The Sunshine State

Our run from Charleston SC took us all the way to St-Augustine FL. Through out the night Josh and I did 2hour watches. When we weren’t at the helm (driving the boat) we were trying to sleep on the 2foot wide cockpit seat. Needless to say it wasn’t the best night sleep we’ve ever had. Josh relates it to being up all night drinking with all the after effects without the fun of being up all night partying. When the sun begins to rise, you always seem to get a new burst of energy. It feels like you been up for hours.

Liberty calls around 8:30am to ask if Josh would like a beer. He says sure. Liberty inches closer to us, Benoit gets ready to make the toss into Salsa (the dinghy). 1,2,3 and he throws a perfect shot. The only problem now is how the get the beer out of the dinghy. Luckily the fishing net was still laying around. So Josh fished himself a beer.

Once we got to St-Augustine, a very cute town with lots of Spanish influence, we made our made to Ft-Lauderdale, with a couple of day sails in the ocean. One particular day was very memorable. It was the day L’Attitude passed Ambition!!!

Ever since we got the boat we’ve been trying to pass my dad. Technically we have a slightly faster boat, with a longer keel (the thing under the boat) and a larger main sail with full battens (sticks in the sails that give it shape), plus we’re not weighed down with such luxuries such as a generator, heater or air conditioner. But somehow we still weren’t able to pass him, I guess 30+ years experience has something to do with it.

But the kids are learning. I can’t take any credit for the maneuvers that lead to L’Attitude taking the lead. Once the sails are up and we’re moving, that’s good enough for me. Josh on the other hand wants to squeeze every little bit of power that he can out of the sails. So while I sat there doing a sudoku puzzle, Josh was trimming the sails. He came up from behind him to steal his wind, and pulled ahead!!! Yeah Josh!!!

Once in Ft-Lauderdale, we had marina reservations somewhere up the New River. It looked like a small little river to the middle of no where. It couldn’t have been further from no where. It was small alright, but it was lined with boats as far as the eye could see, not just little boats either some where well over 100ft. We crossed them towing a 135ft boat down the river, one boat in front and one almost buried behind. It’s too difficult to maneuver such a large boat thru the tight corners so they just have it towed.

The river brings right through downtown Ft. Lauderdale. Unbelievable. The marina was fantastic. We rented a car to get around easily so we could reprovision, again. Nothing a couple trips to Costco, Walmart and the grocery store can help. We luckily found time to visit Mimi, a close family friend of Josh. Mimi, her son Patrick and his wife Maria also came to visit the boat. I was nice to meet Mimi after hearing so many nice things about her, she really is a riot.

At all the marinas and along the ICW from North Carolina, you see signs warning you about manatees. We never saw any. However in the last marina we were at we saw some on numerous occasions. They really are huge and slow moving. You would never call it a beautiful animal, but it was cool to see none the less. They tell you not to feed them or to give them fresh water. One day a worker at the marina was feeding a mommy manatee fresh water from the hose. You could see her putting the hose in her mouth, and if you looked carefully you could see the baby. She was so close that I touched her. You could see along her back where she’d been cut by props. They sleep on the surface of the water at night and are very hard to see. That’s why there are strict speed limits.