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April 9 – St. Catherine’s Island, GA

By Trawlers on April 10, 2016 in The Pearl

Wahoo River – Anchorage

“True luxury is being able to own your time – to be able to take a walk, sit on your porch, read the paper, not take the call, not be compelled by obligation.” – Ashton Kutcher

We woke to a beautiful but chilly morning. It warmed up some but the wind was intense all day…not really a problem when we travel in the protected waters of the ICW, but we do get tired of it after awhile.

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April 8 – Brunswick, GA

By Trawlers on April 9, 2016 in The Pearl

Brunswick Landing Marina

“Roads were made for journeys not destinations” ―Confucius

I’ve been away from the daily blogging for a while so it’s going to take a little time to get back in the habit. Today we finally left Florida…after 746 days! Of course we haven’t been in Florida the whole time, but The Pearl has, except for the five weeks we spent in Abaco last spring. It is definitely time to move north.
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April 7 – Fernandina Beach, FL

By Trawlers on April 8, 2016 in The Pearl

Fernandina Harbor Marina Mooring Field

“Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” – Roald Dahl

We spent the day playing in Fernandina Beach. It’s one of our all time favorite places to visit. It’s full historic buildings, beautiful old oak trees draped in Spanish moss, cute bouquets, a great beach, fun places to eat and fresh seafood, but the thing I like the best are the people who live here. They have that southern charm and graciousness that you only find in the south. I really enjoy that.
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April 6 – Leaving Jacksonville, FL

By Trawlers on April 7, 2016 in The Pearl

Fernandina Harbor Marina Mooring Field

“Life is a journey, and if you fall in love with the journey, you will be in love forever.” — Peter Hagerty

We’re finally moving north…although it’ll be a very slow pace. We’re not in a hurry to get anywhere. In fact we really don’t have any particular plans…keep moving north just fast enough to stay in the 75º temperature range. We’ve enjoyed Jacksonville and I think I appreciate it a little more each time we’ve stayed here. The marinas in the Ortega area are full of nice people, the views are pretty, everything you need is close and there is always something going on in Jacksonville.

The only thing we’ve had troubles with in Jacksonville is the railroad bridge that separates the Ortega marinas and downtown. When it’s broken or being worked on there is now way out! They had a lot of issues with in 2014…it was closed for weeks and when it did operate it was on a limited schedule. We didn’t think to check on it this morning until we were underway. The bridge was closed until 11:00; we got there at 8:30. We tied up to the dock in Riverside Park and enjoyed the pretty morning having a second cup of coffee, watching a little TV and organizing the dock box. The delay actually meant we were closer to the out going tide that gave us a push and we were only an hour behind our intended arrival in Fernandina Beach.

We spent the evening visiting with friends. We only had a short visit with Jim and Betsy on Smiles, but we’ll see them again hopefully in Isle of Palms later in the month. We had dinner with Charlotte and Magnus from Swede Dreams…catching up with all their adventures in the Bahamas this winter. All there pictures made us wish we could have gotten there this season, but there’s always another year.

Leaving Ortega

The Ortega River Bridge

Looking towards downtown Jacksonville and the railroad bridge that can hold a boater hostage when it doesn’t work.

Riverside Park…this is were we’ve spent a lot of Saturdays enjoying the farmers market and listening to great music.

We won’t miss this bridge

Good-bye Jacksonville

On of the large ships we saw today on our way past the Jacksonville port.

This little cruise ship got a little close the pilings on it’s way through. This is the bridge at Sister’s Creek. By the time we come south again…not sure when, it will be replaced by a taller one.

This part of Florida looks more like the low country of Georgia and South Carolina.

A great dinner with our friends Charlotte and Magnus

Thanks for reading our blog and spending part of your day with us. The Pearl is also on Facebook – stop by and say hi or follow us on Google+.

This Boat

By Trawlers on April 3, 2016 in The Pearl

“Son this boat is going to change your life. I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m not saying it’s right, you just need to know where you’re about to go. Once those sails catch the wind you can’t turn and go back again. It’s going to set you free and you can’…

Spring in Rockport

By Trawlers on March 30, 2016 in The Pearl

Spring is in full bloom in south Texas…it’s a wonderful time to enjoy everything Rockport and the surrounding area has to offer. The temperatures have been wonderful, the sunshine amazing and the winds a little higher than we like…but that’s south Texas. You take the good with the bad.

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Silent Sunday

By Trawlers on March 12, 2016 in The Pearl

Mar. 2 – Rockport, TX

By Trawlers on March 2, 2016 in The Pearl

Rockport Harbor

It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed is you.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald

Our first week back in Texas was filled with sunshine, warm temperatures, the Texas Pearl and best of all family. The wind is still blowing like crazy in Florida and the Bahamas, so we are glad we made the decision to come home and catch up with family and friends.

Texas Pearl in her new permanent slip. I didn’t like it at first, but it’s growing on me.

We had the running gear cleaned before we headed out on a short cruise.

What a beautiful winter day.

Leaving Rockport Harbor

Our new captain…our son Eric

The view coming back into the harbor

Texas Pearl in her new slip

We are loving the view from the back deck.

I love these pictures of Rockport taken by John Martell. He’s a talented local photographer who has a shop in the historic area of Rockport. (looking south)

A picture looking north of Rockport Harbor, Little Bay and the beach.

A close up of Little Harbor and Rockport Beach

Looking north at the historic downtown area of Rockport and the harbor

This is Fulton Harbor which is about three miles north of Rockport Harbor

Family time

We spent a wonderful weekend with our oldest son and his family. We had fun with Graham at the children’s museum in Austin called Thinkery.

Fun at a local farmers market in Austin. The day started out a little cloudy, but cleared up quickly.

Kyle and Brytanie have enjoyed Jester King Brewery for year, but this was our first visit…now we know why they enjoy it so much. A wonderful place to enjoy the day with great beer and wonderful pizza.

Stanley’s Farmhouse Pizza

A few of our samplings

Only in Texas can you spend the day at a brewery and the whole family can have fun. This is a huge sand box for the children to play in and behind it is a pasture where people can play soccer, football or fly a kite.

Graham kept us entertained all the way home.

Thanks for reading our blog and spending part of your day with us. The Pearl is also on Facebook – stop by and say hi or follow us on Google+.

Feb. 20 – Jacksonville, FL

By Trawlers on February 21, 2016 in The Pearl

Ortega River Marina

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” —Dr. Seuss

We’ve been Jacksonville for a week staying busy visiting with friends, meeting new friends, working on the boat and eating.

Our local friends, Barbara and David, told us about a great place to eat. Definitely not a fancy place, but the food was outstanding. Southern Charm is a down home joint run by a local character and chef that personally greets each guest as they enter his little diner. The place is only open a few hours each day for lunch and then again a few hours for dinner. Friday was his shrimp and fish buffet. Along with the main course we had some of the best sides I’ve ever eaten…mac and cheese, potato salad, cole slaw, collard greens, fried green tomatoes, cheesy grits and cinnamon rolls. Art “Cracker” does all the cooking, he howlers “shrimp up” or “fish up” when each batch is done and his staff brings plates of fresh food to your table as long as you want to keep eating. We were as full as two little ticks when we left.

One of the things we’ve always enjoyed in Jacksonville is the Riverside Arts Market…a nice combination of farm fresh items, crafts, music and food. It’s located near a neighbor called Five Points under the I95 bridge. Today was a beautiful day to spend at the market, along with the normal vendors the market was hosting a chili cook off. There were twenty five booths filled with free samples of chili and cornbread with all the fixings. The sample cups looked small, but after tasting ever contestants chili, a few pieces of cornbread and cookies we were stuffed.

Art busy cooking up fresh shrimp, fish and green tomatoes

This was my plate after going through the line…

then they start bringing you plates of fish and shrimp.

The Riverside Art Market

Vendors of all kinds…

and lots of good food too.

A few of the beautiful winter vegetables

I think these may be the largest shrimp I’ve ever seen. The lady told us the red ones taste like lobster.

The view from the market

The Chili Cook-Off

Thanks for reading our blog and spending part of your day with us. The Pearl is also on Facebook – stop by and say hi or follow us on Google+.

Feb. 17 – Jacksonville, FL

By Trawlers on February 17, 2016 in The Pearl

Ortega River Marina

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow” —Lin Yutang

It felt like coming home when we came through Jacksonville…we spent a lot of time here in 2014. Hopefully this visit won’t be as long, but it is a good place to catch up with friends and do a little work on the boat. It’s also a great place to leave the boat when we go back to Texas for a visit. It’s a straight shot down I10 from here to Houston and then south. We’ve made that trip 23 times in the last five years.

We don’t know exactly when we’ll go home, probably next week when we’ve had time to put a coat of Cetol Gloss on the bright work and when we’ve had time to visit with friends we haven’t seen in a couple of years. The cruising world gets smaller and smaller the longer you’re involved in it. We saw friends in almost every city we visited on the way north this month. It’s always fun to catch up with old friends and make a few new ones.

Jacksonville will be our home for the next 6 weeks or so…we plan to stay in Texas until after Easter and then slowly head north the first part of April. We are looking forward to crossing the Florida/Georgia state line…we’ve been in Florida for two years. Definitely time for a little new scenery and more adventures.

Old friends from Charleston…Sandy, Rickey, Maryann, George, Susie and Stan