2013.05.16 Montreal - Final Edition...

We are happily ensconced in our little aerie in beautiful downtown Montreal.

Let us finish up our treck up the ICW...

Approaching the "nasties"  near  Ponce de Leon inlet , dreading the "skinny water" no problem though, the corps of engineers had done a good job dredging..., we still proceeded cautiously and favoured the reds (west side of the channel).

This is the kind of vessels we share the ICW with, some are quite imposing...good thing they are not bullies.

This was one very long tug and barge coming around the corner...David spoke to them and it was agreed we  be would passing port to port.

and passing....

....was I glad to see the tug!

We arrived in Daytona and were so looking forward to meeting up with Carol and Dave...Dave had an accident in Hope Town and was recuperating at Carol's Mom...they took us to their local diner, it was great seeing them both in such good spirit.

Sorry I so love taking pics of food...supper at the Chart House in Daytona and our waiter was Bahamian so we talked about conch fritters, peas and rice and macaroni..he was drooling!

The good, bad and ugly of the ditch (ICW)...This one pretty lone egret is for Joan!

  The Bridge of Lions at St Augustine

 Some ugly paper mill spewing smelly smoke...

 St Andrew's Sound was its usual fiesty self...

 We made it to St Simons Island before the rain and the next day caught Anteres's lines..Will, Muffin and of course Lucy the talking dog who greeted us like long lost friends.

We stayed 2 nights in St. Simons hoping to avoid all the bad weather. We were racing North with this nasty front and it looked like we might avoid it but we caught the tail end of it...

 All the purple around Soli is rain..

We arrived in Kilkenny Creek where Anteres was already docked (never caught up with them ...ummmm!!!)
We had planned on having supper on board, and were all looking forward to some good American BEEF after all that fish...
Will demonstrated his culinary skills and took over our BBQ. A good time was had by all and little Miss Lucy joined the party.

 The next morning, we were treated to a lovely sunrise on the Georgia marshes..I was glad to hear that Muffin likes them as much as I do (the marshes that is).

 As we approached Isle of Hope marina, we waved goodbye to Anteres...see you in Hope Town guys...

 The dock in TMI was patrolled by this stately Great Blue heron...is he resting one of his legs?..I tried to feed him smoked salmon from St.Augustine but he did not care to even taste it!

We fortunately took down and folded our sails the day after we arrived...because then ...you guessed it...rained and rained and rained. Those are for you Peter...more to come!

 But we had not taken down the canvas so we cocooned on the boat and decommissioned the inside ...all the fun stuff, like changing filters, both oil filters,  the fuel filter and the air filters...when we started the engine again to make sure everything was fine ...we had a leak from the secondary oil filter...it is always a good thing to make sure you remove the old gasket before you put in the new one...an other exemple of less is best.

Since I had spare time, I was quite ruthless with emptying most of the boat..I tend to bring and buy more every year and it was time for a good purge (4 cayenne peppers!!!) ...I promised myself not to do it again and keep her lean...David just smirks at me!!!

Another good looking Geogia bird patroling the dock ...anyone know what it is?

All the wind, rain and current had brought a sea of my golden reeds in the harbour...I like them better standing proud in the marshes.

Then it was "H" day...it had been delayed a few days because of high winds and rain...Chuck and the team at TMI always do a good job but it is still sad to haul her out.

 Soli had her usual belly power wash and we were pleased to see what a good shape her bottom was in.

David, please do not step off the boat...your legs are not quite long enough...

 Much better with a ladder...

So, there she is all safely (we hope) tucked away for the summer...right next to a big container which will give her added protection.

We left Savannah and her beautiful live oak trees lined avenues...

And then ..it started to rain again...it looks like we chased that front and stayed under the same cloud all the way up.

I was so glad not to be driving in all that rain and with all those trucks!!!! thanks David, my "mean driving machine" ...

 And then some fog for added lack of visibility...

We were home in 2 days as usual...did all this really fit in our little car!!!

To greet us home was an orchid in full bloom...good job Alain aka Mr Green Thumb.

David (back in his man cave, which occasionally doubles as my kitchen) had a lot of fun opening all the mail that had not been forwarded and filled a few bags of shredded paper...how about a smile?

We had our ususal annual reunion at Wendy and Jamie's, it has become a tradition..she has us over for a wonderful Mother's day brunch and as usual she outdid herself....thanks Toots....
The Mamas, Terry, me, Wendy Eda and Joannie...
and a three generation shot...love those braces Katy!

We are now looking forward to visitors from near and far...Catherine Jr., Mike, Veronica and Joshua are staying in Montreal on the way from Rome to their new home, Baton Rouge Louisianna...

the editor is officially "en vacances"!