PALM TREES TO SNOW!

This came by parcel special delivery for us
this past Monday! What a great gift and gets us into
the spirit of Christmas

We are home for the holidays with family and friends. We wish everyone else Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas with your friends and family for the month of December. We will fly down to our catamaran end of December or early January to finish our provisioning. We hope to leave Stuart, Florida sometime after January 6. This will be our second year down in the Exumas and we look forward to exploring new islands and meeting new and old friends.  

We arrived in Ottawa on Saturday and on the Monday morning we woke to snow on the ground. I had to find mitts, boots and dig out my winter coat..... and the snow scraper. There was shopping to be done and winter tires to go on our car!!

looking out our front door

“Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given—when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.”—Joan Winmill Brown

FROGS ARE CUTE??

WE leave tomorrow, won't be back in Florida until January 2013. … but I have a few ideas for posts so stay “posted”? While we were in Naples visiting friends on their catamaran, we discovered a frog that made his home within the outboard motor of the dinghy. This little creature was not moving. He stayed with the motor and changed colour throughout the day depending where he was. We moved the motor from the dinghy to the dock and lifted it up a few times. I took some great photos and thought I would share them with you. I think, with very little research, that it is a Pinewoods TreeFrog (I know there is no tree around, but fits the description). Did You Know there are 33 types of frogs and toads in Florida?? I can let you do your own research!

SMILE FOR THE CAMERA

See how he thinks he is camoflaged??

I got this funny picture for you all to enjoy!! I did not actually see this frog!

LOOKING FOR FUN IN THE SAND!!

Remember as a child (okay as an adult too!) you loved to build with sand using your plastic bucket and your little plastic shovel. Now, remember how that plastic shovel always broke?? As a world champion creating a sand sculpture, your shovel never breaks and as a champion you would have “state of the art” tools to use. We travelled to Fort Myers last weekend to visit friends and the American Sand Sculpting Championship happening right on the beach. This was spectacular!! We are used to Snow Sculpting and wonderful Ice Sculptures that happen in Ottawa in the cold of February during our Winterlude Festivities on the Rideau Canal. These sand sculptures happen in phases. The designers have 20 hours to create their sand sculpture and then they are judged. A Canadian sand “artist” was there and she happened to be a 4 time World Champion. We felt lucky to see her at work.

Please see all the pictures but they do not do justice to the oohing and aawing everyone was doing as they wandered around looking at the creations happening.

Today's theme was WINTER WONDERLAND

Of Course there are many sponsors involved for an event this large!
This is just a sampling.

Notice how tall this is and all the detail!

This is our Canadian from Ontario, work still in progress, she was
working on the other side, all sculptures are 360 degrees

Dragons, Winter Wonderland Creatures?
Lots of detail

I got this one off google! I thought I would share, isn't it awesome!

 The world’s tallest sandcastle measured 49.55 feet high and was completed on July 4, 2007 in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and sponsored by Best Western of the Carolinas.

MANATEE RESCUE

“Manatees are gentle and slow-moving animals living in the water. Most of their time is spent eating, resting, and travelling. Manatee are mostly herbivorous, however small fish and invertebrates can sometimes be ingested along with a manatee's normal vegetation diet.”

We travelled to Naples this past weekend to visit friends from Cardinal, Ontario that live on their catamaran “Daruma”. Their marina, Port of the Islands, is a nice facility with alligators, manatees and tons of fish around. (Alligators are not where people are!) This marina is in the Everglades. We arrived Friday afternoon and saw the Manatee Research and Rescue Boat go out to collect an injured young manatee. We were told they would be about two hours before they get back. I promptly went to get my camera and watched the waterway for their return. Most manatee are injured from a boat going by and their motor blades hitting a portion of their body. Even slow moving boats are at risk of doing this because manatee are slow moving mammals.

Injuries on his back

Many a manpower and woman-power

A truck takes the manatee to a facility that will mend him
and take it back to where they found him

We also travelled to Fort Myers to see the World Championship of Sand Sculpting, it was awesome, but that is another post for another day.

We are back to work today, Sam's Club, provisioning and finalizing everything before home bound soon.

"Manatee can get as big at 13ft and 1,300 lbs, they live in 2-3 meters of water and can live up to 60 years...." wow

MOORING BALLS

The Stuart Air Show was on this past weekend for Veteran's Day. We saw many planes from our boat. We loved it. A lot of power in the planes that we saw and HEARD!

Mooring field behind me

Marina life is very different from living in a house or apartment; especially if your boat is on a mooring ball. I thought I would explain what a mooring ball is in this post for those that are asking themselves. A mooring ball is a secure place to attach your boat to out in the water near the marina. The “balls” are anchored securely so all boats are safe from each other. These boats pay significantly less than the ones on the dock. All boats vary in size from small to large, sail to power etc. Boats on moorings are not plugged in the power system as the boats on the dock are. We are plugged in as we have a slip here at the dock. We do this because we are provisioning every day and require to be plugged in if we want air conditioning, oven, the range, easy access to our car, etc. We do not want to rely on solar and the generator every day. The boats that are on the mooring balls must always take their “tender” in; their small inflatable, to do their laundry, shop, even to use the shower (remember they do not have access to the water on the dock). This is “low season” right now until January. The dinghy dock is not crowded right now. BUT see the photo, you may think so. I have seen dinghys tied up to other dinghys to get ashore.

Dinghy dock

Another view of the dinghy dock here

We are provisioning right now; I am not taking pictures of all the food, see last year's posts. However, this year I did take a photo of the bow BEFORE we load up the boat with provisions and in January we will take a photo of the AFTER when we are loaded up with fuel and water too. We actually go down about 2 inches.

The weather is fantastic here and I understand why most people living in Florida are transplanted here from somewhere else; including the hairdresser I just had today!! I have yet to meet a true Floridian.

Hmmmmmmm!

I NEVER FORGET

     Remembrance Day (Veteran's Day in the U.S.) is a day for reflection and of being grateful for those that choose to serve their nations. I am from a military family; my father, sister, uncle and both grandfathers all have served in the Canadian military. We now have our own son a Canadian Army Reservist. As a mother, I am glad he chose to go to university last year and not Afganistan. His three good friends went to Afganistan and have just now returned last month after their tour of duty. As a mother, every time I saw or read news in Afganistan I thought of their own mothers and fathers reading or seeing the same news. News of bombs, threats or attacks are all instant for this generation. Think back to the early wars and how a letter would bring joy or would bring sorrow to the families. Our son's friends could communicate frequently home to their family or even their friends via the internet. We knew if they were safe shortly after bad news “on the front”. Wars are different than the early ones but the feelings of the families and friends are all too real and the same. I will remember the ones today that served from wars long ago and I also remember the young ones that have just arrived home last month. I reflect on what freedoms we have today because of those that serve their country whether it is serving in a “war zone” or serving here on the “home front” to help protect our nations and freedoms.

I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind. --John Diefenbaker

STUART FLORIDA ARRIVAL

We arrived in high winds and tide running at the Sunset Bay Marina, just what boaters don't like!! We had two helpers on the dock to help with lines. We are now “home” here until January, plugged in and enjoying the marina and amenities. Our journey here was uneventful, hence no postings for awhile. However I did take a picture of the Goodyear Blimp as it seemed to follow us for a short while. This was outside of Vero Beach. We took a mooring ball at the Vero Beach City Marina on Tuesday night. The clouds were so interesting I took a picture, but as you all know pictures do not seem to capture what I saw. ALL PICTURES ON ANY POSTING can be clicked on to enlarge.

We walked to the Publix Grocery store this afternoon and just as we were walking on the dock a large school of small fish jumped all over the place near shore. This young crane noticed it too and we watched him walk ever so slowly towards that school of fish. He was determined a snack was in order.

Here on the dock we have a boat behind and in front of us and unfortunately a large yacht on the other side of us. “Grumpy” is blocking our view of the waterway. We usually watch the boats coming and going under the bridge. This huge yacht is the kind that has crew members on board. I joked to myself and asked where is "Sleepy and Sneezy"... ?? A beautiful boat. 

We leave tomorrow morning for St. Augustine with a rental car to pick up our own car, spend the night in Daytona on the way back. We spoke to people in Ontario today and hear it is cool there! We are enjoying the warm temps here but they are below average, we will take it.

BECAUSE I know you want to know....

Miami installed the first bank automated teller machine especially for rollerbladers!

ANCHORED AT COCOA BEACH

This is our third day travelling. We spent night one in Daytona, two in New Smyrna and tonight we are anchored at Cocoa Beach. Today was another beautiful day especially when a pod of dolphins decided to follow alongside us... this happened before near Cocoa and guess where this happened... Near Cocoa again! The dolphins here in this area must love following boats. They love peering up at us. I actually was able to take a few shots. We see dolphins all the time now but the novelty never wears off.

Notice there is a dolphin under the water in front.

Pelicans at New Smyrna were entertaining from our boat

Hunting for some fish!

Under every bridge there are these wooden fenders, and
always there are pelicans, they should actually paint the wood
white, Hmmmm

I took this picture because it looks like
someone painted her clawed "feet"


The Democratic Party here in the U.S.A. is the oldest grass roots party in the world! It began in 1832. The Republican party began in 1854. I am grateful on Wednesday I will not have to hear another advertisement as to who the Americans vote for!! This country will have a President elected by the people and
FYI... one million Americans are in Canada, they have voted already.

OUR ADVENTURE TO STUART, FL

Those are not rain clouds. Just started out hazy,
turned out to be a very hot day.

We have provisioned for the week, parked the car under a security camera, got a pump out, “test drove” the boat yesterday and left this morning at 9am. We have made it all the way to Daytona Beach and decided not to anchor which is really a blessing as the bottom here is muddy. I would have had to hose down the anchor tomorrow after getting it up. We are staying at the Halifax Harbor Marina and today have the air conditioner on!! It is very warm and humid today but a great day for travelling. It was actually quiet on the ICW. I thought with it being Saturday many locals would be out and about but that was not the case.

Our dinghy hanging from our davit.
Fits perfectly.

We do have to watch the water as there are crab pots and the odd dock floating along. A sailboat in front of us may have hit a manatee, he radioed us that he had hit something. Who knows. We followed this sailboat for a few miles as we needed 2 bridge openings and so does he.

A floating dock, with ladder and everything.

Last night I took a picture of the sun setting where we dock at the St. Augustine Marine Center. It was nice as there is a super tall tree. It reminds me of a rain forest and the life in the one tree is amazing.