Maine

Although the weather forecast kept talking of weak disturbances coming though, I ended up having a gorgeous week in Gloucester.  I kept myself busy with chores on the boat and trips to shore and before I knew it, it was Friday and Jason was joining the crew of Pegasus.

We left the next morning when the tide was favourable to get through the Cape Ann Canal and headed north to the coast of Maine.  We had a nice day with a 10 to 15 knot wind in the back.  We motor sailed though so that we would make it to Wood Island Harbour about 60 miles away.  The next day had even less wind so we motored on to Boothbay harbour.  We first moored to the town landing for a short visit to shore.  Then we went over to Linekine bay to anchor for the night.  We made it there just before we got a light rain.  The next day was back to sunshine as we made our way to Rockland where we caught up with the Canadian yacht I had met in Onset.  Jason and I had a nice seafood supper at a local diner then we went to listen to some live blues at a local bar.  That was the last nice weather day for a while though.

The next morning, we went to eat breakfast at the diner again before checking out the local marine store.  By the time we headed out, there was a light drizzle and a 10 knot breeze from the east.  Right in our nose.  We anchored in a very sheltered cove in Vinelhaven and had a relaxed afternoon with the help of a bottle of Sailor Jerry spiced rum.  The next day the wind was more like 15 to 20 knots in the nose and we had to tack our way to Stonington where we fuel up.  There the starter on Pegasus decided to act up again.  For a few weeks, there had been an intermittent electrical problem and the starter just wouldn't kick over.  In Stonington, it just wouldn't work at all.  In the end Jason had to jump start it with a pair of pliers.  

We then headed to WoodenBoat School in Brooklyn Maine where we anchored for the night.  The next morning I went to say hello to Greg Rossell who was teaching the Boat Building Fundamentals class.  I had taken Greg's class a few years ago and had brought home one of the whitehalls that we were building.  I showed Greg and his class the pictures of the completed boat.  That day, we still had overcast skies and fog but the wind had calmed down.  We left Eggomoggin Reach and headed off to Winter harbour.  The yacht club there was still all shut down for the winter so we spend a quiet night at a mooring.  The next day was pouring rain with a south east wind that made it very hard to see the lobster pots.  After first trying to head on east, we decided to turn around and head to Bar Harbour instead of fighting the weather all day.  So, instead of spending Friday night in the middle of nowhere, we had a good seafood supper in town and Jason got to do some shopping for gifts for the family.  

It cleared up nicely the next day and it was in flat calm seas the we made it to the beautiful Roque Island harbour.  That evening, Jason showed me some pictures of the sailboat of one of his customer.    He said that was the boat he would like to buy some day.  The next morning we headed out along with an other boat that had anchored on the other side of the harbour.  As we got closer to the other boat, we realized that it was the boat the Jason had shown me the pictures.  What a coincidence!  We were both headed back to Saint Andrews and got to chat with them.  It turns out that I knew one of the crew too!

We arrived in Saint Andrews on Sunday June 14th just before 5 pm.  That was the end of a nearly 5000 miles journey along the North American eastern seaboard over a period of eight months.  Now it's time to get back to real life... at least for a while. 

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Solo New York to Gloucester

I left New York's 79th St. Boat Basin on Saturday May 20th in the Morning to get a favourable tide back down the Hudson River.  It was my first time soloing Pegasus and I had put Luna on the davits the night before. I figured that it was easier for me to get Luna on the davits alone rather than on deck.  It was a nice sunny day when I anchored behind the Statue of Liberty for lunch to wait for the tide to turn in Hell Gate so I could go through the East River to Long Island Sound. By the end of the day, it had clouded over and there was a strong easterly wind in my nose when I entered Long Island Sound.  I decided to Anchor behind City Island for the night where I was warmly greeted by fellow boaters on a neighbouring  yacht.  It turns out the lady was originally from Cap Breton Island.  We had a pleasant conversation and they told me of what was available on City Island and even offered me a ride in their dingy.  It had been a long day for me so I decided to turn in early instead.

In the morning, the sun was out again and I had a beautiful but almost windless day to start my journey up Long Island sound.  I stopped at the Norwalk Islands and anchored next to the lighthouse.  Once again, I got warmly greeted by fellow boaters.  It was a local couple who were starting out on a beautiful 70 feet Swan that they had been fixing for the last few years.  They are hoping to go off for an extended cruise and had many questions on how our trip had been.  Later, the guardian of the lighthouse also dropped by to greet me and said to let him know if I needed anything.  Once again, it was a very friendly place.

Memorial day was another beautiful day on the water with pleasure crafts of all types covering Long Island Sound.  As one dismayed tug skipper said to an other on the radio, 'be careful, the kamikaze are out!'  I had a very good day motor sailing in light breeze on the stay sail and far from the shipping lanes.  I managed to cover the rest of Long Island Sound that day and anchored at Fisher Island.  I also stayed there on the 23rd to wait out for favourable winds for Block Island Sound.  I didn't quit get them.  I still got 15 knot winds in the nose when I did the short hop though Block Island Sound over to Newport.  I almost decided to stop in Point Judith but then decided to push on since the next couple of days weren't going to be any better.  The engine's fuel pump had stated to have a slight leak and I needed to replace it.  I wanted to get to Newport because I knew there was a Yanmar dealer there.  It turns out, we had four days of fog and rain so I stayed in Newport till Saturday May 30th.  That gave me time to get a new fuel pump, change it, and do my last oil and filter change on the engine for the trip.  Somehow, it made me feel much closer to home to know that the last scheduled  maintenance was done with!

I had noticed some stress cracks appear on the davits after the waves I had gone through off Judith Point on my way into Newport so I decided to put Luna back on deck for the next leg.  It tuns out I got Luna up there fine on my own also.  It even went a little easier than on the davits. I had a beautiful flat day out of Newport to get passed Sakonnet Point.  What a change from last fall when we had head winds and 8 foot waves there!  By the time I got to Buzzards bay, it was a perfect sailing day.  Unfortunately, I didn't feel comfortable raising the main sail up alone so I decided to motor sail with the stay sail instead.  I made it to the entrance of Cape Cod Canal and decided to pick up a mooring from Onset Marina for the night.  There was an other Canadian flagged sail boat anchored nearby and I got to meet them.  They were from Fredericton and were also heading home.  We would meet up regularly for the rest of the trip.

The favourable tide through the canal started at 10 am the next day and that was when I headed out.  I didn't want to wait too long because the forecast for the afternoon was for increasing winds and thunderstorms.  That is exactly what we got.  Luckily the wind was in the back and was pushing me north.  As I got closer to Scituate, where I was planning to spend the night, the winds got to over 25 knots. I had to take the wheel as the auto pilot was starting to get overwhelmed by the following seas.  Scituate harbour is very nice and protected though and I was glad to pick up a mooring there just before the thunder clouds came rolling by.  The mooring fee includes a shuttle service to shore so I was able to go take a shower at the harbour master's office as well as do groceries.  As it turns out, the thunder storms missed Scituate that day but I still got a nice picture of the rainbow at sunset.

The next day, June 1st, I had a perfect day to continue my trip.  Once, I got past the Boston Harbour shipping lanes, I shut down the engine and sailed to the Gloucester harbour entrance with both head sails.  I decided to wait for my friend Jason there.  We would face the Maine lobster traps together.

Hot New York

Bruce and I got Pegasus back to New York.  We had a foggy first day out of Cape May with a south wind pushing us along the 65 miles to Barnegat inlet which we had to enter entirely by radar and GPS.  We made it safely inside to a good anchorage and waited there for a front to go by.  After a day and a half, the wind calmed down, the sun came out and we did a short 20 mile hop over to Manasquan inlet with a light head wind.  The next day,  we had a windless sunny day for the final hop to New York and headed to the 79th St Boat Basin.  What a change in temperature compared to last fall!  It's now in the 80 F!  I don't need the heater now! 

On Wednesday,  Bruce and I did some site seeing.  It was Bruce's first time visiting New York and since his fiancé and his daughter had told him to see Time Square, that is where we went.  Bruce looked a little overwhelmed by all the hustle and bustle.  As he puts it:  'there is nothing but shoe and purse stores'.  So we went over to some boy's stores (electronics and marine stores) then down to the waterfront to see the Intrepid Museum.  It turns out this was the first day of an annual Fleet Week and a bunch of navy ships were arriving in the harbour including about four Canadian Frigates!  That seems to be most of our Navy!

We had a good time but that was it for Bruce's part of the trip.  He took the bus back to Saint John that night and got home by the end of the next day.  I plan on staying in New York till Saturday, then head to Long Island Sound and Newport.

Bruce et moi avons ramené Pegasus à New York.  En partant du Cape May, nous avons eu du brouillard mais aussi un vent arrière de 15 noeud.  Ca nous a permis de franchir les 65 miles marin jusqu'à Barnegat dans la journée.  Par contre nous avions du faire l'entrée dans la passe entièrement au radar et au GPS tend le brouillard été dense.  En sécurité dans un bon ancrage, nous avions préférer attendre un jour et demi qu'un front passe.  Une fois le vent calmé et le soleil revenue, nous avons fait le petit trajet jusqu'à Manasquan, la prochaine passe sur la cote du New Jersey.  Le landemain, dans un calm plat, nous avons complété notre route jusqu'a New York et avons pris un amarre au 79th street Boat Bassin.  Quel différence de température avec l'automne dernier.  Il fait chaud avec des températures approchant les 30 C.

Le lendemain mercredi, nous avons fait du tourisme.  C'était la première visite à New York pour Bruce et sur la recommandation de sa fiancé et sa fille, nous sommes allés à time square.  Bruce avait l'aire un peut perdu dans toute la cohue.  Comme il a dit, 'il n'y a que des magasin de sacoches et de souliers!'  Par la suite nous avons trouvé quelque magasin pour 'garcon' (électronique et marine) et nous avons visiter le musée de L'intrépid.  Ce fut aussi la première journée de 'Fleet Week' sur les quais alors plusieurs navire de la Marine sont arrivé dont quatre frégates Canadienne.  Ca doit représenter la majeur partie de la marine Canadienne ça!

Nous avons eu du bon temps à New York, mais ça représenté la fin du voyage avec Bruce.  Il a pris l'autobus pour Saint John le soir même pour arriver le lendemain.  Moi je reste à New York jusqu'à samedi avant de partir pour Long Island Sound et Newport.

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Annapolis, Cape May and a crew change

Louis and I had a great trip on the Cheasapeake from Hampton  VA to Annapolis.  We did the trip in four days and although we had some windy days, we didn't get stuck anywhere because of the weather.  We motor sailed for most of the trip to maintain a good speed since I had arranged to meet up with my friend Bruce on Monday May 11th in Annapolis.  We got there at about 3:30 PM with Bruce waiting to get on and Marie-Helen waiting to pick up Louis, both at the dock.  Thank you again Louis and Marie-Helen for the kind reception and helping out on this leg of the trip.

Bruce and I spent Tuesday shopping in Annapolis for food and for replacing some of the boats electronics.  The radio had a frayed mic wire that made it cut out and the autopilot was dead.  Since both are important for safety when sailing short handed and aren't cheaply and quickly reparable, I got new ones.  We managed to get the new radio in before leaving the next morning and also some of the autopilot's components. 

We had a nice day motor sailing up the Cheasapeake in light winds and anchored in Bohemia river just before the C & D canal to wait overnight for the tide to turn.  Currents in the canal can reach 2 knots so it can turn a 2 hour trip into a 4 hour trip easily if you don't go with the tide.  The next day was very windy with gust over 30 knots.  The trip through the canal is sheltered so it went very well.  The Delaware is not sheltered so going down to Cape May that day was out of the question.  We anchored in front of Delaware City in a relatively sheltered spot and settled down early for a bouncy night.  It did give us time to finish the autopilot installation so the next day in almost perfect weather (now no wind at all!) we let Pegasus steer herself to Cape May.  The next step is going to be the New Jersey coast and New York.  That is out in the open Atlantic so we will check for the next weather window for that.

Louis et moi avons fait un bon voyage dans le Chesapeake de Hampton, Virginie,  à Annapolis.  Ca nous a pris quatre jours avec escale chaque soir, du Vendredi 8 mai au Lundi 11 May.  Nous avons eu du bon vents et du soleil pour tous sauf le dernier jour.  La le temps s'est couvert et nous avons eu un peu de pluie. Malgré le vent généralement favorable, nous somme resté sous moteur pour maintenir le rendez-vous avec  mon ami Bruce à Annapolis.  A l'arrivée, Bruce, qui fera la manche du voyage jusqu'à New York avec moi, nous attendez sur le quai ainsi que Marie-Helène qui venait chercher Louis.  Avec ce changement d'équipier pris fin mon voyage avec Louis.  Merci encore, Louis et Marie-Hélène pour l'accueille à Washington et la compagnie dans le voyage sur le Cheasapeake.

Le lendemain mardi, Bruce et moi somme resté à Annapolis faire du magasinage.  Nous devions passer à l'épicerie pour les provisions mais aussi j'avais à remplacer de l'équipement électronique du bateaux.  En effet, le vieux pilot automatique avais rendu l'âme à Miami.  En fait il n'avait pas servi du voyage mais j'allais en avoir besoin au retour car je doit faire une période en solo après New York.  Aussi après six mois d'usage intensif pour communiquer avec les ponts, la radio VHF avais le fils du micro tout effiloché résultant dans un mauvais contact.  Dans les deux cas j'ai trouvé plus rapide et économique de les remplacer par du neufs.  On a eu le temps d'installer la nouvelle radio avant de partir le lendemain ainsi qu'une partie de composante du pilote automatique.

Nous avons une belle journée sous voile et moteur avec une légère brise jusqu'à la rivière Bohemia ou nous avons mouillé l'ancre.  Nous y avons passé la nuit pour attendre la marrée favorable pour passer le canal du Cheasapeake au Delaware.  Les courants peuvent y atteindre les 2 noeud alors il vaux mieux les avoir avec nous!  Le jeudi fut très venteux avec des bourrasques de 30 noeuds.  Comme le canal est protégé des vents, on a pu le passer sans problème mais la Delaware n'été pas navigable pour nous alors nous avons mouillé l'ancre en face de Delaware City.  On été relativement protégé mais la nuit fut loin d'être calme. On a comme même eu le temps de compléter l'installation du pilote automatique.  C'est ainsi que dans un calme parfait (plus de vent du tout mais un peut de brouillard) nous avons rejoint Cape May le lendemain en laissant Pegasus se diriger toute seul!  La prochaine étape est dans l'Atlantique pour remonter la cote de New Jersey jusqu'à New York.  Nous allons devoir attendre une météo favorable pour cela!

A Canuck in Washington

The month of April is already over and so is our trip home. While Genny is back in St-Andrews hard at work for an other season at the Huntsman Ocean Sciences' Aquarium, I am on my way back to Pegasus to sail her to New Brunswick.  On my way, I have just spent a couple days site seeing in Washington DC and checking out a couple of the Smithsonian museums.  On my tours I have found that I was not the only 'Canadian' enjoying the US capital, although I don't think that these geese have ever made it up to Canada.  On the other hand, I was graciously hosted in Washington by Genny's cousins, Louis and Marie-Helene. Thank-you. Tomorrow we are heading down to Hampton and Louis will join me to sail the next leg up the Chesapeake to Annapolis.

Le mois d'avril est déjà terminé, tout comme notre visite de la famille à Montréal.  Alors que Geneviève est maintenant de nouveau au travail à l'Aquarium Huntsman de St. Andrews, moi je suis en route vers Pegasus afin compléter son périple de retour au Nouveau Brunswick.  En chemin, je me suis arrêté quelques jours à Washington afin de visiter la capital américaine et ces musées.  J'y ai croisé quelque bernaches du Canada qui se prélassées sur les pelouses.   Mais peu bavardes, elles ne semble pas avoir déjà mises les pieds au Canada celles-la.  Pour ce séjour à Washington,  j'ai été gentiment accueillît par les cousin de Geneviève, Louis et Marie-Hélène.  Merci.  Demain nous prenons la route pour rejoindre Pegasus à Hampton et Louis m'accompagnera pour la prochaine manche du voyage, soit la remonté de la Chesapeake jusqu'à Annapolis.

Home sweet home

We have arrived in Montreal, and it is great to see family members, enjoying every moments with them !  We have 6 months of stories to share, so we are taking a whole week to do so. My mom came to pick us up in Hampton, and after visiting the area a bit (including the battleship "Wisconsin"), we took 2 days and a half to make it back to Montreal. The drive was a nice change, and when we spotted the first remnants of snow banks in upstate New York, we knew we were back up North. Now, we have to find a place to call our own in St. Andrews, so I can start my job next Tuesday. But I have to admit, I REALLY miss my boat !

Nous sommes arrivés a Montreal, and nous sommes tellement heureux de revoir tous nos membres de la famille, en savourant chaque moment ! Il y a 6 mois de choses a se raconter ensemble, alors nous prenons toute la semaine pour aller voir tout le monde. Ma mere nous a prise a Hampton, et apres avoir visiter un peu la région (dont le cuirassé "Wisconsin") nous avons pris 2 jours et demi pour faire le traject de retour en auto. Quelle différence de faire le voyage via la route ! Quand nous avons vu ce qui restait des bancs de neige dans l'état de New York, nous savions que nous étions finallement dans le Grand Nord (ou presque !). Maintenant, il faut se trouver un "chez-nous" bien a nous a St. Andrews, pour que je puisse aller au travail mardi prochain. Mais je l'avoue, mon bateau me manque BEAUCOUP !

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Back in Hampton, Virginia

We are back in Hampton, near Norfolk, Virginia, and to our great surprise, we are anchored next to the 2 British sailboats that we had last seen in New York on the way down. What a small world ! We are having a good time visiting the area, waiting for my mom to come and meet us here on Monday, so we can drive back with her to Canada. This means that we are leaving our boat in the area for one month. Since we arrived early, we took our time to visit the Dismal Swamp State Park, and once in Hampton, we went to see the Virginia Air and Space museum. We received a lot of rain, but today, the sun is out and for once, we do not need to run the heater on board. We found a very friendly marina to store the boat, so we will spend some time to get her ready, and do a bit of maintenance so she's ready once Val comes back with his friends. For me, this is the end, however, but I am looking forward to seeing my family again, and to start working in St.Andrews for the summer months.

Nous sommes de retour a Hampton, pres de Norfolk, en Virginie, et a notre grande surprise, nous sommes ancré tout pres des 2 voiliers brittaniques que nous avions suivi a New York. Le monde est tellement petit ! Nous attendons que ma mere vienne nous rejoindre ici lundi, pour nous ramener au Canada par la suite. En attendant, nous prenons notre temps pour visiter. En montant le Dismal Swamp, nous avons visiter leur parc tout neuf, et ici, nous avons été voir le musée aérospatial de la Virginie. Nous avons recu beaucoup de pluie, mais finallement, aujourdhui, le soleil est sortie, et notre fournaise n'est plus nécessaire. Nous avons trouvé une bonne marina avec des gens aimable pour entreposer Pegasus pendant un mois, et nous allons faire un brin d'entretien pour qu'elle soit prete pour le voyage de retour avec Valery et ses amis. Pour moi, par contre, c'est la fin du voyage, ce qui m'attriste, mais j'ai aussi hate de revoir ma famille, et de travailler a St.Andrews cet été.

Still going back North

Why, do you ask ? Because we have to. Otherwise, we would stay down here, as the weather has been lovely. We have now reached Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and as expected, we are experiencing a few cold fronts. But overall, our trip back north is going very well. Our engine started smoking in Morehead City, but fortunately, we were still near the anchorage, so we quickly dropped the anchor again, and shut off the engine. After a thorough check up, we discovered that one of the water hoses had been leaking, preventing most of the water from cooling the engine. Luckily, we caught it in time, and were able to fix it with a brand new hose. Otherwise, now that we have very few bridges to wait for, the engine seems happier and works great.

Hey oui, nous continuons toujours notre voyage de retour, meme si nous voudrions bien rester un peu plus longtemps dans le sud, car la météo est belle. Nous sommes arrivés a Elizabeth City, Caroline du Nord, et comme nous nous y attendions, nous avons recu quelques fronts froids. Mais en général, nous nous tenons au chaud, et le voyage se passe tres bien. A Morehead City, notre moteur avait commencé a fumer, alors une chance que nous étions toujours pres de la ville, car nous avons mouillé l'ancre de nouveau en vitesse, et avons éteint le moteur. Apres une vérification, nous avons vu qu'un des boyaux d'eau avait une fuite et empechait la plupart de l'eau de refroidir le moteur. Alors nous l'avons remplacer, et depuis, il fonctionne a merveille, surtout que nous avons tres peu de ponts a faire ouvrir, alors le moteur en est tres heureux !

The beginning of the end: The trip back north

All good things have to come to an end. My job starts again in April, so we have turned around to head back north. We spent a few very nice days in key Biscayne, sailing the Biscayne Bay, and meeting with other cruisers that were heading out to the Bahamas (including 2 Quebecers on their smaller sailboats). We met with the previous owners of Pegasus at the Miami Boat Show (it was so refreshing to see familiar faces from back home ! We had a great time !). But when came time to do the next 2 days full of bridges to cross, between Miami and Palm Beach, our engine said "enough" !  It was very tired of waiting at idle while each bridge opened for us. So we got very worried that it would let go. But it held on, and we did it (one day, we cleared 16 bridges, one after the other !). After this little bit, the bridges are more spaced out. We are now in Vero Beach again, rafted to a motorsailer from Delaware. The owner is very friendly and helped Val install our radar on our mast, since our radar pole broke again (after some powerboats left a huge wake in the narrow canal not far from Miami. Pegasus really got tossed around). Thank goodness we have those metal steps to climb the mast, but Val still needed a Bosun chair (the kind that includes a harness) so he could be more comfortable up there while drilling holes for the screws. Not an easy task ! Today, we're gonna check our dear engine to make sure it can take us further without problems, and tomorrow, if the north winds die down, we will continue our journey towards Cape Canaveral to see a shuttle launch on the 27th (although the sun is out, and it's tempting to just stay south, where there are no snow storms !).

Toutes bonnes choses doivent prendre fin, malheureusement. Mon boulot recommence en Avril au Nouveau-Brunswick, alors on doit remonter vers le nord. Nous avons quand meme passé plusieurs belles journées a Key Biscayne, en faisant de la voile dans la belle Baie de Biscayne, et en rencontrant des gens qui commencaient leur croisiere vers les Bahamas (incluant 2 Québecois sur leur plus petits voiliers). Nous avons ensuite visité le salon du bateau de Miami, ou nous avons pu passer du temps avec les anciens proprietaires de Pegasus, qui séjournent ici (quelle merveille de voir des visages connus de part chez nous!). La journée a été tres plaisante ! Ensuite, il nous a fallu passer 2 jours a traverser les nombreux ponts entre Miami et Palm Beach. C'est la que notre moteur a dit "ca suffit"!  Il n'a pas aimé tourner au ralenti en attendant que chaque pont ouvre, alors il nous a beaucoup inquieté quand il a hésité par moment. Mais nous avons réussit a le faire (notre record: 16 ponts en une journée!), et nous sommes maintenant de retour a Vero Beach, sur une amarre avec un type du Delaware. Le gars est tres sympatique, et il a beaucoup aidé Valery a installer notre radar sur notre mat, car la structure du radar en arriere de Pegasus a encore laché (des bateaux a moteurs de vitesses nous ont laissé des énormes vagues en plein dans le canal étroit pres de Miami. Pegasus s'est fait brassé !). Une chance qu'on a des marches en métal pour grimper le mat, mais il a fallu que Valery utilise aussi la chair Bosun (qui vient avec un harnais) pour etre comfortable en haut, pendant qu'il percait les trous pour les vis.  Pas une job facile !  Aujourd'hui on s'occupe de prendre soin du moteur pour qu'il continue sans problemes, et demain, si les vents du nord se calment, nous allons monter vers le Cap Canaveral pour voir la navette décoller le 27 février (mais avec le beau soleil ici, c'est tentant de rester dans le sud, ou il n'y a pas de tempetes de neige !). 

Miami Beach

We have arrived in Miami Beach, but even though it's sunny, it is not as warm as we had hoped. To get here, we had to go through the busiest part of the canal. Just to give an example, we had to go under 25 swing bridges in just 2 days for the last few miles. This means calling over to the bridge tenders, one at a time, to get them opened (our mast does not fit under most of them), and each has its own schedule. Some of them open on request. We did this part on weekdays, to avoid the weekend crowd. Millionnaire mansions line the canal on each side, each more luxurious than the other. Some of them are as big as some hotels ! Once near Miami Beach, we found this lovely quiet lagoon next to Oleta Park, where many canadian cruisers choose to anchor. We really enjoyed it. But we knew once we would reach Miami Beach itself, we would no longer have this kind of setting. It's a big city, with lots of traffic and regulations. We did stay one night in a marina, and took the bus into South Beach. We took lots of pictures of the awesome Art Deco hotels and restaurants, and went shopping on Lincoln road, a pedestrian shopping street.

Yesterday, we anchored next to Jungle Island, where they moved the old Parrot Jungle, and it's now a great exhibit of different kinds of animals, including shows and a big flamingo lake. We went to visit the place today and we totally enjoyed the parrot show, which I had seen twice before when I was a young girl visiting my grand-mother in Florida. We can still hear the parrots screaming from our anchorage ! Some of the animals looked a bit cold, as we have the north winds blowing, with the lowest temperatures of the winter so far in this area. Even the monkeys were all wrapped in the thick wool blankets they were provided ! Brrr....

Nous avons rejoint Miami Beach, et meme si le soleil est present, il fait froid. Pour arriver ici, il a fallu traverser la partie la plus peuplé du canal, avec plus de 25 ponts a faire lever dans les 2 derniers jours. Ca veut dire qu'il fallait appeler l'opérateur des ponts, un a la fois, pour faire ouvrir le pont (notre mat est trop haut pour passer en dessous), et chacun a son horaire différent. Queques uns ouvrent a la demande. Nous avons fait cette partie durant la semaine, pour eviter les tonnes de bateaux amateurs du dimanche. Les énormes maisons des millionnaires se retrouvent de chaque coté du canal, tous plus luxueuses que les autres. Juste avant Miami Beach, nous avons quand meme trouvé une belle lagune entourée d'un parc, avec d'autres canadiens a l'ancre. Une belle place tranquille avant de se retrouver en ville. Une fois dans Miami Beach meme, c'est le traffic, les grattes-ciels et beaucoup de réglementations. Nous avons passé une nuit dans une marina pour prendre l'autobus au coin de la rue et se rendre a South Beach. Les petits hotels et restaurants Art Déco nous ont impressionné, ainsi que la rue piétonniere Lincoln, avec ces nombreuses boutiques. 

Hier, nous avons jeté l'ancre a coté de Jungle Island, qui était l'ancien Parrot Jungle. Nous entendions déja les cris des nombreux perroquets du bateau ! Aujourd'hui, nous avons passé la journée a ce parc, pour voir les différents animaux, et les spectacles, surtout celui avec les perroquets, evidemment. Ca me rappelle ceux que j'avais vu lors de mes visites chez ma grand-mere en Floride l'hiver. Mais nous avons remarqué que certains animaux avaient froid, avec le vent du nord. Meme les primates étaient enroulé dans les grosses couvertes de laine qui leur avaient été donné. Brrr....

Cold Daytona Beach and warm Vero Beach

We spent a few days in Daytona Beach, but unfortunately, we saw nothing ! The cold wind was blowing, and the temperatures dropped below freezing at night, so we ended up staying aboard, with the heater on again. The day we decided to leave the anchorage, we had to wear our hats, scarves and gloves to sail down to the next stop. A little frustrating. But it slowly got warmer, and after 3 days, we reached Vero Beach on a Friday. We decided to spend the whole week-end here, since the ICW canal is full of boating traffic then, when everyone is out fishing. Lots of power boats means lots of huge wakes, which are not comfortable. Fortunately, the summer-type weather has arrived, and we spent a lovely day at the beach on Saturday, while we relaxed at the marina on Sunday. It is a very long dinghy ride to get groceries on the other side of town (rowing across Indian River), and I'm glad Val is in excellent shape to get me there ! We always have a dolphin escort alongside as well. Monday, we decided to try the local free bus rides to town, so Val could get a new oil pump to do an oil change, since ours died on us. We are planning to leave tomorrow, if the weather holds.

Nous avons passé 2 jours a Daytona Beach, sans débarquer, avec la chaufferette a fond, en attendant que les grands vents du Nord se calment. Il a fait tres froid, avec des températures sous zéro la nuit. Le lendemain, il a fallu meme naviguer avec nos chapeaux, foulards et gants toute la journée. Un peu frustrant ! Mais ca c'est tranquillement réchauffé, et apres 3 jours, nous sommes arrivés a Vero Beach un vendredi apres-midi. Parce que le traffic de bateaux a moteur augmente énormément les fin-de-semaines sur le canal, et laisse beaucoup de vagues incomfortables, nous avons décidé de rester a la marina jusqu'a lundi. Les belles journées d'été sont finallement arrivées, alors samedi, nous avons été a la plage. Dimanche, nous avons relaxé sur le bateau, et en apres-midi, nous avons ramé jusqu'a l'autre coté de la riviere (toujours avec les dauphins en escorte) pour rejoindre un supermarché. Heureusement que Val est en grande forme pour m'amener jusque la ! Lundi, nous avons décidé d'essayer les autobus gratuits qui se rendent en ville, pour qu'on achete une pompe a huile pour faire les changements d'huile a moteur (le notre a rendu l'ame). Demain, nous continuons le chemin, si la météo le veut bien.

Going further south

We finally left St.Augustine, reluctantly, to move again further south. I understand you folks back home in Canada are having a big cold snap, well, to make you feel better, we are having it too. It reaches all the way down to mid-Florida. I know, I know, minus 1 Celsius is nothing compared to what you guys are experiencing, but for Florida locals, it's stressful. Everyone is covering up their fragile tropical plants. We also had a couple days of rain. So that's why we had decided to stay put for another week. But this morning, the weather was right, and we crossed the famous Bridge of Lions, to move on. On the way there, we had a big surprise when we saw, anchored just before the bridge, the sailboat "Ghost Dance" from our home town, St.Andrews ! The last time we had spoken was right before we left, on October 5th. What a coincidence ! We also met some nice folks from Sherbrooke, the day before, travelling in their camper, both interested to know how our trip went, as they wanted to do the same thing someday. Lots of Canadians down here !

On a finallement quitté St.Augustine, a contre-coeur, pour continuer notre voyage. La météo avait fait des siennes ces temps-ci, alors on avait décidé de rester une semaine de plus. Nous avons appris que vous aviez du temps tres tres froid, au Canada, alors sachez que nous aussi, ca tombe sous-zéro la nuit !  Je sais, je sais, ca ne se compare pas a du -30 Celsius, mais pour les Floridiens, c'est un stress pour leur plantes tropicales fragiles. Ils les couvrent tous avec des draps. On a aussi eu quelques journées de pluie. Mais ce matin, le soleil était de retour, avec des vents faibles, alors nous avons passé sous le pont des Lions, en face de St.Augustine, et avons mis le cap au sud. Mais juste avant le pont, nous avons eu la surprise de revoir le voilier "Ghost Dance" de St.Andrews, d'ou nous avions quitté le 5 octobre dernier !  Quelle coincidence !  Nous avions aussi rencontré un couple de Sherbrooke hier, qui voyage dans leur caravan, et ils étaient curieux de savoir comment notre voyage se déroulait, car ils étaient interessés a faire de meme un jour, apres la retraite. Il y a beaucoup de canadiens ici. 

Relaxing in St. Augustine

St.Augustine is still warm and sunny. We are awaiting a package from home, so we are taking it easy. We rigged our little dinghy for sailing her in the lagoon we are anchored in. We are finally doing some sailing in Florida ! We are also enjoying the good catches for supper. The fish, like the grouper, is excellent. And the shrimp are just perfect !  Back in Georgia, we passed a group of fishermen that were tossing their nets into the waters of a bay. A young one came to see us with his dory, and showed us some freshly caught jumbo pink shrimp. He asked if we wanted to buy some. I couldn't refuse !  We bargained the price down, and I ended up with a bucket full. There is nothing like fresh shrimp with garlic and herb sauce ! Tonight, we will get something for the barbecue.

St.Augustine est toujours tres chaude et ensoleillée. Nous attendons un colis de notre famille, alors nous relaxons en attendant. Nous avons mis la voile sur notre chaloupe, et avec la belle brise de cet apres-midi, nous avons finallement pu faire de la voile en Floride. Ca fait du bien ! Nous profitons des bons fruits de mer aussi. Le poisson est excellent, et les crevettes sont succulentes. L'autre jour, en Georgie, on voyait des pecheurs mettre les filets dans l'eau dans une baie. Peu apres, un jeune pecheur vient nous voir dans sa chaloupe, et nous montre un seau plein de crevettes roses grandeur jumbo !  Il nous demande si nous voulons en acheter, et je ne pouvais pas refuser. J'ai négotié le prix avec lui, et je me suis ramassé avec un gros bol plein !  Y'a rien de tel que des crevettes fraiches avec une sauce a l'ail et aux fines herbes ! Ce soir, je vais essayé de trouver quelque chose pour le barbecue.

Georgia and Northern Florida

Sorry, but there is not a lot of wifi signals in the beautiful wild marshes of Georgia. To recap, we spent a very quiet but warm Christmas day in Beaufort. Then we spent a few days to cross Georgia by anchoring in very remote but serene salt water marshes with the dolphins and the egrets. We ended up in Jekyll Island for a few days as the wind was blowing too hard, but we're glad we did, as this is a lovely place to visit with lots of walking trails and a sandy beach on the Atlantic side. This is the island where the richest business men (the Goodyears, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, etc...) of the early 1900's spent their winters in lavish cottages, which are now museums open to the public. We took lots of pictures !  The next day, we made our way to Northern Florida, spending the night in Fernandina Beach. It's a small town with historic homes, but we did get the smells from the pulp and paper industry up wind from the moorings, so needless to say we didn't stay long. The next few days, we spent the night in the last of the wild marshes before "suburbia" Florida starts, and we had a real wildlife show one evening when a school of fish was trying to escape the dozens and dozens of egrets, herons, storks, ibises, sterns, ospreys, pelicans and diving ducks from becoming supper. Everybody would move as one, up and down the creek, chasing down the many small, leaping fishes. It beats watching TV.

We arrived in St. Augustine 2 days later, and we are now spending a week here, as summer weather has finally greeted us. Now we know we are in Florida. We visited the Alligator Farm nearby, which is more like a reptile zoo, with many exotic birds and mammals as well. We walked across the bridge to town, with all its small shops lining the streets. The buildings are some of the oldest in the States, and they have a lovely Spanish style, with ornate architectural details. We also walked to the beach on the other side, but it's a good hour to get there unfortunately. 

Cela fait un bout de temps qu'on n'a pas eu un bon signal wifi, alors on en profite maintenant pour vous donner une mise-a-jour de notre voyage. Apres une journée de Noel tranquille mais chaude passée a Beaufort, nous avons traversé les beaux marais d'eau salée de la Georgie, ou il y avait plus de nature sauvage que de maisons et de technologie. Ca nous donne des endroits paisibles pour passer la nuit a l'ancre. Ensuite, nous avons visité l'ile Jekyll pendant quelques jours alors que le vent était trop fort, et nous avons pu explorer les nombreux sentiers et plages, ainsi que les superbes maisons d'hiver des familles les plus riches du début des années 1900 (commes les Rockefellers, Goodyears, Vanderbilts, etc...). Ces maisons ne sont plus habités, mais elles sont maintenant ouvertes au publique. Tres extravagantes ! Nous nous sommes ensuite rendu a Fernandina Beach, en Floride du Nord, avec son centre-ville historique, mais a cause des odeurs provenant de l'usine pates et papiers, nous ne sommes resté qu'une nuit. Les 2 prochains jours ont été passé dans les derniers marais sauvages de la Floride, avant de retrouver les grands centres urbains, ou nous avons pu assister a un beau spectacle en soirée, avec des douzaines et des douzaines d'oiseaux (aigrettes, hérons, aigle-pecheurs, canards, ibis, cigognes, sternes et pélicans) qui pourchassaient un banc de poissons qui essayait de se sauver a travers les bras d'eau du marais. Tout le monde allait dans la meme direction que les poissons, qui avaient peu de chance de s'en sauver. C'était plus interessant a voir que la TV !

Nous sommes ensuite arrivés a St. Augustine, ou nous allons passer une semaine a l'ancre. Nous en avons profité pour visiter la Ferme d'Alligators, qui est plus comme un zoo de reptiles, avec des beaux oiseaux exotiques et autres... Nous avons aussi visiter a pied le centre-ville avec son style espagnol, et ses nombreuses boutiques. L'ancien pont des Lions est en rénovation, alors nous avons pris le pont temporaire. A une heure de marche, on peut rejoindre la plage de l'autre coté, mais ca fait un peu long pour s'y rendre, malheureusement.