THE Prince Diamond?!

Hello friends and family!

I am writing about our travels from a marina just outside of Savannah, Georgia. We have had two long, but pleasant traveling days so far.

We stayed on the boat Thursday night- here's a semi-sunset picture for you:

Then we left Doctors Lake at sunrise Friday morning and I set my breakfast down long enough to take some pictures- just for you!

Buckman Bridge:

We have had two very pleasant traveling days. I took some great pictures of our trip through downtown Jacksonville.

The Cummer:

EverBank:

Once we got a little north of the stadium, THREE dolphins joined us! They seemed to be enjoying our wake very much. I took 3 pictures and this is the best one. It is very difficult to take a picture of a happy dolphin from a moving boat.

We had a very pleasant encounter with a sailboat named "Prince Diamond."

With a name like that, I feel like we should know who he is. This encounter prompted a lively conversation between Alice and me about the new Liberacci movie. Matt Damon is going to be in it? And everyone's ok with this?
I digress. My apologies.

On a lighter note, Zephyrhills makes sparkling water: raspberry-lime or orange flavored. It is wonderful and you should try it.
Perhaps with a little vodka.
You're welcome.

Friday night, Barry and Alice's friends Grace and Leo joined us for a very yummy supper at the Coastal Kitchen at Morningstar marina. I had blackened redfish. Best fish I've ever had. We'll likely catch up with Grace and Leo later on as well.

Saturday we didn't leave Brunswick until 10 AM because we had to accommodate for some low tides along the way. I spent little time on the bridge; most of today I was working on Hemingway homework. I learned quite a bit: Ernest and Hadley's son John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway was born in October of 1923. They called him "Bumby."

That's all for today, we'll catch up with everyone once we get to Hilton Head!

Don't worry, it's not terminal.

Yesterday afternoon, when we passed the lighthouse on the point on our way in to Golden Isles Marina on St Simons Island, I decided I would wait until this morning to take a picture of it for you... the sunrise would be behind it and it would be prettier.

So this morning, when we were leaving Golden Isles, headed out to the ocean, I was sitting up on the bridge with Barry, coffee in hand, watching a great sunrise... hot pink, a little hazy, it looked HUGE, coming up right next to the lighthouse...

I said, "Wow, that is beautiful. It would make a fantastic picture... you know, if I weren't so lazy..."
To which Barry responded, "It's a disease, Ashley."

My coffee was really good.

Well, anyway, let's move on to what I DID take pictures of...
We left yesterday morning at sunrise and I got this picture of Doctors Lake Bridge:

Then, as we headed past downtown Jax I got some pretty cool ones too:
The Landing:


Maxwell House (coincidentally, what I was drinking at the time...)


EverBank Stadium:

and the fire station:

Then, I took a picture of this huge ship...

Just to show you this fender... because I think they look cool.

We got to Hilton Head to today around 3 maybe... rinsed the boat, took a walk around the marina... you know where it's not ANY cooler than at home? South Carolina. It is blistery outside.

Thanks for reading! Miss you! :)

Home again!

Good afternoon!

The plan was to post our last pictures a lot sooner than now, but life got in the way... better late than never.

Let's see... I left off in Vero Beach maybe? Check out this boat that was moored across the channel from us: Party boat, obviously.

From Vero we went to Daytona.
In Daytona, we stayed in the same marina as during the Daytona 500. There were far fewer boats there this time though :)
Remember when we were there we saw that boat- Kitten- run into another boat? he hit the swim platform, then left without telling anyone it happened... well, here's the boat that got hit- Crackuhday- sans swim platform.

From there, we got some great pictures on our way to Camachee Cove:


Bridge of Lions:

The last few days of the trip were a bit chilly and windy, but pleasantly uneventful.
Home again!

This trip was a blast- we're already looking forward to the next one!
Thanks for keeping up with us! Big hugs! God Bless!

thank goodness we're headed south...

Happy Birthday to Alice AND Mrs. Holt!!

**throws streamers and makes annoying noises with a party favor**

Welcome all! We're back on the boat!

We left the dock this morning at 7... were out of Doctors Lake by 7:20. Check out the sun rising behind the Doctors Lake Bridge. b-e-a-utiful!



it was 38 degrees. the windchill made it feel like 12 degrees.
...ok, so not quite THAT cold, but it was FRIGID.

Barry had a grand time watching me trying to throw/place/heave the bow lines around the pilings. (and I say "trying to" because I never accomplished it... he eventually came out and did it himself.) I'm already pretty awful when it comes to using the hook on the lines, but as cold as my hands were, there really was no hope.

Moving on... it was an awesome day (but any day that begins with a breakfast of Puppy Chow is bound to be- Thanks, Beck and Mrs. P!)

here are some pictures of beautiful Jacksonville- enjoy!









and here's a tug that decided to race us... I would have gone outside to take it but, seriously... it was cold.



Here's a picture of the St. Augustine Lighthouse... oh, and on that note, this was taken with Alice's new camera from ridiculously far away. We will apparently have less need to use our binocular/camera trick on this trip.



Now we're in St Augustine... just south of the Bridge of Lions.
We ate dinner at 95 Cordova- the restaurant at the Casa Monica. WAY good!
and check out this picture...



That's the menu I'm lookin at! it lights up! how crazy is that?! it was like one of those ridiculous birthday cards that you open and it sings...

what will they think of next?

We're headed to Daytona tomorrow- stay tuned!

The End.

of this trip.
Today was a great day! We left Jekyll Island, had pretty ok weather (a little rain, but that never hurt anybody), and we got to see a submarine!

The ride down from Jekyll was really pretty! Nice to be back in Florida...

When we got back to the dock, we rinsed down the boat, packed up our stuff and unloaded...
all the while, I was thinking ahead to another trip at another time... oh, the places we'll go! :D

THANKS FOR READING!

Carlson out.

Day 1

Howdy folks! Congratulations, you’re reading my very first post from the boat! (I’m new at this blogging thing, so there are a lot of firsts…) let me set the scene for you: I’m sitting on the sofa, I’m in my comfies, and I’m stuffed because I just ate an amazing dinner at the marina’s restaurant. Oh, and it’s raining outside. Best trip ever? Duh.

So I wanted to tell you all the cool stuff we did today… or at least the stuff I can remember. (it was a long day… and we saw a lot of really cool stuff…)

ok, so first of all, just after we got past NAS Jax, we met a friend! A beautiful boat named Five Star, and we chatted with them over the radio for a while… they were on their way to Wilmington and followed in our wake until we got out into the channel… here’s a picture of our friends following in our wake- and that’s some of the Jax skyline behind them… oh, and some crazy sea gulls.



It's a little ridiculous that this is the ONLY picture I took today.

we saw TONS of bridges… but keep in mind we were in Jacksonville for much of the morning… right under the I-95 bridge, we saw 2 dolphins!

Later, just north of Jacksonville, we saw a dredger in action! Looked kinda like the one that was in our canal, only about 12 times bigger…

We saw the St Johns River lighthouse (WAY too tiny to get a picture of…) and the St Simons Island lighthouse (no excuse for not getting a picture of that one… shame on me.)

I learned how to set lines… and fenders… which is cool- in some ways it’s easier than on a smaller boat, and in some ways it’s harder. With a smaller boat, I generally have jumped off with the line in hand and brought the boat to me. Today, I learned how to be ready when the Captain gets the boat exactly where he wants it, then I throw the line. Oh, and I should mention, just as a little side-note/bragging on my Captain, he did it without thrusters! They’re broken til we get to Charleston.

Friends of the Captain met us here at Golden Isles Marina and had dinner with us. They’re gonna meet us again in Newport (tentatively). I just love meeting new people. :D

Also, while listening to the Margaritaville station on Sirius, we heard Jimmy Buffet’s cover of “Southern Cross.” Definitely a best part of my day…