Best Life

 Sometimes the people that "invent" those crazy, silly holidays get it right.  Today was one of those days. Inspire Your Heart With Art Day.  Yesterday while taking our walk we came across a life size sculpture.  Titled "A Little To The Right", we actually thought it was a joke.  Why this sculpture in this park at the pier?  Why bronze skin?  So I researched the artist.   Seward Johnson utilizes his sculptures to strengthen communities.  In Ormond there are 12 of his pieces scattered along West and East Granada Boulevard and the four parks on the four edges of the bridge - Bailey Riverbridge Gardens, Cassen Park, Fortunato Park and Rockefeller Gardens. More information can be found at - https://www.ormondarts.com/sculptures  This morning's goal - a scavenger hunt to locate all 12 pieces.  We parked the car and located all the ones west of the bridge and completed the find after parking the car on the east side.  We wound u...

  I love our spot at the marina.  In previous visits we have always been placed against the concrete wall adjacent to the parking lot (the lot that serves the marina and the restaurant).  This meant people were frequently walking by, gawking and being nosy.  Out here along the channel dock there are no people other than the owners/visitors of the few boats behind us.  It is super quiet and the wakes from incoming/outgoing boats hasn't been too bad.   Today Paul focused on the starboard bilge pump switch.  Last year after it failed, he put the junk spare one we had on board.  Today he upgraded to a quality one.  There is no way we want the bilge pump to ever fail! We made a trip to the marine surplus store which is always time consuming.  They have rows upon rows of anything and everything related to boats, beaches and fishing.  So much to look at and never the same thing twice.  Paul purchased an alarm for the bilge that w...

Today turned absolutely gorgeous with a high temp of 58!  And the low tonight is only going to be 50.  I will take it! The laundry I hung on the lifeline dried perfectly even though it was dripping wet.  I attempted to use the dryer portion of the machine without success.  So everything dripped dry outside in the warm breeze.   We walked the 2.5 miles to grab the car and headed to ACE.  The master bathroom sink decided to stop draining all together.  It had been slow, this morning it stopped.  Ugh.  But a quick fix and I now have a stopper in the sink.  (Prior there was nothing but a hose to the ocean.)                                                       Brand new pipe into the neatly tucked hose under the sink.                ...

 A stunning and cold morning.  The deck had an icy frost that made walking a deliberate task.  Slipping into the water was not an option!  We pulled anchor and were on our way by 730am. We watched the dolphins dive for breakfast and the other birds feasting on their "leftovers". Thankfully the sun shone through the day and the wind was minimal.  Still, multiple layers were required until we landed in Daytona in the late afternoon.  Temp there - 57!!!  We actually had to lose a few layers to complete the docking process.  (Paul did a great job lining us up along the dock!)                                                                            Our view from the dock spot. The plan - complete a few minor tasks before the temp...

                 Tonight we are anchored back at Fort Matanzas, one of our favorite anchorages.   After wearing shorts yesterday and sweating on our walk, today we have struggled to stay warm.  This morning's temp - low 30s.  It was difficult to leave the bed and dress while able to see our breath in the frigid air.  A little warmth from the oven, multiple layers and by 11am with the temp nearing 40, we headed south.                                                                        The bright sun looks deceptively warm!                                              ...

  After the rain stopped this morning we made a dinghy run.  Back to Crane Boat Ramp, we "parked" and walked to Advance Auto for the relay.  With the temps in the high 60s, we were actually working up a sweat on the 2.5 mile round trip.  But we were successful and now we have a spare.     Paul  installed the relay and the engine now starts beautifully.  We double checked our anchor set since we have a storm coming through tonight.  Temps are dipping to the low 30s and the wind will have gusts up top 30 mph.  Our anchor is definitely set and we have plenty of rode out resulting in a 7:1 scope - the length of chain compared to the depth of water.  More scope = less vertical strain on the anchor and less chance of the anchor breaking free.  The harbor police checked in on us, making sure we had plenty of warm clothes and were aware of the incoming weather.  How nice! Temps are already down to 48 with a feel like of 34....

                                                    After filling our water tank and taking trash off the boat, we waited.  The fog was intense and beautiful, just not favorable to driving the boat down river. Eventually the fog lifted a bit and with calm waters and slack tide, we set off.  Off the dock and around the bend, we entered Matanzas River and delighted in the moving.                                       Under the 312 bridge the multitude of pelicans gave us the stink eye! We only traveled a couple miles before setting anchor - okay it did take us two tries since our first choice was way deeper than we were comfortable with.   Some cleaning (the anchor washdown hose was gross!), I hung yeste...

 I am so, so happy for these guys!   Love you all!  The photos capture the happiness and love perfectly!  And that kid - how adorable and enchanting and priceless!  A simple ceremony in Maine including snow - doesn't get much better than that! Meanwhile Paul and I are still at the marina dock.  Last night I mentioned breaking the washing machine.  Then I thought I broke the toilet (or forgot how to use a marine toilet).  Turns out the water pump died causing the washer to become confused and the toilet not to fill properly.  Ugh.  We have a foot pump for water at the kitchen sink so we made do last night and then went to bed. This morning Paul switched out the pump for the spare we had on board.  Another spare has been ordered and we will grab from Marc's when we get to Palm Beach. (Thank you Marc for being our Amazon drop!) I managed a couple batches laundry and tried to dry some outside but despite being super windy, everythi...

  Sunset on the San Sebastian River as viewed from the port side sugar scoop of Quiet Time!  We are in the water!                                                                 Our "ride" arrived just after 130pm. Watching them lift Quiet Time off the blocks is a bit nerve racking (especially after last year's drop at Thunderbolt!).                                                            As we were lowered into the basin, all three dock hands had their work cut out for them.  The current here is extreme.  While they held us tight port side, I had fenders up and down the starboard side holding us off the ...

 Today we essentially took the day off since we have very little left to do (and all of it either needs to be done while we are in the water or can be done while we are in the water).  We dropped all but the bare essentials off at the boat, I precooked chicken for dinner and then we headed out to explore. First stop - Vaill Point Park.  Located along Moultrie Creek and the ICW, it promised a mild walking trail with a dock, birds, marshes and clean facilities.  Everything was as promised.      Our second stop was a surprise.  This spot was the very one we visited in 2024 by dinghy while anchored nearby.   After an early dinner we headed to Crescent Beach for our sunset walk.  With a high of 66 today, the beach was more populated - maybe a dozen people!  A great walk on nice firm sand. And check out what we saw in the dunes...                         ...