Palm City, FL to HOME!

After spending 3 days relaxing and partying in Palm City with our friends Gina and Eric, we left their dock at 8:30 AM on Tuesday. They made the trip with us on their own yacht "Southern Star", a Gulfstar 49 motor yacht. We arrived at the St. Lucie Lock just as it was locking through a west bound boat, so we had to wait for an hour to lock through. One side of the lock gate wasn't working, and as the locktender opened the other side of the lock gate to fill the lock, there was a lot of turbulence. After locking through over 70 locks this summer, this was by far the most unpleasant. Crossing Lake Okeechobee was uneventful; the Army Corp of Engineers doesn't recommend the Rim Canal route so we crossed the middle of the lake. We spent Tuesday night tied to the dolphins east of Moore Haven Lock, had a dinner party on Southern Star and watched the election results. As we departed for home on Wednesday morning, Southern Star continued to Clewiston and returned to Palm City by way of the Rim Canal, and they reported no problems with debris or depth. Good news, as the rim canal route is far more scenic than the mid-lake route.

Southern Star crossing Lake Okeechobee and tied to the Dolphin

It's great to be home. Now we have enough yard work and settling back into the house to keep us busy for weeks.

Okeechobee Waterway to home at Ortona, FL

We logged almost 5,000 miles and 8 months on this voyage. Mark would prefer to continue cruising but I'm looking forward to settle back into land life for awhile....Saturday we attended the Turkey Creek Yacht Club fall picnic, and Mark was tagged by a neighbor for his first boat electrical job since returning; it took only 3 days for them to find us home.

Fernandina Beach to Palm City, FL

This week the wind continued to be robust; it didn't affect our travels in this part of Florida ICW, but at the end of the day we took time to find a more protected anchorage. Our anchor was fouled on a chain/rope ball as we departed Fernandina Beach on Monday morning. It took us 30 minutes to get the chain off the anchor and cut the rope off. Not a fun way to start the day, but fortunately the rest of the day went smoothly. We dropped anchor at St. Augustine's Salt Run in the early afternoon and settled in for a windy night of NW 25-30.

White pelicans, St. Augustine lighthouse

St. Augustine waterfront, unique (haunted) house on the waterway

Tuesday brought us to Daytona Beach, another short and easy day on the waterway. The only exception was the Volusia County Sheriff was conducting potti patrol in the area and boarded every boat that passed by.
Mark's Mom and Dad came to see us at Daytona Beach on Wednesday with several care packages of goodies, homemade brownies, pecan tarts, and magazines, etc. We went out for lunch, walking on the beach and grocery shopping. A busy day that went by fast, and as always we felt so loved.

Joyce, Mark, Mom & Dad on Daytona Beach

We left Daytona Beach early Thursday with plans to get to Cocoa to meet our friends Evelyn and Mike for dinner. All went well and we had a nice evening together with great Mexican food and catching up.

Things that entertain us
Friday was another breezy day. We ended the day in the safe harbor of Faber Cove at Ft. Pierce. We traveled a short distance on Saturday and came to our friends Gina and Eric's dock at Palm City in the early afternoon. That night Gina prepared a delicious dinner to welcome us back. On Sunday they invited a group of friends over for a music party. The food, refreshments and music started at 2 PM, with guitars and banjo playing, people singing; the food changed from appetizers to dinner then desserts, 25 people, had a wonderful time until 10:30 PM.

Gina, Eric and grand-daughter Emma

Gina and Eric's dock, Sunday afternoon party

Eric, Neal, Jerry and Mark jamming

From here we are only 72 miles away from home. We decided to linger a couple days longer and will now arrive our home dock on next Wednesday.

Our homeward voyage continues, this week we traveled 292 miles.