Right Hand Life: Bitter Sweet

The week of December 13 was a mad rush to complete all of our (out of water) boat projects. The dilemma...if the boat isn’t ready to launch on Dec. 20, we would literally be ‘high and dry’ until Jan 2, as the marina was closing for 12 days for the holidays. Yikes!! We were planning to leave Fernandina on Dec. 28 so we worked every day to get all projects checked off the list. Keith replaced the 40 year old strainers (which supply the engine with raw water for cooling purposes) with new and improved strainers, and installed a new transducer for a new chart plotter. Keith’s jobs required actual holes in the bottom of the boat (which were already there, but needed to be enlarged), therefore the complete installation of these items was critical before the boat could be re-launched.

It was tight, but the workers at the marina completed the bottom paint job, while Keith and I worked on our projects. Right Hand was launched at 3:45 on Friday, December 20. They slowly lowered the boat into the water, and held it in the cradle to allow us to check for leaks before actually cutting us loose. Not a drop of water came through any of the newly installed thru hauls...good job Keith!

I am happy to report the shower/tub rehab was also a success! The epoxy paint makes the tub look new, and the tiles are fabulous. While it wasn’t essential for the boat to be out of the water, it was necessary for us to make other plans for showering. I wanted to complete this project over the summer, thinking that we could use our outside showers while this tub was out of service. However, we decided to visit cold places all summer so that plan didn’t work. This was the perfect opportunity to get it done while we were staying with my son and his family.

I am very sad to report this Beneteau sailboat broke loose from its mooring ball. When we arrived in Fernandina Beach, we anchored between two sailboats...this was the boat moored just a few hundred feet south of us. We were there for over a week and never saw anyone check on the boat, but it seemed fine when we left to get hauled out. One week later, we returned to the same spot to find this. The worst part is that during high tide the boat is afloat and definitely salvageable, but no one has made any attempt to save this boat...I hate to see this!

Christmas morning was glorious!

The girls enjoyed ganging up on Pop.

There is always enough room on Grandmom’s lap!

The weather was very rainy, but we were determined to get a family photo while we were all together. We went to the beach hoping to reenact a previous family photo, but it started to pour as we were crossing the sand dune so we went to a pavilion covering some picnic tables and improvised. This is where the bitter part of this story comes into play. It is time to leave our family and continue on our journey. Oh how I will miss all those hugs, kisses, and cuddles from these three angels. We really enjoyed having everyone together and spending time with the family!

This isn’t the best picture (because it was getting dark when I took it), but I saw a flock of pink flying over the boat. Roseate Spoonbills...awesome!!

This boat is not abandoned!

As we cruise down the ICW the ‘sweet’ part of this story is infused into my soul. It was in the low 70’s and we were enjoying the scenery from the flybridge. White Pelicans are becoming much more common. Did you know a group of pelicans can be called a “brief”, “pod”, “pouch”, “scoop”, or “squadron”? I think these two are a scoop😁

This has to be a squadron!

There were plenty of opportunities for us to play, ‘home or resort’?

We anchored in the St. Augustine harbor at dusk on Saturday, December 28. What a beautiful harbor!!

This egret didn’t seem too happy about sharing the dinghy dock, but he/she tolerated our invasion.

St. Augustine is a beautiful town! I never realized it was such a tourist attraction. At times it felt like we were at a place like Disney with the number of people, the number of languages being spoken around us, and the number of tour trolleys constantly on the move.

This city was founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, and is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlements within the borders of the continental United States. The architecture in this town is amazing!