Enjoying the Changing Scenery

Yes, it changes every hour or so as we head north up the AICW. We started our day early, again...but first let me conclude the evening before...last night.

We had our showers off the back of the boat per usual...under the stars and with a cooler breeze to cool us off a bit. I washed my hair and air dried it...literally...and decided that though we were tired and ready for bed, we needed to just take five and enjoy the breeze, the slither of moon and the boats passing us in the dark with their lights on.

We made a cup of tea and took it upstairs to the back of the Fly deck where we put out our chairs and did just that....enjoyed the relative quiet of the evening, and wound down ready for bed. We both slept like logs in the warm bedroom, which didn't seem to make any difference to the quality of our sleep. Just plain pooped, I think.

We woke before the alarm...we don't pull the window shades, so the first light was coming in on our faces.

We went topside to check out the clouds and see if we had any rain in the night. No! thank goodness, but the clouds looked interesting as the sun was making it's way over the curve of the earth.

 Just before 7am,we pulled anchor...it was VERY muddy and it took Waz a long time to wash it off, before turning around and going back the way we came.

It is the Memorial Day holiday weekend and though we haven't yet seen many other boats, the fuelling stop was on skeleton staff and we were refueled by the Security man.

We had two bridges to go under, first thing. The train bridge was open already, but we had to ask for a highway bridge to go up.

 We had all the windows in the boat open to make the most of the cool breeze, but I went down below to shut them all again when we saw waves of rain up ahead.  All the curtains of rain flew past us and we didn't see a drop of it, thank goodness. When we were sure there would be no further rainstorms, we opened up again, and the boat is lovely and cool this evening...especially the bedroom:)

 Being on the AICW is a bit boring at times...not as boring, perhaps, as the canal that we had come through yesterday! The views are large...the Indian River is wide in most places, and though there are plenty of little islands along our starb'd side, we didn't have much chance to enjoy the views with soooo many little boats flailing around us. It appeared to us that everyone had the throttles wide open and were going a million miles an hour, and so many with cans or bottles of beer in their hands. Most hailed us in jovial mood, but we were a little concerned that by late afternoon, so many boaters would be pretty tanked and driving! Not one marine police officer to be seen anywhere! We saw one small boat with two fish and wildlife officers, but they were on a mission already. Gone!

 Small watercraft everywhere, and the beaches and little islands were full up to busting

 Many of the little islands had campers on them. The trees are ironwoods, which has nasty little cones with spikes on, that feel horrid underfoot!

This is what the paper chart looks like, as we make our way up the inside route (AICW). The Atlantic is on the far right. You can see all the little Islands.

So many gorgeous homes on Johns Island. So many of them were also closed for the summer, their occupants are snowbirds, we think, who depart when the Florida temps rise to the 90's, usually at the beginning of April.

 Some have their own beaches, and others not. Most have large swimming pools and gorgeous landscaping. Truly a pleasure to look at.

We laugh at how the mangroves are even groomed in these kinds of residential neighborhoods.

 One of those homes that has been shut up for the summer. Such a shame, when the ocean breezes were lovely, and the water is right there at their front door!

We motored 80+ miles today. It was a long day and we were glad to stop. It gets to be about 4pm, and our tongues are hanging out for a cup of tea and to stop and just take 5.

We made a few food mistakes yesterday, and we suffered all day. Starting the day with some scones I had out of the freezer, with jam and cream (yeah, yeah!), was NOT a good way to start, despite the yummy taste. White flour carbs are fine in the short term, but we were starving by 9.30 am. Lunch was a mix of leftovers (him) and salad with ham (me)...and by 4pm, yesterday, I could barely think straight.
Today we ate a protein breakfast of left over sausage, scrambled egg and a small croissant each. It served us well! We were hungry by 11.30, at which time I put the genset on and turned the oven on to heat some previously defrosted Sausage rolls I had made and frozen. They were served with tomato sauce and a tomato (of course!). We had our afternoon snack of whole wheat crackers and spinach dip! heart healthy, apparently...but it kept the wolf from the door and meant I could actually think!..well, long enough to cook some Butter chicken. I cut up some egg plant into strips, added a Vidalia Onion and later some peas to the chicken mix. I also had some Coconut cream we had brought back from NZ (yep, carted it all the way back..in cans!)...added that to the mix, some tomato paste and bingo!...yummy butter chicken!

I forgot to take photos of it, sorry:(
Back to the story...

Lovely little bay with lovely big houses.

 Can you see all the boats?

 A little closer!

 Main Street!

 So many little sand bars with plenty of people and boats.

 oh..you wanted to see MORE boats and people??? here you go!

 ..and for a moment or two we had boat envy...this is what sailing is all about...and then we got real!:)

 We put down the anchor, as you can see...just after 4.15pm. phew! another day down.

 Our neighbors for the night:) Pretty neighborhood on Merritt Island!

 There is pink in the sky as I write, and the city lights have gone on. We have just been joined by a small yacht.
The sky has turned to orange, and I just have to show you !

 A stunning end to a lovely day.

Sleep well, wherever you are! We wont be long out of bed. It is 8.30pm, and we are ready to turn in already.

Night, night!