4-2-17 Trawler Life Crosses Her Wake.

Michael and Cathy from Trawler life have been dubbed our Bahama Buddies.  We traveled and spent a lot of fun times in the Bahamas.  We first met them on the rivers. Our next encounter with them was at Alan Pensacola Cay in the Abacos.  Scott and I had hiked a small trail out to the ocean.  We heard voices on the trail and when Michael appeared his first words out of his mouth were “Oh thank God Y’all aren’t naked” We were buddies ever since.  We happened to meet up with them at St Augustine after we split at the Bahamas. We knew they were going to cross their wake in Jacksonville so we tagged along to take photos and to celebrate this very special day. That night they brought the champagne and wine and we made Surf and Turf dinner and we celebrated. They left the next morning for their home marina and to get back to their house.  We made plans to have dinner at a their house the following day.  Michael came to pick us up at the dock and we spent a lovely day on land. Cathy makes a mean spaghetti.  It felt weird to be in a full-size kitchen with counter space and full size sinks and appliances.  I hadn’t realized how used to the boat I had become until a normal home seemed odd. They let us do our laundry.  Only a boater (or a college kid) can know what a gift it is to use the washer and dryer.

The winds were blowing, so we moved up river to another marina.  Michael and Cathy were so kind to give us one of their cars for 2 day to re-provision and to run to the many offices necessary to become official Florida residence.  We had been talking about doing this because Florida doesn’t tax our pension but Michigan does.  After we did our taxes and had to write an additional check to the State of Michigan, that was it. Florida allows you to be a live aboard boater. Michigan does not and makes it very difficult to do things like register to vote etc.  if you don’t own a home.  Florida knows how to do this! Our address is our official boat number on our driver’s license. I bet a Michigan police office will scratch his head if he see’s it.  Many boaters and Motor Homers use St. Brendan’s Isle Mail service for their mail. All the DMV and county office know about this and it was a very simple process. We did everything in one afternoon.

We said our sad goodbyes to Cathy and Michael and were back on our path heading North on the AICW (Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway).  We planned to stop at a plantation on our way north, but the anchorage was right in front of the Plantation, narrow, strong current and in the channel.  No thanks.  We skipped it.   There were not very many good anchorages for that night.  We turned down one after another due to skinny water, or too close to the channel. We came to an area not marked as an anchorage on the side of the AICW and pulled over well out of the channel, had plenty of water. We put out a bow and stern anchor to ensure that we didn’t swing into the channel when the tide changed.  We were sitting enjoying a cocktail on the back of the boat when Scott’s eyes got big.  A Cruise ship was coming down the channel.  Oh man!  He started pulling on the anchor lines to move us over even further and I got on the horn and called the cruise ship, asking if we were okay.  He was very relaxed.  Yes, Ma’am you’re well out of the channel, No problems.  Phew.  It just looked ominous seeing a cruise ship coming down on us in that narrow channel. He passed with ease. We were more relaxed after he went by knowing that if he could get by so can everyone else.  We had a peaceful night.

On to Amelia Island stay tuned.

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Karen and Scott

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