March10, 2009

Well, the pressure is on - I have to find some exciting news -for my subscribers (Mike and Marybeth). The most exciting thing that happened was a catfish landed on the dock right in front of me as I was getting on the boat. Now remember they are extremely ugly and not prone to flying out of water - anyway I did get him back into the water !! Now for the highlight - Charlie and I bought some wine ( for Robb and Joy of course)- th clerk said she needed ID - of course we thought she required ID for the grocery store reward program - which we produced - she said she needed an age ID- we giggled and said excuse me- she then said that she was sorry but the store required ID from all customers under 40 years of age !! well - what can I say - it made our day... our week....

Other than that we have had a great time exploring Jacksonville both by land and sea - they have some great parks and the Saint John River is a great place to sail!

We also took a trip to Amelia Island - Fernandina Beach is a quaint town with a lot of history and a beautiful waterfront. There were also lots of pelicans (whose beaks can hold more than their belly- can !!

Well , don't despair, Robb and Joy arrive next week and there will be lots to post then!

Feb 2009

If you look closely you can see a snowy egret - I will try to get some more photos this week - maybe we can even get a photo of the manatee that is living in the river here!

Well we are still here in Jacksonville Florida. We have survived the record breaking cold snap ! We have Rosie ready to go - all the teak refinished and the hull polished, the electronics calibrated etc, etc,,,We are just waiting for parts for the generator and we will be on our way.Here is the lat/ long "Rosie !" lat=30.2756683277, lon=-81.7152839994 from google earth to show where the marina is. If you zoom in you can see the waterway and our route to New Symrna Beach.

We have enjoyed our visit to Jacksonville, Marnie and John have been great hosts and tour guides. We have visited Rick and MaryJane in New Symrna Beach, met some new friends and found some old ones . We walked into a West Marine Store and met Gene White who we knew in North Carolina and we haven't seen in 20 years ! We had a great visit and met his wife Toni - I know that we will keep in touch this time ! We hope to have the generator repaired this week and will head down the waterway.

Rosie is sailing again!

Well, here we are, December 29,2008. Rosie is loaded and ready to go. This voyage is starting by land and about a week earlier than planned (we are avoiding a snowstorm). We have decided to sell the boat and the best place to do that is in Florida - gee that is a hardship!! So we packed up the house and True and Jim came through and agreed to look after Casey and we hit the road.

We arrived safely in Jacksonville, Florida the second week in January and then the work began! Thankfully Marny and John Owen (friends that we met in the Bahamas) took pity on us and gave us refuge for a few days. They have been so helpful - pointing us in the right direction to get supplies, finding people to help with the work, rescuing us from the work on the boat, etc. The temperatures here have plummeted actually they are currently the same as the temperatures in Anchorage Alaska.

We have had the bottom sanded and painted, the pulpit repaired , sanded and painted the teak, repaired the electrics and done all the work that we haven't been able to get to during the last year ! ... Rosie is waxed and ready to go! We have launched Rosie and are staying at a marina in Jacksonville . We are just about ready to go - I don't think that we realized the amount of work that was needed !

We have been in contact with a boat broker and will meet with him soon - with all the work that we have done we have to remain focused and not get lulled into the cruising lifestyle ! Here is a photo of Rosie being launched and the Canada geese - did they follow us or did we follow them ???