Bob leaves and the Bimini is on

It felt great not to be up before 6am, I actually stayed in my bed until 6:45! You see Bob had to get into his rental car and head to Orlando to fly home. The long days and extra fuel was all worth it when both Bob & Mike could make it home for Thanksgiving.

The project today was to get the bimini, outside window coverings, flybridge seats and the stern bench seat installed. We now have shade on the flybridge and the seating will be much more comfortable. I also made a trip to West Marine for the shurflo water pump and to the Win-Dixie store for some provisions. It was also time to do some laundry. We were very fortunate that the guys at the marina office have an in with Avis rental cars, Mike, Bob and I were all able to get a rental when the major car rental companies had no cars available. Mike flew out of Ft. Lauderdale and Bob out of Orlando, so they both needed a car.

Weather permitting, I will drive to Orlando tomorrow (Thanksgiving) and spend some time at Disney World. I have been to Disneyland many times, however I have never been to the Florida Cousin.

Have a great Thanksgiving, and remember you can always reach me at 650-465-1501.

Ross

We made it to Stuart, Florida

We left Daytona Beach at 0700 and this is the last morning that we will need to be up at 0545 and hit the road. Bob & Mike were champs for the early mornings and long days.

I want to thank all 4 of the guys that have been with me for a month getting Vita Bella home. Larry & John were real troopers, braving really cold mornings, delays and my getting familiar with the boat.

Bob & Mike were the guys that have kept me on track, and getting the boat to Florida.

We had a major problem with the pressure water pump today. I made calls and there is a replacement pump waiting for me at West Marine in Stuart, however there are 4 PDQ's here in the marina & Henry Clews on "Snow Dog" had a spare pump, and Bob is the hero by getting it installed and working. Yeah Bob! I will pick up the replacement tomorrow and get it to Henry.

Today we passed the Kennedy Space Center, and again it is Great to be an American!! We had lots of photo ops of the shy dolphins playing off the bow of the boat as we made our way South, but we were unable go get anything on film. we passed many Manatee Zones as well without seeing one.

Mike has left the boat and as we are rocking at the berth tonigth, I again want to thank Larry, John , Mike & Bob for their help in Bringing Vita Bella Home.

I look forward to having the odyssey continue with the arrival of Matt Martell, Joe & Wayne Weathers on Saturday. We are going to play between here and Key West.

More later

Ross

with Bob and the departed Mike

Daytona Florida, and it is heating up

For the first time we have the Air Conditioning on. What a change from the first couple of weeks of the trip. We left Jekyll Island at 0700 and had a reasonably easy day. Long stretches of straight going, no little twists and turns where one can get twisted around. We passed into Florida early in the day and the temperatures just kept going up. We actually moved to the fly bridge and stayed there until we pulled into Halifax Harbor Marina. We fueled the boat and while Mike & I ran to West Marine to pick up yet another Chart, Bob stayed with the boat. While he was chatting with the Harbormaster, he discovered that the fellow is the nephew of one of the agents that worked for Fox & Carskadon for years, Mike Alteri. This just proves that it's a small world, No Disney World pun intended!

Early in the day we passed a sailboat that was aground, and later we thought we had spotted another. To our amazement, the skippers mast was to tall to make it through the bridges. He rigged two very large bags that he filled with 1000 lbs of water in each bag. He then suspended the bags off the mast and healed the boat over allowing him to slide through the bridges. Pretty Cool.

We passed through St. Augustine and slid down the ICW with ease. The lighthouse is in St Augustine harbor, and while we did not see any manatees, we did have a dolphin playing between the hulls while we were doing about 16 knots.

Mike and Bob are on the flybridge enjoying the warm weather. We will be eating aboard and up early for the last time for a while.

Ross

with Mike & Bob

Bouncing Bob & the Internet

While Mike & I were checking our e-mails, Bob wanted to check his, like he gets lots of e-mails. He told me that he has someone in the office that does most of his internet stuff and when he wanted to in fact check his messages, he wanted to know where the www thing is.

God help us!

Elaine you are a princess!

Jekyll Island, Georgia

We booked it 9 hours today to reach Jekyll Island, Georgia! This was the playground of Rockefeller, Mogran, Vanderbildt, & Pulitzer. Quite a Place. We had to wait almost an hour to get fuel as we are on a major stop off to reach Florida.We have reservations in Daytona Beach tomorrow evening and then we should reach Stuart on Tuesday.

We spotted Dolphins today dancing off the bow of the boat, but we could not get a good photo. We passed Hilton Head, South Carolina and the Spanish Moss is beautiful hanging from the tree limbs. We are most certainly in the South! I also took another fun sunset pic. Hope you enjoy, and yes Ingrid, I did buy the boat ;-).

We had dinner ashore. We all had the Georgia Shrimp Boil dinner. It was really good, Shrimp, Sausage, and corn on the cob. Life in the South is fun.

More form Florida tomorrow.

Ross

with Mike & Bob

Beaufort, South Carolina

Today was a great day! We made 133 miles from Georgetown, SC to Beaufort. The best thing was that we were able to view Fort Sumter, the home of the Star Spangled Banner, in Charleston Bay. What a wonderful experience. Since I left Toronto, we have traveled by two of the three Military Schools, West Point and Annapolis, the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and several other US Military Installations, and Ground Zero! It is great to be an American.

We had dolphins playing across the bow and unfortunately we were unable to get any photos. We were also plagued with a depth sounder problem, the darn thing didn't work for 20 minutes. We restarted the Chart Plotter several times and it kicked on. I called James Powers and he told me that in dirty water the transducer may not pick up the bottom. All is well as we progressed.

Bob & Mike have been great. I took over the helm for a while and ended up in a small channel, I will let Mike and Bob drive and I will sit and read the Waterway Guide, not really;-). I did back the boat into the marina this afternoon, down a 250' dock. Mike was great standing on the port stern steps telling me the distance between the dock and the boat. It would be really tough to do this alone or with one other person.

Bob's Sister, Linda and her husband Jim have joined us this evening on the boat. They recently bought a house in Ladson,SC. They drove an hour and a half to see us.

Tomorrow we will reach Jekyll Island Georgia, then on to Florida.

More later

Ross

with Bob,Mike and tonight Linda & Jim

Gerogetown, South Carolina

We are tied up in Beautiful Downtown Gerogetown, South Carolina. Yes we have made it to another State, without having to show our passports! Today's trip was lots of fun and full of sunshine. We were again out of the slip by 0715, and pointed the bow South. We had to negotiate two low bridges, one a pontoon bridge, one of the last in the Country. We had to go flat out at 21 knots to make the opening. These bridges only open either every hour or on the half hour. It is a real drag to sit and wait for a bridge to open for 59 minutes, when you missed the opening by just 60 seconds.

The Inter Coastal Waterway (ICW) is a highway of boats going South this time of the year. In the Spring, the migration reverses and all of the folks going South now head North. I thought that a trip to the Delta was a long way to spend a weekend!

We arrived and gave the boat a real scrubbing, we are still looking for the bottle of boat soap that we have not seen since we left Whitby, Ontario. We walked into Georgetown and had dinner at the River Room. I had Grouper, a flaky white fish that was absolutely great. We are now back at the boat and deciding what we are going to do after I get the post up. Friday Night in Georgetown is not like hanging out at home, but should be fun regardless. We went to the Big Tuna for a cocktail and then Bob found the SPCA board, offering dogs and cats to any takers. No we did not pick up a boat animal, Bob is enough for us, just kidding!

We are off to Beaufort, SC tomorrow morning and we will shoot up another post from there.

Ross
with Mike & Bob