So, what have we been doing in Florida this year? Here we go...
December 2018:
We decided to finish cruising the St. Johns River by heading upstream (which is South). Our 1st stop was Silver Glenn Springs off of Lake George where we spent Christmas day. The water is so clear you can see the bottom. Reminds me of the Keys.
January 2019:
This is the spot, just south of Sanford, where we literally hit the bottom of the St. Johns River and had to turn around. head back to Welaka to our slip at the Andersen Lodge.
This is the spot, just south of Sanford, where we literally hit the bottom of the St. Johns River and had to turn around. head back to Welaka to our slip at the Andersen Lodge.
February 2019:
We departed Welaka with our final destination being Community Harbor in Tavinier.
March 2019:
We arrived in Cocoa and anchored in Cocoa Village. We quickly learned that Banana River Marina recently changed hands and no longer invite transients into their little cove. What are we to do now? We bounced back and forth between Cocoa Village, and the north and south side of the 520 causeway using Doc's Bait Shop as a dinghy doc. Not the best situation but it worked while we were contemplating our next move.
April - October 2019:
Carter got a call from an acquaintance from Banana River Marina, Bob, who asked if Carter would like to work for him on a project. He was at the old Tingleys Marina in the Barge Canal and off we went. Carter was watching the employment in the area and noticed a job opening for an engineer with a local engineering firm. He applied, and it took approximately 3 months to get turned down. During that time I worked part time for Sherri Ferrell making a few dollars until time to leave.
The Barge Canal turned out to be a pretty good spot to hang out and work on the boat. Carter worked a deal with Cape Crossing for parking privileges and I eventually got a McJob with the Resort as weekend front desk clerk.
Hurricane Dorian came and went. We were allowed to move the Archimedes into the entrance of the marina and tie up to the sea wall. We were ready for the worst but fortunately it was basically a non-event.
Carter added to our hurricane preparedness by adding stainless steel chains holding down the panels.
We made a quick trip up to Tennessee just before the hurricane, brought the Studio Trailer back with us and stashed it in a close by storage facility. I spent quite a few weeks in my sewing room making replacement cushion covers for Ward and Connie. I'm very proud of how these turned out!
It is now October and we are still in the Barge Canal. I'm still working at Cape Crossing Resort and Marina and Carter has done many projects on the boat including:
* wiring in the nav center
* hung the new mini-split in the salon but it is not hooked up yet as there are other projects that need to be completed first.
* painted the upper deck
* complete the prep of the starboard side gunnel.
* replaced one entire battery bank.
* Organized the mechanical room.
* Replaced broken actuators so the panels on the port side are functional again.
Yes, for sure our plans to get to Community Harbor got derailed. The main reason is the proximity to Tennessee. We need to be within driving distance in the event that one of our renters go south on us. December will be a full year on the boat in Florida. We will spend a week for Christmas in Tennessee and then since 2020 is an election year, I will be in Tennessee working quite a bit. I imagine Carter will stay here in Florida and continue working on the boat. Then 2021 we will both be in Tennessee continuing on the Tiny Home Compound. That's the plan anyway. We'll see how the reality of life writes the story.
I guess, I'll end this post here....this is our new outdoor patio area. We hang out here in the late afternoon into evening watching the sun set, until the no-see-ums run us downstairs.
My favorite spot on the Arc!
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