Saturday March 16, 2024 - From Oscar Scherer SP it was only a 2 hr drive to Davenport, FL where we will spend the weekend with Jim & Jeanene. We're looking forward to a relaxing stay with them, enjoying their pool, sunsets and games!
Sunday March 17, 2024 - Happy St Patricks Day! Jim & Kevin love to celebrate St Patricks Day since it was a big event back from their days at University of Missouri-Rolla. We had a great day celebrating and drinking green beer.
March 18-19, 2024 - Today we're headed back down south. We decided to take an ASA sailing class at Key Lime Sailing Club in Key Largo. We signed up for the ASA 101 keelboat sailing certification, which is a 1.5 day class using a 22 ft sailboat. We also signed up for the ASA 103 basic coastal cruising certification, which is also 1.5 days of instruction and it's on a 32 ft sailboat. We've spent the last week doing the online courses and we're hoping we're ready! We were able to stay on the grounds of the Sailing Club for 2 nights while we're taking the class, but we have a few days to kill before the classes start on Wednesday. So whenever we need to find a camping spot we head to the Everglades! It's a 5 hour drive from Jim & Jeanene's. The Long Pine Key Campground in the Everglades was as quiet as we've ever seen. It was maybe 20% full. I kept meaning to ask the rangers why no one was there, but each time we passed the station no one was around. It's a really nice campground and I loved it even more when it was so empty!
Wednesday March 20, 2024 - We left Long Pine Key Campground in the Keys at 6:30AM, since we needed to pick up a few things at the Winn-Dixie on our way to our 9:00 class. It was only a 50 minute drive from the Everglades. The Key Lime Sailing Club provides ASA courses and has about 10 Cottages for weekly rentals. The housing was a bit rustic, but it looked like a cool spot to stay, since everyone there has access to the club's sailboats, kayaks, bikes, and paddle boards. Our instructor, Laurel was great (we were the only ones in the class). We spent most of the time on the water, since we had spent so much time with the online training. We really enjoyed having such an experienced sailor with us. It was great to try a lot of different things and just be out in the water with the wind blowing so hard (Wednesday it was 18-20 and Thursday was 20-25). We both passed the 101 test on Thursday morning and then the practical part of the exam on the water on Thursday afternoon
Thursday March 21, 2024 - First thing this morning we took our 101 test and we both passed! We then headed out on the Catalina again for our practical test. It was quite a bit windier today, but we both passed! We were tested on knots, rigging the boat, man over board drills, leaving and entering the marina, and points of sail. In the afternoon we started on the 103 coursework. We sailed all afternoon on a 34 ft sailboat and it was quite different from our sailboat or the Catalina we had spent the first part of the training on. It was quite a fun day!
Friday-Sunday March 22-25, 2024 - Friday morning we took our 103 test which we both passed, yay! The weather was really windy in the morning because a storm was coming in, so Laurel decided that there was too much wind for us to go out. We will have to come back to finish our 103 certification, which we will happily do! It also gives me some time to practice everything we learned. We finished up with Laurel and headed back out of the Keys, but there was an accident on 101 between us and the mainland Florida, so it took us about 2 hours, just to get to Miami! The traffic around Miami was terrible as well, so it was a long day of driving and we didn't even get very far. We stopped in Stuart, a little north of Miami and spent the night in a Cracker Barrel. We got up early the next morning and drove 4 hours to O'Leno State Park where we stayed 2 nights. It was another quiet SP, and we were pretty tired from our 2.5 days of sailing, so we enjoyed some down time before our last campground in the panhandle.
Tuesday March 26, 2024 - We spent a quiet day at Ochlockonee. We took a few walks, cooked dinner and played games.
Wednesday March 27, 2024 - Today was supposed to be a rainy day, so after a morning walk we decided to drive to the town of Carabelle, which is 30 minutes from the State Park. We had lunch in a pavilion near the marina and walked around the small downtown of Carabelle. There was a small museum which told the history of Carabelle and was a fun way to spend some time.
Thursday March 28, 2024 - Today we packed up the bikes and drove to St Marks to ride on the Tallahassee-St Marks bike trail. We rode 14 miles round trip and had a picnic lunch at the Wakulla Station Trailhead. After the bike ride we had a quick beer at the Riverside Cafe in St Marks.
Friday March 29, 2024 - It was supposed to be a 12 hour drive home. We thought we'd try to leave before 7AM this morning and we'd be home before 8PM. It was a LONG day!! There was traffic everywhere (it's Good Friday), and stopped traffic for an accident outside of Montgomery. We debated about stopping at a Cracker Barrel South of Louisville for the night, but we seemed so close to home, so we kept going. It ended up being a 16 hour drive day (we made it home just after 11PM). Tough day, but we were happy to be home after such a great trip. Now we just need to start planning the next trip!
