Update 7/08/2009 Cumberland to Hilton and Portland to Grand Mannan

Hello to all

We are presently sitting on trader in Northeast Harbor, Maine waiting for the weather to improve before heading further east. It has been very cold and rainy for most of June and July but nonetheless we’ve found lots to do!

Boardwalk on Cumberland Island

Going back to my last update we were on Sun Cat in Cocoa, Fl. We traveled the rest of the way to Hilton Head with Sue and Larry on Sue Sea Q. From Cocoa we traveled to Daytona where we again had a nice beach walk and a good visit with our friends Bruce and Ellie. After a couple days there, we spent a night at the pine island anchorage just north of St Augustine, followed by another at the Kingsley Plantation where we walked the grounds of the remaining parts of the Plantation. Unfortunately the buildings were not open. After that we were off to St Mary’s where we had a nice walk and an interesting happy hour at the bar hosted by Cindy the bartender. Sue & Larry got a good introduction!

Ranger giving a tour of Dungeness - Cumberland Island

After that we visited Tom & Gerry (sea Knight) in Fernadina Beach where we enjoyed a nice dinner at their home. Then it was off to Cumberland Island for several days during which George on Time Out was able to join us for an evening on his trip north. I’ve mentioned Cumberland Island before and it has to be one of our favorite stops because of the great beach and wonderful hiking trails. It also has an interesting history and we learn a bit more about it each time we go.

From there we went to Jeckyll Island. We toured on the loaner bikes, and did something different, taking a guided tour through the historic district. While the tour can be easily walked (or biked) the tour permitted entry into some of the historic houses and we learned a bit more about those properties and the men who built them.

Jeckyll Island Club

From Jeckyll, we again went to Fort Frederica where we anchored off of the fort. We were disappointed to find that the dinghy dock was still unusable so we were not able to do another tour of the park. Maybe in the fall! After Frederica it was on to two more anchorages, Lincoln Creek and Bull Creek and then into Hilton Head arriving on May 1.

Our time at Hilton Head was fun. We enjoyed showing the place to Sue and Larry and had a good visit from Tim and Jan (Lamb Chop) as they headed north by car. We played many games of Mexican Train Dominos on Sue Sea Q, took in the Shannon Tanner show a number of times and of course enjoyed the beach and pool. All too soon it was time to return to Maine.

On our return to Maine (May 13), we found the house in good order but the weather cold and rainy. We did a few projects on our house, worked when possible to get Trader in the water, spent several days and evenings helping Steve with a project at his house and a week helping Bill clean and organize his house. Bill also took us on a good tour of Baxter State Park, a wilderness park in Northern Maine. Part of Baxter includes Mt Katahdin which is the highest mountain in Maine. We didn’t try to hike it and there was still snow on it.

Trader finally hit the water on June 2 at 6:15 in the morning and later that day we put the mast up at the yacht club assisted by Steve and a whole bunch of our friends. We had a couple of weekend trips to Jewell Island with Steve on his boat Nette and our friends Larry and Cathy on their new (to them) sailboat Katahdin. These were sandwiched around another trip to Bill’s, several days spent buying Bill a truck, and a visit from Sue and Larry from Sue Sea Q.

Sue and Larry had just purchased a land yacht and spent a couple of days visiting us, parking it where Trader had been. This was the inaugural trip for them. While they were here we got two good days and went sailing, spending the first day hiking on Jewell Island and the second visiting Admiral Peary’s house on Eagle Island after a stop at the Dolphin Marina for their famous lobster stew and blueberry muffin lunch. They helped us celebrate Jean’s birthday and lucked out by finding the twin lobster special at DeMillo’s floating restaurant. We also were able to introduce them to the Great Lost Bear with its offering of over 50 beers on tap. On that Thursday evening we went to a sea dogs baseball game but left after 3 plus innings because of the rain. All in all it was a fun visit.

Sue & Larry left on Friday and on Sunday we took off on a trip of our own. Our first stop was Montpelier, Vt. where we had lunch with Jean’s niece Lynnette. The next stop was at Bill and Jill’s home in Grand Isle, Vt. Bill & Jill own a Krogen 42 named Transition and did part of the loop with us. We had a pleasant evening catching up with them.

Dock at Tim and Jan's

The next day we headed further west to Fenelon Falls, Ontario to visit Tim & Jan of Lamb Chop. We spent a couple of fun days with them, touring Fenelon Falls, Lindsay and Orillia, Ontario. We also had a nice dinner at their friend Jane’s house in Lindsay one evening. The weather was good most of the time so Tim was able to borrow a boat and we took a long ride up the river they live on to see some more of the countryside. That afternoon we went out on Balsam lake, rafted to their friends Al & Monica and went for a swim. It was great to be able to jump off the boat and swim in warm water! In all we had a great visit with Tim & Jan.

Jean and Tim ready for a boat ride

On the way back, we again stopped at Bill & Jill’s who took us on an expedition to Burlington for dinner. There was a food festival, the Burlington Chew Chew taking place on the waterfront and we tried a few appetizers there. Bill had been involved in the planning of the revitalization of the Burlington downtown and showed us some of the changes and made and the background and history of some of the decisions leading to those changes. Bill was understandably proud of what had been accomplished there. We had a good walk on the Church Street pedestrian mall and a nice dinner at one of the restaurants.

Back in Maine, we made a quick trip to deliver Bill the truck we had bought for him and then got ready for the sailing trip we are on now. Bad weather forced a day’s delay in getting going and we finally got moving Friday morning (7/3). We spent that evening at Jewell having happy hour with Tim and Kathy on Cordillia and later joined by Larry and Cathy on Katahdin and Steve and Kim on Nette.

The next day started out nice and we had a good sail toward Boothbay. Nette was headed for Boothbay and Trader and Katahdin were planning to go a lot further, hoping to get across Muscongus Bay that afternoon. However, in mid afternoon a strong thunderstorm hit us. We had heard warnings on the radio and had gotten our sails down so other than a good soaking we weren’t seriously affected. However, the winds were strong enough to heel the boats substantially with no sails up and the rain was practically horizontal. Nette continued on to Boothbay where she found a good mooring and had a great fireworks show. Katahdin and Trader changed plans and proceeded up the Damariscotta River to Seal Cove where we anchored for the night.

The next day was a wonderful sailing day. We motored an hour or so out of the river and then set sail. We passed through Muscongus Bay, Port Clyde, up Muscle ridge Channel, through the Fox Island Thoroughfare that separates North Haven and Vinalhaven and over to Merchants row where we anchored in Merchants Harbor for the night. 54 miles, almost all under sail though some on the nicest scenery one will find anywhere.

Katahdin at Northeast Harbor

Monday started out warm and sunny with light winds and we headed across Jerrico Bay and through Casco Passage to Blue Hill Bay. The wind came up from the southeast and brought the fog in with it. We also passed on of the small cruise ships heading west across the bay as we were going east. At Bass Harbor Bar, the fog lifted again and we sailed through the western way and into Cranberry Harbor where we picked up one of the free town moorings. We then took a walk with the crew of Katahdin on the island, finding a woods road we hadn’t taken before. Unfortunately it ended in a swamp, not a beach so we backtracked to the boat and had a nice dinner on Katahdin.

The next morning we awoke to a strong NE wind and a rough anchorage, so we motored into NE Harbor ( a whole 7 miles) and picked up a mooring.

Steve & Jean

Waiting for summer to come to Maine!

Update 4/14/09 Stuart to Marathon to Vero Beach

I know, I know, I've been very late getting an update out! I had to go back to my last one to see where I left off and was surprised to find it was before we got to Marathon. In any event, this is what we've been up to for the past 2 1/2 months.

At the time of my last update, we were anchored in Lake Worth near palm Beach after a relatively short run from Stuart. The next day we went most of the way to Ft Lauderdale, anchoring in Lake Santa Barbara for the night. The next morning we were fortunate enough to find two moorings free at Los Olas municipal marina so we stopped there and went ashore. The crews of Lamb Chop and Sun cat were joined by Paul & Sue on Sweet Dreams and Janice & Ron from OB2 and we had a nice (but expensive) lunch at a Mexican restaurant on the beach followed by a good walk and happy hour at LuLu's.

The next day was great fun. We took the dinghies with Tim and Jan and motored up from Los Olas through the various canals to the New river, were we stopped, did some of the river walk and had lunch. We then dinghied through more of the canals back to Los Olas. Its really neat seeing all of the houses with boats parked in front of them on the canals. We noted many of both for sale. We also saw some very large iguanas. The next day we did an long bus ride followed by happy hour on the river walk and a walk near the beach at Los Olas. From there we traveled down the ICW to Miami Beach where we anchored in Sunset Lake, surrounded by nice homes, many with docks.

Welcome o the Keys- controlling depth less than 5 feet!

From Sunset Lake, we took the dinghies on a short ride through a canal to Sunset Marina where we visited with Claire and Steve on Wild Turkey and took a dip in their pool. That evening the six of us had a nice walk to South Beach (Tim and Jan had not experienced it before) and enjoyed a good dinner at one of the sidewalk restaurants.

ICW in the Keys

The weather forecast was not great so we decided we needed to get to Marathon quickly so it was up anchor early the next morning and we headed south and west once again, making a 70 mile run to Matacumbe Bight where we anchored again for the night. The next morning we were off early again and arrived at the Boathouse in Marathon around 10:30 that morning. It turned out the forecast was right and the wind blew very hard for the next couple of weeks, making us glad we had gotten down there quickly.

The stay at the Boathouse was way too short, even though it was planned for two months. It was a reunion in many ways as a number of members of the 'Marathon Navy" were there to greet us including Phil & Alice on Wonderland, George on Time Out, Larry & Sue on Sue Sea Q, Ken & Yetta on Stress Free, John & Pat on Gypsy Time, Mike & Jake on Kikeko, Ron & Janice on OB2, Allen & Suzanne on Kaos and Paul & Susan on Sweet Dreams. A later addition to the Marathon Navy was Ray and Linda on Summertime. Most of these boats had been with us in Marathon the year before an/or had done portions of the loop with us. We and lamb chop were welcomed with a trip to Sparky's that evening for happy hour and we felt like the party had started!

The Boathouse Marina

Eldon shaking hands with a dolphin!

One of the things we discovered new this year was that we could use all of the park facilities at Key Colony Beach which was a short bike ride away. These included a 9 hole, par 3 golf course, tennis, pickle ball, shuffleboard and bocce. I played pickle ball several mornings until I twisted my ankle and also played golf twice for the first time in quite a few years. (I actually won one day-unbelievable!). We had many parties including a number of birthdays, Mexican night, Bahamas night, and Italian night with everyone making up the appropriate theme dishes and drinks including 5 gallons of Larry's now famous margueritas.

While we were there, we were visited by our friends Eldon & Dianne and their friends Millard & Mary Lou. Among other things we toured Pigeon Key which was the work camp for the building of the railroad through the Keys to Key West and went to a nautical flea market. Their highlight was undoubtedly Eldon's swim with the dolphins at the dolphin research center one morning. Another highlight was a progressive supper hosted on the various boats. That party began with a simple statement from Dianne that she would like to see the boats and proved once again that with this group it is way too easy to get a party started!

The weather in Marathon was somewhat different from last year as it was somewhat cooler and quite windy. The first Monday we were there, we were over at Dockside for (what else) happy hour, dinner and entertainment when a strong storm came through, drenching us even inside the tent and threatening to bring the tent down.. Winds that night were clocked at 70-80 miles an hour in some places in Marathon and actually picked up and moved a wooden picnic table at one of the restaurants.

When we got back to our boats, we learned that the wind had ripped the track holding the plastic windows off of the back of OB2, had torn the canvas tops on Stress Free and Sweet Dreams and had also torn the track holding some of the bridge enclosure on Sun Cat off. Fortunately I was able to find the piece of track partially on the deck and partially over the rail before it went in the water.

Mike and Jake had a heavy duty sewing machine and Paul was able to repair the top on Sweet Dreams over the next few days. We were able to put the track back and remount the plastic but al of the zippers were shot so with a little guidance from Paul We were able to replace all of the zippers in both the bridge and the sundeck. - A huge improvement. That sewing went so well that we decided to make a new cover for the front windows so we ordered some more material and after a few days we had a new cover. It is a major improvement from the old one which is on its last legs. I also did a fair amount of routine maintenance on the generator and engines. One of the highlights of our stay was a sail under the full moon with Mike & Jake on their big catamaran.

In mid-March, we had to fly back to Maine somewhat unexpectedly as son Bill had major surgery. He came through the surgery pretty well and is now in a rehabilitation hospital getting his strength back. We expect him to return home shortly and want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Once we determined that the operation was successful and he was comfortable with the rehab process we decided to return to Marathon, arriving there at the end of March after a brief visit to Cape Cod to see my mother and brother. We decided we needed to get the boat north in case we needed to return to Maine again so we left Marathon last Saturday, accompanied by Summertime.

Boca Chita

on the New River

Anchorage at Islamorada

So far on the trip north we have stopped at Islamorada where we anchored and had a nice dinner at Lorelei's, Boca Chita National Park (beautiful but the mosquitoes were fierce), and Fort Lauderdale where we stayed on the New River right in the center of town.


From Fort Lauderdale we spent a night near Palm Beach and then traveled to Stuart where we spent 2 days with our friends Bob and Allie, staying on their new dock. We had a couple of meals out with them and used their jeep to do a little shopping. We also had a nice meal at their home the last evening. Another good stop!

Larry and Ray at Vero Beach Park

Next we spent 4 nights at Vero Beach where we met up with Sue Sea Q and Summertime again. We spent several days on the beach there and also took a nice dinghy expedition. It was a relaxing stay and today we moved on, stopping at Cocoa again. The weather today was a bit stormy with thundershowers around us and some rain and wind as we made our way up the ICW. We made it nevertheless and wound up with a short tour of Cocoa this evening.

Still enjoying the trip!


Steve & Jean

(Pictures to be added later!

Update 1/23/09 - Jacksonville to Vero

Time sure goes fast when you are having fun!

I can't believe another month has gone by already. Our visit to Maine lasted until 1/7/09 at which time we flew back to Jacksonville. We had a nice Christmas celebration at home with family and another visit to cape cod to visit my mother, sister and brother and his family. We also got in a number of visits with friends and hope to see some of them here in Florida this winter.

Sun Cat was waiting for us when we returned to Jacksonville. She had gottem a new coat at bottom paint. I was very pleased with the service at Lamb's. They did a good job, at the agreed to price and in the agreed time frame. They also were very good to work with.

When we got to the Jax airport we were greeted by Phil and Alice from Wonderland and Paul and Sue from Sweet Dreams and we had a nice dinner out with all. The next day Lamb Chop's crew, Tim and Jan arrived . After a day of working on the boats all 8 of us jumped in Phil's mini van and went to a Barefoot Man concert at the Villages as guests of Sue and Paul. It was a really good time in spite of arriving back at the boats at 0100.

On Sunday it was time to get moving so we headed down the river accompanied by Wonderland and Sweet Dreams. We spent a night rafted at Pine Island and then headed for the Seven Seas Marina in Daytona where we were joined by George on Time Out. We had a nice pot luck dinner that evening on Sun Cat and all had breakfast out the next morning. All but Sun Cat headed south after breakfast.

We took a good walk and then met up with our friends Bruce and Ellie. Ellie made another wonderful dinner and we had a nice afternoon and evening with them exchanging travel stories. On Tuesday, Lamb Chop joined us at Seven Seas and on wednesday son Steve joined us about noon time, having flown down from Portland to Daytona that morning. We had a nice beach walk and toured Daytona a little.

The next day we headed south. The plan was to anchor off of Titusville for the evening but the wind was wrong for that so we anchored behind the NASA causeway. Sue on Sweet Dreams called us and said they had just spent 3 nights on a dock at Cocoa where they had rented a car and toured the Space Center. Our plan was also to tour the Space Center so we planned to head for the same dock the next day as Wonderland had also called to tell us about the dock. She also said there would be a rocket launch from the Space Center that evening. We had a nice dinner on Sun Cat that evening, all sharing a beef stew that Jan had made.

We arrived at Cocoa early afternoon the next day and found the dock wide open so we pulled in. We rented a car that afternoon and the next day drove over to the Space Center which was about 30 minutes away. Jean and I had visited the Space Center a number of years ago with Bruce & Ellie but we found the exhibits far more extensive this time and all 5 of us felt we had information overload by the end of the second day. The trip there made for a very interesting weekend however! When we were headed down from Daytona to Titusville through mosquito Lagoon we could see a large building. This is what it turned out to be. Its the Vehicle assembly building where they combine the shuttle, the fuel tank and the booster rockets and mount them on the pad prior to transport to the launch site.




The final product looks like this.






And this is a model of the shuttle. Our space adventure ended as we watched the launch of a delta rocket that evening while sitting on the sundeck. It was spectacular and one can only imagine what a shuttle launch would look like after that.

After Cocoa, we traveled to Vero Beach where we were assigned to moorings at the municipal marina. Lamb Chop wound up at the north end and we wound up at the south end. We walked over to the beach, enjoyed happy hour at the Pearl and at Mulligans, walked the park-the fitness trail confirmed the shape we were in! On Wednesday we went to the McLarty Treasure Museum at. Sebastian Inlet State Park . The Museum presented the story of the 1715 Spanish Treasure fleet and the subsequent efforts to salvage and find its cargo after it was sunk by a huricanne. The Museum also displayed many artifacts from the fleet.

Steve left for home later that afternoon and we spent a quiet night at Vero. The next day, we left for Stuart where we visited our friends Bob and Allie from Bali Motu at their new house in Stuart. Sun Cat and Lamb Chop were the first boats to utilize their new dock and we had a nice visit with Bob and Allie, touring their construction project and enjoying a nice dinner out.
Today we motored down the ICW to Lake Worth (North Palm Beach) through numerous Manatee zones. We and a nice relax afternoon anchored here with 25 +/- other boats.

Still having a great time.

Steve & Jean
M/V Sun Cat

Update 12/21/08 - Let it snow!

Update 12/21/08 - Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!


What are we doing here? We've asked ourselves that a few times since we came to our home in Maine two weeks ago, since then we've had the coldest day of the year so far, an ice storm that took out our power for 22 hours, two snow storms, the last one yesterday dropped about 4 inches of snow. Today we have a third storm going which is expected to last most of the night and drop 10 to 18 inches more on us! Included is a picture of the house after yesterday's storm.

The answer to what we are doing here is to visit friends and family which is going quite well. we've spent time with both Bill and Steve, made a trip to Cape Cod to visit my mother and brother and have spent several evenings with friends and neighbors. We've also had time for a few shopping trips and to decorate
the house.

Since my last update, we spent another month or so in Hilton Head and then worked our way south through Georgia to Jacksonville, where we left Sun Cat to have her bottom painted.

At Hilton Head, we walked, biked and enjoyed the pool until it got too cold to go swimming. We then concentrated on walking and biking and took a number of long beach walks. We also did some boat projects and went out with Pat & Pat from Salty Dawg a couple of times.

In late October, we traveled back to New England for a week where we spent a few days visiting friends and family in Maine. I also finished winterizing Trader and got her covered for the winter. We then went down to Cape Cod where we celebrated my Mother's 90th birthday. The celebration was a nice party attended by Mom, Ron & Brenda, my sister Sue and Jean and I.

When we returned to Hilton Head, we took a day and visited Tybee Island where we toured Fort Pulaski. This fort controls the entrance to the Savannah river and was captured by Union forces during the civil war. The fort is notable because it was the first use of the new rifled cannon against a masonry fort with the result being that masonry forts were obsolete.

On the first weekend of November we attended the Hilton Head Concours de Elegance, an annual event featuring most older classic cars and race cars. We attended the Saturday event which included a drive in rally by many car clubs and an auction of mostly classic cars. It was great to see all of the older cars, especially those from the 50’s 60’s. Pictures of some of the classics are included with this update.

Early in November, we left the marina for the first time since may, We traveled out to the anchorage at Bull Creek where we met up with George and Marion on Time Out. We had not seen them since May and it was great to catch up. We were joined for the afternoon by Pat and Pat from Salty Dawg who had dinghied out to the anchorage. They had a rather rough trip back but made it before dark. we spent the night rafted with Time out and then returned to Hilton Head while they headed on to Georgia and a tour of the St John river in Florida.

On our way back into the Marina at Hilton Head I decided it would be a good idea to run up the engines to give them a test. I discovered that neither engine would get close to its full RPM, confirming my suspicions that the props had been badly fouled during the long period of inactivity. The result was that we hired a diver to clean the props and bottom. The diver indicated we had over 2” of muscles and other growth on the props. No wonder we couldn’t get any speed!

For the next couple of weeks we continued walking and biking around Hilton Head. This included a long bike ride sown the beach which was something we had never done before. We also spent a day playing tourist in Savannah with the crew of Salty Dawg. What a nice town Savannah is to visit. I’ve added some pictures of savannah to this update as well.

The time had come to leave Hilton Head as we had reached 179 days. If we stayed 180 we might be liable for South Carolina property taxes. So we left and headed for Georgia where our first stop was Skid away Island .

The purpose of our stop at Skidaway Island was to visit with Bruce & Jean elder, a looper couple who we met at the rendezvous in Penetang. Unknown to them they had had some influence on our choice of boats for the loop as we had really liked the layout of their boat. we also wanted to see Skidaway island. We stayed at the island for two days and had a very nice visit with them. We had a personal tour of the entire island by Bruce, breakfast & dinner at one of the country clubs and a good walk along the shore bike path. We also got a look at Bruce's classic cars.

The next day we went to Walberg creek where we anchored with several other boats. We then went to the anchorage at Wahoo creek which is one of our favorite anchorages in Georgia. We were joined there by Lamb Chop who had been working their way down from the Chesapeake for the past month. It was great to see Tim and Jan again! We would cruise together from there to Jacksonville.

After Wahoo we traveled to the Frederica River where we anchored off of the fort as we had done in May. We were disappointed to find that the dinghy dock was under repair and there was no way to get ashore. We spent a nice evening there and part of the next day and then moved down to Golden Isles where we anchored near the marina for the night. The next morning we went up to Brunswick to purchase fuel at a low price and then traveled to Jekyll Island where we went into the marina for the day, arriving before noon. We took the courtesy car and went to the store and then did a driving tour of the island. this included a stop at the Horton House, which was built in the early 1700's and was the original plantation on the island. A picture of the Horton House is also included with this update.

The next morning we borrowed the courtesy bikes and rode to the Jekyll Island club for breakfast. It was wonderful buffet in very pretty surroundings. when we finished we were walking around the club when the bell captain offered us a tour of the Presidential Suite., so up we went to the fourth floor. As expected, the suite was very elegant. it also included the cupola which provided a panoramic view of the ICW and surrounding marshes. We then biked over to the beach and rode the bikes several miles down the beach before returning to the marina.

Our next stop was St Mary's, GA where we anchored with around 70 other boats for the Thanksgiving events in St Mary's., arriving on Tuesday night and leaving the next Monday. while there, we attended several happy hours with other cruisers, we also walked around town quite a bit. Its a pretty town with a number of old southern houses. On Thanksgiving Day, we attended dinner with about 200 other cruisers and some locals. The way it works is the local community provides turkeys and hams and the cruisers provide the fixings, side dishes and deserts. On Friday they had a nautical swap. Lamb Chop was able to purchase a big Delta Anchor very reasonably. That Sunday night we got some very bad news that one of our cruising friends had died in her sleep the night before while at anchor. It was certainly sobering news. Our thoughts are with her family.

We left St Mary’s the following morning and traveled to the marina at Fernandina Beach, Fl. The wind and current were quite strong which made docking an adventure. at Fernandina we were joined by Larry and Sue on Sue Sea Q, John and Pat on Gypsy Time and Ron and Janice on OB Too. Tom & jerry Claire from Sea Knight live there and they were able to join us also. Tom took us around shopping and then we had a good happy hour on Suzy Sea Q and all went our for Pizza. We hadn’t done that for a long time.


The following morning we left with Lamb Chop and Suzy Sea Q and went to Jacksonville. We had timed the tide right and got a great push up the river, picking up 3-4 knots as we went. We tied up the boats at Jacksonville Landing which is a free dock right in downtown Jacksonville. The Landing has shops and restaurants and in a lot of ways is similar to Waterside in Norfolk. They had a 60 artificial Christmas tree at the Landing with over 87,000 lights and every evening we were treated to a light show as well as various performances, mostly by school groups. We attended one by a middle school jazz band that was especially good.



We wound up spending 3 days in Jacksonville. One of our adventures was a trip on the monorail to the south side of the river. There we visited the maritime museum and the science museum and took in a show at the planetarium. We also sampled the fare at the River City Brewing Company. One evening there was an art show downtown. apparently they hold this once a month. They way it works is they open a number of buildings and various artists display their work. They also serve free wine and soft drinks in a number of the locations. It gave us an opportunity to tour some of the facilities in downtown Jacksonville that we might not have gotten into otherwise and made for an interesting evening overall.

On Friday, Lamb Chop headed downriver again to visit St Augustine and we traveled about 5 miles further up the river to Lamb’s Marina where Sun Cat would stay while we went to Maine for Christmas. We were greeted by Pat on Salty Dawg and Phil and Alice on Wonderland and wound up going out to dinner with them and Pat & Clyde on Momacita.

The next morning we were surprised to receive an email from Joan on Christine that they were headed up to Jacksonville to see us before we left. We quickly finished our packing and boat projects and they arrived around mid-day. We visited with them and Pat for a while and then we all took a trip to the used book store before having an early dinner at Tom & Betty’s, a local restaurant with good food and low prices.

The next morning, Pat was kind enough to arise at 0500 and take us to the airport for our trip home which was fortunately uneventful. Thank you Pat!

I started this update with our Maine activities. The next update should come out in early January. In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous new year.

Steve & Jean
Relearning how to shovel snow!

Update 10/10/08 - visiting The Villages and Hilton Head

Update 10/10/08


A more timely hello to all!

This is the third of three updates I’ve posted this weekend. Hopefully I can keep things more up to date from here on out. In this issue you may learn what a “chucker” is. Our first week at Hilton Head went by all too fast. We did a fair amount of cleaning on the boat and some basic shopping to reprovision the boat. In addition, we made good use of the pool and took two long walks down the beach to Coligny Circle where we had lunch and walked back. We also had a nice evening with Pat and Pat from Salty Dawg who are staying in another marina on Hilton Head. Its interesting the comparison of Hilton Head now versus when we were here in July. In July, the place was jumping but now there are a lot fewer people around and the weather is great. We heard that in addition to the usual seasonal factors part of the issue is the weather forecasting. When there is a hurricane offshore, the weather channel (and others) says that a hurricane is threatening “the Carolina’s”. However, the forecast is really calling for a hit on the North Carolina shore with the storm staying well away from Hilton Head. Regardless, lots of people hear this and cancel their reservations here. This area actually hasn’t had a hurricane in over 100 years. Part of the reason is that the gulf stream is well off shore here whereas it is very close to the southern North Carolina coast.

We decided that since we had time we would take a car trip and visit friends in Florida. Our first stop was the Villages where we visited Paul and Susan from Sweet Dreams. The Villages were one of the areas of Florida we wanted to see and it proved to be quite interesting. We learned to play “pickle ball” and played it all three days we were there. Pickle Ball is a game somewhat like tennis except its played on a smaller court (see picture), with a paddle that looks like a ping pong paddle but smoother and slightly larger, and a whiffle ball. I kept expecting the ball to bounce higher but it didn’t! In any event it was fun and good exercise. In case you are wondering, the game originated in Seattle and is named for someone’s dog!

We also took a tour of the Villages, attended a pot luck and went to a happy hour. The happy hour almost rivaled Sparky’s in Marathon with all you can eat wings, $5 pitchers of beer, good music and good company.

On Saturday, we also attended a polo match - a first for Jean and I (and most of the people we were with). We took the golf carts to the polo field. Golf carts are the preferred method travel in the Villages as there are cart paths to go everywhere. At the field, we set up for a tailgate party and waited for the match to start.
Up until now, if you asked me what a chucker was, I would have thought it had something to do with throwing something as a part of a game. However, a chucker is the equivelent of a period in hockey with a match consisting of six, ten minute chuckers with an extended half between the third and fourth chucker.
A team consists of 4 riders who might use up to eight different horses in the course of a match. The field is big, approximately 300 yards long and about 100 yards wide. This meant that the action was often a long ways away from us even with our centerfield position which made the tailgate activities even more enjoyable for all. After the match, we traveled to some friends of Paul’s and Susan’s for more party and a soak in the hot tub.

We left the Villages on Monday and had a leisurely drive through rural Florida (there really is such a thing) to Daytona to visit our friends Bruce and Ellie. Bruce and Ellie live in another interesting gated community as this one was a naval aviation training base at one time and the community has its own airport and many of the houses have their own hangers with taxiways running through portions of the community. We had a good visit them also. We took a golf cart tour of much of the complex, checking our some of the more interesting (and in some cases more extravagant) houses. We also saw several slide shows Bruce had compiled, including their trip to Alaska in June. After a nice dinner, we all sat up much too late and way too much on the edge of our seats watching the Red Sox beat the Angels to win their American League Divisional series. Next stop-Tampa Bay Rays.

Our drive back to Hilton Head was uneventful. The next day we watched as a technician from Caterpillar installed new injectors on the starboard engine. I ha intended to do this by myself but decided it was more complicated than I wanted to attempt. This turned out to be a very good decision as I learned what was really required and it was well beyond what I wanted to attempt. Sometimes discretion is definitely the greater part of valor!

The last few days have had on and off showers but we got in a trip to the beach as well as a few shopping expeditions. We are continuing to enjoy the warmer weather and the general ambiance of Hilton Head.


Steve and Jean
M/V Sun Cat
Hilton Head Island