The End of a Wonderful Journey

After seven winters of cruising all over Florida we have sold our boat, Cool Change.  Our last journey took us down (north) on the St. John's River from Sanford to Jacksonville and then south to Daytona , revisiting much of our favorite Florida scenery.  One last time, we would like to take you along with us on our travels.

Sunrise at Monroe Harbor Marina where we docked for three months
this winter.  The town is friendly old South with plenty of conveniences
nearby, including many good restaurants within walking distance.
Having family and friends an hour or less away in Orlando, 
The Villages, Apopka, Marritt Island and Cocoa was an added bonus for us.

A common fresh water bird along the St. John's.  This particular guy
perched atop our bow light and posed for several photos at Hontoon Island.

Same type of bird, different place.
I watched this character for about ten minutes as he worked
 to extract the meat from a shell on the docks in Sanford.
He was very determined and was eventually successful.

Lake Monroe's Riverwalk is one of the most scenic and easily accessible
walkways we've encountered on our journeys.  Colleen especially liked the many park
 benches, placed just where she wanted them, 
and the good public bathrooms along the way.

I love the reflections of posts and birds in morning's still waters
along the Riverwalk on Lake Monroe.

In mid February the boat was shown to a prospective buyer.  He came aboard and looked her over from stem to stern.  A few days later we received an offer from him.  It was rock bottom and we agonized over what to do.  Our broker suggested a counter offer, which we did, meeting halfway between the offer and what we wanted.  We chewed our fingernails for a couple of days and then the broker announced that the buyer had gotten cold feet and had backed out.  Phooey!  We continued with our plans to leave Sanford and pulled out on February 25th.

Here's the captain, expertly inching his way out of the marina.

And we're in the river.


Wayne's cousins, Victor and Barbie, live just a few hours away from Sanford, in Astor.
 Their home was our first stop on the trip north.
Barbie always feeds us well and Colleen appreciated using their
 washing machine and dryer one more time.

Victor and Barbie, a few of our favorite framily members
(that stands for friends who are also family).  People like this
may also be referred to as "friends-in-law."

On February 26th we continued our journey north.
  The boat was running perfectly and there was lots of sunshine and sights to see.
Notice below the interesting counterbalance that helps this railroad bridge
to operate.

Trains can be the bane of our existence on the water.  We often
have to sit and wait for long periods for the railroad bridge to open.
On this day we waited for not one.......

but two trains coming from opposite directions with a forty
minute span between them.

We saw extensive damage from Hurricane Matthew
this year.  Here you can see clumps of trees that were snapped off
or uprooted in the storm or blown sideways from the winds. 

On February 27th as we made our way toward Doctor's Lake 
west of Jacksonville, our broker contacted us again.
Same original buyer with the same original low offer.  We thought for about
two seconds and then said, "We'll take it!"  We'll continue on to Daytona and
complete the sale from there or from home in North Carolina.

The St. John's creates many lakes as it makes its way north.

February 28th brought us to and through Jacksonville.  This is a city of bridges
and, thankfully we had an easy passage through them.

By March 1st we were dealing with some blustery, chilly winds coming from the south into our faces.  A nostalgic view of one of our family's favorite destinations, St. Augustine, reminded us that this will probably be our last time to see this old American city from the water.

Castillo de San Marcos
This winter Colleen learned that her family has deep roots
in this historic city.

Downtown St. Augustine

The Bridge of the Lions opens for us one final time.

Passing under Colleen's favorite bridge,
we're nearly to Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach,
 our final destination.

Cool Change, spic and span and ready for her new owners.

We've had a wonderful journey over the past seven years, seeing parts of Florida both familiar and new.  We've survived a bit of wild weather events but mostly we've feasted on sunshine and gentle breezes.  We've savored our time together, never being more than forty feet apart from each other and always moving at slow speed.  It's been a treasured time and we thank you all for taking the trip with us, for commenting on our adventures and commiserating with us on our repair excitements.

Lots of people are asking what we will do next.  Well........we're getting a dog.

Colleen and Wayne

Goodbye, dear friend

A Last Video Tour of Cool Change