Friday - March 31

The last day of March was a mixture of clouds and sun and breezy1    We cruised 1 mile less today than yesterday (121).    We left our anchorage at 7:15 and arrived at the Isle of Hope Marina near Savannah around 3:15.

 

We had hoped to stay at Thunderbolt, GA where we met Ryan and Brooke last December 30th, but it was full.    But we've been here in Isle of Hope before and tonight got one of the last slips (by fuel dock) as they are full, too.   

 

We sure appreciate being on the water with just an occasional boat when we hear the stories of those leaving Florida today and the massive "parking lots" on the interstates.     Last night's bridge collapse from the fire in Atlanta caused much rerouting and nightmares for the city as it will be months till bridge is repaired.   Of course, with spring break and the mass exodus of snowbirds heading north adds more to the chaos.    Thank God no one was injured.

 

Very thankful to hear Anne, Patrick and boys are home.

 

After 2 long days and an overnight anchorage, we needed some exercise, so walked into town - 2.4 miles total (round trip)  and had dinner at the Driftaway Café - it was a happening place as was all of this little town with the Mexican restaurant packed to the gills for their Friday night special!   
Cars, cars everywhere

 

I took several pics along the way - the homes are small or huge manors and all oozing southern charm to the nth degree!    What a treat to see all this beauty.   And though the address is Isle of Hope, the locals say Savannah and we heard one of the most desirable areas to live!
  Here are a few of my favorites...

 

  

This one is for sale...

$1,800,000

 

 Sunset on the Skidaway River

Our little darlins' in NC are together for the weekend
Blair, Luke, Maeve

March is definitely going out "like a lamb"!

Tomorrow, we're Beaufort, SC bound...one of our favorite towns!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday - March 30

Bye bye Florida and thanks for a wonderful winter of happy memories!!!  

 

  Tonight we are anchored off Cumberland Island, Georgia (JFK Jr. was married here).   We spent the night here on May 19, 2013 and toured the island which has wild horses.    We didn't see any then and haven't seen any on this trip either.

 

We left Daytona Beach at 7:40 AM and traveled 122 miles.   It was a very pleasant day to

be on the water.

 

Today is the 1-year anniversary of Mark's mother passing away.    We sure miss her, but know she's where she wanted to be - reunited with her mate and enjoying family and friends, playing cards, dancing, maybe even cooking, baking, sewing, crafting, arranging flowers, etc.???

 

I meant to mention that when Anne and I were walking the beach, we saw several hotels and restaurants closed cause of Hurricane Matthew.     Windows all boarded up and the same for when we were near my Aunt Dee's condo.   Matthew happened in October, but still lots of repair work to be done and probably not enough workers to do it.

But amazed at all the new construction happening along the ICW, especially the homes and condos going up near Jacksonville Beach.   Huge, huge homes!

Brady is on a class trip to  Charleston and Brooke is chaperoning

Brady helping fold the flag at Fort Sumter
He is to the right of the girl in pink as you look at the picture.

Blair called 2x today to do facetime.   She's so funny!

The Campbell's are still truckin along and planning to be in Paducah, KY tonight!

It is so peaceful here -  just 5 other boats here and there!
Nighty night!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday - March 29

Another gorgeous day......the boys slept in, I did a load of laundry, Grandpa made pancakes,we organized the car and I played a quick game of RummiKube with the boys - Connor won!

 

Anne and Patrick came and we all went onboard the Lady Dolphin of Daytona for the 11:00 lunch/cruise (2 hours).   It was full (130 passengers + crew) and just delightful heading north up the Halifax River.    We saw several dolphin playing and for our lunch, we could choose from prime rib, shrimp, turkey or ham (chicken tenders or mac 'n cheese for the kids.)    We adults all had the ham and it was excellent with a brown sugar, blackberry brandy, pineapple sauce, red skinned potatoes, green beans and a roll.    Later they passed around dark or milk chocolates.     This cruise goes out 3x a day always with a meal and cruise + meal is $20.....what a deal!  
And it is usually sold out 3x a day!

  

They had several door prizes, too, but none of us were lucky today.    After the cruise we all went to Aunt Dee's condo on the 21st floor (she has a view of the Ocean and the Intracoastal).    The Campbell's were in awe of all that beauty!     A friend of Aunt Dee's has an empty garage space, so we will store Toad there until we make arrangements to get her back to IL.

View from Aunt Dee's 21st floor condo

 

We rode with them back to Catrina, got their chocolate stash and said our good byes - (you know how I hate goodbyes).....we'll see them in 1 month!    So, they went back to the beach for one last afternoon of fun in the sun as they leave tomorrow for home.     We got the bikes and dinghy back on Catrina and preparing for our departure in the morning heading north.

 

Cruising with Anne and Patrick  

 

 

Grandma and Grandpa with the boys

The Campbell Clan

Catrina with 2 fine little men 

 

Last night we did face time with Luke - he had so much fun giggling with the boys! 

Maeve is enjoying big brother's trucks while he's napping

 

We've so enjoyed our time in Daytona Beach.   Halifax Harbor has been so friendly and convenient - loved all our walks downtown and happy memories from Sweet Marley's, Stavro's, Zappi's, the Angell-Phelps Chocolate Factory, McK's Irish Pub, Rhokkos's, etc.

 

 We sure packed in a lot of fun with the boys - beach and pool time, trips downtown, bike riding, dinghy rides, fishing, lots of RummiKube (will miss my little buddies) and today's lunch cruise on the Lady Dolphin.

 

It was so fun having my cousins and Aunt Dee together on Monday - we will never forget all the laughs as we reminisced from years ago and made new memories!

 

LIFE is GOOD

 

So long from Daytona Beach....

 

 

Tuesday - March 28

Another glorious day....I exercised and then Mark and I ran several errands.   Back to Catrina unloading our stuff, lunch and then off to the beach.     Mark had some boat projects to work on, so I had fun with the Campbells' at the pool and beach all afternoon.     Anne and I played spades the kids were in the pool and Liam and Patrick did the surfboard thing...

 

Mark came around 4 with his projects complete and ready to roll outta here on Thursday.

 

Anne and Patrick

Goobers in the pool

 

Liam the surfer

 

Connor, the sand designer

 

Enjoying some rum runners and beer

Sweet Maeve and Mommy

 

Maeve loves her bath!

 

The boys are spending the night with us.   We stopped at Starvos Pizza House for dinner (pizza) before going back to boat.    We all played RummiKube with Grandma the winner.    Blair called and we did face time.      Sure miss these little kiddies.

Been a big day with all the sun, water and sand.

Sweet dreams....

 

 

Monday - March 27

The boys decided they wanted more beach time today, so Mark took them back to the hotel for pool/beach time at 9:00   He stopped at Publix and then we left around 11:45 to meet the cousins.

 

It's been a very fun-filled day and it was all about "the cousins" who gathered in Daytona Beach starting with lunch at Aunt Catfish's.   There were 15 of us.

 

There are 9 cousins on my Mom's side of the family.    Six of them along with spouses and our

 Aunt Dee had so much fun laughing and reminiscing thru the years as kids growing up in northern Illinois.

 

Anne, Patrick, Liam and Connor came for lunch and then off to the beach.    Ron (brother) and Vicki came from Lakeland and went on home after lunch.    9 came aboard Catrina and sat up on top of the bridge this gorgeous day visiting and having so much fun.

 

Seven of us went to the Chart House for dinner and shared more memories!    They even had "Welcome Cousins" printed on our menus.   And then it was time to say good bye.....

this was a really special day!

 

Dave (Tampa); Denny (Punta Gorda and Indiana), Aunt Dee (Daytona Beach), Barb

(Grand Junction, CO), Pat (nomad), Carol (St. Louis), Ron (Lakeland and Illinois)

 

Aunt Dee is the mother of Dave and Barb: Denny and Carol are siblings; Ron and Pat are siblings.

 

Denny and Aunt Dee (88 years young)!

Karen and Dave; Deb and Denny

Barb, Mark, Carol

 

 

 

 

Sunday - March 26

Absolutely gorgeous day......we met the Campbell's for 9:30 Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes  - what a memorable, uplifting joyous celebration with great singing, hand clapping and a very flamboyant Father Philip......this one is for the memory books!!!

 

The Campbell Clan

 

Came back to Catrina, changed clothes and later went to the beach.   Patrick and the boys were in the pool - nice pool, tiki bar and of course, the beach!    We brought the boys back with us for the afternoon and overnight sleepover. 

 

The Lady Dolphin of Daytona

 

Paddleboat docked right across from Catrina - it goes out 3x  day (11, 2 and 5;00) for 2-hour lunch/dinner cruise.    It is very popular and we plan to do this on Wednesday for lunch!

 

No luck fishing today for the boys, but we had fun downtown...

 

2 happy boys turned loose in the Angell-Phelps Chocolate Factory

 

Connor and the candy stash

Making some moves over dessert and frozen lemonades

at Sweet Marley's

 

The boys walked back to Catrina with me - snack of apples and peanut butter and then bike ride.

 

Connor and I played RummiKube (Grandma won), followed by another dinghy ride with Grandpa.

We went downtown to McK's Irish Pub and had their Sunday night special - burgers for $5...delish as we watched he NC/KY basketball game!    Exciting!!!

One more game of RummiKube (Grandma won again)!    The boys (and their Mom and Dad) have not been on Catrina since 2010 (Apalachicola and Ottawa, IL after my accident)!

 

 We packed in a lot of fun today...
Nighty night!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday - March 25

• Cloudy and windy in the morning....I exercised, we had breakfast and Mark did some book work. 
•  Nice surprise to hear from friends, Ed and Fran from Wisconsin.....they were off the cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale and wanted to meet somewhere as they raveled north     "YES".....so, we met at The San Diego Grill (where we met my aunt and cousin yesterday).....good place and close to the interstate for then.    We had another good meal and great visit!

Fran and Ed

 

The Campbell's came to the boat in the afternoon.     The boys enjoyed the dinghy...

 

 

and fishing off the pier

Connor

Liam and Grandpa...no luck today

 

Anne and I walked downtown and had some refreshing drinks at Sweet Marley's while the guys were fishing.   And later we all went downtown and had some pizza, stromboli, calzone and ziti at

Starvos!   Good stuff and plenty of leftovers.

Hearty eaters after all the swimming, fishing, dinghy riding, etc.

 

At 2:30 AM, the fire alarm went off at the kids hotel.    They had to evacuate.    A sprinkler was set off in a room on the 6th floor causing flooding.    The kids are on the 12th floor.  

 Yikes....



Friday - March 24

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRADY

9-23-06

6 months

 

Sweet Brady is 11 today...

 

We so enjoy this little guy and so proud of his achievements in school (straight A's) and sports (golf, soccer and basketball).    He may be small, but he's mighty "mighty"!

 

Mark exercised this morning and after breakfast, we were off to get haircuts.  Met my Aunt Dee and cousin Barb from Grand Junction, CO for lunch San Diego Grill in Port Orange for delicious lunch and great visit.     We are so looking forward to Monday when 6 of my 9 cousins (on my Mom's side) are gathering here in Daytona for lunch, visit, and then dinner.     Several of us haven't seen one another in years and years.  

 Barb and Aunt Dee

Face time with the birthday boy....Mark went for a bike ride and I walked.

It was another windy day....had some sprinkles off and on.   

We drove to the beach and tah dah....at 6:30, Anne, Patrick Liam and Connor arrived!   
 We walked to Riptides for dinner...excellent shrimp and a lot of yakkin'

Welcome to Florida
Let the FUN begin!!!

 

Thursday - March 23

Rained during the night and that makes for great sleeping!     But not the best day for the spring breakers - cool, cloudy and windy!     I exercised this morning (Mark did his weights yesterday before we left for FM).    He was off in the car with a bunch of errands.   I did some tidying up on Catrina and after lunch we drove along the beach and found the hotel where Anne and family will be staying.    They arrive tomorrow.  😂

 

Stopped at Publix and then downtown for an ice cream fix for Mark at Rhokkoh's and coffee

for both of us at Sweet Marley's. 

 

Walked across from where Catrina is docked and had supper at The Marina View - small place offering a limited menu but food was good and several boaters there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday - March 22

 Long day for the nomads on the road....we were gone 11 hours driving to and from Fort Myers.     In between the road time, we got our car and a short visit with John (Beth has been really sick with the crud) and John is not feeling well either.    Trips to the doctor and different meds just aren't doing the trick!    Our Anne has been going thru the same stuff!

 

After we got the car, we drove to the Edison Ford Marina to say "hello" to Carly and Brandon who were just the best staff while we were there in February.   They made our stay extra special!

 

Carly and Brandon

 

 We had a nice lunch at Pincher's, checked that no one was in Catrina's slip 😊,  and then returned rental car.    Finally on our way......stopped in Altamonte Springs - Mark got a new I-pad at the Apple store (his is definitely coming down the home stretch) and quick stop at Costco.

 

Good to be back "home" - beautiful day for traveling and very thankful tonight for successful surgery (hip replacement) for my sister-in-law, Linda!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday - March 21

Such a pretty day -- 76 and clear blue skies!     We left New Smyrna Beach at 10:25 and enjoyed a nice calm ride to Daytona.   15 miles and 2 hours later we were docked at the Halifax Harbor Marina - our home for the next 10 days.

 

After lunch we did some odd jobs on Catrina and later Mark rode his bike to pick up a rental car.    Tomorrow we are off to Fort Myers to get Toad.

 

Late this afternoon we went to Publix and had dinner at Zappi's downtown and close to the marina.    Good Italian fare,  rosemary herb bread, sangria and wine!

 

 

 

 

Monday - March 20

H A P P Y   S P R I N G

 

Welcome to the season of warm, sunny days and pastel colors, bunnies, baby chicks, daffodils, tulips, green grass and

EASTER

We exercised, had breakfast and on our way at 9:15.    Much calmer conditions than yesterday and arrived in

 New Smyrna Beach at 1:15 (41 miles) 

 Lots of sunshine but only a high of 71.   

Happy 8 months, Maeve

 

Still seeing many neglected boats from Hurricane Matthew

 

We hosed down Catrina, got cleaned up and walked to the

Canal Street Historic District.    Just so nice to be out and about today!    Mark found an ice cream shop and I checked out 3 gift stores.

 

Our friends, Lou and Mary Ann from Bloomington

 (they winter in New Smyrna Beach)

came to Catrina for drinks around 5:15 - soo fun to see them (usually meet up with them once a year in FL, but it's been 2 years),

so....lots to catch up on.    Later we went to The Corkscrew Bar and Grill - excellent place on Canal Street

 

Lou and Mary Ann

 

So thankful Philip, Annette, Luke and Maeve have arrived safely in North Carolina!    They are "home".

 

Tomorrow....moving onto Daytona Beach - just 15 miles north.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday - March 19

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVIS

 

 

 Our laid-back, easy-going favorite red head is 15 today!    Davis excels in school and sports and

just an all-around neat kid who has grown up to become a fine young man!

Davis is a Lego fanatic, plays golf and soccer and on the school swim team.

 

We rode our bikes to 10:00 Mass at St. Mary's in Rockledge.    Nice 2 mile ride along Riverside Drive and the water.    Came back to Catrina and got things in order and on our way at 12:37.

 

It was good to be back on the water, but very windy today, and despite the sunshine, it was chilly.    We ended up only going 12.5 miles and now anchored out near the Space Coast Regional Highway.

 

We can see one of the tall buildings from the Kennedy Space Center south of Titusville.  

 

It was a nice quiet Sunday afternoon just bobbing out here on the Indian River, reading, computer stuff and a good chat with our birthday boy. 

  

A black and white of our "serious" Maeve

On Friday Luke, Maeve and Annette visited my brother Bob and Linda.    My niece Jennifer was there with her 2 little girls, so a fun time for the cousins! 

Leia holding Kaylee, Maeve and Luke (keeping his distance)

 

Today I heard that I won $150 in a drawing at CCHS (our kids alma mater)!    Tah dah...

 

We played spades and euchre - both won by Mark AGAIN!!!!!!!

 

Supper was spaghetti, salad and red wine!  😋😋😋

 

Philip, Annette, Luke and Maeve are leaving IL tomorrow for NC....wishing them safe travels.

 

Have a great week!

 

 

 

Saturday - March 18

Spectacular day our first full day back in the Sunshine State!    Mid 70's and cloudless blue skies! 

 

I did 4 loads of laundry here at the marina and Mark picked up a few groceries at Publix.     Later he took the rental car to Merritt Island and then rode his bike back.

 

Got the laundry put away and straightened up Catrina.....tomorrow we plan to be off again

 heading north.

 

My cousin Paulette and Marty picked us up at 4.    We went to their condo on Cocoa Beach for drinks

and fresh shrimp.   Marty was thrilled with Wisconsin's win over Villanova.    Enjoyed watching 3 cruise ships leaving port and passing way out from their condo.

 

We left for Cape Canaveral and had drinks at Milliken's Reef as we overlooked the Port where the cruise ships had come from.   We walked to several restaurants nearby but all very full with bike week (Daytona), spring break and tonight's launching from the Cape. 

  All had a 45 minute-1 hour wait.

 

Marty and Paulette knew of this funky place that had great chicken......"Larry's Shack".    We drove there and almost had the place to ourselves....red checkered table cloths with a real old FL décor atmosphere outdoors.    They only serve chicken and it was delicious with some great sides.    Very good choice and then topped off at 8:18 PM when a satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral.   We listened to the countdown (after a 34-minute delay).    WOW...the sky was all lit up and traveling at 2200 mph and burning 2000 lbs. of fuel per second!    Neat experience!

 

So much fun tonight with these two......

 

Marty and Paulette

 

Annette's friend took these sweet pics today...

 

Mommy and Maeve

Our happy girl