Florida! Finally! And some new friends!

We were able to avoid the rest of the ICW in Georgia when we went 'outside' yesterday. And even though there was very little wind and it was once again coming from a different direction than NOAA had forecasted, we were able to sail!!

Yaaaaay!

We motored on into Fernandina, FL and headed for the Fernandina Marina in order to rent a mooring for the night and as we were approaching the dock I could have sworn I heard someone call out my name. I looked out over the water and saw someone waving their arms at me, but I knew I couldn't possibly have heard my name and Hans told me to get on the radio in case they were trying to warn us about something. I called them and imagine how surprised I was to hear their response, "This is Bright Eyes."

I've been following the story of Joey and Christine of Bright Eyes for quite sometime and I was thrilled to finally see some fellow sailing bloggers. Once we got settled at our mooring we invited them over for a visit.

Our dinghy hangs over our stern and blocks our swim platform and Hans was concerned that they would have difficulty getting on board. I told him that if this old 50 year old woman could scramble up the back of the boat I was pretty sure a young couple in their 20's would be just fine.





And here they are!

Joey and Christine.


Also joining us last night was Drew's wife Theresa so we had a cockpit full of people and a very excited pit bull.

Wilbur is feeling extra special spiffy today after he found his picture on the Bright Eyes blog. One of my favorite posts of theirs is the one that shows their boat after they ran aground. It's pretty impressive so you really should check it out.