Baltimore to Florida

Early in November, we said goodbye to Baltimore and were anxious to get south to warmer weather. It took three weeks to reach St. Augustine, FL where we would spend time catching up with doctors, friends and family. Some of the sights between Baltimore and St. Augustine are shown below. The ICW is pretty barren in parts of the south but can be quite peaceful and picturesque. We saw remnants of Hurricane Matthew along the way. Many marinas lost docks or were totally wiped out, especially in Hilton Head where two marinas had to close. There were large sections of dock strewn about or floating in the ICW.

Interesting statue on the way to Wrightsville Beach, NC

Cruise ship leaving Charleston, SC

Heading to the Charleston City Marina where we spent the evening on the Mega Yacht dock

Enjoying a beautiful sunset anchored in the Wassau Sound in Georgia

Hurricane Matthew's wake

On November 28th, we pulled into our slip on M dock once again. The next day we began our 6 month checkups with doctors, dentists, etc. All good reports there. It's difficult to have 13 people on our boat for Christmas Eve dinner, so we decided to go to one of our favorite Italian Restaurants in Vilano Beach, Cafe Benedetto. No fuss, no muss, just fun! With a 3 year old granddaughter and a 2 year old grandson at the table there was never a dull moment. Lots of entertainment! After dinner we went back to the boat to open presents and the fun continued. Until it got dark. It was time to pack up the kids and toys and get them on the road. The two tired kids most likely slept all the way home.

Enjoying the sights at OC Whites in St. Augustine with John & Cherre Cecere

Jeff and John

John and Cherre

Brooke decided she wanted to climb a tree

Craig, Judith and Bodie came to visit us onboard

Bodie's ready for Christmas

So are we!

Our good friends Ed and Barbara joined us for dinner on Christmas Eve

RJ and Raymond admiring "Monkey" from Barbara and Ed

Rose, Brooke and RJ

Brooke, Becky and Brian

RJ

RJ, Brooke and Becky

Becky, Brian, Brandon and Brooke

We enjoyed Christmas Day dinner at Fleet Landing with Jeff's mom Jean, nephew Randy and Brian.

Jean and Randy

Brian's lifelong friends the Krehel brothers, joined us for a cruise around downtown St. Augustine.  

One last walk on the beach for Brian before heading back to Long Island

On the first of January, we left St. Augustine and headed offshore to New Smyrna Beach. From there we stopped in Cocoa Village for two days, Vero Beach for a week, (yes, we were ahead of schedule and had to drag our feet) and ended up in North Palm Beach 11 days later. Along the way there were many feathers to capture on digital. 

Pelicans

Osprey

American White Pelicans

Another Osprey

Blue Heron

And another

Feathery friend snoozing

Ibis

Yet another heron

Nests ready for spring

We've been in Soverel Harbour Marina in North Palm Beach for a week (Jeff had to go to TX for another quick business trip) and plan on heading to the Bahamas after the 24th, when our friend Kevin arrives from Maine.