Turning North

We decided to make the trip back to the Chesapeake.  We turned the boat and headed north.  The Travon Martin incident happened about 30 miles from Marineland.  We got tired of seeing confederate flags and only being able to hear right wing radio.  We never met any people that were rude or mean.  The tension and feelings were palatable and we just didn't want to venture further south into the land of bars and high price marinas.  There are many articles that deal with the anchoring fights between Florida land owners and boat owners.  Time to head to Maryland.

We headed north and were, of course, had to deal with a head wind.  We made it through the two bridges we had to open.  This time the Bridge of Lions was an easy opening.  No pushing through the yellow light.  After we passed St. Augustine we heard aircraft.  A fighter plane with a red star on the side was doing acrobatics.  The plane barrel rolled, did loop de loops,  and buzzed our boat.  We waved and cheered.  For over a half hour we were treated to an air show.  I throttled down and just watched and cheered.  The sky was clear and beautiful.  We had shorts , flips and tshirts on. We were motoring on our boat and were being treated to a free air show.  Such fun! We made it to the oxbow anchorage and had a quiet night.  

The next day, wind wasn't strong until past noon.  The wind hadn’t gotten up yet and we heard a lawnmower noise in the air.  It was an ultralight.  After yesterdays’ fighter jet, this was a totally unexpected scene.  He dove at the mast and we clapped and cheered.  Another air show ensued.  We slowed and engine and just watched.  Some fisherman joined us and we laughed, and clapped .  The ultralight pilot waved back and headed away.  The fisherman went back to fishing and we throttled up and kept moving north.  Never know what you will see on the water. The wind came up and the wind indicator registered 20 to 33 knts apparent wind.  The first place we stopped to anchor, Ft. George, gave us the hee bee gee beees.  No real real reason we could pin point, but we have learned to trust your gut.  I have always thought that our boat has ways of letting us know when we might be making a mistake.  This was one of those times.  We turned out of the river and went back up the ICW.  We had 10 miles to go to the next anchorage.  We battled the wind and made it to a cut behind an oxbow it the Amelia river.  Dolphins were jumping and greeting us.  Seems like we made the right decision to push northward.  We anchored in 14 feet of water at low tide.

The new Kraft Alfredo and cheese dinner mixes are easy to store and make a fast and easy meal.  I have pre cooked hamburger, chicken and ground turkey in the freezer.  It is easy to boil the pasta with the meat and freeze dried vegetables that we keep in the pantry.  It gives us a warm one pot meal.  Easy cleanup and a warm meal after a long day makes you feel so much better.

We sleep until we wake up.  No set wake up time means that you sleep as long as your body needs to recover.  There are times that you need to get up on a schedule, but it seems like we are healthier and thinner.  No stress and fatigue means no cortisol and extra fat build up in your body.  Cortisol is used by the body to cope with stress.  It is one of the limiting elements that keep fat around your belly.  I always thought some of the hype about stress was just a way to sell diet pills on infomercials.  Without the 21st century version of stress in our lives, we seem to be coping much better.  It feels like I have lost around 20 lbs.  My clothes fit better, I sleep better and seem happier, while living and traveling on our boat. 

Arrived at Fernandina Beach.  Got fuel, water and paid for a mooring ball.  Fernandina Beach is a destination for bus tour groups.  As we pulled up, we were asked questions by the visitors to the dock.  We got quite a few, "you really live on your boat?", the biggest question was, " don't you miss your stuff?".  The dredging is finished at Fernandina Beach, and the price is reasonable, but I would rather be on a mooring ball away from the dock walkers.  You start to feel like you are part of the tourist attractions.