After 25 days at the marina on Amelia Island, our longest stop in one place so far, we got back underway yesterday. Here’s a picture of the surrounding marshes from the top of the mast on Boxing Day. (Our wind vane lost its tail, possibly as the result of a bird perching on top, and I’d ascended to remove it.)

Not a bad place to be stuck…

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We arrived back aboard EXIT after dinner on December 23rd. It was nice to be back to our home-away-from-home, though I think we were all a bit strung out after Walt Disney World, a great visit with Mormor (Linda’s Mom), and the 6+ hour drive back from Fort Lauderdale. As soon as we unpacked the car, the kids started in on some gingerbread house kits that Linda and Mormor had found:

Gingerbread construction underway.

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Cabot Lyman, the owner of Lyman-Morse, had some advice for us way back in August. If friends want to visit, he said, tell them they can pick a time or a place, but not both.

In other words, don’t count on us being anywhere at a particular time. We simply don’t know when weather or illness or boat problems will monkey with our itinerary.

Latest example of this phenomenon is happening right now. We’re in Fernandina Beach, Florida, where we were towed (again!) to the Amelia Island Yacht Basin after our engine conked out on us (again!).

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After pushing to get to Charleston for Thanksgiving, including our first overnight passage since New York City to Cape May — we were rewarded with a fantastic four days there. We had some great food (including Magnolias, Cru Café, Hominy Grill, CO, Basil) and were, once again, unabashedly touristy, taking a horse-drawn carriage tour of the city and visiting Boone Hall, a nearby plantation. We also took care of some more mundane items: haircuts (just trims, really) for me, Soren, and Elsa, and some re-provisioning at the local Harris Teeter grocery store.

Here are some images from our time there:

Beautiful vernacular architecture.

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