Nearly a week ago, we were paying close attention to an almost-nothing, possible sub-tropical disturbance, possibly heading towards Florida.  We shortened our time in St. Augustine to only one night & decided to keep on moving to our reserved, protected slip in Vero Beach.

Along the way in Titusville is this new “highrise” bridge being built cross the ICW which will replace an old opening bascule bridge. Florida will build this 2 1/2 mile long bridge in only 3 years while leaving short ends of the old bridge for fishing.

We stumbled right into an U. S. Immigration & Customs training drill on the way to St. Augustine with multiple boats zigzagging at over 40 knots attempting to “stop” the pretend “bad guys” in the white boat. The 2nd photo shows them (pretend) shooting to get them to stop and/or disable the engines.

A spectacular full moon over our Vero Beach marina. Calm before the storm.

Our 1st storm-prep was a walk to the nearby Publix grocery store which has a public scale by the entryway. Yikes, 201 pounds – what happened? I haven’t even started on their delicious key lime pies.

A possible hurricane is coming. When the U. S. Coast Guard tells us to drink whiskey, that’s an ORDER! (Actually … the letter “W” (Whiskey) is the first of 4 levels of port conditions issued when a storm is arriving.

2 days of storm prep. Doubled & tripled lines, extra fenders & we folded up our flybridge top.

Ahhh… I suppose you’re not supposed to be holding onto your groceries & wine for the most accurate reading.

We’re ready for tropical storm or Cat 1 hurricane Nicole. Our biggest problem so far is that our marina preemptively turned off the dock power & went home for 2 days!?!?! No A/C (without running our generator) is going to make us a bit uncomfortable with this ’80’s muggy, rainy weather…

At long last, our November 1 insurance deadline passed so we’re onward into Florida.

While waiting to cross the line, we spent a few days at our favorite scenic anchorage, Plum Orchard on Cumberland Island.  Thousands of birds (uniquely wood stocks & roseate spoonbills), dozens of dolphins, wild horses, armadillos, 2 manatees & 1 alligator.  Lots of photos from our stay 2 years ago at: Prior visit to Plum Orchard.

Have you heard the one about what the wild horse said while walking down the road?

More of that Georgia mud at low tide

There we are, poking thru the trees loaded with Spanish moss

These wild horses stopped what they were doing to say goodby as we left our anchorage … not!

Our next stop is St. Augustine, then onward to Vero Beach before a bit of stormy weather arrives next week. Vero Beach will be our base for the next 1 1/2+ months while we get caught up with doctor & dentist appointments, along with prepping for crossing over the Bahamas.

Place those orders now! with Lori before her Etsy Shop is sold out! An impressive stack of orders went out from Jekyll Island via golf cart.