Prepared for Isaac

What a beautiful sky!

Spending the day at Cocoa Beach

A camper or a boat - maybe both!

Shining up the Whaler - making it his...

Judy giving us a performance

Fishin' instead of just a wishin'

It's not always sunshine in the sunshine state!

There's a storm a brewin'

After the storm - a double rainbow!

To answer all your texts and postings regarding Hurricane Isaac - I want to say that we are prepared.  We are still in Cocoa Village Marina which has breakwaters on all sides.  We are about 12 miles or so from the Atlantic with the ICW in between us.  We have put out extra lines and have readied NautiNell the best we can.  Locals around here say that we shouldn't have much to worry about.  It looks like the brunt of the storm is going mostly to the west so that should help us out immensely.  We should get some wind but mostly just rain.  Last week we rode out two different storms that had winds clocked at 82 mph.  Isaac is only producing 65 mph as of now.  So the bottom line is - we should be okay.  We really do appreciate all your concerns.  That being said though - this Midwest girl is still pretty nervous!

In the last few weeks we have been having a great time here at Cocoa Village.  Last weekend there was a concert in the park.  We didn't know the bands but we thought we'd check it out anyway.  We went over in the "Whaler" so we didn't have to pay for tickets.  The bands were "Rebelution", "Pacifyre" and "Expendables".  Mean anything to you?  Not to us either....  :-)  They had a little reggae sound to them.  Very young and billed themselves as Modern Reggae.  Whatever that is.....  Anyway, they weren't bad and the price was right for us.  We enjoyed the evening sitting out in the new Whaler under the stars.

We've met another couple who has their boat here.  They are from the Kansas City area!  Go figure!  They also have a car here and invited us to go to the beach with them one day.  It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed it.  They've also offered us rides to the grocery, etc.  That definitely beats the bus rides!  We have really enjoyed visiting with them.  Not sure what their plans are for now.  They aren't "full-timers" yet.  They have to go back to KC soon for a few months.

I've started going to Zumba!  It's really a fun time.  Gets me out and about - and helps work off all those cocktails!  LOL!  I didn't realize just how bad a shape I've gotten myself into!

Every Wednesday there is a Farmer's Market in the Village.  It's really a great place to get fresh veggies and fruits.  I haven't missed a Wednesday yet!

We have a little excitement here the other day after a storm came through.  One of the electric pedestals on the dock over from us caught fire.  The flames were at least 4 feet high!  Some think it was struck by lightning but we didn't hear it strike.  I think that would have been one heck of a noise.  The boat that was plugged into it luckily didn't have any damage.  Quick thinking on the part of a guy who was cleaning the bottom of another boat close by helped that.  He grabbed an extinguisher and got it out pretty fast.  Still was rather unnerving though.   Always something................!

There is another couple here that has traveled to Trinidad several times.  They have lots of interesting stories and she has even learned to play the steel drums.  She put on a little performance for us the other night.  That was cool.  We just love the sound of the steel drums.  Mike wanted to get his "percussion section" out that he has on the boat but I was able to distract him.  Luckily!  HA!

Last night we went to the local Elks Lodge.  We have been there a couple of times for drinks but they were having their Saturday night steak dinner so we headed up there on our bikes to check it out.  It turned out to be quite a fun night.  The people there are very friendly and have welcomed us into their Lodge.  In fact, they were having a drawing for $1000.  They were raising money to purchase the NFL package for the lodge and were selling 100 tickets a $20 each.  They split the pot and the winner got a $1000.  That was pretty good odds so we, of course, bought a ticket.  After dinner they started the drawing and can you believe it!  WE WON!!  We won a $1000 bucks!  We bought the house a round and everyone wanted to be our friend.  That was so fun!  Now I'm trying to figure out what to do special with the money.  Hmmm!  A trip to the Mall?  Just kidding....!!

Well, it's raining a little now and the wind has picked up.  The Weather Channel keeps telling us that we should get some storms around early evening.  Guess I better go around and give NautiNell one last check.

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I wasn't able to get this to the blog - so I'm adding a little before I try again...

We spent Sunday hanging out waiting to see what was going to happen with the weather.  We got a little rain but not much of anything else. 

Jeff and Linda (Jeremiah) stopped by on their way home to Venice from a trip to Pennsylvania.  We walked up to the local Pizza and Wing Pub.  It was really good to visit with them and to get out of the boat!!  HA!

Now it's Monday and we are getting hammered with the rain.  The wind is blowing but not too bad yet.  It looks like the worst will be headed to New Orleans.  On the anniversary of Katrina, no less.

We are sitting here waiting for the weather to finally clear off.  Maybe tomorrow??

Till next time!

Admiral "C"

Staying here at Cocoa Village Marina

Out with the "old" and in with the "new"!

Change in plans! Like I always say our plans seem to be made in sand. We were planning to go on up the coast to Jacksonville and spend the next couple of months. Then back down the coast to the Keys for the winter. However, after we were sitting on the sundeck discussing these plans we decided it made no sense to go all the way up the coast just to turn around and come back down. With the price of fuel it would be a little costly. SO here we are still in Cocoa FL at Cocoa Village Marina. We plan to stay here at least through Labor Day and then head down the coast. Not sure where we will stop – but we've been told there are several good marinas if we need a hideout from any hurricanes. Let's hope not!

We also checked out Harbortown Marina just a few miles away on the Barge canal near Banana River. It is supposed to be a good place in the event of a hurricane. However, it is really far away from everything and without a car we would be stuck. We decided to take our chances here at Cocoa Village.
 
So unless our plans change again and they just might – we will be spending the rest of the month here at Cocoa Village Marina and maybe September too. Then we will go back down the coast toward Stuart. We plan to cross to the west coast of Florida via the Okeechobee. Then down the west coast to somewhere in the Keys.  Not sure where yet.    

In the meantime we have been riding our bikes around the Village. There are several restaurants and shops nearby. The marina had a Happy Hour get-together the other night.  There are not many boaters here but there are also condos here.  It was a pretty good turnout.   I believe I mentioned Norman's Raw Bar before. Well, we went there again last night. Another blues band and good food.  J 
We really like it there. 

We've also checked out the American Legion and the Elks Club. The bus runs to the Publix, the Mall, West Marine and the beach so we pretty much have everything covered. We just wish there were more boaters.  Since we spent so much time in the Bahamas and such we're pretty much out of the "Loop".  We should begin seeing Loopers in the fall when they start down the west coast of Florida.

So since Mike has had some time on his hands – he's been doing a little bargain hunting. He managed to snag an 11' Boston Whaler with a 9.9 Suzuki motor. He is in heaven! He has always talked about getting a Boston Whaler and he finally made it happen. It's only a foot or so bigger than our dinghy the "blue racer" but it seems huge! We've put our Nissan motor on it and it rides great.

This morning we put the "blue racer" on Craigslist with the Suzuki motor. Within 30 minutes we've had three calls and one of them has already come by to see it. Don't you just love Craigslist! Well, we just sold the "blue racer". Yea! That was easy! Now Mike begins the ritual of making the Boston Whaler his very own. It has begun......

Till next time!

Admiral "C"




    

Our Stay in Stuart and up the Florida East Coast

A great sunset on Jensen Beach

Bird of Paradise - such beautiful colors at the marina in Stuart

Our good buddies - Jeff and Linda

Leaving Vero Beach - just missed the dolphins!

Beautiful sand beaches along the ICW

Cocoa Beach!!

The Boardwalk

Isn't this cool!  Free drawn on a side of a building in Cocoa

The band - "Fast Forward" at Norman's Raw Bar
Look at the grandma singing!  She may look like a grandma
but she sounds like Janis Joplin at times!
They are a great band and she is amazing.

What a fun place!

After two weeks of visiting family and friends we are back on NautiNell. With driving time – we were gone almost three weeks. It was great to see everyone. Especially the grandkids! We have a new granddaughter that was born just a couple of weeks before we arrived. Wow, how kids grow up when you're not looking! Our oldest granddaughter has her driver's license now and even has a job!
 
It was good to see all of our friends in our hometown. We were able to get together at several different places including our weekend lake hangout. If we missed you, we're sorry!! Just so many to see and so little time. We thought two weeks would be enough but time went really quickly.

Our town has changed so much since we've been gone. The tornado left the landscape changed forever. We hadn't been home since the storm so we tried to prepare ourselves. However, that was pretty much impossible. Once we were there we found ourselves riding around and trying to figure out what used to be there and what they were rebuilding where. We are very proud of our hometown though. Several homes and businesses have been rebuilt. There is construction going on everywhere you look. Joplin will never be the same – but it will come back - and when it does – it will be better than ever. REBUILD JOPLIN. GOD BLESS JOPLIN!


When we finally made it back to NautiNell we were ready to decompress. We had put over 3400 miles on our rental car! We pretty much bought ownership into Enterprise after having one of their cars for 19 days! LOL! We had found NautiNell pretty much how we had left her. We had a couple of friends that we had met earlier in the Bahamas keeping an eye on her. We did lose our "pet" though. Poor little Kermit our hermit crab that we had found in the Berry Islands didn't make it. I thought I had left him enough water but guess not. Sorry little guy….! We buried him at sea….. L


While we still had the car – we made a trip to the local Publix and stocked up on pretty much everything. Mike about had a coronary when he saw the bill but hey, we gotta eat! AND the more we get in the car – the less we have to carry on our bikes. We then relaxed and did our best to get back into the boating world. It didn't take long – maybe a day or so and we were back in the tropical frame of mind.

Speaking of our bikes – we bought two "vintage" foldable bikes on Craigslist. The bikes we had were barely a year old – but had pretty much rusted out. We decided that we needed to retire our "trusty steeds". Mike spent a day or so spiffing the old ones up so we could list them on Craigslist. He even splinted a rusty fender brace using a twig and black electrician's tape! We had no problem selling them though. They went in just a day! After that Mike spent another day or so spiffing up our "new vintage" ones. He went to two different bike stores in Stuart buying racks, etc. We've got to be able to carry stuff, ya' know! It only took a couple of days and he had them looking the way they should.

While he was doing most of this – I was mostly hanging out in the Boater's Lounge where it was cool. It has really been hot here this month.

Another thing we did before we took the car back was to visit Jensen Beach. It's only about 4-5 miles away but too far to bike. We really liked the area and may stay there when we are on our way back down the coast. We had dinner at Conchy Joes and I would definitely like to eat there again.

On the 29^th (Sunday) Jeff and Linda from "Jeremiah" came to visit us from their home in Venice. They were on their way to Vero Beach (by car) and stopped by to see us. We went to dinner at The Deck. They ended up staying the night on our boat and we had a ball! It was so good to visit with them again. We hadn't seen them since we left Venice in February. It was fun to remember some of the times we had spent together during the Loop. Oh, Molly and Snickers were here too. They are such great dogs and not many can say that they spent a year on a boat!

Monday morning they took us to Sam's. They know what it's like not being able to drive anywhere. We had lunch at the Key Lime Café where Mike and I had spent his birthday. We said our goodbyes and planned our next meeting at Vero Beach. They were going there to see their granddaughter and we were heading that way north. We had planned to stop in Ft Peirce but we decided we'd catch that next time and go on up to Vero Beach.

Tuesday we rode our bikes to the store and that afternoon I did a little window shopping. We were leaving Stuart soon and there were some shops I hadn't yet checked out! J

On the 1^st of August we headed north. After we had refueled we were boating under the Roosevelt Bridge at about 9:00 a.m. Good for us! It was a nice easy day with not much boat traffic. We made it to Vero Beach Municipal Marina at about 2:00 pm. It was only 38 miles. We had dinner at Mr. Manatee's with Jeff and Linda and their son and family. We finally got to meet their baby granddaughter that we had heard so much about. She's a cutie!

We had planned to stay another day at Vero Beach but changed our minds. After staying put for a month in Stuart we were itching to get going. So Thursday morning after a short dinghy ride we found ourselves back on the waterway (ICW). We planned to go as far as Cocoa Village Marina - about 48 miles. It was about 10:00 am when we got started so we figured we would be there about 4:00 pm. We followed the Indian River (ICW) along – it was really wide at times but was always easy boating. We saw several dolphins along the way. We couldn't believe some of the homes we saw. WOW!

We made it to Cocoa Village Marina about 3:30 or so. Once we landed and got secure; we headed to the a/c. It is really hot and humid here. Not complaining!

Friday we rode the bikes into town to check it out. Nice shops and lots of restaurants are in walking distance. Later we took a bus ride to the Cocoa Beach. How cool is that! Only 60 cents a person (for us senior citizens)! The bus will take you just about anywhere you need to go. We spent the afternoon at the beach and riding our bikes along the boardwalk. Yes, we took our bikes on the bus – no problem! We had a few beers at the Cocoa Beach Pier and again at the Sandbar. We have so much fun "people watching".

We made it back in time to have dinner at Linda's Café with a couple that is at the marina – Bob and Helen on the" Allez". They are planning to start the Loop this next year. Hey, Linda's Café has dollar drafts – five dollar pitchers and fish and chips for only five dollars. Plus, Country Karaoke! We missed the Karaoke – it didn't start until 9:00. Too bad! Maybe not……!

Saturday Mike spent most of the day working on our bilge pump. He finally decided that we needed a new one. We took the bus to West Marine but they didn't have one. Finally Mike took a cab to Bob K's Marine Supply. He was able to get a new pump there and had it back on in place in time for Happy Hour. Good work!

We rode our bikes to Norman's Raw Bar – only about 4 blocks. Talk about fun! We had buckets of beer – raw oysters – and a great grilled tuna sandwich. PLUS the band "Fast Forward" was playing and they were terrific! They played songs that we hadn't heard for a long time – good ol' rock 'n roll!

We finally decided that if we were going to make it back to the marina safely on our bicycles – we had better head back quickly before we ordered another bucket of beer. No problem.

We plan to leave out tomorrow morning and make it to Daytona Beach. It's about 60 miles or so.  We're working our way up north to Ortega Landing in the Jacksonville area.  We plan to stay there a couple of months until the hurricane season is no longer a threat.

Stay tuned!

Till next time!

Admiral "C"