We arrived at the fuel dock at Fernandina Beach Marina exhausted, grateful to be here - almost kissed the ground in front of the Marina office. We made it around to the inside wall to tie up, Blair made a rum and orange juice (at 8:30am!!) to celebrate our arrival, then he headed off to bed. I couldn't sleep so I cleaned up a little and generally just relaxed. The sun is bright and it is HOT. One Blair woke up, I had to scramble through my belongings to dig out my summer clothing - time to do an exchange of summer wear for winter wear in my drawers. We went for a short walk up the pier to check things out - had a shower, and then stopped for a lunch meal at the restaurant on the water. I don't know how Blair manages to create this kind of conversation so often, but he soon discovered that the waitress' name was Bobby Jo...her sisters were name Billy Jo and Becky Jo - even the waitress was unable to keep a straight face as she shared the names with us! There is a local seafood/bait and tackle shop that we wandered into to pick up some local grouper for dinner. The fellow who looked after us was quite a character - he looked like a mountain hillbilly, or a dishevelled confederate soldier - long gray hair, a half-toothless grin, big bright blue eyes, a loping walk, and was wearing one of those civil war type hats. He certainly added to the flavour of the area and make our stop at the Bait and Tackle Shop even more worthwhile. After lunch, I got the washing machine going and got a couple of loads done. It feels great to be clean again! Blair wandered up to the local hardware store to find fuel filters as he wants to have a supply on hand. I ran into Andy and Isabella - they have decided to push on tomorrow morning. They want to be in Fort Pierce by Friday. We will stay one more day to rest up, regroup and "stop to smell the roses" as they say. There has been so much racing to get here (which has been great), but now we want to slow down a little to explore and enjoy the trip. We say our goodbyes to them and wish them well. We may see them at Ocean Reef in Freeport - which is where they hope to end up before heading home for Christmas.
The grouper was so tasty - enjoyed a great dinner, a bottle of wine, and a short walk. Gary and Lina (Rum Line II) are just ahead of us on the dock. Lina slept all day as they had just finished a three night trip. We stopped for a short time and shared a few laughs as we swapped stories and our experiences on the trip to Fernandina Beach. We went to bed fairly early so that we could get back on a regular routine and get up to enjoy exploring tomorrow.
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