Florida

Fernandina Beach...we're sorry!

I have to begin this blog with a heart felt apology to the town of Fernandina Beach. Really, no one likes to have their town compared to a dirty diaper, and once we dinghied to shore and explored beyond the smoke-belching paper mills, we discovered a lovely town complete with palm tree lined streets, cute shops and friendly people. We thoroughly enjoyed our four day stay there and took full advantage of being outdoors in the 70+ degree temperatures.

Blowin' in the wind

After watching the weather forecast for a few days, we decided to start heading south again on Friday morning. Our goal was to sail about 215 miles to Ft. Pierce, which would leave us just one more short overnight to Miami, where we plan to spend the Christmas holidays and the first part of January. We were grateful for the strong north east breeze that helped us make Ft. Pierce in less than 36 hours (at one point, we hit through the water speeds of over 10 knots) but were saddened when that same wind blew away the lovely grill cover that Kevin had sewn last year. Given that our sewing machine is currently dead, that Kevin is super busy with work and that I don't really sew, it's likely our grill will sit naked for a while.

We want to see a manatee

Two days into our stay in Ft. Pierce, we've discovered that the town boasts enormous raw oysters for about a dollar a piece, a latino grocery packed full of great (and cheap) produce and seafood and a manatee museum complete with an observation deck from which the highly endangered species can be seen. Unfortunately, we have yet to spot one of these "gentle giants", that are also called sea cows, but since they need to surface every two to four minutes to breathe and they can grow to weigh over 3,000 pounds, we're hopeful that if there's one in the vicinity, we'll be able to spot him. For now it seems, we'll have to make due with the watching the giant sea turtles, porpoises, egrets and pelicans that we've seen with increasing frequency as we've moved south. Tomorrow, we'll head for Miami, and specifically for South Beach...a town that boasts a different kind of wild life altogether.