May 09 Here we come USA..Florida and into Georgia, via the Intracostal Waterway (ICW)

May 16th
A lot has happened in the last few weeks. We left the Bahamas at the end of April. We went to The Grand Bahama Yacht club in Lucaya first and then onto West End to anchor the night before leaving. The yacht club was fabulous and the anchorage in West End was nice too. Our final night in the Bahamas, two spotted dolphins came to say goodbye to us, just like on our last day in the Turks and Caicos. It is even more special when it happens at a time like that.

Our crossing went very well, and the weather cooperated mostly. We had been worried because all of the guide books talk about the Gulf Stream and say that the crossing can be very tough. The weather was in our favor and all went well. We reached Lake Worth Inlet around 5 pm and my mom’s cousin, John’s house around 6:45. We were thrilled to see John, Annie, his girlfriend, and her grandchildren. We called customs and then enjoyed a well earned glass of wine. We had a great time the first few days with John and Annie visiting West Palm Beach and the surrounding areas and going to Sunfest (a local festival with live music, art, etc.). We quickly got reacquainted with the pleasures of living on land. We also did some stock up shopping and were able to get the alternator replaced. The following week, we visited the Everglades National Park and the Alligator Farm. We were all able to hold a baby alligator and Sébastien got his first experience with a snake and we took our first airboat ride. We also visited Robert is Here, a fresh vegetable and fruit stand, where you can order the most amazing key lime milkshakes in the world. On Thursday, May 7th, we went to Orlando to meet my mom for a wonderful trip to Disney World. We had a great time. I hadn’t been there since I was a teenager and neither Sébastien, nor the girls had been to the one in Florida. We visited animal Kingdom on Friday, the Magic Kingdom on Saturday, Epcot on Sunday and Disney Hollywood Studios on Monday. My mom had reserved a hotel in the resort, so travel to and from Disney was easy and no stress. We also had a meal plan, and were able to eat yummy, well balanced meals most of the time. On Sunday, to celebrate Mother’s day, we went to one of the French restaurants. Although the menu was a little strange (lobster bisque followed by mac and cheese or a croque monsieur, which is like a grilled cheese with ham), the food was excellent and so was the service. In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant, and were able to have the last seat on the terrace, with a fabulous view of the fireworks. On Monday, at MGM studios, we were able to see the tail of the Space Shuttle, which has just been launched. We were all exhausted from 4 days at Disney, but we had a wonderful time. We went back to John’s house on Monday night. On Thursday afternoon, much to my chagrin, we left to continue our trip. Now that we have been in the boat for a few days, I’m doing better. I really liked being with John and Annie and their dogs and cats. I really liked having air conditioning, a real fridge, a real shower and flush toilets. We also made our plane reservations, so I know that I will return with the girls to France on the 13th of August. Hopefully Sébastien will be able to join us, if the boat has already taken off. Yesterday to go from West Palm Beach to Fort Pierce, we decided to go outside, instead of staying in the ICW, the Intercoastal Waterway, which was originally put in place during the civil war. We decided to go on the outside because there were a number of bridges between the two that you have to call to open and they are frequently on restricted schedules, and our trip would have probably taken much longer. Getting in and out of the inlets was difficult, but the rest was fine. Of course, the wind was supposed to be 13 knots and instead got up to 21 knots, and the waves were also much taller than expected, but the trip went well. The most exciting thing is that we had a group of 6 spotted dolphins, which stayed with us for almost 15 minutes, playing with the boat. They were beautiful and this time, I was able to take some pictures. We also saw two sea turtles, but they were too camera shy. And last night, when we were anchored, a small spotted ray did his flying fish act next to the boat and although we have no pictures, he was beautiful. Today, we are in the ICW, as the conditions on the outside were too rough to go out. Since we only had one bridge that we needed to call for opening (the others were all higher than our mast), it wasn’t too bad. The trip has been leisurely, with a light breeze and little traffic, and even some dolphins who followed us for a few minutes. We’ve seen some beautiful houses and some interesting birds. I personally, enjoy having a boat which is flat and batteries which will be fully charged at our arrival! Tomorrow is Sébastien’s birthday.

Mai 21st
Today we are on the way to Daytona. We ended up spending Sébastien’s birthday in the boat. I guess this is appropriate. In the evening, we got out in India Atlantic(?) and walked around. The next day, Monday, we went to Titusville. It was a cute little town with very friendly people. We tried to walk around to find a place to eat, but there wasn’t much open by the time we hit town. Since Monday, the weather has been very uncooperative. Heavy rains and heavy winds. Not great weather for navigating. On Tuesday, we left for New Smyrna Beach. I started my spa treatment.: first, with the early morning mud bath, while lifting the anchor. I followed with a light, whispering sub-tropical rain while waiting for the bridge to open and ended with a cleansing heavy tropical rain, with heavy winds when we anchored. Needless to say, I didn’t realize that it was a spa treatment for which I should have worn my bathing suit, and so I got the pleasure of selecting four different outfits in a 24 hour period. The fun continued into the evening with heavy winds (37 knots), sleeting rain, tornado watches and flash flooding. Given the weather (and our lack of sleep), we decided to stay in New Smyrna yesterday. About three in the afternoon the rain seemed to calm down to a trickle, so we decided to go on land. The girls hadn’t been off the boat for over 36 hours (and neither had we), so we thought that it would be nice to get out and run a little. We tried to figure out where to dock our dingy and finally settled for a dingy dock in a private residence, which we thought was closer to stores and restaurants than it really was. We started our adventure by tying off to a dingy dock which was literally under water. This should have been a clue (remember what I said about flash flooding warnings). We continued walking around the neighborhood, hoping to find a way out to stores or restaurants. As we walked, we saw water fowl gathered on the …uh…lawn, which had been temporarily transformed into a pond. Many of the sidewalks were also underwater. And of course, about 6 minutes into our walk, the heavens opened up and we were drenched. We decided that wet for wet, we might as well continue. We walked for a while and realized that it was really only a residential neighborhood and that there wasn’t much to see. In addition, Marie who has been fighting bronchitis, was starting to chill a little (despite the water being relatively warm). We turned around and headed back, getting strange, amused looks from passerbys in their warm, dry vehicles. When we reached the dingy dock, which was even a little further under water, and the dinghy, Marie proclaimed « This was the most fun I ever had going to a pool ». Ah, the wisdom of youth…she certainly looked as if she had gone swimming, completely dressed of course. We went back to the boat and changed into dry clothes (our boat is humid inside and out from all of the wet clothes we are trying to dry). Afterwards, the rain really calmed down and we went to the other side of the ICW to the little downtown of New Smyrna Beach. Of course, once again, it was closed because we arrived so late (almost 6 pm) but it was charming and it was nice to walk and remain dry. We then treated ourselves to a dinner at a restaurant called Jason’s Place. I had ginger sesame seared tuna. It was delicious. Now we are on our way to Daytona (actually to Port Orange, a city right before Daytona, because the marina is much less expensive). We will try to get Marie’s cast off and will also rent a car to go see Henry Young , from my mom’s side of the family, in Tampa. Henry has followed our trip faithfully from the beginning, and I am looking forward to meeting him after corresponding with him for the last year. Henry and his wife and little girl did a similar type of trip a number of years ago and spent a year as well. I remember my mom telling me about his trip and thinking that it was amazing, but could never happen to me. I guess that you should never say never. Anyway, the rain continues today. I am very glad that I over packed, because I am finding clothes that I had forgotten that I have…..which is a good thing because otherwise I would have run out of dry underwear and other essential clothing items.

May 27th
We are now in Ferdinina Beach, and will officially leave Florida tomorrow. The last few days have been wonderful. We spent time in Port Orange next to Daytona, in a very nice, small marina, called Seven Seas marina, which is apparently the least expensive marina on the entire East coast. The owner and his staff were very friendly and helpful. We arrived when there was major flooding going on, so it was a little complicated, but that seems to be the story of our life, and this year. Many of the major roads were closed, so getting from one spot to another was definitely a challenge. Apparently they never have weather like that. The people from Daytona seemed to take it as well as possible. They kept a sense of humor about it and also seemed to help one another out. It was nice to see. On Friday, May 22, after a doctor’s appointment, we went to Tampa to see Henry Young. Henry, who had never actually met us before, was a wonderful host. He is currently doing historic restoration on his bungalow. He took us for a walking tour around his neighborhood to show us what some of his neighbors had already done to their homes. We ate in a restaurant, which was in a house which had been moved (because the city wanted to tear it down), restored, and turned into a restaurant. Next door, in another house owned by the same couple, was a spa, which I went to on Saturday morning, as a late Mother’s Day gift to myself. We had a wonderful time visiting with Henry, seeing his home and neighborhood and seeing Tampa for the first time. We went back to Daytona on Saturday afternoon. When we took our rental car back to the airport, a man named Darren offered to drive us back to the marina. He was getting a rental car because his four cars and two houses were under water…as he put it « I always wanted lake front property , but this is a little much ». He had never been on a sailboat, so we invited him aboard for a little tour. I think that he was surprised that you could live in a space that size on the water. He was a really nice guy, and said that he hoped to go to France one day…perhaps we’ll see him again. We left on Sunday morning to continue on our journey. We arrived in St Augustine on Monday, Memorial Day. We spent the day visiting the historical area, including the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the US and the Catholic cathedral, which is significant because St Augustine is apparently where American Catholicism was born. St Augustine was a beautiful city, rich in history and we really enjoyed our day. Yesterday, we spent the day sailing to Ferdandina Beach. We hadn’t meant to come the entire way in one day, but we made great time (sometimes going at 7.5 knots), and decided it would be nice to have an entire day here. This city is also charming, and one of the most peaceful places I think that I have ever visited. Once again, we ate in an old house which had been restored. The other houses in the historical district are absolutely stunning. In France, I get a lot of comments about the fact that the US doesn’t have much history. This always irks me. Indeed France is a much older country, but we do have a lot of wonderful history in the US, which is just as interesting and just as important in understanding our country as it is today, and I am happy to be able to share some of it with the girls.

We are really enjoying the ICW. The scenery is beautiful and it’s a wonderful way to discover a part of the US that I know little about. Yesterday, we saw our first shrimp boats, and today we had a huge plate of peel and eat shrimp - yummy! Tomorrow, we will leave Florida and head to Georgia to Cumberland island, where apparently we will see wild horses, loggerhead turtles and possibly even an armadillo or two. It is part of the Georgia National Seashore, and should have great trails and a beautiful beach.

May 29th
Yesterday, we arrived in Georgia, at Cumberland Island, which is a national park. I realized yesterday that we have visited 4 US national parks in the last three months (in the USVI, Puerto Rico, the Everglades in Florida and yesterday in Cumberland island), and that we are extremely lucky to have done so. Cumberland Island is beautiful. When you walk through the forest to the beach, you pass through a dense forest of tall old oaks, with branches that come down to meet you, covered with Spanish moss. It feels like something out of a magical, mythical forest and you are sure that a unicorn will appear at your side. Five minutes later you enter into a world of sand dunes, covered with grass, where you can see wild turkeys and wild horses. And three minutes later, you are on a 20 mile long, wide sandy beach. We also took a tour of the Dungeness ruins. Dungeness was originally owned by a General who served under George Washington. Later it was owned by the Thomas Carnegie family, before becoming a National Park. The house that remains is from the Carnegie era and is interesting to see, even though it was destroyed by fire a number of years back. On our walk back, we saw a wild turkey and a number of very friendly armadillos. We also met a family, with a little girl named Julia, who is Marie and Constance’s age. They were from Augusta, GA, and Julia showed the girls how to look for shark teeth and gave them their first shark tooth. The island is covered with shark’s teeth, because the sand that is dredged from the ICW is deposited on the roads of the island.

We anchored near a nuclear submarine base last night. The park ranger who gave us the tour of the Dungeness ruins said that they never know officially when a submarine is going out to sea, but you can tell by the helicopters, coast guard boats and other boats which swarm the area. Her information turned out to be very useful, because last night, we saw a submarine leave the dock while we were anchored and this morning when we went by the submarine base, and were just barely able to get through (they closed the ICW behind and let us through, luckily), because they were getting ready either to put another submarine out to sea, or to welcome one back. It was a little scary to have all of the coast guard boats around us, with the helicopter flying overhead. We were glad to understand what was going on.

Today we visited Jekyll Island. It was very hot outside, and the walk was long, but the visit was nice. The beach was beautiful and the historic downtown, with the millionaires homes tour, was interesting to walk around. We had hoped to get to the Turtle Center to learn more about the loggerhead turtles, but we arrived too late. We did however find freshly squeezed lemonade and butter pecan ice cream, so we were all thoroughly sated! J