There's nothing better than...

One of my favorite movie lines that I can certainly identify with is "there is nothing better than riding a fine animal into new country". Movie line or not, I have been blessed to experience this for real many times. I'll tell you something else "there's nothing better than sailing a fine vessel into new waters". Godspeed slipped under the "Seven Mile Bridge" At Marathon Florida and into new waters. Yet Again! The Gulf of Mexico. Many times as we slice through the sea, I tell Lorrie "What an amazing little machine she is". Her legs are unlimited, she makes all of her own electrical power, only complains if I push her too hard (which I have learned not to do now), and will self steer herself seemingly forever...flawlessly. I could go on and on but you get the picture. Simplicity is divine! What a gal! Within a mile of the bridge we anchored and I had to jump in. Snorkeled around looking for lobsters but none were to be seen. It didn't matter much... we had Mahi Mahi in the freezer and new water ahead. Miles and miles of white sandy beaches where to starboard as we caught site of land that afternoon, not a soul in site because there is no way to get there unless you travel by boat. Yes, we were in Everglades national Park. No Cell phone signal, no lights, very few boats, and only nature. We really did not realize it was so big but reality set in and Godspeed was many miles from mankind in a wilderness of mangroves, alligators, and old time Florida. I love it! Well provisioned we might as well enjoy it and that we did. long dinghy expeditions, great fishing, and solitude were an the daily menu and we ordered them all! The end is near! Well, we had a couple of weeks to burn so we sailed into Fort Myers beach. On way, I caught a nice King mackerel and when we entered, Our Freedom and Non-Linear were there. Fish fry the next evening, and you guessed it, a fine King Mackerel fed us all with much left to split up and enjoy later. Knot Tide Down, Hocus Pocus, Our freedom, Non-Linear, were all boats we have swung on the hook with before...some hundreds and some more than a thousand miles from here, is that cool or what! You never know who or what is ahead of her bow. After removing the mast, building sun covers, and feeding an alligator Ritz crackers, we said a temporary good by to our trusty little ship. She will spend hurricane season in Port Charlotte Florida and be in prime position to explore the Gulf, or the Bahamas, or both...I don't what's next, But more than likely we'll be sailing a fine vessel into new waters!

Found Summer!

Aground! this is a boaters nightmare. What it means is you are on the bottom, no longer free to go, still floating, cannot maneuver and in the grasps of "Mother Ocean". This is not the end of the world because it is hard to sink while resting on the bottom, but is possible. We slipped into Tarpon Basin in Key Largo with an inch or less under the Keel. Just months ago we were in Maine with 15 foot tides and anchoring in 30 feet of water or so, today there is no tide and only a foot under the keel as Godspeed swings on the hook in Tarpon Basin, Key largo. We are not aground but only inches from it all the time. Boating has changed a lot! We are sailing all day with only a foot or so under us and can easily see the bottom all the time. So, we made it to Charleston, SC and my sister Melanie and Husband Norm, came and spent a night on Godspeed as she lay at the "Meritime Center". What fun! Mel was our personal tour guide in Charleston

and we then rented a "super duper urban assault vehicle", a Chrysler mini van, drove it to Columbia SC and "Super Bowled" with big sis and fam. Highlights of the weekend include great food, football, teenagers, and cops!(yea I said teenagers and cops, also 1:00am phone calls, lectures, you know plain old teenager stuff!) Then on to Beaufort, SC where we met up with the sailing vessel "Blessed Spirit".

AT 1:PM we weighed anchor and sailed Through Port Royal inlet and into the Atlantic with our new buddy boat with crew of Corning, Tita, and pooch Demi. Really crappy sea conditions all night but at 5:30am Godspeed entered the Saint Mary's river Inlet and arrived in Florida. Sorry Georgia, "we took the Bypass". Entering the inlet at night was alot like landing a very slow airplane in LAX. Ships, red lights, green lights, yellow lights...no lights, radar, electronic navigation screens, begging, crying, praying. Anyway it was a "9.5 concentration level" and a "10 pucker factor". The not so fun seas did have an up side, we set our all time fastest speed record of 7.3 knots (8+mph)overall, they don't call her Godspeed for nothing! We found it on on a Tuesday, in Saint Augustine...SUMMER!!! Shorts, bare feet, water temperature in the 70's. Oh yea!!! South we went, Daytona,

Titusville,

(Manatee and her baby Boo Boo enjoying fresh water overflow from Godspeed) On to Melboune Beach! From here we had a banner sailing day right down the Intracoastal waterway to Fort Pierce. Protected waters with no seas and moving fast! Yee Haa! Then on to North Palm Beach, and into the ocean again... What would a cruise be without a little fishing!

Four Blackfin Tuna

Mahi Mahi, AKA Dolphin, Dorado

Pretty good day sailing only a mile or so off the coast, with clear blue water and into Miami's Government cut inlet at sunset,

"Hook down" in the marine stadium anchorage. Biscayne Bay is a beautiful place to sail. Miles and miles of 7 to 10 feet of water. As you leave Miami you notice the water turning a clear but greenish color and there it is...the bottom! My reaction is to dive to the depth sounders, reduce speed and brace for impact. Lorrie's reaction is to say "Hey sailor boy, what in the wide world of sports are you doing?" After checking everything and realizing we have arrived in the Keys, I tell lorrie " nothin just checking something... hey look you can see the bottom now! So we have slowed down and are going fishing... Sailfish, Tarpon, Wahoo, maybe even a Goldfish? We will just have to see.

Mile Hammock, NC

Anchored at Mile Hammock, two men showed up at an island and we rowed over and asked: what are you doing? and they replied: oystering! Wow, will you sell us some? "NO! git yer own... here's how!" So we did, what fun and tasty for days!

Great oysters and many had little crabs inside. The crabs are pretty good on top of that oyster, cracker, couple drops of hot sauce, and sill wigglin...oooooweeee!

Check out this cool Mangrove tunnel we found. It went on for more than a mile, kinda Like the Amazon but there was not shrunken heads or natives with spears.

The entrance was a little scary to enter

Lions and tigers and bears...oh my!

Lorrie's Perfect Bread

The crew Of SeaVeyor, Dwayne, linda, felines! So good to see them again and have quality time together!

We have "Hit Bottom" in search of free docks!

It was great to see our Little ship again. Splash she went and in minutes we were tied to the free dock at Stingray Point Boat Yard. This is where the addiction started! We enjoyed a great day dressing our girl back back up for traveling again. Nice thing about docks is plugging into shore power which means heat!!!!!! After a record setting time trial of installing sails, canvas, solar system, dinghy, etc, etc, we were off to the next free dock: Carl & Debi's place up the Rappahannock River about eight miles. We rafted alongside of their beautiful yacht: River Rat. Able Seaman "Hannah" (their cat) boarded Godspeed, conducted a complete "Cat Scan", and said "Meow". At that point we knew all was good with the world! Then we traveled the lower Chesapeake Bay and entered the deepest natural harbor in the world "Norfolk". You guessed it " the Portsmouth Free Dock". Three days of living it up and we needed to move on. Next free dock was Coinjock, NC. It was not free but it was in the low 20's and the heat was very welcome. We then anchored in the Alligator River and saw no gators, might be a touch cold.

Sites along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW)

Now, after not having a free dock for a few nights we needed a fix bad, so we sailed into Belhaven, NC and found it. A big beautiful municipal free dock and this is where we "Hit Bottom". We read reviews on this bad boy and there she was, supposed to take a vessel with over 6' of draft and nobody was there, so we moved in for the kill! Heck, we were on the bottom before we even got close. The good thing was the wind was so strong that we were instantly blown sideways and onto the shoal, further and further! Godspeed has always been able to power off when aground but this time mother nature was not going to give her a chance. Not to worry, we have towing insurance just in case this happens, so we called TowBoat US on the radio and there they were... GONE! No answer. So, after calmly freaking out for a minute or two, we launched the dinghy and a 35 lb Bruce anchor, rowed a hundred feet or so, and then dropped it. Lorrie attached the anchor line to a sail winch and cranked Godspeed back into deep water. We returned later in the dinghy, checked water depths and there was no way Godspeed was free docking there. At this point in our addiction we were overdue for a "free dock fix". The next night we stopped at the R. E. Mayo shrimp docks on Goose Creek. This place is right out of the Discovery Channel.

Shrimp boats coming and going and best of all the shrimpers actually talked to us. We filled the freezer with shrimp, scallops, and flounder filets. Then we hung out at the wood stove while the shrimpers told "Shrimp Stories" of 12 inch long 1/2 pound shrimp, we rolled our eyes in disbelief and then they went to thier boat and showed us some!

"Big Shrimpin" !

It gets worse...That dock was $13, so we were in Free dock withdraws! So we set sails for Oriental, NC. Now returning to Oreintal is the complete circle for us, full lenth of the east coast and back again. This is where we bought Godspeed over two years ago and started cruising. As we entered the harbor and were circling our would be anchor spot, a rowing dinghy appeared from another boat and Barry said "hey why don't you tie up to the "FREE DOCK".

Barry

So there we were tied to a free dock in a great location when our friend Dave, that sold us Godspeed, showed up like a pusher and said "hey guys this is a nice free dock alright, but come tie up to my free dock, it's much better"... so we did! We once spent eight months swinging on the hook without being tied to anything. At that point in cruising we were "salty anchor Dogs" and were proud of it! Now look at us,

Free Dock "ADDOCKS"..."Addocktion" is a terrible thing...we need professional help!