Maintenance and upgrades on Sea Eagle (by Jim)

Our home away from home, thanks to Dale and Teresa!










Sea Eagle up in the air getting new bottom paint as well as some maintenance while she's out of the water.


We have been in Sanford since the end of November. We had a really great Christmas with friends and family.

Since January we have made a lot of headway on our projects. We had the boat hauled out of the water and the bottom repainted. Dale and Teresa set up their camper trailer at a nearby county park for us to stay in while the boat was being worked on. While it was out of the water I replaced the packing in the main drive shaft logs, replaced the actuators on the trim tabs and had the trim tab mounts rebuilt. I also replaced the bushing for the port rudder shaft and replaced all the zincs. Monroe Harbor Marina repainted the bottom with antifouling. The bottom looks really good.

The boat is now in the water at Monroe Harbor Marina on C dock. Paula and I have also started the interior remodeling that we have been saving so long for. The boat currently looks like a disaster area. All the wall coverings that I put on 8 years ago have come off. The walls are being repaired and sanded and prepped for new wall coverings. The wood is all getting prepped for new varnish. The saloon settee is being rebuilt and upgraded. New counter tops, sinks, fixtures, etc were done in Savannah. We are also planning on having an additional computer/chart table made, so that the dining table can go back to being used for dining! We also had new dodgers and a new cord cover made. The new dodgers are made of 50% screen, which will help with windage but still give us shade and protection.

I still have to change oil, oil filters, fuel filters, raw water impellers etc. All the normal yearly maintenance.

Leaving St Marys and heading down the St Johns (by Jim)

Leaving St Marys, Ga

Our twin boys, Jamie and Jeremy, were able to join us in St Marys, Ga for the wonderful Cruisers Thanksgiving dinner and to travel back to Sanford with us. On the next day (November 25th) the four of us left St Marys, heading south. We stopped and spent the night on the Trout River in Jacksonville, Fl, to visit with our Danish friends, Uli and Lita, on their Hunter 41 foot sailboat, Ulita. We left the next morning heading south on the St Johns River. This is the first time we have been back in the river in over three years. We stopped at one of our favorite anchorages, Turkey Island, and spent a nice peaceful night. After leaving Turkey Island we stopped at Shady Oaks Cafe and Tavern. We spent the night tied up to their dock and enjoyed some fantastic burgers and a couple of beers. After four days of travel, spotting 40-50 Bald Eagles and at least 10 gators, we are back in the same slip in Sanford that we started from over three years ago.

We will have the boat hauled out of the water after the first of the year for some maintenance and will continue working on the interior upgrades that we started in Savannah.

The first Eagle we spotted














Jamie getting everything shipshape on the bow.












Downtown Jacksonville













Jamie, Jeremy and Paula having way too much fun driving!













A wind farm on the St Johns??














Another Eagle














Another Eagle












A pair of eagles












Yep, We're on the St Johns River!!














Florida Cooters. We have missed seeing these guys going from boat to boat begging for cat food!!












Great Blue Heron















Yep, another Bald Eagle

And another Bald Eagle. We spotted over 40 Bald Eagles over 4 days of travel. We got pictures of about half of them.

St Marys, Ga

We arrived in St Marys on October 28th and a few days after we arrived our friends Bud and Elaine aboard Diamond Girl, stopped in for a couple of days to visit.











Saint Marys really decorates for Halloween. We found scare crows all over town as well as every other conceivable decoration.

This has to be one of the most colorful sunsets we have ever caught. Click on it so you can see it in a larger size!











Our friends John and Ann aboard Steel Away have been living here for the past three years. We first met them Thanksgiving of 2010. This year they are located closer to where we are docked so we get to see them more often! John built this boat which is steel and over 107' long.









Another cool Sunset that Paula caught with a military helicopter, probably from Kings Bay Submarine base.











Here is another scarecrow. This one is a bow hunter sitting up on his tree stand. If you look closely at the third step down you will notice a squirrel. The squirrel is real, and not at all afraid of the hunter!















Paula caught this flock of wood storks flying over one morning. They aren't a very pretty bird when on the ground, but they are beautiful when caught in flight.











Paula was really lucky to get this picture of a Golden Eagle. They are rarely found in this area. We hope to get a better picture next time we see him!









This is a picture of our friends Larry and Rosie on Flying Cloud. If you look closely you can see that Larry is flying the Marine Corps flag!

Paula's fondest wish is that when we decide to move back to land that we live some where that she can have a golf cart!

Today is November 21st. We have seen at least 30 boats arrive today for the coming Thanksgiving celebration. Last year over a hundred boats were here for Thanksgiving.

St Marys, GA

Brunswick Landing Marina. After two days of travel we are in Brunswick, GA (a little over 100 miles down the ICW from Savannah). We stopped here for a couple of days to visit our friends Rick and Julie Rochelle. We find out on arrival that old friends Ralph and Bonnie Jean Small are also at the marina. We hook up with Ralph and Bonnie Jean for a quick trip out to eat dinner and to catch up on each others travels. The next afternoon Julie Rochelle picks us up and takes us on a fantastic tour of St Simons Island, then to her house where we find Rick getting out adult beverages for everyone. We had a great home cooked meal in a beautiful setting with several of their friends. Ahhh, life is good!!

This is a Coast Guard tug that we saw coming back into Kings Bay Submarine base. We had been hearing a lot of chatter about a "war ship" on the VHF and suspect they had been escorting a sub out of the inlet back to sea.

We had a beautiful sunset in the St Marys anchorage on our first night back in St Marys, GA. We will be staying here for Thanksgiving again this year. Last year we met our friends Rick and Julie Rochelle here at the cruisers' Thanksgiving dinner, as well as several other people that have become good friends.

Second day traveling to Brunswick, Ga.

When we left Isle of hope on the way to Brunswick, GA, we anchored out for the night in the Duplin River, just off of the Doboy Sound. This was the beautiful sunrise that greeted us the next morning.

Crabbers at work! These are the guys that put all those floats in the water that you have to be continually on the watch for. They are also the ones that provide all that fantastic blue crab we all like so well.










Paula caught this picture of an immature Wood Stork.













And of course she had to take at least a few pictures of the dolphin that follow us playing in our wake.

This is the wake that Sea Eagle puts out when I kick in all 900 horses. It is actually about 4 ft higher than the swim platform on the back. Sea Eagle's weight is over 50,000 lbs when full of fuel (800 gal) and water (220 gal) etc.








This is a couple of guys teaching this lady how to fly fish.

The shrimp fleet in port as we arrived in Brunswick.

Leaving Isle of Hope

This is our wake as we leave Isle of Hope, Savannah, GA at sunrise on October 25th, 2011. It's hard to believe that we spent five months here! What an enjoyable time we had. We will miss all the new friends that we made. But it really gives us something to look forward to for next summer!!








Paula spotted seven eagles on on the first day of our trip from Savannah heading to Brunswick, GA.












We had dozens of seagulls following us as we traveled for two days to get from Isle of Hope to Brunswick.











These guys are busy getting shrimp. Yummm! Check out the boat's name.

One of the many tugs you may see on the ICW. This one's name is "Anger Management". Some are kept really nice looking like this one.

Hilton Head Island Coastal Discovery Museum

Maybe I should have named this "Butterfly's".

Paula and I have been to several "butterfly gardens" but we have never seen so many. This place had them everywhere and so many kinds that we must have taken 50 pictures. We of course saw dozens of White Egrets, Herons, etc but we have hundreds of pictures of them!























Of course Paula got one to land on here arm!
























































We did have this Cardinal sit still long enough to get a few pictures of him.

This picture is special, the horses are Marsh Tacky horses. They live wild on several of the islands and are descended from horses left here by the Spanish explorers in the 1500's. There are thought to be less than 300 left. There are three distinct breeds originating with the Spanish horses, including Banker Horses in North Carolina and Florida Cracker Horses.

Paula walked up to fence, talked to the horses and spent time petting one, of course.  Later we were told that they are not friendly and will bite!