Palm Beach

As I write this I'm sitting in the cockpit having a cigar & sipping on some Giuseppe desert wine that we've been saving for just the right night and this one is it.  This is the last stop before we return to Daytona for a week.  It's been a great trip and a nice way to give the boat and us a "shake down" before we head north for a longer excursion.

Dolphins helped me with my lines this morning.

We left North Palm Friday morning, stopping @ Vero Beach and now Titusville.  The days, have been bright & sunny, but down right cold right up to today. Today we were treated to dolphin's playing in our wake several times.

The trip from NPB to Vero was rough on the water, GS took a lot of spray over the bow and was pretty crusty when we stopped for the night.  She did great on the water and was a comfortable ride - just a bit taxing on the captain.  I enjoyed watching the water turn from green to blue and the bridge tender attitudes improve as we made our way back north.  I'd heard stories of the infamous bridges - but now I'm a believer. Kevin - I too made Mr. B "deal" with them.

While in NPB, we discovered MacArthur Beach State park (5 mile bike ride), which was phenomenal.  Great walking trails and a 1 1/2 mile boardwalk across Lake Worth to the beach.  I continue to be impressed by Florida State parks.  They don't ever disappoint.

The marina was chock full of boats - each one bigger and prettier than the next.  At one point we counted 13 tuna towers and each made us look pretty small in comparison.  We also had a visit by some manatees - a momma and her baby.

I think we figured out our "routine" of living on the boat, and I mean routine in a very good way.  Its funny what creatures of habit we all are.

The week concluded with a very nice evening downtown West Palm Beach on my date with Lebone.

Looking forward to seeing our home town peeps next week - miss everyone a lot - keep the face time calls coming - you made our day.

Mobile link to pix ==> here

Vero

It's hard to believe it's already time to leave - time is just flying by. Made great time on our trip down from Cocoa - we were in our Vero slip by 2p and made the 55 mile trip in almost 6 hours to the minute. On this leg, you really started to feel like you were somewhere different. The water turned a little greener, the houses got a lot bigger! There is some serious coin in this part of the state. The waterway was uneventful - just the way we like it with the exception of some dredging that was going on just north of Vero. Between the large pieces of equipment and all of the markers in the water - it was very confusing where you were supposed to go vs where you were NOT supposed to go.

Again we were treated with a dolphin escort - 3 of them this time playing in our wake. They are like giant kids and always with a smile on their faces. I'm sure that by the time this trip is done, you all will be tired of the trillion dolphin videos that we end up sharing, so you can skip the video if you like.
We ended up taking the bikes out for a spin today.  We are going to do that a lot more.  Good exercise, and a great way to see the local area.  There are some great neighborhoods in and around this marina.  As we were headed back, we stumbled upon one of the best parks that I've ever seen.  There were multiple walking trails, bike trails, a fitness trail with over a dozen basic workout activities to do along a mile long trail.
In addition to an art museum on site, there was a beautiful veterans memorial. The island was built with the surplus dredging material from the ICW, an effort that started in the mid 1960's.  What an impressive place, very tastefully done and was truly a "moving" experience.

Tomorrow's run will be just over 60 miles and several no wake zones, so it feels like it will be a long day on the water.  The captain has informed me that we will be up and underway by 7a - work! work! work!  Link to Pix for mobile users

Cocoa Village

3 Nights @ Cocoa Village.  Weather was cold and windy, especially Monday night when it "roared" most of the night.  The village is very cute with shops, restaurants and pubs.  Took the opportunity of having a Publix and West Marine within a couple miles to pick up some groceries.  I know how to provision for a long weekend of playing - we're learning how to provision for day to day living.  We have discovered that living on a boat is different than vacationing on a boat.  Living on a boat requires some regular routines that vacationing doesn't (cleaning, laundry, groceries) that we will develop.  We have also discovered that we need a day calendar, we have had to really think hard to remember what day of the week it is.

We visited Travis Hardware, which has been in business since late 1880's and was started by Colonel S.F.Travis, who served in the American Civil War who had a sailboat.  He went up and down the rivers, delivering items and taking orders from Jacksonville to Fort Pierce.  Bricks and mortar were established in 1892 initially as a warehouse before becoming the retail store that is there today.  The hardware store is still operated by the Travis family and still offer free delivery except no longer by barge.  

Local establishments that we checked out that are definitely worth going back to again; Ryans Village Pizza; Village Idiot Pub; Dog-n-Bone English Pub and Murdocks Bar & Char.

This evening was topped off by a rocket launch.  It was a fairly small launch, but spectacular none the less.  I can't imagine what the shuttle or Apollo must have been like from this vantage point. 

DI to Cocoa

Left DI about 8:30am for Cocoa. Stopping for fuel and pump-out in Titusville, arriving in Cocoa around 4pm.  Ran into rain just after Titusville and it's been pouring ever since. Makes for great sleeping tonight.  Covered about 55 miles and enjoyed the company of some dolphins along the way

We now live on a boat

It's finally here!  We left Halifax Harbor on Friday, February 6th.

The 3 year anniversary of the Gypsy Soul splash down in Savannah.  Really big winds, so we took a detour to Inlet Harbor for the evening.

Did some "serious" celebrating with Fran, Peg & Monty.  Spent today on the hook at DI chilling or for some of us "recovering", but I'm not mentioning any names.  Gorgeous day with big sun and blue skies. Tonight there are so many stars in the sky they are loud.  

We'll spend a few days hanging, walking the beach, etc.  Then off to Cocoa. 
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