Patterns are finally emerging that we can recognize. Magnolia moves like crazy for a few days and then we plant our feet for a couple of days in places like Titusville, Cocoa or the infamous “Velcro” Beach. The last couple have have been crazy days. After departing Vero Beach and enjoying our mile 1000 anchorage we arrived in North Lake Worth (Cruisers) or  North Palm Beach as the rest of the world know it by.

Starting to get down the channel towards Palm Beach, the house keep getting bigger and more and more fancy with every passing mile.

Per Wikipedia Jack Nicklaus redesigned the towns golf course in 2006

Eleanor Q has point as we head for the last bridge of the day!!!

It Ii s easy to see how happy the last bridge of the day can make some people…

The real treat for visiting Lake Worth was to hook up with our friends from S/V Second Sally (Greg & Marie). We last saw them up in NC so it was great to catch up. It also gave the crews of Eleanor Q and Second Sally to meet. They have spoken on the radio several time but never met face to face!

Panorama of the West Palm Beach Skyline to include the 32 story Trump Towers.

Upon arriving Boca Raton we passed Lake Boca which appears to be the Hines Park of my youth. “Yup, I am sure nothing bad happens here!” 

Approaching For Lauderdale there seemed to be as many canals as city streets. Fabulously beautiful home with crazy nice bats tied right out front. Yup, 1% seems to being just fine!!

Eleanor Q making her way through the Fort Lauderdale suburbs…such they are.

Again you can tell we approaching the last of the days 19 bridges. Oh yes, all but one of those were restricted. That means we had to time our arrival for their scheduled opening or make a request on the radio for them to open. Yes, give that a try for 18 times in one day, lost of things to balance trying to get a boat through Fort Lauderdale!

Magnolia passing through one of MANY bridges! (Credit Eleanor Q)

Somewhere between Titanic and “I cant take another bridge!” (Credit Eleanor Q)

Our anchorage in Sunrise Bay and a cold beer makes the days passage all the more worth while.

We will arrange for dockage next door at the Coral Beach Marina and spend the Christmas Holiday making a celebration dinner, giving thanks for our passage thus far and hopefully  Skyping (call us at AWWBAKER) with friend and family!

A recap of the trip this far!!!

Magnolia made a port visit to Vero Beach, FL. It is often referred to as Velcro Beach because once you visit it is said its hard to leave! I can see how people come to feel that way. The area we explored around the marina what quite nice. Our friends Frank & MaryMarie aboard SV Eleanor Q along with JR & Dreena aboard SV Journey were in-port as well.

While Annette & MaryMarie headed off in the direction of the beach, Frank & I headed off to West Marine & Walmart which were not in the direction of the beach! Vero has a public bus system that does not collect fares. How exactly it is funded is a bit of mystery. There are about 5 different routes which all meet on the hour and half hour along a section of road open only to buses near the airport. There is nothing out there, just this deserted road. All the buses arrive and people scurry between buses to make the appropriate connection to their destination.

There are so many former “cruisers” “stuck” in “Velcro” beach. The local cruiser community organizes a happy hour and along with the visitor cruisers are invited to attend. Dreena on the left, MaryMarie and Annette on the right are members of the Facebook Group “Woman Who Cruise.” Below is a picture of the members of the group who happened to be in attendance.

Magnolia has been traveling mostly on the Intercostal Water Way (ICW) to our current location in Hope Sound along the Florida Coast. As you can see we are anchored just across the 1000 mile marker along the ICW. Mile 0 is located in Portsmouth, VA. Though we have traveled quite a bit more than the 1000 miles on side trips etc. We have seen nearly every mile of those 1000 ICW miles which it a pretty cool thing…at least to us!

We have met so many wonderful people along the way, reconnecting with a couple of relatives, old friends and making many new friends. We wake every morning with a feeling of gratitude for the opportunity to take on this adventure.

We will be in Fort Lauderdale for the holidays. Will try and write again before the holiday!

Cocoa to me always makes me think of the early Astronauts racing around in Corvettes raising all kinds of hell. Of course that did not include John Glen! I know I read too many books on the subject growing up. We were actually anchored just off from Cocoa Village which is about 6 miles and 2 islands west of Cocoa Beach, FL

I really liked Cocoa Village it. It really reminded me of the Redondo Beach, CA. It was more like the more quiet and sedate neighbor to its larger brothers around the area.

While Annette did some shopping I enjoyed some music by local musician.

We surely enjoyed walking the streets around town. Such a nice area to stroll around in.

There are a number of cute houses around town. This particular home was really neat.

When the crew is ashore we try and make time for an ice cream snack.

Annette writes a blog at www.seamless-sailor.com. One of the people she has corresponded with is lady named Drena. She and her husband JR sail aboard SV Journey (www.sailingjourney.net). As happens they were in Cocoa same as we so the ladies we were able to meet aboard Magnolia and enjoyed the evening ashore.

In previous visits we have visited Cape Canaveral, Disney World etc, This visit the one place I wanted to go was the Ron Jon Surf Shop. It is beachwear Mecca!

This particular day there was a fair amount of wind so we left the anchor alarm going onboard Magnolia. It has a really great feature that it will send timed Text Messages to a phone so you can tell if you are drifting. What great feature to have.

We will be getting underway for s short hop to down to Melbourne, FL. Our friends Greg and Marie (Second Sally) departed Jacksonville this morning and Frank & MaryMarie (Eleanor Q) departed Daytona this morning. We will all meet up later this week so it will be a great reunion week!

At a high level these are the tasks required to successfully post GPS Track data on your WordPress Blog. Please note I will try to answer questions to clarify directions but specific technical support is outside the scope of the article intent.

1) Download and install the WP-GPX-Maps plugin  (http://www.devfarm.it/downloads/). You will need to add the plugin to a blog page of your choosing.

2) Collect recent track data into a GPX data file (current data).

2) Merge the current data file into the existing track GPS File (GPS Utility – http://www.gpsu.co.uk/)

2) Reduce GPX data file to a maxim size of 1.0 mb (GPS Babel – http://www.gpsbabel.org/)

3) FTP GPX data file from computer to WordPress Server. (File-Zilla – http://filezilla-project.org/)

After installing the plugin please use the below dialog to upload your GPX data file. Please note the directory where the data file is located. You will later use this same file name and directory to FTP you newly created file to.

Below are some additional setting that I have under the settings tab that you may find useful

A) Retrieve the GPX file from the applicable GPS device you have available

– On Magnolia we use the save track function of our Raymarine C95 Chart Plotter to save the newly collected track data to a memory card. This results in a data file called archive.fsh being created on the memory card.

– You may use the track data collected from any number of devices. Each user could have a different method.

B) Using the GPS Utility Program open the previously merged GPX file. (or new file if its first time)

C) Using the Merge Function of the GPS Utility Program to merge the newly collected GPX file into the existing merged data file.

D) Using the Track Summary Dialog add a name to the newly merged track segment

D) Save the newly Merged data file

E) Reduce the size of the merged data file by reducing the number of track points.

F) After reducing the number of data points, select the “OK” to proceed.

G) After using GPS Babel to reduce the number of track points use File-Zilla to first remove the existing data file and cache directory from the server.

H) After removing the existing merged GPX data file on the server, use File-Zilla to upload the newly merged GPX data file.

With that step competed you are all done and your blog should update when page with map is opened.

Magnolia departed Daytona Beach for a leisurely day southbound on the ICW. I must emphasize that we have REALLY grown to enjoy these leisurely days. Days when we don’t have too far to go, when we know we have a comfortable anchorage or marina ahead of us and some special event awaits us upon our arrival. In the case of Titusville it was a two’fer. We had one maintenance action to care of and one social  event we have been looking forward too.

As we continued on our way it became quite evident we were starting to approach southern Florida where the high rises start and there is a bit more splash to the surroundings.

Where else but in Florida would you see decorate bridge pilings that appear to have tile mosaics installed. I thought they were very cool.

Ponce De Leon Inlet Light House.

Max Brewer Bridge as seen from our anchorage in Titusville

The real reason to visit Titusville was to host our friends Ty & Suzanne. They have previously been designated the “Dealers” in this blog post. Essentially Ty & Suzanne is where this whole idea of Magnolia began.

Rudy, the redhead and his little sister Gretchen were also welcomed aboard Magnolia. Rudy is actually, Rudy the super dog because that dog has done something I have never done. Rudy sailed with Ty & Suzanne aboard their boat SV Liberty. What makes Rudy really super though is he sailed with them across the Atlantic and Mediterranean Oceans all the way to Turkey. That’s why he is called Rudy the Super Dog!

I do have to give a plug to Suzanne’s various books two of our favorites are “It’s your boat too” and “Living a Dream.” All of her books are available on Amazon at this link.

We are off to Coca, FL, just across from Cape Canaveral for a few day chore catch up and shore leave for the crew!

Per Wikipedia – St. Augustine is a city in Northeast Florida and the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement and port in the continental United States.  (September 1565).  It is really cool town! 

There is a very extensive mooring field available for visiting boats.

As Annette I were walking over the Bridge of Lion I noted a tour boat heading through the mooring field. I felt like they were taking the tourists through the zoo!

Annette enjoying a lovely day a top the bridge. As were walking she asked me if we were going to make the bridge opening. We are always trying to time ourselves for going under while its open. Did not occur to me we needed to do the same thing when we are going over!

The high point of our visit to St Augustine was visiting my Great Uncle Wayne. As many know I was very close to my Grandfather and having the opportunity to visit him was not going to be missed. As luck would have it he lives just across from anchorage so it was quick walk to his home. It was a wonderful visit sadly in the excitement I neglected to get a picture of us!! His home is in Davis Shores as described by the above sign.

I kept seeing Border Patrol Boats going up and down the river. I asked the marina if St Augustine was a bastion of illegal immigration. The dock hand snickered and said no but it was a training center where every boat operator get retrained each and every year. Said they buy crazy amounts of fuel! I said every year, he said up.  What’s wrong with every other year? Are you kidding me?

Frank and MaryMarie were heading back to NJ for a family visit so we certainly had to send them off in proper form…ice-cream of course! We were missing you Watsons!!!

Next stop, Daytona Beach and then meeting our friend Ty & Suzanne in Titusville! Going to be a big week!!!

During Thanksgiving dinner the crews of Eleanor Q and Magnolia came to the conclusion that it was time to get out of the cold and head south. Hence Operation South Bound was put into action! We were hopefully waving goodbye to the cold as we passed the iconic Hilton Head Lighthouse.

SV Eleanor Q as we depart Hilton Head

Magnolia passing under one of the many restricted bridges along the ICW. (Eleanor Q)

We have lost count the number of house we have passed and said, what a cute place! The huge ones are everywhere, the small and quaint ones are much harder to come by!

Magnolia at anchor (Eleanor Q)

Sadly final Thanksgiving Left-Overs

Travel Days start very early and end very late!

We have been trying to catch a weather window to make a passage and finally one presented itself! We departed St Simon Island heading down to St Mary’s, GA, a trip of about 40 miles.

Eleanor Q passes port to port with an arriving freighter.

This is what it looks like out our Port side enclosure.

Hearing the words of my friend Greg in my head, “make hay when the sun shines” we made the decision to continue on to Jacksonville, FL while the weather was fair. Jacksonville added another 20 miles to the trip but saved us a days travel on the ICW. Remember, we are executing Operation South Bound!

The next morning I awoke caught a spectacular sunrise though I could not remember seeing the Skyline of Mayport the night before.  I suddenly realized what I was seeing was a huge container ship making its way up the St Johns River!

There is an amazing free dock on Sisters Creek just off the ICW that provided a wonderful stop for the night.

This is the first picture Magnolia with a palm tree that I am aware of in many years! It was also funny because I was taking the trash out and as I was walking out to the dumpster I noted a car with FL plates. It was kind of funny because I then realized, holy you know what, we made it all the way to FL! It was a kind of a weird moment and guess you had to been there….

We arrived in St Augustine worn out after pushing hard for the last week. Some point I will need to figure how many miles we covered but we accomplished out goal. A combination of better weather and more south has made for wonderful conditions.

It was not long that after a lifetime of training I able to find the local “Friends” style pub where enjoyed a beer or two to celebrate the weeks success.

Frank & MaryMarie (crew of Eleanor Q) will be heading to visit family for a few days and Annette and I will continue south to meet up with our friends Ty & Suzanne (referred to in the blog as the “Dealers”). We are very certain we will meet up with Eleanor Q in the near future and the memories we have made together, will most certainly last a lifetime! 

Annette and I departed Bull River with a plan to stop in Beaufort SC. It is a place we really wanted to visit because all we have read made it sound very inviting as a potential next home after Arlington, VA. Sadly the weather man had made other plans for us so we will need to make that visit at a later date. We had the choice of spending at least 3 days in Beaufort with cold and rain or we come to Hilton Head and spend 3 days in the cold and rain celebrating Thanksgiving with our friends Frank & MaryMarie of Eleanor Q. It was a no brainer as far as we were concerned!

Anchor was up at first light and we were on our way. We were in a bit of race against the weather but had plenty of margin in case things got too treacherous. Of course the only point of concern was the LAST 5 miles where we needed to cross Port Royal Sound which was open to the ocean. I was able to radio and ahead and confirm the Sound was in surprisingly good shape so we made the transit on schedule and without incident.

MaryMarie had spent time on Hilton Head and was anxious to show her haunts! She had a arranged a rental car and invited along for the adventure. It was great fun and we all caught up on some shopping as well.

If hopping around Hilton Head was not enough fun we had to get back to the boat for the traditional Tennar/Baker Family wine tasting. Sadly this year we were not in New Jersey to participate so we conducted the tasting via Skype. Though we certainly missed our holiday tradition in person, we made up for it the best we could!

Thanksgiving morning we awoke to a bright sunny day anticipating our fabulous Thanksgiving feast. It sure was a feast! The ladies split up the dishes and brought together a fabulous dinner feast. We had Turkey, Stuffing, Corn, Sweet Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Fresh Cranberries Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie. (I apologize if I forgot anything ladies!)

Both Magnolia and Eleanor Q will getting underway in the morning and with some luck and support from the weatherman we will be in FL by mid week!

Annette and I would like to wish all of you and very special Thanksgiving!

PS Frank & MaryMarie we would not have missed the day for anything in the world!

PSS MaryMaries blog can be found at: http://eleanorq.wordpress.com/

After departing Charleston Magnolia had a very favorable tidal current which allowed us to cover over 40 miles in on a very comfortable day. We selected Wimbee Creek, which is off the the Bull River which is off the the Coosaw River as our anchorage for the night. What wonderful place to be. There is simply no way to describe or capture in pictures the simple beauty we find in these anchorages. What a gift.

It would be an understatement to say we enjoyed our time at the “southern city on the coast” but we really like Charleston!  We moored at the City Marina which is the same marina David Geffen moored his yacht. Take one look at the link and you will see that is where the similarity ends! We did hoist our holiday flags. Most people think the flags are for celebration or holiday; actually we put them up so we could find Magnolia is this mammoth marina, it is HUGE!

We have been looking forward to our stop in Charleston since we departed. We knew our friend’s Jack & Kathy were coming from New Jersey for a visit and we would be reunited with our friends Mims and Vicki whom we met years ago in the Bahamas. The day we arrived (L-R) Mims and her friend joined Annette and I on Magnolia for a glass of wine.

Our friends Frank & MaryMarie aboard Eleanor Q but below is as close as we got! This visit our schedules could not get synched up but we are very much looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with them in Hilton Head.

A little message for the cruising community. Laundry is one of those tasks that can be not so bad or really miserable. Well the Variety Store Restaurant at the City Marina has a laundry facility just off the restaurant lobby. It’s a simple matter of Breakfast and Laundry and they toss in free beverages while you wait! Voted by the Admiral best laundry experience of the trip thus far!

The Admiral conducting a topside inspection before our week of Charleston festivities began!

Jack and Kathy arrived after driving straight from Central New Jersey. On the recommendation of my Cousin George we walked over to Hominy Grill for a fabulous Southern Cuisine experience. Highly recommended!

It is true my friend Jack spent a great deal of his professional career maintaining US Navy Guns and Missile Launchers and inspite of the fact he appears to be having a mind meld with his Dahlgren Gun, is only reading the inscription! 

After a full day of Charleston tourism we returned to Magnolia for a relaxing evening of Annette’s “Pita Pizza” and maybe a glass of wine or two!

We of course needed to check in with Jack & Kathy’s daughter Caitlin. Thankfully she was not following our example but actually studying!

The gardens were really lovely and can only imagine them in the spring in all there glory!

Background: A number of years ago while on vacation in the Bahamas we met Mims (sitting) and Vicki (right behind Mims). Over the years we have all returned to the Bahamas and visited in Savannah and here in Charleston as well. We have not visited in a few years and I said the net time we return it will be aboard our own boat. We made it which made the visit all the more special.

Jack & Kathy, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy lives to drive all the way down here. Mims & Vicki, thank you so very much for the hospitality. We always have a fun! As I started though, we will see you next time though, its time to go!