Hi everyone,
The Margarita is traveling again northbound; we had an amazing winter in Stuart this past year.
We flew into Palm Beach on Sunday, May 30, it was early flight (7:00 am), arrived 15 minutes early, perfecto…
We had to find a storage unit, but they were all booked and a lot were closed on Sunday. Then the next day was Monday, the Memorial Day holiday.
I finally located one and I was psyched.
Size was 10 x 20. I asked Ed, “Will the car and the Harley fit?”
He said, “I’ll make it work…”
Oh well. We grabbed it; it was a few miles from the marina that we stayed at.
We next had to go to the smaller storage unit and grab the Harley and make this happen.
Omg, when we got there, I couldn’t believe how Ed maneuvered the bike and car into this tiny space, I couldn’t stop laughing. He wanted my help to push the bike in, it was way too funny. Ed unplugged the battery to the bike and I said, “You have to do the battery in the car.” He was sweating in this tight hot storage unit after he kept climbing over the bike and back into the car.
After he unplugged the car battery, he said, “I forgot to roll the windows up.”
I said, “Why won’t they go up?”
“Meg, I unplugged the battery!” We both were cracking up.
What a day it was…
We had gone grocery shopping before dumping the car and tapping off the fuel tanks for our journey south, then we stayed that night on the fuel dock so we could head out at dawn.
We walked back to the marina and decided to eat at the restaurant that was right there.
It was an amazing day, we pulled it off.
Day 2.
Departed at 6:15am from Stuart, FL. It was an amazing run, I saw my favorite friends (the dolphins!) all along the journey.
When we were cruising through Haulover cut, I got my camera ready for all of the manatees, dolphins, egrets, herons, eagles, and other cool animals.
It’s like cruising through an African jungle, it’s really cool.
Much to my surprise, I couldn’t believe it, Mr. Racoon was hunting all along the rocks! It was hysterical.
After that, we headed south and saw a huge eagle dive-bomb into the water and catch a fish, wicked cool.
Then we saw a huge Osprey flying with a monster branch to bring back to make his home. Just wild.
We got to our anchoring spot in New Smyrna and Ed dropped the anchor. A boat called Blue Moon decided to yell at us. I said, “Sir, go to channel 17 if you want to talk to us.”
Ed gets on the radio and said, “I was here early, it was very difficult to anchor so I put out 125 feet of line.
We just dropped anchor and it grabbed; we are not moving…”
The Blue Moon’s owner came back with, “Well, in the middle of the night when my boat crashes into your boat, there will be a lot of yelling.”
Ed said, “If it makes you feel better, I’ll put more scope out” in his mellow tone.
We made food and had a great night in this anchorage under the stars. The dolphins were swimming all around the boat. Ed asked me, “What do they mean, protection? We were fine.”
The other guy kept putting bumpers out, and I mean he couldn’t calm down. I guess he has never been to Block Island…
Day 3.
On June 1, we headed off at 6:45am and headed offshore. It was amazing until about 11:00 when the winds kicked up the waves increased and the white caps were all around us. It was an adventure…
We were heading to St. Mary’s in Georgia, but the waves and wind at 30MPH just made the ride too tough.
So we decided to pull into St. John’s River in Jacksonville.
Ed was slow and steady inching his way closer to the inlet. As he did, I saw a whale, it was so cool!
We also saw a sea turtle out there and a lot of flying fish, which I think are so wild. They remind me of dragonflies in the water.
Approaching the inlet, the boys were playing Top Gun with a large military ship.
A huge barge was breached over on the side of the inlet and they had security boats all around it.
Next, Ed said, “Is that a submarine coming out of the inlet?” Yes, and it was being escorted out.
Then a huge oil freighter was coming out; a lot of action was going on in the water and on the radio, it was wild.
Well we made it in and chugged our way up to Fernandini Marina.
“Sea” you soon,
Meg
