When we got to Gypsies Marina on Merritt Island and got tied up, it was off for a preview of Doug and Tammy's favorite haunts.

It was great to have the fearsome foursome back together again.

One of the Belgian Air force swooping in to stealing a french fry

Cocoa Beach is one of the top surfing areas in the US. I need to get out my slick lizard 41 and give these waves a try.

Saying goodbye

Saturday morning, our last morning at our home in Georgia, Stephanie and I took our last look at a place we have many happy memories at. The place we called home for the last eleven years. The house is under contract and it looks like now it is a done deal. We designed and build our dream house together on the coast and out of all the homes we both have owned over the years, we both loved this one the most. We made the decision that we wanted to full time cruise after doing it for the last three years and September Song is our home now. After thinking about it, I think it isn't so much the place you call home, but the place you call home with the person you love. So no matter where we live or what we do, as long as we are together, life is good. I guess now we will be homeless boat people.

September Song (homeless boat people and loving it) out
Bob

Hail, Hail, the gangs all here!

Tide Hiker, Sea Pearl, and Life's2Short stopped by our home dock for a mini reunion before we all head South. We had a great time catching up, making plans, making trips to town for provisions, and just having fun. We were so ready to see them all and get ready to cast off the lines and resume our cruising life.

September Song (let's go cruising!) out
Bob



September Song, Tide Hiker, Sea Pearl, and Life's2Short at our home dock.

Party on September Song. Beautiful bunch of Admirals!

The last of the mahi from our Bahamas trip. Gotta get back there SOON.

The group at the Sunbury Crab Company.

Blackbeard Island with friends

The last few days we have been at one of our favorite places to go, Blackbeard Island. We weren't alone this time. Tide Hiker, Life's2Short, Sea Pearl and Blue Heron joined us. We had beautiful weather for our three days there and had a blast. Beach fires, shell hunting, kite flying, long beach walks, exploring, and just enjoying Beautiful Blackbeard Island with great cruising friends. I'm not going to go through what we did, ate, and drank and drank. I think the pictures will do the talking.

September Song (Love Blackbeard) out
Bob


Blackbeard Island is the oldest wildlife refuge in the US.

Winding our way through Blackbeard Creek.

The only time you can get in and out is at high tide.

Beautiful trip through the creek!

Gathering driftwood for the bonfire

Norm and Vicki (Tide Hiker)

Exploring in the family car (Life's2Short)

The first of two nights of bonfires on the beach. Nothing like a hot dog over a beach fire!

Armadillo on the trail

Beautiful trails on the Island.

Halloween night on the beach

YUUUUM!

Gale and Mo, new boat friends, walking the beach shell hunting

A dung beetle pushing a gift from Cassie home

Salty and his daddy Joe headed across the dune to the beach. The tender in the background is Sea Pearl's new family car. "Mini Pearl"

Part of the group looking at the map of the trails on Blackbeard.

That's Norm (Tide Hiker) behind the kite.

Run Norm run!

Cassie and Godiva playing in the surf

Way to go Norm!

Shell hunting on Blackbeard

Now that's a whelk

Baby horse shoe crab

Stephanie and Godiva playing with the ball in the surf

Ready-Set-Go

I know, I know, it's been a while. We have been at our home dock all summer getting the house ready to sell, selling my truck, and going through and getting rid of "stuff". As I'm sure all of you know, we all have "stuff" that we thought we needed or couldn't part with. Well, after many weeks of throwing away, giving away, donating, and trips to the dump, we are down to a 5x10 storage unit. It was a lot of work, but it is done.
We left our home dock Saturday where we have spent the last few days with some of our boat buddies - Sea Pearl, Tide Hiker, and Life's2Short -  and made the trip to beautiful Blackbeard Island where Blue Heron (a new boat buddy) was waiting for us. A new adventure has begun and we have had a blast these last few days, but you will have to wait a little longer for the blogs because the Internet is at turtle slow out here and it will take about 30 minutes for just this one to post. I did put a few pictures on this post, but a whole lot more will come your way when we get closer to civilization.
Time to go, the girls want to go for a morning run on the beach. OK, walk.

September Song (a new adventure begins) out
Bob

Life is good!

Great night for a bonfire on the beach

Party on September Song on our last night at our home dock. We grilled the last of our mahi from the Bahamas. Gotta go back soon and catch some more!!!