Christmas in the Bahamas

Yes, we made it to the Bahamas. Two wonderful weeks at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island and it lives up to its name!

The first week, we enjoyed our beautiful kids with us and were blessed to have Jacquelyn's boyfriend, Blake with us as well. It was probably one of the best Christmas' EVER.

So much to do here: Aquariums full of interesting and unusual fish, water slides, Nassau, the casino, movies, "Dealers Choice" nights on the boat, etc.

We even took the time to enjoy our holiday tradition of egg nog in our "Moose Mugs" while we watch Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. We even played with Bubbles and although Jennifer made a huge one, Jacquelyn's travelled the furthest...always competing

Thanksgiving and Beyond

So Obie has figured out he "owns" the "Poop Deck". Actually, for all those sailors with pets and wondering what to do when they have to go, this piece of astro turf is a boat saver!

Here we are in Charleston enjoying our first Thanksgiving on the boat. It is the first time John and I have not hosted Thanksgiving in over 20 years.

We really get a kick out of the dolphins that swim right by the boat every day. We feel they bring us our luck for the day.

We had a great time visiting Greg and Carla Jandzio in Melbourne, FL on our way to Miami. John really enjoyed driving this GTO. Greg has some awesome vehicles.

We made it to Miami, waiting out the weather window to cross to the Bahamas.

Finally in the South...Charleston, SC

Isn'tCharleston beautiful? The pineapple fountain is from City Park, the flags from Fort Sumter which was where the first shot of the Civil War occurred. The USS Yorktown is at dock in Mt. Pleasant (near Charleston) and the alligator is one of the critters living at Magnolia Plantation. We have really covered a lot of area here because there is just sooooo much history to follow and learn about. We have had the privelege of having wonderful guests to share our explorations with. Jodi's Mom and Dad joined us the first week and our friends, Rich and Bev Worford came aboard for week 2. One of Bev's high school pals, Paula, joined us as well. We have had a great time with everyone! In between visits we are working on several projects such as: stripping and sanding the teak rail and eye brow, now we are waiting for the weather to cooperate. We have been here for the record setting COLD temperatures which is not allowing us to stain the teak but we await patiently. John is also installing our SSB radio and our AI50 transceiver arrived yesterday, also waiting for installation.

John was pleased to see the "Hooters Patrol IV' yacht right across the dock as we pulled into The Mega Dock at Charleston City Marina.

The Dismal Swamp has a real beauty to it

"Not All Who Wander Are Lost"

J.R. Tolkein

Happy Halloween from St. Michaels

What a fun "small town". These are all pics from the local pumpkin carving contest. Pretty talented!

If you can make it here...you can make it anywhere...

What a beautiful sight, sailing through New York City. It gives one a whole new perspective as if seeing it for the first time. We hit the city bright and early Monday morning since we had to get through "hells gate" as the sun was coming up. It seemed like we had the river to ourselves until we got into New York Harbor. It was then that all the Big Boy Boats showed up and we ran like a dog with its tail between its legs because we were then the Little Guy. We sailed on to Sandy Hook, NJ.

On Tuesday we made it all the way to Atlantic City (over 100nm)...a long day. We stayed at Trump Marina in Atlantic City and left Mr. Trump a bit of our money but had a great time. We walked the Boardwalk the next morning and then got back on Jay Sea Dee and made it to Cape May that evening.

Last night we made it through the C&D canal and anchored at Veazy Cove along the Chesapeake Bay. Today we had a shorter sail and stopped in Annapolis, MD. We had the Seafood Buffet at Buddy's and are docked on Ego Alley along the City Marina Wall. What a beautiful city with lots of history that we hope to explore tomorrow, unless it rains...then off to St. Michaels.

Inside Jay Sea Dee

We have had quite a few requests for more photos of the interior of Jay Sea Dee so here they are...

We have had many requests for more interior photos of the boat so here they are...

Jay Sea Dee has a new 'do in blue

We are very excited about our new canvas. We now have a full cockpit enclosure so that when the weather moves in, we will stay warm and happy. We also had a back deck awning created with the help and ingenuity of The Canvas Lady, aka Tonya. Now when we go to the Bahamas and the Caribbean we will have some SHADE. If anybody needs new canvas work done, we highly recommend her.