Happy 4th Of July, America!

Singing the song in my head....which one? Oh Beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber fields of grain....It is the song I sing to myself when I encounter yet another beauteous scene. The light after a thunderstorm...over the marshes, for instance.

Sorry to bore you with the marshes, but they are rather special places and we love them:)

 

I always seem to forget my camera when I need it most! How silly is that!!!

 

The management at the Marina have been working hard for the last couple of days to set up the Yacht Club Bar and meeting room for the 4th of July celebrations. Today at around 2pm, we all gathered in that room and participated in a collective celebration and gathering. About 100 of us 'boaties' enjoyed burgers and hot dogs provided by the Marina, and plenty of side dishes prepared by us, the boaters, including some pretty red white and blue desserts:)

I went straight for the desserts, and Waz queued for the main course. I thought he might share his with me, and mine with him....well, that was the plan, but it didn't happen, lol. Waz wanted HIS OWN dessert!

 

So, no photos of all the lovely decorations to show you, sorry!!really! because they were wonderful!

 

We were told to leave pretty soon, around 4pm as the thunder was already rolling...that meant we were in for a BIG thunderstorm.

After helping with the cleanup, we headed for the boat just as the first drops of rain were falling, and the wind started to roar up the river and whip us around.

 

There were 'waves' on the river, as the thunder rumbled and the wind increased in strength. No sooner were we on the boat than it began to rock and roll at the dock The wind increased yet again, and the flag that Suzie and Brent had erected this morning was about to be whipped off it's antenna!

 

 

Along with the wind came torrential rain...almost horizontal rain! It is hard to photograph it because I get wet doing so. You will have to imagine it!:)'

While I was upstairs trying to photograph the rain, I remembered to take one of the flags we erected yesterday in the fine weather, to keep the Crows and Grackles from having baths in the bimini and pooping on the top of the boat. It appears to be working, but I'll let you know!

 

 

Ten minutes after I took the lovely light filled photos after the storm, I looked out the window and a second storm is rolling in towards us! Bummer! The town pyro has been busy setting up the fireworks across the river, all day, and we hope it doesn't become a fizzer!

 

The light on the water was lovely 15 mins ago!

 

but looking back down the river, this is what we see...dark clouds gathering again.

 

Storm clouds gathering again....

 I love the contrast of the white steam coming from the Georgia Pacific Paper Mill, against the grey pregnant clouds.

 

 

I wont bore you with more of the same, but as I look out the window right now, the clouds have darkened and rain is falling in the distance. White egrets are flying past the boats ahead of the approaching rainstorm.

 

Yesterday was quite a work day for us.

 

I had some re-sewing to do on a couple of clips on the side curtains. You live and learn, and I found out I had sewn the clips on the wrong way...well, not the way I should...put it that way. One cannot sew straight across something and have it hold. There needs to be a zigzag in order for it to hold. Good to know this for the future. When there is a LOAD  on anything, the zigzag holds, and doesn't pull out.

 

I had started my cleaning of the stainless railings on Thursday...somehow by accident, but never mind....and needed to continue with that. Ok..not by accident:) Waz had taken everything out of the anchor locker, up front, in order to dry said locker out. This was a good time to do it, because two days of fine weather were forecast. The wind was blowing a bit of a gale which was most welcome in keeping us cool, so it was a great opportunity to go upfront and do some work. While he futsed around with that, I found it was a great opportunity to get the stainless cleaner out and get cleaning. The boat has been thoroughly cleaned of all it's saltiness, over the past 5 weeks, with these regular downpours, so the railings just needed me to rub any rust and grime off them. It is always so satisfying to be doing physical work, and indeed to see the fruits of ones labors.

 

So, a couple of days sitting on the front of the boat in the sun with hat and glasses on, and plenty of sunscreen, the entire front of the boat was cleaned...every last piece of stainless steel I could find. The windlass came in for some real elbow grease as it has been without it's cover for all this time.

 

We did order some Sunbrella fabric on Amazon, the other night. This is necessary so that I am not replacing the covers every 6 months because they have rotted in the sun and salt air. We bought a 6 yard lot, that was offered at some ridiculously small price, and it should be here  in a few days.

 

We feel as if we have spent every other day at the grocery store, spending a small fortune. I guess we just needed to restock the cabinets and the fridge. Most of it is fresh fruit and veg, of which we seem to eat a huge amount. We did 'invest' in some lovely fillet steaks, however, which I promptly cut in half so we could have two meals instead of one, at about $28 for the two of us. Aieeee!!! see what I mean about being an 'investment'!!

We also invested in some Pork Ribs, which we had intended to bab-b-q for 4th of july, but it didn't eventuate. They can stay in the freezer for another day/night.

 

Last night was the 'First Friday of the Month' in Historic Brunswick, again. We enjoyed the last one, and last night was again worth the effort. We decided to at Fly's Pizza for dinner. So did everyone else. We were seated about 20 mins after we arrived and enjoyed the pizza very much. We will be back some other time when they are less crowded, perhaps.

 

Being so hot and humid, we had driven the half mile into the old town. Local businesses have wine and hors d'oeuvres in their stores for patrons to sample and enjoy the items for sale. Lots of yummy food to sample, and you can literally eat your way around the town:)

 

We stopped in at a couple of stores we hadn't yet been to, and were happy with our discoveries. We will be back, now that we know where to get such lovely beachy and fishy things. This IS the coast and low country, after all, so all things beach are to be expected.

 

Well, Waz is about to go walkabout to see what is happening in the rest of the Marina, and perhaps to stretch his legs. I may as well go too. The next lot of showers aren't far away. It is almost 7pm.

 

He doesn't feel too hungry...ate too much at 3pm???:) so we wont have dinner per se. Lots of salad fixin's to choose front and fresh fruit for dessert!

 

Time to go see...Happy 4th of July, folks!

Goodness Gracious Me!

How time flies when you are busy being retired. The last post was on the 23rd of June, and now it is the 1st of July. Lordy Be!

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:)

 

 

 

Some of the rivers are wide, at full tide, but others are narrow and very shallow.

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:)

 Read all about it!

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

 Such a handsome building

 The waterfront and Marina  at Historic Downtown Fernandina.

Fernandina is the birthplace of the US Shrimping Industry. This sculpture of a shrimp boat commemorates that.

 We pass the marina in the boat on the way along the ICW. It is in Florida, and the closest town to Georgia.

 The Old Railway Station is now the Visitors Center.

 One of the many brick structures along the waterfront. This is the home of Florida's Oldest Pub!

 

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.

 Lovely to see these painted ladies:)

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...

 ...and yes, it has been raining! torrential, at one point.

 This one is 'Mission' style.

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

 An Egret looking for a meal.

off to starboard...or right rear. That is our neighbor Brent, who refuses to shut his windows unless the rain is actually coming inside:)

 We were thinking we might not get any rain....fun watching it approach tho!

 and on the screen, this is what it looked like. The heaviest rain is in the orange/red parts of the chart. That's us at the bottom with the green tag coming out of the red circle. You can see that it is almost right over the top of us...the rain, that is.

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.

 

 

 

For some reason, it is always good to get off the dock...don't care if we are going back there, it is just good to hear the engines purring under us, and floating off somewhere...anywhere!:)

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

 on our way back to the marina, motoring alongside the deep channel and the commercial docks. There is a large ship there today.

Just three of the large tugboats moored further down the river.

 Coming back towards the marina, this old shrimp boat is almost falling apart. The tower on the right is part of the Farmer's Market structure.

 We don't know what the original purpose for this building was, but it is only a shell. There is a large park on the right, out of the photo. Behind this building is where the thrice weekly Farmer's Market is held.

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.