

Welcome to the world Raymond Jack

We visited our good friends Craig and Judith in Gainesville and were treated to a tour of UF.
Thanks for your hospitality guys, great seeing you again!

Our good friend Kevin Oliver from Maine flew down on New Years Eve and we began our "sail" south on New Years Day by motoring down the ditch (ICW) to Palm Coast. It was cloudy and 59 degrees and we were ready to find some warmer weather.

The next morning we left in foggy weather and took a facedock at the Inlet Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach which reminded us a little of Nippers in the Bahamas! They had great food and music, both of which we took full advantage. Kevin was getting a little "preview" of the islands!

St. Augustine Bridge of Lions

Arrrrgh!

Ahh, it's warm in Daytona Beach!

And a great show at night

We left Daytona Beach in the fog (nothing new for Maniacs)

One more day down the ditch to Eau Gallie where we anchored for the evening. This had been the first time we'd started the generator in at least a month and it turned out to be a good thing... it shut down after 45 seconds and we'd need to have it looked at. 

When we choose a marina to spend time at, I always refer to Active Captain (Yelp/Trip Advisor for marinas) to see what other boaters have to say about them. There were two we were interested in but unfortunately both had no slip availability. I called Hinckley Yacht Services (which had excellent ratings on Active Captain) and was also located in Manatee Pocket in Stuart. They had a face dock for us and as it turned out it was a blessing in disguise. The entire staff at Hinckley was incredible. We came in around 5pm on Sunday and Tom was there to greet us and help with lines. Jeff mentioned to him that we had an issue with our generator and first thing Monday morning a technician was knocking on our hull.

Good night from Eau Gallie

We had made previous arrangements to have dinner with Stu Adams (my high school classmate) and his wife Pen. They picked us up around 6pm and off we went to a nearby restaurant called Shrimpers to swap fish tales and friendship. Thanks guys, for bringing by our mail and for a fun evening! Stu – you won’t believe the two fish that got away. The first one looked like a sailfish (Kevin was the only privileged one to see it) and simply spit out the lure. The second one, however…. is another story.

This fish dove and swam FAST, stripping all the line from the reel before we could pull back on the throttle and slow the boat down. No, we weren’t drinking too much beer/wine. So – the new blue and white Islander lure is now a dental fixture in a very large fish with 100 yards of 50# test dental floss trailing behind him. Should you encounter this guy, please return the lure.

Long story short, (back to the generator situation) a temperature sensor had to be ordered and would be sent overnight to Hinckley. By noon on Tuesday, Hinckley Services had installed it and we were good to go! We took advantage of our “wait” day Monday and took a cab (this guy sounded EXACTLY like you Tim) to pick up supplies and groceries, then went across to Pirates Cove Marina, fueled up and got all our laundry done.

You never know who you’ll run into along the way, but to our surprise, a familiar face motored by in his dinghy. “The Greek”, the infamous diver who hangs out at the Stonington, ME fish pier every day at 4am all summer, cuts rope out of lobster boat props. He is an acquaintance of ours and well known around the island. Jeff called his name and he did a double take! Small, small world it is.

See you in the Bahamas, "Greek"

We left Manatee Pocket at 12:30 and took advantage of the only weather window for crossing until a week later. We went out the St. Lucie inlet, traveled south to Jupiter, then east toward the Abacos. The weather was perfect. The moon shone brightly over a glassy sea after we passed through the Gulf Stream and made for a delightful run. Twenty-four hours later, we were anchored in Green Turtle Cay, took the dinghy to town (New Plymouth) to clear customs and enjoy some conch fritters and conch sandwiches. What better to pair those with than a Goombay Smash and a couple of Kaliks.  Back to the boat after a quick stroll around town to get cleaned up. We had steaks onboard since none of us had a whole lot of energy left and by 8pm we were all tucked in for the night.  The wind picked up after midnight (as predicted) and this morning we were all very glad to be here instead of back in FL waiting for a window. The weather there has taken a plunge. Temperatures are quite cold and here we sit in a balmy 70 degrees, which we are all quite grateful for.

Thanks again for the roses, B&E. They arrived in the Bahamas safe and sound and are still going!

Sunset on the Gulf Stream

Moon's up at 8:00pm

Sun's almost breaking

Here she comes!

Flying the quarantine and courtesy Bahamian flag

Cheers to good friends in the Bahamas

Daybreak in Green Turtle Cay

We spent the day at anchor here due to windy conditions which we anticipated and are heading to the Green Turtle Club in a short while to say hello to Debby. Brendle motored by earlier yesterday afternoon when returning from a dive trip and gave a shout hello and thumbs up to EXILE.  More to come after we cruise a while. Probably heading to Hope Town tomorrow, then Little Harbour.

More to come!