The weather has continued to be darn nice this fall, so we’ve been able to travel pretty much at will.

Our travels thru Georgia went smoothly. We often stop at the Isle of Hope Marina in Georgia so we can catch up with cruising friends Gene & Carole. Nothing better than drinking & eating great seafood while scheming a plan to meet up again in the Bahamas this winter.

Once into Florida, it was time for Parlor Doughnuts, a newer, growing small chain down south with layered brioche-style doughnuts – Yummy!

We never fail to have lunch at The Floridian, our favorite restaurant in St. Augustine.

We shortened our week-long stay on a mooring in St. Augustine as the weather was a bit too hot & humid. We also got sick of being tossed about – even with a mooring field of over 50 boats, there is no “official” no-wake zone, so most boats tear by making big wakes, seemingly endlessly. Fortunately a call to Marineland Marina 14 miles further south had room for us with a (mostly) protected basin & a great weekly dockage rate.

A 10-minute walk from the marina is a great public beach with (vintage) food trucks offering exceptional food.

Have I changed at all?? That’s me (in the middle flanked by my brother Jack & sister Chris) around 1965 at Marineland of Florida. While the facility has been re-built (after hurricanes) & enlarged over the years, this could be the same sign. The facility was originally constructed as the world’s first “oceanarium” in order to film motion pictures (named “Marine Studios”). When later opened to the public in 1938, it quickly became Florida’s largest tourist attraction as over 25,000 tourists clogged the roads attempting to visit on just its first day!

Right next to Marineland Marina is The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience (part of the University of Florida), expanding with new buildings & laboratories for their growing, world-renowned research.

We are fairly certain that Marineland Marina’s basin was created to enable the equipment and large pools to be brought into Marineland by barge. The marina is entered from the protected ICW, with Marineland across the street facing the ocean. A RV park once existed next to the marina, along with motels & restaurants, but only Marineland & the marina remain.

We enjoyed a “cruiser experiences” chat with “Out of the Blue”, a PDQ 34. The name sounded familiar (Lori says this ALL the time) but turns out not only were they docked briefly at Isle of Hope when we were, but we’d talked with her owners a “few” years ago in St. Augustine.  We love cruiser connections.

This down time has given us the chance to intensify our Bahamas planning & prep. We will cross over to the Bahamas in about a month, so lots to do!