TIME TO CATCH UP (again)!

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect Gulf Stream crossing.  We even caught a nice Mahi on the way!  We spent our first night (3/16/2013)  anchored in the lee of the west side of Mangrove Cay.   Underway the next day at first light.  We arrived in Green Turtle that evening.  The customs office was closed, so we had to check in the next day.  The process couldn't have been easier.  The customs lady even let Fiona and Jack stamp their own passports.  After touring Green Turtle a bit and lunch aboard, we departed for Hope Town.   Another great passage with calm seas.  That evening, we anchored outside of the Hope Town inlet to make water.  It would be dark when we finished, so we stayed anchored out for the night.  We finally picked up our mooring in Hope Town Harbor the next mooring.  It didn't take long to meet our "neighbors".  Everyone couldn't have been nicer!  

 

Hope Town is a lovely island.  Everyone we met  made us feel very welcome.  There are children everywhere here much to Fiona and Jack's delight.  Before the end of our first week here, we found a church, the kids joined the youth group which meets every Friday evening and the Hope Town Junior Sailing program that meets every Saturday morning.  We feel right at home here!

Morning Star moored in Hope Town Harbor

On Our Way!

The day we've been waiting for has finally arrived!  We left Lake Worth at sunrise this morning.  If all goes well, we'll be in Grand Bahama later today. 

. . .And We Wait . . . 

We were excited to arrive a week ago at the crystal clear waters of Lake Worth, but disappointed that the winds had picked up and showed no signs of abating for at least a week.  We've been making the best of it, enjoying Peanut Island and the manatees that hang out here.  On Thursday nights, there's a fun art market at the marina.  We've made some new friends too -- another family living aboard their s/v My World.  They have more pets on board than we do (a dog, 2 cats and a bird)!  They have 3 lovely kids, twin boys Fiona's age and a 12yo daughter.  All 5 kids play so well together.  We met them briefly in St. Augustine and have enjoyed getting to know them here in Palm Beach.  We're looking forward to more fun times together in the Bahamas.

 

 

Dessert with the Richardson kids!

 Swimming with Manatees!

At Sailfish Marina art market with 5 birds (one is behind her neck)!

Dog shaming Bella.  Click on the photo to enlarge it so that you can read her sign.  Perhaps the worst part of our trip thus far! LOL

 

Catch Up Time!

 I haven't blogged in a while because we've been sitting in Stuart, FL for a few weeks.  We used the time to catch up on homeschool and  boat chores.  Most things were mundane chores, but one chore has left me pretty happy.  We finally got the galley back splash tiled!  The tile comes from Alyse Edward's Haute Glass collection (Bonsai Blue) and K. and I BOTH love it!  

K. also repaired the Watermaker!  Yeah!  Now we can make up to a gallon a minute whenever we are in clean water!  A must when in the Bahamas because you have to pay for water there!

 

 

Fiona and Jack were reunited with their friend Coleen from S/V Glass Slipper.  We spent an evening out at the Winter Equestrian Festival to watch the best riders in the world compete in the $500k Grand Prix.

Nighttime reading snuggle and reading!

A trip to the Brevard Zoo included  the very fun treetop trek!

 

We finally left Stuart on March 5th and headed for Lake Worth in Palm Beach to wait for a good weather crossing to the Bahamas.

VERO BEACH, FL

We arrived in Vero Beach on January 23.  We were fortunate enough to make contact with Morning Star's first owner and designer, Bill Barrows.  Bill and his wife, Carol kindly made their dock available to us while we were in Vero Beach.  It was wonderful to connect with Bill who was a wealth of knowledge about Morning Star (formerly Patrician).  He shared all the boat's original specs as well as photographs.  We also got to see his latest project R/V Aluminator.  We hope to cross paths with Bill and Carol again in the Bahamas. 

Our second and third days in Vero were spent visiting with K.'s Uncle Crocker and Aunt Liza who live 20 minutes from the Barrow's home.  Fiona and Jack enjoyed the Johns Island Club pool for 2 straight days. 

We wrapped up our time in Vero with a thank you dinner aboard Morning Star with Bill, Carol, Liza and Crocker.  It was a beautiful evening with a gorgeous full moon. 

M/Y Patrician circa 1979

 

 

 

 

Bill & K. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marineland

It was a short cruise from St. Augustine to Marineland (about 3 hours).  It was wonderful to be underway again!  We chose to stop at Marineland Marina so we could walk across the street and visit Marineland "the worlds first oceanarium".  After renovations in 2006, Marineland stopped doing dolphin shows.  It is now a hands on educational facility.  The dolphins are trained, but they do not do tricks for large audiences.  With the basic admission you can view the dolphins and learn about them.  They do offer different levels of interaction with the dolphins for an additional fee.  Since our admission was free with our stay at the marina, we went ahead and signed up for the touch and feed.  It was wonderful to see these beautiful and smart creatures up close.  Fiona and Jack were equally excited about the whole experience.  Our dolphin was Dazzle the most recent mother at the aquarium.  Her calf Hemingway was also in the oceanarium with her.  If you've ever been to a sea ray touch tank and touched a sea ray, that's what the dolphin feels like -- very smooth.  We each tossed a fish to Dazzle, then she swam off to be with Hemingway.  A large male dolphin named Zack came up to finish off our experience.  After saluting him he swam off and jumped high out of the water several times giving us a good splash.  The kids learned a lot about dolphins that day.  Did you know they shed their skin every couple of hours and they never sleep?  I don't have any good pictures of our touch and feed b/c they didn't let you take your own pictures and I didn't want to purchase theirs.  The cost of the encounter was enough. 

 Marineland Marina turned out to be a very social place!  There was a boat from St. Michaels and one from Easton!  The couple on the St. Michaels boat, "Early Bird" are members of our yacht club there.  We met them just before Hurricane Sandy, so it was nice to catch up with them.  We had them over to Morning Star for cocktails as well as another very nice couple from NY.  At least 4 different people offered us their cars to do shopping!   The marina manager gave us a great discount so that we could stay until Saturday.  He also runs an eco tour, so we joined him on one of his tours -- another great learning opportunity for the kids as well as us.  Another surprise was the arrival of the father of our good friend Al Clews from Maine -- proving once again the ICW is a small place!

On Thursday, the sun was out and the winds were light providing the perfect day for Fiona and Jack to take their "new" opti, "Sandpiper" out for a sail.  They had a great audience encouraging them on and they were so happy and proud! 

Fiona & Jack with our eco tour captain, Chris.  Fort Matanzas in the background.

 

Fort Matanzas

Dazzle & Hemingway

 

 

Zack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Augustine For 3 Weeks & Counting. . .

We didn't plan on being in St. Augustine for a month, but we did!   We stayed for a while because we all needed a break from cruising and there really aren't many more stops before we cross over to the Bahamas.  This was the perfect place to spend the Christmas holiday.  And after 3 paid weeks on the mooring, we got a week free!  So we have spent our time exploring the "Ancient City" as it is known.  We've been to Castillo de San Marcos, a pirate museum, the Lightner Museum, the St. Augustine Lighthouse, beachcombing on Vilano Beach, and even a walking ghost tour!  We've met many cruisers, some with children that we'll see again in the Bahamas.  We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  On January 6th we dropped our Mooring at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina and cruised a short distance to Marineland.

At Castillo de San Marcos with cousins, Tyler & Kate

Firing of the Canons at Castillo de San Marcos

Silly kids

Boxing Day Rainbow over the Bridge of Lions

Fossil Finds from Vilano Beach (4 shark teeth & a puffer fish mouth plate)