Friday - 6/19/2020 - Ortega River Marina, Jacksonville to Green Cove Springs Marina and Boatyard.....preparing to be hauled out :-(

Well....the time is drawing near.  Today we spent a good part of the morning preparing things for when the boat is hauled out tomorrow. 

Dawn at Ortega River Marina
Aquaholic's silhouette is in the middle

After some coffee and a bowl of granola Erik rode his bike up to Advanced Auto to purchase fuel stabilizer to put into the gas tanks when we fill them up to be stored.  Renee got a few loads of laundry done so clothes can be packed away.  Susan, our friend from the AGLCA picked us up and brought us to Avis car rental where we had found a deal to rent a mid size SUV for two days for $60 one way to Columbus.   Apparently there must be a glut of cars down here needing to find there way north because typically there is a substantial 'one way pick up charge'.  Driving home will allow us to bring our house bank of batteries home so that they don't overheat and get destroyed AGAIN.  We are also planning to bring home our portable generator, fishing tackle and miscellaneous other stuff that we did not bring home last year.   After getting the rental car Susan followed us down about 30 miles on the St Johns River to Green Cove Springs Marina where we left the rental car.   She then brought us back up to our boat in Jacksonville to shove off and head towards Aquaholic's final resting place for the year.

Susan took us on the scenic route to pick up our rental car and pointed out some of the sites
Very nice homes in Jacksonville
This one is the 'Maxwell House Estate'.....Good to the last drop!

Back at the boat we did a few final preparations to shove off.   We bid farewell to our trusty garage sale and craigslist bicycles that we have had with us on our journeys these past four years.   We donated them to the marina for other transients to use....if they can keep them going!   We definitely got out $20 out of those bikes....many miles have been pedaled in 8 states on them.  We debated, but decided to leave the cushy gel seat cover on Renee's and the classy duct tape on Erik's...lol.   We even broke down and left the water bottle holder!   Hope someone can get some good use out of them.

Bye Bye old faithfuls!  You've endured a lot

We shoved off from Ortega River a little after 1pm.  It was to be a short trip for of of only about 27 miles.   A good view of downtown Jacksonville was had as we exited the marina.  We had generally nice waters but the skies were very ominous.   We cruised at a slow 12 mph pace thinking the ominous clouds ahead might either move or dissipate.  Half way through the trip we stopped off at a marina where we had found on Waterways Guide that they had recreational non ethanol gasoline for $2.65 per gallon....much less than we have paid anywhere else these last few years.   We filled the tanks with 126 gallons and added the fuel stabilizer.

Floating in the harbor getting the boat prepped for haul out

There is the travel lift that we will be hanging in and transported to the resting spot for the rest of the year

As we were leaving the marina after gassing up the skies began looking even more ominous and lightning was flashing up ahead.   Our weather radio was alerting us that there were severe storms in the area with quarter sized hail and 40-50 mph wind gusts......uh oh!   Fortunately, our pacing seemed to have worked and we avoided everything but some fairly strong winds.   As we were arriving at Green Cove Springs another accumulation of very ominous clouds was hanging over the marina moving VERY slowly.   Rather than go in and try to catch a mooring ball, which is what we were instructed to do earlier in the day by the yard manager, in the rain and wind we hung back.   While floating and waiting we started removing all of the electronics, taking down biminis, stowing other stuff.

Floating outside of the marina harbor waiting for the DARK skies to clear.  This pic was at about 5pm

After the rain passed by the marina we came in and successfully attached to one of their mooring balls, this was a first for us but it was not issue.   

Renee's first successful snag and tie up to a mooring ball

And she was rewarded with a nice rainbow!  

Once secured and floating we continued preparing stuff on the boat and packing stuff away.   We grilled out the last of our meat, fried up our last potato and cooked up some cheddar broccoli rice for a nice sunset dinner. 

Even with the looming storms on one horizon we were blessed with a nice sky for dinner

As we sit here on the aft deck floating out in the harbor sipping coffee and working on this blog more lightning is on the horizon and the raindrops are gently falling on the bimini cover.   Since we've no ice cream we will likely partake in our last Nutty Bars before showering up and retiring to bed to hopefully get a good nights rest.   Tomorrow will be a LONG day with waiting for the boat to get pulled (they cannot guarantee us a time or give us a time window), unloading and driving home the 12+ hours. 

Thursday - 6/18/20 - St Augustine to Ortega River Marina, Jacksonville

                                                   Sunrise with no regrets....but egrets

We awoke at 6:30am to another pretty sunrise and sat on the aft deck enjoying the cool air while watching the egrets continue to stalk the minnows around the back of the boat. 

After our usual morning routines we shoved off from St Augustine Municipal Marina at 7:20am.  The weather was predicted to be nice again for our anticipated 63 mile journey to Jacksonville.   St Augustine skyline from the ICW in the morning was very pretty with the morning light highlighting the colors of the many old buildings.

Ft Castillo de San Marcos with the morning light as we were leaving port

A tad bit of a finger over the camera lens
pretty skyline with the sun shining on it 

Just a short couple of mile outside of St Augustine the terrain of and around the AICW became remote and peaceful with a narrow channel but many miles of winding water paths through the lowlands.  It made for very tranquil cruising with no speed restrictions aside from occasionally slowing up to not wake morning fishermen.   This area would be paradise for a kayaks or other small boats.  There were still some very nice homes along the waterway but they sat well off the channel and were spaced far apart.

A peaceful cruise this morning through grassy channels

About 20 miles into the day there was a section of about 10 miles that was all no wake and had significantly more homes and docks along the shorelines.   The homes in this area are generally much more modest than those we had been seeing in the southern portions of the waterway days earlier, however they were still very nice.   Quite a few new homes were being built as well.

One way that we could tell that we were nearing Jacksonville was the couple of flybys of military helicopters.   Renee insisted they were coming after me for creating too much wake.....Erik insisted they just wanted to see her laying out on the bow in the zero gravity chair!  Likely that they were just flying their usual training flights.

They're coming to take us away....ha ha

They're coming to take us away...oh no

As we entered onto the St Johns River the water depths got much deeper, often times as much as 60 feet deep in spots.   The current in certain spots also picked up where other adjoining rivers and waterways met.  We started to feel like maybe we had made it home to the Ohio River when we saw a couple of tows pushing barges along the rivers.   The area very quickly became very industrial with multiples of shipyards, sand and gravel pits and other commercial stuff.   Soon the skyline of Jacksonville came into view. 

We saw several cruise ships docked as we were entering Jacksonville area
Someone told us that the crews of the boats are still living aboard 

That is a lot of ship to be sitting in port for this long!  

As we rounded one bend in the river we started seeing many dolphins swimming about, surfacing and several even doing big leaps out of the water.   We slowed up and stopped for a few minutes to enjoy their antics.

                           Many dolphins in the St Johns River!  Love watching them play

So far in today's voyage we did not pass under any bridges that were too short for our air draft (~16 feet) and we cruised right under them all.   However, as we came into downtown we came upon a low railroad bridge (5 ft high) and when we radioed the tender of the bridge we were informed that they were operating on limited openings due to maintenance being performed.   Their next opening would not be until 2pm; It was currently about 11:45am.   Bummer....but this is cruising and we have learned to make the best of every situation.   We pulled over to a city dock that was in very poor condition but sufficient for us to tie off to for a couple of hours.   After warming up and enjoying our leftovers from last nights dinner in St Augustine Renee worked on finishing up her math homework for the week while Erik baited up the fishing poles and threw lines into the waters.   No lucking on the fishing but Renee did get most of her work completed.   At a little before 2pm a couple of other boats came up on the railroad bridge also requesting an opening on the VHF radio.   Just before 2 the bridge did open and we crawled through at idle speed before entering into a no speed restriction zone that lasted the remainder of the 6-7 miles of the trip. 

Arriving at Ortega River Marina we were greeted by James, a very nice older gentleman who we had communicated with a couple days ago.   He helped us dock and get tied off while telling us of his Great Loop journey a few years ago.   He was very helpful, even offering to give us a bunch of fuel stabilizer after we had asked him where the nearest auto parts store was to get some.  We will be filling the tanks for the last time this year tomorrow on our final short leg to Green Cove Springs and need to add stabilizer to the tanks since that fuel will sit unused for 11 months or so.   It turned out that the stabilizer he had was for diesel fuel, not gasoline, so it was not useful to us.

After getting everything hooked up and settled in we communicated with Susan, a friend and fellow Looper whom we had met two years ago at the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State on the Tennessee River.    At that time she and her husband, Phil, had just recently purchased an almost identical Marinette as ours (same year, same size, just slightly different floor plan) and were making plans to start their Loop in about a year.   Unfortunately, when we got here to Jacksonville today Phil was off in Nashville at their home helping their son with some automotive repair work.    We were unable to get a spot at the marina where they have been 'holed up' since early March due to the covid stuff.   The slip we did get though is at the marina directly next to them.   So, after communicating with Susan she stated that their pool was better then the one at our marina and invited us over to swim for a bit.   The pool was cool and refreshing and had some friendly folks there to talk with.   Cooled off and getting hungry, we walked down the dock to see their boat; It is always fun to see the love and care other people have for their boats/homes.   We left making arrangements to meet her at High Tide Burritos for dinner. 

'Callin In Gone' fellow AGLCA members Susan and Philp's 1989 Marinette Sedan

Dinner was good and the company even better as we shared stories of our Looping adventures thus far.   They have so far made it from their home in Nashville down to Marathon Key and now back up to here in Jacksonville.   Their original plan was to make it up to Chesapeake Bay area this Summer but covid had other plans!   As of now, they are here in Jacksonville likely until next March or so when they will continue up the coast......not a bad place to be 'stuck'.   They are enjoying their time here.

Back at our marina and on the boat we were exhausted from the day and were both in bed even before doing our usual nightly shower routine to wash off the sunblock and sweat.   Looks like tomorrow morning will be laundry time to wash bedding.....lol.

Wednesday - 6/17/2020 - Think the oldest city in The Americas requires a second day exploring

We had planned all along to stay at least two days in St Augustine.   There is so much to see and do here.  Our morning was spent by Renee accomplishing a good amount of school work while Erik made a big breakfast to start using up the food we have in the fridge (yes...it is that time of the trip where we need to start thinking that way.....boohoohoo!).   While Renee continued with her school work Erik gave the boat a freshwater bath to remove all of the salt from yesterdays trip.

Hard to see well in a picture but we had a visit from a sea turtle this morning at the back of the boat

View from 'The Bridge of Lions' down at the St Augustine Municipal Marina where we docked
If your eyes are good enough Aquaholic can be spotted

Around noon we set out on bicycles towards the St Augustine Lighthouse and the beach.  We cruised over the Bridge of Lions which was substantially less steep and shorter than the bridge we rode over a few days ago :-).   A nice view of the city and of the marina where we are docked was had from the top of the bridge.   We stopped briefly at the St Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological park which is the oldest running attraction Florida dating back to the 1890's.   It looked pretty neat with not only the alligators but also zip-lining through the park, however, we did not pay the $28 to go in.   We rode on to the St Augustine Lighthouse and museum which we did pay to enter.   It was a quite impressively restored and kept up lighthouse, keepers house and grounds.  A huge amount of history here and the non profit that runs it has done a great job of putting together exhibits and displaying the history.

The Alligator farm is one of the oldest attractions in Florida created specifically for entertainment
It dates back to the 1890's 

We deduced that this sign for the farm is not the original from the 1800's

The St Augustine Lighthouse as we were riding up toward it....very stately old gal

A closer view

Rear view of the lighthouse keepers home
Much larger and nicer than others we have seen at other lighthouses
It is actually a double intended for two families

292 steps and 14 stories
We made it to the top with a gorgeous view of St Augustine and the Atlantic
Not such a good view of Erik's hair

View from the top

The lenses on these things are impressive

Time to come down

Volunteers on site at the lighthouse build handmade wooden boats
You can purchase tickets for $5 for an annual to win one of the hand built boats
We did not purchase a ticket because we thought shipping a 13 ft / 700 lb boat might be pricey

They also had a nice museum with many artifacts and models
This is the original lighthouse that only a few years after being built fell into the ocean.....oops!  

The sun was out and the day was beautiful so we rode an additional three miles or so out to the beach and pier where we spent a couple of hours laying out, swimming and people watching.   The surf at this beach was MUCH more manageable to swim in then what it was at Daytona Beach a couple of day ago.   It made for some fun recreation.   The highlight of the people watching at this beach was the surfers....many of them.   We keep saying that one day we are going to attempt surfing; not today though.   Maybe next time! 

               Let's go surfing now, everybody's learning how, come on surf safari with me! 

When we got back to the marina this boat which is a Chinese 'Junk' that we saw anchored out while we were cruising in yesterday had arrived at the marina an docked across from us
It reminds us of our fellow looper friends Kim and Jim who owned a very large 'Junk' before getting a different boat to to The Loop

AND......Erik thinks that he may have found his next boat!
This 50 ft cruiser is beautiful with a really nice layout and gorgeous color
Since it is likely at least a $500K boat we are pretty sure it is NOT in our future

After riding back to the marina we showered up to remove the sweat and sunblock (two things there are plenty of on us lately) and after an hour or so of resting we headed out to dinner.   We chose a restaurant directly across the street from the marina (O.C. Whites Seafood) because we had passed by it last night and saw that the atmosphere seemed nice, live music good and the menu looked appealing.  Our instincts were correct and we enjoyed a perfect evening dining on the outdoor patio with shade and lots of Florida vegetation.   The dishes were delicious....and WAY to large so we have some good leftovers for lunch tomorrow.   With full bellies and happy hearts we made our way back to the boat where we caught up on some family phone calls and readied a few things for tomorrows departure. 

Sitting at our outdoor tale for dinner next to bandanna trees
Appetizers maybe ??

Another absolutely beautiful evening

78 degrees, nice breeze, tasty food, good atmosphere and great company

Tomorrow we will cruise to our second to last stop, Ortega River Marina in Jacksonville where we will meet up with a fellow AGLCA member and also Marinette owner that we met a couple of years ago.

May as well end with a pretty flowering tree
Who doesn't like those ?  

Tuesday - 6/16/2020 - Daytona Beach to St Augustine Municipal Marina

After our usual morning routine we set off at 7:15am with our sites on St Augustine...the oldest city in America!   It was charted out as being 55 miles.  To our knowledge neither of us had ever been to St Augustine but we have read and seen some really good stuff about it.   We are planning to stay 2 nights and 2 days to get some site seeing in.

With the significant winds still blowing (15 knots or so with stronger gusts) we again chose to stay inside the AICW (Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway) where the ride would be much more enjoyable in our lightweight bobber of a cruiser.

History of the AICW

The waters were choppy from the winds but very nice and manageable.   Along our cruise we passed or saw on Nebo several other AGLCA members cruising or anchored.   We believe that because of the covid situation many more than would normally be in Florida waters are still here.   This has allowed us to meet and interact with more Loopers than we ever have previous years.   The other unexpected, but welcomed, thing is that the temperatures have been much cooler than anticipated.   For the first couple hours of our travels today Renee was actually kind of cold and she finally broke down at about 9:30am and went down below to put on a long sleeve shirt.   The high temperature today only made it to about 80 degrees.  Coupled with a nice breeze and lower humidity it made for a very comfortable day.

Upon entry into the St Augustine area on teh Matanzas River you immediately can tell that you are in a very old, historic town.   The first thing you see as you round the bend toward downtown is the 'Bridge of Lions' which is constructed of stone with a very Spanish looking feel.   The city skyline is full of gorgeous old buildings.   Coming into the marina it was really windy and for the first we can recall Erik actually had to pull out during the docking maneuver and circle back to try again.   The second time worked like a charm with a combination of the winds and a little forceful engine throttle sliding us gently into the slip to be tied off. 

Bridge of Lions drawbridge
The marina we stayed at was at the foot of this bridge
we will be traveling under it when we depart Thursday
it is just high enough for us to get under without having it raised

Historic downtown St Augustine as seen coming into the marina to dock

With the temps low and the wind blowing we decided to give the A/C a break and just left the boat opened up and prepared to set off into the downtown to explore.   We have read that this is a very walking friendly city with most everything nearby.  However, Erik's foot is still very sore and swelling when he stays on it for long (pretty certain he has broken a bone in the side of the left foot) so we opted for our bicycles.   This actually turned out to be quite challenging because unlike every other town we have been in there are almost no bike racks here.   Additionally, there were not bike lanes on roadways and the sidewalks were fairly small and bustling with people.  We did manage though and got to see an array of sites: Castillo de San Marcos (a very cool old fort), the old original city gates, the Fountain of Youth, St. Augustine History Museum, the oldest drugstore in the country, multiple beautiful historic churches including The Cathedral Basilica, the oldest jail and much more.  We rode through Flagler College which is quite impressive with its many old ornate buildings.   It was a very pleasant afternoon of riding and walking around town.

Original gates to the city of St Augustine

Picture doesn't do this justice but we rode our bikes down this road which had all of this cool moss covered tree canopy

Cathedral Basicala

At our marina they have pirate ship cruises with actors about this boat
Many people appeared to be attending all of the cruises we saw depart
One advantage to being approached by a pirate during covid is that their swords are not generally 6 ft long! 
lol

Castillo de San Marcos was actually a very impressively intact fort for its history
Unlike the one in Ft Pierce that we toured this one was fired upon and attacked many times during several wars

A couple of many ornate old churches 

and another

and another 

Monument memorializing Ponce de Leon

Flagler college 

Lightner Museum, originally a swanky hotel 

We had many birds stalking our dock looking for dinner
Notice that there is a fish right in front of this one

We kept hearing huge splashes in the boat slips
there were tarpon going after schools of smaller fish like these two who narrowly escaped the fate of the tarpon only to be helplessly stranded on the dock
Erik gave them new life by putting them back into the water

Back at the boat we cooked up some shish kabobs on the grill and enjoyed a nice later dinner followed by some relaxation with sore feet propped up.   Lots more to explore and see in St Augustine tomorrow!

Sunday 6/14/20 Titusville to Daytona Beach Marina & Monday 6/15 Chillin in Daytona Beach

6/14/2020 - Titusville Municipal Marina to Daytona Marina and Boat Works 

Arising our typical early hour we did our usual voyage preparations which include making sure all windows and hatches are closed and sealed, checking engine and transmission fluids, ensuring bicycles and all other things on the boat deck are stowed and getting routes ready on Navionics/chart plotter. 

Heading out on a beautiful morning

We were untying the lines and shoving off at a few minutes after 7am.  It was again a cool and comfortable morning for the ride.   The forecast was calling for a 40-50% chance of storms in the afternoon for both Titusville and Daytona Beach (where we were headed) so we wanted to get this early start to get the ~50 mile trip done early.   We also were excited to see Renee's Uncle Jerry, Aunt Abby and Cousin Leigh who live in the area. 

Within less than a half hour of shoving off there appeared a small but very dark cloud on the horizon that obviously had rain coming out of it in the direction that we were headed.   As we moved forward it stayed put and we retreated to the indoor salon helm for what turned out to be only about a 15 minute rain shower.   The boat needed a good rinse and what morning is complete without a rainbow?

Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly.....

About 20 miles into out trip we pulled in at New Smyrna marina where fuel prices were the lowest in the area and topped off the tanks. 

The area we were now cruising through was called 'Mosquito Lagoon'.  Fortunately it did NOT live up to its name :-)   Rather, it was a very tranquil cruise through areas of varying homes, campsites and fishing camps.   Being Sunday, fishermen were out in force all over the place.   We saw quite a few dolphins and Renee was even able to get a couple brief sightings on video for a change.   There was a fairly long stretch that was 'slow speed/minimum wake' at which time Renee took the helm while Erik rigged up and put a fishing line in the water to drag behind the boat for a bit.   That lasted only about 20 minutes until a small fishing boat that was traveling at a slow speed behind (but beside) us for some time decided to cut directly behind our boat and over his fishing line :-(   Bone Head! 

Renee finally catches some brief video of dolphins swimming near us

When that minimum wake zone ended the waters and speed opened back up and we were able to continue on our path quickly.   There was another nice lighthouse (Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse) which we considered briefly stopping at to see if we could go up in it.   We ultimately decided not to in order to keep moving and miss potential afternoon storms. 

Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse

Shortly after noon we arrived at Daytona Beach Marina and Boat Works.   Our slip for the next two nights turned out to be right next to another boat and couple who are starting their Great Loop.   Tony and Colleen from Chicago IL are aboard 'Lady Kadey', a 42' Kadey Krogen, which they just purchased in Stuart Fla one month ago.   They are headed up the east coast with their new vessel to the Chesapeake Bay area where they will have it stored while they go back to their jobs and finish their last year before retiring.   They will continue their loop through the Great lakes from there.  Nice folks!

Fellow Looper boat we met at Daytona Marina

Late in the afternoon Renee's Uncle Jerry, Cousin Leigh and Cousin once removed Kaylen came to the marina to pick us up.   We showed them our boat and then we left with them to go to Jerry's house where we had a wonderful evening of Pizza, rest and most importantly fun and laughter with kin!  It is always fun and exciting to share our adventures with others and particularly so when it is with relatives that we have been able to hook up with along the route.   For some reason the conversations of the evening kept returning to alligators, snakes or spiders....lol.  So, when Jerry brought us back to the marina we were all smiles from catching up and having a great visit but afraid we might soon be having nightmares of all the Florida wildlife that would SURELY be our demise before the trip is through!   We neglected 😩 to take any picture this evening...ugh.   We’ll have to be sure to get some tomorrow.  

Monday 6/15/2020 - Chillin in Daytona Beach 

Back to early rising this morning, we were both up and about by a little after 5am.  We had a good nights rest with no nightmares of creatures from Mosquito Lagoon overtaking the vessel.   It was another extremely comfortable morning with a good breeze blowing so we spent 30 minutes or so on the aft deck with our coffee deciding what we would be doing today.   We decided that we would ride our bikes ~1.5 miles to the Almous Club where there was an early 7:30am AA meeting.  It was a very good and much needed literature meeting where we read one of the personal stories out of the back of the book and then discussed it.   The meeting was small (10-12 people) but had what appeared to be a good mixture of new sobriety and long term sobriety.   Many of the comments were very good and pertinent to both of us.   As with meeting biological family along our journeys it is also always great to connect with AA family. 

We got a kick out of some of the slogans and other signs in the AA clubhouse
'Easy Does It' is our home boat
We'd never seen 'But Do It' as part of this slogan
TRUTH

Outside of Almous Club
Love all of the moss hanging form the trees in this area

We rode back to the marina a different way that brought us along a couple of roads with an eclectic mix shops and restaurants, most not yet open for the day, including an interesting looking magic/pranks store; may have to check that out a bit later today.   Back at the boat Erik caught up on some blogging (this one!) and washed down the outside of the boat while Renee dove into the beginning of this week's math videos and homework assignment.  At around 2pm we were both ready to head out to “The Worlds Most Famous Beach”....Daytona Beach.   The marina is actually in the Halifax River which is just a long bridge and couples blocks off of the Atlantic.   We were right down the street from the bridge that crosses over.  The bridge slope going up proved to be too much for pedaling but the walk up the last few hundred feet was nice because of some very cool tile inlay artwork that adorned the cement railing sections that formed the sidewalk portion.   We’d never see a bridge quite like this one....very nice!

Series of tile murals adorning the bridge walkway
hard to tell form the pics but they are very well done and pretty 

We only took pics of several but there were many more

Daytona Beach beaches scored an A+ rating in our book!   A combination of things made this our favorite beach of Florida this far.   We have been to quite a few beaches along both coasts and in the keys but this one had the most authentic true beach feel to us.  Nice sand, a very active boardwalk, a large pier with a huge restaurant on it, food vendors right on the beach, awesome surf while we were there AND salt water taffy!  It was quintessential beach weather with air temps of about 82, water temp of 78 and a nice breeze.   One area of the beach was set up to allow people to drive their vehicles out onto the sand and set up their spot.  The other direction was just for walk on people.  Many people were out and about enjoying the wonderful day which made for good people watching.  We ventured into a couple of the shops and came out with a new larger beach bag, an anklet for Renee and salt water taffy.   After walking a mile or so we decided it was time to get into the waters.  This was challenging since the surf was large and there was a strong 'rip tide' pulling us down the beach, fun nonetheless. 

Dippin Dots anyone?  One of several vendors directly on the beach

more vendors and notice the high surf 

And real lifeguards!   We haven't seen lifeguards on other beaches recently 

Do you think she will make it to the top of the bridge? 
NOPE! 

Part of a very large amphitheater complex right of the beach that was very nice but hard to get a good pic of 

Nice pier in the distance that had a large Joes Crab Shack

We would have rode this but the line was too long.....

psych....we are not in to these kinds of puke machines anymore..lol

Renee's Uncle Jerry and Aunt Abby were planning to come down to the marina at around 7pm so we returned home from the beach and grilled up a delicious pork loin along with red potatoes with garlic and parmesan cheese.  Soon after eating Jerry, Abby, Leigh and Kayden arrived and we again had a very pleasant visit full of stories and laughter.   Unfortunately, the time spent with them was again NOT filled with photographs :-(  errrrrr.    Oh well, we were obviously enjoying the company too much to worry about pulling out a phone...this is not a bad thing.

After our guests left we walked up to the restaurant on site at the marina (Chart House) to get some desserts to go to enjoy while sitting on the aft deck for another marvelous sunset.   The desserts definitely hit the mark; Key lime pie and Mud Pie with coffee ice cream! 

'Aquaholic' on right and fellow looper boat 'Lady Kadey'
at sunset

Love the palms at sunset

Love key lime pie and mud pie with coffee ice cream at sunset even more!  

Some laundry...finishing up this blog.....and off to bed we will go knowing that we made the most of yet another day traveling Americas Great Loop!