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!

As opposed to North Carolina, South Carolina was easy & uneventful. The weather was perfect with mostly light winds, pleasant temps & no rain.

We even had a dolphin escort along the way.

While in Charleston we finally used an Amazon Hub to pick-up our Amazon order.

Near Charleston, this was sort-of a reverse-dredging operation. Previously dredged materials from the ICW channel which had been pumped into multi-acre diked, containment areas are now being liquefied & pumped onto nearby beaches several miles away. Not sure why they didn’t do this originally??

These brioche donuts from BKeDSHoP Donut Shop in Charleston were worth the walk.

Beaufort is always a fun stop, especially when we score complimentary dockage from their Safe Harbor Marina.

A fun dinner out with fellow cruisers (plus 1) in Beaufort.

While we’ve often walked around Beaufort, this time we took a golf cart tour which was extremely interesting. Beaufort has many restored mansions, each with their own fascinating story – some probably even true.

This is a (small) Southern live oak tree which, as they are a protected species, grow pretty much wherever they want to. Their most notable feature is that their huge limbs frequently sag to the ground, then turn up & continue growing. One of the most famous is the “Angel Oak” on Johns Island (near Charleston) which is almost 500 years old & covers nearly half an acre with its massive reach.

Most of Forrest Gump was actually filmed in Beaufort, even though taking place in Mississippi, Alabama & even Vietnam. This scene was taken on Beaufort’s swing bridge over the ICW, with a “Mississippi River” sign added. In addition, The Big Chill was both set in and filmed on location in Beaufort.

We have now advanced into Georgia & continue to enjoy pleasant weather. We’ll be stopping at a couple of marinas, including at Isle of Hope & at Jekyll Island, along with anchoring in some creeks in-between. We’re right on schedule to cross into Florida just after November 1.