Holding Up In Fernandina Beach

We went on a mooring at Fernandina Beach and then for the weekend rented a car. Enterprise has great weekend rates, which are 1/2 the normal weekday rate. We had a great visit with Linda's sister Dale and her husband Steve in Palatka, Florida. We also made our last major provisioning for the winter months in the Bahamas. We had to take inventory and begin keeping records of our food stores in each compartment. They are not always visible, so it is good to know what is actually available.

We met up with Brian and Jan from Wind Chaser. We also met their son Cory. He is stationed at the Submarine Base at Kings Bay, Georgia and has an apartment in Fernandina Beach. We compared plans with Brian and Jan and we all agreed to do some travelling together this winter. We will visit the Exumas but also explore some of the islands between the Exumas and the Turks and Caicos. Brian and Jan will keep Wind Chaser in Fernandina Beach until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Iain and Jan from Jocks Lodge arrived a week later at Cumberland Island so we took Ariel to Cumberland Island after dropping our mooring. It was extremely windy but we all made it in for a walk. We had quite an international group for our island touring. Jocks Lodge is Canadian. We were joined by a couple off a New Zealand boat, Long White Cloud, several years into their circumnavigation. They are extremely interesting and have so many wonderful experiences to share. We were also joined by a couple off an Australian boat, Tacu Tori. They purchased the boat in the US and are now traveling with Jocks Lodge. They will visit Cuba with Jocks Lodge and then continue on to Panama to cross to the Pacific Ocean and onto Australia.

Our plans have changed. We put Ariel in a slip at Fernandina Harbor Marina so we could go north to attend to some personal matters and to spend Thanksgiving with family. We expect to be away three weeks and then after returning we will move quickly to Miami to rejoin Wind Chaser for our crossing to Bimini.

Submarine leaving Kings Bay as we were returning from Cumberland Island to Fernandina Beach.