Voyage 2004-2005: Chapter 3

9 Jan 2005, Visiting SV Celena, 28 24.415 N/ 080 37.628 W

We headed south towards St. Augustine and Flagler Beach. We crossed the St. John's River via the local ferry boat on a really quick passage. We stopped in St Augustine to check out the municipal marina and the Sailor's Exchange. Of course, Bob and Butch had to do their ritual dock walk. The Harbormaster indicated that the City has finally been granted the authority to clean the anchorages of derelicts and install mooring balls. Don't be surprised if the 2005/2006 cruising season will include St. Augustine moorings. We arrived at Gamble Rogers State Park around 1600 which (it turns out) was not too late to visit the crews of SV Celena and MV Prussian Pride.

Well, we forgot our camera so we didn't get pictures of Tom and Nancy, formally of SV Celena, and Werner and Helga of Prussian Pride. Oh, well, we had a great time with them but no pictures. Go figure. We'll do better next time. Yesterday, we spent some time with Tom and Nancy but they had other obligations so our day with them was short. Today, we left Gamble Rogers and traveled to Cocoa Beach to have lunch at Roberto's Cuban restaurant (one of Bob's favorites). After lunch, we had to part company with LV Legend. We are heading to Orlando and they are heading to Texas. Happy trails, Legend!

11 Jan 2005, Headng for Florida's Heartland, 28 42.789 N/ 081 52.341 W

With sad hearts, we left LV Legend in Cocoa Beach and headed towards Orlando to visit our good friends, Harry and Sheila. We try to plan our visits with them during the weekend so that we can maximize our time with our god kids, Eric and Stephanie. As usual, we pull up into their driveway and just plug in. We spent two relaxing days with them. One of the highlights was a canoe trip down a small waterway in the middle of all the Orlando development. Unfortunately, Eric could not paddle with us as he had some last minute school projects to complete.

Next we headed for Leesburg to meet up with Bob and Barbara of SV Barbobasea. They live in a delightful gated community outside of Leesburg where the back yard faces the 9th tee on the community golf course. Jule III Bob had a great time watching the golfers struggle as their balls (and their divots) went all over the place. Barbobasea took us all over the place to show us the sights. We also attempted (and failed) to upgrade his computer to do USB things (old computer). Before we left, we made plans to get together in Northern Virginia in the summer. With sad hearts (again), we left Barbobasea and headed towards Bradenton.