We are sitting inside the boat with all the windows open and the fans running full tilt. Going without the Air Conditioning today...just to be a bit original, but the outside temperature is heating up, and I fear we will be confined shortly. My clock/thermometer reads 84.2F inside, so we aren't TOOO hot...yet!
Our neighbor just came by the boat looking for a haircut. Later in the day perhaps? We are watching the weather closely....more rainstorms coming!
It appears that this weather is normal for August...BUT...it isn't August yet. All the locals are upset with the current high temperatures and the rain/thunder storms, as being unseasonal. We don't know any different, for better or worse.
Someone said to me the other day "You folks are permanently on vacation!". At first I felt a little put out by this statement, but on further reflection, that appears to be true. For lack of a better way of putting it, This is Our Life!
As you might have noticed, with all this Real Estating around, we are actually looking for a place to put down some terra firma roots. It isn't that we don't LIKE living on the boat, or value the independence it gives us, but we are rather in need of space to 'do our thing', whatever that might be. Having had the goal of 'Doing The Loop' last year, and fulfilling that, we are little bit at 6's and 7's as to what to do next.
We are surrounded by boaters who have lived aboard their boats for varying lengths of time, from 22 yrs, 10 yrs, and 2 yrs...all for different reasons, but they almost all have either a home to return to somewhere up north (Wisconsin appears to be a favorite home state), or they leave the boat in the middle of summer and go to their kids/grandkids etc, or travel by plane/RV/Van to places beyond the boat. We don't have any of those facilities, so we are a bit stuck. Not that we are complaining.
We are rather partial to The South, for various reasons. We love the proximity to the ocean/water, the marshes are beautiful, even though they bring the mosquitos and critters, the huge oak trees (despite the work they create) and the history of the area in these coastal areas.
This marsh is directly in front of the boat at her dock. Love the bright green, and the birdlife we see and hear. It is a green space to soften the view.
Warren tracks the weather on this site...that is us, way down on the right hand side with a little orange circle around the number 79. All that angry red/orange/yellow stuff is on it's way towards us...thunderstorms! These can go on for hours. On this day, it rained all afternoon and all night.
On the 24th we decided to make a trip down to Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach. This area is Historic...well, aren't they all???:)
We decided to take Highway 17 (60mph) , instead of the I 95 (70mph +) and though it took us longer, we were much (make that *I* ) less frazzled!:)
This is Highway 17...for most of the way. Tall pines along the highway and very little traffic at this time of day.
A few bridges passing over marshes, and little towns, some more derelict than others, which was informative.
I love finding out of the ordinary things on our journey, and this sign just tickled my fancy.! You rarely see the word SHUT...more likely to see CLOSED, but that wasn't the point of photographing the sign:)
We went through the small towns of Waverly, and Woodbine, where this lovely old church took my eye.
and this sign took our fancy also...we wondered what French Flare is...do you know?? Perhaps it is mean to be 'Flair'?? You never know, coz folks in these parts like their food HOT!
Many historic homes...made with Cocquina (the oyster shell cement)
Eventually we arrived in the Historic district of Fernandina Beach. The Post Office is rather lovely, if needing some work.
Walking the street, we came across the Lesesne House...from 1860!Fortunately it is undergoing restoration. The owners were onsite:)
As always, it is lovely to see people taking an active interest in the restoration of these old homes and public buildings. They take more than interest, however. Major financial investment is needed to do them justice. We feel rather burdened, sometimes, by what it would take to restore so many.
The old Courthouse
Fernandina is the birthplace of the US Shrimping Industry. This sculpture of a shrimp boat commemorates that.
Downtown Fernandina...the shopping district was several blocks long and wide. Typical tourist kind of shops, and fudge/ice-cream shops...aren't they touristy??:)
We ate lunch in a small café that also had barista coffee:) Ice-cream brought a welcome stop in air conditioned comfort inside the store, a couple of hours later.
We were driving around, now...too hot outside, otherwise.
We then took ourselves across Amelia Island to the Atlantic coast..vs the ICW. There, we discovered the Real Estate prices to be somewhat reminiscent of Auckland. This house below, made of Coquina, was priced at around $450k... It was across the road from the beach, with small beach views, as there are houses fronting the beach, opposite. Many of the homes beachside are literally built into and on the dunes.
Locals are allowed to drive on the Atlantic beach (with permit stickers), otherwise you have to purchase a permit. We didn't, as you can tell....we are taking our photos from the parking lot! :) Frankly, this coastline doesn't look too attractive to us...We are Kiwis...our coastline is SOO beautiful!
Many gated communities and condos lining the shore. No thanks!
On Friday the 26th we had to go into Jacksonville for a Dr appt. for Waz. We also had a noon apt. with the bank. There is no Chase Bank in Georgia, so we have to go into Florida, and Jacksonville (JAX) is the closest to us.
Between the early Dr appt. at 8.30am, and the noon bank apt., we decided to do some tiki-touring in the Riverside/Avondale area where there are so many gorgeous old homes and plenty of lovely new river side homes as well. We found the pretty little town of Avondale, which reminded us somewhat of the shops at Remuera Village (for those Aucklanders (NZ) who know the place). Up market, quaint to a point, and some lovely food establishments.
We had an early lunch there at a place called Biscotti. Walking in their front door we were greeted by the most amazing looking cakes...huge, they were! Cake wasn't on our wish list, so we settled for a wrap and a sandwich, and ate in a hurry, with me taking most of mine in a carry out. The prep. had taken longer than we anticipated, and we had a ten minute drive back to the Shops at Riverside, for our Bank Apt.
That taken care of, we decided to go back to Avondale and explore some more of that territory.
Of course, after our tiki-touring, we were thirsty, and couldn't resist the idea of sharing a slice of one of the amazing cakes at Biscotti. We had noticed earlier that they have a Barista Coffee machine. Lattes and a HUGE slice of Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake for ...wait for it...$9 a slice!!!!! ouch!, but...BUT...it was one of the most delicious and light cakes I have ever eaten in the USA. The Latte's were fantastic and the cake left us feeling nicely full, but not yukky sweeted out or overly gross having eaten so much sugar. Altogether a very nice afternoon tea.
We were also a bit tuckered out, after looking up and down the many roads in the area, checking out...what else, but ...Real Estate. We even went so far as to go into a Realty office (don't do it!!!! it's not worth the hassle (with apologies to any realtor reading this) because you end up giving them your address and they send you a gazillion homes that might (MIGHT) fit your criteria...if only you had one!
Moving right along...
Here is a sampling of some of the homes we saw on our tiki-tour...
This lovely renovated Victorian is for sale $450k! Outside our budget, but very nice, all the same:)
This one is also for sale, and with a garage and pool at the back, we didn't even ask! $$$
Some of the HUGE homes fronting the St Johns River, Avondale...
This one was a block back from the riverfront, but huge, all the same. Love the fence!
I guess I could do the following days in another blog, but what the heck...all or nothing here!
Saturday, we were happy to just be home. A long day out on Friday kind of did us in.
We have had quite a lot of rain recently....all that humidity has to go somewhere!
Sunday, the clouds gathered. We watched with much fascination, as they skirted around us...
The view from the bow of the boat across the marshes
off to starboard...or right rear. That is our neighbor Brent, who refuses to shut his windows unless the rain is actually coming inside:)
and then....DOWN IT CAME.
I couldn't get my little camera to focus on the foaming water outside, but you might be able to just make it out in the background. The rain was coming down SO hard that yes, the water was foaming. It gushed down the sides of the boat, and we got wet just standing outside next to the door, in the shelter, the wind was blowing that hard. We can hear the wind coming up the river...it sounds like a freight train, and WHOOSHES past us.
Needless to say, we stayed inside all afternoon, and into the evening. The rain stopped and started, but we got wet going in and out.
Monday dawned overcast but the wind was conducive to us leaving our home dock and venturing to the pump-out and fuel dock. We didn't need the fuel, but we were on the verge of being full and in need of a pump-out. Our waste tank holds 60 gallons, so we did pretty well lasting a month. Bear in mind that the marina has clean and well presented bathrooms, which we mostly use.
We decided to take our baby a little way down river to give her engines a blow out...well, a little bit, anyway. There is a deep water channel next to the commercial docks, which we went down before turning around and coming back 'home'. Thanks to our neighbor Brent, we were able to dock without much trouble. Waz is good at backing this thing into anywhere. It helps to have an extra pair of hands on the ropes though.
The shrimp fleet is just down from the marina
Just three of the large tugboats moored further down the river.
On our way back to our berth. It is almost full tide, fortunately. Others have run aground in the shallows next to the marshes:(
No rain that evening, which was a plus....and we were so happy to see a colorful sunset.
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