the last Supper and Thanksgiving

It's been awhile so there is another post right after this one. We spent 3 days in Fernandina Beach tied to a mooring ball and decided to make a hard run south to Melbourne Beach for thanksgiving dinner with nephew Tyler Gustafson and wife Jess. Things went great until we passed the Port Orange Bridge south of Daytona. As we slipped under the bridge I looked back and smiled as I remembered catching a very large Pompano from that spot in 1978-good times. Then came the weather. We have rigged the GPS/Chartplotter to be taken forward under the dodger along with the autopilot remote for times like this and it works great, you can drive with your fingertips anywhere on the boat while ducking for cover or whatever but we still stay close to the wheel. Yea, it was blowing and carrying on-so what, right?
Well, we entered a big sound area after New Smyrna Beach that was "yee haa". Nice rollers off the port quarter in rapid succession that made Otto(autopilot)get confused so it was hands on and very busy for about 2 hours. Then Lorrie tells me it is about time to duck out of this sound and into a man made cut to the next sound. Oh by the way, and there is a low bridge in the middle with 25 knots of wind on the Stearn and a wicked current with very little room to do anything but pray that the bridge operator would not be too slow today. We have never seen such a great concentration of dolphins as in this cut, I was glad they were there to take some of the pressure off as we transited the bridge just fine and now comes the fun!
As we slipped into the next sound it was quite apparent that the first was merly training for what was to come. A narrow channel in 2 feet of water with big rapid rollers moving at a fast pace to the starboard quarter. It got worse as we progressed and that is when Lorrie put on her foul weather gear and all the trimmings and prepared the "last Supper". Cheese and crackers were great at the moment and I was very busy keeping Godspeed off the shoals and water under the keel while mother nature did her thang. We stayed in Titusville that night and slipped under the bridge at first light Thanksgiving morning, At high noon we sent Bruce to the bottom in Melbourne. Later on Tyler picked us up at a park we dingyed to and what a treat we were in for!
Jess and her sister Melanie made their first Thanksgiving dinner and it was as good as we have ever had, complete wih pie and ice cream. It was a great time seeing these guys and meeting Drew (Melanie's boyfriend) and also Jess's grandfather. The next day Tyler and Jess rode their bikes over to the park and we dingyed them to godspeed for a look. We dropped them off, said goodbye, and took off in the Blonde(that is the name of the dinghy because she is full of hot air and "just a little dingy"). The indian river was smooth and the Blonde wanted to run so I gave her all the rein and off we went. Tyler & Jess had quite a look on their faces as they biked down the bridge 20 minutes later to see us walking in front of them.
Pictures:
1000 miles
Tyler and Jess